Sunday, November 11, 2012

Hodu Gwaja (호두 과자) Experiments!

I was craving a healthy Hodu Gwaja, so I whipped together a batch of homemade red bean paste and... bought a cake pop machine =.=;; (impulse buy or smart investment? We have yet to see ;D)

I tried two different versions, one using a bread-like recipe I found online, and the other using a batter similar to waffle mix, which is what I do when making Taiyaki. The bread-like recipe required the dough to rise, so this ended up being a two day endeavor.

Waffle-batter version of my hodu gwaja


Red Bean Paste:

I use a slimmed down version of Maangchi's Red Bean Paste here. The recipe calls for 1 cup of red beans to 4 cups of water. I halved this because I don't use red bean frequently enough to have a lot left over in the fridge, and I hate waste.

Recipe- Lower Calorie Red Bean Paste:

1/2 cup red bean
3 cups water
1/4-1/3 cup truvia baking blend
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

Bring red beans and water to boil in a covered pot. Lower heat to medium and let boil for 10 minutes.

After the 10 minutes, lower to low heat and let simmer for about 1 hour, until soft. (It takes longer if the beans are not fresh, make sure to test a bean by chewing or squashing it to see if it is cooked through.)

 Once beans are soft and easy to crush, drain the water and return the beans to the pot.

Add truvia, vanilla, and salt to the beans. Mix together ingredients, using a blender to create a chalky paste-like consistency.

Cook bean paste over low heat for 5-10 minutes.

That's it! I like to make my own red bean paste because the commercial ones have an insane amount of sugar and calories. Truvia baking mix contains a blend of sugar and sweetener so that it acts like sugar when used in cooking, but with 75% fewer calories than sugar. I haven't tried with a granulated sweetener but it would probably work just as well.

If you don't plan to use all of your bean paste for this recipe, scoop out the amount you want to use and mix in a few crushed walnuts.

Waffle Batter vs. Bread mix:

I disliked the way that the breadlike hodu gwaja came out. The outsides were hard, and the inner layer just tasted like a very heavy, thick bread. I used whole wheat flour, which apparently doesn't bake well by itself. Thankfully the waffle batter version turned out great!

For my waffle batter, I used 1/4 cup of gluten free baking mix, about 1/3 tbsp of egg substitute, and 1 tsp of applesauce. I also added a little sweetener to the batter. Gluten free baking mix isn't really necessary, it was just what I had on hand at the time.

Once your batter and your red bean paste are both assembled, scoop the batter and bean paste into your mold. Fill the mold halfway with batter, then add a small amount (less than 1 tsp) of red bean paste, and another spoon of batter to cover the paste. I used my new cake pop maker, so I just shut the lid and let it cook for about 10-15 minutes. I'm not sure how it would work out in the oven, but please let me know if you try! Based on waffle recipes I've looked at, I would say baking at 350 for anywhere between 10 and 20 minutes would do the trick, but that's subject to some experimentation.

Happy cooking!


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