Recipes | Homebao

At Home with Home Bao

Salt & Pepper Chicken

Street food of Taiwan

Ingredients:

600g chicken breast cut into cubes

Marinade
- Light soy sauce 125ml
- Sugar 2 tbsp
- White pepper 1 tsp
- Rice wine 2 tsp
- Five Spice ½ tsp
- Cinnamon ½ tsp
- Sesame oil 1 tsp
- Garlic minced 2 cloves
- Ginger pulp 2 tsp
- Water 4 tbsp
- Flour 3 tbsp

1. Marinade chicken for 1 hour.
2. Press marinated chicken into course tapioca flour (use tempura flour or panko bread crumbs as alternative), then refrigerate for 10min.
3. Dust with tapioca flour again before deep frying. This Second coating guarantee extra crunch!
4. Set oil at 140 degrees (drop some batter into hot oil, if it floats up then the oil is ready for frying)
* Healty alternative* mist chicken pieces with neutral vegtable oil and pop them into the air fryer for 12 min on 180 degrees.
5. Slowly slide chicken pieces into the hot oil
6. Ready when it's golden brown and floats to the surface.
7. Dust with white pepper and salt

Great choice of filling to Home Bao steamed bao

Spinach & Cream Cheese Wontons

(makes 30-40 wontons)

1 packet of wonton skins
200g store-bought frozen creamed spinach
80g cream cheese (if you like them extra creamy)
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp salt

Step 1
Defrost creamed spinach

Step 2
Add cream cheese, salt and lemon zest

Step 3
FOLD. Place one teaspoon of filling in the middle of the wonton skin. Seal the edges with water. Make sure to push out all excess air. Place on tray.

Step 4
Either steam for 5 min on high or deep fry on low heat until golden brown
*freeze excess wonton a tray until rock solid and keep in zip lock bag

Wafu Salad

A Japanese-style salad dressing that will turn any mundane salad into an instant hit!

Makes 6 starter portions
Ingredients
150g rice noodles
300g mixed salad greens (cos lettuce, baby spinach, baby bok choy)
60g finely chopped onion 4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar or honey
1 tbsp sesame seeds
120g julienne carrots
1/2 cup finely chopped Coriander
1 finely chopped chilli (or red pepper)
50g toasted peanuts or cashews

Method
1. Place the rice noodles in hot water. Leave to rehydrate for 15 minutes.
2. Drain rice noodle, then cool in cold water. Roughly chop into 10 cm lengths
3. Roughly chop the mixed salad greens.
4. To make your dressing, place onion, soy sauce, rice vinegar, ginger, sesame oil, toasted sesame seeds and sugar or honey in a blender. Blend until smooth.
5. Toss together the cabbage, rice noodles, carrots, coriander and chilli.
6. Just before serving, drizzle the dressing over the salad and sprinkle the nuts on top.

Taiwanese Braised Beef

Taiwan's national dish
(Serves 4)

500g beef shin on bones, chop into chunks
2 large onions (roughly chopped).
200g carrots 🥕 .
2 cloves of minced garlic.
2 thick slices of ginger (add more if you like the ginger taste).
1 tin chopped tomatoes or 400g fresh tomatoes
1 tbsp spice powder .
1/3 cup soy sauce (I prefer low sodium)
30ml rice wine or shaoxing wine
Salt to taste
5 sprigs of spring onions finely chopped.
Fresh chilli (optional) .
Coriander (optional). Fresh veggies (spinach / bok choy / broccoli)
Large pot to fit all these ingredients ;)

How to 👩🏻‍🍳

1. Fry onions with a tablespoon of vegetable oil
2. Brown the meat
3. Add ginger, garlic, carrots and five spices.
4. add tin tomatoes and soy sauce. Fill the pot with boiling water until it covers all the ingredients.
5. Once it boils, let it simmer for at least 90min or until the meat is tender.
6. Add the fresh veggies of your choice right at the end, so it’s par boiled and still crisp.
7. Serve the braised beef soup by sprinkling freshly chopped spring onions, chilli and coriander 🍜 .
P.s to turn it into a hearty meal, simply add some noodles or serve it with dumplings 🥟 .

5 Spice Braised Pork Rice 魯肉飯

This humble bowl of rice is the ultimate Taiwanese comfort food. It is what a good spaghetti bolognaise is to the Italians.

Every household has their own signature recipe with a few tweaks. This one is from my aunt in Cape Town and she makes it for the family when we are feeling homesick.

Here is the recipe
(4 main portions. 30min prep and 45min cooking time)

Ingredients
350g pork belly
½ cup deep fried shallots
6 cloves of garlic finely diced
80ml soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp five spice
1 x cinnamon stick
1 tsp white pepper
Water
2 hard-boiled eggs

Step 1
Steam pork belly whole

Step 2
Finely dice steamed, cooled pork belly

Step 3
Pan fry on medium heat until brown and then add garlic

Step 4
Add shallot, soy sauce, sugar, five spice, cinnamon stick, white pepper and water to cover

Step 5
Simmer on low for 30min until ready
(place hard boiled eggs for the last 15 min before serving)

Serve with rice and pickled daikon (optional)

Crispy Pork (guaranteed crispiness)

Fool-proof crispy pork belly
(serves 4 generous portions)

Ingredients

1kg pork belly without ribs
Plenty of salt
Marinade
½ teaspoon 5 spice
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tablespoon of rice wine
1 tbsp sugar or honey
1 tbsp minced garlic

Step 1
Score the skin of the belly in 1 cm strip
Step 2
Pat the belly dry with kitchen towel.
Step 3
Rub generous amount of salt into the belly, especially between the cuts on the rind
Step 4
Leave in fridge to “dry” over night or use a hairdryer
This is key to crispy pork
Step 5
Turn the oven on to 220 degree .Remove belly from fridge and make sure it is completely dry with no visible water on the rind.
Mix all marinade ingredients together and rub it onto the “meat” side of the belly and keep the rind side dry.
Step 6
Into the oven for 15min on 220 degrees and lower to 180 degree for the last 30min.

Naturally Coloured Bao (with kids)

Coloured Bao Buns

Here is a fun recipe to try with kids at home. Make the bao dough and use cookie cutters to create a limitless number of bao shapes.

500g cake flour
20g caster sugar
4g instant yeast
30g cornflour
250ml Rugani juice (choose beetroot for red, carrot for yellow or, alternatively, make your own)
20g vegetable oil

Step 1
Mix all ingredients together – knead well for 10min (machine) or 20min by hand .

Step 2
Cover the dough with a wet towel. Leave to rest for 45 min or until doubled in size.

Step 3
First punch out the gas by kneading it for another 5 min. Get the kids to help you with this.
You can also use a rolling pin to flatten the dough into a rectangular shape. Fold in half (length way). Roll into rectangular shape again. Start shaping it into shapes and sizes of your choice. Use paper straws if you’d like to create the “cake pop” look. Let rest for 30min for the second proof.

Step 4
Steam for 16min.

Step 5
Switch off heat, slide the lid open slightly and rest for 5min.

Enjoy!

ps find out more about the health benefit of making use natural colourant https://ruganijuice.co.za/add-natural-colour-nutrition-to-your-recipes/