Monday, March 28, 2005

Tenmusu


Tenmusu from nearby tenmusu shop

When I was younger, I thought tenmusu (rice ball with batter-fried shrimp inside) was a real unfamiliar food. The idea of putting batter-fried food in a rice ball sounded so strange to me. I thought that deep-fried batter would taste greasy and awful, and would never go well with the rice.


It was after I turned 20 years old when I tasted tenmusu for the first time. And guess what? I liked it!! Maybe It was largely because I grew to love green perilla by then.

The green perilla is just wonderful in tenmusu, I think. Its refreshing flavor cancels out the greasiness and goes well with the nori (dried seaweed).
I like these tenmusu from the shop, but more green perilla leaves and more salt would make them even better, I think.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yums...! i will try that.. when i am in the city.. :) 

Posted by MrsT

Anonymous said...

What a creative idea. It's been around awhile, yeh? Never saw that before here. Wonder how it would taste if the shrimp was more of a marinated style, like a light teriyaki flavor or italian dressing marinate? For sure it would be last oily. Mmmmmm...........too bad I'm allergic to shrimp. Can't experiment. 

Posted by lance

Anonymous said...

Looks great Obachan. Havent seen any tenmusu here in Canada even though I have been to a lot of authentic Japanese restauarants and kaiseki places. Looks really delicious. Still trying to adapt to shiso.. still taste like bugs to me..:( 

Posted by keona

Anonymous said...

Looks great Obachan. Havent seen any tenmusu here in Canada even though I have been to a lot of authentic Japanese restauarants and kaiseki places. Looks really delicious. Still trying to adapt to shiso.. still taste like bugs to me..:( 

Posted by keona

Anonymous said...

Mmm, love shisho! BTW my Korean perilla is doing great! I'll make kimchi out of the leaves soon. 

Posted by Jonny Angel

Anonymous said...

> MrsT --- Let me know how you liked it when you tried one ;)

> lance --- Oh I’m sorry to hear that you are allergic to shrimp! I’m not sure when this tenmusu became really popular throughout Japan. It was a local specialty of Nagoya area when I was a kid.

> keona --- Mmmm… Maybe tenmusu is a too casual food to be part of kaiseki?? I don’t know. Your comment about the taste of shiso is so funny :D Have you tasted bugs before? ;)

> Jonny --- I really envy you because my shiso in my balcony garden all died out last year. It’s so hard to prevent diseases in summer because my balcony gets so hot and humid…. :( 

Posted by obachan

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately that bug was a first hand experience...
:( LOL think it was stink bug. 

Posted by keona

Anonymous said...

Stink bug?! Ahhhhh..... 

Posted by obachan

Anonymous said...

Hi obachan,

I had tenmusu a while back at the local Japanese department store, Shirokiya. It used to be a branch of Tokyu. The tenmusu was so yummy that I wish they still had it. =( 

Posted by Reid

Anonymous said...

Hi Reid,
Oh, they don't have tenmusu at the department store any more? What a shame :(
I guess we don't have Shirokiya in Japan any more... its name must have changed. BTW, Shirokiya is said to be the first department store in Japan that had a big fire. 

Posted by obachan

Anonymous said...

hi, i was just trying to find recipes for ten-musu while i come across your page :) the picture looks great! it makes my mouth water just to look at it ;P i had a chance to go exchange to nagoya in 2001 and my host mother bought me those ten-musu, i haven't been to japan again since that time but i still can't forget how yummy the taste was until now!!! ^^ i can't wait until i visit nagoya again :) ten-musu im coming!!!!!!!  

Posted by Listia

Anonymous said...

Hi Listia,
Welcome to my site :D Sorry I didn't respond to your comment earlier.
Yeah, Nagoya is famous for tenmusu. I bet you had a real nice ones over there. I want to try their tenmusu there someday! Hope you have a chance to visit Nagoya and enjoy tenmusu again sometime soon!  

Posted by obachan

Anonymous said...

Just tried to find the recipe to do Tenmusu and found your blog. Really happy to learn all the JP things in your blog. Thanks for sharing us...

obachan said...

Hi Lisa,
Thanks for visiting. Sorry my Tenmusu post didn't have a recipe. But I'm so happy to hear that you enjoyed my site. Hope you come back often. :)