Susan's wonderful world: Green bean cake 綠豆糕

This popular Chinese dessert is a real treat. I love it so much that everytime I visit my parents in Taiwan, I have to pack up my suitcase with it and bring it back to the States. They were so precious that I felt I was eating gold.

It is mashed green bean (or mung bean) filled with mashed red bean (asuki bean). Sounds simple but tastes delicious. Dear Carol shared this recipe on her blog, and I couldn't wait to try it out. It tastes just like the ones I bought from the store! I was so happy. I no longer need to buy them from Taiwan. I can just make them in my own kitchen! I made about 45 of them, put them in a container, and headed to my in-laws'. The weather was in the low 60s and it's raining. Everybody was home doing nothing. We sat around the table, chatting, brewing tea and enjoying this delicious treat. It was such a wonderful afternoon filled with sweet memories.

Red Bean Filling:

12 oz. red beans
cooking oil
sugar
1 Tbsp maltose (optional)

Soak 12 oz. red beans (asuki beans) overnight. The next day, remove excess water, leave just enough to cover the beans. Cook or steam them until soft and easy to mash. Put them in the blender to finely mash them. Add a little water if too dry to operate, one Tbsp at a time. After they are mashed, weight it to get an idea of how much mashed red bean there is. Pour it in a pan, add cooking oil (8% weight of the bean), sugar (20% weight of the bean) and roughly 1 Tbsp of maltose to the mashed beans. Add more sugar if prefer sweeter taste. Stir constantly. Cook until excess water evaporates, and the mashed beans come to form a dough. Be careful not to cook it too dry. Let cool on a plate, the dough will be a little harder when cooled. Divided into 5 grams each.

This is a common filling of Chinese desserts. The leftover mashed red bean can be frozen. Just defrost it in the refrigerator the night before before the next use.

Green Bean Paste:

Peeled split mung bean

Peeled split mung beans

Soak 200 grams of peeled split mung beans in 400 grams water for two hours. Cook or steam until easy to mash. Use a silicon spatula or a fork to mash the beans, and mix in 5 Tbsp powder coffee creamer. Cook in a pan with 40 grams sesame oil, 20 grams of olive oil, 40 grams sugar and about 1 Tbsp maltose on low to medium heat. Cook until excess water evaporates, and the mashed beans come to form a dough. Let cool on a plate.

The mold is available on Amazon.com. Do not need to butter, spray or flour the mold. Put a small amount of the green bean paste in, make an indent with your thumb, put the red bean paste (5 grams) in it. Flatten it a little, and top with a small amount of the green bean paste. Flatten with your palm or a rolling pin; Remove excess green bean paste if necessary. Knock on one side of the mold first, then the opposite side. The cake should come out easily.

You can also use the madeleine pan or petit fours pan or other silicon cake mold to make it.