Mix half a cup of water and kuzu starch. Mix water and agar-agar in a saucepan. Mix until boiling. In a saucepan, combine 2/3 cup sugar and bean paste, reduce heat. Remove foam, stirring to cook for 5 minutes. Pour the dissolved starch into the pan. Keep on high heat for 5 minutes. Remove from the stove, dip the pan into ice water, stir, cool. Remove for 3 hours in the refrigerator. Frozen yokan cut into portions.
How to cook yokan
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 milliliters of water and kanten powder (agar-agar) in a saucepan, place over high heat and stir until boiling.
3. Put sugar and bean paste in a saucepan, mix, reduce heat.
4. Remove the resulting foam, cook over low heat for another 5 minutes, stirring with a spoon.
5. Gradually pour the contents of the pan into a cup with dissolved starch, mix.
6. Pour into a saucepan, place on a burner and hold over high heat for 5 minutes, while stirring all the time, touching the bottom of the pan.
7. Remove from the burner, lower the pan into ice water, stir the mixture, cool.
8. Pour into a cup, put in the refrigerator for 3 hours.
9. Cut frozen yokan into portions.
Tasty Facts
Yokan is a traditional Japanese sweet that looks like a jelly-like marshmallow. The preparation is based on a 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 flavor, which is why green tea powder is often added to it.
— Yokan is stuffed with chestnut, persimmon slices, sweet potato, adzuki beans, figs. There is a kind of yokan with salt. Honey is sometimes added instead of sugar.
– The yokan were invented by the Chinese around the 10th century. They did not know about agar-agar at that time and instead of gelatin they used an extract from sheep cartilage and veins. Buddhists brought the delicacy to Japan in the 12th century, they also replaced animal gelatin with vegetable gelatin (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 yokan.
— Agar-agar used to make yokan is a gelatinous product that is obtained at high temperature from red and brown algae. Vegetable substitute for gelatin, used in the food industry. In Japan, it is often sold 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). The price of agar-agar is from 190 rubles. per 40 grams (as of July 2019).
– Yokan calorie content – 161 kcal / 58 grams (1 serving), which is approximately equal to half a bar of chocolate. — The Japanese poet Kenkichi Kusomoto noted that the taste of a classic yokan should not be too sweet, the delicacy should have an attractive appearance and should be made by hand.