My love for red bean paste buns date back to a long long time ago and inspired me to give making them gluten free a go!
The very first family vacation I really remember is our family trip to Canada to celebrate my cousins high school graduation.
We drove all the way from SC to Canada 🇨🇦 which was over 13 hours. One of my family’s favorite stops was Chinatown in Montreal. We went in and out of Chinese bakeries trying different new treats and I had my first red bean paste bun.
I’ve been thinking about them a lot lately so I decided to try making them for the first time. These easy to make red bean paste buns are out of this world!
Red Bean Paste Buns
Ingredients
- 1 can red beans or 1 cup dried beans that have been soaked overnight
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 cups Water
- 1 Pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp Tachina optional, it gives it a nutty flavor and some extra vitamins
- 2 1/2 cups Schar Mix B Flour or a gluten free baking flour of your choice
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1.5 tsp yeast
- 2/3 cup ml lukewarm water
- 1 tbsp. Vegetable oil
- Salt
Instructions
- Dissolve the yeast in the water. While the yeast sits a minute combine the flour and sugar in a separate bowl. Add in the yeast, oil, and salt. Knead for 3 minutes.
- Let the dough rise for about an hour or until double in size.
- While the dough is rising, make the filling. Drain the beans and boil until extremely soft, then drain out most of the water from the pot.
- Mash the beans with a fork and add in the sugar and allow to reduce to on low heat stirring constantly. Taste the paste to make sure it’s to your liking- I prefer less sweet and a bit nutty so I add a teaspoon of tachina. You can add more sugar if you prefer a sweeter flavor.
- Using an immersion blender or masher, blend to desired consistency. I prefer super smooth but others like the filling of their buns with a little texture
- Let filling cool. Prepare a steamer basket or if you are like me and don’t have one, take a small aluminum tin and using a knife cut holes into the bottom of it. Place it on top of a pot of boiling water.
- Take the dough and add in about 2-3 tbsps flour to make it less sticky.
- Break the dough into 6-8 portions and flatten each portion into a circle with a thick middle and thinner edges.
- Place a spoonful of the filling in the center of each circle and pinch closed on top.
- Place in your steamer and cover letting the buns steam about 15-20 minutes. (My make shift steamer was a tinfoil pan with holes in the bottom. I covered it with a lid to a soup pot.)
- Let cool and enjoy. They keep well overnight in the fridge if you can make yours last that long!