Sweet Red Bean Paste

Ingredients

• 200g / 7oz azuki beans (note 1)
• 180-200g / 6.3-7oz sugar (note 2)
• 20g / 0.7oz glucose syrup (optional)
• A pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Wash azuki beans gently a couple of times.
2. 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.
3. Cook for 15 minutes, turn the heat off and leave for 30 minutes with a lid on. Drain using a sieve.
4. Return the azuki beans to the saucepan, fill the pan with water to just cover the beans. Bring it to a boil.
5. Reduce the heat to medium low so that the beans are gently simmering.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Return the beans to the pan.
9. 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.
10. Add sugar and gently mix the sugar into the azuki beans using a soft spatula.
11. Heat the pan with azuki beans over medium heat. The beans should become watery as it starts boiling.
12. 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.
13. 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).
14. Add glucose if using and a pinch of salt, then gently mix. Remove from the heat.
15. 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.