Today is January 15th.
It’s “Koshogatsu” in Japan.
We eat “Azukigayu” (Red bean rice porridge) on Koshogatsu.
So I’m going to share the recipe for Red bean rice porridge.
What’s Azukigayu (Red bean rice porridge) like?
This is a picture of Azukigayu I made for Koshogatsu.
Azukigayu is Red bean rice porridge.
You may imagine a sweet taste, but this food is not sweet because it doesn’t have sugar at all.
(If you know “Sekihan”, the taste is similar to that.)
In Japan, we enjoy sweet red bean dessert-like “Zenzai”, “Oshiruko”, “Yokan”, “Anpan” etc…
But Azukigayu is not sweet, and you can eat this as a meal, not dessert.
I’m not sure when Japanese people started eating Azukigayu, but I heard that there is a description of this culture in literature in Heian era.
Recipe for Azukigayu (Red bean rice porridge)
Ingredients for Azukigayu （5~6 people)
Rice 270ml
Dried red beans 200g
Water 1800ml
Red bean cooking water 600ml
Recipe for Azukigayu
Wash rice and put it into a strainer.
Wash red beans and put them into a strainer.
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Put red beans into a pot and pour enough water to cover them and start cooking on medium heat. (This water is not included in the recipe)
When the water reaches the boiling point, let it boil for 2 minutes.
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Put the beans into a strainer.
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Put the red beans back into the pot with a lot of new cooking water and cook them on medium heat.
When it starts boiling, drop a piece of aluminum foil directly on the beans to cover and cook them for 30 minutes.
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Put the red beans into a strainer.
Don’t throw this cooking water because you will need it later.
You’ll need 600ml of the cooking water.
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Put rice, water(1800ml), red beans cooking water(600ml) into a pot and leave it for 20 – 30 minutes.
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Close the lid and cook it on medium heat.
When it’s boiling, add the red beans to it and cook for 30 minutes.
After adding the red beans, slightly cover the pot with the lid but don’t cover it completely, you don’t need to put the lid firmly. Leave some opening for water vapor to escape and prevent the boiling water from leaking out to the stove
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Done!
Enjoy Koshogatsu with red bean rice porridge (Japanese Azukigayu)
This time I needed a big pot for Azukigayu because I cooked it for 5 people.
When I finished cooking, the big pot was filled with Azukigayu!
But we already finished it.
We had a great Koshogatsu.
If you have an opportunity, please enjoy Koshogatsu with Azukigayu!
