Adzuki are small red beans commonly used in Korean, Japanese and Chinese confections. Called 팥 pat in Korean, these beans have a natural sweetness uncommon in legumes. Added sugar or honey during boiling to make the bean paste accentuates the sweetness for use in a number of East Asian desserts.
Based on archaeological findings, Asians have been cooking adzuki beans since 4000 BC. That’s more than 6,000 years of culinary history. How I wish I had a cookbook from back then.
Black bean brownie recipes have been around for some time, especially here in California. Most versions are flourless, which is helpful for those on gluten-free or Celiac disease diets.
Every time I would talk to people about black bean brownies, I’d scratch my head at why anyone would use black beans when red beans seemed a more logical confection choice. In my culinary world, it’s just a given that the black beans had to go and red beans should take center stage.
Trying to get into baking. I have an oven–something that is not too common in Korean households. So I should take advantage of it. I made a successful Coconut Rum Raisin Pound Cake a few weeks ago. Then I tried my hand at a Coffee Angel Food Cake, which ended up in the trash. Then I got cocky and thought I could make Petit Fours.
I hadn’t had Petit Fours since I was a kid, sneaking them out of my grandparents’ refrigerator. They’re delicate cakes filled with jam and/or cream covered in chocolate, bon-bon size. I thought I’d try to make some simple ones with Korean flavors.
I started with the Hot Milk Sponge Cake recipe from Joy of Cooking.
I sliced off the top and then sliced the cake in half.
Warmed up a little Yuja Cha. You knew I was going to do this, did you? We love Yuja Cha at ZenKimchi.
Spread the Yuja Cha thinly over the bottom half.
Placed the other half on top.
Then I got my favorite bittersweet chocolate and started melting it in a stainless steel bowl over boiling water.
Added 5-6 Tablespoons of butter.
Threw in a few tablespoons of Bokbunja Raspberry Liqueur and turned off the heat.
I cut the cakes into cubes, quickly dipped the bottoms in the chocolate and set them on a Silpat.
I think there’s a lot I can learn in the delicacy department.
I then covered the rest of them with chocolate and chilled them.
Didn’t turn out too bad, despite appearances. The chocolate was still very gooey, so next time I’ll put in less butter. The Yuja Cha gives them a Christmas-y flavor. We ate these with our morning coffee for the next few days.
A little chocolate is like a love affair — an occasional sweet release that lightens the spirit. —Linda Solegato
If chocolate is a lover, it’s not monogamous. Chocolate shares itself easily with most fruits, nuts, some legumes, tea wine and even flowers.
Mindy Fong, owner and proprietor of Jade Chocolates in San Francisco, brings a true pan-Asian flair to her confections. Many chocolatiers pair their treats with “safe” Asian ingredients, such as green tea, jasmine tea and ginger.
Fong encourages her chocolates to share themselves with more exotic Asian partners such as dried mangoes (sometimes shaped like orchids), roasted sesame seeds, roasted brown rice, lemongrass, tamari-soaked almonds, lapang souchong tea and ylang ylang flowers.
I had a chance to talk to her recently at Napa Chocolate Salon, held in the upper Napa Valley town of Yountville. The venue was just a few blocks from the world-famous Bouchon Bakery, owned by chef Thomas Keller of French Laundry acclaim.
What foods or flavors wouldn’t Fong mix with chocolate?
“Chocolate is basic, like black and white,” she replied. “It complements many different flavors.”
Just as I suspected: Chocolate is a sensory swinger, freely giving out love to everyone.
Jade Chocolate's chocolate covered edamame, just waiting to be sampled. (Tammy Quackenbush photo)
Jade Chocolate’s chocolate-covered edamame (soybeans) seemed like odd match-making. Fong dry-roasts the edamame, bathes them in bittersweet chocolate then dusts on bittersweet chocolate powder and sea salt.
I was expecting a “beany” taste, but I didn’t detect it. When edamame is roasted, the legumes taste similar to a peanut but more subtle, she told me. I now concur. Yet the inside of her enhanced edamame had more crunch than I’d expect from a chocolate-covered roasted peanut.
Two kinds of flavors, Fong said, don’t complement chocolate well:
“Delicate flavors.”
Flavors with a similar “earthy” profile to chocolate.
Pu-er tea, she pointed out, has a strong “earthy” flavor that muddies the flavor of any variety of chocolate.
Korea has its own perplexing pairing. Kimchi chocolate has a zippy liquid center. If spicy pickled cabbage spiked with hints of garlic, ginger and fish sauce can tango with chocolate, then just about anything else can do so too.
Chocolate is most seductive, it seems, when it is matched with complementary but equally strong flavors, just as people are. It may not be a choosy lover, but chocolate certainly performs well on play dates.
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, here is an easy kick for your chocolate biscotti. They look ever so innocent with the dark chocolate color and hazelnut bits, but a subtle kick after a second or two will let you know things get more interesting here. While the pairing of hot chili and chocolate seems no longer exotic or strange with spicy chocolate truffles and hot chocolate mixes spiced with chili powder in chocolate shops, the little impact of gochujang (고추장; Korean hot pepper paste) in chocolate still comes unexpected at home.
Something new I found from those Dream Cacao folks. This is a wine-flavored chocolate. According to the insert inside the container, it’s infused with powdered Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon. Even though, of course, there’s no alcohol in them, they do taste a little alcoholic–a little winey. If you gave them to me and hadn’t told me they were wine infused then I’d think they were raspberry, as in Korean Bokbunja Raspberry Wine. They’re not too bad, really. I’m looking forward to having them with those strawberries.
A thought… can you imagine the uproar if they came out with something like this in America?
Many Korean apartments and condos do not have ovens (as many expats discover after moving to South Korea). Having to adjust to cooking without a major appliance can make it life in the “Land of the Morning Calm” difficult if you enjoy baking.
This is a cake recipe you can make in your microwave in a coffee mug. It’s very easy, since it makes only two servings. The touch of Korean pepper powder invokes chocolate’s ancient past as an elixir of Aztec royalty.
You can find the original version of this recipe here. Cut it in half if you’re making a solo treat.
Ingredients:
– 4 tbsp flour – 5 tbsp sugar – 2 tbsp cocoa (I used some powdered hot chocolate mix this time) – 1 tsp baking powder – 1/2 tsp Korean pepper powder (or more), cinnamon or Chinese 5 spice powder – A pinch of salt – 1 egg – 3 tbsp milk – 3 tbsp oil (I used grapeseed oil) – 3 tbsp chocolate chips or flakes plus 2 tablespoon extra – A small splash of vanilla extract – 2 microwave safe coffee mugs
Preparation:
1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a big bowl.
2. Next, add in the milk, oil, vanilla extract, egg and mix well.
3. Pour mixture into mugs (at the halfway mark).
4. Sprinkle the top with the extra tablespoonful of chocolate chips or flakes .
5. Microwave one mug at a time. Cook for 1 minute on medium heat. It will bubble and rise as it cooks, so make sure you provide ample room for that. Leave it for a few seconds, then microwave for another 30 seconds on medium again. The mixture will solidify, but still look a little molten. That is fine because it will continue cooking on residual heat. Overcook it and you get a chocolate rubber ball.
6. Allow to cool a little before serving. The chocolate chips will sink to the bottom for a chocolate syrup treat. Think of it as the icing on the bottom instead of the top.
As you can see from the photos, the end product looks a little messy (after all, you’re serving it in the same dish you made it) but a generous scoop of your favorite ice-cream will hide that perfectly.
4. Sprinkle the top with the extra tablespoonful of chocolate chips or flakes .