A SAYS:
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Anko (sweet azuki bean)
This sweet red bean paste is used as a base for many Japanese deserts. It tastes great and sugar aside, it’s very healthy too.
I used dried beans but you could use tinned if you wanted to avoid soaking the beans overnight.
The beans should keep for 4 or 5 days covered in the fridge.
I’ve left the beans quite coarse in this version, but if you need a fine paste, just mash, or place in a food processor until smooth. I’ve also used about half the usual amount of sugar. Depending what you are using the anko for, you may want to make it sweeter.
- 150g azuki beans
- 75g caster sugar
- Pinch of salt
- Soak the beans in water overnight. They should grow up to three times their original size.
- Drain the water used for soaking.
- Boil a generous amount of water in a saucepan and add the beans. Boil on a high heat for 10 or 15 minutes. This should produce a lot of foam.
- Drain and rinse the beans then return to the pan with about 1.5 litres of water.
- Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer for 1 hour.
- Check the beans regularly to see that they don’t boil dry. After one hour, and once they are soft, drain the excess water if there is a lot left, or simply reduce further until it is gone, then add sugar and salt and stir well.
Comment
HA » Daifuku (Mochi with red bean filling)
[...] version is filled with anko, a sweet paste made with azuki beans. You can follow my basic anko recipe, but for mochi I suggest doubling the sugar, and mashing the beans to a fine paste, or better still [...]
At 22:36 on Tue 20th Jul