How To Make Japanese-Fashion Crimson Beans and Rice

Certainly, Buettner notes that beans are a central part of meals consumed in all 5 Blue Zones. This contains Okinawa, Japan, the place you’ll discover all kinds of beans, together with soybeans, fermented beans (nattō), and mung beans, to call a number of. One other extremely standard selection? Crimson beans, in any other case referred to as azuki (or adzuki) beans.

To study extra about this standard Japanese staple, its cultural significance, and the most effective methods to eat ‘em, we caught up with Namiko Chen, a Yokohama, Japan native and the founding father of the broadly acclaimed Japanese cooking platform, Simply One Cookbook, who shared her go-to, two-ingredient, crimson bean-rice dish filled with longevity boosting advantages.

What’s the importance of crimson beans in Japanese tradition?

Based on Chen, crimson beans (aka azuki beans) have been part of Japanese delicacies for hundreds of years. “Azuki beans are mentioned to have been launched from China across the third century, 300 B.C. to 201 B.C. There’s additionally one other concept that azuki beans have been grown in Japan within the Jōmon interval, 14,000 to 300 B.C.,” Chen says. (Learn: Crimson beans have been round for a very very long time.)

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Though, lately, many worth azuki beans for his or her dietary worth and scrumptious style, Chen notes that additionally they as soon as carried extra cultural significance. “They have been deemed a useful talisman because the crimson coloration of the azuki beans was thought to assist keep off evil spirits—and have been additionally seen as a type of drugs resulting from their excessive dietary worth,” Chen says. What’s extra, she explains that as Buddhism unfold to Japan, consuming animals didn’t align with this non secular perception. As such, azuki beans have been used instead of meat in lots of situations.

These days, you could find azuki beans in many various Japanese dishes. “Crimson beans, or what we name azuki beans, are primarily utilized in numerous sweets in Japanese delicacies,” says Chen. “These conventional sweets known as wagashi are largely stuffed with or accompanied by candy azuki bean paste known as anko or an. The azuki beans are boiled, mashed, sweetened with sugar, after which used as fillings in daifuku mochi [red bean-filled mochi], manju [red bean steamed cake], and dorayaki [red bean pancakes].”

And though you’ll discover azuki largely in candy preparations, there’s one standard savory dish Chen likes to make: a crimson bean rice known as sekihan.

What’s sekihan (Japanese crimson bean rice)? 

It’s true: You’ll usually discover crimson beans in Japanese sweets for essentially the most half. Nonetheless, Chen notes that sekihan is one exception. “In Japan, we make crimson bean rice known as sekihan—or osekihan—on auspicious events,” she says. “The crimson coloration of the rice symbolizes happiness and prosperity. It’s a conventional dish served on many glad and celebratory events, reminiscent of Japanese New 12 months and Youngsters’s Day, the start of a child, birthdays, graduations, and weddings.”

To make this easy dish, you solely want two substances: Rice and crimson beans. And though the ingredient checklist sounds easy, the method of constructing the dish is barely extra complicated. “For the rice, it’s crucial to make use of Japanese short-grain glutinous rice known as mochigome whenever you make sekihan; don’t use different Asian long-grain glutinous rice varieties,” Chen says. Based on her, utilizing mochigome will guarantee essentially the most “genuine end result” within the last dish, as that is the variability that is most generally utilized in Japanese cooking. “Do not forget that long-grain and short-grain varieties have completely different flavors, textures, and shapes when cooked,” she says.

Fortuitously, this kind of rice can be broadly accessible in the US. “You could find mochigome at Japanese grocery shops, different Asian grocery shops, and a few well-stocked supermarkets. I often get native, California-grown, natural mochigome at my native Japanese grocery store known as Nijiya. It’s also possible to discover Koda Farms and Hakubai manufacturers at on-line retailers like Amazon and Instacart,” Chen says.

One other key level is to rinse any extra starch and impurities in three to 4 modifications of water till the water runs clear, in accordance with Chen. “Once you do that, you have to be very light, as mochigome is fragile and might break simply,” she says. “Utilizing a big bowl and never a sieve helps to maintain the grains from breaking as you rinse them.” For a step-by-step rinsing rice tutorial, you possibly can take a look at Chen’s in-depth information.

However for a fast overview, you may wish to use your finger to agitate the moist rice utilizing round motions and use minimal quantities of water to permit the grains to rub in opposition to one another for higher cleansing.  “Utilizing little or no water whereas washing additionally retains the rice from absorbing the impurities discovered within the cloudy rinsing water,” Chen says. With somewhat endurance (and some rinses later), the cloudy water will finally run clear. “After the ultimate rinse, you’ll drain the rice effectively in a fine-mesh strainer and shake off the remaining water,” she says.

For even simpler rice rinsing, Chen recommends investing in a Japanese-style bowl specialised for this activity. They’ve a mild and rounded bowl form however with facet and backside drainers. “You should use one for those who’re frightened about dropping rice grains when pouring off the rinsing water from a daily bowl,” she says.

At this level, Chen says you’ll have to pre-soak the glutinous rice (for about 8–12 hours) provided that you’ll be steaming it—not when cooking it in a pot stovetop or an electrical rice cooker. To prep the rice to soak, you need to use any kind of bowl. The hot button is merely to make sure the rice is roofed with loads of water so it will probably soak up it whereas remaining submerged on the finish of the soaking interval. “This ensures an excellent soak for all of the rice grains,” Chen says.

As for the beans, Chen says it’s not essential to soak beans hours earlier than cooking them regardless of what the packaging could say. “Whereas soaking the beans for a number of hours or in a single day does assist cut back the cooking time barely, it doesn’t make a big distinction. Subsequently, my sekihan recipe doesn’t name for soaking the beans forward of time,” she says.

Nonetheless, what does make a distinction is how contemporary the beans are. “Search for dried azuki beans which can be contemporary so they’ll grow to be tender whenever you cook dinner them. Outdated beans received’t grow to be tender regardless of how lengthy you cook dinner them,” Chen says. Based on her, one of the simplest ways to test if the beans are contemporary (or outdated) is by inspecting the expiration date on the packaging. “Purchase azuki beans which can be not too long ago packaged and much off from their expiration date,” she says.

What’s extra, Chen suggests shopping for azuki beans imported from Hokkaido, Japan—the most important producer of this kind of bean—each time doable. “Japanese grocery shops promote completely different manufacturers of azuki bean packages, and they’re usually all from Hokkaido. In case you are looking for azuki beans elsewhere, it‘s good to test the place the azuki beans are from,” she says. That mentioned, if you cannot discover Hokkaido beans, azuki from Tamba in Hyogo prefecture (that are recognized to be premium varieties in accordance with Chen) are a fantastic choice, too.

Sekihan (crimson bean rice) recipe

Yields 5 servings

Elements
1/3 cup azuki beans
1 1/2 cup water (for cooking beans #1)
3 1/2 cup water (for cooking beans #2)
2 1/4 cups candy rice/glutinous rice (mochigome)
1/2 Tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt (use half as a lot for desk salt and two-thirds for sea salt by quantity)
1 Tbsp toasted black sesame seeds (or use gomashio, which is a mix of black sesame seeds and salt)
1/2 Tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt for serving

To make the beans:

1. Rinse azuki beans within the strainer underneath chilly working water and drain effectively.
2. Put the azuki beans in a big pot (with a tight-fitting lid) and 1 1/2 cup water.
3. Carry it to a boil over medium warmth. As soon as boiling, flip off the warmth and drain the beans over the strainer.
4. Put the beans again within the pot and add 3 1/2 cup water. Carry it to a boil.
5. As soon as it’s boiling, flip down the warmth to low/simmer. Cowl and cook dinner for 25–half-hour. (Be aware: The beans will proceed to cook dinner with glutinous rice, so they need to be tender however do not should be 100-percent cooked at this stage. I personally desire the beans to have some texture as a substitute of mushy. Please regulate the cooking time for the beans accordingly.)
6. Examine the doneness of the beans by mashing one bean between your fingers. (As I desire the beans to have some texture, after I check the bean, the feel ought to nonetheless be considerably agency, not utterly mushy. Take away from the warmth and let cool to room temperature for roughly one hour. Beans will proceed to cook dinner with the remaining warmth.)

To measure the rice cooking liquid:

1. As soon as the azuki beans and azuki-cooking liquid come to room temperature, separate them. You need to have 540 milliliters (about two-and-a-quarter cups) of cooking liquid. If you do not have sufficient, add water to have precisely 540 milliliters.

To make the rice on the stovetop:

1. In a big bowl, place the candy rice (glutinous rice). Add water to submerge it and shortly discard the water.
2. Add water and gently rinse the rice three to 4 extra instances till the water is obvious. Not like common white rice, candy rice breaks simply, so be light whenever you rinse.
3. For one final time, add water to the bowl and drain the rice into the strainer. Drain and shake off the water effectively.
4. Add the drained rice and 540 milliliters of the azuki-cooking liquid to the pot or donabe (Japanese cooking pot).
5. Add salt and blend effectively collectively.
6. Add the beans on prime and evenly distribute however attempt to not combine with rice. Rice cooks evenly when it isn’t combined with different substances.
7. Cowl the lid and begin cooking on medium-high warmth till boiling roughly eight to 10 minutes.
8. As soon as boiling, cut back the warmth to low/simmer and cook dinner for 10-12 minutes. Take away from the warmth (so the underside would not get burnt) and let it steam for extra 20 minutes.

To serve:

1. Combine black sesame seeds and salt. That is known as gomashio.
2. Stir the rice gently. Insert the rice scooper perpendicularly, lifting up the rice from the underside.
3. Then break it up with the rice scooper perpendicularly, as for those who’re reducing it. Repeat the identical course of till all the underside of the pot is combined. Serve in particular person rice bowls and sprinkle gomashio on prime. Get pleasure from!

Cannot get sufficient beans? Attempt these black bean brownies: