Sweet buckwheat dumplings

Soba manju are sweet buckwheat dumplings, traditionally filled with anko, a sweet paste made of Azuki beans (and heaps of sugar).
Alternatively they can be filled with anything you like, such as wild berries, jams, etc.).

Ingredients

• 100 g Buckwheat flour
• 100 g Spelt or wheat flour
• 70 g Sugar
• 60 ml Lukewarm water
• 5 g Baking soda (natron or wine stone)
• 250 g Filling (Berries, Marmelade, Anko, etc.)
• 20 g Freshly ground poppy seeds (optional)

Put sugar with water in a bowl and stir until the sugar dissolves.
Add flours, baking soda and poppy seeds and mix until it becomes a homogenous dough.
Dust the working area with flour and take the dough out of the bowl.
Shape the dough to a longish form and cut it to six pieces.
Form a ball from each piece and press it into a flat pancake shape.
Put a spoon full of filling into the center of the dumpling, wrap the dough around it and close it tightly at the top.
Boil some water in a pot and line the steaming basket with a sheet of baking paper or a linen cloth.
Put the dumplings in the basket with the seam on the bottom side and steam them for 10 minutes in high heat.