HOME.BAO’s Frozen Dumplings and Potstickers
When Cape Town entrepreneurs meet… and talk about cooking!
I love cooking with Asian flavours, but making these little pockets of goodness from scratch myself is not something I’ve ventured into. And with HOME.BAO, I don’t have to! I met Tina when I visited the MasterChef set. We quickly got talking and realised we had a lot in common: we are both foodies -of course- but also entrepreneurs.
Who is Tina?
Tina’s full name is actually Tzu Ting Long, but she goes by Tina. She was born in Taiwan, but raised in South Africa. When her father had lung cancer, she resigned from her job in South Africa to spend some quality time with him in Taiwan. By this time, Tina was herself already a mother of two and juggling between visiting her father at the hospital and fetching her children from the local Taiwanese crèche. This brings me to something else Tina and I have in common: the desire to feed our children a nutritious meal even when life is busy. Because this was difficult to achieve when buying from the local one of the many neighbourhood street vendors, which provided her and her family with delicious, but not very healthy meals, Tina looked for an alternative that was quick to prepare. Frozen dumplings were the answer, says Tina:
“I could buy them in bulk from the local supermarket and kept them in the freezer. In one bite, they had all the carbs, protein and veg we needed! Most nights, I took out the amount I needed for the three of us and, in 10 minutes, dinner was served. Watching the kids eating them happily (with all the hidden vegetables inside), I poured myself a victorious glass of wine!”
Tina’s Cape Town-based small business: HOME.BAO
Before Tina’s father tragically passed away, he shared his wisdom in saying: “If you live life without fear, then your death is without regrets.” Back in South Africa, Tina decided to follow those words and to be fearless. In honour of her Dad, she created HOME.BAO. She wanted to offer the same kind of convenience she found in Taiwan in South Africa. HOME.BAO is a supplier of frozen dumplings, potstickers and other Asian goods. The factory is based in Salt River, Cape Town, so a proudly South African business!
Tina’s time on MasterChef South Africa
Tina took a ‘break’ from entrepreneurial life when she became one of the twenty MasterChef contestants on season five. She did incredibly well: In the first episode contestants were challenged to make a chicken dish with a sauce or a broth using a mirepoix. I was really impressed by Tina’s decision to not play it safe and lean on her Asian heritage, but to rather lean into the challenge and stick to French cuisine - even though it was only her second time cooking the proper French way!
The second episode featured a Mystery Box challenge. Inside the mystery box was an origami heart and contestants were asked to think of the apple of their eye in their life when cooking a dish that included apples. Contestants were allowed to make something sweet or savoury and Tina decided to cater both to her daughter’s sweet tooth, and her husband and son’s love for savoury dishes. Leaning into her strength, she decided to make two bao buns: one sweet using apple custard and one savoury using pork belly.
In the third episode the contestants were challenged by guest judge Chef Nokx Majozi in a pressure test to recreate her signature Pepper Steak Pie. Tina had made the best pepper steak pie, winning the elimination challenge.
In the fifth episode, guest judge Jackie Burger challenged the contestants to use fashion models and their incredible outfits to make their own creative interpretation of the outfits. Tina was sadly eliminated in episode 5, after ending up in the bottom three together with Amo and Penny.
A Rebel with a Cause
If Tina had won MasterChef South Africa, she would have wanted to use the prize money (one million rand!) to open a dumpling and dim sum school in Cape Town for children who cannot afford culinary school. I think this just shows the type of person she is - always giving and looking at helping others in need. Recently, when her factory was quiet she decided to help out South African non-profit Food Rescue Organisation SA Harvest provide 200 hot meals, both to keep her staff busy and to give back - using her facilities and employees for the greater good ! Just another reason why I relate to Tina so well - whilst I love to work hard, I never want to stop leveraging my businesses to build a better South Africa as well (the MasterChef vs Mayor charity event cook-off is a good example of how this has taken shape on my side).
HOME.BAO’s Frozen Dumplings and Potstickers
Tina was so kind to gift us some frozen dumplings and potstickers to try out at home. Best cooked straight from frozen, you can take a box out of the freezer when the day’s been hectic and the kids want to eat right now - as you can serve from freezer to dinner table in under 10 minutes. When I did have some time on my hands though and decided to add a side of Fried Rice, with some Grilled Corn and Mange Tout, Boerewors Bites from Pick ‘n Pay and a Basil Oil.
If you want to recreate the dish pictured on the left, I have shared the recipes on my blog:
And it doesn’t end here! For a recent event in Rawsonville (ever heard of the Annerkant die Berg Festival?), Tina used my lamb filling for her dumplings which I’ll be serving at the event! The topic might be ‘Afrikaners is Plesierig’ but who doesn’t want a little Taiwanese twist to their South African dish?
Have you tried HOME.BAO’s dumplings and potstickers before?
Read more about MasterChef South Africa!
I enjoy sharing more about my MasterChef journey and through my Instagram page.
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About Shawn Godfrey
Photo credit: Niki M Photography
Shawn Godfrey is an entrepreneur based in Cape Town, South Africa. After the Covid-19 lockdown saw his business in financial distress, cooking was the creative outlet that helped to keep him sane. To keep track of his recipes, and encourage friends and families to join him, he starts his instagram account The Roasted Dad.
Fast-forward to late 2021 - on a whim Shawn (encouraged by his wife Lianne) enters MasterChef South Africa. It is a crazy time of life: running a 200 people business and struggling to keep it profitable, two small children with a third on the way, and about to move into a new house. But when Shawn gets selected to be one of the 20 contestants participating in the fourth season of MasterChef South Africa, he decides to go all in. Leaving his 7-month-pregnant wife to look after their then three and one-year-old children, he battles it out and comes back home five weeks later with the trophy and a million rand prize money in his pocket.
It all started with an Instagram account, but The Roasted Dad is so much more now. Shawn has stayed his entrepreneurial self and whilst he hosts Private Dinner Parties and Cook-with-Me Demos, does Restaurant Take-Overs, he still runs the lighting company and several other businesses.
On his blog, Shawn shares Restaurant Reviews and Accommodation Reviews, and gives an insight into the wild and wonderful life he leads together with his wife Lianne, and their three children Aiden (6), Olivia (4) and Harvey (2).
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