I love japanese sweets, especially dango and everything with sweet bean paste. It’s easy to grab a few of these delicious sweet snacks in convenience stores which you find on almost every corner. That is – if you live in Japan. But outside Asia it might entail a trip to the next Asian food store and cost you far more than you would pay in Japan.
I tried buying dried Azuki beans several times, but often some of the beans were undercooked even though I soaked them overnight and cooked them for 4 hours! A friend of mine told me that might be due to the beans being old, which sometimes happen if you buy them in Asian stores. But then I heard that someone made sweet bean paste from canned beans. Why didn’t I think of that sooner? Well, maybe it was because I felt uneasy to use canned beans for japanese confectionary. I mean, isn’t it a sacrilege? But I was short on time and decided to try it anyway. Guess what! People liked the sweets anyway and even asked for the recipe.