Sekihan - Japanese Adzuki Bean Rice Recipe

Sekihan is a classic Japanese dish made from glutinous rice grains and red adzuki beans. The rice has a sticky texture, while the beans are light and fluffy. Let me show you how to make this beautiful red rice dish!

In Japan, we often enjoy a bowl of sekihan when we want to celebrate special occasions like birthdays and holidays.

But since I love this rice's chewy and fluffy texture, I often cook it on an ordinary day.

This recipe is for you if:
• You love Japanese rice.
• You want to cook Japanese sekihan.
• You are looking for an easy sekihan recipe.

I will show you how to cook it in a pressure cooker as it's easy and quick!

All right, I will show you how to make it. To check the recipe, please click below to jump to the recipe card. Let's get cooking!

Jump to:

• About This Recipe
• What is Sekihan?
• 📋 Ingredients
• Where to Buy Japanese Ingredients
• A Pressure Cooker
• 🔪Instructions
• Storage
• Thanks For Stopping By
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

About This Recipe

• Japanese traditional recipe
• Ingredients are sticky rice grains and adzuki beans
• Use a pressure cooker instead of a rice cooker
• Cooking time: 45 minutes
• Simple and easy recipe

What is Sekihan?

Yes, that makes sense! Sekihan is a traditional Japanese red bean rice made from glutinous rice and red beans called adzuki beans. The dish gets its name from the Japanese words "seki," meaning red, and "han," meaning rice.

It's a traditional dish, and we often cook it when celebrating happy occasions with the family.

It is said that the power to ward off bad luck and evil spirits has resided within red food items since ancient times. Therefore Japanese people often enjoy this honorable red rice during celebratory occasions of all kinds, such as Japanese New Year's day, Children's Day, birthdays, etc.

📋 Ingredients

Here are the ingredients (amounts are in the recipe card below).

• Glutinous rice: Also called sticky rice or sweet rice. It's different from Japanese short-grain rice (or sushi rice) as they have different types of starch. It's commonly used to make mochi (rice cake), okowa (steamed rice), and sekihan.
• Adzuki beans: Adzuki beans bring beautiful red color to this sekihan. They're rich in dietary fiber, vitamin B, polyphenols, and minerals. Dried beans require soaking beforehand, but with adzuki beans, it is not necessary. Anko, often used in Japanese sweets, is made from them.

Where to Buy Japanese Ingredients

If you live in the US, you can find Japanese ingredients in the list below.

• Japanese market: Mitsuwa Marketplace, Marukai
• Asian market
• Whole Foods Market
• Health food stores
• Online stores: Instacart, Walmart, Amazon

A Pressure Cooker

Let me introduce my favorite pressure cooker.

I use this 2.5 L zero-pressure cooker, the smallest size in this series. It's light enough to hold with one hand, which makes it very handy. It is large enough for families with small children and great for cooking brown rice and beans.

It comes with two weights: red for high pressure and white for low pressure. You just put the weight on the lid, and no need to change the setting like a dial-type cooker.

When pressure is reached, the weight jiggles and makes a whooshing sound. So even pressure cooker beginners can easily understand the timing of lowering the heat. I like it because it's pretty easy to use.

So if you live in Japan and planning to buy a pressure cooker, I highly recommend this zero-pressure cooker.

🔪Instructions

Well, now it's time to cook! Let me show you the steps (The detailed instructions are in the recipe card). You can also watch this video.

1. Wash rice (Rinse rice and soak with plenty of water at room temperature)
2. Adzuki beans (Cook over high heat until pressure is reached)
3. Lower the heat (Cook for 3 minutes over low heat)
4. Add rice (Cook over high heat until pressure is reached)
5. Lower the heat (Cook for 3 minutes over low heat)
6. Steam for 10 minutes and stir gently

I hope you will love this fluffy, beautiful red rice! If desired, top it with a sprinkling of gomashio (black sesame seeds) to make it even more delicious and flavorful!

Storage

I recommend wrapping one serving of rice with cling film and storing them in the freezer, which will last you for a month!

I usually make sekihan onigiri (rice balls) and put them in the freezer as our kids love onigiri. By the way, this recipe makes eight small onigiris.

Thanks For Stopping By

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog♡ If you've tried this recipe(or any other recipe on the blog), please give it a star rating below!

Also, feel free to leave comments if you have any questions. I love hearing from you!

Chef JA Cooks is a Japanese food blog that shares simple and healthy Japanese home cooking recipes, including vegan and vegetarian. From traditional Japanese recipes to modern recipes with step-by-step instructions.

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• Brown Rice in Pressure Cooker
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📖 Recipe