How to cook yokan
Products
Sugar - 2/3 cup
Water - 500 milliliters
Red bean paste - 200 grams
Kuzu starch - 3 teaspoons
Kanten powder (agar-agar) - 4 grams
How to cook yokan
1. Mix 100 ml of water and kuzu starch in a bowl.
2. Mix 400 ml of water and canten powder (agar-agar) in a saucepan, place over high heat and stir until boiling.
3. Put sugar and bean paste in a saucepan, stir, reduce heat.
4. Remove the resulting foam, cook on low heat for another 5 minutes, stirring with a spoon.
5. Gradually pour the contents of the saucepan into a cup with dissolved starch, mix.
6. Pour into a saucepan, place on the burner and keep on high heat for 5 minutes, stirring all the time, touching the bottom of the pan.
7. Remove from the burner, immerse the pan in ice water, stir the mixture and cool.
8. Pour into a cup, refrigerate for 3 hours.
9. Cut the frozen yokan into portions.
Fusofacts
- Yokan is a traditional Japanese candy similar to a jelly-like marshmallow. The preparation is based on the natural jelly-forming product agar-agar and a paste or powder from red (sometimes white) beans.- White bean yokan has a milky translucent color and mild aroma, which is why green tea powder is often added to it.
- For the filling of the yokan, use chestnuts, persimmon slices, sweet potatoes, adzuki beans, and figs. There is a kind of yokan with salt. Sometimes honey is added instead of sugar.
“The yokan was invented by the Chinese around the 10th century. At that time they did not know about agar-agar and instead of gelatin they used an extract from sheep cartilage and veins. The Buddhists brought the delicacy to Japan in the XII century, they also replaced animal gelatin with vegetable (from adzuki beans and flour), since their philosophy did not allow killing living beings. Agar-agar appeared only in the 19th century and became an invariable component of the yokan.
- The agar used to make yokan is a gelatinous product that is obtained at high temperatures from red and brown algae. Vegetable substitute for gelatin, used in the food industry. In Japan, it is often produced under the name kanten powder. Agar agar is divided into two grades: the highest (white or light yellow) and the first (yellow and dark yellow). Agar-agar price - from 190 rubles. for 40 grams (as of July 2019).
- The calorie content of a yokan is 161 kcal / 58 grams (1 serving), which is about half a bar of chocolate. - Japanese poet Kenkichi Kusomoto pointed out that the taste of a classical yokan shouldn't be too sweet, the treat must have an attractive appearance and must be made by hand.
- The cost of food for making a yokan is 200 rubles (the average cost in Moscow for July 2019).