A majority of Indians have the unfortunate tendency to associate Chinese cuisine with the spicy ‘manchurian’ dishes that grace hotel menus. It was an ignorant misconception I held for many years as well, until I had the opportunity to sample dim sum at an upmarket restaurant in Bengaluru. The soft, steamed flavours of the meal awakened in me a new appreciation for the cuisine of China, leading me to try other steamed variations that did not involve throwing things into a pan and mixing every sauce that comes to hand.

Going by how popular it is across the world, I came upon the bao — or ‘baozi’ as it was originally known — later than most. The exact origins of the dish are difficult to trace, though common consensus is that its main purpose was to serve as a light, nourishing, easy-to-transport snack. “The bao (which literally translates to ‘bun’) was then made by stuffing pork into a shell made of flour, and was quite popular among farmers and labourers,” says Tanmoy Savardekar, chef and consultant at Kylie’s – The Bao Shop in Bengaluru.

The cha siu bao — named for its use of cha siu pork — was a staple in most dim sum platters served in Chinese tea houses along the Silk Road, serving as an archetype of sorts for its many variants over the centuries.

“The dish eventually spread to other Asian countries, with many tweaking it according to their tastes,” says Savardekar, giving the example of the siopao, a variation of the bao found in the Philippines, which can be had with fillings like shrimp and duck eggs. It is also popular in Indonesia and Malaysia, though the religious beliefs of the latter sees the buns served with fillings other than the traditional pork.

According to Savardekar, the number of Indian tourists who visited South-East Asian countries contributed to its eventual arrival on Indian shores. “We Indians are suckers for live cooking and home food, and the bao, in many ways, was similar to our own idli.”

Despite being available in India for the better part of a decade, early growth was tepid, compared to its explosive popularity now. The reason for this also had to do with how it looked, feels Prashanth Puttaswamy, executive chef at The Fatty Bao, which has branches in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. “The closed bao didn’t really take off because it wasn’t visually appealing, and you can’t even tell what’s inside. The open bao changed that, as it revealed the fillings and gave chefs freedom to try different visual styles.” He sums it up quite neatly, “It immediately became more Instagrammable.”

Both Puttaswamy and Savardekar credit American restaurateur David Chang, founder of Momofuku restaurants, as the inventor of the open bao. “I believe it was an accident,” Puttaswamy explains, “A batch he made did not come out right, causing the exterior to crack and expose the filling. With the filling exposed, you can play with meats, textures and colours to make it more appealing.”

The Fatty Bao has latched onto the open bao concept, offering hot dog-style baos, pumpkin and rendang varieties. They even have a South Indian special closed-type version filled with chilli crab and pan-seared to leave it soft on one side and crisp on the other.

The popularity of the bao, according to Mumbai-based chef Vikramjit Roy — who specialises in pan-Asian cuisine —boils down to formula. “I believe the first time I had an open bao was in Taipei around seven years ago, and while it looked different, the taste was more or less the same. The bao is popular because it is perceived to be healthy and offers a full complement of flavours — the taste of meat, the sweetness and sourness. These flavours are well-received by the brain, so it’s a matter of cracking the code.”

He does concede that the bao has caught on across the country. “Every Asian restaurant has it on the menu now. I was in Pune recently, and came across four restaurants right next to each other, all serving the bao in different avatars, despite not even being typical Asian joints!”

Roy, who is set to open a new restaurant named POH (Progressive Oriental House) in Mumbai’s Lower Parel, is also experimenting with the very chemistry of the dish, by reducing flour content and using a lacto-fermentation process instead of yeast for aeration. His other goal is to update the stuffing, traditionally pork belly, with healthier alternatives, a move he believes is necessary for the age we live in.

At Kylie’s, Savardekar has adopted a different approach, keeping things a little more conventional, but bringing it to budget, wholesome street food level, the way it originally was. He believes the popularity of the bao is here to stay, provided its makers keep innovating. “I’m surprised more people have not replicated the formula already. All it takes is to keep trying new things to keep people coming back.”

If the footfalls the establishments attract despite their entire menu being based on variations of the bao is a marker, coming back they certainly are.

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Printable version | Jun 25, 2022 5:36:39 am | https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/think-out-of-the-bao/article17846657.ece