Excellent gluten-free cookie that goes well with coffee or tea as a snack. Additionally, it’s simple to create, so even kids may take part in the fun of baking! Any broken cookies should be saved; they make excellent ice cream toppings!
| Prep Time: | 45 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 40 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 55 mins |
| Servings: | 15 |
| Yield: | 15 pieces |
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 1 ½ cups lukewarm water
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 4 ½ cups rice flour, divided
- ½ cup solid vegetable shortening, divided
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, chopped, or to taste
- 1 ½ pounds shredded cooked chicken meat
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons white sugar
- ½ cup diced green onion
- 1 pinch salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch, if needed (Optional)
Instructions
- Dissolve yeast in the water; stir in the sugar and beat in 2 1/2 cups of rice flour to make a soft sponge. Set aside in a warm place to double in bulk, about 40 minutes. Mix in 2 more cups of rice flour and 1/4 cup of shortening and place the dough on a greased work surface; knead in the remaining 1/4 cup of shortening to make a smooth dough. Cut the dough into 15 equal-sized pieces; form each piece into a ball.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir the onion and garlic in the hot oil until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken, soy sauce, 2 teaspoons of sugar, green onion, salt, and pepper. If the mixture is juicy, add cornstarch to thicken.
- Working on a lightly greased work surface, flatten a dough ball into a circle about 4 inches in diameter with the heel of your hand. Place about 1 tablespoon of filling into the center of the dough ball, bring the edges of the dough together at the top, and pinch and twist to seal in the filling. Place each filled dumpling onto waxed paper with the pinched seal at the bottom while you finish the rest of the dumplings.
- Spray a multi-layered bamboo steamer with cooking spray, place the steamer on top of a large saucepan, and pour in water to several inches below the steamer. Bring the water to a boil.
- Working in several batches, place 3 or 4 filled buns into each steamer layer without letting the buns touch each other or the edge of the steamer, cover the steamer, and let the buns steam over medium-low heat until puffy and the dough is springy, about 15 minutes per batch. Serve warm.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 346 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 44 g |
| Cholesterol | 34 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 16 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 270 mg |
| Sugars | 5 g |
| Fat | 11 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I’m a proficient cook and baker– this dough recipe is garbage. If this was supposed to be glutinous rice flour then that should be stated. The resulting steam bun was hard, grainy, and lacked flavor.
First time trying steamed dumplings and this recipe. Tried to carefully follow the directions but the dough turned out crumbly and difficult to work with even after adding water. Managed to get a few filled with a chicken and rice mixture we mixed up using the ingredients this recipe called for as a guide. They turned out dense and dry but the flavor of the dumpling dough and the filling were tasty. Unfortunately, because of the failed dough I can only give two stars. I will look for a different recipe to try next time. One that doesn’t have other reviewers say they ended up with crumbly dough.
Even with reserving my usual 1 cup dry, the resulting dough came out like a gritty lump. Adding sufficient water to help allow the rice flour to hydrate over the course of an hour produced a much better look, feel and spreadability to the dough. Even with this, the dough simply has no ability to hold itself together, the best comparison I can make is kinetic sand. I steamed a couple rolled pieces to see how it would hold together before risking a meal on this and it was what I expected. A flat, hard, textureless plank that fell apart immediately after being removed from the paper.
Attempted this recipe twice and it didn’t turn out well either try. The first time, I followed the recipe exactly except that I did not have a bamboo steamer and used a regular metal steaming pot. They were so dense and dry but the filling was good. So, thinking it may have just been the type of steamer, I got the recommended type and tried again. They were less dry but still super dense. Giving it 2 stars only because of the decent filling.
Uh oh. What happened? Dough balls split apart when handling and then again when trying to remove them from the steamer. They taste similar to the ones I had in China, but a little grittier.
I made a smaller batch, using my bread dough recipe. Followed the filling recipe except I used chopped raw chicken tenders. Everyone love it!
This recipe is certainly missing something. I downloaded it and followed the directions to a “T” and would up with piles of rice flour goo. I’m so upset at spending $50 on ingredients only to have my entire meal end up in the trash can.
Flavor is great but dough was sooo crumbly. I just read now that I may have added too much flour – so I’ll make it again my house smelled amazing though). Also instead of chicken I used carrots and leeks cause I’m vegan and used tamari sauce to make it gf. I also baked it (should have steamed as it was my first time but got tired lol). It had the texture of monay but the inside with the filling was nice and soft. Overall I think recipe is great and appreciate you sharing. Will try to make it again tomorrow if I have the energy. Thanks!
I don’t understand the problems reviewers had with the dough. If your dough is crumbly you add just a bit of water, if it’s too sticky you add a bit of flour, it’s common sense. Flour is different, humidity is different where you’re cooking, this is basic technique. At any rate, while it takes a bit of time I didn’t find this recipe difficult in the least. I’ve been looking for a great rice flour dough recipe to make bao that my celiac husband can have, and this does the trick beautifully. Use the filling listed or go crazy experimenting with your own combos, the possibilities are endless! Imagine sloppy joe filled buns, buffalo chicken buns, BBQ of any variety, chinese veg filled, egg custard, sausage and egg breakfast buns, cheeseburger, pizza flavors, seafood, taco, fruit, chicken pot pie, quiche, spinach dip, the only limit is imagination. This is hands down one of the most versatile recipes you can have in your recipe box, and they freeze well too so make up a few dozen and when you’re ready to eat them just steam in a bamboo steamer until they’re 165 degrees inside. No more buying buns for crazy prices at the international grocery for us, homemade is WAY better!
I made mi e with regular flour instead of rice flour came out really nicely!!!
Thanks for the recipe! Siopao is one of my fave! I made this Siopao and it taste good. Though i used all purpose flour. The only problem is that it has too much blisters all around..yellowish to brownish blisters. Looked awful but taste really good. What do you think went wrong? Kindly advise as i want it to look perfect..i feel that im the only one having trouble in my siopao..waiting for all your feedback! Thanks in advance! Tc
One thing I forgot to add in my last review is that the cooked dough has a tendency to flatten out as soon as it is out of the steamer. I added extra yeast in the initial dough prep, 1/2 teaspoon more. The dough becomes heavier and a little tougher to knead but you do not have the tackiness anymore. Once steamed, the buns retained their all around shape and the dough spongier.
If the dough gets super crumbly, just add water. It worked for my team. But man, is this work intensive. I also used imitation crab instead of chicken.
I have been looking around for a siopao or steamed buns recipe which uses rice flour and not the usual all purpose flour so I was really happy to find it here at all recipes. The texture of siopao made with rice flour is a bit heavier and chewier then that made with all purpose flour. This recipe is reminiscent of the siopao being sold at a very popular resto in the Philippines as compared to the ultra light and fluffy siopao varieties being sold elsewhere. Incidentally, I gave this recipe only four stars because I didn’t like the filling. The dough I give five stars! Next time, I will just make my own filling. Thank you MCCACJ for posting!
I tried making this with Rice flower, it did not turn out. I did this 5 different times following this recepie to the letter. The rice flower was crumbly and after they were steemed, they were hard. I found they are much better made with all purpose flower.
I make a similar version of this recipe, although much simplified for our busy lifestyles. First of all, I make the dough in the breadmaker, using all-purpose flour (just a regular white bread recipe). Second, I use a combination of ground pork and ground beef, and add a dash of Worcestershire sauce to the mixture. I make the meat mixture the night before and refrigerate it because it’s much easier to work with when it’s cold as well. After assembling the siopao, I rise the whole thing one more time (about 45 minutes) before steaming. My siopao turns out just as good as this recipe.
Good recipe! I don’t have rice flour but you can use cake flour/all purpose flour with for same result; I used http://www.joyofbaking.com/IngredientSubstitution.html for a conversion matrix. For those that have the dough “crumble apart” add a tablespoon of water to the dough at a time and continue kneading until it becomes slightly tacky to the touch. Note if the dough is too dry it will start to fall apart during steaming. My Husband loves the filling and has already devoured all of them
julia32, when you activate the yeast make sure the water is warm and not hot…high temperature will kill the yeast and mix in the sugar that is what the yeast eats which causes the dough to rise. Also make sure you are precise with your measurement of the flour. if it is crumbly then there is too much flour. when you knead in that last 1/2 cup do it a little at a time you may not need it all. Hope this helps : )
I tried this recipe but I did activate the yeast first by using warm water and adding 1 Tbsp of sugar, set it aside until spongy bubbles appears on top of it. Then you can mix it to the flour mixture. I also let the dough with fillings rise for 15 minutes before steaming it.
help me here…. i just made the dough recipe and it’s a mess…. the dough is crumbly and would not form…. the procedures in doing it is not very helpful…. the sponge is not really a sponge but watery…. what kind of recipe is this? I just throw away the dough that i made… it’s a waste of my time and money. pls tell me what i did wrong?
The filling for this recipe is amazing, but although I’ve followed it exactly twice now, I can’t get the dough right! I don’t know what I’m doing wrong (any input would be appreciated). Every time I try, the dough comes out crumbly and unusable. It’s not even remotely pliable and falls apart when I try to make the dumplings.