Red bean paste

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This is an article about an East Asian food product. "Anko" redirects here. For the 5th century emperor of Japan, see Emperor Anko.

Red bean paste (Chinese: 红豆沙 or 豆沙; Pinyin: Hóngdòushā; Hokkien: angtaosa) or azuki bean paste (Japanese: an (餡, an^?), anko (餡子, anko^?), ogura (小倉, ogura^?)) is a sweet, dark purplish-red paste used in Chinese cuisine, Japanese confectionery and Korean cuisine. It is prepared by boiling, mashing azuki beans and then sweetening the paste with sugar or honey. The husk of the beans may be removed by sieving prior to sweetening, which leads to a smoother and more homogenous paste.

1 Types
2 Etymology
3 Uses
4 Trivia
5 See also

[edit] Types

Red bean paste is graded according to its consistency.

In Chinese cuisine, the most common types are:

Mashed: Azuki beans are boiled with sugar and mashed. The paste is smooth with bits of broken beans and bean husk. Depending on the intended texture, the beans can be vigorously or lightly mashed. Some unmashed beans can also be added back into the bean paste for addition texture. This is the most common and popular type of red bean paste eaten in Chinese confections. Can be eaten it own or in sweet soups.
Smooth: Azuki beans are boiled without sugar, mashed, and diluted into a slurry. The slurry is then strained through a sieve to remove the husk, filtered and squeezed dry using cheesecloth, and then finally sweetened. Oil in the form of either vegetable oil or lard is usually added to the relatively dry paste to improve its texture and mouth feel. Smooth bean paste is mainly found as fillings for Chinese pastries.

In Japanese cuisine, the most common types are:

Tsubuan (粒餡), whole red beans boiled with sugar but otherwise untreated
Tsubushian (潰し餡), where the beans are mashed after boiling
Koshian (漉し餡), which has been passed through a sieve to remove bean skins; the most common type
Sarashian (晒し餡), which has been dried and reconstituted with water

[edit] Etymology

Strictly speaking, the Japanese term an can refer to almost any edible mashed paste, although without qualifiers red beans are assumed. Common alternatives include shiroan (白餡), made from white kidney beans, and kurian (栗餡), made from chestnuts.

Similarly, the Chinese term dou sha (豆沙), which literally means "bean sand" due to its fine texture, applies to red bean paste when used without qualifiers.

[edit] Uses

[edit] Chinese

Red bean paste is used in many Chinese foods, such as:

Red bean soup (紅豆湯; pinyin: hóng dòu tāng): Red bean paste with more water added to form a thick soup. Often cooked and eaten with tangyuan and lotus seeds
Tangyuan (湯圓, pinyin: tāng yúan): Glutinous rice balls filled with sweet fillings such as red bean paste and boiled in plain or sweetened water
Zongzi（粽子; pinyin: zòng zì）: Glutinous rice and red bean paste wrapped with bamboo leaves and steamed.
Mooncakes （月餅; yùe bíng）: A baked pastry consisting of thin dough surrounding its filling. Quite similar to eating red bean paste straight.
Baozi (豆沙包; pinyin: dòu shā bāo): Steamed leavened bread filled with a variety of savory or sweet fillings.
Red bean cake (Chinese: 红豆糕; pinyin: hóng dòu gāo):
Red bean pancake:

[edit] Japanese

Red bean paste is used in many Japanese sweets, such as:

Anmitsu (an and jelly)
Anpan (an and bread)
Daifuku
Dango
Dorayaki (azuki bean pancake)
Manju
Oshiruko or Ozenzai (azuki bean soup)
Taiyaki
Uirō (a traditional Japanese steamed cake)
Yokan (red bean jelly)

[edit] Korean

Red bean paste is used in various Korean snack foods and desserts; including:

bungeoppang (붕어빵)
patbingsu (팥빙수)
patdanja (팥단자)
pattteok (팥떡)
patjuk (팥죽)

[edit] Trivia

The cartoon hero Anpanman is an anthropomorphic anpan bun filled with azuki bean paste.

Anko is also the first name of a character from the popular manga/anime Naruto. Anko and Mitarashi, her surname, are also ingredients in her favorite food, Dango.