Rikyu Manju - cooking recipe

Ingredients

100 g flour
35 g brown sugar
50 g white sugar
1 tablespoon water
2 g baking soda
1 tablespoon water
350 g sweet bean paste
extra flour, to use when shaping

Preparation

Put the brown sugar, the white sugar and 1 tablespoon water into a small pan and heat over low heat just until the sugar is melted.
Do not cook until syrupy; place into a mixing bowl, and let cool to room temperature.
Mix the baking soda with 1 tablespoon water in a separate small bowl, and add to the cooled sugar solution.
(It is important for the sugar solution to have cooled because if it is still hot, that will affect the rising ablility of the baking soda).
Sift the flour and add it to the sugar/baking soda solution in the mixing bowl.
Mix well with a spoon, then gather up the dough into a ball with your hands.
Depending on how long the sugar was cooked, you will need to adjust the amount of flour to make a dough that is soft but not too sticky.
Divide the sweet bean paste into 12 portions and shape it into balls.
Dust your hands with a little flour (if you use too much flour, the manju with have white spots on them).
Divide the dough into 12 pieces, and flatten each piece into a circle, making the edges thinner than the center.
Place a bean paste ball in the center, and wrap the dough around it, forming a ball shape, and sealing the dough at the bottom of the ball.
Place the finished manju on a small piece of wax paper, with the sealed portion facing the paper.
When all are shaped, put a clean cloth towel (not terry) into the top part of a steamer, with water boiling in the lower part.
Line up the manju in the steamer,leaving some space for expansion between them.
Cover and steam on high heat for 12 to 13 minutes.
Remove from heat and remove the cover of the steamer.
Fan the steamed manju briefly to make the surface shiny.
When they are not so hot, remove from the steamer with lightly oiled hands.
Cool on a wire rack.