A versatile bun. It comes in frozen form. One can either steam it, microwave or deep fry. Usually, I prefer to steam it.
Mantou or flower bun is made from Hongkong flour which is a special type of flour for making buns or paus. This type of flour produces buns that are whiter in colour than normal wheat flour.
Mantou can be eaten plain or added with butter or jam. Very much like eating bread. It is very nice when dipped in curry sauce or braised meat in soya sauce. Some seafood restaurant serves mantou which is a great accompaniment to the sauce from sweet and sour crabs.
Smaller sizes flower buns are usually served with Peking duck which has crispy skins.
Mantou is now easily available from the frozen section in supermarkets. There are several brands but my preferred brand is KG Mantou. Some brands have a very strong yeast smell and some taste sourish. Others have a sticky feel to it. There are several flavoured mantou like pandan, coffee, strawberry. Certainly, not very original.
In the Chinese olden movies, one can see the heroes usually pack a few mantous to take on a long trip. Hence, mantou is an ancient food, isn’t it?
