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Simmered Kuromame

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Simmered Kuromame

Simmered Kuromame

Photo (c) Setsuko Yoshizuka
Kuromame are black soybeans in Japanese, and they are typically simmered in Japanese cooking. Since the Japanese word for beans, mame, also means "working like a bee", it's traditional for Japanese people to eat kuromame on New Year's holidays, hoping for being able to work in good health.
*It's preferable to simmer kuromame in iron pot or add rusty nails to blacken the color of the beans.
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Ingredients:

  • 1 cup black soy beans
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp soy sauce
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • *optional: a couple of rusty nails and a sheet of gauze

Preparation:

Wash black beans. Put water, sugar, salt, soysauce, and baking soda in large deep pot or iron pot. Bring to a boil. Stop the heat and add black beans. Leave it over night, or about 8 hours. Clean a couple of rusty nails, and wrap them by gauze. Add it in the pot. Put the pot on high heat and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to low. Skim off any foam that rise to the surface. Cover the pot and simmer the beans on low heat for about 5 hours, or until beans are softened. When the liquid decreases, add some water. Stop the heat and let it sit until cool.
*Makes 4 servings
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