What are some of the celebratory dishes in your culture? In Japan, we have quite a number of foods that we eat on special occasions. One of them is Sekihan (赤飯) or Japanese Red Bean Rice. To usher in birthdays, graduations, weddings, or Japanese New Year, let’s learn how to make this beautiful bean and rice dish today.
What is Sekihan?
Sekihan (赤飯) translates to “red rice” in Japanese as the glutinous rice is tinted with an attractive shade of red hue from cooking with Azuki beans. The red color of the rice symbolizes happiness and prosperity. It’s a traditional dish served on many happy and celebratory occasions, such as New Year, the birth of baby, birthdays, festivals, and weddings. Traditionally Sekihan is made of 100% glutinous rice (you might also call it sweet rice or mochigome). It is very filling and can be heavy on the stomach, so we don’t eat it regularly. There are also regional varieties of the Sekihan. Some versions use a pinch of sugar instead of salt to give a sweet flavor, and some use other kinds of beans such as amanatto (sweetened bean confectionery, 甘納豆) or sasage (black cowpea beans, ササゲ) instead of Azuki beans. The unique thing about Sekihan is that we sometimes serve it at room temperature. The regular steamed rice is never served at room temperature unless it’s in a form of rice balls (Onigiri) or in a lunch box (Both dishes are served at room temperature).
Azuki Red Beans in Japanese Cuisine
In Japanese cooking, Azuki beans (or Adzuki beans) are almost exclusively used in making Japanese sweets or pastries. The beans are boiled, mashed, sweetened, and then used as fillings in Daifuku Mochi, Manju, Dorayaki, Red Bean Ice Cream, Anpan, and so on. For this instance, however, Azuki beans make a rare appearance in a non-sweet dish that is rather unique to Japanese cuisine. It replicates the ancient red rice in Japan and brings many great meanings to the culture.
How to Make Sekihan (Red Bean Rice)
Ingredients You’ll Need
Glutinous rice (sweet rice, mochigome, もち米)Azuki beans (sasage ササゲ)SaltBlack sesame seeds (If your sesame seeds are not toasted, you can toast them in a non-greased frying pan until popping)
Overview: Cooking Process
Boil azuki beans twice. Discard the 1st cooking liquid to remove astringency, but reserve the 2nd cooking liquid.Cool the beans and reserved bean-cooking liquid until room temp.Combine rinsed rice, salt, and bean-cooking liquid and top it with cooked azuki beans.Cook until tender, < 60 mins in a rice cooker (including steaming), OR 12-14 minutes on the stovetop and 20-minute steaming off the stove. My recipe below shows both stovetop and rice cooker methods.Sprinkle Sekihan with Gomashio (ごま塩), a mixture of toasted black sesame and salt. But the rice has such a toothsome texture and wonderful fragrance from the red beans that it is so delicious on its own.
Tips on Cooking Sekihan
Prepping Ingredients
Use Japanese short-grain glutinous rice – It is not the same as Thai or Chinese long-grain glutinous rice. The color of glutinous rice is white as opposed to the semi-transparent color of the regular Japanese short-grain rice. Look for the rice packages indicating mochigome (もち米) in Japanese/Korean grocery stores. You can read more about it on our pantry page.Gently rinse the glutinous rice – Unlike regular white rice, glutinous rice is fragile and easy to break so don’t use a fine-mesh sieve/strainer to wash the rice. No need to soak glutinous rice – Glutinous rice absorbs water well, so you do not need to soak it unless you are going to steam the glutinous rice (not my recipe).
Cooking Azuki Beans
Use a pot with a tight-fitting lid – The goal is to preserve enough azuki-cooking liquid that we will use to cook the rice. Use a tight-fitting lid to limit the evaporation (Side note: Staub has a tighter fitting lid than Le Creuset!). Discard the first azuki-cooking liquid – Azuki beans release some astringency, so the first cooking water should be discarded. Cool beans and azuki-cooking liquid to room temp – Make sure you plan well so you have enough time for the beans and cooking liquid to cool completely. NEVER cook the glutinous rice with hot/warm cooking liquid. Keep the beans in the azuki-cooking liquid as hot liquid will continue to cook the beans. Separate the beans and liquid after cooling down. This will also prevent beans from getting wrinkled.
Cooking Sekihan
1:1 volume ratio for water to rice (NOT weight) – For 1 part glutinous rice, 1 part azuki-cooking liquid. To cook 3 rice cooker cups of glutinous rice, you will need 3 rice cooker cups liquid, which is 540 ml (180 ml x 3). I use a $12 kitchen scale for precise measurement (540 g).Use gentle heat to cook – Use medium to medium-high heat to boil, but once boiling, the heat should be a gentle simmer to avoid burning the rice.Let steam for 20 minutes – This is not an optional, it’s a mandatory cooking step. The rice cooker’s “cooking time” includes this 20-minute steaming time in the program.
1. Do we need to use Japanese glutinous rice (sweet rice)?
Yes! It’s important to use the Japanese short-grain glutinous rice (sweet rice) for this recipe. It is not the same as Thai or Chinese long-grain glutinous rice. The color of glutinous rice is white as opposed to the semi-transparent color of the regular Japanese short-grain rice. Look for it in Japanese/Korean grocery stores. On the rice packages, the labels should indicate mochigome or もち米. You can read more about it on our pantry page. When you rinse the rice, you have to be gentle as glutinous rice is easy to break.
2. Do we soak glutinous rice (sweet rice)?
When we cook standard Japanese short-grain rice, it is very important to soak the rice before cooking so the rice absorbs some water and becomes tender when cooked. However, when cooking glutinous rice (sweet rice), we do not need to soak it in water if it’s cooked in a rice cooker, pressure cooker, or a pot over the stovetop. In another word, you have to soak the glutinous rice if you’re going to steam it. Because glutinous rice is easy to absorb water, soaking is not necessary. If you soak the glutinous rice, and then cook it (in the water) in the rice cooker/pressure cooker/pot, it ends up soggy and mushy. When you steam glutinous rice, it’s best to soak at least 2 hours, or ideally overnight.
3. Do we soak azuki beans?
Soaking the dried azuki beans overnight or as long as 16 hours will help to reduce the cooking time. As azuki beans have a hard shell, soaking for a few hours or even overnight is not long enough to make a difference. These days many azuki bean packages recommend cooking beans straight from the package without soaking. However, there are other benefits of soaking beans. For example, the water helps absorb some of the complex sugars in the beans that cause gas.
4. Why don’t you use a steam method?
Traditionally, sekihan and okowa (glutinous rice dishes) are made in a steamer and I believe the texture of the rice made in the steamer is the absolute best. Not mushy or soggy, just perfectly cooked rice. However, most Japanese households prepare sekihan using a rice cooker as it is convenient and fast, and offers a consistent result. The steaming method is a bit fussy with a few extra steps and it’s not as easy as other cooking methods. When I prepare sekihan for my family, I’ve only used my rice cooker, pressure cooker, and a pot over the stovetop, and I’ve never used a steamer. Therefore, from my own experience, I’ve decided to share my sekihan recipe using tools most people have.
5. Why some recipes also add regular white rice?
You may have encountered recipes that use a mixture of glutinous rice and standard Japanese short-grain rice. Although sekihan is traditionally made with 100% glutinous rice, some people add a small portion of regular rice to reduce stickier/mushy texture when cooking in a rice cooker or on the stovetop (less problem with a steamer). Also, when sekihan is cooked with glutinous rice, the rice gets harder as it cools. Adding a small amount of regular white rice is supposed to ease that issue. I like Sekihan with 100% glutinous rice but if you want to try combining glutinous rice and regular rice, I recommend the ratio of 2 ½ rice cooker cup of glutinous rice and ½ cup regular short-grain rice.
Let’s Celebrate with Sekihan
We have a saying ‘Let’s have sekihan‘ which means ‘Let’s celebrate!’ I hope you get a chance to make this tasty auspicious dish on your next special day.
Other Delicious Rice Recipes
Kuri Gohan (Chestnut Rice)Matsutake Gohan (Wild Pine Mushroom Rice)Takenoko Gohan (Bamboo Rice)Mame Gohan (Green Pea Rice)Sansai Gohan (Mountain Vegetable Rice)
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