Dough
Tapioca Pearls 800g
water 1000 ml
Cooking oil 50g
Filling
ground pork 500-600g
cornstarch 1 T
1T soy sauce
Dried Shitake Mushroom 20g
Bamboo shoots julienned 150 g
Fried Shallots 75g
Seasoning for Filling
Soy Sauce 2 T
1/2 t white pepper
1/2 t salt
1/2 t 5 spice
1/2 t sugar
Procedure:
1. Soak the tapioca in the water at least 4 hours (overnight works well too). After soaking, mix in the cooking oil and mix well with hands to form a sticky dough.
2. Rehydrate the mushrooms and dice or slice thinly.
3. In a skillet, add about a T of oil and stir fry the shallots, bamboo, and mushrooms until fragrant. Add the seasoning and allow the mixture to cool to room temp.
4. Add the cornstarch and 1 T of soy sauce to the meat and mix well. Allow it to marinate while the ingredients from step 3 cool.
5. Mix the meat and the stir-fried items together.
6. Oil the bowls or ramekins generously with oil.
7a. Make a ball with the meat mixture and make a ball similar in size with the dough. You may want to flatten the dough out into a disk, place the meat mixture inside and close up the dough to make a ball. Place the ball in a heat resistant container. (see pictures above for more details)
7b. Alternatively, you can make a disk with the dough, line the bottom of a bowl with the disk, place the meat on top, and then top the meat mixture with a smaller disk, making sure the dough surrounds the bowl completely.
8. Steam in a traditional steamer for about 20 minutes, or in an instant pot, pressure cook on manual for 5 minutes with a quick release.
9. You can eat it immediately, or place each Bawan in a plastic baggie and freeze. When you are ready to eat, take the Bawan out of the baggie, steam, or microwave for 90 seconds.
10. Traditionally, it's served with a sweet and spicy sauce. I haven't found a perfect recipe for the sauce, but here's one that works pretty well:
Soy Sauce 1 T
Ketchup 1.5 T
Taiwanese chili sauce 1T
sugar 1 T
Indica rice flour 2 T
Water 300g
Mix all the ingredients in a sauce pan until thickened and chill.