I remember the taste of the red bean sweet porridge that I ordered during a visit to a Taiwanese dessert shop in Kuala Lumpur. The ingredients to make it are red bean, rock sugar and tangerine peel. 

I like to remake the sweet dessert using my own preference ingredients.

Brief Story About Red Beans 

Also known as the adzuki bean. It is native to China as well as in Japan and Korea. The beans are generally used in desserts. They are made into a paste for stuffing pastries and pureed, and also become a part of ice cream.

The red bean sweet porridge is famous among the Chinese in Malaysia but in Malay, they like to use the red bean paste as filling for the fried steam bun. 

Additional ingredients to Red Bean Sweet Porridge 

On their own, beans have no taste and are without flavour, but adding coconut milk, palm sugar and pandan leaves the flavour will rise up. Thus, I added these ingredients to the red bean sweet porridge. A way that my family prefer to eat. 

Usually the dessert is prepared using a pressure cooker, but I do not have one. Therefore, I decided to soak the red beans overnight. 

Pandan leaves

I love using pandan leaves for my dessert. It adds a fragrant smell to the cuisine.

Sago

Adding sago to thicken the gravy and also gives a jelly texture to the porridge. Without sago, the consistency of sweet dessert porridge will be dilute. 

Coconut Milk

A dessert without fresh coconut milk will be incomplete. Coconut milk will make it thick consistency and creamy taste. As an idea, drizzle coconut milk to enhance the look of the red bean sweet porridge. 

Palm sugar 

Palm sugar will give it a brownish colour and thus aesthetically appealing.

Recipes Red Bean Sweet Porridge

The recipe is the simple method. It does not take much of your time. However, it required you to prepare one day ahead.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour 30 minutes 

Serving size: 4 people 

Ingredients 

• 1 cup of red beans 
• 2 pieces of pandan leaves 
• 1000ml of water 
• 200g palm sugar
• 200 ml coconut milk
• 2 tablespoon sago 
• Salt added to taste 

Instructions 

Rinse the beans well. Soaked the red beans for three hours in a plastic container. 

Then, keep it in the freezer for one night so the red bean can easily be cooked and dissolved. 

Add pandan leaves. Boil the red beans for 1 hour. You can use the same water that soaked the red bean as removed it will wash away the nutrients. Add water so that it will not burn.

Separate the boiled red beans from the liquid. Mash the beans using the back of a ladle. 

Then, transfer the mashed bean to the same liquid that is being separated. 

Add cut palm sugar and a pinch of salt. Boil for another 25 minutes.

Add coconut milk and sago. Cook for another 5 minutes. 

Drizzled coconut milk using a teaspoon. This is optional.

Served when it is cool.