Banh Bao

Ingredients for 3 servings:

• 500 g wheat flour
• 1 packet of dry yeast
• 200 ml milk, lukewarm, possibly more
• ½ tsp salt
• 3 tbsp, levelled sugar
• 250 g minced pork
• 50 g glass noodles (prepared according to package instructions and cut into approx. 5 cm long pieces)
• 10 g dried Mu-Err mushrooms (cooked according to package instructions, cut into strips)
• 1 onion(s)
• 2 cloves garlic
• pepper
• Fish sauce, Asian
• 3 eggs
• 1 sausage, Lap Xuong (Chinese smoked pork sausage) alternatively salami

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes; Rest time approx. 3 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 20 minutes; Total time approx. 4 hours 35 minutes

filled Vietnamese yeast dumplings

For the dough: Mix all ingredients and knead into a smooth dough. If the dough is too dry, add a little more milk. The dough should no longer stick to your fingers!!! Cover the yeast dough with a towel and let it rise in a warm place for 3 hours. IMPORTANT!!! IT SHOULD AT LEAST DOUBLE IN SIZE! For the filling: Hard boil the eggs. Put the minced meat and the prepared, drained noodles and mushrooms in a large bowl. Peel the onion and garlic and finely dice them and add them to the minced meat. Now knead everything until you have a nice sticky mass. Now season the mixture with fish sauce and pepper. But BE CAREFUL!!! Asians use fish sauce as salt, so season to your own taste!!! Back to the dough: Once it has risen nicely, knead it thoroughly again and then roll it out on a floured surface into a kind of log. Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces and shape them into balls. Flatten these balls and roll them out to about 10×10 cm. Peel and halve the eggs and set up a steamer (or pot with a steamer insert). Cut the lap xuong into diagonal slices. Divide the filling into 6 portions and place one piece in the center of each small pancake. Press half an egg onto the minced meat filling and wrap 4 slices of lap xuong around each banh bao. Now comes the hardest part (I’m doing this for the first time). Pick up two sides of a banh bao (like a handbag) and then close them all around, creating small folds. It takes practice, but you’ll get really good at it eventually. Place each banh bao on a piece of baking paper or copy paper so they don’t stick to the steamer’s sieve and steam for about 15-20 minutes.