Omogashi – Koshi-an

How to make Koshi-an
Preparation

• Rinse beans, rubbing them together.
• Let them soak overnight in water.

Cooking

Discard soaking water, wash the beans a few times.
Place the beans in a pan with plenty of cold water, start heating.
Once it boils, add some cold water to reduce temperature to 40 degrees C.
When the water starts to boil again, discard the water, and add new water.
Boil the beans again. Then reduce the temperature and simmer the beans at low temperature until they are soft.
Discard some of the water and crush the beans. Be sure to remove the skin from all the beans.
Sift the beans, using running water carefully to crush them through the sieve.
Use a fine sieve, and pass the paste through several times, discarding the water each time.
Pour the “an” into a cloth, and press excess liquid out.
Weigh the “an” and prepare an amount of sugar equal to half the weight of the “an”.
Put the “an” in a frying pan, add sugar in three even sized portion, letting the moisture evaporate each time you add sugar.
Keep simmering it while stirring it until the “an” becomes firm.
Use it the same day or the next. (It can be frozen for at least a few months).
Cooking
different explanation of the same procedure

Get beans, red or white. Asuki beans are best but they say lima beans will work nice to. Get the best quality you can find/afford.

Put the beans in a pot of water and rub them together between your hands, to wash them. Discard the water and refill. Let them soak over night.

Next day start by washing the beans several times by rubbing them between your hands. Replace the water between each time.

Refill water and heat untill it boils. When it boils add more cold water untill the temperatur is about 40 degrees celcius. Then heat again untill it comes to a boil. This time discard all the water and replace it with cold water. Again wait untill it starts boiling, then reduce the temperatur so that it can simmer. Let it simmer untill the beans are completely cooked.

But the beans in a sieve, and press om them with a spoon or potato mosher. The help the beans pass through you can pour some water over them. In the end you want all the skins to be left in the sieve and the stuff inside to have passed throug in to a pot. Discard the skinns. Let the other pot sit for a few minutes so the bean setles on the botom then pour of the extra water.

Get a finer sieve, and sift the beans 2 times. Also here you can add water to make it go though.

After you have sifted it get pour everything in to a sarashi (fine fabric that the water will pass through but not the beans) and wring out as much as posible water. Measure out so that you have about half as much sugar in weight as beans. Then put the beans in a pan and add half of the sugar. Heat and mix. When it starts becoming thick add the rest of the sugar and keep heating it. While heating it stir it around all the time so it does not scorch. When it becomes thick remove it from the heat.