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Manjuu (or manjyuu, depending on which romanization
scheme you use) are basically steamed bunlike cakes.
They can have fillings or not. There's lots of different
kinds. The filling I've seen the most - and, naturally,
the first one I used - is anko, sweet bean paste.
Note:
if you tried this recipe and the manjuu came out brown
and bitter-tasting, that's because I wrote baking soda
in the ingredients list instead of baking powder.
That's how it was in the recipes I found, and I corrected
for it when I cooked them, but for some unknown reason
I didn't copy the right one here. Why, yes, I am a natural
blonde, thank you for noticing. Anyway, it's fixed now,
and my apologies to anyone who tried the "broken"
recipe!
What you need:
1 cup of all-purpose flour
2 tsps of baking
powder (double-acting, preferably)
1/2 cup
of sugar
1/4 cup of water
1/2 cup of anko
(sweet azuki beans), or whatever you want as filler.
Can be left out.
A steamer
Parchment paper, cut
into 2" squares
To make plain manjuu:
Mix
the sugar and flour in a bowl. Mix the baking powder and
water in a cup. Add the powder-water to the sugar-flour.
Mix. Then knead for 10-15 minutes or more. (You can't
overknead this by hand, but you can underknead it!)
Pinch off bits of dough and roll them into balls (makes
about a dozen). Put the finished bits on the parchment paper
squares. Place them in the steamer, leaving at least
an inch between them as they will puff up. Put a paper
towel under the steamer lid so condensation doesn't
drip down on the manjuu. Steam for 15 minutes on high
heat.
Manjuu with fillings
(an manjuu, et cetera):
If
you want to make manjuu with filling - say, anko, but
it can be something else - then instead of forming the
dough into balls make about 12 rounds, not stretching
the dough too thin or it might split while cooking.
Put some anko on the rounds, then pinch them closed.
Put them on parchment paper and steam as above.
I recently tried this with Nutella, a chocolate & hazelnut spread, and it was delicious.
Chocolate chip
manjuu:
Something I came up with on a whim.
Roll each bit of dough - the same amount you would use
for each manjuu in the above recipes - out into
a snake, then flatten the snake into a ribbon about
3/4" to 1" wide. Place chocolate chips along
the line flat side down, about one every 3/4 inch, then
roll it up again. Gently roll this between your
hands to form it into a ball. No chips should be
poking through the dough. Put them on parchment paper and
steam as above. This is especially tasty with dark chocolate
chips!
Chocolate-Wigged
Manjuu:
 Another
whim creation. I was trying for chocolate-coated manjuu,
but the dipping chocolate never got to the right consistency.
Make some plain manjuu and then melt some chocolate
- chocolate melts or dipping chocolate - according to
the instructions on the package. When it's soft enough
to stir with a fork but not yet liquid smear it thickly
onto the top of the manjuu and then "comb"
it with the fork tines to create the look of a wig.
Drupe Manjuu:
Drupes
are fruits with edible flesh surrounding a single pit
or seed, for example peaches or avocados. So, these
are manjuu with pits. Not
actual pits; that wouldn't be very appetizing. I make these by putting a sweet,
non-salty nut in the
center, for example a chocolate covered macadamia nut.
To make these, simply follow the directions for an manjuu,
using the nut in place of the anko.
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