Siopao

Two siopao

Yet another common street food in the Philippines is siopao. Pronounced show-pow, these are large steamed buns, made from wheat flour and containing a savory meat and sauce filling (usually pork, in which case they're properly called siopao asado though in reality everyone just says siopao.)

Siopao are eaten as snacks all by themselves: no rice for a change. They come in a paper wrapper which is used to hold the siopao while eating. Filipinos typically add some ketchup (catsup) to the filling by means of a small, restaurant-style ketchup bottle with a long, narrow spout. You turn your siopao upside-down, insert the spout through the bottom of the bun where it's thinnest, and squirt some ketchup inside.

The name siopao is from the Hokkien Chinese dialect: in standard Chinese they're called bāozi, or in English simply as "steamed buns." In China they're typically served with a dipping sauce consisting of soy sauce, vinegar and some chili paste rather than ketchup (you mix your own sauce, so ingredients and proportions vary from diner to diner.)

One is enough to tide one over until the next meal. Two make a light meal on their own. They typically cost 25 pesos each: around 60 cents.

Note that the siopao you get in the Philippines typically don't contain as much meat filling as those shown in the photo above: they're mostly bun.