Red Bean Paste with Vanilla Ice Cream 紅豆蓉雲呢拿雪糕

I have to admit first off that I don't particularly like the sort of weird fusion of foods that abounds today in most smart and trendy restaurants.  It's not that I'm conservative about food, I love crazy food!  It's just that I tend to find a lot fusion food gimmicky and not really about taste first.  Which I don't like.  

But the thing is I do like weird food combinations!  When I was little I remember that I invented (from the assorted odds and ends available in our fridge) a little sandwich spread for myself that I thought was absolutely heavenly: stinky blue Cheese dressing slapped on a slice of bread drizzled generously with honey and then gobbled up.  (I know, pretty gross!  But it was yummy, I swear!)  

So recently I found myself puttering about in a fridge again, (my own grown up fridge), and decided to toss together two items that I found in there.  To my absolute surprise and yummilicious pleasure I discovered that night that there is almost nothing in the world that goes together better than Red Bean Paste Topped with Vanilla Ice Cream, or 紅豆蓉雲呢拿雪糕:  smooth silky vanilla contrasting creamy textured red bean paste, that sublime taste of vanilla perked up by and yet balancing the stronger fragrant beany flavor of the red bean.  (Oh shoot, now I'm hungry for ice cream...)

Grandma's Red Bean Paste 紅豆沙

Red Bean Paste 紅豆沙 is a real favorite Chinese sweet pastry and dumpling filling.  I love this stuff!  And my grandma's homemade red bean paste was soooo lusciously good!  (Chinese chocolate!) And it sure got me hooked on this stuff for the rest of my life.  

I sometimes will get urges (out of nowhere) to go out and find something with red bean paste in it so that I can stuff my face.  Nom, nom, nom!  But sometimes I get a bit sad and nostalgic here in Hong Kong cuz, to be honest, it's hard to find good red bean paste pastries and dumplings here.  I think the reason for that is that red bean paste is not a favorite in this southern region, lotus paste and black sesame paste being more preferred.  

(See our posts on Black Sesame Walnut Mooncakes Recipe 黑芝麻核桃月餅 and Homemade Lotus Seed Paste 白蓮蓉 for our yummy recipes for black sesame paste and lotus seed paste.)  

However, we solved that problem by making Grandma's red bean paste ourselves now.  It's not hard, just takes a bit of time and then you can enjoy the deliciousness of homemade red bean paste for filling all your buns, pastries, dumplings, or just for sneaking secret unctuous midnight spoonfuls. (OMG, my first Nigella reference!)

Red Bean Dessert Soup 紅豆沙

In case you are wondering, this is not really a photo of an actual Chinese Red Bean Soup.  This is a Chinese Red Bean Soup toy which I got for 5 HKD out of a bubble toy machine. (More here about bubble toy machines from which you can get cool food toys!)  Looks pretty delicious for plastic, eh?  

I thought so too, and so got inspired to make the real Red Bean Dessert Soup, a classic traditional Chinese dessert.  This little bowl of sweet yumminess after a full Chinese dinner will hit the sweet spot and round off a pleasant meal.  Red Bean Soup , or 紅豆沙, is easy to make at home and as usual, homemade is way better than the ones you can taste in restaurants and dessert shops.