Mantou

Mantou are soft, pillowy steamed buns made from wheat flour leavened with yeast or a sourdough starter, with no filling. Unlike their southern counterpart the baozi, they rely on accompaniments — stir-fried vegetables, braised meat, pickled vegetables or congee — to provide flavour. In northern China mantou serve the role that rice plays in the south: a neutral starch at every meal. At breakfast they are eaten with congee and pickles; at lunch and dinner alongside meat dishes. Freshly steamed mantou have a slight chew and a faintly sweet, wheaty flavour from the fermentation. A variant in Shanxi and Inner Mongolia uses sorghum flour for a darker, nuttier version. Fried mantou slices with condensed milk are also popular as a Hong Kong café snack, showing how the humble steamed bun adapts to different traditions.