Uguisu-pan (うぐいすパン, green-pea-paste bun)

Uguisu-pan belongs to early spring, when the first green of the year still feels like news. The bun is named for uguisu, the bush warbler whose call announces the season more faithfully than any shop calendar. The color is gentler than a leaf, and the flavor should be pea first, sugar second.

People see the filled bun and expect bakery cleverness. It isn't clever. Make a soft milk dough, cook peas with sugar and a pinch of salt, then wrap one around the other. The work is in the paste: if uguisu-an is loose, it leaks and weighs the crumb down; if you cook it until it mounds and cool it fully, it behaves like a quiet guest. A rare thing in baking.

The shun matters here. Fresh shelling peas at their prime give the cleanest fragrance, but good frozen peas, picked young and frozen quickly, are a sensible stand-in when the season is gone. What you shouldn't use is tired gray peas and more sugar to apologize for them. There is nothing hidden in this bun. The milk crumb only carries the green note through, so let the filling speak and leave the surface plain, a small shine of egg and a pinch of sesame.