Tsubushi An Sweet Bean Paste For Japanese Sweets Recipes

TSUBUSHI AN - SWEET BEAN PASTE FOR JAPANESE SWEETS

Steps:

• Rinse azuki and soak in plenty of water for 7 to 8 hours.
• Discard the soaking water; place the beans in a saucepan with water reaching 3 cm above the surface of the beans.
• Bring to a boil, then add about 300 ml water, and bring to a boil again.
• Drain beans of all water (discarding water), return beans to saucepan, cover with plenty of water, just bring to a boil, then lower heat, and cook until tender, stirring occasionally.
• The beans with burn if the heat is too high, or they are not stirred a little.
• It should take between 1 and 2 hours for the beans to become tender.
• When the beans are tender enough to mash easily between your fingers, (not all falling apart) turn off the heat; cover, and let stand 20 minutes.
• Add enough room temperature water to the beans in the saucepan to cool them.
• Wait until the beans have sunk to the bottom of the pan, then pour off the clearer liquid on top without disturbing the darker liquid below.
• Add more water, wait for the beans to sink, and remove the water on top again.
• After adding and pouring off the top part of the water three times, drain the beans by pouring the contents of the saucepan into a colander or sieve that has been lined with cloth.
• Return about one half of the cooked beans to the saucepan; add the smaller amount of sugar, and cook, stirring constantly, over high heat, until the sugar has been incorporated.
• This burns easily, so lower the heat if necessary.
• Add the remaining cooked beans and continue to cook, while stirring and adding more sugar if necessary, until you have a shiny bean paste.
• This will thicken as it cools, so it is not necessary to cook the bean paste for a long time at this stage.
• You can mash some of the beans while you are cooking them with the sugar if necessary, but this type of bean paste should have some beans retaining their original shape.
• Add the salt at the very last stage of cooking and stirring.
• Taste to make sure the flavor is right.
• Remove from heat, spread out on a large plate to cool.

COFFEE-AZUKI GELATIN

Steps:

• In a bowl, stir together gelatin and coffee until gelatin dissolves.
• Add extract (if using), milk and an, and stir.
• Pour into a 9x13-inch pan or glass coffee cups.
• Refrigerate until firm (overnight).
• **Making an with canned aduki beans - It adds a couple of hours to the prep time to make the an yourself, but it can be difficult to find if you don't have a good Asian market nearby or you may want to make it yourself so that you can control the sweetness (I make it myself for both reasons). Drain and rinse 2 (15 oz) cans aduki beans (I found them at the whole grocer; kidney beans work in a pinch, but they won't be exactly the same). Bring to a boil with enough water to cover by 1-inch and 1-2 cups of your favorite sweetener (I use 1 1/4 cups raw sugar). Reduce heat and simmer until the beans are soft (just starting to fall apart) and there is little water left (add more water if it cooks off before the beans are done - about 90 minutes). At this point you have Tsubu-an (red beans simmered with sugar).
• For tsubushi-an (red beans simmered with sugar and mashed): roughly process the beans in a food processor (or mash with a potato masher), adding water if needed to bring the beans to a paste consistency. I add half of the an to the dessert at this point, and press the rest.
• For koshi-an (red beans simmered with sugar and mashed, with husks removed): Strain tsubushi-an through a sieve to remove the bean husks and make the paste smoother.