Three of the most gloriously delicious foods I remember from Taiwan are 油條, 小籠包, and 饅頭. The first isn’t even really worth eating unless you can find a good breakfast vendor. The second–plenty of decent frozen steamed meat buns can be found in Asian grocery stores, but this specific type (with meat AND soup inside) might be trickier to find. 饅頭 might seem like a very basic food (a dinner roll equivalent?) but my love for plain and simple foods plus nostalgia brings me to try to make and steam some myself.

I tried this recipe for a start. It’s really just bread but steamed instead of baked (and I guess kneaded once more?) but the results weren’t bad.

mantou

Kind of rough-looking, but the feel isn’t too far off.

mantou detail

There is, however, something missing from the flavor. I’ll have to get my hands on some store-bought ones to compare. Until then, however…

mantou filled

… just add some 肉鬆 and all is well with the world.