Mom's Shao Bao

The other day, the old Auntie was making her curry puffs right at the front of the shop at Chong Chon .... and while waiting, people observed her skills. Mom too .... looked with interest.

And there and then, the urge to make her own pastries budded.

I woke up this morning and she told me, "Let's make some shao bao .... "

But we just ate pastries yesterday.

"Help me," she said. Okie. Mom's bent with making those baked buns. Nothing I said was going to change her mind. I know her.

So I did help out. Mind you, I'm a good kitchen helper. ;p

I cut all the vegetables and meat for the filling into small dices. I cut the onions, carrots, spring onions, mushrooms, bbq meat ..... And then Mom stir-fried all the ingredients and added some seasoning.

The filling ... 

Mom then made the the pastry dough ... while I helped her divide into portions. There were 2 layers for the skin. The outer layer was a "water pastry", while the one inside was an "oil pastry". I divided both into portions.

"26," Mom said, indicating the number of portions the dough had to yield.

The pastry

So Mom rolled the "water pastry" into a flat round and wrapped with with a dollop of "oil pastry". This ball of combined pastry is then flattened and rolled to create a flat round again. 

Then Mom filled it up the flat and rounded pastry case with the filling .... then I glazed it with egg. Mom wrapped it rather quickly. 

Then Mom heated up the oven and baked the pastries .....

 Homemade Shao Bao 

The inside .... 

Yummy .... Today, Mom's shao bao was really yum. The pastry was slightly sweet, and it complemented the savoury filling very well. The pastry case was also a bit crunchy, so it was very pleasant to eat. I ate one as soon as the first tray came out of the oven.

Even though I have gone through the process of making shao bao, I do not think that I will be able to make them on my own. For one, there are too many steps involved, too much hard work. For another, I was really awkward in handling the pastries. I tried to wrap one shao bao ..... and it was real ugly. ;p I've A LOT to learn!!!