Japanese Food Tips

The origin of anman was in China during the Three Kingdoms Period in the 3rd century. In Japan, nikuman (steamed meat buns) was first sold in 1927 at a famous Tokyo restaurant, and anman, a derivative of this bun with the filling changed from meat to red bean paste (anko), was sold some years later. Anman is sweet because it contains red bean paste. The dough of the bun is white and made from flour, yeast, sugar, shortening, baking powder, salt, and water. Anman is made by wrapping red bean paste in dough, fermenting it, and steaming it, which makes the bun about 10 cm in diameter and fluffy. Rather than cooking anman at home, most people buy it as a frozen food at the supermarket and steam it in a steamer or heat it up in the microwave. At convenience stores, anman and nikuman are kept in a glass steamer case, and you can eat them warm. If you are in Japan during the cold season, you should try anman.