The flavor profile of adzuki (or azuki) beans tends toward sweet; here in Hawaii, they are ubiquitous, not only in traditional Japanese confections such as yokan, or stuffed in mochi, or manju, but even as an addition to your shaved ice (if you’ve been to Matsumoto’s on the North Shore, you know what I’m talking about). Although I have never loved the beans in these sweet applications, I could not resist pairing them with the layered, complex smoky-sweet of Bourbon and uncured applewood smoked bacon. Cooking the beans with Volcano rice adds another lovely fragrance and nutty, almost vanilla dimension. - gingerroot

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