Key Ingredient: Kinako
Nutritious soybean flour lends its nutty essence to sweets and savories
By Lorna Yee December 31, 1969
This article originally appeared in the August 2010 issue of Seattle magazine.
Kinako
What it is: Made from toasted and ground soybeans, kinako (KEE-nah-koh) is a nutty-tasting, tan flour whose flavor is often compared to tahini or peanut butter.
How I Discovered It: I first tasted kinako on a traditional Japanese confection (wagashi) from Tokara in Phinney Ridge (6208 Phinney Ave. N; 206.784.0226). Chef Chika Tokara dusted the tops of her sticky, red bean mochi sweets with the powder, which dissolved on my tongue with an unusual, but enjoyable, dry finish. When I later mentioned my love for this new-to-me ingredient, my dear neighbor Yoshiko presented me with a bowl of homemade warabi-mochi—a jellied sweet made from bracken starch—topped with kinako.
How To Use It In The Kitchen: The Japanese use kinako as an ice cream topping, and also on mochi—both sweet, as in wagashi, and the toasted savory street snack. It’s also used in warabi-mochi, a dessert popular during the sweltering summer months in Japan. Kinako can be stirred into milk for a nutritious drink high in protein and B vitamins.
Where To Find It: Kinako comes in 5- to 7-ounce bags that sell for $3 to $5. In Seattle, you can find it at Uwajimaya (International District, 600 Fifth Ave. S; 206.624.6248; uwajimaya.com).
Lorna’s Kinako ice cream recipe and a video demo
Originally published in August 2010