Name: Tsubuan (sweet red bean paste)
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 2 h
Total time: 2 h 5 min
Yield: makes one cup
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: 1 cup red beans; 1 cup sugar; A couple dashes of salt; water

Ingredients

Scale

1 cup red beans
1 cup sugar
A couple dashes of salt
water

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Instructions

Put red beans in a pot with 4 cups of water. Let them boil for 5 minutes over medium high heat and then drain and discard the water.
Next add 4 cups of fresh water to the pot and bring to a simmer over high heat. Lower the heat to medium low, partially cover the pot with a lid, and simmer for 1 ½ to 2 hours (add more water as needed to keep the water level above the beans).
You can also pressure cook the beans, which takes only about 25 minutes.
The beans should now be very soft, and you should be able to easily crush a bean between your fingers.
Discard the water again and put the soft beans back in the pot with the sugar and salt. Cook the beans over medium heat, stirring regularly, for about 10-12 minutes until the beans are shiny but still a little loose. You should have bits of whole and broken beans in your anko.
Let the mixture cool to room temperature. Transfer tsubuan to a storage container and refrigerate until ready to use.

Notes

*Tsubuan will keep for a week in the fridge. It also freezes very well.

Keywords: azuki beans, sweet bean paste, desserts, sweets, japanese, vegan