Steamed Chicken and Shiitake Mushroom Bun Recipe

I love the richness of chicken thigh and the savory depth of shiitake mushroom. Why not combine the umami goodness of both ingredients into a dumpling filling and stuff it in a Chinese steamed bun? I’ve had several renditions of such a steamed chicken bun, and the one that Slanted Door in San Francisco presents is among the best. You can get some from their Out the Door takeout operation at the Ferry Building.

Charles Phan and his crew have crafted a tasty filling that combines Vietnamese and Chinese traditions. There are shallots, fish sauce and oyster sauce. After all, Charles is ethnically Chinese Vietnamese.  It is appropriate for his food to reflect that heritage.

Below is my rendition of Slanted Door’s steamed chicken bun filling. It’s really great if you hand-chop the chicken into pieces the size of large peas. For details, see “Hand Chopping and Mincing Meat” in Asian Dumplings, page 158. It’s not as difficult as you may think! You're only talking a generous 1/3 pound of meat.

As with all of the bao fillings in the Asian Dumplings cookbook, this one can be used in the steamed filled buns recipe (page 95). It's not as good for baked filled buns recipe.

Chicken and Shiitake Mushroom Bao Filling

The photo at the top is of small steamed buns filled with this chicken and mushroom mixture.  The filling itself isn't very attractive so I didn't split open the bun. For help on shaping nice buns (yes, I did type that!), see the written instructions for the Closed Satchel shape (page 52) or watch the how-to video.

Makes 1 1/3 cups, enough for 16 medium or 32 small buns

2 tablespoon canola or peanut oil
1/3 cup chopped shallot or red onion
2 large dried shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, reconstituted, and cut into small dice (1/4 cup)
1/4 cup chopped garlic chives or scallion , green part only
1/2 teaspoon plus 1 or 2 pinches of salt
1/4 teaspoon black or white pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon fish sauce or light (regular) soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons oyster sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons egg white, lightly beaten
6 ounces coarsely ground or hand-chopped boneless, skinless chicken thigh
2 tablespoons cup coarsely chopped cilantro, leafy tops only
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger

1. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the shallot, and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring frequently, until they start to caramelize. Add the mushroom, sprinkle in 1 or 2 pinches of salt, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until fragrant. Remove from the heat, stir in the garlic chives. Set aside to cool completely.

2. In a larger bowl, combine together the cooled vegetables, chicken, cilantro, and ginger.  Stir together, making sure the ingredients have commingled well.

3. In a small bowl, combine the 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper, sugar, fish sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch and egg white. Beat with a fork to blend well. Pour over the chicken and vegetable mixture, and stir, fold, and mash everything together into a cohesive mixture.

4. Cover the filling with plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes, or refrigerate overnight, returning it to room temperature before assembling the bao.

Comments

[Darlyne]

I am so glad that you printed this. I went into the ABC website that Charles fan was on when he made his steamed chicken buns and ABC printed the recipe, except there was an error in the amount of sugar used. I contacted Out the Door and ABC and never got a correction.

[Darlyne]

Oops...misspelled Charles Phan's name....
Thank you Andrea!

[Andrea Nguyen]

Hi Darlyne -- Yep, that was a major typo on the ABC site. Let me know your thoughts on this version of the filling.

[Jennifer]

Hi Andrea,
I made these chicken bao tonight for my family and I am so excited to report how great they turned out! My 4 and 2 year old boys devoured them up. We had to restrain ourselves from eating them all so they could have them for lunch tomorrow too. I actually used 1/3 whole wheat flour in place of the regular flour in your recipe and I was pleased that the texture, fluffiness, and chewiness of the bao turned out so well. The filling was excellent and I actually used some to also make steamed dumplings. Yum....it feels good to be able to make this from scratch. Thank you for teaching and sharing!

Jen from Texas

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Jennifer: Delighted that the chicken bao filling is up to snuff. Thanks for the flour tip too!

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[Slina]

Hi Andrea,
I am new to this website. I have come across this recipe and really interested in making them. Do you think i will be able to freeze them? Thank you in advance :)

[Aimee]

HI Andrea

I made your chicken buns tonight and they turned out wonderfully. I am freezing the remainder but wondering if I need to let the dough finish 'puffing' before doing so. I noticed the earlier ones I made continued to puff (and the pleats kinda disappeared) The later ones (end of the batch) still had the nice pleats (closed satchel method) since the finished product didn't have a chance to sit around as long so I quickly put them into the freezer. I guess I'll know when I steam them. Any suggestions ?

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[Murni]

Hi Andrea,

I made the buns couple of times. Sometimes they are perfect, smooth and round but sometimes they are not. I steamed the buns for 15 minutes but as soon as I open the lid slowly, the buns were deflated. It make an ugly wrinkle over the buns. Do you know what's the problem?

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[Bitsy]

Could you make a vegetarian version of these by adding more mushroom in place of chicken?

[Bitsy]

Is it possible to make these buns vegetarian using more mushroom in place of the chicken? Thanks!

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