Friday, July 11, 2008

Home-made Bao Zhi + Potstickers: Roger sux at pinyin

Alright let's get this out of the way first: I don't know a lick of pinyin. What I do know, however, is that my feeble attempts are usually kind of close to the correct spelling. Don't look at me like that. Hey cut it out! At least I'm fluent in and can read Mandarin.

One of my mother's students--Mrs. Chin--is a fantastic cook, so we invited her over to pass on to us skills that only Chinese grandmothers have. Hell, even then, not all grannies know how to cook. During this visit, Mrs. Chin taught us how to make Bao Zhi, which are essentially steamed buns with a savory filling. Think: Cha siu baau from dim-sum, but requiring more technique to make.

Pork+cabbage were the main ingredients today, though there are numerous other types of fillings. Since we were a bit too generous with the filling for each bao zhi, we had no choice but to make potstickers. ...God I hate pinyin.

I will post the recipe soon after I translate and organize the notes Mrs. Chin gave us. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures.


Lots of perfect ones, but can you spot the Ugly Ducklings? Those little folds are freakin' hard to make.


Mrs. Chin works at a blistering pace!

This brought back memories of my childhood. Play-dough was awesome.


That's how much filling you can stuff into a potsticker!


Perfect bao zhi, but burnt potstickers. I won't get distracted by Giada De Laurentiis next time...




5 comments:

Sharon said...

Those look ridiculously good. How much do you think I'd need to pay Mrs. Chin to come make me some?!

Roger said...

haha she might do it for free since she loves to cook.

Getting everything set up is real easy....but making the folds is as hard as a molecular bio exam!

joanh said...

that is very cool.. i gotta learn some recipes from my relatives!

Sarah Jane said...

This looks like a satisfying and peaceful thing to make. The pictures are BEAUTIFUL.

Anonymous said...

Hi, Love the pictures of the baozhi! they look fantastic! do you think you can post up the recipe to us! Thank you sooo much!