あんぱん - Ann Pan

あんぱん (Ann Pan) is one of my ultimate soul foods... It's a bread with sweet azuki bean paste called あんこ (Annko) inside. Every now and then, I... or my body and soul craves these comfort foods from home...


So..., I made Ann Pan! This time I used Yoghurt and Kinako bread to make it even more Japanesey, and it worked great. ;)

As you see..., Lana loved it! She seems to be a fan of Annko too, she was picking the very last piece on her plate. ;D

Recipe for Yoghurt & Kinako bread and Annko.

The inside burst out but I actually like the way they look! 

Andy said it tasted like chocolate bread even though there is no chocolate in it... Maybe because I cooked the azuki beans with brown sugar and vanilla? It was very nice anyway. :)

Recipe for Yoghurt & Kinako bread and Annko.

抹茶あずきかき氷 (Macha Azuki shaved ice)

There are things that I love in the Japanese summer... a long nap during a boiling hot day, loud cicada's sound, fire works festival, and of course icy foods and drinks...

かき氷(Kakigori, shaved ice, similar to snow cone) is one of my must-have Japanese summer desserts. As you might have guessed from the name, it's a shaved ice dessert served usually with flavoured syrups such as strawberry, lemon, melon... But my favourite is "green tea with azuki (抹茶あずき, Macha Azuki)" and condensed milk poured on top... hoy yeh, lovely...

So... I made... yeah let's say... "an attempt" to make it at home although I don't have a machine to shave the ice finely...
My way was damn easy. I cooked azuki nice and sweet (see how to cook it here), dissolved macha powder in milk, mix it with the azuki, then put them in the freezer. I kept crushing the ice bits every couple of hours until it finally set... The final result was rather impressive!! Nice, icy and sort of airy home-made Kakigori was done!

Tasting time... tasting time... tastin... well.., as always... I ended up destroying it... I guess that tells you how good it was...
Green tea and azuki... taste of home and childhood... can't beat that!!

Sweet azuki beans

あんこ(Annko) is the sweet azuki bean paste in Japanese. I just love them. Azuki is widely used in Japanese cakes and desserts, including Mochi, Dango, ice cream, cakes, and there is even something like a sweet azuki bean soup called "Zenzai".

There are two ways to prepare the sweet azuki paste. One is called "Tsubu Ann". In this way, the azuki beans are mashed roughly so that you can still feel the texture of soft skin of beans. The other is called "Koshi Ann". In this way, the azuki beans are mashed and strained so that the texture is so smooth and you don't get any skins.

So, maybe I should stop my "Azuki lecture" here, and get back to where I'm coming from...

Yes, I cooked Azuki beans. You can see it... I know they don't look particularly pretty YET. But they will turn into a lovely cute Japanese sweets. I promise.... please come back tomorrow....

Oh, here is how to make Annko:
Ingredients

Dried azuki beans 250g

Sugar 150g

Salt pinch

1. Soak the beans overnight.

2. Put the beans in a large pot with enough water to cover the beans. Bring it to boil.

3. When the water is boiled, pour the water away and replace with fresh water. Bring it boil again.

4. Turn the heat down. Add sugar and salt. Simmer until the beans are soft.

5. Mash them in the way you like. 

あいすまんじゅう Ice Manju

We visited my sister's place tonight. I love their house because they've got lots of sweets, snacks, and icecreams! My sister used to be a icecream monster but she's not having any at the moment because of the little boy in her belly. So...,
Andy and I helped to consume some of them ;)
I got "Ice Manju", which is a vanilla icecream with red bean paste (Azuki) in it. Quite heavy, especially after dinner, but strangely it goes down well. This is what I call a real Japanese icecream!!