How to make Chicken Kong Bak Bao, or juicy, braised chicken thighs in soft lotus leaf mantou buns.

Watch the video for a better look at how to make Chicken Kong Bak Bao!

Kong Bak Bao (kong ba bao / kong bak pau / gua pao) is a classic Chinese Hokkien dish of braised pork belly stuffed in a mantou foldover bun. This version replaces the pork belly with juicy chicken thighs, making this completely Halal!

‘Kong Bak’ means braised meat while ‘Bao’ refers to the Chinese style bun. It’s typically sold in Singapore as little buns to snack on, but it can be eaten as a meal.

What Type of Chicken to Use for Amazing Kong Bak Bao?

I highly recommend using fatty boneless chicken parts! Use either chicken thighs, or if you can find boneless whole chicken leg, that’s even better. You will need the skin-on, full fat with this.

Chop the chicken pieces up to about 4-5 cm width; you want them to be able to fit the buns! You can even afford to make them slightly bigger since the chicken will shrink as it cooks. Make sure you have enough chicken pieces for the number of buns.

Another plus point for using chicken in place of pork belly is that the amount of braising time is much lesser. This chicken cooks through in just 20 minutes!

If you really want to use boneless chicken breast, you can. Be more aware of the cooking time so it does not dry out as much. It will not be as tasty though!

Foldover Lotus Leaf Mantou Buns

The kong bak bao buns used for this is known as lotus leaf buns due to the shape. Made from flour, there’s no lotus leaves used to make this. They’re also known as mantou buns, or at least a version of the mantou buns. Mantou buns are Chinese steamed buns.

They’re easily available ready-made in supermarkets – look for them in the frozen bun section. If your supermarket has a dedicated fresh Chinese buns and noodles section, you can grab them fresh too. I prefer the frozen versions since I don’t have to worry about using them up immediately. They’re easy to find online too.

With the ready-made foldover lotus leaf buns, all you have to do is steam them for about 5 to 8 minutes and they get all soft and warm and ready to eat! Directions may vary by brand, so check the packet instructions.

The lotus leaf buns are best served immediately when they are soft and warm. If left to cool for too long, it will harden in texture. Steam again to resoften.

Seasonings and Aromatics

The main flavouring agent is Dark Soy Sauce. This is a thick soy sauce that is sweeter than light soy sauce. An alternative you can use is Kicap Manis, or Dark Sweet Soy Sauce – in fact I interchange the two many times!

Kong Bak Bao is a savoury dish, but it does lean on the sweeter side due to the amount of Dark Soy Sauce required. If you want a less sweet dish, simply add lesser dark soy sauce. However do note that your chicken may not have the signature dark colour to it. It’ll still taste good though.

The three dry spices used here are cinnamon, star anise and cloves. These add such a gorgeous flavour to this. If you’ve had my Ayam Masak Kicap, you will immediately find the flavour familiar!

I added Chinese Five Spice Powder, for an extra boost of flavour, but feel free to skip if you don’t have this on hand. Chinese Five Spice Powder is easily available at supermarkets, where you would find the ground peppers. Five Spice Powder is basically a ready-made blend of five ground spices, usually cinnamon, cloves, star anise, coriander seeds and cumin. It is not uncommon for other spices to be included such as fennel and sichuan peppercorns, depending on the brand. I don’t find there to be much difference between the different brands.

An unusual ingredient I added for my Kong Bak Bao would be Thai Bird’s Eye Chillies! This is optional and definitely not traditional, but I love bit of spice it adds to the sauce.

Lightly mash the bird’s eye chillies by flattening it with the back of the knife and add it whole to the sauce. Doing it this way will infuse the sauce with just a subtle bit of spice.

Making the Gravy

With the leftover braising soup, we turn it into a thick, luscious dipping gravy sauce! You don’t need as much of the soup to create the gravy. The cooked, braised chicken is dipped into this thick sauce before it’s placed onto the buns, for an extra layer of deliciousness.

Either strain the soup, or do what I do and ladle out the soup, separating it from the aromatics, and into another pan. I always like to give it a taste test before continuing. This is dipping sauce after all! So you want a nice burst of flavour. You might need to add more salt, or soy sauce depending on your preference. If you find it too salty, or too sweet however, an easy fix is to just add more water to dilute it.

Then reheat the soup, and add cornstarch (or conrn flour) slurry until it thickens. Gradually add the cornstarch slurry, and stir it in. Stop once it thickens to a gravy that coats the spoon.

With the leftover braising soup, you don’t have to throw it away! I like to keep it in the fridge, and reheat it to use as sauce over rice.

Type of Vegetables

I consider the vegetables such an important component of Kong Bak Bao! The freshness of the lettuce and the herby flavour of the coriander helps to cut the fattiness and the sweetness of the braised chicken. I would always stuff the baos with double layers or lettuce leaves and stalks of coriander!

You can also use parsley or spring onions for your fresh herb.

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