Beans seem like a staple crop in every country there is in the world, so much so that there are tons of items cooked mostly with beans. However, the ones getting attention are mostly the savoury ones. Beans are extensively used in most East Asian countries, Africa and some parts of the Western world too. Here are some desserts, that have the most delish dessert recipes, that use beans in them, pureed or whole.
Also known as Baobing or Tsua Bing, this is a shaved ice dessert that was introduced to Taiwan while under Japanese rule. It is served in a dish with a towering mound of shaved ice with cascading condensed milk, sugar syrup and an array of seasonal fruits – rambutan, litiches, mangoes, and anything that is juicy. Peanuts and mung beans are also added to this where their demand surges during the peak summer months in China, Taiwan and Vietnam. It traces its roots back to China where it was consumed some 400 years ago and was present at least 1000 years ago.
Anmitsu is one of the oldest deserts from Japan and it's a little unusual because the core of this dessert are beans and local jelly. It comes from the Meiji era and originally used sweet bean paste, agar agar jelly and plenty of seasonal fruits. Modern versions also add mochi, a sticky rice confection, sweet syrups and ice cream. It's a hit during the summer months and can be found in every local restaurant and posh ones too in Japan.
Portugal has a traditional tart that has a pastry base with a filling made with white beans and almonds, which is said to be invented by Joaquina Rodrigues that was shared between her friends and family, and passed down to her progeny. With time the tart become a signature of the Torres Vedras region of Portugal and remains a closely guarded secret within the Rodrigues family.
Japan is known for their different types of wagashi, a kind of a local confection, that is made of twin pancakes that sandwiches a sweet azuki red bean paste. The pancakes are small in size and use honey and mirin, a local rice wine with a little bit of sauce in its batter. The name of the confection comes from the word “Dora”, no, not Dora the explorer, but the Japanese word which means gong, because the dorayaki resembles it. The modern version only took shape around the 1900s when it was first made as a sandwich by a local confectionary place. It's one of the local confections that is peak nostalgia for the locals.
Fancy a dessert soup that is also a pudding, porridge, drink and also soup? Then Chè ba màu fits the bill for its a soup that has sticky rice, tapioca pearls, lotus seeds, sweet beans, water chestnuts and agar agar. These are drenched in coconut milk with fruits added like banana, crushed peanuts and typically enjoyed cold during sweltering summers. It is said to be a descendant of the Chinese soup named tong sui and the dessert is said to have a visually striking distinct triple layers – mung beans (yellow), azuki beans (red), agar jelly mixed with pandan (green).
A sweet bun from Japan, Anpan is a golden brown wheat bread that has a sweet filling of the local azuki red bean paste. The bun has a topping of roasted sesame bean paste and is said to have been invented by a samurai. In 1875, Yasubei Kimura who belonged to one the generation of the fading Samurais, opened his own bakery where he sold this red azuki beans filled sweet buns called Anpan. His shop is still run by his descendants.
Just like many Japanese confections extending to the famed mochi and dorayaki, the Japanese Taiyaki also is a sweet cake filled with the local red beans. The crust is shaped into a fish and it is usually eaten fresh when it's still warm. Like many of the popular desserts we know today, Taiyaki also hails from the Meiji era in Japan, but it truly gained fame because of a kiddie song called Oyoge in 1976. Taiyaki might come in different flavors and other fillings but the one with the beans remains a local preference.