Sekihan Red Bean Rice Celebration Ritual

Ingredients

• 360 ml mochigome (glutinous rice), measured by volume; not regular short-grain rice
• 36 ml azuki beans, dry; approximately 1:10 ratio to rice by volume
• 1 tbsp sake, added to soaking liquid
• 1 tsp black sesame seeds, 3:1 ratio to white sesame for maximum visual contrast
• 1 pinch flaky salt, for finishing

Method

1. 1
   Rinse the azuki beans and place them in a saucepan with ample cold water. Bring to a full boil, drain, and discard this first water. Return the beans to the pan, cover generously with fresh cold water, and simmer at the barest movement of the water — the surface should barely tremble, never roll. Cook until the beans are nearly but not fully tender and their skins remain completely intact. The beans are ready when a thumbnail pressed gently into one meets slight resistance at the centre and the skin shows no split or crack; any bean with a split skin must be discarded.
2. 2
   Remove the pan from the heat and pour off all the cooking liquid into a bowl; reserve it completely — this liquid carries the pigments that will colour the finished rice. Allow both beans and liquid to cool to room temperature.
3. 3
   Rinse the mochigome under cold running water until the water runs clear. Place the rinsed rice in a bowl. Add the sake to the reserved bean cooking liquid, then pour the liquid over the rice. If the liquid does not fully submerge the rice, add cold water until it does. Soak for a minimum of several hours or overnight; the rice is ready when it has absorbed a uniform pink-red tint throughout and the grains have softened perceptibly.
4. 4
   Drain the soaked rice, reserving the remaining soaking liquid. Arrange the rice in a steamer basket lined with a damp cloth, scatter the reserved azuki beans evenly across the rice, and fold the cloth loosely over the surface. Steam over vigorously boiling water, sprinkling the reserved soaking liquid over the rice two or three times during cooking to deepen the colour. The rice is done when the grains are fully translucent, uniformly pink-red, and clinging to one another with a pronounced stickiness; a grain pressed between two fingers should feel yielding and cohesive, not chalky at the centre.
5. 5
   Turn the finished sekihan into a serving vessel or wooden mold. Scatter black sesame seeds and a pinch of flaky salt over the surface immediately before serving. The rice is at its best freshly cooked; the colour deepens on standing but the texture softens markedly after four hours.