#mung bean pastry

[formeryelpers]

A&J Bakery, 1300 E Main St, Ste 102, Alhambra, CA 91801

The last time I went to A&J was many years ago. A&J is a Taiwanese bakery. The signs are in Chinese, so if you’re not familiar with what they offer, it’s confusing. They make their own nian gao (rice cakes), shao bing, mung bean pastries, red bean pastries, etc. They also sell pork sung, jerky, sauces, fermented bean curd and probably some other things (I can’t read Chinese). I think they offer lunch bentos though I went in the late afternoon and didn’t see any. They’re also known for moon cakes.

I bought a pine nut nian gao ($17) aka sweet sticky rice cake as a Chinese New Year gift. I didn’t get to try it. Hope it was good. It was still warm when I bought it. I think there was a red bean filling. 

Herb rice cake ($3.95): Reminds me of a savory Taiwanese rice dumpling, it’s green because it’s made with a mugwort. The glutinous rice cake (mochi) was soft, smooth, and chewy. The filling of dried radish and dried shiitake mushrooms had a very Chinese flavor…loved it. The mushrooms were meaty. There might have been some pork in there too? I don’t know where else you can get these.

A&J Bakery is located in a small strip mall with ample parking. The bakery is small and no frills. Closed on Sundays and Mondays. $30 credit card minimum.

4.5 out of 5 stars. By Lolia S.

[buffetlicious]

While their other bakes like buns and cakes are just garden variety, Moji Bakery do have one saving grace. Their pastries were very good like this Yuan Yang Pastry (鸳鸯豆沙饼) which has both salty and sweet bean paste in it. Each piece cost S$1.50 and about double the size of a traditional Tau Sar Piah (豆沙饼).

[julieterbang]

[morethansalad]

Vegan Thai Curry Puffs

[thepaintedsable]

What? An actual scene from The Painted Sable in 2024? That’s crazy.

In an effort to beat my forgetful brain that doesn’t remember to eat sometimes, I’ve been trying new foods. 1.) I might find something I like enough to add to the foods or seasonings I keep around, and 2.) I hopefully like something enough to, ya know, remember it’s there and be happy to eat it. Perhaps even excited to cook with it. Also something hopefully not so expensive to where buying it can be as food instead of a treat. I’m mostly out for ingredients I can use in lots of stuff, not just snacks or jams where it’s really only useful in one area (hence able to go bad if I don’t make that one food). As a plus, it’s an outstanding excuse to explore local shops or markets. Recently found a store that was just full of stuff. Seasonings and meats and produce that’s a little hard to locate in my area with such variety.

My favorite so far has been soup dumplings. It’s definitely more of a treat if I’m buying it frozen, though, haha. Might be able to make it myself a little cheaper.

[savourygoodness]

Kachori Pinwheels

[linghuxcourtyard]

Snack Catalog #516

mung bean pastry / 綠豆椪

Vegan/ From office snack

the yellow pastry indicates that this is curry flavor

but actually the curry flavor isn't as strong as it should be. The savory filling is too dry and tasteless. The sweet filling can also be a bit more moist.

This just tastes like the healthy but nasty version of a ming bean pastry. There is nothing worst than having a snack that tastes bad because it's trying to be healthy. I ended up consuming calories on bad food that way. Urg.

[slavic-roots-western-mind]

Chinese Desserts

There's quite a large variety of treats and desserts in China (more than you can imagine), so here are some of the most common ones!

Almond jelly/tofu - 杏仁豆腐 - xìngréndòufu Despite the name, almond jelly doesn't actually have almonds in it. Almond jelly is made from gelatin and almond milk, although some recepies use dairy milk instead.

Glutinous rice balls - 汤圆 - tāngyuán These rice balls are made from glutinous rice balls with a sweet filling, such as red bean paste (a pretty popular filling in desserts, I've been fooled more than once when purchasing what I assumed to be a chocolate filled pastry).

Red bean buns - 豆沙包 - dòushābāo One of my favorite desserts so far. These are steamed buns with a sweet red bean paste filling that I'd definitely recommend.

Egg custard bun - 流沙包 - liúshābāo A sweet and savory bun, with a lava-like egg yolk filling. A pretty interesting dessert, as it's both sweet and savory.

Pumpkin cake - 南瓜饼 - nánguābǐng I haven't tried this yet, but it definitely looks good. A fried and crunchy cake with a sweet filling such as red bean paste.

Eight treasure rice pudding - 八宝饭 -bābǎofàn This is a pretty popular dessert, especially during the Lunar New Year. It gets this name becase of the toppings, which are eight or more different types of dried fruits and nuts arranged on top of the sweet rice, with (once again) red bean paste.

Hawthorn stick/ Candied Haws/ Sugar coated haws/ Bingtanghulu - 冰糖葫芦 - bīngtánghúlu This treat has quite a few translations and you may have probably already seen it. This is basically candied fruit covered with a sweet, crunchy and sugary syrup. Traditionally, Hawthorn is used but other fruits such as grapes, strawberries and oranges are also popular options.

Sachima - 沙琪玛 - shāqímǎ I haven't tried this snack yet, but it looks quite fascinating. Sachima is made from fried batter stuck together with a sugary syrup, with an interesting texture.

Sesame balls - 芝麻球 - zhīmaqiú Similar to the rice glutinous balls, this treat is also made from glutinous rice flour with varying fillings including lotus seeds, mung bean and red beans, and sesame seeds.

Water chestnut cake A sweet pan-fried cake made from chinese water chestnut, with a unique semi-transparent appearance.

Wintermelon puff/ Wife cake/ Sweetheartcake - 老婆餅 - lǎopóbǐng This cake has many names, mainly because it has several different origin stories, each more fascinating than the next. This dessert is a flaky pastry with wintermelon, almond (not red bean this time!) paste and sesame filling.

Fortune cake - 发糕 - fāgāo Not a fortune cookie! This is a spongy steamed cupcake cake commonly made for the New Lunar Year celebrations and occasionally other events. They're usually a white-ish or brown-ish color, but they're often dyed bright colors to add extra festivity.

Mooncake - 月饼 - yuèbǐng This is a pretty well-known dessert, commonly prepared for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Mooncakes are smallish steamd/fried (depends on the region) cakes with a sweet filling that can also sometimes have an egg yolk inside.

Osmanthus cake - 桂花糕 - guìhuāgāo This is a unique traditional pastry made from glutinous rice flour, honey and osmanthus. This cake has a really interesting texture, as it's quite dense but also airy in a way? I'd definitely recommend trying it, as it's not super sweet and goes really well with tea.

[evcryopeneye]

@sevensecondstilltheend asked: [RAMSAY]: after the receiver commits a culinary crime, the sender presses two slices of bread against either side of their face, cupping their face to hold the bread in place, and calls them an idiot sandwich.

(yuffie :])

Cloud pauses in the doorway as he enters the kitchen, absolutely stunned by what he's seeing.

Yuffie's baking in the kitchen, as per usual. Except...how'd she manage to make that mess?! How'd she manage to get eggs in her hair?

He knows just how to solve this issue. He saw it on TV once.

Cloud grabs two slices of bread while Yuffie's distracted mixing the dough, and swiftly places the bread on either side of her cheeks.

"You're an idiot." He says, bluntly. Oh, he forgot the rest of the line...but this'll do.

Pure. Chaos. 

It wasn’t like it was on purpose, everything had kind of gotten away from Yuffie. Cooking wasn’t her thing, wasn’t like there was a lot of choice during the war, mostly rice and vegetables. Though, she had always loved festivals. 

There were so many of them and each one had a special dish. The small pastries she was making were delicate. Sweet mung bean and egg filling wrapped in layer of flaky pastry with exactly three little black sesame seeds on top in a trio. She’d become too focused on trying to make three tiny dots look perfect. 

Everything else was unimportant. 

Now, it had become chaos. “Cloud!” A squeal of her voice as her shoulders raised, trying to touch her ears in an attempt to stop whatever it was he was doing. “You’re the idiot!” Oh that sounded childish! Like a little kid caught out. Just like a child a hand flailed at him in an attempt to make him move. 

“You make them then! I’d like to see you do better.”

[mafiatsunafish]

When ever I forget to switch my keyboard from Vietnamese to English to type Oscar’s name, his last name would become Píatri

And Mid autumn festival is coming up and I’m craving for some pía cake, which also quite popular to replace the moon cake in Vietnamese base on where you are

So this is what wiki has about it 😂

Bánh bía, sometimes spelled bánh pía, is a type of Vietnamese cuisine bánh (translates loosely as "cake" or "bread"). A Suzhou style mooncake adapted from Teochew cuisine. The Vietnamese name comes from the Teochew word for pastry, "pia". In Saigon, the pastry is called “bánh bía” while in Sóc Trăng and Vũng Thơm it is known by "bánh Pía". Some Vietnamese call it bánh lột da, which translates to "peeling flakes pastry", and those from the Bến Tre region call it bánh bao chi, which is the name for Mochi elsewhere in Vietnam.[1] Popular fillings include durian, shredded pork fat, salted egg yolk, mung bean paste, taro and coconut.

(I was drawing this during the start of the race, and damn, poor Oscar 😂)

[grislyintentions]

Lantern Rite 2024 [Cultural Observations]

Nothing overtly spoilery but tagging just to be safe.

Speech distinction between Adepti and Mortals: - Formal speech patterns very similar to Wuxia novels that Xingqiu reads, rather fond/quick to compare things to historical events or past interactions - Subtle separation in terms of referring to themselves ( commonly done in depictions of deities): 本仙 ( loosely translated as 'One')，仙师/上仙 (respectful term for upper ranking deities) > remember Xiao's reaction when Zhongli jokingly said he should be calling him that during the last lantern rite?

Traditional Chinese cultural beliefs and practises that are done irl:

-Referring to older folks as "Aunty" and "Uncle" despite not being blood-related as a form of respect (very large emphasis on remembering each 'role' someone has in the family - generally if your family is super traditional, you'd only call someone by their names if they are younger than you) - Enjoying reunion dinners during Lunar New Year Eve/ viewing the lunar new year as an occasion for celebrations together with family -Releasing kites in the form of sending well wishes to the skies, sending off past regrets/starting afresh - Tong sui (Cantonese pronunciation), 糖水 (chinese), refers to desserts that are sweet soup or custard. Different regions have different specialties. Some of which are: sesame paste, sweet potato soup, mung bean soup, red bean/green bean soup etc

- Dimsum (Cantonese pronunciation), 点心 (chinese) is often eaten either for breakfast or brunch. Another popular breakfast would be congee with fried dough and century egg.

-舞龙舞狮 performances are considered a very popular thing and are often seen in grand festivals/celebrations as well as the opening of a shop as it is said to bring in auspicious luck. In fact, it has led to the formation of performance troupes as an official career. There are also pretty big international competitions formed for lion dancing too. -Tea eggs, moon cakes, Tau Sa Piah and all are tasty snacks and if you don't like them...how dare you break my heart/J -WINTER MELON CAKES ARE SO GOOD. But instead of a conventional cake, they're more of a pastry/flaky like texture with filling on the inside. They're also called 老婆饼 (wife pastry) to my amusement. Naturally, there's also a 老公饼 (husband pastry) counterpart too.

[digitalstowaway]

Lqr takes the boys on their first trip to visit another clan when they're still very young. Up until then, they've never experienced anything but strict Lan rules.

Xichen is amazed by everyone and everything. Lqr keeps a very tight hold on his little handle so he doesn't run off. He reminds him again and again that just because they're not home doesn't mean they don't follow Lan rules. Be mindful of yourself.

Wangji isn't that impressed. He's too young to really know what's happening, and all the ruckus around him drains him. Lqr ends up carrying him often through their trip, Wangji's head tucked into his shoulder.

Then there's a banquet. Lqr lectures Xichen heavily on conduct and manners. You're a future sect leader. It's important to leave a good impression on everyone here. And Xichen has a look of so much determination, his little fists balled into fits. He promises he'll amaze everyone there.

"Just mind your manners. That'll be enough."

"Okay, shufu."

And little Wangji, poor little Wangji, doesn't like the crowd of the banquet or the noise of the performers. Xichen pets his head until lqr tells him Wangji will be fine. He spends the evening close to his uncle’s side being coaxed into finishing his food even when his eyes wander to the unnerving chaos around him.

The boys behave so well that when it comes to dessert, even though sweets are heavily restricted in Cloud Recesses, he permits the boys a plate of cake each.

He himself is tired and overwhelmed from looking after his nephews the past few days. Endless questions from Xichen, carrying Wangji, trying to keep both of them on their usual feeding and sleep schedules despite the travel and excitement. But he's proud. Xichen has been polite to everyone. Wangji has adjusted as well as he can--lqr appreciates that he hasn't been fussy despite his discomfort.

The server girl smiles at the boys as she puts their treats in front of them. Xichen gasps in excitement at the surprise. Lqr gives him a stern look. Xichen thanks the server.

Wangji stares at this cake and pokes the top with a curious finger, looking up at his uncle.

Mung bean cakes, lqr tells him.

Xichen takes his first bite and urges Wangji to do the same. Lqr takes a sip of tea. The evening is winding down, and he hopes Xichen won't be too excited to sleep. They have to leave in the morning, and he doesn't want a tired, grumpy 4-year-old. Maybe lqr can play a song for them to calm them down before bed. Another little treat to thank them for their behavior.

Rule #892. Always appreciate good deeds.

Next to him there's an excited squeal. Lqr looks to his nephews. Wangji, apparently having grown excited at the mild sweetness of the cake, had shoved the cake into his mouth with little decorum. Red bean paste covers his face. His hands are covered in the pastry of the cake. Little cheeks are puffed out, packed full of the treat.

Xichen laughs, greatly amused by his brother's mess. Wangji looks up at lqr with bright eyes.

Calm yourself, Huan, lqr sighs.

He should have known something would happen. He wipes Wangji’s face and hands and asks a server for an extra napkin when the one he has grows too soiled.

The banquet ends, and lqr picks up one sticky nephew and holds the hand of one excited nephew.

"Did we do good?" Xichen asks, a little bounce in his steps that lqr doesn't correct.

"Well," lqr corrects. "And yes. You did well."

[buffetlicious]

This box of Tau Sar Piah (豆沙饼) I bought from Mei Kee Bakery (美記餅家) at Yishun Bus Interchange. Coffee Tau Sar Piah (咖啡豆沙饼) – Imagine the classic flavours of savoury tau sar piah with hints of coffee infused within the mung bean paste. Not outstanding but still nice to see something was done to refresh a classic with new flavours.

Shrimp Tau Sar Piah (虾米豆沙饼) – First time I came across bean paste biscuits mixed with Hae Bee Hiam (Dried Shrimps Spicy Sambal). My mind visualized a weird tasting tau sar piah but on the first bite, my palates registered a pleasant combination of light spicy umaminess mixed with the classic salty bean paste. I must say, I really enjoy the snack.

Red Bean Tau Sar Piah (红豆豆沙饼) – Just the familiar black coloured red bean paste filled tau sar piah. I know my colleague would love this one. S$1 for each of the flavour but the seller charged me S$5 for 6 pieces.

[eyesofshan-if]

I love all of these characters sm your honor! and all the platonic scenes are written so well! I love affectionate friendships personally, so I'm here for it! Also I was planing on romancing Dalhwa, but hansol honestly has me in a chokehold. May I ask what the ROs favourite dishes are? 👀👀

i'm glad that you like the characters and relationships so far!! and you can take the time to romance all that you'd like, personally i love all of them very much <33

for their favourite dishes...

hansol: a traditional snack of honey pastries!! made of wheat, honey and sesame oil, it's pressed into a wooden mould to make fun shapes and deep fried. known as yakgwa in korean. hansol doesn't allow himself to eat too many of them outside of festivals and celebrations, but they bring back memories of times when things were simpler.

yongsun: rice cakes. yongsun has a tremendous sweet tooth, a trait that he shares with the empress. the rice cakes they used to eat together were often filled with red bean paste, sweetened with the finest honey, mung beans, yuzu and other such ingredients. the empress was a talented cook, and although yongsun has tried again and again to replicate her recipe, he's never been able to find the same taste again.

wooyoung: the dried persimmon!! soft, sweet and sticky with a fine dusting of persimmon sugar on the skins, wooyoung enjoys indulging in them whenever he can find them. his father used to cut them and eat them with him whenever he was a child, and in the first year he moved to the northern regions, he planted a persimmon tree there so that he can taste its fruit again.

????: fresh meat of any variety, often roasted over a fire, accompanied by bulbs or roots or whatever they can forage. filling and tasty when they manage to get their hands on any spices. and if they've hunted it with their own bow and arrows, it tastes even better

[morethansalad]

Vegan Mung Bean Hopia / Filipino Hopiang Monggo Pastries

[stellamarium]

My parents came back from the Philippines roughly a week ago, and they brought back some hopia (a moon cake-like pastry). I ate some, and OMFG, I MISSED IT SO MUCH--

In all honesty, I think hopia (especially hopia munggo (mung bean flavour)) is my all-time favourite Filipino dessert/ snack. Like, I also like turon (plantain wrapped in a spring roll with brown sugar then fried), puto (steamed rice cake), and suman (rice cake wrapped in banana leaves and steamed) (suman is honestly a really close second), but hopia is just *chef’s kiss*

LOOK AT IT (not my photo, but--)

DOESN’T IT LOOK GOOD?? I CAN EAT A TON OF THESE AND NOT GET TIRED OF ‘EM

Anyways, sorry to my F/Os who are subjected to me gushing about all the Filipino sweets that I love.