Family memories, food, travel and history all blend to make Silk Roads, A Flavor Odyssey with Recipes from Baku to Beijing (DK, 2025) by Anna Ansari, with photography by Laura Edwards, a nourishing book.
The most recent version of the Silk Road is one of long trains not caravans carrying goods across many miles.
A number of very resilient people have tackled the silk road by bicycle. One of them is a young lady from Toulouse, Elayis, and her Une Route a Soie.
My first recipe pick from the book is called ‘the unsung hero of the dumpling world’.
S P I N A C H & TOFU BAOZI
Makes 18 baozi
Ubiquitous in China, yet unfamiliar to most outside Asia, the baozi is the unsung hero of the dumpling world. Or, at least, of my dumpling world. I love them so much.
Baozi’s soft, pillowy yeasted dough is increasingly known in the Western world because of the popular Taiwanese gua bao, a sandwich-like bun with a near-identical dough that typically houses melt-in-your- mouth braised pork belly. And baozi fillings, this one included, are generally near-identical to those of the boiled dumplings (shui jiao) found in Chinese restaurants the world over. Baozi: simultaneously unfamiliar and yet instantly recognizable at first bite. But baozi are only baozi when they are stuffed. A steamed bun made from the same dough, yet unfilled, is called mantou, a word that sounds suspiciously like manti – the Turkic word used to describe dumplings from the shores of the Mediterranean to the mountains of Xinjiang. And this may be no coincidence. Mantou of yore, like baozi of today, were stuffed with meat and spices, and some scholars believe they criss-crossed Central Asia starting in the 13th century when the Pax Mongolica, that lauded time of peace and stability, resulted in a massive increase in usage of the overland trade routes known as … drumroll, please … the Silk Roads.
Could it be that stuffed mantou travelled these roads alongside Kublai Khan’s soldiers, emissaries, and tradespeople? We can’t be certain, but it is certain that these baozi are real, and they are spectacular. Enjoy your baozi plain, dipped in soy sauce mixed with some black vinegar, or smothered in crispy chilli oil.
For the dough
2 tsp granulated sugar
7g (1⁄4oz) packet fast-action dried yeast
500g (1lb 2oz) plain flour, plus extra for dusting
100g (31⁄2oz) cornflour
1 tsp fine sea salt
For the filling
225g (8oz) firm tofu
350g (12oz) frozen chopped spinach
1 carrot, peeled and julienned
5cm (2in) piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 tbsp cornflour or potato starch
1⁄2 tsp ground white pepper
1⁄4 tsp Chinese five spice powder
1 tbsp fine sea salt
1 tsp MSG
5 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp dark soy sauce
Directions:
In a small bowl, combine the sugar and yeast with 300ml (11⁄4 cups/10fl oz) lukewarm water. Mix and set aside for 5 minutes.
Sift the flour, cornflour, and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. With the mixer on low, briefly combine the dry ingredients, then, with the mixer still running, slowly pour in the sugar and yeast water. Set a timer for 9 minutes, turn the mixer to a medium speed, and let it work its modern magic.
After 9 minutes, the dough should be well-combined, smooth, and a bit stiff. Turn off your mixer and, using (clean) hands, knead the dough for 1 minute more, then shape it into a ball. Keep the dough in the bowl (or move it to another if you really want), cover it with a clean tea towel, and put it somewhere warm to rise for 1 hour.
While your dough is proofing, prep your filling, the first step of which is draining your tofu. Draining your tofu is vital when making baozi, because an overly wet filling will overwhelm the dough and it just won’t be good. I promise. So remove the tofu from its packaging and drain the water into your sink, then place the tofu on a chopping board, top it with a paper towel, and then place another chopping board on top. Plop a super-heavy book on top of everything and let the tofu drain for 10–20 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring a medium saucepan of water to the boil and quickly blanch your spinach for 2 minutes, then drain in a fine mesh sieve. Using a wooden spoon, press down on the drained spinach to try and get as much moisture out of the spinach as possible.
Take your well-drained block of tofu and, using your hands or a fork, crumble it into a medium bowl. You want it to look like minced meat. Once you get the tofu to that texture, add all the other filling ingredients, including the spinach (once it’s cool enough to handle), and mix everything together. Set aside and return to your dough.
Hopefully after 1 hour, your dough will have risen and doubled in size. If it hasn’t, give it some more time, making sure to wait until it has doubled to bring it out for the next step.
Prepare a lightly floured surface and release your risen dough from its bowl on to that surface. Divide the dough into 18 pieces, each approximately 50g (13⁄4oz) in weight, and shape them into little balls.
Using the heel of your hand, press down on the first dough ball so that it becomes a thick, flat circle, then roll it out into a thin circle about 13cm (51⁄4in) in diameter. Rotate the dough as you roll it out, to get that circle as evenly rounded as possible. Do this for each ball and line them up in a row, ready for the filling.
In the middle of each dough circle, plop a heaping tablespoon of your filling. To pleat and seal your baozi, you have a couple of options. The simplest is to gather the edges of the circle, pull them up over the centre of the filling and pinch them together tightly to seal. If you opt for this method, flip your baozi over and steam them with the non-pinched side up.
The other option is only a bit more difficult once you get the hang of it, and yields a classic pleated dumpling pouch familiar across the globe. Use your non-dominant hand to keep the dough steady on your work surface, then use your other hand to pull up and pleat your dough, like a little accordion, all the way around the dough circle. When you come full-circle (literally), pinch the tops together to firmly seal them. You should end up with between 12 and 18 pleats. And you won’t win a prize for the most pleats, so don’t stress; your goal is to seal the baozi, and then steam and eat them. That’s it.
Line up your beautifully filled and formed baozi, cover with a clean tea towel once again, and let rest for 15 minutes.
Once your baozi have rested, it’s time to steam them. Arrange your baozi on a bamboo steamer lined with baking parchment, making sure to leave a 2cm (3⁄4in) gap between each baozi and around the edges of the steamer. Depending on the size of your steamer, you will need to steam the baozi in batches.
Steam each batch for 15 minutes, then allow them to cool for another 5 minutes before serving (after all this work, you don’t want to burn off the top of your mouth).
If you’ve made more than you can eat in one go, worry not: once cooled and nestled into an airtight container, the baozi will keep beautifully in your refrigerator for 3–4 days (or in your freezer for up to 3 months). Steam or microwave to reheat.
(“Excerpted from Silk Roads reprinted by permission of DK, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © Anna Ansari 2025″, Photography: Laura Edwards)
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