Zenzai - Dango in Azuki

"Zenzai is the name for mochi dumplings, also known as "dango" made in a soup of sweet red beans (azuki). It is an ancient Japanese recipe believed to dispel illness. I happened to eat it in a Bento box at Mitsuwa Marketplace and fell in love! Get the ingredients at a Japanese grocer; Mochiko is sweet rice flour, azuki are dried red beans. Tell your kids it's eyeball soup for a hoot :)"
 
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photo by Food.com photo by Food.com
photo by Food.com
photo by Gillian Spence photo by Gillian Spence
Ready In:
2hrs 30mins
Ingredients:
4
Serves:
4
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ingredients

  • 1 cup azuki beans
  • 1 14 cups sugar
  • 12 teaspoon salt
  • 0.5 (16 ounce) box mochiko sweet rice flour
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directions

  • Pick over and wash the azuki, then put them in a pan with 6 cups of water. Bring to boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 2 hours until the beans are soft.
  • Add more water to the pan to make the liquid up to 5 cups (some of the water will have evaporated during cooking). Add the sugar and salt and cook for 15 minutes , stirring occasionally.
  • Meanwhile, make the dumplings : Mix the mochiko with enough water to make a stiff dough. Knead well, then pinch off tiny portions to form small balls, about the size of marbles. Make a small indentation in the side of each dumpling.
  • Bring the azuki soup back to the boil, then drop the dumplings into the soup. Cook until the dumplings rise to the surface. Divide between warmed individual bowls. Serve hot.

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Reviews

  1. Pure Japanese comfort food! This is a treat my Mom often made when I was growning up. The only thing I did different from the recipe is how I cooked my beans. I cooked them in my crockpot since I could basically start it and forget them for 4 hours on low. (2 cups of beans to 6 cups of water works great!) And I added all purpose flour to the mochi flour to make it a little easier to make into dumplings. Great recipe Gillian! I will certainly use this often! Made for 2009 Spring PAC
     
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

I live in Long Beach, CA with my husband James, and our three dog babies. I love to cook, I started using the "Joy of Cooking" when I was 11 and still have it (though it's rather tattered!) to this day.
 
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