How to Make Sweet Red Bean Pastry with Egg Yolk

Learn how to make this soft and flaky Chinese pastry with sweet red bean filling and egg yolk, including tips on how to make the perfect layers!

Chinese Red Bean Pastry

Red Bean Pastry or in Chinese Hokkian it is called Tau Sar Piah is a traditional pastry originating in Southeast Asia, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. This traditional dessert is very popular snack with flaky crust and sweet red bean filling.

Tau comes from the word Dou（ 豆）or bean and sar or sha （沙） in Chinese means paste. Piah or bing（餅  ） in Chinese means biscuit or pie / pastry.

Chinese pastry typically consists of three main components: the flaky crust, the filling, and the salted egg yolk. The salted egg yolk is optional, but I find it is a perfect balance between sweet and savory taste. It is there to add value to the pastry.

Variations of Tau Sar Piah

I grew up in Indonesia. There are many kinds of pie or pastry similar to Chinese pastry. Soft, flaky crust with fillings.

1. Tau sar piah with sweet red bean paste
2. Tau sar piah with salted egg yolk
3. Tau sar piah with mochi in the center
4. Chinese pastry with other fillings like pineapple, green tea, white lotus, mung bean.

Soft, Flaky Crust

Creating soft, flaky crust for Chinese pastry is not difficult. There are two types of skin, one with oil or butter and one without. The trick is to fold the skin gently a few times to create layers.

Fillings

There are many ready to use fillings available nowadays. So your job is only to make the flaky crust, unless you want to make your own filling which is not really that difficult actually. It is just more time-consuming.

Red Bean Pastry Recipe

Outer skin:

• 15 gr icing sugar
• 40 gr shortening /lard
• 48 gr water
• 100 gr flour

Inner Skin:

• 80 gr flour
• 48 gr shortening/lard

Filling:

• 300 gr red bean paste
• 12 pcs salted egg yolk (cut in half)

Eggwash:

• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tbsp condensed milk
• 10 gr black sesame seeds

Instructions:

1. Prepare the fillings. Cut the salted egg yolks into halves. Weigh the red bean paste at 25 gr each. This recipe makes for 12 pieces.
2. Wrap the salted egg yolk with the red bean paste. Round it and set aside.

2. Let’s mix the inner skin first. Sieve the flour into a bowl. Put in the shortening or lard and mix it well. You can use spatula to mix the ingredients. Once mixed into a dough, set aside.

3. Now continue to the outer skin. Sieve in the flour, icing sugar into a bowl. Put in shortening or lard and pour in the water. Mix all together with a spatula. Set aside.

4. Divide each of the dough (inner skin and outer skin) into 12 pieces evenly. The outer skin should be around 16 gr each and the inner skin at 11 gr each.

5. Wrap the inner skin with the outer skin and round it into a ball. Do this until the rest of the dough is finished.

Folding the skin:

1. Take one of the rounded dough, press gently with your palm. Roll flat using a rolling pin. Fold to one side. Roll flat again and fold one more time.

2. Roll the folded dough flat and wide. Put the rounded filling in the center.

3. Wrap it with the dough and pinch and seal the dough. Shape it round and put on a baking pan.

4. Continue until finish.
5. Brush the top with egg wash and sprinkle some black sesame on top.

6. Bake in a preheated oven 170°-180°C until golden brown. It should be around 30 minutes.

7. Take out from the oven. Let it cool completely.
8. Cut through the pastry to check the flaky texture.

7. Enjoy your red bean pastry!

Note

• You can use other filling like white lotus, green tea, or mung bean paste.
• If you don’t want to use egg yolk, you can just omit it. You may want to add the weight of the red bean paste to 40 gr each.
• Wrap the red bean pastry individually in a nice packaging. Put them in a beautiful box for a gift.

How to Store

• Let the red bean pastry cool completely before putting them in an airtight container. Keep in the chiller for up to one week.
• If you want to keep them longer, put them in the freezer.  It can stay for up to one month.
• Simply thaw them in room temperature or chiller. Reheat in the oven for 5 minutes. Cool before serving.

If you decide to make this Chinese red bean pastry, please take a photo and tag me on my Instagram!

Other Chinese desserts you may also want to try:

• Strawberry Snow Skin Mooncake
• Traditional Hong Kong Style Mooncake