How it works
What to eat with mantou? Anything with a sauce, because the steamed bun is plain and soaks it up. These 33 ideas cover braises, stir-fries, pickles, breakfast partners, sweet dips and three uses for day-old buns.
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A staple in the north, a snack in the south
Mantou is a staple in northern China, where wheat is grown rather than rice, so it sits beside the dishes of a meal the way a bowl of rice does further south. In the south it is more often a snack or a breakfast. In Singapore and Malaysia, fried or steamed mantou comes with chili crab and is used to scoop up the sauce.
What to eat Chinese mantou with at each meal
At dinner, set it beside one braise and one stir-fry and tear off pieces to wipe the plate. In the morning, one warm bun, one salty thing and something hot to drink is enough. Day-old buns that have dried out are better fried or grilled.
- Steam cold mantou until soft before serving. A dry bun will not soak up sauce.
- When a dish has no sauce to mop, split the bun and tuck the food inside.
Questions and answers
What do you eat with mantou?
Dishes with plenty of sauce: red-braised pork belly, stewed cabbage with pork and glass noodles, or tomato and egg stir-fry. For a lighter plate, a cube of fermented bean curd or a few shreds of pickled mustard stem will do.
What can I eat with mantou for breakfast?
Soy milk: in Chinese cooking it is a breakfast drink, often accompanied by mantou. Rice porridge, a savory tofu pudding, or fried luncheon meat and egg inside the bun make it a fuller meal.
What do you dip fried mantou in?
Sweetened condensed milk: restaurants deep-fry small mantou and serve it alongside for dipping. Sesame paste is also used as a mantou spread, and sweet red bean paste suits a steamed bun.
What sauce goes with mantou?
Sweet bean sauce. At street grills, mantou is threaded on skewers and brushed with it, and in northern China the same sauce is eaten with raw scallions. Chili crisp is the spicy choice.
What meat goes with mantou?
Braised meat with a sticky sauce: pork trotters, pork ribs with green beans, or beef brisket with radish. Cumin lamb and twice-cooked pork are the quick stir-fried choices.