Serves: 4/ Prep time: 2 hours/ Cook time: 30 minutes/ Difficulty: Medium (easy if using frozen bao buns)
Ingredients
Bao dough:
250g white flour
100g cornflour
4g of instant yeast
125ml of warm water
Chicken:
6 chicken thighs
2 tablespoons of Tropical Sun Jerk Seasoning
1 tablespoon of Tropical Sun Vegetable Oil
Slaw:
1/4 of a red cabbage
1 large carrot
1 spring onion
1/2 medium red onion
2 tablespoons of Tropical Sun Vinegar
Method
- Mix all dough ingredients together, and knead until dough is smooth and has an elastic feel to it. You may need to add more water depending on the humidity of your room.
- Cover lightly with 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil, and leave to rise in a bowl covered with a cloth (roughly 2 hours).
- Mix the jerk seasoning paste with the oil and marinate the chicken. Marinate for at least two hours or ideally overnight.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200°C/ 400°F/ Gas Mark 6 for 30 minutes, and leave to rest for at least 10 minutes on the side.
- While the chicken is baking/dough is proving, thinly slice all the slaw ingredients, mix with the vinegar, season with salt and pepper, and leave to one side.
- Once the dough has risen, tip out onto a lightly floured surface, and split into 8 balls of dough.
- Roll each ball into a longer rectangular shape, about 5mm thick, and using a chopstick, leave an imprint in the dough halfway and fold over itself into the bao shape.
- Steam the buns on a gentle heat for 8 minutes. If you don't have a steamer, use an upside down bowl in a pot, and balance a plate on top of this. Make sure there's space for steam to rise from the bottom throughout the pot, and put the lid on.
- To assemble your bao, shred the cooked chicken, serve with the slaw, and some hot sauce on the side. Enjoy!
