# Wheat manju ｜ Our Regional Cuisines

**Cuisine Name**: Wheat manju

**Region**: Our Regional Cuisines

## Main Lore Areas
The entire Tochigi Prefecture

## Main Ingredients Used
Wheat flour and red beans

## History, Origin, and Related Events
Wheat manju is a steamed bun made by wrapping red bean paste in a dough made of wheat flour. It is also simply known as “manju” and, because it is made by adding carbonic acid (sodium bicarbonate), “carbonated manju” as well. It is a hometown flavor that has been made at home in each household for a long time.Tochigi Prefecture employs a two-crop system with many wheat crops, and their people have loved dishes made with wheat for a long time. Wheat manju is also one of the indispensable dishes for annual events and ceremonial occasions. In particular, it was an indispensable dish for Obon observances, when fresh wheat flour was circulated after the wheat harvest.July 1st of the lunar calendar is called Kamafuta Tsuitachi and is said to be “the day when the lid of hell opens.” The steamed buns offered to the Kamafuta on this day are called Kamafuta manju. In order for the ancestors to return in time for Mukaebon on the 13th, it is said they depart from the spirit world on Kamafuta Tsuitachi, which is said to be when the lid of the kiln of hell opens. Offer the pot lid steamed buns. In order to keep the ancestors from going hungry, Kamafuta manju are offered.

## Opportunities and Times of Eating Habits
Tochigi Prefecture is one of Japan's few wheat-producing areas, with plateaus and double-cropped fields. Harvesting of barley and wheat, which begins around June, continues until July, and freshly ground wheat flour is available before Obon, so dishes using wheat flour such as manju and udon noodles were made for Obon.

## How to Eat
Add baking soda to wheat flour, sift it, and make dough that is softer than your earlobe while adding sugar water. Use it to wrap red bean paste and steam the manju. In recent years, pumpkin, spinach, and garland chrysanthemum are often added to the dough in a paste form to create manju with a wide variety of fun colors, aromas, and flavors. You can also use brown sugar instead of white sugar to make brown manju. Other than red bean paste, miso paste and sweet potato paste are also used.

## Efforts for Preservation and Succession
(Outline of the traditions, the preservation society, social media use, modern approaches at commercialization)Handmade wheat manju are often sold at farmers' markets in the prefecture. In addition, civic organizations in Utsunomiya City are preserving and handing down traditional dishes such as wheat manju through local cooking classes.

## Ingredients
- wheat flour (cake flour): 250g
- carbonic acid (baking soda): 10g
- sugar: 125g
- water: 125g
- red bean paste: 300g
- flour for sprinkling (cake flour): 300g

## Recipe
1. 1. Roll the red bean paste into balls of 30g each.
2. 2. Add baking soda to the wheat flour, sift it twice, and put it in a large bowl.
3. 3. Dissolve the sugar well in the specified amount of water.
4. 4. Add the sugar water from Step 3 to the flour from Step 2 and mix to make a dough that is slightly softer than your earlobe.
5. 5. Spread the dough from Step 4 on a chopping board sprinkled with flour, stretch it into a stick shape, and cut it into 10 pieces.
6. 6. Place the red bean paste on top of the dough that has been crushed into a circle and close the dough so that it wraps around the red bean paste. Make the point of closure face down.
7. 7. Line the steamer with baking paper, line up the buns from Step 6, and lightly spray water (since the dough will expand, separate the buns slightly when positioning them).
8. 8. Steam over medium to high heat for 10 to 12 minutes. Once steamed, drain and cool quickly.

## Provider Information
provider : Recipe provided by: “Hometown Japanese cuisine: Utsunomiya’s traditional cuisine” (Yuji Kashiwamura/Hisae Handa)

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