Soft, fluffy steamed buns filled with sweet, creamy red bean paste, Chinese red bean buns taste amazing when made from scratch. This recipe includes many useful tips and a tutorial video.
Red bean is one of the most common fillings in Chinese snacks such as sesame balls, mooncakes, and steamed buns. It has a sweet, nutty, earthy, and creamy taste.
How to make the paste
To make red bean paste, following these steps:
- Cook adzuki beans (pre-soaked overnight) in water until they become soft. Skip this step if using cooked adzuki beans in cans.
- In a blender or food processor, puree the drained beans along with sugar and butter/coconut oil (add a little water to make blending easier if necessary).
- Heat up the puree in a pan to reduce the moisture until it becomes a soft paste.
Tip: Do not overly dehydrate the paste. Once it holds its shape (but not firm) and its colour darkens, you need to remove it from the heat. It will be firmer once cooled thus manageable when assembling the buns. Check out the desired consistency in the tutorial video (in the recipe card below) for reference.
Tip: If you don’t have a blender or food processor, you can make rustic, chunky red bean paste manually following my method introduced in the post “Homemade Red Bean Paste, Two Ways“.
A fail-proof dough recipe
I’ve shared quite a few Chinese leavened dough recipes on the blog:
You may use any of them to make red bean buns. However, for today’s post, I’ve chosen the third one as I think it’s the most suitable for buns with a sweet filling. The extra fluffiness pairs perfectly with the creamy bean paste.
For making 14 red bean buns, you’ll need:
- 350g all-purpose flour (plain flour). If available, you may also use low gluten special bao flour (available in Chinese stores) or cake flour.
- 2 teaspoon instant dry yeast. If using active dry yeast, you need to dissolve it in water first then mix with other ingredients due to its larger granules
- 2 teaspoon baking powder. Please note it can NOT be replaced by baking soda.
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1.5 tablespoon neutral cooking oil
- 180g lukewarm water. It might be necessary to adjust slightly depending on the brand of your flour. The finished dough should be soft but it shouldn’t sticky to hands.
Simply combine all the ingredients and knead until a smooth dough forms. No special technique or lengthy kneading required. You can either make the dough manually or with the aid of a stand mixer.
Tip: To make hand kneading easier, I suggest you follow this trick: Combine all the ingredients and form a rough-looking dough. Leave to rest for 10 mins then knead again for 1-2 mins. This way you’ll achieve the desired smooth texture without having to knead for a long time.
Unlike the traditional yeast-only recipe, you don’t need to proof the dough before shaping the buns. So once the dough is well-kneaded, move on to the next step straight away.
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FAQ
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