The Big Book Of Sempai / Senpai

Sweets and Treats #8 - Wagashi

Wagashi are sweet Japanese confections made from bean paste. Similar to marzipan, the paste can be sculpted into gorgeous little shapes inspired by the season. Making wagashi is not hard, but can be time consuming and requires a bit of practice to master the techniques. As you might expect from a traditional Japanese discipline, you can spend your whole life making wagashi and never reach perfection.

The final paste is called "Nerikiri" and is made by combining the sweet been paste called "Shiro-an" with rice paste called "Gyuhi."

Vibrantly colored wagashi make a beautiful display
Makes about 3 dozen small wagashi.

Special Equipment
Multi-colored food dye
Multi-colored food dye
Glutinous rice flour
Glutinous rice flour
Kitchen scale
Kitchen scale
Fine mesh sieve
Fine mesh sieve

Make the Shiro-An
Shiro-an is the base of the wagashi.

950 grams dried white beans like lima or navy beans
About 300 grams white sugar, or 1/2 the weight of the sieved bean paste

Soak the beans overnight, at least 12 hours

Add an excess amount of water and bring to a simmer

Simmer the beans for about 2 hours until they are soft enough to crush between your fingers

Drain the beans and blend them in a food processor

Press the beans through a large sieve then fine sieve to filter out skins and large pieces

Collect this paste

Remove excess water by squeezing through a cloth
Weigh the paste you have now and measure out sugar equal to 1/2 of the weight of the paste. Add the sugar and a couple of tablespoons of water in a large saucepan. Add half the bean paste and heat this mixture over medium heat. Add the rest of the bean paste.

Continue to heat the mixture to drive out moisture until it becomes a smooth and moldable paste
Spread this out into a pan and let it cool. This is your Shiro-an.

Make the Nerikiri
30 grams rice flour
45 grams water
15 grams sugar
600 grams of the shiro-an

Combine the water, sugar, and rice flour
Stir this in with 600 grams of the shiro-an and heat over medium heat. You should end up with a tacky dough that can be shaped with your fingers.

Let your nerikiri cool

Dye the nerikiri with the food dye
Shape your Wagashi

Tulip Wagashi
For this tulip-inspired wagashi, roll together an undyed white ball and a pink ball and flatten them into a disk. Press some white nerikiri around the edges. Wrap this all around a small white ball and fold the edges upward. Press some yellow nerikiri through a sieve and place it in the center using chopsticks.

Lotus Wagashi
For this lotus wagashi, roll some green dyed nerikiri into a ball. Pat it into black sesame seeds and press a hole into the center with your pinky. Press some pink nerikiri through a sieve and place it into the hole.

Cherry Blossom Wagashi
For this cherry blossom wagashi, roll pink nerikiri into a ball. Using a square chopstick, use the edge to create ridges along the side. Press some yellow nerikiri through a sieve and place it on top.