Certainly, Buettner notes that beans are a central part of meals consumed in all 5 Blue Zones. This consists of 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 alternative? Crimson beans, in any other case often known as azuki (or adzuki) beans.
To study extra about this standard Japanese staple, its cultural significance, and probably the greatest 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, purple bean-rice dish full of longevity boosting advantages.
What’s the importance of purple beans in Japanese tradition?
In keeping with Chen, purple beans (aka azuki beans) have been part of Japanese delicacies for hundreds of years. “Azuki beans are stated to have been launched from China across the third century, 300 B.C. to 201 B.C. There’s additionally one other idea that azuki beans had 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.)
Though, today, many worth azuki beans for his or her dietary worth and scrumptious style, Chen notes that in addition they as soon as carried further cultural significance. “They had been deemed a helpful talisman because the purple shade of the azuki beans was thought to assist beat back evil spirits—and had been additionally seen as a type of drugs because of 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 had been used rather than meat in lots of cases.
These days, you’ll find azuki beans in many alternative Japanese dishes. “Crimson beans, or what we name azuki beans, are primarily utilized in varied sweets in Japanese delicacies,” says Chen. “These conventional sweets referred to as wagashi are largely full of or accompanied by candy azuki bean paste referred to 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 purple bean rice referred to as sekihan.
What’s sekihan (Japanese purple bean rice)?
It’s true: You’ll usually discover purple beans in Japanese sweets for essentially the most half. Nonetheless, Chen notes that sekihan is one exception. “In Japan, we make purple bean rice referred to as sekihan—or osekihan—on auspicious events,” she says. “The purple shade of the rice symbolizes happiness and prosperity. It’s a conventional dish served on many glad and celebratory events, equivalent to Japanese New Yr and Kids’s Day, the beginning of a child, birthdays, graduations, and weddings.”
To make this easy dish, you solely want two elements: Rice and purple beans. And though the ingredient listing sounds easy, the method of creating the dish is barely extra complicated. “For the rice, it’s crucial to make use of Japanese short-grain glutinous rice referred to as mochigome whenever you make sekihan; don’t use different Asian long-grain glutinous rice varieties,” Chen says. In keeping with her, utilizing mochigome will guarantee essentially the most “genuine final result” within the remaining dish, as that is the range that is most generally utilized in Japanese cooking. “Keep in mind that long-grain and short-grain varieties have totally different flavors, textures, and shapes when cooked,” she says.
Thankfully, this kind of rice can also be broadly obtainable in the USA. “You will discover mochigome at Japanese grocery shops, different Asian grocery shops, and a few well-stocked supermarkets. I normally get native, California-grown, natural mochigome at my native Japanese grocery store referred to as Nijiya. You too can 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 adjustments of water till the water runs clear, in line with Chen. “If you do that, you should be very mild, 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 may try Chen’s in-depth information.
However for a fast overview, you may need to use your finger to agitate the moist rice utilizing round motions and use minimal quantities of water to permit the grains to rub towards 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 a little bit persistence (and some rinses later), the cloudy water will ultimately 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 process. They’ve a mild and rounded bowl form however with facet and backside drainers. “You should utilize one if you happen to’re apprehensive about dropping rice grains when pouring off the rinsing water from an everyday 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 sort of bowl. The hot button is merely to make sure the rice is roofed with loads of water so it might probably take up it whereas remaining submerged on the finish of the soaking interval. “This ensures a good 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 might 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 are contemporary so they may turn into tender whenever you prepare dinner them. Previous beans gained’t turn into tender regardless of how lengthy you prepare dinner them,” Chen says. In keeping with her, the easiest way to test if the beans are contemporary (or outdated) is by inspecting the expiration date on the packaging. “Purchase azuki beans which are 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—every time potential. “Japanese grocery shops promote totally 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 stated, if you cannot discover Hokkaido beans, azuki from Tamba in Hyogo prefecture (that are recognized to be premium varieties in line with Chen) are a terrific possibility, too.
Sekihan (purple bean rice) recipe
Yields 5 servings
Substances
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 mixture of black sesame seeds and salt)
1/2 Tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt for serving
To make the beans:
- Rinse azuki beans within the strainer below chilly operating water and drain effectively.
- Put the azuki beans in a big pot (with a tight-fitting lid) and 1 1/2 cup water.
- Deliver it to a boil over medium warmth. As soon as boiling, flip off the warmth and drain the beans over the strainer.
- Put the beans again within the pot and add 3 1/2 cup water. Deliver it to a boil.
- As soon as it’s boiling, flip down the warmth to low/simmer. Cowl and prepare dinner for 25–half-hour. (Observe: The beans will proceed to prepare dinner with glutinous rice, so they need to be tender however do not must be 100-percent cooked at this stage. I personally choose the beans to have some texture as an alternative of mushy. Please alter the cooking time for the beans accordingly.)
- Verify the doneness of the beans by mashing one bean between your fingers. (As I choose the beans to have some texture, once I check the bean, the feel ought to nonetheless be considerably agency, not fully mushy. Take away from the warmth and let cool to room temperature for roughly one hour. Beans will proceed to prepare dinner with the remaining warmth.)
To measure the rice cooking liquid:
- As soon as the azuki beans and azuki-cooking liquid come to room temperature, separate them. You have 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:
- In a big bowl, place the candy rice (glutinous rice). Add water to submerge it and shortly discard the water.
- Add water and gently rinse the rice three to 4 extra occasions till the water is obvious. In contrast to common white rice, candy rice breaks simply, so be mild whenever you rinse.
- For one final time, add water to the bowl and drain the rice into the strainer. Drain and shake off the water effectively.
- Add the drained rice and 540 milliliters of the azuki-cooking liquid to the pot or donabe (Japanese cooking pot).
- Add salt and blend effectively collectively.
- Add the beans on high and evenly distribute however attempt to not combine with rice. Rice cooks evenly when it is not combined with different elements.
- Cowl the lid and begin cooking on medium-high warmth till boiling roughly eight to 10 minutes.
- As soon as boiling, cut back the warmth to low/simmer and prepare dinner for 10-12 minutes. Take away from the warmth (so the underside would not get burnt) and let it steam for added 20 minutes.
To serve:
- Combine black sesame seeds and salt. That is referred to as gomashio.
- Stir the rice gently. Insert the rice scooper perpendicularly, lifting up the rice from the underside.
- Then break it up with the rice scooper perpendicularly, as if you happen to’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 high. Take pleasure in!
Cannot get sufficient beans? Strive these black bean brownies:
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