Sekihan, a vegetarian recipe from Japan

Name: Sekihan
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 80 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Japan
Ingredients: 500 g Japanese glutinous rice; 80 g dried azuki beans; 1 litre water; 1 tsp salt; 2 tbsp black sesame seeds; ½ tsp salt for the gomashio

Method

Rinse the azuki and cover with cold water. Boil for 3 minutes, throw away that first water, then add the litre of fresh water.
Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. The beans should give under a finger while their skins stay whole. Drain, keeping the cooking liquid.
Pour the red liquid from a height into a bowl several times to aerate it and set the colour. Leave to cool.
Soak the glutinous rice in the bean liquid for at least 6 hours, or overnight. Drain, keeping 100 ml of the liquid.
Spread the rice and beans in a steamer basket lined with a cloth. Steam for 40 minutes, sprinkling over the reserved liquid, salted, halfway through.
Toast the sesame in a dry pan for 2 minutes, crush with the salt and scatter over the bowls as you serve.

Glutinous rice is steamed, never boiled. Submerged, it collapses into porridge. In Japan sekihan marks births and first days of school, the red colour meant to turn away misfortune.

The techniques this recipe uses

Drain and rinse
Canning liquid clouds a sauce and salts it blind: rinse until the water runs clear.

Frequently asked questions

Why throw away the first batch of azuki cooking water?

That 3-minute boil carries off the beans' bitterness. It is the second water, the fresh litre added after, that turns red and dyes the rice. Mix the two up and the sekihan keeps a harsh aftertaste.

Why pour the bean liquid from a height several times?

Contact with air deepens and sets the red colour of the liquid, which is what tints the rice during the soak. Liquid simply left to cool in the pan gives a duller pink.

Can I cook sekihan like ordinary rice, in water?

No. Submerged glutinous rice collapses into porridge. It has to steam, spread in a cloth-lined basket, with the reserved salted soaking liquid sprinkled over halfway so it finishes hydrating without drowning.

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