Soft, gently springy brown-sugar rice puddings are dotted with tender whole red beans and steamed in little bowls. This Hong Kong-style teatime snack uses 80 g dried red beans for about eight to ten small puddings.
Times are estimates. Allow for the soaking, cooling and chilling shown above, and check the state and doneness described in the method.
Recipe illustrations; measure ingredients using the written quantities.
Pick over and rinse 80 g dried beans. Cover with 800 ml cold water and refrigerate, covered, at 5°C or below for 8–12 hours. Discard the soaking water, rinse and drain. Soaking is not cooking: do not add uncooked dried beans straight to the batter.
Put beans and 900 ml fresh water in a pan. Bring to a full boil for 10 minutes, then partially cover and simmer for about 60–90 minutes until soft throughout, easily crushed and without chalky centres. Check and top up with hot water to keep them submerged. Continue if necessary; the later steaming stage is not a way to finish hard beans.
Drain off the cooking water and gently fold 15 g caster sugar through the hot beans. Spread in a shallow bowl to cool slightly. Lightly oil eight to ten 100 ml heatproof bowls. Prepare a stable rack and enough water in the steamer, keeping the bowls above the water. Bean cooking liquid is not used in the batter, so its water quantity stays controlled.
Whisk rice flour, wheat starch and cornflour with 200 ml cold water. In another pan bring the brown sugar and 250 ml water to the boil, stirring to dissolve. Pour the hot syrup into the flour slurry in a thin stream while whisking briskly until even. Do not tip dry flour directly into boiling syrup.
Put a little cooked bean in each bowl. Stir the batter before every pour, fill to about four-fifths and divide the remaining beans over the tops. Leave headroom; bowl sizes and the yield may vary. Cover and steam over steadily boiling water for about 25–30 minutes or longer, until set with no runny white batter in the centre. A skewer may be sticky, but should not carry raw flour paste. Top up steamer water with hot water if needed.
Lift out with oven gloves and cool on a rack for about 45–60 minutes. Once the initial heat has gone, cover and refrigerate at 5°C or below within 2 hours of steaming. Chill for at least another 2 hours to firm up rather than leaving for hours at room temperature. Briefly temper before serving, then loosen with a clean spoon. Freshly steamed puddings are normally quite soft and sticky.
Contains wheat in the wheat starch; unsuitable for a wheat allergy. The Xianyitang dried-ingredient packs state that they are packed in a facility also handling peanuts, tree nuts, sesame and soya. Check the actual labels of every brand used.
Cool both cooked beans and finished puddings promptly, and refrigerate each covered at 5°C or below within 2 hours of its cooking stage. Enjoy the puddings within 24 hours. Steaming does not reset an earlier period left at room temperature. If reheating, do so only once until hot throughout.
