New Year is fast approaching so I thought it’s about time to start preparing what I’m going to cook on the day and I decided to make Sekihan. New Year is a big celebration in Japan and one of my favourite parts of the holiday is the big feast that we eat.
Sekihan, which is a type of Japanese rice made from glutinous rice and azuki beans, is one of the delicious foods that we eat as part of the New Year’s feast. I published this recipe a year ago, but since I gifted myself a Duo Plus 60 Instapot pressure cooker this Christmas, I decided to update my Sekihan Rice recipe using my new machine.
By now, many Japanese people would have started to prepare and cook the New Year’s feast, called ‘Osechi Ryori’ in Japan. Many dishes are usually flavoured and seasoned well to prepare for New Years day so that everyone can relax and celebrate New Year’s days without the hassle of cooking. However, all of my family are in Japan, which means I don’t need to prepare a big feast for anyone so I just make small amounts of New Year food on the day.
Nowadays many people order Osechi Ryori from department stores, local supermarkets, and Japanese restaurants. Close to the end of the year, you will see brochures advertising Osechi Ryori. It would be much easier to just order the food but since I no longer live in Japan, that’s not possible. However, it’s still nice to cook this easy and delicious Sekihan at home and at least feel as though I’m in Japan for New Year.
Using a pressure cooker, this Sekihan Azuki bean rice is very easy and only requires two ingredients; Mochigome (glutinous rice) and Azuki beans, which nowadays can be found in outside of Japan. In Australia (and other countries), they can be found in Asian or Japanese grocery stores or in the Asian food aisle of regular supermarkets.
The type of rice used to make Sekihan is glutinous rice(it is also called sweet rice but it is not sweet), which is the same type of rice that is used to make mochi (rice cake) so it’s sticky and very filling! That’s why it is also called ‘Mochigome’. The rice grain colour is very white unlike ordinary rice, which is transparent. This type of rice can be bought from Asian grocery stores or online Mochigome
Sekihan is a traditional Japanese rice dish, served at many other festivities too, like birthdays and weddings, because of its celebratory red colour. Traditionally, the rice is cooked by steaming, when we did not have pressure cookers. If you are going to decide to cook this dish in the traditional way, you need to soak the rice in water for 6-8 hours and if the rice is old, it needs to be soaked for longer. Then drain the soaking water and steam cook it.
When we cook ordinary rice in a rice cooker, we let the rice grain absorb some water before cooking it so that when the rice is cooked it is soft. However, do not leave glutinous rice in water if you are going to use a rice cooker or a pressure cooker, because the water absorption rate of glutinous rice is higher so there ends up being not enough water to cook it or if you add water to cook, it ends up soggy.
My mum always makes this rice for New Year’s because she knows how much we all love it, especially my son. I am going to freeze this as Onigiri for him so that he can eat this when he comes back in two weeks time.
My food photo improvement with Nagi’s Photography Book.
And don’t forget to check out the other New Year specialty food recipes like the Kouhaku Namasu (Carrot & Daikon Vinegared Salad), and the Tsukune Dango (Chicken Meatball Skewers)!
If you liked my recipe for Sekihan Azuki bean rice, please rate it and leave a comment below. Also, don’t forget to follow me on Youtube, Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date with all the latest happenings on Chopstick Chronicles. Don’t forget to use the hashtag #ChopstickChronicles so I see your wonderful creations!
Sekihan- Azuki Bean Rice
Ingredients
- 2 cups of glutinous rice used the cup attached to the Instapot
- 1/4 cup azuki beans
- 2 ½ cups water
- 1 tsp salt
- Black sesame to sprinkle
Instructions
Instructions for Instapot
- Wash the azuki beans and drain out the water.
- Add 2 & ½ cups of water and the azuki beans in a pressure cooker. Close and lock
- the lid and set the Instapot.
- Press [Pressure cook] then use the [+] [-] button to set 10 minutes and press
- [Pressure level] button to set low pressure. *1
- While pressure cooking the Azuki beans, wash the glutinous rice and drain the
- water.
- When the pressure cooking time is up, release the pressure instantly, by pressing
- [Cancel] on the front panel and then turning the steam release on the lid to
- “Venting” position.
- Open the lid and scoop up the water with a ladle and pour it back in. Continue this
- step a few times to make sure the colour comes out later in the rice.
- Add the washed rice and the salt. Close and lock the lid and set the instantpot.
- Press [Pressure cook] then use the [+] [-] button to set 3 minutes and press
- [Pressure level] button to set low
- When time is up, let the Instapot continue to cook using the cooker’s residual heat
- and steam by pressing [Cancel] and wait for the pressure to come down naturally
- (takes about 20 minutes)
- 10. Once all the pressure has released, stir the rice (without mashing or over-mixing)
- then serve with the sprinkled black sesame!
Instructions for pressure cooker
- Wash the azuki beans and drain out the water.
- Add 2 & ½ cups of water and the azuki beans in a pressure cooker, lock the
- lid and cook over high heat.
- When the pressure indicator pin rises, turn the heat down to low and cook
- for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, wash the glutinous rice and drain water.
- Release the pressure in the cooker rapidly (as per the instructions of your
- pressure cooker).
- Open the lid and scoop up the water with a ladle and pour it back in.
- Continue this step a few times to make sure the colour comes out later in
- the rice.
- Add the rice and the salt and put the lid back on and cook it over high heat
- and wait for the pressure pin to rise again.
- Once the pin rises, turn the heat down to low and leave for 3 minutes.
- Turn the heat off and allow the pressure to release naturally.
- 10. Once all the pressure has released, stir the rice (without mashing or over-
- mixing) then serve with the sprinkled black sesame!
Hi, can you use canned adzuki beans for this recipe? Does it change at all? The original recipe uses dried beans, correct? Thanks!
Hi Yoko san yes I use dried beans. Is your canned azuki beans cooked?
Very delicious, thank you,
But may I ask If i double the recipe. Do I double the water and everything, but keep the timing the same?
Thank you
Hi Robb Yes.
If I want to make more, can I just double the recipe, including the water?
Hi Aloha yes.
When you say to use the cup they comes with the Instant Pot for the rice, do you also mean I’m supposed to use it for the water and azuki beans too? Because I used a regular measuring cup for the water and beans and it ended up with a lot of water still on top. of the rice.
Hi Lynn, the cup is the regular measurement cups. However you can use the cup comes with, you just need to use same amount rice and water ratio. So if you use two cups of rice, add two cups of water.
OK I never in 1 million years thought that this recipe would work! No it was like three minutes to cook the beans in like three minutes to cook the rice. I thought it was going to be a total fail. But it wasn’t! This was delicious this was perfect my whole family loved it. It was enough for all four of us for dinner and enough for two Oniggiri for my children for breakfast in the morning. 10 out of 10!
Thank you Cristen. I am glad that your whole family loved Sekihan 😀
Hi Shihoko, I want to make this recipe but I don’t have an instant pot. I have a very good rice cooker and will use that. Do you have a recipe for a regular rice cooker? Thank you so much, Debbie
Hi Debbie, do you have a pressure cooker?
Domo arigatoo!!
I’ve made the recipe several times since New Year & now.
Thank You Yooko for trying this 😀
Hello Shihoku san,
Could you please clarify the measurements for the rice and beans as I don’t have an Insta pot. When you refer to cups, do you mean the metric or standard rice cooker cup size?
Many thanks
Lee-Anne
Hi Lee-Anne san, the measurements of the cup I am using is the Japanese one. Japanese 1 cup measurement is 180ml. However, it does not matter what cup you use, you can even use a mug if you like. The ratio of rice and water is 2:2.5. Hope this help 😀
If I want to change the proportion of rice to bean, can you suggest water/cook time changes? I’d like to change it one to one.
Hi Lena yes if you are changing the ratio of rice and beans, however I have never tried one to one it is a lot of beans so I don’t know.
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I’m not sure what you mean by “scoop up the water with a ladle and pour it back in”. Are you basically just moving the water around without stirring?
Hi Jill yes in order to aerating which gives the rice shine when it cooked 😀
wonderful i love it!
thank you 🙂 !
Ohhh, I can’t wait to try this recipe with my new IP!!! It’s one of the first dishes I wanted to make since I love my mom’s sekihan which she makes every New Years, and other occasions. One thing, the color of the rice is a lot lighter red color than what I typically see with my mom’s version, which she does on the stove top. So I actually prefer a darker red…should I just ladle/pour back the water a little more than what you noted in the recipe to get that darker color? 🙂
I look forward to seeing more Japanese recipes using the IP. 🙂
Arigato gozaimasu!
Hi Vivian, darker colour may be due to the amount of Azuki bean used or quality of Azuki beans. Laddling makes only make the rice shiny not darken the colour I think. And also it is may be the lighting of the photography too.
When you freeze your onigiri, what’s the best way to prepare to eat it? Microwave? Refrigerate then microwave? Thanks 🙂
Hi Jan, Microwave. I will not recommend defrost them in refrigerator because it makes the rice balls dry.
Thanks so much! Good idea to freeze small portions:)
You are welcome 😀
Sounds easy and delicious. The beans are not soaked first, right?
Hi Dalia, super easy! No soaking required if you use a pressure cooker 😀
Hi!
Just wanted to say thank you again, this has become one of our winter staples. Though I just cook the beans and rice together, since on any ordinary day the colour does not matter so much. 😉
Thank you Dalia 😀