Before long, the Red Bean Paste was ready. Su Chen had added sugar to this pot, so it was very sweet. Adding the sugar at this stage allowed it to blend completely with the Red Bean Paste, so the filling would be sweet when the Red Bean Pancakes were baked.
Su Chen poured out the cooked Red Bean Paste into a stainless steel bowl, then used a special pestle for crushing preserved eggs to mash all the beans into true Red Bean Paste.
The red beans had still been whole when they came out of the pot, though they were very soft. Once mashed with the pestle, they turned into a powdery paste—that was Red Bean Paste.
Mashing the Red Bean Paste looked like fun, and Tuantuan, watching from the side, wanted to try. She asked Su Chen if she could play with it for a bit.
Su Chen said she could. He carried the stainless steel bowl over to the little square table Su Haoqian had brought for Tuantuan earlier. The table was low enough for Tuantuan and the others to reach.
After setting down the stainless steel bowl, Su Chen handed the pestle to Tuantuan and let her do the mashing.
Tuantuan took the pestle. Su Chen could lift it with one hand, but she was still a little girl, so she had to grip it with both hands and press down hard. The red beans beneath it turned into bean paste.
It gave her a huge sense of accomplishment. She said, "Dad, this is really so much fun! Let me handle this whole bowl. You still have lots of dough wrappers to roll out, so you roll those out, and I'll be in charge of making the Red Bean Paste."
Lele said, "And me! I'll help my