Anko (Red bean) Mochi あんこ餅

WHAT IS ANKO?

Anko is a sweet red bean paste made of adzuki beans.

These adzuki beans are boiled and then slightly mashed with added sugar.

Not only does anko taste amazing served over mochi, this sweet spread is most famously the delicious filling sandwiched between two airy pancakes in one of our favorite desserts of all time: Dorayaki.

YUM!

Now, you may have heard of these iconic red beans before.

You see, adzuki beans are the beans Japanese people traditionally use in celebratory dishes like Sekihan 赤飯 – which is prepared to accompany life’s milestones like birthdays, big promotions at work and the New Year.

Well, these iconic red mung beans are also the main flavor component in this anko mochi (あんこ餅) recipe. Yep – as the name sounds – it’s literally sweet anko served on top of chewy mochi.

And this vegan dessert is so simple to make that it may just become your new favorite easy homemade dessert!

MAKING MOCHI AT HOME

Mochi (もち) is a chewy, elastic Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice (aka: sweet rice or mochigome). And aside from being the world famous edible wrapper of delicious mochi ice cream, it’s also commonly used in dishes like kinako mochi and natto mochi.

Well, it must be said that, making mochi by hand is a fairly laborious (yet FUN) process of pounding and stretching the rice cakes to perfection.

Luckily, your Tiger Mochi Maker turns that process into the simple press of a button.

Now for a deep dive on all things mochi related, check out our post on how to make mochi. There you’ll find step by step instructions on how to turn sweet rice into these iconic rice cakes.

You’ll be eating yummy anko mochi in no time!

Itadakimasu!