Patjuk (Red Bean Porridge)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 4-quart pot
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Wooden spoon
• •Mixing bowl for rice balls

Instructions

1. 1

   Rinse and soak

   Rinse the red beans until the water runs mostly clear. Put them in a bowl, cover with plenty of cold water, and soak 2 hours if you have time. This short soak is not ceremony; it helps the beans cook evenly and keeps the porridge from taking half the night.

2. 2

   Boil off harshness

   Drain the beans and put them in a heavy pot with 4 cups fresh water. Bring to a boil and cook hard for 5 minutes, then drain and discard that first water. Red beans carry a bitter edge in the first boil. Throwing it out gives you a cleaner patjuk without needing more sugar later.

3. 3

   Simmer the beans

   Return the drained beans to the pot with 6 cups fresh water. Bring to a boil, lower to a steady simmer, and cook 60 to 75 minutes, stirring now and then, until a bean crushes easily between your fingers. Add 1/2 cup water if the pot gets too thick before the beans soften.

   Do not salt the beans yet. Salt early can tighten the skins, and the skins are exactly what you are trying to persuade loose.
4. 4

   Make saealsim

   While the beans cook, stir the glutinous rice flour with 1/4 teaspoon fine salt. Add the boiling water a little at a time, mixing with chopsticks first, then kneading by hand when it is cool enough to touch. You may not need every drop. The dough should feel smooth and soft, like an earlobe, not sticky. Roll into small balls, about 8 grams each, roughly 40 balls.

5. 5

   Sieve the beans

   Set a fine sieve over a large bowl. Ladle in the cooked beans and liquid, pressing firmly with a wooden spoon until the smooth bean paste passes through and most skins stay behind. Rinse the pot, then return the sieved bean liquid to it. This is the work of the dish. Skip it and the porridge loses its soft, settled body.

6. 6

   Cook the rice

   Drain the soaked rice and stir it into the sieved bean liquid. Simmer over medium-low heat for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring often along the bottom so it does not catch, until the grains bloom and the porridge thickens. If it becomes thicker than heavy cream before the rice is tender, add hot water 1/2 cup at a time.

7. 7

   Add rice balls

   Drop in the saealsim one by one, stirring gently so they do not stick together. Simmer 6 to 8 minutes, until the rice balls float and the centers are cooked through. Keep the heat modest. A hard boil knocks the rice balls ragged and makes the bottom scorch.

8. 8

   Season and serve

   Stir in 1 teaspoon fine sea salt, then taste. Add another pinch only if the beans still taste flat. Ladle into bowls and serve sugar on the side, 1 to 2 teaspoons per bowl for those who want it. The first seasoning is salt because patjuk should taste of red beans before it tastes of sweetness.

Chef Tips

• •Buy whole dried red beans that are even in size and color. Old beans wrinkle, split, and take too long to soften. A good bean cooks down willingly.
• •A blender can help, but it does not replace the sieve. Blend the cooked beans briefly if your hands are tired, then still press them through a sieve to remove skins.
• •If you want a sweeter danpatjuk style, add 3 tablespoons sugar to the pot after the salt dissolves. For Dongji patjuk, I keep the pot savory and let each person sweeten the bowl.

Advance Preparation

• •The red beans can be boiled, simmered, and sieved 1 day ahead. Refrigerate the bean liquid and bring it back to a simmer before adding the soaked rice.
• •Saealsim can be shaped up to 1 day ahead. Dust lightly with glutinous rice flour, cover, and refrigerate, then drop them straight into the simmering porridge.
• •Patjuk thickens as it sits. Reheat gently with hot water, 2 tablespoons at a time, stirring from the bottom until it returns to a spoon-coating porridge.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 470g)