Ingredients
Steamed bun dough (makes 5)
Rice wine (sake) : 30ml
Sugar : 30g
Self-raising flour : 60g
Koshian (smooth red bean paste) : 75g
Potato flour (for surfaces and hands) : as needed
Himuro Manju, a kind of sake steamed bun, is a summer specialty in Kanazawa. In winter, fresh snow was stored in a ‘himuro’ (ice house), and on the 1st of June in the old lunar calendar (1st of July today) it was presented to the House of Tokugawa. The tradition of offering these manju ‘buns’ at shrines to pray for safe travel and of eating them in the hope of good health, still continues to this day. Originally, Himuro Manju were made with white koji (a mould used for making sake) but in this recipe I tried using sake itself for a steamed bun that has the subtle scent of rice wine.
Preparation
- Divide koshian into five round balls of 15g each.
- Cut 4cm squares of baking paper for the bottom of each manju.
Method
- Put rice wine and sugar in a heat-safe dish and microwave for 30 seconds, so sugar dissolves. Set aside to cool.
- Put self-raising flour into a plastic bag with plenty of air, close the bag and shake well. Add the flour to the rice wine mixture and stir lightly with chopsticks (photo 1).
- Use a teaspoon to spoon out the soft dough into five equal portions onto a platter dusted with potato flour. Sprinkle a little more potato flour on top (photo 2).
- Dust your hands with plenty of potato flour, then use your fingers to flatten out the balls of dough evenly. On top of each dough circle, place a ball of koshian. Turn over and transfer to your other hand, mould the dough to the filling, then return to the original hand and close up the dough covering. You will need to pinch the dough at the bottom so that no koshian shows (photo 3). Lightly roll each manju in your hands to make sure it is round, then put on the prepared baking paper.
- Heat up a little water in a steamer. When steam is visible, put the manju in with a little space between them. Lay a dry cloth over the top, put on the lid, and steam for 10 minutes (photo 4). Be sure not to take off the lid at all while steaming. If the dough is thick, a longer steaming time will be necessary. Test to see if manju are springy to the touch – if not, steam a little longer. When plump and well-steamed, take the manju out and cover each in plastic wrap while still warm to ensure moist results.
- For green tea manju, mix a 1/2 teaspoon of matcha powder with the sugar before dissolving in the warm rice wine.
- For pink manju, add 2 drops of red food colouring after dissolving the sugar in the rice wine.
