Leading food blogger Marta Simonet is teaming up with Cosentino to share her delicious food and lifestyle content featuring Silestone and Dekton countertops. She explains how to create fabulous recipes in a simple and creative way.

Cosentino materials are a testament to the skills of this culinary expert, who combines her passions for cooking and communication to bring us the most surprising and mouthwatering options to prepare at home.

The original recipe for bao includes chicken, vegetables and a delicious sprinkling of nuts. If you like Asian food and culture as much as we do, you’ll know the cuisine of this rich and ancient culture is much more than its famous white rice, succulent sushi, spring rolls or a variety of noodle dishes. So at Cosentino Top Foodie, we share a tasty and innovative recipe for bao with chicken, vegetables, and nuts with you.

If you like these spongy Asian steamed buns, you’ll love this totally international dish. And who better than Marta Simonet to teach us how to make the easy recipe.

Difficulty: Medium

Time: 25 minutes

Serves: 2

INGREDIENTS

• Bao buns
• 2 chicken thighs, cut into strips
• 1 bunch of fresh coriander
• 2 limes
• 1 teaspoon of brown sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 2 radishes
• 1 or 2 spring onions

METHOD

1) Gently fry the chicken with the sugar and salt: The first thing we’re going to do is prepare the chicken, which is the main filling for our bao buns. For that, we cut it into strips and fry it in oil over a low heat, adding a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of brown sugar. That will give it a touch of sweetness and make it caramelize a little.

“I’m going to give it a little spoonful of brown sugar to give it a bit of sweetness and to help it caramelize a bit. When you try it, you’ll see how good it tastes, because later we’ll add coriander and that combination of flavors is incredible.”

2) Cut the vegetables: Once we’ve fried the chicken, we need to prepare the rest of the ingredients. So we slice the radishes and spring onions. Because these ingredients are going in raw, it’s very important to slice them very thin so that they give the bao flavor without overpowering the palate.

When cutting vegetables, remember that you should never do this directly onto your kitchen worktop unless it’s Dekton®, which is highly resistant to scratches and abrasions.

3) Prepare the peanuts: Here we’ve chosen roasted peanuts for our chicken bao but feel free to substitute using your favorite nut or remove if you have an allergy.

As Marta Simonet suggests in the video recipe if you really want to savor the taste and texture of the nuts in this dish, break them up with a mortar but don’t crush them completely. That way you’ll end up with chunks that will make the bao even tastier.

“We’re going to break them up a bit, but not too much because I love finding the chunks.”

4) Prepare the lime: For those who like big flavors, we’re also going to prepare the limes, which can be squeezed over the bao buns just before serving.

“If anyone wants to give it a bit more power, just reach for the lime.”

So, cut these into four pieces and set them aside to serve with the bao buns when they’re ready.

5) Fill the baos with the ingredients: Now that all the ingredients are ready, we’re going to fill these delicious little buns. We start by putting in a little coriander. On top of that, we add some chicken and slices of spring onion and radish. And finally, we add the finishing touch of coriander.

6) Serve the bao buns: Although the presentation is up to you, we’ve opted to serve the chicken bao buns in a bamboo steamer to give it that fully Asian look.

“Look what a gorgeous dish we’ve made in no time at all. This is a really top, top recipe.”