Steamed Dual-Color Buns

Low in Calories, High in Flavor

Mantou, or buns, are made by allowing wheat flour to ferment and then steaming it. They're soft, supple, and easy to digest. Low-calorie, low-fat, low-sugar mantou is one of the simplest and most common staple foods in China.

In order to enhance the nutritional value and taste of plain mantou buns, chefs added vegetable and fruit juices to the flour and rolled the ingredients together to create special dual-color bun dishes. The steamed dual-color bun recipe here is one such dish.

Delicious Chinese Steamed Dual-Color Buns At Dim Sum — Delicious Chinese Steamed Dual-Color Buns at Dim Sum

Ingredients

4 cups (500 grams) all-purpose flour
3.52 ounces (100 grams) spinach

Seasonings

1 teaspoon (5 grams) yeast
1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking powder
1/4 cup (50 grams) sugar

Please see measurements in grams to be more exact for all ingredients and seasonings.

Cooking Directions

Preparations

Wash and mince spinach. Place in blender. Add 1/2 cup (125 milliliters) water and blend. Strain away any excess chunks, leaving only spinach juice.

How to make dual-color dough

Add 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 grams) baking powder to 2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour. Mix evenly. Form a depression in center of flour. Add 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 grams) yeast and 2 tablespoons (25 grams) sugar to depression. Add spinach juice and stir until yeast and sugar dissolves in juice. Then mix evenly with flour to create a dough with a smooth surface. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for approximately 2 hours, so that it doubles in size.

Using the same method, create a white dough with all-purpose flour, yeast, sugar, and water. Let ferment for 2 hours.

How to form dual-color buns

Use rolling pin to press white and green dough separately, creating 2 flat pieces of dough that are approximately 1 centimeter thick. Lay green dough on top of white dough. Press them tightly so they stick together and trim the edges evenly. Beginning rolling up the dough tightly, starting from one of the longer sides, forming one long roll of roughly the same size.

Tip: The two types of dough must be pressed together tightly, or else they will form separate layers after steaming.

Cut the long dough roll into segments of equal size. These are the uncooked buns. Cover them in plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes so that when you lightly press on the buns, they retain their firmness and original shape.

Put it all together

Lay oil paper or moist gauze at bottom of steamer basket. Place uncooked buns neatly inside, leaving ample space between each bun.

Add appropriate amount of water to steamer pot. Add steamer basket to steamer pot. After bringing water to boil over high heat, reduce heat to medium and steam for 25 minutes. Then turn off heat and let sit for approximately 3 minutes. Serve.