steamed pork buns "nikuman"

My sister inspired me to try my hand at these after she successfully made them, because it's my favourite kind of recipe - looks impressive and labour intensive, but are actually very simple. Who doesn't love to impress with minimum effort?

I based my recipe on this one from the quirky Youtube channel with lots of good Japanese cooking, but I did substitute the pork shoulder for ground pork and the stock for powdered dashi stock that I had in my kitchen.

E came home and, as cunningly planned, was super wowed that I had made these myself. Trust me, they're worth trying out because they are delicious, simple and total ego-boosters.