Cooking Korean: Manju (Sweet white bean buns)

I love to make buns, so when I was invited to my friend Ahsik-bot's bbq I decided I would make a sweet bun.  Maangchi had just posted a new recipe for Manju on her site - decision made.  The manju recipe is made with lima beans (for a white bean filling).  Lima beans are often sold as butterbeans.  Lima beans are nice and big ie easy to work with and mash nicely.  I'm sure you could replace them with a different large white bean (lima beans can be difficult to find in different places)



Now that you've seen the video, you know exactly what I did.  I used canned beans . . . with no negative lasting effect I think, as my buns were a huge hit.  I found I had to cook my beans a bit longer with the sugar in them to get them to thicken up.  I doubled the recipe, so I don't know if that was a factor.  I found that though I doubled the recipe and formed 16 buns, they were a bit small.  It seemed more like 1.5 the recipe - even though I did the math right.  It didn't seem to effect taste.

dough is on the left filling on the right

Going into the oven!

Coming out of the oven, they don't rise too much

Ninja trapped by manju!

As I mentioned the buns were a big hit.  I would definitely make them again.  It was quick and easy, while utilizing easy to find ingredients.  If your just starting out making buns this is a pretty forgiving recipe and dough, so probably a good place to start.