Flourish Friday: Red Bean Mooncakes

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 Let's Celebrate Lunar New Year!

 


 

Happy (a little late!) Lunar New Year! 🧧✨

 
This week in the community centre kitchen where I work, we wanted to bring some celebration and cultural learning into our meals. Our town is becoming more diverse, and getting to cook for — and learn from — our growing community is something I genuinely treasure.

Because I’m passionate about food and love learning from creators around the world, we decided to try making something I’ve admired for a long time: red bean mooncakes. 
And we didn’t take the easy route either — we made everything from scratch, including the red bean paste!

Before I go any further… please know: I am not a skilled baker. 😅
So if our mooncakes look a bit rustic or underdone, be forgiving. We tried our absolute best, and the process was full of laughter, teamwork, joy and more than a little frustration 😅.

What Is Red Bean Paste?

Red bean paste is a popular filling in East Asian desserts.
It’s made from:

• Red mung beans (adzuki beans)
• A little sugar
• A touch of salt

What I love about it is how it turns something we might see as “plain” — like beans — into something soft, slightly sweet, and almost creamy. Cooking across cultures teaches me again and again that ingredients can transform in ways we don’t expect.

Our Menu This Week


 

• Homemade red bean mooncakes
• Store‑bought egg rolls and dumplings (keeping things realistic!)
• Lots of love and laughter in the kitchen

Even though not everything was perfectly authentic, it was made with respect, curiosity, and gratitude for the culture we were celebrating.

Food as Culture and Connection

Trying something new — even when it takes time, or gets messy, or doesn’t turn out “perfect” — can be such a joyful act. Food connects us to:

• Family
• Community
• Celebration
• Culture
• Creativity
• And each other

And that’s really what Flourish Friday is about: letting food expand your world in meaningful, nourishing ways.

The Recipe We Followed

The recipe we used came from Eat Little Bird: https://eatlittlebird.com/red-bean-mooncakes/

It was delicious, beginner‑friendly, and a great introduction to making mooncakes from scratch.

If you’ve been wanting to try a new ingredient or explore a dish from another culture, I hope this inspires you to go for it — even if you’re not confident in your cooking skills yet.

Food is one of the most joyful bridges we have between people.

 What’s a new food you’ve tried recently? Or one you want to try next?

Location: Ontario, Canada

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