Showing posts with label red bean. Show all posts
Showing posts with label red bean. Show all posts

Sunday, February 14, 2016

red bean nien gao (mochi cake)

happy chinese new year. This is about the only thing my family ever did/does to celebrate :)

red bean nien gao
makes one 9x13 pan, or 2 loaves

1 lb sweet glutinous rice flour (e.g. Mochiko, or the bag with the green text in Asian stores)
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 cups milk or water
1 cup sugar
1 can sweetened red bean
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan or 2 loaf pans with oil. Sprinkle some of the rice flour on the pan(s) as well.

Mix together all the ingredients except the red bean paste.

Stir in the red bean paste and walnuts, if using.

Pour into pan(s) and bake for 45-60 mins. Cake is done when you can insert a knife cleanly.

Slice into squares or rectanges (like a lemon bar) and serve. Best warm or at room temperature. Great to toast in the oven in the morning, too!

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Chinese red bean soup with QQ balls

Chinese people eat this sweetened bean soup as a dessert, and the Taiwanese add little chewy (QQ), sticky rice flour dumplings for extra goodness and fun.

red bean soup
makes 12 servings

2 cups red adzuki beans
3/4 cup sugar
2 pieces tangerine or orange peel (optional)

for the QQ (tong shui)
1/2 cup glutinous rice flour
3 tbsp water

Soak the red beans in cold water for 2 hours.

Discard the water, add the beans to a medium or large pot and add water until it reaches 2 in above the beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low Add the optional orange peel and then cook for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Add additional water as necessary.

After 2 hours, the beans should be breaking, but still somewhat firm. Add sugar to the soup and stir or wait to let it dissolve.

Once dissolved, let the soup cook down for up to 30 mins until it reaches your desired consistency.

To make the QQ balls:

Mix the water and rice flour together to form a paste that holds together. If the paste is too dry and does not form a cohesive blob or mass when pressed together, add sprinkles of water a bit at a time until it does. The firmer the paste, the more QQ or chewy the balls will be.

Use your palms to form a log out of the paste, about the diameter of your fingers, or however large you want it. Break off little bits of the dough and round out each bit to form a ball.

Gently place the balls into the gently boiling soup. Once they float (within a few mins), your soup is ready to be eaten. If you overboil these, it's ok, but they will expand and absorb water, becoming less QQ.