Steamed buns in the fun and delicious form of headcrabs.

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 packet of dry yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
¾ cup warm (not hot!) water
One red pepper

Special stuff:

Wax parchment
Bamboo steamer

The Bamboo steamer isn’t all that pricey if you’re needing one. I nabbed mine for a mere $15.
Mix the flour, yeast, and sugar together. Add the warm water until it’s all mixed in. You’ll only want the water warm; if it’s too hot, it’ll kill the yeast. Add the oil and mix. Take the dough out, sprinkle a little flour around, knead a few times, then put it right back in the bowl. Cover and let it sit for an hour or two for the yeast to happily munch away at the sugar. The dough should roughly double in size.

The yeast is workin’ away to help make delicious dough.

When it’s the proper size, punch the dough down. Boom! Satisfying, isn’t it?
Grab a palm-sized bit of dough and roll around until it’s an oval shape.

The beginning of the bun.

Cut three slices into the side you’ve decided looks more like the face of a headcrab. Slice up some red pepper to place between the teeth of the headcrab.

With teeth.

Grab a tiny bit of dough and roll between your hands to create the arms. Grab an even smaller piece of dough and roll to make the back legs. This part you’ll have to eyeball to see what looks right for a proper headcrab. If things go horribly wrong, you can always grab more dough and start over.

Bun complete!

Place the headcrab on a bit of parchment paper and set in the bamboo steamer. The steamer sits in a pan of boiling water, so you’ll want to check up on it every so often to make sure the water doesn’t run out. Otherwise it’ll light up in a buttery ball flame, making the buns a little too crispy.

Headcrabs inside.

Let the buns steam away for about 20 minutes. They’ll plump up a bit during their cooking time.
Be careful removing the buns from the steamer, but enjoy the feeling of steam. It’s great for your skin!

Usually when you uncover these things they screech at you.

Makes about a dozen headcrabs. Eat while piping hot.

Print PDF