Changdao Seaweed Steamed Buns 长岛海菜包
Changdao Seaweed Steamed Buns is featured among the local specialties of Shandong.
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Changdao Seaweed Steamed Buns (长岛海菜包) are steamed buns filled with fresh seaweed gathered around the Changshan Islands (长山列岛) of Changdao (长岛) in Yantai (烟台), Shandong. Several kinds of local seaweed go into them, each mixed with meat and some with Chinese cabbage, and they are a winter food: the sea vegetables come into season with the first heavy snow.
Ingredients
Yantai Daily names four seaweeds as the best for buns on Changdao: sea lettuce (海青菜), the long, thin 'camel hair' weed (骆驼毛), wakame (裙带菜) and a coarse seaweed called gusui cai (谷穗菜), 'grain-ear weed'. Sea lettuce comes in fine-leaved and broad-leaved kinds; the tender fine leaf goes into soup, and the crisper broad leaf goes into buns. It grows from the start of winter until spring and is the main sea vegetable on Changdao tables in winter.
Each seaweed has its usual partners. Sea lettuce is paired with Chinese cabbage and pork belly; 'camel hair' with cabbage, plenty of meat, a little soy sauce and salt; wakame with fatty pork. Gusui cai is steamed until soft, chopped and mixed with oil, meat and shredded radish, and sometimes with oysters.
How it is made
For sea lettuce buns the wrapper can be leavened dough, hot-water dough or cold-water dough. Most households use white flour, though many like a two-flour mix (两兑合). Buns are shaped round or pinched flat. Steamed over high heat, the 'camel hair' buns gather a rich broth inside.
Flavour and texture
The 'camel hair' filling is described as fresh, smooth and tender. Gusui cai is rough in the mouth, yet many Changdao families favour it, and Yantai Daily says gusui cai buns like these are hard to find anywhere but Changdao. The buns taste best straight from the steamer.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-24. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.