Gua-bao

Gua bao

A traditional gua bao
Alternative names	Steamed bao, hó͘-kā-ti, pork belly bun
Course	Snack
Place of origin	Taiwan
Serving temperature	Hot
Main ingredients	Steamed bread, stewed meat, condiments
Ingredients generally used	Red-cooked pork belly, pickled mustard, cilantro, ground peanuts
Variations	Fried chicken, fish, eggs, stewed beef

Gua bao (Chinese: /; pinyin: guàbāo; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: koah-pau; literally: "cut bread"), also known as steamed bao,pork belly buns, or ambiguously, bao, is a Taiwanese snack food consisting of a slice of stewed meat and other condiments sandwiched between flat steamed bread. The steamed bread is typically 6–8 centimetres (2.4–3.1 in) in size, semi-circular and flat in form, with a horizontal fold that, when opened, gives the appearance that it has been sliced. The traditional filling for gua bao is a slice of red-cooked porkbelly, typically dressed with stir-fried suan cai (pickled mustard greens), cilantro, and ground peanuts.

The food is known colloquially in parts of Taiwan as hó͘-kā-ti (虎咬豬; "tiger bites pig") due to the mouth-like form of the bun and the contents of the filling. Gua bao are also called "Taiwanese hamburgers" due in-part to the wide variety of novel ingredients used as filling, such as fried chicken, fish, eggs, and stewed beef.