Sweet Red Bean Paste

I love the smoky flavor of sweet red bean paste and regularly buy the canned Japanese ones but lately I find them overly sweet. I decided to make the paste from scratch mainly to reduce the sugar content. It's not a very difficult process and 2 cups of dried beans make a large batch of sweet paste, about 5 cups, that can fill a lot of pao (steamed buns), baked buns, and hopiang hapon (Japanese-style Filipino-Chinese cakes). I've made the super flaky Filipino Chinese hopia which is a tad complicated and thought making hopiang hapon would be easier because the dough I remember was not as flaky and greasy as the regular hopia, probably closer to moon cake dough.

There aren't many recipes for Filipino hopiang hapon and I adapted the dough from the only one I could find. I underbaked the hopia and they came out pale; and although they don't look like the ones from the Philippines, they taste almost identical. The dough is soft and not sweet at all and I can't stop eating them, they're that good. I'll use a moon cake dough recipe next time I make these.

mini sweet red bean pao

baked sweet buns

hopiang hapon

Sweet Red Bean Paste
2 cups small red beans (azuki)
4 cups water + more to cover
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light olive oil

• Clean, rinse, and soak beans overnight in 4 cups water. The next day, drain beans and place in a large non-stick sauce pan; add fresh water to cover and cook over medium heat until tender. Drain, add sugar and oil, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often until soft and mixture appears dry. For coarse consistency, mash with a potato masher or blend in a blender if fine consistency is preferred. The paste should hold its shape but still moist. Let cool to room temperature, transfer into a container, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed.

The recipe for steamed pao dough is here.

Hopiang Hapon

dough
1½ cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt
¼ cup cubed cold butter
¼ cup light olive oil
¼ cup water
1 whole egg

filling
1½ x ½-inch sweet red bean paste disks

egg wash
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon water

• Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in cold butter with fingertips. Stir in the rest of the ingredients until combined. Knead lightly just until a smooth dough is formed. Divide into 2 equal pieces and form into logs. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Slice each log into 8 pieces. Flatten each piece into 1/8 inch thick circles. Place a disk on the center and gather the edges. Pinch together and place on a sheet pan, seam side down. Brush with egg wash and bake in a preheated 375°F oven until golden.

Bonus info: The Japanese use ground azuki beans as a facial exfoliating agent. A fellow shopper, a Japanese woman, told me while we were at The Body Shop that her secret to a smooth unblemished facial skin is ground azuki which the store was selling at the time. The grounds came in a tiny box with holes at the top. You wet a small amount on your palm and massage the paste in a circular motion all over your cheeks, forehead, and chin. I used the ground beans on my face for many years but the store discontinued the product. It really works great in removing dead skin making my face smooth as a baby's. I should probably grind some.;-)

Food Friday: Matcha and Sweet Azuki Swirl Bread

I've been busy updating and re-posting old entries from 2006 and 07. Back then I didn't add labels to my posts and sometimes even forgot the titles. Yeah, I know, I was the worst newbie blogger ever. And my photos were really ug-uh-leee and when I changed to the recent template design the positioning of the photos got messed up. I tell you, it's taking me forever "correcting" the photos' colors, brightness, etc., uploading to flickr, and aligning them on the posts. But the positive thing is I get to be reminded to bake my old favorites such as these swirl breads. I added a layer of green tea dough to the sweet bean swirl...perfect match-a. (^-^)

Matcha Bread Rolls with Sweet Azuki

I was given a packet of matcha powder, compliments of Obubu Tea, a Japanese matcha producer *Thank you Ian*. The tea arrived from Japan yesterday and today I baked a small batch of bread rolls filled with sweet azuki which is one of my favorite dessert pairings. Three things I love: the mellow but distinct matcha flavor which lingers in the mouth after eating the sweet-ish rolls, the sweet aroma that greeted me when I snipped open the package, and the bright green color indicating top quality. I highly recommend it.

I'm not a green tea expert but for the past 4 years I have been drinking green tea brewed from Japanese loose tea leaves. The Japanese matcha powder I have I use exclusively for making cakes, cookies, crepes, ice cream, candies, and bread. I think I drank it once but didn't like it; I prefer the brewed tea leaves. Now I know why, the very pale green matcha powder, although also from Japan, is probably old or not the best quality.

Obubu Tea matcha has a much brighter green color

Matcha An Pan (Green Tea Bread Rolls with Sweet Azuki)

3½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast
4 tablespoons sugar
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
4 tablespoons milk powder
1 tablespoon matcha powder
1¼ cups + 2 tablespoons lukewarm water
4 tablespoons soft butter
1 egg, room temperature
homemade or canned sweet azuki

• In the bowl of a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, stir together 2 cups of the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, milk powder, and matcha. Add the water, butter, and egg and mix on low for 1 minute. Add the remaining flour and mix on low for 1 minute. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon lukewarm water if the dough seems dry.
  
• Replace the paddle with the dough hook and mix on second speed for 4 to 5 minutes or until dough is smooth and supple. Transfer into a lightly greased container, cover with plastic wrap and let ferment on the kitchen counter for 2 hours.
  
• Transfer the dough on the work surface and knead lightly to release air bubbles. Scale the dough into 2½-ounce pieces, roll into rounds, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest for 20 minutes. Flatten the rounds into 5-inch circles. Using a 1-tablespoon ice cream scoop, scoop and drop azuki on the center of the circle. Gather the edges and pinch to close. Place on parchment-lined sheet pans, seam side down, 2 inches apart, and flatten each to about 1 inch thick. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350°F 20 minutes before baking. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until tops are light brown in color.
  

the cut roll looks like a butterfly or clover


I made a few plain rolls, so good with chocolate spread

Swirl Bread

I just had to bake these swirl breads filled with sweet azuki bean paste and ube jam that I read about in a Filipino blog. My version is not so perfect, I haven't baked loaves in more than a year. Hmm, now I'm wondering if the yeast was still good. Both are yummy, however I love anything with sweet red beans and ube whether it's mochi or ice cream so even if these loaves came out rock hard (thankfully they did not) I'd still eat them.