Sekihan (赤飯, celebratory red bean rice)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Seiro (bamboo steamer), or a metal steamer basket set over a wide pot
• •Sarashi cloth or a clean thin cotton kitchen towel
• •Fine-mesh sieve or colander
• •Rice paddle
• •Suribachi (ridged mortar), or a small mortar for gomashio

Instructions

1. 1

   Wash the rice

   Rinse the mochigome in a bowl, changing the water several times, until the water is almost clear rather than milky. Cover with fresh water and soak at least 6 hours, or overnight. Mochigome has a firm, opaque center, and the long soak gives water time to reach it; without that, the outside softens before the middle is cooked. Drain in a colander for 30 minutes before steaming so the grains carry moisture inside, not water clinging outside.

2. 2

   Blanch the beans

   Rinse the azuki or sasage, put them in a small pot, and cover with plenty of water. Bring to a boil for 2 minutes, then drain and discard that first water. This quick blanch carries away harshness and gray foam, so the later bean liquor tastes clean and colors the rice clearly.

   Azuki split more easily than sasage. Keep the heat gentle from here on, because broken beans muddy the rice and make a celebratory dish look tired.
3. 3

   Simmer for color

   Return the beans to the pot with 4 cups fresh water. Simmer gently, uncovered, until the beans are still firm but no longer chalky inside, about 15 to 20 minutes for azuki and a little longer for sasage. Bite one. It should resist slightly, because it will cook again with the rice. Drain through a sieve set over a bowl, keeping the red cooking liquor and the beans separate.

4. 4

   Cool the liquor

   Pour the hot bean liquor from one bowl to another four or five times, lifting it a little as you pour. This cools it quickly and helps the red color show more clearly. A little ceremony, yes, but a useful one. Measure 2 cups of the liquor; if you are short, add water to make up the amount.

5. 5

   Tint the rice

   Put the drained mochigome in a bowl and cover it with 1 1/2 cups of the cooled bean liquor. Let it stand 30 to 45 minutes, then drain again, saving that liquor. This short second soak gives the rice its rosy color before it reaches the steamer. If the liquor is hot, it starts cooking the surface unevenly, so let it cool first.

6. 6

   Ready the steamer

   Line a seiro (bamboo steamer) or metal steamer with a damp sarashi cloth or thin cotton towel. Mix the tinted rice gently with the cooked beans and spread it in the cloth in a shallow layer, with the center slightly lower than the edges. The shallow layer lets heat reach the rice evenly; a thick heap gives you soft grains outside and hard ones inside.

7. 7

   Steam and moisten

   Bring the water under the steamer to a strong, steady simmer and steam the rice, covered, for 20 minutes. Mix the remaining bean liquor with the fine sea salt. Open the steamer, sprinkle about 1/2 cup of this salted liquor over the rice, and turn the rice gently with a rice paddle. Cover and steam 10 minutes more, then repeat with another small sprinkle if the grains still feel firm. The sprinkling liquid, called uchimizu, seasons the rice and finishes the cooking without flooding it.

8. 8

   Check the grains

   After 40 to 45 minutes total steaming, taste a few grains from the center and the edge. They should be tender, glossy, and chewy, with no hard core. If the rice is still tight in the middle, sprinkle a little more bean liquor or hot water over it and steam 5 to 10 minutes longer. Mochigome forgives patience better than haste.

9. 9

   Make gomashio

   Toast the black sesame seeds in a dry pan just until fragrant, then mix with the flaky sea salt. Crush a few seeds between your fingers or in a suribachi (ridged mortar), but leave most whole. Breaking a few releases aroma; leaving most whole keeps the clean black specks that make sekihan look like itself.

10. 10

    Rest and serve

    Lift the steamer off the heat and let the rice rest, still covered, for 10 minutes. The rest lets the moisture settle so the grains cling without turning heavy. Mound the sekihan lightly in small bowls or on a tray, sprinkle with gomashio, and serve warm or at room temperature.

Chef Tips

• •Buy mochigome with pearly, opaque grains and a fresh, faintly sweet smell. Old sticky rice can cook up dull and dry, and no amount of bean liquor will make it generous.
• •Kansai commonly uses azuki; Kantō often uses sasage because the beans keep their skins better. Both are honmono when used in their own way. What matters is not letting the beans burst into a paste.
• •The bean liquor is the color. Don't add food coloring. If the rice looks pale, give it a longer soak in the cooled liquor, and use that same liquor for uchimizu during steaming.
• •A seiro is beautiful, but a metal steamer works if it holds a steady covered heat. Line it with cloth so the rice doesn't fall through and so you can lift the whole mound cleanly.
• •Serve sekihan in modest portions. It is chewy, rich rice, not a mountain to conquer. A small mound with black sesame salt and a little empty space looks more generous than a bowl packed to the rim.

Advance Preparation

• •The beans and their liquor can be prepared one day ahead. Keep them separate and refrigerated, then bring the liquor back to room temperature before soaking the rice in it.
• •The rice should soak overnight if your schedule allows. Drain it only when you are ready to proceed; leaving soaked rice drained for hours dries the surface.
• •Sekihan is best the day it is steamed. For leftovers, cool promptly, portion, and freeze. Refrigeration turns mochigome hard; reheat frozen portions by steaming or by covering with a damp cloth and warming gently.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 190g)