Anmitsu photo by Namiko Chen
Celebrate summer with this delightful Japanese dessert called anmitsu! It’s a Japanese wagashi dessert with kanten jelly, fruits, mochi, red bean paste, green tea ice cream and a good drizzle of sweet black sugar syrup.
Anmitsu (あんみつ) is a summer dessert (but why don’t we enjoy it year-round?) made of small cubes of kanten jelly, sweet azuki bean paste, mochi, a variety of fruits, ice cream and boiled peas. It’s usually served with black sugar syrup called kuromitsu that you pour onto the jelly before eating.
What’s included in Anmitsu:
• Kanten jelly: Kanten is a white translucent jelly made of seaweed, which is suitable for a vegetarian/vegan diet instead of animal/chemical-based gelatin.
• Sweet red bean paste (anko): As you may know, the majority of wagashi (Japanese confectionery) includes sweet red bean paste. It’s a crucial part of anmitsu (coming from anko).
• Mochi: This type of mochi is called shiratama dango, and it’s a classic Japanese sweet dumpling. It’s made of glutinous rice flour. They are chewy and soft at the same time.
• Green tea ice cream: You can use vanilla ice cream instead, but in order to avoid a conflict in flavors, I wouldn’t recommend other flavors of ice cream.
• A variety of fruits: You can pick your favorite fruits to go with anmitsu.
• Red endomame peas: Anmitsu is topped with these boiled and chilled peas. These specific peas can be hard to find. I took a shortcut and used the peas from a canned fruits mitsumame (https://www.justonecookbook.com/fruits-mitsumame).
• Black sugar syrup (kuromitsu sauce): This is another crucial part of anmitsu (coming from kuromitsu). This syrup is usually made of Okinawan black sugar.
Imagine: Enjoy putting mouthfuls of these delicious items from the bowl into your mouth. Despite all the differences in texture and flavors, this dessert represents quintessential Japanese harmony, where everything works together. It doesn’t take too long to prepare, especially if you can purchase the sweet red bean paste, kuromitsu and green tea ice cream (but trust me, homemade is SOOO good!).
Anmitsu Trivia
This is just trivia for those who want to know a little bit more about anmitsu. Anmitsu recipes actually evolved through different periods of time and this kanten jelly dessert has many variations now.
It started as mitsumame (みつ豆).
• mitsumame = kanten jelly + black sugar syrup (mitsu) + red endomame peas (mame)
• mitsumame + fruits = fruits mitsumame.
• mitsumame + shiratama dango = shiratama mitsumame
• mitsumame + ice ceam = cream mitsumame
• mitsumame + sweet red bean paste (anko) = anmitsu
• mitsumame + sweet red bean paste (anko) + ice cream = cream anmitsu
• mitsumame + sweet red bean paste (anko) + ice cream + shiratama dango = shiratama cream anmitsu
• mitsumame + sweet red bean paste (anko) + ice cream + shiratama dango + fruits = fruits shiratama cream anmitsu (and that’s this recipe!)
Hope you enjoy! Thanks so much for reading!
Anmitsu
Celebrate summer with this delightful Japanese dessert called anmitsu! It’s a Japanese wagashi dessert with kanten jelly, fruits, mochi, red bean paste, green tea ice cream and a good drizzle of sweet black sugar syrup.
Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 30 mins
Servings: 6
Ingredients
1 batch kanten jelly (https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-make-agar)
1 batch shiratama dango/mochi (homemade) https://www.justonecookbook.com/shiratama-dango
6 Tbsp red bean paste (anko) https://www.justonecookbook.com/anko-red-bean-paste (for my homemade recipe, visit https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-make-anko-red-bean-paste/)
6 scoops green tea ice cream (homemade https://www.justonecookbook.com/green-tea-ice-cream-matcha-ice-cream or store bought) (or vanilla ice cream)
strawberries
banana
kiwis
kuromitsu (brown sugar syrup) https://www.justonecookbook.com/kuromitsu-black-sugar-syrup
boiled red endomame peas (optional)
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, visit https://www.justonecookbook.com/ingredient-substitution-for-japanese-cooking.
To read the full recipe, visit https://www.justonecookbook.com/anmitsu/.
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