Tsubushi-an

Tsubushi-an is a thick, chunky, reddish-brown paste made from azuki beans. It is used in quite a few Japanese sweets and dainties, many of which are meant to complement the flavour of green tea. There are several other variants of sweet bean paste, such as koshi-an (which has been sieved to remove the bean skins), tsubu-an (in which the beans remain whole), and shiro-an (made from white navy beans), but I happen to prefer the texture of this chunky variety.


Ingredients:

3 cups water
1/2 cup azuki beans
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt


Process:

Wash and drain the azuki beans.
Fill a saucepan most of the way with water, add the beans and bring to a boil.
Remove from heat and drain; rinse beans with cold water and drain again.

Put the drained beans back in the pan with 3 cups water, cover, and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat.
Simmer for about 45 minutes, or until the water is nearly evaporated and the beans are very soft.

Turn the heat down to Very Low, and uncover the pan.
Add the sugar and mix it into the beans, stirring and mashing with a large fork.
Add the salt and continue to stir and mash, until the bean mixture has become a chunky paste.

This recipe makes about one cup of tsubushi-an.

At this point, I am often tempted simply to eat it with a spoon, but I can assure you that it will be even better if put to use as filling in daifuku, chuuka manju, yatsuhashi, botamochi, ohagi...


Notes:

Red bean paste is usually very, very, very, sweet; unbearably sweet for my taste, so I have drastically reduced the sugar content for this recipe. It is still quite sweet, but if your sweet tooth is doughtier than mine, feel free to add another 1/4 or so of sugar and reduce the salt to 1/4 teaspoon.