Chasing the Manapua Man

Here in California we have Ice Cream Trucks that serve well. . . ice cream! Well in Hawaii we have "Manapua Man" that serve EVERYTHING you can imagine, especially something called Manapua (pictured above) which gave them their name. Manapua, is a baked or steamed bun stuffed with pork char siu (a sweet and savory Chinese pork dish). As time passed and people experimented with flavors more, Manapua started gaining new fillings other than char siu, but the original is always my favorite.

The Manapua Man typically played the same music as Ice Cream trucks, or very similar, and almost always drove a white van with the side door removed (or opened) and a plexiglass display in its place. Like so:

You get the picture right? It didn't even matter if it was a lady driving and she was the only worker, they were all called the Manapua Man (which is what I'll refer to them as going forward as well). When I said they serve everything, I mean EVERYTHING. You could get rice cake (nian gao), fried noodles, egg rolls, fried chicken, pig in a blanket, musubi's, pork hash (shumai), candy, soda, juice, cigarettes, toys and more. Now you may have already gotten the hint that a majority of the food items are Asian cuisine. Well, there is a huge Asian influence in Hawaii, from Chinese to Japanese to Filipino to Korean and then some. Most of the Manapua Men are ran by Chinese immigrants, at least back when I was a kid, and always a family run operation. 

My most fond childhood memories are from the days when my brother and I would beg our grandmother, mother, stepfather or anyone else for money so we could buy something when the Manapua Man came around. Part of the fun was in the chase. When you heard the Manapua Man music you had to run out of the house as fast as you can and hope that you got to the street in time to flag the Manapua Man down. Most times you had to chase them down for a ways before they stop and let you order. I swear they did it on purpose!!

Once we'd get to him, my brother would buy candy toys while I was a sucker for baked manapua and fried noodles. Of course if my brother got a toy, I had to have one too . . .

As I got older, my love for those items never changed. What did change is my method of chasing the Manapua Man. Instead of a van, I chase the recipes. Now that I'm in California it's become harder to find good manapua. I've found only one bakery in San Francisco that I really love, but SF is 45mins away (without traffic) and parking/driving in SF is terrible! Instead I decided to learn to make my own manapua.

After scouring the internet and testing out a few recipes for baked manapua I finally tweaked a recipe to my liking. The dough is soft and sweet and my Char Siu has the perfect combination of sweet and savory. Unfortunately I will not be handing out my Char Siu recipe today (because I misplaced it) but I will gladly give out my dough and the instruction for preparing it. Honestly you can use whatever filling you want and it will almost always turn out well. Give this a try and let me know how it went:

Baked Manapua:

Dough Ingredients:

• 1 packet highly active or rapid rise yeast
• 1/4 cup water
• 1.5 cups milk
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda (optional)
• 6.5 cups flour
• 1 egg, beaten (for brushing manapua before baking)

Preparation:

1. Mix packet of yeast with 1/2 lukewarm water and let sit until it foams (approx. 10mins)
2. Mix all dry ingredients in large bowl or mixer. Add milk, eggs, and yeast mixture.
3. Kneed until dough is smooth (10-15mins) or use mixer for 10-15 mins until dough is smooth.
4. Place dough in a large, lightly oiled, bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Let the dough rise, at room temperature, until doubled in size, about 1.5-2hrs.
5. Do not punch air out of dough before rolling the bao.
6. Gently cut small pieces of dough, about 2-3 inch sized, and roll out into a small circles. Lightly use oil or flour if it starts to sticks.

Dough rising next to some fried noodles and soon to be egg rolls

Char Siu Filling Ingredients:

• diced char siu
• sugar
• hoisin or Oyster sauce
• diced onions
• cornstarch
• water

Filling Preparation:

1. Sauté onions then add diced char siu, sugar, and housin or oyster sauce. 
2. When well incorporated, add small amount of cornstarch and water mixture to thicken the filling. Portions of cornstarch and water widely depends on how much filling you're making. A safe measurement would be 1 part cornstarch to 2 parts water. Add mixture slowly so you can control how it thickens.
3. Set aside and let it completely cool.

Manapua Preparation #1:

1. Fill dough with desired filling and pinch edges together to seal the filling within. Be sure the filling is precooked and well cooled before using.
2. Place finished product onto a small piece of wax/parchment paper, making sure the pinched side faces down and let proof for another hour before baking.

manapua filled and doing its second rise

Manapua Preparation #2:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and brush manapua buns with a beaten egg then place in the oven for 15-20mins, or until golden brown.
2. Let cool for 5-10mins after removing from oven then enjoy! 

And although I didn't give you my Char Siu recipe, feel free to check out the following photos from when I made it last.

I can comfortably say that my days of chasing the Manapua Man are over. I've perfected just about every recipe that they make, be it simple or complicated, and I doubt the sound of their music will ever get me runnin ever agai....wait what's that sound? BRB!! lol jk...

Try this recipe out and let me know what you think!
 
Peace & Poi,
Dis Hungry Hawaiian