Homemade Red Bean Paste Recipes

ANKO (SWEET RED BEAN PASTE)

Steps:

• Place beans in a saucepan and cover with 2 cups water; bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and discard water.
• Place drained beans in a clean saucepan and cover with 2 to 3 cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover the saucepan, and simmer, adding more water as needed, until beans are soft and can be crushed between your fingers, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Drain beans and discard water.
• Stir beans and sugar together in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until sugar melts and beans form a loose, shiny paste, about 10 minutes. Immediately transfer the paste to a container to cool. Store, covered, in the refrigerator.

HOMEMADE RED BEAN PASTE (HONG DOU SHA, 红豆沙)

Steps:

• Soak adzuki beans in water overnight. Drain then rinse well.
• Put the beans into a small pot. Pour in water. Bring it to a boil then leave to simmer for 60-90 mins until they become soft and easy to crush (check the water level halfway through. Top up if necessary to avoid burning).
• You may use a stove-top pressure cooker or an instant pot to speed up the process. Cook for 25 mins. Then leave to cool naturally.
• Drain the cooked beans then put into a blender or food processor. Add white sugar, dark brown sugar and butter. Blend on high speed into a fine paste. You may need to add a little water to make blending easier. However, only add as little as necessary.
• Transfer the puree into a pan. Cook over medium-high heat while stirring and flipping constantly to avoid burning. Once the paste becomes dark and holds in shape, transfer out to cool (See note 3 for the consistency).
• Remove the remaining water from the cooking pot. Add white sugar, dark brown sugar and butter to the beans. Use the flat bottom of a jar (or a potato masher if available) to crush the beans.
• Turn the heat back on. Heat up the paste to reduce its moisture until it reaches the desired consistency (see note 3). Stir constantly during this process to avoid burning.
• Red bean paste can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for two months. Defrost in the fridge before using.

HOW TO MAKE RED BEAN PASTE

Steps:

• Combine red beans and 3 cups of water in pressure cooker. Lock the lid and heat over medium high heat until rated pressure has been reached. Turn to lowest heat and cook at high pressure for 20 minutes. Turn off heat and allow the pressure release naturally.
• Remove the lid and stir the beans several times. Add rock sugar and turn back to medium high heat. Stir the beans constantly with a spatula and boil until the mixture has thickened. When you draw a line in the mixture with a spatula and can see the bottom of the pot for 1 or 2 seconds, the beans are finished. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl. The red bean "soup" is, at this point, still a thick liquid and not quite as thick as a paste. It will thicken quickly after cooking down, and transform into a paste after it has been chilled.
• The paste will last about a week in an airtight container in the fridge, or about a month in the freezer.
• Rinse azuki beans and pre-soak them in room temperature water overnight.
• Discard the soaking water. Combine beans and 4 cups water in a large pot. Bring the water to a boil, then turn to lowest heat. Simmer, covered, for about 1 hour, until beans are soft and can be easily mashed with a spatula. Throughout the simmering, check the water level and make sure the water still covers the beans, so they won't be burnt on the bottom. Add water in small amounts, if necessary. Stir beans gently (without mashing them), occasionally during simmering.
• Follow steps 2 and 3 above to complete the paste.

SWEET MOCHI WITH RED BEAN FILLING

Steps:

• Make the filling: Rinse the beans and transfer to a large pot. Cover the beans with water and bring to a boil; drain. Cover the beans again with water and this time simmer until they are completely tender, about an hour to an hour and a half, adding more water if necessary to keep the beans submerged. Drain.
• Purée the drained beans in a food processor or blender to make a smooth paste. If the beans are too dry to catch the blades, add a few tablespoons of water. Return the bean purée to the same pot and stir in the sugar and salt. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until most of the water has evaporated and the purée is very thick, 10 to 15 minutes. Spread bean paste in a wide, shallow container and refrigerate until firm and cool.
• Meanwhile, make the mochi dough: Line a sheet pan with a piece of parchment paper and spread a generous heap of potato starch in a large circle; set aside. In a bowl, whisk together the mochiko flour and 1 1/3 cup/300 milliliters water until smooth. Pour mixture through a mesh strainer into a saucepan, using the whisk to help push it through if necessary. Add the sugar and mix well. Switch to a heatproof spatula and cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens and comes together as one big, smooth, shiny mass that can hold its shape, 5 to 7 minutes.
• Using a starch-dusted knife, cut the dough into 20 even pieces. (If eating plain, or as an ice cream topping, cut into 40 to 50 smaller pieces.) One at a time, use a rolling pin to roll a piece of mochi dough into a thick, flat disk about 2 inches by 2 inches. Use potato starch liberally to keep the dough from sticking to your work surface, the rolling pin or your fingers. Roll a scant tablespoon of bean paste between your hands to form a ball and place it in the center of the rolled-out dough piece. Use your fingers to evenly stretch the mochi dough up and around the filling without squishing it, pinching the dough shut at the top to seal it, and then gently rolling the mochi between your hands to form a rounded shape. Set on the parchment-lined baking sheet with the seam on the bottom. Eat the filled mochi the day they're made, or cover and store in the refrigerator for 1 day.

13 WAYS TO COOK RED BEANS

Steps:

• Select your favorite recipe.
• Organize all the required ingredients.
• Prep a red bean recipe in 30 minutes or less!

SWEET RED BEAN PASTE (ANKO)

Steps:

• Wash azuki beans gently a couple of times.
• Put azuki beans into a saucepan, fill it with water to 3-4cm / 1¼-1½" above the azuki beans and bring it to a boil.
• Cook for 15 minutes, turn the heat off and leave for 30 minutes with a lid on. Drain using a sieve.
• Return the azuki beans to the saucepan, fill the pan with water to just cover the beans. Bring it to a boil.
• Reduce the heat to medium low so that the beans are gently simmering.
• Cook for 15-20 minutes until the beans are cooked through (note 3). If the beans surface above the water level, add some water to keep the beans just below the water level (note 4). Remove the scum as it surfaces.
• Turn the heat off and leave for 30 minutes with the lid on. Drain using a sieve with a bowl beneath it so that the liquid can be collected in the bowl.
• Return the beans to the pan.
• Gently tilt the bowl of liquid and drain the liquid slowly. At the bottom of the bowl, you will see a thick layer of the azuki bean powder diluted in the liquid. Transfer this to the pan.
• Add sugar and gently mix the sugar into the azuki beans using a soft spatula.
• Heat the pan with azuki beans over medium heat. The beans should become watery as it starts boiling.
• Cook for about 10 minutes. During this time gently mix the beans occasionally by moving the spatula from one edge to the other edge and draw a wide straight line.
• Check the consistency of the paste: Draw a line at the bottom of the pan with the spatula. If you can see the bottom of the pan and the beans start closing the line after hesitating momentarily, it is the right consistency (note 5).
• Add glucose if using and a pinch of salt, then gently mix. Remove from the heat.
• Transfer the bean paste to a tray. Cover it with cling wrap removing air pockets as much as possible (note 6). When cooled down, store in the fridge up to 4 days or freeze it in a zip lock bag up to 2 months.

ADZUKI/ADUKI RED BEAN PASTE

Steps:

• Measure out about 1 dry cup of dried adzuki beans. You will probably have leftover, adzuki beans definitely multiply when cooked. Soak the beans overnight.
• Next day, bring about 4-5 cups of water to a boil, then let the beans simmer for 35-40 minutes or until soft, with the pot lid loosely covered.
• Drain the beans, and measure out 2 cups now that they're cooked. (Save the leftover beans for veggie burger or roasting purposes, or other adzuki confections!).
• Put the cooked beans and 1 1/2 cups of sugar plus a little water into a food processor and puree it until there are almost no more bean pieces left.
• Pour the paste into a colander fitted over a large bowl, and let strain overnight (at least 6-8 hours.).
• When it's all done straining the next day, there should be a lot of liquid in the bottom of the bowl and the paste inside the colander should be nice and thick. It's ready for use now! It can be refridgerated for up to a week, then frozen for a few months for future use.

RED BEAN PASTE

Steps:

• Cover beans in cold water and soak uncovered, overnight.
• Drain, transfer back to the pot and cover in 5 cups of cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
• Drain and puree with a hand blender or in a food processor.
• Press through a metal sieve. Note: This is time consuming work. The pureed beans become a thick paste and it takes some time to press through the sieve, clean off the underside, continue pressing until most of the bean puree passes through and the skins are left behind.
• Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add pureed beans and sugar. Stir with a wooden spoon for about 3-5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to cool.
• After the paste has cooled, scoop out 1/2" balls. Cover loosely with plastic wrap so they won't dry out.