Homemade Pinoy Style Siopao Bolabola

Hello Steemitverse and Foodies around the world!

I am no expert on cooking not even took a culinary course, but I love to cook with instinct and experiment recipes added by some personal twist.

Yesterday, I was watching Nat Geo Asia that featured about travel and foods, and because of that I was cravings for food, food and food! 😂😂

So, I decided to make some Asian flavor, to try another recipe which I never done before. It was my first try to make Siopao (steamed bun), a ”Pinoy Style Siopao Bola-bola” (Filipino style steamed bun meat balls).
I read some article on how to cook Siopao and follow the instruction. I decided to make the simple one and similar to the local flavor in the restaurant here in my town (Quezon Province, Philippines).

It was a good timing also because I already have the ingredients needed for the recipe in my fridge.

So let’s start cooking...

First, we need to make the bun, because it will take some time. The ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour (and 1 cup more for dusting);
• 1 cup warm water;
• 1 1/2 tablespoon active yeast;
• 2 tablespoon canola oil (1 tbsp for greasing bowl);
• 1 teaspoon baking powder;
• 1/2 teaspoon salt;
• 1/2 cup white sugar.

Dissolved the sugar in the warm water, followed by yeast and wait for 10 minutes when its bubbly.
In a separate big bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt.
Also, prepared the bowl and grease with one tablespoon of oil.

When the liquid mixture is ready, pour in the dry ingridients gradually followed by oil and mix with spatula until it turns elastic.

Knead a bit and form into a ball and dust with the spare flour.

Then, place in the greased bowl with more space around.

And don’t forget to cover the bun dough with dump clean cloth to keep the moisture and helps to rise the dough.
Leave and set aside for about 2 hours or when it doubles the size.

---

And for the meantime, while waiting for the bun dough to rise. Let us prepare the fillings (meat balls). Here are the ingredients:

• 500 grams grind lean pork meat;
• 1 large egg;
• 1 medium finely chopped carrots;
• I medium red onion;
• 1 medium white onion;
• 2 table spoon chopped onion leaks;
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped;
• 1 teaspoon salt;
• 1 teaspoon powdered white pepper;
• 1 tablespoon olive oil;
• 1 tablespoon roasted sesame seed dressing; &
• 1/4 cup flour (as binder).

Combined all ingredients in a bowl, make sure you put it on a large bowl to mix it properly.
Please don’t be dumb like me, I kept on throwing my ingredients in this bowl 👆🏼. Lol!

I just reallized it was too small when I’m done chopping all the ingredients. So, I needed to transfer it in another bigger bowl to mix all the ingredients evenly.

Next, form it into a ball and put in the steamer to precook the meat for about 20 minutes.

Also, I am going to add the salted egg inside the bun. It is so simple to do, just peel off the shell and slice into 6 equal parts each egg. I only used two eggs.

And another flavor for the fillings to be more creamy and tasty - slices of cheedar cheese.

Here they are, our fillings for the bun.

---

Then, its time to make the Siopao Sauce.

The ingredients:

• 1 cup water;
• 1/3 cup sugar;
• 1 1/2 tablespoon corn starch;
• 2 tablespoon soy sauce;
• 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce;
• 1 tablespoon chopped roasted garlic; &
• 3 tablespoon white vinegar.

Dissolved the cornstarch in water, followed by all ingredients except the vinegar.

Place the sauce pan in a medium heat, put the vinegar first then pour the liquid mixture and stir constantly. It will slowly change the color when boiling.

For about 3 minutes the mixture will be thick and crystallized in appearance, and its done!

---

After two hours...

It doubled the size. Kneading time!

In your work space, perhaps in the clean counter or table... Dust the surface with flour and throw the dough over.

Knead.

Make a dough log and cut it into equal parts.

This one makes 12 slices, meaning I’m gonna make 12 buns.

Make a flat circle for each slice.

Then put the fillings inside.

Enclose the dough and form into a ball again and dust with extra flour. Repaet until you’re done.

Don’t forget place a wax paper at the bottom as holder. Since I don’t have one, I used the clean bond paper. 😅

Transfer into the steamer and cook for about 20-25 minutes.

And... finally, it’s done! 😂

Serve with the sauce and you’re good with your dinner or snack or any meal of the day.
I ate 2 pieces with my favorite cup of brewed coffee. The rest will be kept in the freezer for future Siopao cravings, and for reheating just put it on the microvawe or steamer.

I made 12 steamed meat ball buns (Siopao Bola-bola) out of this ingredients.
Preparation time: 3 hours.

This recipe was not perfect, the bun should be whiter but the trick from youtube (putting vinegar in water while steaming) did not work, maybe because my flour is not so white as well, I just bough the flour few weeks ago in the market because I have no other option, that’s the only avaible one in the store. Its actually thrice cheaper than the usual all-purpose flour that I am using. Maybe next time, I will use the better kind of flour.

The size and shape of my buns are not perfect also, but I am proud to say that the taste is perfectly delicious on how I imagine the taste will be. Yumm! 😋😋

Photo Captured by iPad Pro.

Thank you for dropping by... Steem on!

xoxo,
@travelsbyblue

---

I am hosting a daily food contest called #worldsdailyfood, for more information about the introduction and launch of this contest you may visit this POST;
Also the WORLD’S DAILY FOOD New Daily Theme & RULES Reminder.
But It’s fun to take part in other contest. I am sending this food blog to the #foodmodel contest of @iamjadeline and #pc-food by @photocircle.
Thank you!😊🇵🇭

---

_{📸 I OWN ALL PHOTO/S AND CONTENT POSTED ABOVE 📝}