I came across this ingredient in a YouTube video today. Anyone familiar with it or know how to use it?
What is Kinako?
Kinako is one of many Japanese ingredients made from soybeans. It is dried, milled and roasted soybean flour. It is golden tan in color and has a powdery texture similar to that of all-purpose flour. It has a warm, toasted and nutty aroma, and its flavors are similarly nutty and slightly reminiscent of roasted peanuts.
It’s primarily used in Japanese sweets.
Kind of like a dusting of powdered sugar, but not a dusting and not sugar. I particularly like mochi based wagashi (Japanese traditional sweets) rolled in kinako. Yummy! Flavorwise, similar to rolling something in finely pulverized roast nuts.
Can you bake with it?
It’s not done in Japanese cuisine, but you can bake with it. It has a strong, nutty flavor, so most recipes recommend kinako as a replacement for maybe 1/4 of regular flour.