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Attempts
2025-05-31
Tried again one day later.
- Boiled for about 3 hours this time in water. Same temp as below (1.5-2), partially covered.
- Followed by about 50min simmering in sugar syrup. (Didn’t mean to go that long, but accidentally left it on the burner). Net effect was perfect.
- Ended up letting them soak for the rest of the day in the sugar syrup too. I don’t think this changed things much, but it was nice.
- 100g dry beans was just enough for one normal nagashikan and one smaller nagashikan.
2025-05-30
- I don’t know where the hell I got 3-4 intensity from. Using the lower-right burner on our Westcliff stove (our strongest burner), I kept it literally on low. Occasionally bumped it to +0.5, not even to 2.
- Soaking overnight, the beans approximately double in size. Keep that in mind when deciding the overnight soaking container.
- I did 300g dry beans, and that barely fit in our 2qt saucier.
- When adding the sugar water, I ended up using 400g sugar + 400g water.
- No idea how I got that timing info. This is how I did it this time.
- Soak overnight
- 1 hour gentle simmer (start on high to bring to a boil, then reduce to low once it’s at a boil). Lid covering, gently ajar.
- Drain. (Skipped the rinse)
- Bring sugar water to a boil, then add the beans.
- Here, I simmered the sugar water for two and a half hours. I have no idea how I only got 20 minutes last time.
- Gentle simmer. Because of the sugar thermal mass, I kept it between 2-3 intensity the whole time, lid covered and ajar. No paper covering the beans or anything.
- When the water level got low, I’d add pre-boiled water to replenish.
Remember that the beans are the only textural element in Minazuki. I finished when they were still al dente, then let them cool on their own in the sugar syrup.Incidentally, the al dente point was also about the same point that some of the beans started splitting.- This was WRONG. It was too al dente. Get the beans to where you actually want them, not undercooked.
- I did not cook it long enough! 2.5 hrs in sugar syrup was not enough!
- Later recooked it after already refrigerating for another hour. That worked pretty well actually.
Recipe
200g dry azuki beans makes about enough for… three batches of Minazuki comfortably.
- Soak the beans overnight.
- Change the water, then bring to a very gentle simmer for about an hour.
- Most important thing: do not stir the beans. At all. Stirring the beans will cause the skin to break, which causes them to get waterlogged and mushy. (I had a problem before where the ones that didn’t break were nice and al dente, and the ones that did were like mush).
- Don’t overboil. If the beans are dancing around in the pot too much, that’s also bad. The water should be just simmering.
- I did this all somewhere between 3-4 intensity on our Westcliff stove, quick boil burner, covered.
- Stop cooking while they’re still harder than you want. They will cook quite a bit more in the sugar syrup.
- The texture of the beans when you take them out of the initial boil should be “I guess I could serve these to guests, but a minute less and they would be too undercooked.”
- Gently rinse out the beans.
- Bring equal parts sugar and water to a boil BEFORE adding the beans.
- Add the beans, then reduce to a low simmer. Simmer as long as necessary, minimum ~20 minutes.
- Keep track of the bean texture. This is your opportunity to cook them down more. Stop simmering when they are your desired texture.
- I did mine for ~30m, then turned off the heat and let them soak in the sugar syrup for another hour or so.
- When done, drain out the liquid and store in a container in the fridge.
Other notes:
- Soaking the beans is definitely preferred, but not strictly necessary. Just going straight into a boil is fine.
- I rinsed out the beans before I cooked them in sugar. Just kept them all in a pot, and ran water into the pot until the water ran clear (to minimize agitation, vs running through a strainer). Seemed nice.