Do you like anko?

[neko_girl22]

When I first ate anko I didn't like it very much, but now I LOVE it. I absoutely adore manju, anman, anpan etc etc!! I've heard that most gaijin don't like anko, is that true? I guess it is a bit too sweet at first.

How about you guys? love it or hate it?


Here's me eating a combini anman -yummmm!!!:happy:

[kirei_na_me]

I was like you at first, nzueda. I remember when I first tried daifuku, I did not like it at all! I didn't like the thought of sweetened beans. I really don't know what changed my mind. I guess my taste just changed/matured, because now, I love it! Making anman is kind of time-consuming, but it is so well worth it... ;)

By the way, I'm drooling over that anman you've got there... :p

Daifuku, anman, anpan with green tea...yum!

[silver angel]

I've never tried it! What does it taste like? It looks super yummy!!!! *drools*

[nata_no]

never heard of anko...hmm, looks oishii...heeee
does it resembles e ones doraemon eat?

[neko_girl22]

@silverangel - anko is sweet red beans. personally I still prefer them squished rather than whole beans.

@nata_no - Doraemon ate Dorayaki, right? Like in this photo...? My favourite is manju, but I eat dorayaki too -yumm!

[~*hellokittydiva*~]

oh i absolutely LOVE anko! it is sooo tasty! see im from singapore, and they have something similar (could even be that same), but they just call them red beans. (inventive hey?!)

mmmm dorayaki are delicious! and anpan...:clap:

what are those things called...on skewers, like little circles of mochi but flattened slightly...and they have anko on them? ooooh that is so nice.

[nata_no]

Originally posted by ~*hellokittydiva*~
oh i absolutely LOVE anko! it is sooo tasty! see im from singapore, and they have something similar (could even be that same), but they just call them red beans. (inventive hey?!)

mmmm dorayaki are delicious! and anpan...:clap:

what are those things called...on skewers, like little circles of mochi but flattened slightly...and they have anko on them? ooooh that is so nice.

Singapore? really? where do they sell them?

[billiken]

Originally posted by ~*hellokittydiva*~
what are those things called...on skewers, like little circles of mochi but flattened slightly...and they have anko on them? ooooh that is so nice.

Dango!! absolutely scrumptious.

http://www.4reference.net/encyclopedias/wikipedia/Dango.html

[~*hellokittydiva*~]

yeah that looks kinda like it! dango...that sounds right...

Singapore? really? where do they sell them?

hmmm well i have had it before in icecreams..."potong" icecream but i do remember having the red beans in a dessert of some sort?

or have i been away from singapore for so long that i'm imagining things? :p

[nata_no]

icecreams? "potong" icecreams? nvr heard of it, is it in orchard area?

[playaa]

I tried it once, it was pretty good!

[Lina Inverse]

I've never tried it yet :(
However, it sounds scrumptious... I like the very sweet stuff! Just like Japanes puffed rice cookies I got recently, which are also very sweet :cool:
Brand is an apple with a tongue popping out of it.

[kov]

Meh. I didn't like it when I first tried it, I think it's okay now. But I'm simply not big into sweet foods. At least not thosse without a bunch of fat to go with it! :D

[Golgo_13]

I also like Oshiruko and zenzai.

[mdchachi]

I think it's okay. It's not something I crave; if I have an anko-filled okashi (Japanese sweet) or a maron (chestnut) filled one, I will usually go with the chestnut. And I tend to like chocolate desserts more than anything. But a nice anmitsu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anmitsu) on a hot summer day sure hits the spot.

[oboro_tukiyo]

Anko sweet(Youkan,manjuu,dorayaki...) and Japanese tea (green tea, Roasted green tea...)is Perfect combination.

1.Youkan of one lot is eaten.
2.Tea of one lot is drunk.
3.A satisfactory breath.
4.1 to 3 repeats infinity.

[Lina Inverse]

Anko sweet(Youkan,manjuu,dorayaki...) and Japanese tea (green tea, Roasted green tea...)is Perfect combination.

1.Youkan of one lot is eaten.
2.Tea of one lot is drunk.
3.A satisfactory breath.
4.1 to 3 repeats infinity.
This sounds pretty much like a Babelfish translation :relief:
I think you mean:
1. Eat much Youkan
2. Drink much tea
3. Take a deep breath
4. Repeat 1.-4. until you drop

[oboro_tukiyo]

This sounds pretty much like a Babelfish translation :relief:
I think you mean:
1. Eat much Youkan
2. Drink much tea
3. Take a deep breath
4. Repeat 1.-4. until you drop

Thanks Lina!
English is very difficult...:relief:
I must try to study more and more.

Next time, please teach Dragu Slave to me. :wave:

[Keiichi]

I've eaten it mostly in Chinese bread and I didn't really like it at first either, but it became okay. I'm not much of a sweets eater.

[Lina Inverse]

Thanks Lina!
English is very difficult...:relief:
I must try to study more and more.

Next time, please teach Dragu Slave to me. :wave:
I can imagine how difficult English must be for a Japanese... but at least you don't have to learn any highly complex characters like me when learning Japanese :relief:
漢字が悪いですぞ！:auch:

[oboro_tukiyo]

I can imagine how difficult English must be for a Japanese... but at least you don't have to learn any highly complex characters like me when learning Japanese :relief:
????????!:auch:

It will become easy if you study the history of a Chinese character word together.
I hope your Japanese well become.:cheer:

Back to anko thread...
Anko and milk are good Combination too. try it! :wave:

[Daniel]

Dorayaki is very delicious. I had some cake, which was pastry filled with anko, and then wrapped in a fresh cherry leaf. It was a funeral cake, and it was really good.

[Golgo_13]

I occasionally eat "Taiyaki" aka "Imagawa Yaki" in Little Tokyo. They cook it right there in the restaurant. Mitsuru Cafe in the Japanese Village Mall.

[den4]

you're lucky to have a little tokyo in the neighborhoods you roam, Mr. Golgo....
there are a lot of Korean shops lately that carry some J-stuff, but it doesn't compare with the myriad of items one can find in Japan :(

[Golgo_13]

Little Tokyo is in downtown of LA.

There's also a little Japanese community in West Los Angeles. I call it Little Osaka.

Torrance, CA, just south of LA city limits, is another major Japanese-populated area, posibly because Honda and Toyota both have their U.S. Headquarters there.

Sadly, maybe because so many Japanese areas have developed over the years, Little Tokyo in downtown is dying out. People no longer have a reason to have to go all the way down there. There are Japanese video stores, book stores, restaurants, grocers, etc. right where they live.

[Endarion]

I think anpan and taiyaki are a bit expensive... so I sometimes just buy a tub of anko and put it on bread like nutella... or If you're not too lazy, you can make some really great onigiri with anko in the middle! I think that's one of the best! (but I'm really lazy, so it's bread for me.... )

[ragedaddy]

I would definitely eat some "An Pan" for breakfast over donuts or muffins. That is just a delectable combination, and I will be the first to admit I can not resist. It goes rather well with mochi as well, and like campbells soup Anko is mmm mmm good.

[Hero]

My sensei had us try something she said was Japanese pancake (I forgot the JP name for it). It wasn't that tasty at first but I quickly got to like them as I was low on money and needed snacks, lol.

(looked like small, round pancake, but 2-3x thick, and had red bean paste in it)

[Apollo]

@silverangel - anko is sweet red beans. personally I still prefer them squished rather than whole beans.

@nata_no - Doraemon ate Dorayaki, right? Like in this photo...? My favourite is manju, but I eat dorayaki too -yumm!

Yes...Doraemon ate Dora-yaki..He loves dorayaki and can be bribed with it!! :lol: I like eating them too, but I don't "adore" it...(too strong a word for me regarding anpan, anko etc...:-)
:gohan:

[isa215]

Just made my first anko today - quite successful (I think anyway! - at least it looks and tastes about right).

Curious to know more about wagashi - the sheer variety confuses the hell out of me! - interested both from a cultural standpoint and, of course, recipes...

[lexico]

I used to hate sweets as a kid, but "anko" (is that how you call it?) was one exception.
I still hate overly sweet stuff, but "anko" is my constant favorite.
I love all this food talk, guys, but it's making me rather hungry.
Gotta grab a bite of whatever! :wave:

[wintersweet]

Ah, red beans. Red bean paste was hard to escape in Taiwan... If you like it and you can't find it, try a Chinese bakery or grocery store. It comes from China originally, after all (well, probably). I like it in small doses, where the red bean taste doesn't overwhelm things. But I prefer my taiyaki the way you can buy it in Taiwan, with other fillings such as custard, peanut butter, or occasionally chocolate. :) I didn't take the time to see if those alternatives were available in Japan anywhere.

[okaeri_man]

at first i didnt really like it, then i loved it, then i bought too much of it and felt sick. eewww, too much... so yeah, it's good in small amounts!

[Hiroyuki Nagashima]

Please try to eat how is 'MONAKA' and 'YOUKAN'
(sweetened and jellied bean paste).
When you eat a Japanese sweet, please drink bitter green tea
Please try to please eat. :cool:

[lexico]

Please try to eat how is 'MONAKA' and 'YOUKAN'
(sweetened and jellied bean paste).
When you eat a Japanese sweet, please drink bitter green tea
Please try to please eat. :cool:Aaah, monaka and yokang, as we used to call it here in Korea in the 1960's-1970's, are what I grew up on. Yes, the holiday gift packs for children would invariably include those, although monakas were more expensive, hehe.
Thanks for the sweek memories you brought back, Nagashima-san !
I still enjoy the yokangs, nowadays called YON-YANG-GAENG 燕羊羹, every now and then. For the childhood memories. I feel very mature by saying that. I need some white hair and grand-children to go with it. Too young for that ! :D

[Revenant]

There's no poll option for 'I like it'. I don't love it, and I don't think it's just ok. If I have a chance to have some, I quite enjoy it. If it's not there, I don't ever think about it.

Seems to me a far healthier dessert than what we consume in the west.

[512kb]

A lot of you have said that you didn't like it at first, but then grew to love it. I thought that was going happen to me, but when I took my first bite, I LOVED IT! (I made it today.) I've been craving it ever since. It's not something that you want to eat a lot of at once, but you sure want to eat it a lot. :-)

[Gaijinian]

Maybe one of my favorite Japanese foods... I love it SO much! :)

[Petenshber]

I first tried sweetened red bean past about a year and a half ago, it was the filling in a steamed bun (i think those are a chinese sweet though, right?).

I loved it from the start and i buy those steamed buns whenever i want a good treat, i also like buying it in cans and using it with american foods.

Someone mentioned using it in onigiri witch i think is a good idea.

[changedonrequest]

When I first read the title of this thread I wasn't thinking about the sweet bean paste at all, I was thinking about this rather grotesque looking fish that really tastes great, especially the "kimo" or liver which is wonderful when steamed.

The white meat of the fish is particularly good in a "nabe" style of cooking, oh yes the name of the fish is also "anko".

http://www.ishikawa-c.ed.jp/~suisah/seito/kaiyoukan/s-anko.jpg
So I would have to remove my vote from the bean paste because I really don't like it all that much, but the fish is great.

It is called a monkfish in English.

http://www.produceweb.com/seafood/anko.htm

[kazika]

i haven't tried it yet. How does it taste like?

[changedonrequest]

i haven't tried it yet. How does it taste like?

Sorry, but which, the fish or the beans?

[Minty]

I first tried sweetened red bean past about a year and a half ago, it was the filling in a steamed bun (i think those are a chinese sweet though, right?).

I loved it from the start and i buy those steamed buns whenever i want a good treat, i also like buying it in cans and using it with american foods.
Someone mentioned using it in onigiri witch i think is a good idea.

I am pretty sure “Anman” is the same as the Chinese steamed bread with sweet red bean pastes.

It is originally from China.

Singapore? really? where do they sell them?

I haven't tried it yet. How does it taste like?

Like I said before, I am pretty sure it is the same as the Chinese steamed bread with sweet red bean pastes, since you two are in SG it should be very easy to find. In
Mandarin it is called “Dou Sa Bao/豆沙包” http://www.allproducts.com/manufacture10/chimei/p02.jpg

I still enjoy the yokangs, nowadays called YON-YANG-GAENG 燕羊羹, every now and then.

Yokangs are too sweet for me, I prefer “Mochi” or Chinese steamed bread with red bean pastes which apparently is called “Anman” in Japanese.:note:

[changedonrequest]

Yokangs are too sweet for me, I prefer “Mochi” or Chinese steamed bread with red bean pastes which apparently is called “Anman” in Japanese.

Is the word "mochi" used in Chinese as well?

In Japanese the bread would be called "Anpan" which has the red bean paste folded in the bread.

"Anman" or "Manju" are also similar, and use the steamed bread like you show in the picture.(and there are numerous varieties here in Japan)

There are also a number of variety of Japanese sweets that use "an" as a major part of the ingredients. The red sweetened beans themselves are also used in what is called "Zenzai" which can be served either hot or cold over shaved iced and often have a piece or two of "mochi" included.

[firideibi]

Kon ban wa... man, that anko looks really good in the picture... I've been doing without it for a while due to some crazy business that's kept me away from the places which sell them... but I've made a memo to myself to get a few of them the next time I'm in New York City... :cool:

Philip David
2006.03.27-28

[changedonrequest]

Kon ban wa... Konnichi ha.....

The convenience stores here, personally I prefer Lawson, usually sell them at the counter during wintertime. I like the "other" varieties of "__man" that they sell as well, like "curryman" or "pizzaman".

My kids like something that is called "no man ju" which is similar to the "anman" but comes wrapped in a leaf from a plant called "getto", (Pictured below)which gives it an additional unique flavor besides the "an"

http://amanakuni.net/GraphicData/Getto.jpg

[Minty]

Is the word "mochi" used in Chinese as well?

Well in Taiwanese dialect it is called “Moi Ji”, similar to those in the picture and it is a common desert over there, (my mum is from Taiwan), not sure about HK or China.

As for overseas Chinese who live in Malaysia or SG I don’t think the majority of them know what it is. Except those who are very interested in Japanese food, or those who have Taiwanese connections, like the ones who have studied in Taiwan before, or the ones who have Taiwanese relatives…etc.

http://www.sakura-taisen.com/romando/menu/030718_02.jpg

In Japanese the bread would be called "Anpan" which has the red bean paste folded in the bread.
"Anman" or "Manju" are also similar, and use the steamed bread like you show in the picture.(and there are numerous varieties here in Japan)

Yes, we have something very similar in Chinese as well. It is called “豆沙餅/Dou Sa Binh” shown on the picture below.

http://re2.mm-b1.yimg.com/image/915284143I

I just didn’t know Japanese eat these as well, :souka: thanks for the information. It’s interesting to know. :hum:

There are also a number of variety of Japanese sweets that use "an" as a major part of the ingredients. The red sweetened beans themselves are also used in what is called "Zenzai" which can be served either hot or cold over shaved iced and often have a piece or two of "mochi" included.

Chinese also eat shaved ice with red bean paste. It’s called "红豆冰/Hong Dou Bing "in Mandarin, Chinese.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7b/Ice_kachang2.jpg/200px-Ice_kachang2.jpg

In Malaysia and Singapore people eat it too; it’s called "Ice Kachang" over there. But the Japanese version of it probably looks closer to this picture below:

http://www.nyceats.net/photos/eats/shavedwbean.jpg

It looks like the two cultures have more similarities than I originally thought.:souka:

[Kara_Nari]

YUMMY! You guys are making me hungry!
My favourite ways to eat anko are: Green Tea and Anko cheesecake... Pat Bing Su (Similar to the photos above, but with icecream, shaved ice and fruit with the read beans), and little things found on roadside stalls shaped like fishies, but kind of like ummm a batter with the read bean paste inside and then cooked in something similar to a waffle iron... but shaped like fishes.
I found the best shop in my area for selling them less than 10cents for one. Best bargain in South Korea!!

[Kiko_Pitazu]

:D Daisuki dayo! I can't get enough of it. I wish they sold it out here but thanks to Wisconsin and its... Asian-cultur deadness... I have to go online and pray it isn't sold out :( I do however know how to make it myself. :happy:

[Mikawa Ossan]

I'm sure you can find anko in Madison if you look hard enough. Otherwise I know for a fact that anko can be obtained in both Minneapolis and Chicago.

You make anko yourself? Wow, I've only done it once, but it sure does take a lot of time and sugar, don't you think?

Edit: Oops. I just realized that I responded to a post made half a year ago.

[Dutch Baka]

I love anko... but I do not like Unko...
There is this lady on one of my Elementary schools, and she always gives me Omiyages and last time she gave me some really delicious anko!

Red bean paste is used in many Japanese sweets, such as:

Anmitsu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anmitsu) (an and jelly)
Anpan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anpan) (an and bread)
Daifuku (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daifuku)
Dango (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dango)
Dorayaki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorayaki) (azuki bean pancake)
Manju (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manju_%28confection%29)
Oshiruko (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oshiruko) or Ozenzai (azuki bean soup)
Taiyaki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiyaki)
Uirō (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uiro) (a traditional Japanese steamed cake)
Yokan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yokan) (red bean jelly)wiki

[ricecake]

I am fine with red bean paste as long as it's not too sweet for my tongue.

Oh....my god,I crave uiro ( Japanese steamed cake ).I always buy 1 dozen or 2 whenever local Mitsuwa has Mochi festival with excellent varieties on sale.