One holiday down, one to go. More cooking on the horizon before we make those typical January promises to be good, eat less, yada yada.
New Year’s celebrations do require certain culinary exercises, be they as simple as putting out finger food on the eve or as elaborate as the full-on Japanese spread.
If you’re trying to hold to tradition but are a little burned out by your just-completed Christmas obligations, Jane Wakukawa offers a suggestion for simplifying.
She makes zenzai, a traditional Japanese dessert of azuki, or red beans, in the slow-cooker. "Most of the zenzai recipes I’ve seen are made over the stove," she wrote. "Being a lazy person, I decided to try it in a Crock-Pot."
She makes the soupy dessert for potlucks, and so her recipe feeds a crowd. It calls for cooking the beans overnight, then adding sugar and cooking another hour. Mochi balls are made on the stove top, then stirred in. (If you want to simplify even more, buy mochi, cut it into squares and add it to the beans.)
For those who would like to make less, allow me to sing the praises of the miniature slow-cooker. These 1.5- to 2-quart babies provide the advantages of slow-cooking without the bulk. One of the reasons many people don’t use their big Crock-Pots often is they just don’t need that much food all at once, or they’re afraid to commit so much ingredient poundage to a recipe that might not turn out.
I picked up a 2-quart slow-cooker at Walmart for $11 so that I could experiment without having to make 12 servings at a time. I use it most, though, to make soup stock. Did you just roast a chicken? The bones will fit perfectly into a minicrock. Add water to barely cover and let simmer all night. If you don’t need it right away, freeze it.
The minicrock is also great for desserts. Cut Wakukawa’s recipe in half and it’s a perfect fit.
SLOW-COOKER ZENZAI
2 cups (1 16-ounce package) dry azuki beans, available in the Asian aisle of most supermarkets
8 cups water
2 cups sugar (see notes)
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
» Mochi balls:
1 cup mochiko (rice flour)
4 teaspoons sugar
Pinch salt
1/2 cup cold water, as needed
Rinse beans, then place in 4- to 6-quart slow cooker. Add water. Cook on low 8 hours or overnight, until tender.
Spoon out excess liquid, based on how soupy you like your beans. Add sugar and salt; cook on low another hour.
To make mochi balls: Bring a small pot of water to boil. Combine mochiko, sugar and salt. Add cold water a little at a time, just to moisten dough. Form into little balls and drop into boiling water; they will rise to the surface when cooked. Add mochi balls to azuki mixture. Serves 12.
Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving: 300 calories, no fat or cholesterol, 300 mg sodium, 69 g carbohydrate, 5 g fiber, 35 g sugar, 9 g protein
Notes: This recipe makes a very sweet zenzai. For a less sweet dessert, start with 1 cup sugar and taste after a half-hour. Add more sugar if desired. To make a smaller portion of zenzai using a 2-quart slow-cooker, divide recipe in half.
Last call for top 5 recipes
The 2012 offer of the top "By Request" recipes of the year has raised an astounding amount of money for the Star-Advertiser’s Good Neighbor Fund. By astounding I mean $10,000-plus, more than double what this little endeavor has ever raised before. And we’re not done yet.
Many donors sent in much more than the $5 fee for the recipes, giving as much as $200 toward the fund, which in turn supports Helping Hands Hawaii in its efforts to help local families in need.
Thanks to everyone for your interest in the recipes but especially for your generosity.
The recipes may be ordered through New Year’s Eve, Monday. Send $5 per set of recipes to "By Request," Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, Honolulu, HI 96813. Make checks payable to the Good Neighbor Fund.
Enclose one self-addressed, stamped envelope (legal size) for each set of recipes ordered (if you want five sets, send five stamped envelopes). No email, fax or phone orders. If you would like to donate more to the fund, we will pass it on.
Your $5 buys you these five recipes: Kailua High School Shortbread Cookies, Da Kitchen Garlic Chicken, Punahou School Beef Stew, Lilikoi Pound Cake using fresh passion fruit and Bill’s Bakery Biscuits from the Kapahulu bakery popular in the 1960s.
Nutritional analysis by Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S. Send requests to By Request," Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, Honolulu 96813. Email bshimabukuro@staradvertiser.com.
