Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Shanghainese Buns - Mantou

For Thanksgiving at Siddharth's house, I decided to skip the typical sweet potato rolls and make authentic Chinese steamed rolls called mantou. These are little steamed wheat buns that are shaped like little pebbles, a staple in northern China.  I had these at my grandma's house a lot in lieu of a bowl of rice. They could be purchased at any Asian food markets in the frozen aisle. The texture of the mantou is similar to the buns you would order at Chinese restaurants for dim sum also called bao, but these buns don't have anything inside. Our family would eat it as a side with our meals. Some people eat them as snacks by dipping them in condensed milk or even deep frying them! I've never tried, but I'm sure these would be delightful.