Songzao Baba (松糕粑粑)
Note: This page contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. :)
This is originally mentioned in THIS Instagram Post.
The following recipe is for roughly 24 individual baba.
Ingredients: Filling
1 lb ground pork
16g ginger, finely minced
30g green onion, finely minced
3g salt
10g soy sauce
20g oyster sauce
1 egg, about 50g
5g cornstarch
Ingredients: Dough
200g glutinous rice flour
My favorite brand is Cho Heng Rice Vermicelli Factory Rice Flour for both varieties.
100g rice flour
8g salt
200g water, room temperature
Directions:
Prepare your filling by weighing out all of your ingredients.
Give it a solid mix until everything is combined, either with chopsticks, a spoon, or by hand. I like to mix minced meat with foodsafe gloves.
Set filling to the side at room temperature while you make the dough.
In a different bowl, weigh out rice flour, glutinous rice flour, and salt. Mix thoroughly.
Slowly add water and mix to combine. If the dough looks too wet, then add more rice flour. If the dough looks too dry, SLOWLY add more water.
Unlike traditional wheat doughs, which take time to hydrate and autolyse, rice flour is ready to be used immediately.
Once the dough is able to hold shape, work on forming each baba. Steps 7-11 are demonstrated via this video.
First, take out a portion of the dough and flatten it between the palms of your hands by pressing down.
Once the dough is about 0.25’’ thick, add about 1.5 tbsp of the filling, spreading it out evenly while leaving 0.25-0.5’’ space on the sides.
Move the dough + filling disk to the palm of your hand. Using the ball of your hand, form another slightly smaller rice dough patty by firmly pressing down.
Place the second rice patty on top of the original disk.
Fuse the two dough disks by cupping the whole baba together and rotating with both palms, as if forming a snowball.
Once one is formed, place the baba directly into your pan.
If you are making a smaller batch, keep your pan on the lowest heat setting while you are forming the rest of the baba.
If you are making a full batch, put on a cold non-stick pan and form all of them before turning on the heat.
Finish forming all of your baba.
If you have leftover filling, put it into an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 5 days. The dough is really simple to eyeball together on the day of for the freshest baba!
Pan fry all of the baba on side 1 for 3 minutes on medium heat. Once they release from the pan, repeat for side 2 for 2 minutes.
Add enough water to cover about 0.5’’ of the pan. Use a splatter guard to prevent oil from getting everywhere. This is the one I have. Leave the heat on medium.
Once all the water evaporates from the pan, flip again and cook on both sides for 2-minute increments until it reaches your desired crunch level. I usually flip 2 more times so there is a light color on the skin.
Serve immediately and enjoy a bite of Anhui!
FAQ:
Q: What does this taste like?
It is structurally similar to a less sticky tangyuan, baozi-sized (aka flattened baseball sized), and with a similar savory filling as baozi. I like to eat it with chopsticks instead of handheld since it’s a bit oily from being panfried.
Q: I didn’t finish using all of the filling. How long does the filling last?
I have successfully kept it in an airtight container in the fridge for 1 week, but I did not touch it in the interim. I would advise you to keep it for up to 5 days in the fridge, or freeze for up to 3 months. If frozen, simply put it in the fridge to defrost overnight.
