Anko sweet red bean paste recipe japanese cooking 101
Red bean paste (traditional Chinese: 豆沙/紅豆沙; simplified Chinese: 豆沙/红豆沙; Japanese: 餡/小豆餡; Korean: 팥소) or red bean jam, also called adzuki bean paste, is a paste made of red beans (also called "adzuki beans"), used in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean cuisines, as well as Japanese and Korean confectioneries. The paste is prepared by boiling the beans, then mashing or grinding them. At this stage, the paste can be sweetened or left as it is. The color of the paste is usually dark red, which comes from the husk of the beans. In Korean cuisine, the beans can also be husked prior to cooking, resulting in a white paste. It is also possible to remove the husk by sieving after cooking, but before sweetening, resulting in a red paste that is smoother and more homogeneous.
In Japanese, a number of names are used to refer to red bean paste; these include an(餡), anko(餡子), and ogura(小倉). Strictly speaking, the term an can refer to almost any sweet, edible, mashed paste, with azukian(小豆餡) referring specifically to the paste made with red beans, although without qualifiers red beans are assumed. Other common forms of an include shiroan(白餡, "white bean paste"), made from navy or other white beans, and kurian(栗餡), made from chestnuts.
Similarly, the Chinese term dòushā (豆沙), applies to red bean paste when used without qualifiers, although hóngdòushā (紅豆沙) explicitly means "red bean paste."
In Korean, pat (팥, "V. angularis") contrasts with kong (콩, "bean"), rather than being considered a type of it. Kong ("beans") without qualifiers usually means soybeans. As so (소) means "filling", the word patso (팥소) means "pat filling", with unsweetened dark-red paste as its prototype. Dan (단, "sweet") attached to patso makes danpat-so (단팥소), the sweetened red bean paste, which is often called danpat (단팥; "sweet pat"). Geopi (거피, "hulled, skinned, peeled, shelled, etc.") attached to pat makes geopipat (거피팥), the dehulled red beans, and the white paste made of geopipat is called geopipat-so (거피팥소).
Types
Red bean paste is graded according to its consistency.
Mashed: Adzuki beans are boiled with sugar and mashed. The paste is smooth with bits of broken beans and bean husk. Depending on the intended texture, the beans can be vigorously or lightly mashed. Some unmashed beans can also be added back into the bean paste for additional texture. This is the most common and popular type of red bean paste eaten in Chinese confections. It can also be eaten on its own or in sweet soups.
Smooth: Adzuki beans are boiled without sugar, mashed, and diluted into a slurry. The slurry is then strained through a sieve to remove the husk, filtered, and squeezed dry using cheesecloth. Although the dry paste can be directly sweetened and used, oil, either vegetable oil or lard, is usually used to cook the dry paste and improve its texture and mouth feel. Smooth bean paste is mainly found as fillings for Chinese pastries.
Japanese
In Japanese cuisine and confectionary, the most common types are:
Tsubuan (粒餡), whole red beans boiled with sugar but otherwise untreated
Tsubushian (潰し餡), where the beans are mashed after boiling
Koshian (漉し餡), which has been passed through a sieve to remove bean skins; the most common type
Sarashian (晒し餡), which has been dried and reconstituted with water
Korean
In Korean cuisine and confectionery, the most common types are:
Patso (팥소), dark-red paste made by boiling and then mashing or grounding red beans. The bean skins may or may not be removed by sifting the paste through a sieve to make the paste smoother.
Danpat (단팥) or danpat-so (단팥소), sweetened red bean paste, made by adding honey or sugar when making patso. The bean skins are often removed to make the paste smoother.
Geopipat-so (거피팥소), white paste made by boiling dehulled red beans, and then mashing or grinding them.
Chinese
Red bean paste is used in many Chinese foods, such as:
Red bean soup (紅豆湯/紅豆沙; pinyin: hóng dòu tāng / hóng dòu shā): Red bean paste with more water added to form a tong sui, or thick, sweet soup. It is often cooked and eaten with tangyuan and lotus seeds. This is almost always a dessert.
Tangyuan (湯圓, pinyin: tāng yúan): Glutinous rice balls filled with sweet fillings such as red bean paste and boiled in plain or sweetened water.
Zongzi (粽子; pinyin: zòng zi): Glutinous rice and red bean paste wrapped with bamboo leaves and steamed or boiled. The glutinous rice used to make zongzi is usually specially prepared and appears yellow.
Mooncakes (月餅; yùe bĭng): A baked pastry consisting of thin dough surrounding a filling. The filling is traditionally made from various ingredients, including mashed lotus seeds, red bean paste, or other fillings. The texture of this filling is quite similar to straight red bean paste. It is most commonly eaten during the Mid Autumn Festival.
Bāozi (豆沙包; pinyin: dòu shā bāo): Steamed leavened bread filled with a variety of savoury or sweet fillings
Jiān dui (煎堆): Fried pastry made from glutinous rice flour, sometimes filled with red bean paste.
Daifuku, a confection consisting of a small round rice cake stuffed with red bean paste.
Dango, a dumpling made from rice flour topped with red bean paste.
Dorayaki, a confection consisting of two small pancake-like patties made from castella wrapped around a filling of red bean paste.
Manjū, a steamed cake filled with red bean paste.
Oshiruko or Zenzai, adzuki bean soup, commonly served with rice cake.
Taiyaki, a fish-shaped cake stuffed with red bean paste.
Yōkan, a thick jellied dessert made of red bean paste, agar, and sugar.
Korean
Red bean paste is used in various Korean snack foods and desserts, including:
Baram-tteok, a type of tteok filled with white geopipat-so.
Bungeo-ppang, a fish-shaped pastry filled with sweet danpat-so.
Chalbori-ppang, two small and sweet pancakes wrapping around sweet danpat-so.
Gyeongdan, a rice ball cake filled with sweet danpat-so.
Hodu-gwaja, a walnut-shaped cookie filled with sweet danpat-so.
Hoppang, a warm fluffy pastry filled with sweet danpat-so or sweet nokdu-so (mung bean paste).
Hwangnam-ppang, a pastry with a chrysanthemum imprinted on the top, filled with sweet danpat-so.
Jjinppang, a warm fluffy pastry filled with unsweetened patso, usually with the skins of the red beans.
Kkulppang, a sweet pastry covered with sweet danpat-so and covered with corn syrup.
Patbingsu, a type of shaved ice.
Songpyeon, a type of tteok filled with various fillings including unsweetened patso, sweetened (danpat-so), or white (geopipat-so).
Ttongppang, a poo-shaped pastry filled with sweet danpat-so.
In popular culture
The Naruto character Anko Mitarashi is derived from Anko, meaning sweetened red bean paste and mitarashi dango, which happens to be her favorite food.
The cartoon hero Anpanman is an anthropomorphic anpan bun filled with adzuki bean paste.
In Natsume Sōseki's classic novel I Am a Cat, Prof. Sneeze is addicted to red bean jam, on which his wife blames both his dyspepsia and the family's unaffordable food bills.
The Deadman Wonderland character Shiro is fond of red bean paste buns and often uses her points earned in competitions to buy them.
The character Dr. Andonuts, from EarthBound, because of his name, probably enjoys donuts (shown on his clay model for the game) with red bean paste.
In the anime series Tamako Market, the younger sister of the titular character, Kitashirakawa Tamako, is named Anko, meaning sweetened red bean paste.
The 2015 Japanese movie, An (called Sweet Bean in English) focuses on a man who runs a stall selling Dorayaki and an old woman who comes to work for him and teaches him how to make the best red bean paste he has ever tasted.
