Easy and simple! Try making Sendai's famous zunda at home!

Miyagi Prefecture is known for its representative foods such as beef tongue, sasakama (fish cake), and zunda mochi (rice cakes with edamame paste).
Among these, zunda is loved throughout Japan and is used in a variety of sweets.

Zunda, a popular ingredient not only in Japanese sweets but also in Western-style desserts,
is famous for being praised by Matsuko Deluxe for her "Zunda Shake"!
But did you know that you can easily make zunda at home?

This time, we will explain the origins of "Zunda," a typical food of Miyagi Prefecture, and introduce an easy way to make it

Zunda is made from edamame soybeans! It's delicious when seasoned with salt and used as a salad!

Zunda is a paste-like paste made by mashing edamame and broad beans, and is a Japanese sweet characterized by its vibrant light green color and exquisite edamame aroma. One of its charms is the granular texture and subtle sweetness of the edamame that gives it a deep flavor when you take a bite! Its rich color makes it a very popular ingredient on social media

The name comes from the characters for "beating beans" (豆打, zuda).
It is used in local cuisine from as far north as Akita and southern Iwate prefectures, and as far south as northern Tochigi prefecture.
However, when people talk about zunda, they usually mean Miyagi and Yamagata prefectures.
Recently, Miyagi prefectures have been using zunda made with locally produced beans, such as "Sendai Cha Mame" and Yamagata prefectures with "Dadacha Mame," to differentiate their products.

In the past, zunda was associated with mochi (rice cakes), but in recent years, it has been used in a variety of sweets as well, and is now popular as zunda sweets, sold as souvenirs, in Japanese confectionery, and sometimes even in Western-style sweets.
Although zunda is famous as a sweet, it can also be used in salads or other dishes without added sweetness, instead
using a savory dressing. Since eggplant and taro are often used, why not try making zunda yourself after learning how to make it from this article?

How to make "Zunda" that anyone can do easily!

Now, let's talk about how to make "zunda"!
It takes some time, but anyone can easily make it, so please give it a try!

The materials are:

That's all!
The edamame we'll be using this time is from Sendai.

The weight is approximately 300 grams.
While it's 300 grams with the skin on, expect the actual weight to be about one-third of that.

1. Boil the edamame.
Rub the edamame with salt and boil them.
Boiling for 3-4 minutes, as you would normally for eating edamame, is fine, but if you want a smoother, more paste-like consistency, you can increase the boiling time.

2. Peel
the boiled edamame beans. Be sure to peel them completely, including the inner skin.
It took about 30 minutes to peel all of the 300 grams of edamame beans we used this time.
Use this as a guideline!

3.
Weigh the shelled edamame beans.
This is because the amount of sugar used is proportional to the weight of the edamame.
In this case, the beans weighed approximately 100 grams, so we will use about 1/3 of that amount, or approximately 33 grams, of sugar.

4. Grinding:
Ideally, you would grind it in a mortar and pestle, but if you want to save time, a food processor like the one in the image is also fine.
If you process it continuously for a long time, the grainy texture will disappear, so it's best to stop the rotation frequently while grinding.

5.
Add the sugar and crushed beans to a pot and simmer over low heat for 5-6 minutes.
Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt as needed.

6.
Once the simmering is complete, let it cool and it's ready!
Enjoy it however you like, whether you eat it with mochi or use it in desserts.

*If you are making it into a salad, try using 1/10 of the sugar and more salt

summary

As you can see, zunda is an easy dish that anyone can make.
It's also recommended for making sweets with your children
If you upload a picture of your finished sweets to Instagram, you're sure to get lots of likes!
Please give it a try!

Chimon

A balding writer who loves travel and laughter.
A nice guy who hides his thinning hair by shaving his head!
He travels north and south to bring smiles to Tohoku through his writing!

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