Leaning Vegetarian

Posts Tagged ‘beans’

Peach buns are one of my favorites from dim sum.  We made our own sweet red bean paste from canned adzuki beans, but if you’ve got a well-stocked asian market you may be able to find it canned and save some time.

Ingredients – Sweet Bean Paste

Two 15 oz cans azuki beans
1 cup sugar (add more or less to taste)

Ingredients – Bun Dough

1 pkg yeast
1 c. milk
2 tablespoons sugar
3 c. flour plus 1 cup for kneading
1/2 tsp salt
2 egg whites

We mashed the beans through a strainer; next time I’m going to use the food processor because everyone’s wrists were tired by the time we finished.

Add the sugar to the beans in a saucepan over medium heat and cook until it darkens a bit and becomes glossy.

Meanwhile, start the dough by heating the milk and sugar until bubbles just begin to form around the side of the pot. Let it cool to lukewarm and add the yeast, flour, and salt. Use a mixer to beat the dough while adding the two egg whites.

Knead this, adding flour as necessary to tone down the stickiness. Let it rest for a few minutes before patting it into wrappers.

I’ll let Kaela demonstrate while she fills the wraps with bean paste:

Put these into a steamer lined with a greased bit of parchment paper – I did the snowflake thing with folds and scissor cuts to add holes; a regular hole punch would have been quicker. Don’t put them this close together or they will stick together.

Steam them for 12 to 15 minutes and roll off onto a plate. To get the peachy appearance, brush them lightly with a little bit of food coloring to resemble a peach. If you want to get creative like Kaela did below, with her fish and watermelon and turtles and zombies, use a small paintbrush and food coloring.  These are best right off the stove, but they will keep refrigerated for a few days.