One of my favorite meals is bao. These little steamed dumplings of goodness are a treat anytime I can visit a restaurant that serves them. The problem is that they are hard to find. Most of the Asian restaurants serve steamed dumplings, but they are not as thick as the baos that restaurants like Wow Bao make. Restaurants that serve soup dumplings are a little closer than Chicago, but I would rather have a more substantial filling. Therefore, this recipe is the closest thing that I can create that feels like something close to the bao.
There are several differences. The bao dough is traditionally made from either cake or rice flour. Also, they are usually steamed. Mine are bake because I don’t have access or space for a large enough steamer to make these. Also, the ingredients I have selected are more available in my area.
Ingredients:
- 2 cans of buttermilk biscuits (should be 16 biscuits in total)
- 1 pound of Italian sausage
- 1 cup of bbq sauce
- 1 oz of bourbon
- 1 cup of chili sauce
- ¼ cup corn salsa
- ¼ cup of semi-sweet white wine
- 1 cup of shredded Italian cheese
- 1 TBSP of olive oil (extra virgin if possible)
Spices:
- 2 TBSP of Italian seasoning
- 1 TBSP of dried onion flakes
- 1 TBSP of red pepper flakes
- ½ TBSP of dried chives
- 1 minced clove of garlic
- ½ TBSP of basil
Gear:
- Small prep bowl, small mix bowl, or water glass
- Small cooking brush
- Two muffin tins that hold six muffins each
- Cooking Spray
- Large Tupperware container
- Small Tupperware container that can hold at least three cups
- Skillet
- Large wooden spoon (to stir sausage)
- Smaller spoon (to scoop the sausage mixture into the cups)
- Space in the fridge and freezer
Directions:
- Lightly mix all the wine, oil, and spices in the bowl/glass.
- Spray the muffin tins with the cooking spray.
- Open the cans of biscuits a press one of the biscuits into each of the slots of the tin. Form a mini-bowl with the biscuit in each of the slots. You should have four biscuits leftover. Place the leftover biscuits into the fridge.
- Brush the wine mixture lightly onto the biscuit cups and freeze both trays for at least an hour (longer would be better).
- Mix the bbq sauce, bourbon, chili sauce, and salsa together in the small Tupperware container.
- Place the sausage into the large Tupperware container and pour half the bbq sauce mixture on top of the sausage. Refrigerate for at least an hour (longer would be better).
- Take the sausage out and cook sausage over medium-low heat until lightly brown.
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Take biscuit cups tray out of the freezer and scoop one spoonful of sausage mixture into each cup.
- Sprinkle a pinch of cheese on top of the sausage mixtures in the cup.
- Take out the leftover biscuit from the fridge. Divide each of the remaining biscuits into thirds. Spread each part of the biscuit on top of the biscuit cup to cover the sausage mix entirely.
- Lightly brush the top of the biscuit cup with the wine mixture.
- Place trays in the oven, switch to bake and cook for 12 to 18 minutes. 12 minutes for a doughy center, 18 minutes for a more firm center.
We enjoyed the baos with some excellent sesame ramen. The nice thing about the meal was the fact that there was very little prep time as most of the ingredients were basically premade for this type of meal.
