Adzuki Beans

[Richard Kilgore]

A friend reported that a can of Adzuki beans costs $2 at the grocery store. Yikes! She wants to buy them dried and I don't know a source to recommend to her. (I checked and Rancho Gordo does not have them on his site.)

My friend wants to eat simply cooked beans - like warming a can of beans, only better. But this got me wondering what all I can do with Adzuki's. In a salad, of course. But what kind of salad and what else to do with them?

So, what's a good source for dried Adzuki beans, and in your part of the eGullet universe what kind of salads and other dishes (soups, stews, casseroles, whatever) do you use them in?

[Lisa Shock]

I like them because they are small. I tend to use them in minestrone.

[TheCulinaryLibrary]

Perhaps the most traditional and popular way to use Adzuki, that I know of, are in Chinese Moon Cakes,central to celebrating the Moon Festival in mid autumn in China but not necessarily appealing to western tastes. A good tip for cooking all pulses and beans though is to know that minerals and salts toughen the bean and its skin, so instead of adding salt to your soaking or cooking water add a pinch of Bi-carb instead, which will not only shorten the cooking time but also give you a plumper, softer bean.

[Jenni]

In the UK you can buy dried aduki beans in many supermarkets so I'm curious that they are not available easily where you are.

In terms of cooking them, I have never found them tricky. Cook them conventially in a pan or in pressure cooker. I have used them in Indian style dishes as an alternative to kidney beans in rajma and also as a substitute for a small brown bean commonly used in Kerala.

In my experience good, not-too-dried-out adukis cook in 30-40 minutes, but tough old ones can take a long time and then instead of becoming nicely tender they suddenly get overly mushy. I have found that the trick is to see how they look after soaking - if they are noticeably swollen and bigger then they tend to behave themselves. Sometimes you get a batch that don't seem to be affected by soaking. That's when they take ages and turn to mush. Perhaps there are different varieties of aduki.

Oh, another great thing you can do is sprout them. I sprout until I have a short to mid length tail and then once again I cook them in an Indian style. Delicious.

Edited September 24, 2011 by Jenni (log)

[lindag]

Bob's Red Mill has them. Here.

[Country]

If you have any local food coops, they may have Adzuki beans. All the coops here carry them in bulk, along with other dry beans.

They're very good cooked with buttercup squash cut into chunks. Sometimes tamari or miso is added at the end of cooking.

[gdenby]

If your friend is finding fresh adzuki beans packaged in a store, I am not surprised at the cost. There is one place I shop that has various kinds of beans packed fresh, and they cost 3 - 5 times more than the same beans canned. (They are very good, but $$$.)

I can get them dried at 1 local Asian market. They are more expensive than most other beans there. I also have had them from the Purcell Mntn. farms web site. Likewise, fairly expensive compared to other beans.

They are noticeably sweet. I like to use them in a sort of pork sausage chili/stew. If they are dried and not too old, they only need a little soaking before cooking. I've used them as old as 2 years, and they needed 12 hours to soak.

[teonzo]

I love desserts made with azuki beans.

Here is the last I made.

AZUKI CREMINO

300g milk chocolate

300g azuki beans puree

Cook the azuki beans, then sift them to separate the skin from the pulp. Dry the puree in the oven at 60°C to loose some moisture. Weigh 300g of the azuki puree.

Melt the milk chocolate, add the azuki puree and amalgamate.

Pour the cremino into a square mold (20cm x 20cm).

Let it set, then cut squares 2.5cm x 2.5cm.

RED BELL PEPPER SAUCE

300g red bell pepper pulp (cooked)

50g sugar

Cut the peppers in 4th, clean them from the seeds and the stems, then peel away the skin with the potato peeler.

Cook the peppers' pulp sous vide (or steaming).

Weigh 300g of cooked red pepper pulp, grind it in a mixer, add the sugar, cook until desired density.

WHITE SESAME TUILLE

125g sugar

35g flour

50g orange juice

50g butter (pomade)

100g white sesame seeds

Mix the first 4 ingredients, then add the sesame seeds.

Put the batter in a sac-a-poche, and for some little circles on a sheet pan (get some distance between each of them, since they broaden a lot during cooking).

Cook at 160°C until golden brown.

Cut each tuille in half while they are still warm (if they are cold they crack), to get a semicircular shape.

SERVICE

Alternate squares of azuki cremino with sesame tuilles (these ones in vertical position, standind on the base of the semicircle). Garnish with the pepper sauce.

Wine pairing: late harvest Gewürztraminer.

Teo