When home for Christmas this Winter, I came downstairs to my husband eating these steam buns filled with red bean, called Jimmbbang (찜빵) which literally translates to steam bun in Korean. He said that my mom made it. I assumed he meant she bought the frozen ones and steamed them, but my husband was adamant that she made them from scratch. My mom is a great cook and she bakes now and then, but steamed buns from scratch seemed a little far fetched. Sure enough she did make these from scratch.
It turns out that my mom met a lady who recently moved here from Korea and learned how to make Jimmbbang from her, but decided all the effort wasn't worth the end result. So my dad who ended up being the guinea pig in this experiment, told me that my mom went to the store and purchased a lot of bizarre items to try, like cake mix, bisquick to frozen dough and achieved her goal of recreating the steamed bun that was fast, easy and tasted right.
So here is my mom's Steamed Bun Recipe. It's not quite an authentic Korean recipe, but she is Korean and invented it, so maybe it's more of a modernized Korean recipe.
Yep, that's Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits. Apparently after many attempts, the buttermilk biscuit is the closest to tasting like the real thing. One canister makes five buns and uses half a can of the red bean. The red bean keeps in the fridge for a week after you've opened them. Enjoy and have fun!
You can use any brand as long as it's buttermilk biscuits. The second item you will need is a can of red bean that you can find in any Asian supermarket. I prefer the Japanese Red Bean, but the Korean one was less expensive here, which is the opposite in Portland. Similar to chunky and smooth peanut butter, the Japanese one is smooth and the Korean one is chunky. So all you need are these two items to make the buns.
My mom has an actual steamer pot contraption, but I use this collapsible steamer for veggies.
With your hands, flatten out and make into a disc shape.
Scoop a large heaping amount of the red bean filling in the center.
Take another flatten piece of dough and sandwich together.
Pinch all around until the edges are together.
I usually let them steam for 15 minutes, but steam them until the dough is cooked.
Mmmmm... they are ready.
Eat!
***I will post my Mom's Korean pancake recipe next time. :)