On our visit to the Asian market this trip, Sly asked my mom about the Vietnamese savory buns (banh bao) he saw at the checkout counter. The next day, my mom made them for him. From scratch. They were hands down the best banh baos ever, although I still have a special fondness for the version my mom used to make when we were kids with butter-flavored Pilsbury dough.
We did manage to convince my mom to 'take a night off' on her birthday and try out a bbq place we had never tried (a place my mom found out about by watching the Food Network). Of course we ordered an insane amount of food -- more than enough for a group three times as large as ours. And of course we had to have peach cobbler for dessert.
Mom's Pate Chaud
Ingredients:
2 Puff pastry packages
Filling:
1/4 lb pork or chicken
1 small onion, diced
1 T oyster sauce
2 T pork paté- Farmer John-Braunschweiger
2 t sugar
1 t white pepper
1 T cognac or cooking wine
1T fish sauce
1/4 t salt
¼ C black mushrooms, sliced (soak in warm water if dried)
½ C peas (optional)
2 egg yolks lightly mixed w/1 T water
1 egg white, whisk w. a fork (for sealing the pouches - not needed if crimping shut)
Directions:
Thaw the pastry in the fridge ‘til firm, not soft. Or thaw at room temp. for 30 mins. It
won’t rise if it’s handled too much or too long, too soft.
Combine the filling ingredients. Line parchment paper on baking sheet
Open the pastry sheet carefully so it won’t break. Flour both sides of the pastry and the
board. Using a cutter to cut the pastry into 3 or 4” circles.
Place the filling in the center of each circle. Place another pastry circle on top of the
filling. Use a cup w. a smaller diameter than the pastry circle to press down the dough.
Preheat oven to 400 F
Brush the top of the pastry with the egg yolk.
Finally, poke a tiny slit at the top to allow steam to release and the puff pastry to rise.
Bake, 350 F for 30 mins. or until golden brown. Use the lower third oven rack!