Have you ever heard of “age-manju”?  Age (pronounced like [∧ge] ) means “fried”,  and manju is a “bun with sweet bean-paste filling”. Sometimes it’s sold at tourist places and people enjoy it as a street snack. Maybe even now someone is missing age-manju very much somewhere in the world ;D

 

Age-manju sold at a shop in Asakusa.
It’s like “manju tempra”. Looks so yummy!

Source of images: ASAKUSA KOKONOE

 

So today, I would like to tell you how to make age-manju. But unfortunately, we rarely make age-manju (even regular manju) at home because the recipe has too many steps ^^;. I’ve looked for some easy recipes and combined them, so that even people living outside of Japan can make it!

 

[Sweet azuki bean-paste 500g]

Azuki beans>>  180g

Sugar>>  150g

Water>> Follow the directions below

Salt>>   a little

 

 

1. Wash azuki beans

2. Put azuki beans in a deep pan and add some water so that it barely covers the beans >> high heat and boil it for 4~5 min.

3. Add another cup of water

4. Drain away all water after boiling

5. Pour some new water over the beans, again till it just covers them >> high heat >> boil >> low heat

6. Keep adding a little water and skiming off the foam/froth until beans become soft (around 1 hour)

7. Put beans (with the broth) into a blender and blend them until they become smooth (around 3 min)

8. Put the bean paste back to the deep pan and knead it to get rid of excess moisture.

9. Add sugar and keep kneading. Now you will have a paste, not too moist. It should be firm.

10. Add salt and mix.

11. Spread it on a tray and let cool.

(You can preserve the leftover in the freezer)

Source of the recipe: COOKPAD (recipe ID 261248)

 

[Manju 6pcs.]

Instant pancake mix>>  200g

milk>>  80cc

Sweet bean paste>> some

 

 

1. Mix up “instant pancake mix” and “milk”

2. Knead it by hand

3. Divide it into 6 pieces

4. Make each piece flat and round with a rolling pin

5. Put some “bean-paste” on a piece of dough x 6 pcs.

6. Shape them round

7. Steam them for 10 min.

Source of the recipe: COOKPAD (recipe ID 1191093)

 

[Let’s batter and fry!]

Flour>> 80g

Starch (potato starch is better)>> 10g

Baking powder>> 5g

Salt>> a little

Water>> 90~100 cc

Ice>> some

Vegetable oil>> some

 

1. Mix all the ingredients (except ice and oil) together and whisk.

2. Put some ice cubes to make the batter cold.

3. Dip “manju” into the batter. Coat the manju.

4. Deep fry in hot oil until golden

5. Drain on paper towels

 

Hmmm. I did my best to make the recipes simple, but still there are many steps^^;  If you can buy manju at stores, it’s much easier!! Try it out if you are interested. Enjoy!! 😉

 

This is JAPAN Style!