Nikuman

Nikuman (Japanese Pao) I actually wanted to make this food initially after hearing it mentioned in an anime/visual novel Kanon. It was the favorite food of one of the characters.

Ingredients
Bun
1 1/3 cup Flour
3 tablespoon Sugar
Salt
3/4 teaspoon yeast
3/4 tablespoon baking powder
1/6 cup milk
half cup water
1 tablespoon butter

Filling
400g minced pork
Chinese Cabbage, Julienne
2 garlic cloves
Ginger, minced
shitake mushrooms
sesame oil
soy sauce
oyster sauce
sake
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
black pepper
Hard Boiled Egg

Steps:

Mix all of the powdered ingredients for the bun together in a bowl. Make a well in the center of the dough and add all of the wet ingredient into it and mix it together thoroughly. If the Dough is too sticky add more flour to it, when the dough is formed add in the butter to the dough. Kneed the dough until it becomes smooth. Rest the dough inside a bowl covered with a plastic wrap for 30 mins.

Fry sesame oil in a pan and add the garlic to the pan, when it turns golden brown add the minced pork. Put in the soy sauce, oyster sauce and sake and taste the meat when it is fully cooked. Add in the shitake mushrooms, the ginger and the cabbage. When all of the ingredients are cooked, put in the cornstarch. Remove all of the ingredients and put them into a bowl.

After the dough has finished resting put it on a plate. Divide the dough into slices and press them flat with your palm, use a small spoon and put the ingredients into the flattened dough. In each piece of dough add one slice of the hardboiled egg, if the dough is too sticky add some more flour. Push the edges of the dough around the filling and press it together and twist the top to make a pao shape.

Steam the paos in a bamboo steamer, put in 3 to four in each bamboo steamer and steam for 15 mins.

The dough will probably make about 6 nikuman. When it is done steaming, plate it and its ready to eat.

This recipe is quite simple even though people would think it would be hard to make nikuman. Try it if you can.