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cheated at cooking!

I love sekihan, the sticky rice with red beans. I wanted some so I decided to cook it last night. Well wouldn't ya know it, I was out of the red adsuki beans. I thought well I do have red beans, but they are big, red, kidney beans in a can. I thought why not give them a try. The rice wasn't so pink, but the overall taste was really good. I think the traditional beans are a bit drier and firmer than the canned kidney beans. My husband liked it so that was a plus. I think I might use the canned beans more often! I might just try other varieties of beans as well. Really, why not, there are no rules in cooking. I love navy beans, and lima beans, and heck who doesn't like rice! Now, what to cook for dinner tonight. Hmmmm.....

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Hi Goldiegirl!

I just discovered this blog post today... I've had a bad cold for weeks and hadn't been checking the forum as often as I should... 😌

Well, yes, the Japanese actually cook various types of beans with rice, not only for special occasions. You just don't find them in recipe books, I guess. So, using kidney beans or any other variety should be good and delicous! :cool:

Regarding sekihan, the red beans used for the recipe is not "adzuki" but "sasage" (cowpeas in English). They look exactly alike, but "sasage" is firmer than adzuki and maintains its shape even when cooked, while adzuki becomes very soft and crushes easily. (The outcome is not all that pretty with adzuki, unless you're very careful when mixing.) 😊

An interesting observation from my travels in the Philippines and Micronesia (Guam, Saipan, Ponape, etc.) is that the people there also cook red-colored rice for festive special occasions, although the red color is not created with adzuki but with local food ingredients (I can't recall what it was but am sure it was natural plant coloring). I have a feeling that it is an old tradition that is shared by maritime and coastal Asian cultures.
 
Sorry to hear about your cold. They are certainly bad this year. I can't seem to get rid of mine completely.

I love beans and rice. Yeah, there sure was a lot of rice dishes in Guam. Actually now that I am looking for those types of dishes, I am finding lots of them, like red beans and rice from Louisiana. I don't put the sausage in, but wow the flavor is great.

Thanks for the right type of red bean for the sekihan. My husband wasn't sure so he bought adzuki beans for me because they said they were Japanese. He's so sweet, he tried! I actually could never get the adzuki beans right, if I cooked them till they were soft they did fall apart. Now I know why. The kidney beans really worked well. Katsumi ate all the leftovers, so that is a sure sign it was good.

Have you ever made a rice dish with a "white colored bean", like navy, or great northern beans? I was thinking of way to flavor it....

:)
 
I think all beans are great when cooked with rice, so any white-colored bean should be delicious. However, the Japanese have this thing about color balance on the table, so you'll need a dash of green in it. Maybe boil some string beans so they're deep green, chop them up and sprinkle over the rice when serving? Or sprinkle chopped green onions--something like that.

Since spring is coming, I think that cooking rice with fresh green peas would make your husband happy. It's a spring staple in nearly every home (where the homemaker really cooks instead of buying prepared foods from the supermarket 😊 )

The key to good "green-peas gohan" is preparing good "dashi" (Japanese stock).
It will be great if you can prepare "ichiban-dashi" or "niban-dashi" as explained here.
http://www.bob-an.com/recipe/dailyjc/hints/dashi/dashi.html
As long as you have good, full-bodied dashi, preparing it should be easy, though you may have problems keeping the cooked green peas looking bright green and wrinkle-free when served:
Green Pea Gohan recipe
 
mmmm...the green pea gohan sounds wonderful. Thank-you so much. Actually all your ideas sound great. I am trying to make more Japanese food. The balance of colors is something for me to keep in mind. I can see how dull white rice would look with a white bean. I like the idea of chopped green onions. Oh, I found a dashi recipe that is vegetarian, I don't appreciate the flavor of seafood. I am going to make it and see how it turns out. I can't wait to start cooking! Again thanks for sharing your recipes and ideas! I need all the help I can get!:bow::flower:
 

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