Blender

Easy Shiroan (Sweet Japanese White Bean Paste)

  • Dessert

Make your wagashi (traditional Japanese sweets) sing with our easy shiroan recipe. This smooth and sweet Japanese white bean paste even works as the filling for taiyaki and dorayaki!

  • Servings 0.5 lbs
  • Preparation
  • Cooking

Ingredients

  • 1/2-16 oz can of white beans with juice (solid amount 8.1 oz/liquid amount approx 8oz)
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • A pinch of salt
  • 1/5 cup water

Directions

  • Place white beans, can juice, sugar and salt into the blender container and firmly secure the lid.
  • Turn the dial to start the blender and set the speed to “2” or “3”. Blend for 2 minutes.
  • If you prefer smooth white bean paste, increase the mixing time.
  • Add the contents in a pot with and water, and simmer until it thickens to the consistency of miso.

Using red kidney beans will result in a red product.

SHIROAN: THE OTHER JAPANESE SWEET BEAN PASTE

Adzuki beans get all the love. That’s what’s typically used to make anko – the dark, sweetened bean paste used as filling in iconic Japanese desserts like taiyaki, dorayaki and mochi. But did you know there’s a version of that traditional Japanese bean paste made with white beans? It’s called shioran and it’s glorious! And making our version at home is as easy as it gets. There’s no need to soak dry beans from scratch. We use canned white beans instead for their silky texture – and because we almost always have a can handy in the pantry. With a little sugar and a pinch of salt, we’re good to go on this sweet wagashi filling. But shiroan bean paste is just as much about the texture as it is the flavor.

HOW TO GET THE PERFECT SHIROAN TEXTURE

Load the ingredients into the jar of your Tiger Edge blender and blend for 2 minutes with the speed dial set to around 2 or 3. After blending, the final step is to simmer the bean paste in a small pot on the stovetop with water until it thickens. The ideal texture for shiroan resembles miso paste – or a tin of cake frosting.

TIPS AND VARIATIONS

Make it smooth – or leave some texture. Most anko has a bit of texture left from partially hand mashed adzuki beans. And that works for white bean shiroan as well. But you can increase the blending time for a perfectly smooth bean paste with no lumps if that’s your thing. 

Play with the spice rack. The traditional Japanese version only calls for sugar and a pinch of salt. But shiroan is delicious with a pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg thrown in too. 

Goes great on toast. We love shiroan in dorayaki. But we also use it as a sweet spread for buttered toast in the morning. Yum!

Products used in this recipe

SLB-A10U

Buy now This Angle is the Tiger Edge Your browser does not support the video tag. Your browser does not suppor […]

LEARN MORE

Blender

LEARN MORE