This recipe is too beautiful not to post. I love cooking with the color purple because it can be rare in our daily ingredients. I was experimenting with making a stuffed bun for purposes of portability since I have to commute to work once again. These buns are perfect for transporting lunch with no mess. The nutrient-packed sweet potatoes in the filling are an added bonus.
Ingredients
Buns
- 2 cups water, warm
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 2 tsp. active dry yeast
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp. salt
Filling
- 1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped
- 1 Tbsp. purple onion, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup adzuki beans, cooked
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method
To make the buns
- Dissolve sugar in water
- Add yeast to water and set aside to bloom
- Once bloomed, add flours and salt in the same bowl and mix
- Mix until well-combined
- Let dough sit in bowl with damp towel on top to rise for 1-3 hours
- With a damp hand, pull dough and fold over 4-5 times to form a dough mass
- Form dough into a ball and let sit in bowl with damp towel to rise for another 1-3 hours
To make the filling
- Steam sweet potato for 15 minutes or until fork-tender
- I use a steam basket over a pot of boiling water to steam
- Remove sweet potato from steamer and mash in a medium bowl
- Add onion, garlic, beans, and spices
- Mix to incorporate
- Let mixture cool slightly for ease of assembly
To assemble
- Flour a kitchen surface (counter or cutting board) to roll out dough
- Divide dough into 6-8 pieces (less pieces will yield larger buns)
- Flour a rolling pin or your hands to flatten dough pieces to ½ inch thick discs
- Add filling to middle of buns and seal filling inside
- I do not have a precise technique for this, but I usually fold opposite ends of the discs on top of each other until a sphere is formed
- Place buns on parchment sheet as oven preheats to 400°F
- Bake in oven for 20-30 minutes or until buns are golden brown
- Let rest for 10 minutes after taking buns out of oven
- Serve and enjoy
