These Red Bean Biko is made with just sweet rice, coconut milk and red bean paste. Once set it's then dusted with Kinako powder. It's the perfect mix of Filipino cooking techniques and Japanese flavors.
Key Ingredients
As I said, you don't need much to make this Filipino/Japanese Kakanin, but you do have to go to a Japanese grocery store to get the goods.
Sweet Rice - Make sure you get sticky sweet rice or you will not get the right texture and the rice will not stick together if you use just regular rice. You can see through the packet that it is not as translucent as normal rice.
Coconut Milk - The one and only Filipino ingredient in the recipe. Usually I add coconut milk on stove top kakanin, it's just easier to gauge when you are done cooking. It's when the oil just starts to seep out.
Red Bean Paste - My personal preference is to use smooth Red Bean Paste or Anko, but you can also use the chunky version if you like a bit of unmashed bean. Anko already has sugar in it so we are not going to add any extra.
Kinako Powder - If you don't know now you know it's roasted soy bean powder. It's common in Japanese and Korean sweets so you can find it at either market.
Kuromitsu Sauce - This is very similar to the Filipino Arnibal, basically syrupy brown sugar. So you can use Arnibal instead if you wanted too.
How To Cook The Rice
When I make Biko I always pre-cook the rice in the rice cooker. Personally I don't like it when recipes start with just soaked rice. It's a recipe for disaster! I did that the very first time I made Biko and dude!!!! I was at the stove forever adding more water and stiring and stiring and the rice was still hard. (Insert crying emoji)
So now I cook it in the rice cooker first so that at first go the rice gets to absorbing the flavors and you spend less time at the stove.
I use my rice cooker to cook rice and when I say 1 cup, use the cup that is provided by your rice cooker. That is what the water lines are calibrated for in your rice cooker. No need to guess with the line of your finger.
Rinse the rice until it's clear. I recently found this mini colander that is so helpful in rinsing rice. All the starchy water gets washed away without any rice grains getting wasted. I got mine from Temu. The stuff on there doesn't seem to stay in stock so just search for mini stainless steel colander and pick your favorite.
Again I repeat use the cup that came with your rice cooker and use the water line that corresponds to the rice that you are cooking. In this instance we are making sweet rice. So fill up to the 1 line.
Make the Red Bean Biko
Right when the rice is cooked put it in a non stick pan along with the can of coconut milk and red bean paste. Make sure you do this right when the sweet rice is cooked so that the rice is nice an open to absorb all the red bean flavor.
Mix it all together and taste. Add more red bean paste if needed. I actually added in the whole 400g packet for more flavor. Also don't forget to add a pinch of salt.
Mix it well making sure there are no lumps. Then using your smallest burner on your stove top turn the heat to high and put on a podcast. You will be stirring for about 25 minutes.
This is what it looks like after 10 minutes. At this point you can stop and just make champorado. No really you can!
This is what it looks like after 20 minutes. It's close to being done, but the coconut milk still has not evaporated enough.
This was the finished Red Bean Biko at 26 minutes exactly. You can se it's shinny and the mixture stays pretty tight.
Now you can put them in individual silicone cupcake liners for easy individual serving. This is helpful for sit-down dinners or if you just want to control your portion size. Otherwise you can just spread it out on a bigger serving dish.
Wait until the Red Bean Biko is fully cool. I waited about 2 hours. Then place some kinako powder in a bowl and coat it individually.
If you used a large serving dish just dust the kinako powder on the time.
Do You Really Need The Syrup For The Red Bean Biko?
For me, I feel like I didn't need the syrup as the Anko was pretty sweet already that was mixed into the Red Bean Biko.
However my husband said the kinako powder kinda dries out your mouth so he prefers it with the syrup.
My daughter on the other hand just like the syrup in general so she flooded hers with it.
If you choose to not put syrup on yours then a great drink to have it with is salabat. You can do cold if you are in a warm area or hot if you need something warm. Or even better a boozy version is a great night cap to have with the Red Bean Biko.
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Equipment
- Rice Cooker
- Large Non Stick Pan
- 10 Individual Silicon Cupcake Liners
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Sweet Rice Grains
- Water (filled up to the 1 cup line in rice cooker)
- 1 Can Full Fat Coconut Milk
- 400 Grams Red Bean Paste
- Pinch of Salt
- 1 Cup Kinako Powder
- Kuromitsu or Animal Sauce for Serving
Instructions
- Rinse and cook sweet rice in rice cooker. See post above if you need tips on how to make rice.
- Right when the rice is cooked put it in a non stick pan along with the can of coconut milk and red bean paste. Mix it all together until there are no lumps and add the pinch of salt.
- Using your smallest burner on your stove top turn the heat to high and put on a podcast. You will be stirring for about 25 minutes. Stir constantly until the mixture turns darker and the coconut milk has evaporated and the coconut oil has started to seep out. My post above shows photos at the 10, 20 and 26 minute mark so you can compare your progress.
- Once done divide the Red Bean Biko mixture into the individual silicon cupcake liners. Or just transfer it to a large serving dish.
- Once cool unmold if you did the silicon cupcake liners and coat it all over with the kinako powder. If you use the large serving dish dust the kinako powder all over the top.
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