Best Tsubushi An Sweet Bean Paste For Japanese Sweets Recipes

MANJU (JAPANESE SWEET BEAN PASTE COOKIES)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 2 baking sheets.
• Beat sugar and butter with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth and creamy. Beat eggs, 1 at a time, into creamed butter until smooth; add vanilla extract and beat well.
• Sift flour and baking powder together in a bowl. Gradually stir flour mixture into butter mixture, mixing well after each addition, until dough is smooth.
• Generously flour your hands. Make walnut-size balls from the dough and press into 4-inch circles on a floured surface, making the circles thicker in the center and thinner on the edges. Spoon about 1 1/2 teaspoons koshi an in the center of each dough circle. Gather the edges together and pinch dough around the filling until sealed. Place dough balls, pinched-side down, on the prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Brush dough balls with evaporated milk.
• Bake in the preheated oven until tops are lightly browned, about 15 minutes.

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.

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.

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.

ROASTED BEETS N' SWEETS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• In a bowl, toss the beets with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil to coat. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet.
• Mix the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and sugar in a large resealable plastic bag. Place the sweet potatoes and onion in the bag. Seal bag, and shake to coat vegetables with the oil mixture.
• Bake beets 30 minutes in the preheated oven. Mix sweet potato mixture with the beets on the baking sheet. Continue baking 45 minutes, stirring after 20 minutes, until all vegetables are tender.