Miya's Kitchen: BBQ Shrimp Bao Notes

For years my mom has made a twist on Chef Emeril’s BBQ Creole Shrimp. It has been one of my favorite meals for as long as I can remember, with its rich, spicy sauce and its uncanny ability to melt into the rice it is served with, creating a bowl of pure bliss.

I have been craving pork buns for a couple of weeks now, but not knowing where to find them, and in an attempt to be economical, I dusted off my bamboo steamer and set to work making the bao dough. When thinking about fillings, I wanted to do something different. There is nothing wrong with the classic pork buns or the slightly edgier pork belly but I was not confident in my abilities to throw together a delicious pork filling at the drop of a hat. It made me wonder, though, how would that BBQ shrimp taste between a light and fluffy, slightly sweet piece of cloud bread heaven? Probably pretty earth-shattering.

With the sauce, shrimp, green onions and a little lettuce stuffed between this homemade dough, I will tell you, I have never been more excited about a test kitchen experiment.