When Jane Chin left New Orleans 43 years ago to marry Bert Akitake and move to Maui, she missed her mother’s steamed char siu bao. The pillowy white, sweet milk bread steamed with a filling of salty-sweet pork and sauce was a specialty of Tue Ngoot Chin, known in the community as Mrs. King Chin.

So Akitake learned her mother’s recipe and has been sharing this signature dish with her Maui friends and family since.

It is so popular that nearly everyone she gives it to asks if they can buy more from her. She declines because it is so labor intensive, preferring to make it as gifts instead.

Char siu bao is known in Hawaii as manapua, and Akitake’s version exceeds the ones sold by most Chinatown purveyors.

She uses char siu (marinated roast pork) that she makes herself from scratch in big batches. She cuts the meat into small cubes and freezes it so it is ready for use.

But she shares a shortcut that her friends use: Store-bought char siu also turns out well.

Akitake’s bao is tender and delicate, perfectly proportioned to the filling — not like those that try to fill you up with lots of bread and little filling.

There is a beautiful design to her bao. She pleats the dough to seal it and creates a small topknot. “That is usually the first thing people eat. They pick it off to try the bao,” Akitake said. “My mother would make it with this design to distinguish it from the sweet bao filled with beans.”

You can see her years of experience in the skillful pleating.

“It takes practice. My cousin seals the bao on the bottom instead of the top, so you don’t need to make it pretty,” she said.

The recipe calls for flour, shortening, sugar, milk, water and yeast. It is so flavorful and tender, it’s tempting to steam it without any filling.

Akitake’s steamed bao is always traditional, filled with char siu, but she knows others use kalua pork and other fillings.

During the Christmas season, when she makes many batches for gifts, the electricity bill at her Wailuku home spikes.

But her efforts are well worth it. Her creations are so memorable that an electrician asked if he could receive payment in char siu bao.

Akitake enjoys carrying on her mother’s legacy and sharing it with her children and grandchildren.

It is a delicious family tradition.

POPO’S CHAR SIU BAO

• >> Filling:
• 1-1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3 tablespoons water
• 4 cups diced char siu (cut into 3/8-inch cubes)
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce (Lee Kum Kee or Koon Chun brands preferred)
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce (Lee Kum Kee premium preferred)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• >> Dough:
• 6-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening (Crisco preferred)
• 1 cup 2% milk, warmed to about 110 degrees
• 1 cup warm water, about 110 degrees
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast or rapid-rise yeast

>> To prepare filling: Mix cornstarch in water until dissolved. Add to a large skillet with remaining filling ingredients. Cook over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes, until thickened. Cool completely.

>> To make bao: In a mixing bowl, combine flour and sugar, then cut in shortening. Set aside.

Mix warm milk and warm water, then dissolve yeast in liquid. In standing mixer with dough hook, combine flour mixture with yeast mixture and mix 5 minutes. Or knead by hand 5 minutes.

Cover with clean dish towel and let rise in a warm place where it’s not windy, or in cold oven, until doubled or tripled in volume, 2 to 4 hours.

Punch down dough and knead 1 to 2 minutes. Divide into 36 portions.

Form 1 piece into a 5-inch flat circle. Add 1 tablespoon filling. Pleat and twist to seal completely and form a small knot on top. Alternatively, seal bao with “seam” on bottom. Place on 3-inch square of waxed paper, freezer wrap or parchment. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover and let rise in warm area 15 to 20 minutes.

Place bao in steamer in single layer, spaced with room to expand. Steam on high heat — water should be at a rolling boil — 8 to 10 minutes.

Remove from steamer and cool bao on rack. Makes 36 bao.

POPO’S TIPS

>> Work ahead: Chop char siu ahead of time. Filling can be made a day ahead; keep refrigerated.

>> Don’t be afraid of the dough: Make each portion into a large, 5-inch flat circle so you have room to pleat it. Stretch and seal it tightly.

>> Freezing: Extra bao freezes well, just make sure it’s completely cool first.

TO REHEAT

>> Microwave: Cover with slightly damp paper towel and microwave 30 to 60 seconds if frozen, 30 seconds or less if not. Repeat for 10 seconds if needed.

>> Steamer: Steam 5 to 8 minutes.

>> Do not overheat: It is ready when bread springs back when pressed. Bao can get chewy.

Approximate nutritional information, per bao: 190 calories, 6 g fat, 1.5 g saturated fat, 10 mg cholesterol, 250 mg sodium, 28 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 10 g sugar, 6 g protein

Lynette Lo Tom, author of “Back in the Day,” is fascinated by old-fashioned foods. Contact her at 275-3004 or via instagram at brightlightcookery. Nutritional analysis by Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S.