Skip to recipe

Open full page ↗

Illustration of Azuki Bean Dessert (Kanten)
Illustration (AI-generated)

Desserts

Azuki Bean Dessert (Kanten)

A Japanese-style jelly of red azuki beans set with kanten (agar-agar), lightly sweetened, chilled and cut into bite-size pieces.

  • Serves 8
  • About 30 min, plus setting
  • Vegetarian (agar-agar is from seaweed)
  • Japanese

Where kanten comes from ↓

Method

  1. Rinse the kanten under running water and squeeze out the excess water.

  2. Tear it into small pieces and soak in the pan of water for 15 minutes.

  3. Cook, stirring all the time, until the kanten has dissolved. Add the sugar and salt.

  4. Add the azuki beans and stir constantly for at least 5 minutes, until the beans are thoroughly warmed through.

  5. Take the pan off the heat and pour the mixture into a flat dish.

  6. Cool, then refrigerate until set. Cut into bite-size pieces.

Tip: tap a step to tick it off as you cook.

Kanten, the winter jelly

Kanten is the Japanese name for agar, a setting agent made from red seaweed. Japanese tradition says it was discovered around 1658 by Minoya Tarōzaemon, an innkeeper near Kyoto, who threw out some leftover seaweed jelly (tokoroten) on a winter night. It froze, then dried in the sun, and the dry, white flakes set again into a clearer jelly when boiled in water.

Because agar sets firmly at room temperature, it became the base of many Japanese sweets, including yōkan, the sweet red bean jelly this dessert resembles.

Sources: Wikipedia: Agar (citing the FAO and the Difco & BBL Manual), FAO: Agar, a red seaweed polysaccharide.

Shopping list for 8 portions

Tins, jars & stock

Baking

Store cupboard (check you have)

Converted from the original Cookeryonline page.