红豆 (hóngdòu) · red bean, azuki bean

Measure Word

一颗红豆 kē

Meanings

1 red bean
2 azuki bean

About the ingredient

Small, dark red dried beans. Chinese cooking uses them almost only in sweet food: soups, congee, and the sugared paste inside buns, mooncakes and sticky rice balls.

Also called 红小豆、赤豆

Used in 19 dishes

Characters

Examples

HSK 2

她最喜欢吃红豆包。

Tā zuì xǐhuan chī hóngdòu bāo.

Her favorite thing to eat is red bean buns.

HSK 6

红豆汤是一道传统甜品。

Hóngdòu tāng shì yídào chuántǒng tiánpǐn.

Red bean soup is a traditional dessert.

Tips

culture

Red beans carry romantic symbolism in Chinese culture, reinforced by the Tang poet Wang Wei's famous poem 「相思」: 「红豆生南国，春来发几枝。愿君多采撷，此物最相思。」 (Red beans grow in the south; in spring the branches flourish. I hope you gather many; they speak most of longing.) The poem's 红豆 is not the bean eaten in desserts but the hard, bright red seed of a southern tree, often said to be 相思子 (rosary pea), kept as a token of love.