A dessert that Matto doesn't eat (a rare event!!!)

Matto and I went to an Asian Market in Kenner on Sunday.
The purpose to go there was just to buy soy sauce, but I have never bought just one thing whenever I go there ;-)
So................. I bought a bunch of goodies :D

I was looking around the store and I found a bag of Azuki beans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azuki_bean)!
In Japan, we eat a lot of Azuki bean desserts.

I suddenly started craving Zenzai----------------------------------------------!
Zenzai is a sweet soup made with Azuki beans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_bean_soup) served with a couple of Mochi (rice cakes).  Zenzai, also known as Oshiruko, is one of the traditional winter desserts that many Japanese people like :)

The main disadvantage as a Japanese person living in the U.S. is that I can't easily get some of the delicious food that I am used to eating in Japan :'(


Luckly, I love cooking and totally don't mind trying to make things that I love to eat :)
If I can't buy it? I''ll just make it!!!!

The Azuki beans that I found at the store were only $1.50.  So I said, "Why not?"
I also bought Mochiko (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_flour) to make my own Mochi.  I could have bought a bag of Mochi, but I was too cheap ($1.70 Mochiko vs $5.50 a bag of 10 Mochi......mmmmm, Mochiko won!).

So....last night I started to cook my first batch of Zenzai!


Oshiruko (Zenzai)
http://cookpad.com/recipe/486313

Ingredients

Azuki beans 200 g
Sugar 135 g
Salt 1/8 tea spoon
Water

Mochiko 1/3 cup
Water

Recipe

1. First, put Azuki beans in a medium size sauce pan and add 4 cups of water
2. Bring the water to a boil and then drain the Azuki beans (water turns light brown)
3. Next, put the Azuki beans back into the pan and repeat steps 1&2 for two more times
4. Then put the Azuki beans back into the pan again and add water until covering the beans
5. Boil the beans and water at low heat and keep adding water when the water boils off

6. Next, boil the beans until they get soft (about 2-2.5 hours)
7. Add sugar to the beans and cook until the sugar dissolves (Don't stir!)
8. After that add salt and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes
9. Remove from the heat and place the soup in a fridge overnight
(Next day)
10. Take the soup from the fridge and reheat over low heat
11. While heating the soup, prepare Mochi from the Mochiko. To do this, in a separate bowl, add Mochiko powder to a small amount of water
12. Keep adding small amounts of water until the Mochiko mixture gets to the hardness of an earlobe (Matto found this part really weird, but the point is to bring the mixture to a consistency of the squishiness of your earlobes.)
13. Next in a separate pan, bring water to a boil. Drop a table spoon of the Mochiko mixture into the boiling water and scoop it out when it floats.

13. Finally, serve the soup and Mochi in a small bowl



To be honest.............I should have bought a bag of Mochi instead of Mochiko :(
It was good.......definitely the soup was delicious!
But the Mochi made from Mochiko was.......not so good :(

Sometime, being cheap isn't a good idea.......



Mmmmmmm, I miss home (well, I miss Mochi obviously!)