What is a red bean?
Red bean is a flavor paste (called Hong Dou Sha/红豆沙 in Chinese). It is also called the red bean jam but the Japanese call it Adzuki bean paste. This paste is made from red beans. It has deep red color because of the color of the beans.
However, you might find some of the red bean jam looking black or white. This is because of differences in the processing process.
The paste is sweetened and then used as a filling in many desserts.
The red bean paste is an essential ingredient in many Chinese treats, desserts, and pastries. It is used in Japanese, Maly, and Korean cuisines too.
Red bean has a fantastic taste. You can buy it from a store in local Asian stores. However, the store-bought red bean paste is not as fresh and good tasting as the homemade version.
Therefore if you want delicious red bean past desserts, you should make the paste at home.
How do you make red bean paste?
Depending on the kind of red bean paste you want to make, the process of making red bean paste will differ.
Their texture differentiates the two main types of red bean paste. There is coarse red bean paste and smooth red bean paste; the coarse red bean still has the husks.
This is common in the homemade version of this paste. And as you must have guessed, the smooth red bean paste has its husks removed. This is common in store-bought red bean paste.
To make red bean paste is pretty straightforward. All you have to do is boil the red beans until soft. Then mash it as much as you want. Add a sweetener if you want when the beans are still warm. Use your favorite sweetener.
Depending on your recipe, you can add butter. Butter makes the red bean paste richer in flavor by improving the taste and firmer because it will solidify when cold. In addition, it is silky and creamy, making every bite of a red bean paste tastier.
If you are after a smooth red bean paste, sieve it, and voila! Your red bean paste is done and ready for use.
Try my some sweet recipes:
How does red bean paste taste like
Red bean paste has a unique flavor close to the sweet potato flavor, just a bit sweeter. It is creamy and has earthy flavors.
- Red Bean Paste Pancake
- Matcha Red Bean Buns
- Danpatjuk – Korean Sweet Red Bean Porridge
- Red Bean Chestnut Roll Cake
- Daifuku Mochi (大福餅) Dessert rice cake
- Red Bean Paste Cookie
- Matcha Snow Skin Mooncake with Red Bean Filling Recipe
- Azuki Red Bean Ice Cream
- Easy Sweet Red Bean Mochi Waffles
- Dorayaki (Japanese Red Bean Pancake)
- Sesame Balls filled with Red Bean Paste
- Dairy-Free Red Bean Ice
- Creamy Red Bean Popsicles (红豆冰棍)
- Sticky Rice Cake with Red Bean Paste
- Soft Sweet Red Bean Paste Crinkle Cookies (with Egg or Eggless)
- Red bean swirl buns
- Coconut Red Bean Pudding
- Fish-shaped bread filled with sweet red beans (붕어빵 Bungeoppang)
- Red Bean Coconut Jelly Mooncake
- Vegan Matcha Red Bean Ice Cream
- Steamed Tapioca Red Bean Cakes
- Red Bean Soup Dessert
- Red Bean Bread
- Shanghai Mooncake (with red bean paste filling)
- Sweet Red Bean Paste (Tsubuan & Koshian)
- Su-Style Red Bean Mooncakes (苏式月饼)
1. Red Bean Paste Pancake
Red bean paste pancake is also called the red bean paste Bing. Bing is a Chinese word that refers to all stuffed pancakes, cookies, or bread.
These pancakes are soft, with a soft shell, while the inside consists of sweet, dreamy red bean paste. You should use a smooth red bean paste so that it can complement the softness of the pancake.
These pancakes look so delicious, and I am afraid you might be tempted to eat a few whiles in the kitchen.
Serve them for breakfast on a Sunday morning and enjoy.
2. Matcha Red Bean Buns
This delightful and sweet dessert features matcha and red bean paste as the co-star ingredients in this recipe. These delicious tiny buns are beautiful and fancy. The green shell and the red filling marry perfectly to gove an amazing-looking bun.
The Matcha powder gives these buns their green color. Therefore, it is essential to use high-quality matcha powder so the green color can pop nicely.
This recipe uses sweetened red bean paste. Use a sweetener that does not have a lot of colors, preferably a white sweetener. This is to stop it from changing the color of the red bean paste.
3. Danpatjuk – Korean Sweet Red Bean Porridge
Danpatjuk is a delicious, sweet Korean red bean porridge. It is a delicious dish that is eaten mainly during Dongzi, a Chinese winter festival. This is a glutinous rice ball that is cooked in red bean soup.
The sweet red bean soup works wonders for the bland rice balls. It makes the rice flavourful, and every bite is heavenly.
Danpatjuk is a delicious meal that can be enjoyed as a dessert or the main meal. This is because it is pretty heavy and filling.
4. Red Bean Chestnut Roll Cake
Sponge cake rolls are among my list of top 10 favorite desserts. It could easily be my best dessert, but I am such a sweet tooth; everything sweet is my favorite. This Japanese sponge roll cake is deliciously sweet. It is cute, airy, and fluffy.
This sponge roll cake is characterized by chestnut pieces, red bean whipped cream, and red bean paste.
The red bean paste gives this cake a sweeter, nutty, and earthy taste. The chestnut blends well with the flavor of the red bean and introduces a nice crunch to the cake. The whipped cream is also soft, making it a perfect cream filling. It is flavored to match the flavor of the cake.
Serve this delicious cake on birthdays or at a fancy party, and note the number of people who will ask you for the recipe. You will be the star of the party.
5.Daifuku Mochi (大福餅) Dessert rice cake
Daifuku is another Japanese sweet. This treat is tiny, probably a bite or two big. It is stuffed with the delicious red bean paste filling.
Daifuku is a delicious, light, and bouncy sweet that has rice cake mochi as its shell, and the inside is filled with sweetened red bean paste.
You will find these sweets in a Japanese supermarket. However making them at home is better, because you will enjoy fresh Daifuku and save on money.
Making Daifuku is so easy. First, you need to prepare the rice cake with rice flour and put the red bean paste and Swedish red peas.
You can store your Daifuku in an airtight container in the freezer. This will last for about two weeks,
6. Red Bean Paste Cookie
Red bean paste cookie is a dreamy cookie. The shell is crispy and delightful, while the filling is sweet from the red bean paste. These cookies are pretty small. However, they are so delicious; you run the risk of overeating.
You should take your red bean paste cookie with tea for breakfast, as a snack, or as dessert. The dough is highly flavored. The flour is vanilla flavored to give it a better taste and aroma.
You can sprinkle some sesame seed on the dough to give it a nutty delicious taste and beautiful look.
7. Matcha Snow Skin Mooncake with Red Bean Filling Recipe
By now, you know, matcha is a coloring agent that gives pastries a green color. This mooncake is dreamily delicious.
It derives its name from the snow skin mooncakes because it is a no-bake mooncake that is served cold. This version of mooncake resembles the traditional Chinese mooncake.
The outer skin or shell of this delicacy is similar to mochi. This is because they are both made using glutinous rice flour, and the shell is rice cake.
You only need a handful of locally available ingredients for this recipe. However, you need to have a mooncake mold kit. This you can find on Amazon.
8. Azuki Red Bean Ice Cream
We all love ice cream. For me, the fancier, the better. I love all flavors of ice cream, and always make it a point to try out different flavors once in a while.
I first tasted the azuki red bean ice cream a few months ago on a trip to Japan and it was love at first taste.
Currently, I am in an exclusive relationship with this ice cream and haven’t tried any more different flavors since traveling back. I even taught myself how to make it at home.
All you need for this recipe are three key ingredients. They include sugar, whole milk, and red bean paste.
The red bean gives this ice cream a deep red color and a nutty flavor. The red bean is sweet, but most of the sweetness you will feel in this recipe will be from the added sweetener.
Enjoy this delicious, authentic azuki red bean ice cream on a hot afternoon.
9. Easy Sweet Red Bean Mochi Waffles
Waffles are delicious. They are the perfect weekend breakfast delicacy. Forget about the usual waffles you are used to making, this sweet red bean flavored waffles will blow up your mind.
This waffle is made using creamy coconut milk. This means the result will have a coconut flavor. The coconut aroma is sure to wake everyone up if you are making these waffles for breakfast.
Additionally, this waffle is dairy-free. Therefore do not worry about your vegan needs. Finally, the waffles are soft because they are made using mochiko (glutinous rice flour) flour.
Please note that you have to use glutinous rice flour. You should never use rice flour instead.
Serve this sweet red bean mochi waffles with a glass of cold milk, or enjoy it as a dessert.
10. Dorayaki (Japanese Red Bean Pancake)
Dorayaki is a Japanese pancake that is red bean-filled. Comparing it to the Chinese red bean pancake, you will see a big difference.
This Japanese confection is delicious. The crust or shell is made of honey. In the middle, it is filled with red bean filling.
Dorayaki looks so cute, fancy, and delicious. You should try it out.
11. Sesame Balls filled with Red Bean Paste
I love sesame seeds. This effortlessly makes sesame balls filled with red bean paste one of the most delicious desserts I have ever been lucky to taste and try out in my kitchen.
The sesame seeds are nutty and give these ball treats a mildly crunchy texture. The filling is the red bean paste, and it tastes as delicious as always.
This is an easy five-ingredient recipe. You need sesame seeds, red beans, brown sugar, glutinous rice flour, and vegetable oil.
Serve after the main meal as a dessert. Enjoy these fancy sesame balls with red bean paste with a cup of tea if you like.
12. Dairy Free Red Bean Ice
This fancy dairy-free red bean ice was born in hong kong. It is a refreshing drink that consists of sugar syrup, crushed ice, tender red beans, and coconut milk.
The coconut flavor marries well with the red been flavor. You will notice that in most red bean recipes, there is a presence of coconut milk too.
Serve this on a warm afternoon. Enjoy
13. Creamy Red Bean Popsicles (红豆冰棍)
I have never outgrown popsicles, and I do not think I will ever do. I still make them a lot, probably more than O should.
Creamy red bean popsicle is creamy, decadent, and chewy. It has chewy beans inside since the red beans are not blended to be smooth.
This is a three-ingredient venture. You will need fed bean seeds, condensed milk, and whole milk. It will take about an hour to freeze fully. Enjoy.
14. Sticky Rice Cake with Red Bean Paste
This is an easy dessert that you can make at home for your kids. They will love it. If sticky rice is your thing, then this is the perfect recipe for you. Sticky rice cakes are so cute and look so delicate.
To make them, you can either panfry or boil. In this recipe, we will panfry.
These are perfect last-minute desserts in case you had forgotten to prepare something. They are quick, easy, and healthy. Everyone at the table will love them.
15. Soft Sweet Red Bean Paste Crinkle Cookies (with Egg or Eggless)
These delicious-looking cookies are a must-try. They are soft and intensely flavored; the sweetened red bean sauce makes these cookies very sweet.
You can make these cookies with an egg, but you can ignore the eggs if you are a vegan.
These delicious cookies are guaranteed to satisfy any sugar craving you are having. Therefore put on your apron and get to work.
Ket us know if you managed to make these perfectly delicious soft sweet red bean paste crinkle cookies.
16. Red bean swirl buns
These babies look so cute that I had a hard time stopping myself from eating the buns when I made them. Red bean swirl buns are a perfect dessert but can be taken at any time of the day, including breakfast.
To make these buns can look intimidating, but it is pretty straightforward. First, make your dough. Then section your dough. After sectioning, roll each piece flat to form a circle similar to roti or chapati.
Then smear your red bean paste generously. Next, fold the flattened dough, cut it snd twist.
Enjoy these buns after a main Chinese meal.
17. Coconut Red Bean Pudding
Coconut red bean pudding is a sweet, red bean coconut flavored pudding that puts most pudding to shame.
It has an intense coconut flavor from the coconut milk used to make it. In addition, the pudding has some tender, boiled red beans to give a different texture.
If you are looking for the pudding to impress your friends the next time you are hosting, look no further. Instead, follow the recipe to the latter to enjoy a perfect coconut red bean pudding.
18. Fish-shaped bread filled with sweet red beans (붕어빵 Bungeoppang)
Bungeoppang is a delicious Korean dessert that has fish-shaped bread. It is then filled with sweet red bean paste. Bungeoppang is a street food found on many Korean streets. First, however, there is the Japanese version of this.
Making Bungeoppang is fun. You can use this time to make it with your partner and kids. It is an exciting activity for the whole family.
Because of its exciting shape, expect many questions and fascinated oohs and aahs from both your family and friends.
19. Red Bean Coconut Jelly Mooncake
Red bean coconut jelly is another delicious treat that your kids will love. It is soft because you use glutinous rice to make it. Serve these delicacies as a dessert when hosting.
20. Vegan Matcha Red Bean Ice Cream
Vegan Matcha Red Bean Ice Cream on corn is for all vegans and anyone like me who can never let an ice cream pass.
It is a creamy, sweet, and decadent mushroom that would give you a run for your money if you were to buy it.
You require no ice cream machine to make this ice cream. Therefore, you have no excuse. Try out this recipe and enjoy this rare vegan ice cream.
21. Steamed Tapioca Red Bean Cakes
These cute tiny cakes are a must-have in your next menu plan. They are gorgeous, just as they are delicious.
It is an easy recipe to follow, and you need only four ingredients: sugar, olive oil, tapioca pearls, and sweetened red bean paste.
Serve as a snack for breakfast or dessert.
22. Red Bean Soup Dessert
Red Bean soup is a Vietnamese dessert called Che. Che is a drink that can be served in all temperatures.
You can take it while still warm during the cold season or cold to cool down during hot seasons.
Bean soup is famously called Che Dau. It refers to either green, yellow, or red beans.
Red bean soup takes a while to cook. You should give the red beans ample time to soak, then give it about 4 hours to cook.
The liquid becomes thick as the red beans become softer. When the beans are ready, remove the bean soup and serve.
23. Red Bean Bread
This is a beautiful artistic bread that will be very exciting to prepare. This recipe details the process of making this bread from scratch.
The recipe is quite long, and you might not get it the first time. However, it is wise to note that it gets easier.
The result should be a sweet, swift Asian milk bread.
24. Shanghai Mooncake (with red bean paste filling)
Shanghai mooncake is buttery, soft, and a perfect dessert after a Chinese dinner. However, the crust is a bit crumbly; therefore, you should handle it with care.
To get the best result, use lard or butter. You can also use coconut oil to give it a delicious coconut flavor.
25. Su-Style Red Bean Mooncakes (苏式月饼)
These mooncakes are only found in shanghai, Zhejiang, and Suzhou. It is a delicious mooncake with a unique crust, crumbly, soft, and multilayered.
Red bean mooncake is a type of mooncake that is filled and flavored with red bean paste. This is an easy recipe.
To save on time, make your red mooncake days ahead. You can also make the two doughs a day or two ahead.
Be gentle when handling the mooncakes. This should stop them from crumbling.
Serve your mooncakes when cool. Remember, it is crumbly and flaky; therefore, handle them with care. Enjoy with Chinese tea.
Conclusion
Red bean desserts are delicious. There exists a variety of these desserts, and many recipes are being invented every day. The above recipes will help you get started on red bean desserts.
