Zenzai
Adding rice powder to red beans boiled in the sweetness of brown and white sugar to make a Mochi -- three things on one plate -- then topping with crushed ice -- this is "Zenzai." Zenzai topped with strawberry or lemon or melon sauce is called "Kanadoki." When topped with condensed milk, it becomes "polar bear" Zenzai. Recently new variations have appeared with "Mitsumame" (boiled beans or agar-agar cubes in sugar syrup) or "Nata de coco" jelly toppings. Zenzai is a staple quick picker-upper menu item. Eating it in the wilting heat of summer is instantly refreshing, making it a must.
Zenzai without crushed ice is "Shiruko," but in Okinawa it is simply called "hot Zenzai." However, even in winter there is little demand for it.
Zenzai was originally made with green beans, an ingredient in Chinese medicines used in cases of overeating or lack of appetite, as an antidote or detoxicant, a folk curative to invite coolness
When green beans are boiled with mineral-rich brown sugar, they ease the heat of summer and soothe the body.
However, with Okinawa's fields lying burned and blasted after the war, green beans gave way to American red beans furnished by the occupying U.S. forces. Red beans are used in boiled dishes in America. The bean resists crumbling and retains its shape when boiled.
Now, if I may be permitted a brief digression, a tradition exists of placing Zenzai on the Butsudan (household altar) on the first day of the Bon festival of the lunar calendar, the day of welcome. Nowadays many homes seem to use canned Amagashi.
When people make Zenzai at home they seem to most often use Adzuki beans instead of red beans. This is probably because they use them in the red rice that is offered to the fire god on the first and fifteenth on the lunar calendar, and then often make Zenzai with the beans left over. These Adzuki beans are minced and used to make the Maru Mochi offered at Shimi (Seimei Sai) and the lunar-calendar Bon festival in place of Mochi made with rice powder. This is a Zenzai with a simple taste, a sort of jolly Okinawa grandmother taste, a little different from the Zenzai you'd eat in a restaurant.
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