Mini Red Bean Paste Bun

Preparation Time : 15 min (bun) + 8 hours 15 min (filling)

Cooking Time: 2 hours (bun) + 3 hours (filling)

Yield : 7 mini buns (Diameter about 3 inches)

Freezer Friendly : Yes

[Tips : Prepare the filling in big batch on weekends and freeze it or simply replace the filling with cream cheese, peanut butter and so on]

I just feel like I do not have enough time each morning, so I have twisted the original recipe of spiral bun to normal bun, and instead of cream cheese peanut butter, I have some leftover red bean paste which I made few weeks ago which I want to clear off. By the way Japanese called red bean Adzuki Bean, not sure if it's exactly the same but I have seen Adzuki Bean in pack ( I have yet to try) which looks bigger in size compared to the normal red bean.

The result of this bun, it tastes fine but the red bean paste tastes dry, perhaps due to the paste was kept in my freezer for sometime (I think more than a month), it tasted good when it was freshly made. I left it overnight, the bun did not turn hard the next day, my girl only had half a bun, she had never tried red bean paste before. The filling recipe I adopted from a Japanese (refer to link below, she provided detail illustration on how to prepare the Anko/red bean paste) so I think that this is the correct and proper way of preparing red bean paste. The steps is lengthy and time consuming for me so I think the next round I will try an easy version which is just boil the red bean, add sugar, and blend it.

Bun Ingredients:
100g bread flour
30g cake flour
1 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp condensed milk (Susu Cap Junjung)
1 tsp brown sugar
80ml Dutch Lady fresh milk
1 tsp grapeseed oil (Original called for melted unsalted butter but I was running out of butter)


Bun Steps:
1) Knead using breadmaker for 10 minutes (Function 6 for Donlin Breadmaker).
2) Set the dough aside for 50 minutes
3) Flatten the dough and divide the dough into 7 portions.
4) Roll in round, flatten it (looks like mini pizza dough), put about 1 tbsp filling in centre, wrap it up by pulling from upper, lower, left and right side of the flat dough, Use finger to slightly twist the meeting point of the 4 sides to close the gap/hole.
5) Bake it under 170 degree for 20 minutes.

Filling Ingredients:-
200g red bean
Water as needed
100g brown sugar (Original calls for 200g)
Pinch of salt

Filling Steps:

1) Soak the red bean overnight or at least 8 hours.
2) Rinse and drain the red bean.
3) Put red bean and water and bring to boil in a pot. Water should be 1-2 inches above the red bean.
4) Turn off the heat after boiling, cover with lid for 5 minutes.
5) Drain the red bean.
6) Put red bean and water and bring to boil in a pot. Water should be just enough to cover the beans. (I read on the internet that the water level is important to ensure that the bean does not split)
7) Turn heat to medium low after boiling, simmer for 1 hour plus (I did it in 1 1/2 hour) until the bean can be mashed easily with your finger. Keep adding water to cover the beans as water will evaporate.
8) Turn heat to high and add sugar in 3 portions. Stir continuously until you can draw a line on the bottom of the pot using the ladle and you can see the surface of the pot for more than 2 seconds.
9) Add salt and turn off heat.
10) Put the red beans on a flat wide tray, mash with fork/potato masher and let it cool.
11) If you plan to use it soon, cover with cling wrap and fridge. You can also divide into small portion (150g-200g for this bun recipe) and freeze it for future use.

Original recipes:

http://17chipmunks.wordpress.com/2014/09/25/spiral-cream-cheese-peanut-butter-bun/
http://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to/how-to-make-anko-red-bean-paste/