← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 250 g plain flour
• 25 g Sugar
• ¼ tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 3 g instant dried yeast
• 1 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 150 ml lukewarm water
• 250 g Minced pork
• 100 g green cabbage, finely chopped
• 2 dried shiitake, soaked and finely chopped
• 40 g Water chestnuts (fresh or tinned), finely chopped (optional)
• 1 Spring onion, finely chopped
• 1½ tsp Ginger, grated
• 1 tbsp Soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Sake
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 1 tbsp Toasted sesame oil
• 1 tbsp potato starch or cornflour
• 1 pinch Black pepper
• Japanese karashi mustard and soy sauce, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Mix the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and yeast, then add the oil and water and knead for 8–10 min into a smooth, soft dough. Cover and leave somewhere warm for 60 min until doubled.
2. Meanwhile, toss the cabbage with a pinch of salt for 10 min, then squeeze out the water. Mix it with all the other filling ingredients and stir hard in one direction until sticky. Chill until needed.
3. Cut 8 squares of baking paper. Knock back the dough, divide it into 8 balls and rest for 10 min.
4. Roll each ball into a 12 cm circle, thinner at the edges. Put an eighth of the filling in the centre, then pleat the edges up around it and pinch and twist to close.
5. Set each bun on a paper square in a steamer basket, leaving space between them. Cover and prove for 20–30 min until slightly puffy.
6. Steam over rapidly boiling water for 12–15 min without lifting the lid, until the buns are fluffy and the filling reaches 75°C (165°F).
7. Turn off the heat and wait 2 min before opening the lid, so the buns do not wrinkle. Serve hot with karashi and soy sauce.

Tips

• Wrap the steamer lid in a tea towel so drips do not fall on the buns.
• Cooked buns freeze well; re-steam from frozen for about 10 minutes.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Just One Cookbook Japanese Cooking 101