Glass plates by Sasaki Shoko in our shop ->
Leave it to the Japanese to come up with the most appropriate names for the months of the year. June is Minazuki, which literally means “the month of water.” This is the time of year when the rice paddy fields are filled with water, and also of relentless downpours because this is prime rainy season in Japan.
With tea classes cancelled until at least autumn, my desperation for Japanese sweets has reached new heights and so I embarked on making “Minazuki,” a delicious rice cake sweet named after the month.
I first tasted Minazuki when visiting the Chado Research Center in Kyoto in 2015, where the museum entry fee included a bowl of matcha tea and a seasonal sweet. I’m terrible at remembering the times when I traveled to various places, but because I was served Minazuki, I know it was in June. I later also learned that people in Kyoto eat this triangular mochi dessert topped with red beans cooked in sugar often during the month of June.
A mochi topped with azuki red beans sounds relatively simple to make, but there is that stupid perfectionist in me that whispered, “but if you’re making Minazuki, the azuki can’t come from a can, it’s got to be those big Dainagon azuki.” In addition, the whisper continued: “Add some kudzu in the mochi to make it certainly Kyoto style (from my provincial Tokyoite perspective, kudzu is a very Kyoto ingredient).
With all these wild ambitions, I cooked over two days to make the sweet. Alas, the red beans didn’t turn out quite as I had hoped because their skins broke. Ideally, they are supposed to be intact and beautifully plump. I discovered that Azuki cooking is an art, like making the perfect Canelés de Bordeaux. Cutting this delicious sticky thing was a challenge by itself, but I persevered!
Minazuki is eaten especially in conjunction with the day of the summer passage cleansing ritual known as “Nagoshi no harae” on June 30th. The ritual is carried out with the hope of being disease-free and to ward off disaster and misfortune. And since such a wish can be made by making and eating a humble sweet, I virtually send you all Minazuki, to wish you good health for the rest of this difficult year.
This sweet sounds wonderful and it certainly looks beautiful. I assume you also know about Hogetsu Bakery in Chula Vista. They make delicious mochi and tea cakes that we always buy for our tea gatherings. I worry that the couple who own the bakery is getting quite elderly and have no one to take over the bakery when they are no longer able to run it. Best regards, Cynthia
Dear Ai,
You really have my number. I used to buy rice and bean sweets from the nearby produce store when Alan and I lived in the Bay Area. They were soft pillows of rice paste filled with bean paste. I loved everything about them; the weight, texture, and of course, the taste. I even shipped them to friends, but no one shared my enthusiasm. The Minazuki appears to be a refined cousin. I may now just have to try to make some myself. My sister in North Carolina can provide the Kudzu, and I will enjoy the hunt for the beans, if not the challenge of cooking them correctly. Thanks for sharing!
I’m sad that you had to close your gallery, which regrettably I never got to visit, although I am most grateful for your online shop, as I’m sure you know. I have to think positively that you will have another opportunity to fulfill your ambition and dreams. We will get through this.
Stay healthy and well.
Best,
Lee
Your plates enhanced the desserts beautifully. Any dessert would taste delicious on your your plates!