← Nouns Cooking · Japanese

Ingredients

• 60 g Dried adzuki (red) beans
• 1.25 l water, divided
• 450 g glutinous (sweet) rice
• ½ tsp Salt
• 1 tbsp toasted black sesame seeds
• ½ tsp flaky salt

Method

1. Rinse the beans, cover them with 500 ml of the water and boil for 2 min. Drain and discard the water; this removes bitterness.
2. Return the beans to the pan with the remaining 750 ml water and simmer for 20–25 min until just tender but still holding their shape. Drain, keeping the red cooking liquid.
3. Scoop up the cooking liquid with a ladle and pour it back from a height a dozen times. The air deepens its red colour. Let it cool.
4. Rinse the rice until the water runs clear, then soak it in the cooled bean liquid (not the beans) for 6 hours or overnight in the fridge. It will turn pink.
5. Drain the rice, keeping 350 ml of the liquid. Put the rice, beans, measured liquid and salt into a heavy pot or rice cooker. Sticky rice needs less water than ordinary rice.
6. Rice cooker: use the sweet rice setting. Pot: cover, bring to the boil, then cook on the lowest heat for 15 min and rest off the heat, covered, for 10 min.
7. Fold gently, then serve with toasted black sesame and flaky salt sprinkled over.

Tips

• Sekihan is eaten at room temperature, so it is perfect for making ahead or packing in bento.
• Steaming the soaked rice for 40 minutes, sprinkling it with bean liquid halfway, is the traditional method.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Just One Cookbook RecipeTin Japan Chopstick Chronicles