How To Make Nerikiri

Small Bite Desserts: In honor of our 6th birthday, we’re celebrating with cake…or another small bite dessert that fits your fancy. Show us your healthy small bite dessert creation.

I can’t believe the Recipe ReDux is turning 6! I’ve been a part of this group for about 2/3 of that–my first post was with these vegan Walnut Oat Patties! :]

When I was last back in California (April), I got together with my best friend for our annual cooking adventures! We made this Winter Citrus and Squash Salad, along with Roasted Baby Carrots…and also a super cute/fun dessert! I’m going to be going over how to make nerikiri today! :]

Nerikiri is a form of wagashi (a traditional Japanese sweet) and is basically made of white bean paste, sugar, sweet rice flour and water.

The fun part for this dessert is the fact that the consistency is rather similar to clay or playdough, so you can mold it into all sorts of fun shapes!

For instance, our pineapple and a couple really plump birds here:

How To Make Nerikiri | @fairyburger

Another cool thing about this dessert is the fact that you can make em’ colorful and get even more creative! It’d be a fun cooking activity to get into if you have kids (or if you’re a child at heart)!

We didn’t get too fancy this time around since it was our first time making it and we wanted to just use ingredients that we already had hanging out at my friend’s apartment. You can use food coloring if you choose, orrrr you can get creative with random ingredients like we did!

  • Black: black cocoa powder
  • Brown: cocoa powder
  • Green: matcha
  • Yellow: turmeric
  • Greyish-purple: azuki/red bean paste

How To Make Nerikiri

How To Make Nerikiri | @fairyburger

How To Make Nerikiri

Nerikiri is a type of wagashi (Japanese traditional sweet) that makes for a fun and creative dessert!
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Japanese

Ingredients

Shiro-an/sweet white bean paste

  • 1 cup 200g white kidney beans
  • ~3/4 cup 160g granulated sugar

Nerikiri

  • 1 cup 200g Shiro-an (sweet white bean paste)
  • ~1 tbsp + 1 tsp 10g shiratamako (sweet rice flour)
  • ~1 1/2 tbsp water

Instructions

Shiro-an - sweet white bean paste

  • Wash white beans with water and let soak in water overnight. (The beans will triple in size!)
  • Add beans and enough water to cover them in a saucepan and boil over high heat. After the water comes to a boil, cook for 5 minutes on low heat.
  • Turn off the heat and cover the saucepan for 5 min.
  • Remove into a strainer, shell the beans and then soak again in fresh water.
  • Add beans and enough water to cover into the saucepan again and bring to a boil. After it comes to a boil, remove the bean residue from the water.
  • Decrease the heat and boil for 120 minutes.
  • Pass beans through a strainer and wash with water. Repeat this 3 times.
  • Pass the beans through a bleached cotton cloth and wring thoroughly.
  • Put the beans into a saucepan and add 160g sugar. Mix until well combined, then knead on medium heat with a wooden spatula for 5-10 minutes.
  • Let cool on a tray.

Nerikiri

  • Add water to sweet rice flour little by little, mixing well with your hands.
  • Add this mixture to the white bean paste and knead on medium heat with a wooden spatula.
  • Turn off the heat and spread a thin layer of nerikiri into the saucepan to let it dry.
  • Transfer into different bowls for coloring!

Notes

The dough will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days or ~1 month if frozen!

How To Make Nerikiri | @fairyburger

I wish we’d had berries or beets or something to make reddish/pinkish colors since that would’ve opened up a whole ‘nother realm of creations, but perhaps next time!

How To Make Nerikiri | @fairyburger

Yay for pandas and avocados? :D

how to make nerikiri

Or you can make cartoonish poops ice cream scoops.


  • What shapes/characters would you make with this?!
  • What’s your favorite mini-dessert to enjoy? :]
  • If you cook, what’s one of your earliest recipe creations?

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.fairyburger.com/how-to-make-nerikiri/

44 comments

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  1. These are so cute! And they look pretty easy to make!

    1. Thankfully, they’re not too complicated! I wanna try experimenting with more colors next time! :]!

  2. these are adorable!! Especially the poops :) I love sweet bean paste!!!

    1. hahaha, I’m glad you think so! They were fun to make! :P

  3. I love these, how cute. :)

    1. Thank you! :]!

  4. O my gosh, ahah! These are so cute!!
    Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine recently posted…Classic American Macaroni Salad (Gluten-Free, Vegan, Allergy-Free)My Profile

    1. hehehe, thank you! They were a lot of fun to make! :P

  5. Ohmygoodness food that is almost too cute to eat! I love it. I had no idea that these little Japanese treats were made from a bean paste with white kidney beans being the primary ingredient.

    1. hahaha, I actually did have some trouble eating some of these because they were too cute (sigh), so I gave them to my family instead! :P I’m gonna have to try making em’ again sometime with more colors! :D

  6. These are so stinking cute! My daughter would love to do this – would be a great activity for the kiddos :) The avocado is awesome!

    1. I definitely think they’d have a lot of fun with this! :] Hope you all enjoy! :D

  7. These are so cute! …maybe not so much the poops, but those are pretty funny.
    Hannah recently posted…On changing plans when your goal becomes a bad ideaMy Profile

    1. hahaha, the colors we had the most of were brown and green, so we couldn’t resist! :P

  8. i’m so super fascinated!! can you make the sweet bean paste from canned beans?
    gretchen | kumquat recently posted…Grain-Free German Chocolate Bundt CakesMy Profile

    1. I’ve only made these once so I’m not entirely sure if canned beans would work, but I likeee to think that if they get drained well and then boiled down and strained, it should work(?). (If you try it with canned beans, please let me know! :P )

    • T on June 21, 2017 at 6:50 pm
    • Reply

    This is super cool. I definitely want to try it. Indian sweets are modeled the same way (except of course the “clay” is made with different ingredients).

    1. Maybe we can set aside a time sometime this summer to make this along with other stuffs! :D?! (I still can’t find my waffle maker! :'( It’s not chillin’ in my crockpot. I’ll have to keep digging!)

  9. Hi Farrah!

    Finally got around to subscribing to your blog! Looks like a lot of loving was put into this…it’s not easy! Your page looks so well done and like a lot of time was put into it :) Keep it up super Dr. Fong! And these nerikiri super cute too! :)

    <3 Jasmine

    1. Yay! Thanks so much, Jasmine! This kinda started off as an online diary of sorts for me and then turned into what it is today! :P

      I lovelovelove the photos in your blog! (You’re seriously making me wanna travel though. *-*) Maybe I’ll do locum tenens for a while just to have an excuse to explore the U.S.! :P

  10. Oh my gosh, these are adorable! Love them!

    1. Thank you! They were a lot of fun to make!

  11. Hi, I’m Karine from Tropical Colours, I found your blog from Tamara’s post!
    These are way too cute!

    1. Thanks so much for stopping by! <3!! I'm glad you like em'!

  12. Soooo adorable, and such a great way to involve the kids! :)

    1. I definitely think they’d have lots of fun with these! :]!

  13. They’re so cute. My sister loves artsy desserts like this. It’s almost like a craft too.
    Emily recently posted…Why I Like Fartlek Runs Over Track Workouts (WIAW)My Profile

    1. It really is! I like looking at all the fancy creations people have done online! :P

  14. These are so adorable! I never would have guessed they use bean paste!

    1. They’re definitely deceiving in that regard! ;P

  15. So cute and creative. Wish I was a better sculptor but I will try my hand at these anyway.

    1. I’m not the best sculptor either but it’s a really fun activity either way! You can always eat the ones that don’t turn out the way you’d like em’ to! ;P No more evidence!

  16. These little cakes look super cute:) #RecipeRedux

    1. Thanks so much, Monika! :]

  17. I love that you used natural dyes for the colors! Adorable!

    1. They were a lot of fun to make! :D!

  18. I’ve never come across this before but it would be such fun to play with with the kids and make things.

    1. This is definitely a super kid-friendly dessert! :]!

  19. oh my goodness these are SO cute!
    Kristy from Southern In Law recently posted…Recent Things: Litsy and that time I almost got a pet pigMy Profile

    1. hehehe, thanks, Kristy! :]!
      Farrah recently posted…Humpback BridgeMy Profile

  20. What a great fun recipe!

    1. Thanks so much, Liz! :]!

  21. Well, that is just super cute! I bet this would be a fun activity for kids, too. :)

    1. Thanks! :] And yes, it definitely would be!!
      Farrah recently posted…Humpback BridgeMy Profile

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