There are various kinds of Wagashi (Japanese confections) including Mochi (glutinous rice cake), Daifuku (consisting of a small round mochi stuffed with sweet filling), Manjū (outside made from flour, rice powder, kudzu, and buckwheat with a filling of red bean paste, etc.). “Ammitsu”, a representative Japanese confection is one of them and mostly served at shops.
Wagashi takes time and efforts as well as needs skills to make. However, Ammitsu is easy to make at home.
Today we are going to show you how to make Shiratama Ammitsu (Ammitsu with rice flour dumplings).
What is Ammitsu?
Before Ammitsu became popular, there was a sweet named “Mitsumame”, which consists of mochi, boiled red peas with syrup on the top. It was a common sweet in those days.
In fact, Ammitsu is originated from Mitsumame. It was a restaurant named “Wakamatsu” established in Ginza (Tokyo) in 1894 that first served Mitsumame along with red bean paste (In Japanese “An”). In this way, “Ammitsu” was developed.
Basic Ammitsu consists of cubes of agar jelly, red bean paste and fruits, and you can add any touch you like. With the topping of Shiratama (rice flour dumplings), it is called “Shiratama Ammitsu”. Other than Shiratama, you can put ice cream, whipped cream, and there is infinite variety.
How to Make Ammitsu
This time we are going to make the most basic one, which contains Shiratama, cubes of agar jelly, fruits with red bean paste and brown sugar syrup on the top.
Ingredients
- 50g of rice flour for dumplings
- 2g of agar powder
- favorite fruits
- coarse sweet red bean paste (as you like)
- 10 g or more of brown sugar
1. Make agar jelly
Put 250 mL of water in a pot and sprinkle agar powder over it. For the ratio of water to agar powder, refer to the package of agar powder you use.
When agar powder dissolves, start to heat the pot. When boiling, take it out into a bat to cool it. Then put it in a refrigerator.
When agar jelly becomes solid, cut it into 1 cm of cubes or the size you like.
2. Make brown sugar syrup
Put the same amount of water as brown sugar in a pan and heat it until boiling. When brown sugar completely dissolves, simmer until it thickens and becomes syrup. Adjust the thickness of syrup. Be careful not to overcook brown sugar, otherwise it gets too solid.
3. Make Shiratama dumplings
Prepare same amount of rice flour and water. First, put all rice flour in a bowl and add half amount of water to mix. Then further add the rest of water and knead until it becomes as elastic as earlobe. When it gets smooth and moderately solid, put the dough together into one piece and then divide it into thumb-sized balls to shape dumplings. Put the dumplings in boiling water.
When the dumplings come up to the surface, take them out and put in cold water to remove stickiness.
4. Serve it
When everything gets prepared, serve them in a bowl with favorite fruits on the top. Now “Shiratama Ammitsu” is ready to eat! For sweet red bean paste, one at supermarket is recommended and easy to use. When brown sugar syrup is poured on the top, it’s ready to eat!
Summary
Ammitsu is good to make at home not only for simpleness of recipe but also for good cost performance. Eating Authentic Ammitsu at shops is of course good, but making your original Ammitsu is also good. How about trying homemade Ammitsu with your family this summer?
