It turns out that you can make all kinds of fun new and creative fillings for your Chinese pastries and buns. I recently discovered what I think is the key to being able to do this: white bean paste. I had not heard of white bean paste until recently, having only known its famous cousin, red bean paste 紅豆沙.
White bean paste 白豆沙 is a sweet, creamy mildly bean flavored paste of light color. It is used to fill pastries to delicious effect. A super added plus is that white bean paste takes on both color and flavors really well, thus allowing for all kinds of new filling flavors to be made.
We start off exploring the versatility of white bean paste by adding chocolate to it. So exciting, cuz I love, love, love chocolate. Our Chinese chocolate pastry filling turned out incredible: oh so chocolaty, creamy, and oozy. A perfect hidden heart of smooth creamy chocolate!
Start off by making our easy Chinese white bean paste 白豆沙餡. Pssst…it’s super duper easy if you use canned beans! Once you finish your homemade white bean paste add the first layer of chocolately flavor by incorporating cocoa powder.
Knead the cocoa powder in until completely incorporated.
Add in sugar and maltose syrup 麥芽糖, those quintessential sugars for Chinese pastry filling pastes.
Cook over low heat. The sugar will melt and turn to liquid. Stir until the mixture thickens and becomes a paste.
Add in oil and keep stirring until completely incorporated. The oil is added to make the paste unctuous and oozy.
Ahhh! The moment has come to add the more chocolate, this time dark chocolate. Chop it first to lessen the melting time. Stir until the yummy chocolate is all mixed in.
Keep cooking and stirring over low heat until the paste comes together. Remove from heat. As the paste cools it will harden a bit. Your Chinese chocolate pastry filling paste is now ready to be shaped and stuffed into your tang yuan, pastries and buns!
You can further experiment using this same method by adding different flavors to white bean paste to create new and creative pastes to fill your sweet treats with. Let us know if you discover some particularly delectable ones!
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| Chocolate pastry filling paste oozing out of tang yuan |
Chinese Chocolate Pastry Filling Paste
巧克力餡
(makes 12.5 oz/360g paste) Prep Time: 5 mins Cook time: 6 mins
Ingredients:
- 7.8 oz Chinese white bean paste, 220g (click link for our homemade recipe)
- 2 oz dark chocolate, 55g
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder, 7g
- 1/4 cup sugar, 55g
- 1 1/2 tbsp maltose syrup 麥芽糖, 37g
- 5 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil, 73g
Directions:
Chop the chocolate to small pieces.
Combine the white bean paste and cocoa powder, knead until combined.
Add paste, sugar and maltose syrup to a small pot over low heat. Stirring, cook until mixture forms a paste that no longer sticks to the pot's sides. Add in oil and cook, stirring, until the oil is completely incorporated and paste no longer sticks to the sides of the pot.
Remove from heat and let cool completely. Your chocolate filling paste is ready to be used to fill your pastries, tang yuans or buns.
If not using right away, wrap in cling film and store in the fridge. The paste will harden in the fridge so soften by reheating in the microwave before use. Enjoy the chocolate love!
Perfect Pastry Pastes at The Hong Kong Cookery:
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