Indonesian Ground Beef-Filled Bapao
A steamed bun, filled with a rich ground beef filling.
Servings: 6
Calories: 427kcal
Ingredients
Bread Dough
- 300 grams all-purpose flour preferably bleached
- 6 grams yeast
- 6 grams salt
- 10 grams sugar
- 50 ml oil
- 175 ml water
Filling
- 500 grams ground beef
- 1 bag of spinach
- 30 grams sweet soy sauce (ketjap or thick sweet soy)
- 15 grams sambal
- ½ onion (finely diced)
- 2 cloves of garlic (minced)
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp ginger powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp cumin
Instructions
Preparing the Dough.
- Put the flour in a large bowl. Add the yeast to one side, and the salt, sugar and oil to the other. Add the water and mix to form a coarse dough.
- When all ingredients are incorporated, tip over your bowl on a clean counter top and knead for about 8-10 minutes. If your dough feels dry or particularly tough to knead, add water by the table spoon, and knead before you add more.
- After kneading for 8-10 minutes, your dough should be soft and smooth.
- Grease a bowl with a neutral oil and place your dough in the bowl. Cover with a towel or cling wrap and leave to prove about an hour or until doubled in size.
Prepare the filling.
- In a frying pan, add a little bit of cooking oil and brown your ground beef. Add the spices.
- When your meat is almost cooked, add the spinach and cook for a few minutes.
- Once done, tip your meat into a bowl and store until you're ready to fill the buns. If you need time to do that, make sure to store your meat in the fridge.
- Prepare six pieces of parchment paper in your steaming baskets.
Fill the Buns.
- Once the dough has proved, tip over the bowl and drop the dough on your bench.
- Roll your dough into a long roll. Cut the roll in six equal pieces.
- Quickly form six balls by flattening one of the six pieces, and folding one corner of the dough towards the middle. Pinch to make sure it sticks. Grab the opposite corner and fold towards the middle. Repeat until you have a tight little dough ball.Shape into a perfect ball by cupping the piece of dough in your hand on the counter top. Leave for a few minutes to relax. Then, with a rolling pin, roll out the dough piece into a flat circle. Repeat for the remaining five pieces of dough.
- Fill each circle with the meat filling, and crimp the sides together by folding it over the filling, and pinching the edges together in the center. Make sure to not get grease or cooking fat on the inside edges: the dough will not stick anymore, and the filling will leak out. Place on a piece of parchment paper in your steaming basket with the crimped side down, and the clean, smooth side up. Repeat for the other dough balls.
- Leave to rest for about 20-30 minutes in the steaming basket under a damp towel. In the meantime, prepare a cooking pan that is only slightly smaller in diameter than your steaming baskets with 2 inches/6cm of water and bring to a boil.
- Place the baskets over the boiling water and steam the buns for 15 minutes. Do not open the baskets while they steam. Don't forget to turn down the flame under the pan: the steam is enough, and the flames of a high fire will creep up enough to blacken your steaming basket.
- Use a cooking spatula or turner (specifically one with an angle) to scoop the baos out of your steamer. Take off the parchment paper and eat warm. Enjoy!