This delicious white bean paste, also called shiroan, is traditionally used for traditional Japanese pastries called wagashi. It can also be used as a filling for dorayaki for example. Just like Anko, the red azuki bean paste, it tastes better when homemade!
It is also used in our Japanese pastry recipe “matcha yokan”.
Recipe Shiroan, sweet white bean paste
Equipment
- 1 Blender
Ingredients
- 200 g of white beans
- 200 g of white sugar
Instructions
- Soak the beans in water overnight (8 hours or more).Then remove the skin from the beans. *This step is not mandatory, but the final result is much more qualitative, the texture is much smoother and pleasant in the mouth.
- Cook the beans in water in a large pot over high heat. Boil for a few minutes, then drain.In a clean pot, cook the beans for 2 hours in a large volume of water, making sure that the water does not go below the top of the beans and that they remain submerged. You can also cook them in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes. Make sure the beans are soft.
- Remove beans from water with a skimmer and save water. Process the beans in a food processor with 1/4 cup of the retained water (add a little water if it is still too thick).
- Return the bean mixture to a large non-stick or well-oiled skillet, add the sugar and cook over low heat until thickened while stirring.
- Cook for about 5 minutes for a creamy shiroan, and about 10 minutes for a thicker shiroan that can be worked into balls, for example.
Shiroan is a sweet white bean paste, and it is an essential ingredient in traditional Japanese sweets, just like the sweet red bean paste anko. It is used in many forms of desserts in Japan, from fresh mochi desserts like fruit daifuku to baked manju, so it is a recipe to know if you like to make Japanese pastries.
Unlike anko, shiroan is much harder to find outside of Japan, even in Japanese supermarkets. Our shiroan recipe, while time consuming, is simple enough to make at home with easy to find steps and ingredients. That said, this version of shiroan is very simplified. Many Japanese confectioners have dedicated their lives to perfecting this recipe.
