Brown Sugar Manju

Directions

1. 1
   Split the sweetened bean paste into 15 equal parts and roll into balls.
2. 2
   Each ball should weigh around 25 g.
3. 3
   Put the brown sugar and water in a pan and dissolve the sugar over a low heat.
4. 4
   Once dissolved, pass the mixture through a tea strainer and leave to cool.
5. 5
   This picture shows how it looks when cooled.
6. 6
   Add the egg yolk and some baking soda mixed with a little water (not listed), into the sugar mixture.
7. 7
   Sift the cake flour into the mixture and mix.
8. 8
   The resulting dough will be soft and sticky.
9. 9
   If it's too sticky too handle add a little cake flour.
10. 10
    Turn the dough out onto a well dusted surface and separate into 15 equal parts.
11. 11
    Dust your hands and the dough well, and flatten the dough into a round shape.
12. 12
    Place a piece of sweetened bean paste on top of the dough.
13. 13
    If you are holding the dough with your right hand, use your left fingers to turn the sweetened bean paste with the dough and bring the dough upwards to wrap completely.
14. 14
    Use your right fingertips to press the dough down around the paste gently.
15. 15
    If this is difficult, you can place a piece of dough on top of the bean paste ball and gently stretch it underneath.
16. 16
    Once the bean paste is wrapped, reshape the manju into balls.
17. 17
    Place into paper cupcake cups and steam for 10 minutes.
18. 18
    I don't own a steamer so I just lined the manju up on a plate like in the photo and steamed them in a frying pan with water and covered with a cloth.