Gua Bao with Pulled Chicken

Fluffy Taiwanese lotus leaf buns filled with spicy Hoisin pulled chicken. The halal friendly version of the famous Gua Bao.

Unbalanced

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Step 1

Cut the chicken thighs in half or into bite size pieces.

Step 2

Add the oil, 5 spices, ginger powder, black pepper and salt to the chicken thighs and mix thoroughly.

Step 3

Heat up a pan and add some oil. When the oil bas heated up add the chicken thighs to the pan and cook them on high heat for 5 - 10 minutes.

Step 4

Add the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sriracha and vinegar to the chicken.

Step 5

Add the water and turn the heat to low, let the chicken cook for 45 minutes.

Step 6

Take the chicken out of the sauce and put it in a separate bowl. Now cook the sauce until it becomes syrupy.

Step 7

Pull your chicken (with forks or a blender) and add it back to the sauce. Cook and mix the chicken with the leftover sauce for another 5 minutes.

Step 8

I don’t have a bamboo steamer so I used a deep pan and put a flat plate in it. Cover the plate with parchment paper and put your heat to low.

Step 9

Add some water to the pan (not too much) and put your buns on the plate. Do not let them touch each other because they will stick to each other.

Step 10

Cover the plate with parchment paper and put your heat to low. Now put the buns on the plate and let them steam as is for 5 minutes.

Step 11

Now cover the pan with a lid, it’s important that you cover your lid with a dry and clean kitchen cloth. This way the waterdrops created by the steam won’t fall on your buns.

Step 12

Take the buns out after 10 minutes or when they’ve become fluffy.

Step 13

Add some pickled cucumber and onions to the bun. I pickled them the night before in some vinger but you can use store-bought cucumbers and onions as well.

Step 14

Add the pulled chicken to your bun.

Step 15

Your gua bao is ready to be served!