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Growing up as an American of Japanese descent after World War II there were no Asian grocery stores or Japanese foods in the supermarkets where we lived in the Northeast and South. As New Year’s approached, my father would reminisce about the delicious special foods his mother made only for New Year’s when he was growing up in California in the 1920s and ’30s.

My other grandmother, who lived in Chicago, would always mail us a bag of azuki, small hard red beans, and a package of mochi, sweet sticky rice that had been pounded into a dough, dried, and then cut into small rectangles. My mother would cook the beans by soaking them overnight, then boiling them for hours. The mochi would be heated in the oven to make it soft and puffy, then placed in a big bowl for consumption. My parents would be so pleased at their ability to preserve this token of culinary tradition while my sister and I would poke at it suspiciously and wonder what the fuss was all about. I would have preferred cookies or cake rather than this strange, gooey, weird concoction.

Due to the lack of access to ingredients, my mother never taught me Japanese cooking. Instead, after I married, she gave me a book of Japanese recipes. Then in my 30s, one New Year’s I finally got a craving for this special dish. Now living in New York City, I easily bought the ingredients at Katagiris’s, a store where we shopped whenever we visited Uncle Ike and Aunt Emily. My children turned their noses up just like I did so many years ago and refused to eat “this mush.”

Nonetheless, I continue to make this dish once a year and I relish eating it. It reminds me of “O taste and see how gracious the Lord is,” a motet by Ralph Vaughn Williams based on Psalm 34:8. I appreciate how my parents passed on family history and culture in the food we ate. This was a way to honor my grandmothers and their childhood memories in a meaningful and tangible way. I think about how God provides and nurtures us all by placing us in unique families from different countries of origin so we can celebrate the diversity of humanity in the food we eat and share.

My recipe is based on the one found in The American Book of Japanese Cooking by Sandra Takako Sandler and cooking instructions on the azuki bag. I use store bought mochi. I hear that some Japanese churches, Christian and Buddhist, have a New Year’s mochitsuki where they take turns pounding the cooked sweet rice. I’m sure the fresh mochi must taste better but store bought is what my taste buds remember.

Featured recipe

Azuki Beans and Mochi

Ingredients

  • 8 oz. azuki beans
  • 1-1 ½ cups sugar
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • Mochi dumplings

Instructions

  • Wash and rinse beans well.
  • Soak the beans overnight. Drain and rinse in clear water. Transfer to a pot with 4 cups water and salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 1 to 2 hours, checking for doneness. Red beans are very hard so cook until tender. Add water as liquid evaporates.
  • Divide sugar into three equal portions and add one portion at a time. Sweeten to taste. I find one cup is enough for me, but Americans may like it sweeter. Adding sugar all at once will harden beans. Remove from heat.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. I like two mochi pieces per bowl. You may want more, or less. Put mochi on a tray with cooking spray. After five minutes turn the mochi over. In another 3-5 minutes the mochi will get puffy. Don’t let it burn, so keep a close eye on it.
  • Ladle the azuki bean soup into bowls and add the mochi, then serve.

Bon appetite, or “itadakimasu,” as they say in Japan!

Gerri Yoshida headshot
Gerri Igarashi Yoshida

Gerri Igarashi Yoshidahas been an active member of the RCA’s Council for Pacific and Asian American Ministries since 2007. She is a member of the Japanese American United Church in New York City and serves as the administrative assistant for the Pastoral Formation and Transitions Committee of the Classis of New York. She has also served on the RCA’s Commission on Race and Ethnicity, the R-89 Task Force on Understanding White Privilege, and on the RCA Discernment Process Team.