A smooth or crunchy paste of sweetened, ground red adzuki beans boiled with sugar. The smooth paste is called koshi-an and the crunchy paste tsubushi-an or tsubu-an. It is generally used as a filling for wagashi, the Japanese equivalent of cakes and confectionary.
Conger eel. Raw slices are used in sushi. At its best in July and August. It is the prize delicacy of Edo-style tempura. There are two different conger eels: Anago anago is goten-anago and Conger myriaster is ma-anago. We ate anago at a kaiseki-ryori at which we also ate raw sea cucumber and the raw liver of a lobster. Oddly, it was the anago which we found difficult. It was prepared by perfect slicing of the raw flesh until it frilled out around the central spine. The flesh was punctuated with minute shards of bone, held within the perfect ruff of white meat. Even the thought of a fish bone can produce a slightly odd feeling in my throat, and the anago had the same effect. Each mouthful seemed to lodge at my uvula and refuse to go any further.
