Rice with Azuki Beans (Osekihan) is just a sticky rice cooked with azuki beans, but the colour of the rice is so attractive. Osekihan is often served on special occasions, particularly celebrations. It is also great for bento box.
Prep Time is the time to soak sticky rice in water. Cooking time assumes the time to cook rice in a rice cooker is 45 minutes, but this varies depending on the rice cooker.
- 540ml/15.2oz sticky rice (3 rice cooker cups, note 1)
- 60-80g/2.1-2.8oz dried azuki beans (note 2)
- 750ml/25.4oz water
- Gomashio (note 3)
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Wash rice and soak in water for at least 30 min. Drain using a sieve.
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Wash azuki beans and transfer to a saucepan with water (not in ingredients) just to cover the beans.
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Bring it to a boil, then drain the water.
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Add 750ml/25.4oz water to the pan with azuki beans and bring it to a boil over high heat.
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Reduce heat to medium and cook for about 15-20 minutes until the beans are cooked to al dente (the centre of the bean is a tiny bit hard). Remove scum (white bubbles) from time to time while cooking.
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Drain and keep the beans in a sieve and the red liquid in a bowl.
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Scoop the liquid in the bowl with a ladle and pour it back gently into the bowl 4-5 times, allowing the liquid to be exposed to air. This will brighten the red colour of the liquid. Use a fan to send more air to the liquid if you want.
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Mix rice and azuki beans in a rice cooker. Add the red liquid to the level required for sticky rice/sweet rice. Add water if not enough red liquid. Turn the switch on.
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When cooked, mix gently using a spatula. Serve with gomashio either sprinkled over the rice or in a separate container for individuals to sprinkle.
1. Rice cooker measuring cups are usually 180ml/6.1oz, from the old Japanese measuring units. If your rice cooker cup comes in a different volume, please use cups to measure rice and ignore 540ml/15.2oz. Otherwise, you will not be able to easily tell the amount of liquid you need to cook rice.
2. Azuki are tiny red beans with a colour similar to red kidney beans. A size of a bean is about 6mm/¼" long, 4mm/3/16" wide. They are usually sold as azuki beans or red azuki beans (see the photo in the post). In Australia, you can buy them from Japanese/Asian grocery stores. They are also available online from Amazon, eBay, etc.
3. Gomashio is a mixture of roasted black sesame seeds and salt. I used store-bought gomashio (see the photo in the post) but you can make gomashio at home.
Toast 1 tablespoon of black sesame seeds in a thick frying pan, turn the heat off, add salt and toast with residual heat.
4. To cook Osekihan using a pot:
Follow the instructions 1-7. Then, mix azuki and rice in a heavy-bottomed pot, add the red liquid 5mm/3/16" above the surface of the rice. Add water if the red liquid is not enough. Place the lid on and cook over high heat for 5-6 minutes until it starts boiling. Then reduce the heat to low for 12-13 minutes until the liquid evaporates. Turn the heat off and leave for 10 minutes.
5. Nutrition per serving. Assumed the amount of Azuki beans used is 70g/2.5oz. Garnish - Gomashio is not included.
serving: 213g calories: 283kcal fat: 0.4g (1%) saturated fat: 0.1g (1%) trans fat: 0g polyunsaturated fat: 0.1g monounsaturated fat: 0.1g cholesterol: 0mg (0%) sodium: 46mg (2%) potassium: 84mg (2%) carbohydrates: 63g (21%) dietary fibre: 0.5g (2%) sugar: 0.9g protein: 5.5g vitamin a: 0.3% vitamin c: 0% calcium: 0.8% iron: 4.2%