INTRODUCTION

Moon cake festival is 3 months away and I believed it is time for me to share recipes of moon cake fillings.. To start of, I will share the basic recipe of red bean paste which can be used not only in moon cake but also as fillings for steamed buns etc..

If I tell you homemade red bean paste is healthy, I think i am telling you a lie and it can classified as healthy if and only if you do not compared with those sold in the counter.. In order to get what it looked like those that was sold in the counter, you will need to have quite a high fat content.. Lots of oil is needed to make it smooth as silk .. As for the sweetness, you do have the ability to adjust.

However, there seems to be still something lacking when compared homemade red bean paste with store bought red bean paste. One is the flavour. While the flavour is very rich with red bean aroma  but it is slightly different than those sold in the stores.. Most will believe something has been  added to the store red bean paste and none seems to know what it is ..

Another is the colour of the red bean paste. Traditional red bean paste are very dark until the shade of black.. But it seems it is not possible to attain that shade of black with normal red beans.. It puzzled me too as the childhood red bean paste is black rather than red… I do hope some readers can shed some light with me.. Is there any possibility that the black bean was used instead of red beans.. May be I will try again in the next attempt.

All quantities listed here are for your reference and it very much depends on  your personal taste buds. What I am sharing is more of a method of preparation. As for sugar and oil, you will need to gradually add until it suits your taste bud.

I have also use the homemade red bean paste to prepare some flower buns and also moon cake.. I am happy that it works well on both bakes. For the flower buns, it taste just nice with a dough but for the moon cake, it is still slightly sweeter though definitely not as sweet as what is sold commercially.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

• 500 grams of red beans
• 200 grams of brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons of maltose
• 4 tablespoons of glutinous rice flour (optional)
• 250 grams of lard or peanut oil

* As for oil and sugar, it is advisable that you add gradually along the preparation. You may need more or less depending on your desired texture and smoothness.

STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Clean the red bean and put about 1 litre of water together with the washed red bean in a pressure cooker. Pressure cook the red bean for 30 minutes or until the red bean is soft. Drain away the additional water if any. Transfer the cooked red bean to a food processor, blend until as fine as you can. You may took a while to blend the cooked red bean as it can be rather sticky, therefore, pause and stir is required.  Add the brown sugar, maltose and 50 grams of lard or peanut oil and continue to blend until as smooth as possible.  Additions of this will facilitate the blending.  (Remember you can gradually add the brown sugar until your desired sweetness).

• In  a wok, heat up the remaining lard or peanut oil, add the blended red bean paste, followed by the glutinous rice flour. Stir fry under medium heat until aroma start to emit, sugar melted and the oil is well mixed with the red bean paste. Take some to taste if this is your desired sweetness and texture, otherwise, adjust by adding more oil and sugar now.  Once done, cooled completely before store in an air tight container in the refrigerator.

CONCLUSION

For me, it is a good attempt though I have wished that the sugar and fats are much less than stated in the recipe. I did try but it is not tasty and smooth at all. Therefore, I hate to say that delicious homemade red bean paste may not be the healthiest. However, it is still much healthier than those sold in the store as no preservatives were added, less sugar can be used and most important of all, you know what is inside the red bean paste.

Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

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