Black sesame seeds may be small but they are packed with nutrients. The burst of nutrients found in black sesame seeds can promote healthy growth of hair and maintain supple skin. They are used for many health- promoting and anti-ageing benefits. They can be incorporated in your cereals, rice, noodles or any other dishes at mealtime. My mom always tells me to have a spoonful of sesame powder in the morning. Unfortunately my kids are super picky, they tend them pick them out whenever they see them in their food. So me being me, tried to use my creative mind to see how I can incorporate these seeds in their food without picking them out. I actually got them to “help” me make these super cute vegan hedgehog black sesame steamed bun. They are so cute I almost didn’t want to eat them as I spent quite a bit of time shaping each of them. It took me almost an hour to shape 10 buns but it was worth it. The kids had so much fun making them and were SO eager to eat them. My husband told me he won’t have any as he is not a fan of sesame bun, I told him to try and he ended up eating 3 of them!
yields 5 buns
Sesame Filling
- 25 g black sesame powder
- 20 g coconut oil
- 12 g organic cane sugar
Dough
- 100 g organic all purpose flour
- ½ tsp instant dry yeast
- 10 g organic cane sugar
- 1 tsp coconut oil
- 60 g soy milk
- 1 tbsp black sesame powder
Making sesame filling
- Mix the ingredients for the filling together in a small bowl and store it in the fridge.
Making the dough
- Mix yeast with milk and mix well. Let it sit for a couple of minutes.
- Mix the rest of the dough ingredients together except for the sesame powder and knead for 1 minute until a rough ball is formed.
- Separate the dough into two parts, cover 3/5 with plastic wrap and mix the other 2/5 with sesame powder. Knead until the sesame powder is thoroughly and evenly incorporated in the dough. Cover the the dough with plastic wrap to rest.
- Now cut the white dough into five equal pieces, take one piece and cover the rest. Roll the small piece of dough into a long log, fold two sides in and roll it out to a long log again (see picture). Repeat this step 2 more times before rolling the dough into a ball with smooth surface by tucking the edges to the center and pinching them together.
- Separate the sesame filling into 5 equal portions and roll into balls.
- Roll the white dough ball into a 3″ diameter circle, wrap one portion of filling with the dough and shape it into a tear drop shape.
- Cut the black sesame dough into five equal portions and roll each piece into a ball.
- Roll the sesame dough ball into a 3″ diameter circle, except keep one side flat to join the hedgehog’s head. Instead of trying to shape it, I used a knife to cut out a flat top.
- Moist the white dough with a bit of water before covering with the sesame dough. Fold the excess grey dough under.
- Repeat the same for the rest of the dough balls and filling.
- Use a small scissors to make some small cuts on the sesame dough to create hedgehog spikes. Place the bun onto a piece of baking paper then place it in the steamer. Repeat the same for the remaining dough.
- Brush a bit of water on the white dough and stick two pieces of whole sesame seed for the eyes.
- Spray each bun with some water and cover the lid for about 45 mins and let it rise until the bun is around 1.5 times the original size.
- Steam the buns for about 15 mins.
