Basque fusion bao buns

These Basque fusion buns, which I am calling Bil-bao Buns, are a fusion of flavours from the north of the Iberian Peninsula and Asian cooking, most notably Japanese food. Quick and easy to make, they're an easy meal that puts something a little different into a mid-week no-fuss supper.

The bun man cometh

The only story behind this one is that I have long wanted to cook this dish that long swilled around in my imagination that I am calling Bil-bao Buns. There is something almost too obvious about combining the pinxtos tradition from the northern Iberian peninsula and Asian influences, but, God knows, it works. Remember, my generation of maritime rats know these bao buns that have more recently become internationally fashionable as the Japanese nikuman.

Just before COVID-19 hit, I was in Galicia and the Basque Country with work. When all the business stuff concluded in Bilbao, I hung around for a couple of days before heading to Vitoria-Gasteiz, the somewhat overlooked capital of the Basque Country, for a little personal time before heading to Madrid. It was also to check out another suspicion, not least of all because pinxtos is actually a Basque word, referring to the skewers on which they were originally served.

Like many, I had been sold on the promise that the pinxtos in Santiago de Compostela were the best in Spain. But, since I had already found far better in Vigo , and even better in Bilbao, over the border into the Basque Country, I thought I should check out what they had to offer in the regional capital.

My previous visits to Bilbao had been work related, whether in the worlds of art or sustainable seafood (don't ask). I hadn't enjoyed it very much because I had been shepherded around by those assuming I wanted "the official tour"replicating the spin about its famous object-building museum that I dislike for the way in which it competes with the art shown within. As and aside, only Jeff Koons' Puppy (1992), a giant outdoor sculpture of a West Highland White Terrier formed from thousands of live flowering plants, does well out of the deal: Frank Gehry's reflective undulating surfaces of the Guggenheim are great when in the background... where any building of a contemporary art museum should be.

Freed from this irritation, I had a really good time, exploring its excellent produce market by day and its rich pinxtos offering by night.

Similarly, in Vitoria-Gasteiz, a city without much international tourism and off-season to boot, most people welcomed me as a curious interloper and gave me recommendations of places where I found excellent pinxtos. While sitting in one of these places, eating the best pulpo con alioli I had ever tasted—okay, so a tie with that which I had in Valencia with close friends in 2008—my brain was churning with how I could create something filtered through my own lens of Japanese food as a kid, memories of which it sparked without even trying.

This is an incredibly simple dish that makes for a low-maintenance meal that can be pulled together in barely 30mins.

Not a baker

I am not going to give you my recipe for bao buns (nikuman) because there isn't one: I would never dare to bake them. Back in the day, you had to head for London's Chinatown or to the depths of North London to buy them from Japanese bakeries there in the area around Golders Green where many Japanese people settled. And, that is indeed the kind of journey I still make in other European cities; to their local Asian food districts. However, since the hip kids have made them far more widely popular, you can now even buy them in London from various mainstream supermarket outlets.

And, if you can't where you live, there are numerous Asian chefs online who can teach you how to bake them from scratch with far more knowledge than I will ever have.

Here, I have settled on two fillings that I think marry up the traditions of the Basque Country and Japan, though obviously feel free to experiment.

The quantities in this recipe serve 2 diners as a full meal. You can halve the quantities and easily serve them as a starter, with or without the salad.

3 top tips to get this recipe right:

• I am using panceta ahumada, effectively the Spanish version of more widely available Italian pancetta. Because I really wanted to emphasise smoky flavours—hence using smoked tomatoes, smoked garlic and smoked paprika too—it was the obvious choice with its dark, smoky flavour. On the spectrum, panceta ahumada is the smokiest, followed by smoked Italian pancetta, then common Italian pancetta that is not smoked at all. Based on availability and/or how much you like smoky flavours, opt in on the spectrum with what best suits you. All work perfectly well.

• While you can prepare the panceta and tomato filling well in advance—it keeps well in the fridge overnight, for example—don't prepare the asparagus and prawn filling too far in advance. Because you are adding cooked, shelled prawns to a mix that contains various acidic elements, if you allow it to marinade too long, there is a risk that the acid will "overcook" the prawns. In ceviche, which uses acidic lime juice to cook seafood from raw, it has a natural way of plateauing out. But, if leaving cooked seafood in lime juice too long, it hardens, even more of a risk given that the prawns will additionally be steamed in the buns.

• Although here I am using an Asian-style bamboo steamer to steam the asparagus, it's primarily because I was using the steamer shortly afterwards to steam the buns and I wanted to have that vague scent of the asparagus when using the same water to steam them. It's perfectly fine to use any other steaming method. I'm vociferous that my 20-year-old Japanese plastic microwave steamer is still one of my favourite implements. Ordinarily when making any dish requiring pre-steamed asparagus, that's what I'd use: 5 or 6mins depending on thickness (always on medium power) and I can rely on perfectly steamed asparagus.

Shopping list

for the Basque fusion bao buns

• 8 small pre-baked bao buns

  
  

  The asparagus and prawn filling

  • 9 to 10 large fresh green asparagus; trimmed

  • 1 cup of large prawns; cooked and shelled

  • 1 large echalion shallot, peeled (or equivalent in other shallots)

  • A generous clutch of fresh coriander

  • The juice of ½ a fresh lime

  • 1tspn mirin

  • ½ a teaspoon garlic & ginger paste

  • 2tbspns Japanese rice vinegar

  • Salt and pepper to taste

  • 1 or 2 fresh spring onions, sliced

  
  

  The panceta and tomato filling

  • 100g Spanish panceta ahumada; (or smoked pancetta); diced

  • 70g smoked or "sun blushed" tomatoes; halved

  • 2 large echalion shallots, peeled and cubed

  • 1 large mild red chilli pepper; cubed

  • 3 cloves smoked garlic, finely cubed (or fresh garlic)

  • ½ a teaspoon mild pimentón (smoked paprika)

  • A generous dash of brandy (or dry sherry)

  • 1tbspn virgin olive oil

  • A handful of enoki mushrooms; tailed

  • Salt and pepper to taste

for the salad

• 2 hardboiled eggs; sliced

• ½ a fresh cucumber; cut into batons

• 4tbspns pickled daikon

• 4 spring onions; roughly chopped

• A little deep roasted sesame dressing, such as this one from Kewpie

• 2tspns of a good furikake

Cooking method

the Basque fusion bao buns

1. You can cook either filling first, but I always start with the panceta and tomato filling since this easily keeps in the fridge. Heat the olive oil in a pan on a medium heat and sauté the shallots and chilli until they soften. Once soft, add the smoked garlic, cooking only long enough to soften, ensuring it doesn't burn

2. Add the panceta ahumada—the fat should give some protection to the garlic—waiting until the juices in the pan increase (after about a minute or two) before adding the brandy. When the brandy has almost fully cooked off, add the smoked tomatoes and their juices, followed almost immediately by the pimentón. Cook until the tomatoes soften and most of the juices cook off. This usually only take a few minutes. Remove from the heat and place to one side

3. Steam the asparagus and allow to cool. Once tepid, cut into fairly large pieces. Shortly before you steam the buns, chop the coriander and shallots in a mini-chopper or by hand. Place in a bowl and add the garlic & ginger paste, and all of the liquid ingredients. Fold in the asparagus pieces and the prawns. Season to flavour and allow to marinade briefly

4. Place your bao buns in a steamer—ideally a spacious one—and line the base of the buns that will have the asparagus and prawn filling with sliced raw spring onion. Spoon in generous amounts of the fillings, adding some separated raw enoki mushrooms to the top of the panceta and tomato filling. Cover and steam for 8 to 10mins

5. Assemble your salad while the buns are steaming. Once ready, plate and take to table with the dressed salad and whatever dipping sauces you prefer. I personally think it works well with a thick dark soy sauce

Alternatives

This is a very new recipe I have created, a surf-'n-turf number that has both pescatarian and carnivore elements. Thus, I have only had limited experience of experimenting with it and testing vegan and vegetarian versions. So far, my favourite vegan alternative for the pancetta and tomato filling is to use smoked tofu, cubed to about the size of pancetta cubes, but only added towards the end of cooking the filling; when adding the tomatoes.

A solution for the asparagus and prawn filling is to either simply leave out the prawns and double up on the asparagus—an option that lacks for nothing in flavour—or to add some chopped caper berries and blackened sesame seeds, which takes it in a slightly different but delicious direction. It's also a good option for those with seafood allergies.

Similarly, for hardcore carnivores , diced chicken sautéd in a dab of sesame oil and lime juice is wonderful in combination with the asparagus.

Pairings

In celebrating this new recipe, and with a nod to its Northern Spanish influences, I opted for a wine from the Rías Baixas—Barón de Barbón Albariño 2024. Don't be snotty about its relative youth: this wine delivers astonishing value-for-quality. It's a light, dry wine in which both deciduous white fruits and citrus notes are there, but it's smooth, not tart at all, while the vegetal notes mean that it also works with the panceta ahumada.

So far, this is the only wine of any note with with I have had it. However, I would almost certainly stick to wines from Northern Spain and Portugal with this dish, wines with which I associate the ability to combine with seafood and smoky flavours. That's just my personal preference.

Also, just because one filling is meat and the other seafood, I don't see this as a two-way street. Even very light reds that I would happily pair with other seafood dishes will not work with this combination and, frankly, I've yet to meet a red wine that truly pairs well with green asparagus as a keynote flavour.

You could, however, have it with that Japanese favourite of beer, which works well or, indeed, sake, though I'd suggest staying away from the hot varieties with this dish.