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serving plate of butter chicken bao with one flipped so you can see the crispy bottom and one town in half so you can see the filling
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5 from 12 votes

Vegan Butter Chicken Bao

Butter chicken bao (stuffed steamed bun) is an addictive snack or entree! No Steamer needed! Fluffy bao with a crispy bottom is stuffed with creamy, plant-based Indian butter sauce soycurl filling! Nutfree
Prep Time55 minutes
Cook Time40 minutes
Total Time1 hour 35 minutes
Course: Appetizer, Main, Side, Snack
Cuisine: Indian Fusion
Keyword: butter chicken bao
Servings: 8
Author: Vegan Richa

Ingredients

For the bao:

  • 3/4 cups warm non-dairy milk
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon active yeast
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons oil

For the butter chicken:

To serve with the bao:

  • green onion cilantro, and pickled onion
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make the bao.

  • Heat the milk, if you haven't already, until it's warm and add to a bowl. Then, add the sugar and yeast and mix in. Let the yeast get frothy for 5 minutes.
  • Mix the baking powder and salt into the flour, and add that to the yeast mixture. Mix really well to combine.
  • Once the dough is starting to come together, add the oil and mix in. If the dough is feeling sticky, you can add in 1 to 2 tablespoons or more flour as needed. You want the dough to be soft and moist and not too dry, but also not really sticky.
  • Once the dough is formed, cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and keep it in a warm place until it has doubled in size.

Meanwhile, make the butter chicken.

  • Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and add the oil. Once the oil is hot, add the onion and a good pinch of salt and cook until the onion is translucent.
  • Mix in all of the spices and ginger-garlic paste. Add in the tomato paste, coconut milk, and salt mixing really well, so the tomato paste dissolves into the coconut milk mixture. Bring it to a boil.
  • Meanwhile, chop up the soy curls, if they're too large. I usually use the ends of the bag, because that usually has already small pieces of soy curls.
  • Once the coconut milk mixture has come to a boil, remove 3 to 4 tablespoons of the sauce to serve on the side. Add in the soy curls, and 1/2 to 1 cup of water. Mix well, and cover and cook for 15 minutes or until the soy curls have absorbed all of the liquid and the mixture is thickening into a good filling kind of consistency. You can also break up any larger pieces of soy curls, if they're still intact . Stir once in between, just to make sure that they're not sticking to the bottom of the pan. Then set this mixture aside to cool.

Assemble and cook the bao.

  • Take the dough from your warm place and move it to a working area. Add some flour and shape it into a ball, and then roll it out with a rolling pin into a large rectangle or square not more than 1/4" thick. Use a pizza cutter to cut into 3" or larger squares.
  • Add a good 3 tablespoons or more of the filling into each square.
  • Brush some water onto all the sides of the square and then pinch the opposite sides, then pinch the other sides to make into a sealed bao. If you don't want to make them into stuffed bao you can just make them into rectangular envelopes like a hand pie, and then seal it with a fork. Repeat whichever sealing process you're using for all the dough and the filling.
  • Heat a large, flat skillet over medium high heat. Add a teaspoon of oil, and have 1 cup of hot water ready (on the side) for steaming.
  • Once the oil is hot, arrange the bao in the pan so that there is about half an inch of space between each one. Cook for 2 minutes to brown the bottoms. It doesn't take too long to brown the bottoms. You can flip them and brown the other side as well. It's your preference. Otherwise, pour the hot water into the pan carefully and close it with a well-fitting lid, which also has hole for the steam to escape.
  • Reduce the heat to medium and steam for 10 to 12 minutes or until the water is almost gone. Then, remove the lid, and transfer the bao to your serving plate. Serve with the reserved butter chicken sauce. I also like to serve with some pickled onion and cilantro.

Video

Notes

To make this soy free, use other chicken substitutes, like seitan or store-bought chicken substitute that are soy-free. A can of cooked chickpeas will also work in place of the soy curls to make this soy-free.
To m make this without soy curls, add tofu to the mixture instead. You can add crisped up tofu or just chopped up tofu.

Nutrition

Calories: 214kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 337mg | Potassium: 167mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 149IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 126mg | Iron: 3mg