Sweet Seasons / November 2006 - Maple and Ginkgo Leaves -

Maple and Ginkgo Leaves I thought it was almost a cliché to use maple and ginkgo leaves for autumn theme, but these looked too cute that I ended up using them for November’s wagashi entry. According to the lady at the confectionery shop, these are the kind of wagashi called kangoori寒氷, which is made with sugar, water, (syrup) and kanten gelatin. But it is not as soft as regular gelatin desserts. Perhaps because of the decent amount of sugar added, its surface is quite dry and hardened and the inside is rather soft. A Japanese wagashi site says that this semi-dry type wagashi is made by boiling water and sugar, grinding it with mortar and pestle until it turns white and thick, then adding kanten gelatin solution. After set, it is punched out with molds. Since it has been rather warm this autumn, leaves didn’t turn colors until recently around here. Now I see the whole town colored with bright yellow and red everywhere, with some greens of evergreen trees. Maybe I should go for an photo-excursion this weekend, if the weather permits. ;) Categories: Wagashi

Garden Report - November 2006 -

Here’s the update of my long-neglected garden report. :P Blueberry (Sunshine Blue) Parsley Sweet Marjoram I forgot what these are. Must be mitsuba or parsley. Let's see what would come out. And this is the photo I took in summer, perhaps late July or early August, and forgot to post. I don’t think anyone remembers this, but seems like I did write something like “stay tuned for my dry tomato project this summer.” :P Well, it didn’t take place, because this was the one and only harvest I got. This is the pic of the tomato when ripe. Categories: Garden

Happy Thanksgiving!

Kabocha Pumpkin Pie Absolutely no energy left for Thanksgiving dinner project this year. You know why. And I'm going to be in my hometown this weekend, helping mom with some kind of tea ceremony event there. I'm leaving early tomorrow morning. So, this was all I could do for Thanksgiving 2006. At least I baked this myself (after I came back from shooting photos of a steam locomotive) today. Have a nice weekend! :D Categories: Sweets

Obachan's Quasi-Kaiseki #3

I guess my quasi-kaiseki is making a slow but steady progress. As you know, now I work at a kaiseki restaurant. Of course, there no one teaches a female dishwasher (me) how to cook, but I can see what chefs do, and later in my kitchen, I can ape what they do. What’s more, now I have this wonderful resource. So being fully inspired, I went through several challenges and did a bunch of aping. But let me emphasize this: I don't mean to disgrace kaiseki. I know very well that it's not something you can master through aping only. I'm doing this just to express my love and respect towards kaiseki, so please take this attempt as my hommage to this beautiful Japanese culinary tradition :) Well, now enjoy this virtual full-course meal! (Photos marked with * in each entry can be enlarged.) ----- 先付 二種　Two Kinds of Sakizuke (Appetizers) １．秋の前菜盛合せ　Autumn Plate: 鶏肉柚子醤油焼き、きのこ肉詰め焼き、かまぼこ紅葉七味風味、そうめん松葉、いくら醤油漬、銀杏、銀杏芋 Broiled chicken marinated in yuzu-soy sauce, Mushroom meat balls, Maple-leaf shaped kamaboko (steamed fish cake) with shichimi pepper, Somen noodle pine leaves, Salmon roe, Ginkgo nuts, Ginkgo sweet potato 2. 胡桃豆腐 Walnut Tofu お造り　Otsukuri (Sliced Raw Fish) ワカナ造り　Young yellowtail 焼き物　Yakimono (Broiled Dish) チダイ西京焼き Broiled crimson sea bream marinated in miso (soybean paste) 蒸し物　Mushimono (Steamed Dish) チダイ蕪蒸し Steamed crimson sea bream topped with grated turnip 揚げ物　Agemono (Deep Fried Dish) 海老のコーンミール揚げ、シソ巻き鮭、サヤインゲン、ナス、ぶなしめじ、レンコン、かぼちゃ、銀杏、銀杏芋 Shrimp coated with cornmeal, Salmon and shiso (perilla) roll, String beans, Eggplant, Shimeji mushrooms, Lotus root chip, Kabocha squash, Ginkgo nut, Ginkgo sweet potato 酢の物　Sunomono (Vinegared Dish) 柿なます　 Vinegared persimmon and daikon strips 御飯・止め椀・香の物　Gohan, Tome-wan, Koh no mono (Rice, Miso Soup and Pickles) しめじ御飯、味噌汁、カブの漬物柚子風味 Rice cooked with shimeji mushrooms, Miso soup, Pickled turnip flavored with yuzu citrus rind 菓子　Kashi (Dessert) 練り切り　Nerikiri Categories: Japanese

先付 二種 Sakizuke nishu (Two Kinds of Appetizers)

１．秋の前菜盛合せ　Autumn Plate * 鶏肉柚子醤油焼き、きのこ肉詰め焼き、かまぼこ紅葉七味風味、そうめん松葉、いくら醤油漬、銀杏、銀杏芋 Broiled chicken marinated in yuzu-soy sauce, Mushroom meat balls, Maple-leaf shaped kamaboko (steamed fish cake) with shichimi pepper, Somen noodle pine leaves, Salmon roe, Ginkgo nuts, Ginkgo sweet potato * Broiled chicken: This was not a great success. The yuzu aroma faded pretty quickly and left the chicken rather bland. Mushroom meat balls: Aren’t they cute, looking like sawtooth oak acorns? The bottom parts are big Shimeji mushrooms. I didn’t expect the mushrooms to open up like this, but I think it’s cute. Maple-leaf shaped kamaboko: This is something that I whipped up. I sliced white kamaboko, brushed the surface with mirin & soy sauce mixture and burned it over the open flame of a stove top. Then I brushed the sauce again and sprinkled shichimi pepper. I wanted to brown the surface a little more, but I was worried about the shichimi pepper coming off, so I just punched the kamaboko with a maple-leaf shaped mold. * Somen noodle pine leaves: This was so much fun to make! :D All you have to do is to break somen noodles into 5 or 6 cm lenghths, pick two, seal one end with tempura batter (I wrapped that part with dried seaweed) and deep-fry. The somen pine leaves will sink into the oil and immediately come up to the surface, slightly curved like real pine leaves. And they are done. Perhaps the only challenge would be finding green colored somen noodles. I shopped around quite a bit until I finally found a brand of somen noodles which had a couple of pink and green noodles in each bunch like this. I guess it is meant to add a little color to the noodle dish. Salmon roe in sudachi citrus cup: I’ve seen this in so many photos of traditional Japanese course meals, and I’ve always wanted to give it a try. The salmon roe seasoned with soy sauce was store-bought, but I did make this sudachi cup. Not bad, ha? Oh, wondering why these fish eggs have anything to do with autumn theme? Well, salmon lay eggs in autumn. ;) * Ginkgo nuts with salt: This year I didn't pop the nuts in microwave like I did last year so that I won't scare the neighbors -- hahaha. I cracked and removed the shells with pliers and microwaved the nuts for about 20 seconds. I did another trick with the salt to make it very fine and dry -- I microwaved it and then ground it with mortar and pestle. I saw the head chef doing this once in a while at the kaiseki place where I work at. The other chef told me that it makes the salt dry and fine. He said that tasty, “authentic” salt is usually quite moist, but with this trick, it becomes suitable for sprinkling or dusting. Ginkgo sweet potato: I got this idea from Mr. Murata’s Kaiseki book. My ginkgo sweet potatoes were not soaked in yellow coloring water as mentioned in the recipe in the book, but still looked yellow enough – at least when sitting on white paper. ２．胡桃豆腐 Walnut Tofu * 胡桃豆腐　Kurumi dofu Walnut Tofu This was definitely a big -- or reckless -- challenge for me; I tried out the walnut tofu recipe in Mr. Murata’s book. It wasn’t a great success, as expected, but it wasn’t a crash and burn disaster, either. My walnut tofu didn’t set firm enough to be cut in a cube (I think I added wrong amount of kuzu starch) so I served it in this tiny cup. And I didn’t have the walnut oil which was called for in the recipe. So, what I made was probably very far from what it was supposed to be. I hope kaiseki chefs do not get mad at me for disgracing a famous chef's recipe... :P But one thing is sure: trying out this recipe introduced me to a new combination of tastes that I didn't know before. This walnut tofu IS a delicacy. Indeed, grating sesame seeds and walnuts with a mortar and pestle was some work, but I understand that it had to be done that way. You can’t use store-bought sesame paste for this dish. And you MUST use good dashi broth taken from kelp and bonito flakes. Taking an easy way out would make a huge difference in the delicate taste of this dish. BTW, the black thing on top of my walnut tofu is a quartered piece of a grape. The walnut tofu in the kaiseki book was garnished with a few small grapes, so I wanted to do the same. But only bigger grapes were available at nearby supermarkets, and one whole grape was too big for my tiny tofu, so I quartered it. I left the skin on so that the grape would stand out on the dashi jelly poured over the tofu. Dashi-jelly and grape. What a combination! I’ve never thought about tasting those two together, but the combination was amazingly refreshing. Mmmmm.... My compliments to the person who invented this combination. Categories: Japanese

お造り Otsukuri (Sliced Raw Fish)

* ワカナ造り　Wakana tsukuri Young yellowtail After gutting/filleting small fish (horse mackerels) frantically for a couple of months, I was ready for a challenge, i.e., a bigger fish. So I went for it. ;) One funny thing in Japan is that some fish are given different names as they grow up. Yellowtail is one of the teasers. It is given 4 or 5 different names and the regional differences in the use of the names make things even more complicated. Gee, how could fishermen and sushi chefs handle that? This one was labeled as “Wakana” at the supermarket so I used the name here, but it may not be correct… Most websites I consulted said that wakana refers to young yellowtail around 20 cm or smaller, while the fish I bought was definitely bigger. This is my sashimi bocho 刺身包丁(fish slicer). And I have to admit this: the close-up of the flesh of the fish looks much better than the vegetables I cut. Hence, this small photo of the garnish. I guess those who are familiar with traditional sashimi garnish would laugh at my work if they had a close look at the veggies I cut. To tell you the truth, this was the only yori-ninjin (twisted carrot strip?) that curled up properly. :P Categories: Japanese

焼き物 Yakimono (Broiled Dish)

* チダイ西京焼き　Chidai saikyo-yaki Broiled crimson sea bream marinated in miso (soybean paste) As you probably know, I love grilled fish marinated in miso. Last year I tried it with yuzu-moromi miso, but this time I used shiromiso (white miso) to make Saikyo yaki. I heard that the name came from Saikyo miso, a kind of white miso that has very mild saltiness. Because of its mild taste, the miso is said to better preserve the good flavor of the fish marinated in it. I agree. This was just oh so HEAVENLY… Some saikyo-yaki recipes tell you to simply marinate fish fillet in white miso, while others require an extra procedure for making miso more flavorful. It is adding sake and mirin to miso and stirring well over a low heat. Of course, I'm a strong believer of the sake-and-mirin method. Here's a close-up. See the part with browned miso and imagine the wonderful aroma. * Categories: Japanese

蒸し物 Mushimono (Steamed Dish)

* チダイ蕪蒸し　Chidai kabura-mushi Steamed crimson sea bream topped with grated turnip I don't think professional Japanese chefs would ever use same fish for both broiled dish and steamed dish, but I did so, due to the low-budget nature of my kaiseki project. ;P Anyway, this was my very first time trying out kabura-mushi, steamed fish with grated tunip topping. The dish is served with dashi-based soup thickened with starch poured all over. I said grated turnip, but actually whipped eggwhite is usually added to the turnip to make it white and fluffy. The ginkgo nuts and boiled lily bulb give a nice accent to the soft and smooth turnip topping, and the dashi soup brings the taste of the topping and sea bream together. It is an authentic dish that warms you up on a cold autumn/winter night. I wished I could have served this kabura-mushi in a bowl with a matching lid like this, but I don't have anything like that and I couldn't find one at the daiso 100-yen shop. * Categories: Japanese

揚げ物 Agemono (Deep-fried Dish)

* 海老のコーンミール揚げ、シソ巻き鮭、サヤインゲン、ナス、ぶなしめじ、レンコン、かぼちゃ、銀杏、銀杏芋 Shrimp coated with cornmeal, Salmon and shiso (perilla) roll, String beans, Eggplant, Shimeji mushrooms, Lotus root chip, Kabocha squash, Ginkgo nut, Ginkgo sweet potato This used to be my basic tempura batter recipe. When I was making kakiage, I used 55 g flour as in this recipe, and when making regular tempura, I increased the amount of flour to 60 or 65 g. This time I tried something new to make crispy tempura -- I added rice flour and baking powder to the batter and didn’t use egg yolk. The result was not bad in terms of crispiness… but I think the batter tastes better with egg yolk. Tempura is often served with grated daikon and a lemon wedge in addition to the tentsuyu dipping sauce, but I prefer sudachi to lemon. BTW, before shooting the photo on top of this entry, I played around quite a bit putting the brown sprig here and there. I finally decided this was the best because I liked the shadow of the sprig on the white paper. I think these bamboo sieve, brown sprig, ginkgo sweet potato and ginkgo nut look very nice and autumny together. This is my favorite shot. Categories: Japanese

酢の物 Sunomono (Vinegared Dish)

* 柿なます　Kaki namasu Vinegared persimmon and daikon strips I couldn't find a nice bowl for serving this dish, (the one I had in mind was used for walnut tofu) so finally I decided to use the persimmon as a serving bowl. How's this idea? The dressing I used was the mixture of 2 Tbsp. vinegar, 1 Tbsp. sugar, a few drops of light soy sauce and just a little bit of wasabi. It was nice, but to be perfectly honest, the persimmon bowl tasted better than the sunomono itself… :P * Categories: Japanese

御飯・止め椀・香の物 Gohan, Tome-wan, Koh no mono (Rice, Miso Soup and Pickles)

* しめじ御飯、味噌汁、カブの漬物柚子風味　 Rice cooked with shimeji mushrooms, Miso soup, Pickled turnip flavored with yuzu citrus rind Of course I cooked this shimeji gohan in my donabe (clay pot). It was a great success with just perfect okoge (browned part) at the bottom. And as you probably know by now, in my quasi-kaiseki project, the ingredients of the tome-wan miso soup are always the veggies left from making other dishes. Why don't you take a closer look and enjoy guessing which vegetable scrap came from which dish. ;) Categories: Japanese

菓子 Kashi (Dessert)

* 練り切り　Nerikiri (What should I name this? Any idea?) Now I’m very proud of the progress I made. This was the nerikiri I made in autumn 2005. Just like a kid’s work with playdough, isn’t it? Now look at the top photo, my best work this time. What do you say? A teenager’s work with playdough, maybe? ;P I tried making a color gradation with white and orange dough, and I think I did a good job for the first try. Nerikiri is basically sweetened white bean paste, but often yam or gyuhi is added to make it smooth and flexible. Last year I tried adding steamed yam, so this time I tried adding gyuhi. Gyuhi is made by mixing mochiko (rice flour), water and sugar over a low heat. The trick I used this time was adding a little egg white when mixing rice flour and water. I read somewhere that egg white is often used to make wagashi whiter, and somehow I thought it would be better to mix it with gyuhi than with the bean paste, though I can’t really tell you why. Anyway, it seems to have worked. The technique of making a color gradation is called “bokashi.” You combine two pieces of dough in different colors and roll them out together. Then you fold it and roll it out again, as described in this site. (Scroll down to find the bokashi part).　Notice that the borderline between the two colors in the upper half is not brought exactly onto that in the lower half. This slip is what that makes the color gradation. It was so much fun playing with the color, and the texture of this gyuhi-mixed one was 100 times better than what I made last year. Honestly. With nice, hot green tea, this nerikiri made a perfect dessert to conclude my kaiseki project in autumn 2006. ---- So this was obachan’s crazy kaiseki weekend in November 2006. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did ;) Oh, if you don't mind, can you tell me which dish you liked the best and why? Categories: Japanese

It's Been a Long Time...

My Lunch Today: Store-bought Pizza No, this has absolutely nothing to do with the project I'm working on now. I was (still am) so preoccupied with the project that I didn't want to spend much time for preparing/eating lunch today. This was really something quick and dirty, but looks kinda nice in the pic. Gee, when was the last time I had pizza? I don't even remember... Categories: Western-inspired

Obachan's Fish Curry

Fish Curry - Obachan's Version - This is what I improvised today: Fish curry with horse mackerel and eggplants. I just wanted to use some – maybe half -- of the frozen horse mackerel fillets sitting in my freezer. In a sense, those fish fillets are the evidence of how often I got frustrated in the last couple of months. (You know that I gut /fillet fish when I get frustrated … or bake sweets.) Anyway, I felt like trying something I’ve never tried before with the fillets, so when I saw a photo of Thai fish curry on the net, I told myself, “Yeah, this is it!” But I didn’t follow the recipe at all… I only had about 1/3 of the ingredients that was called for. So this fish curry was just the mixture of all I could find in my kitchen: horse mackerel, eggplants, tomatoes, onion, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, chili pepper, cumin, curry powder mix, salt& pepper, chicken stock, and coconut milk. I did find fish sauce in my fridge, but its expiration date was… no, I can’t tell this to the world. So I don’t think this deserves a name “Thai curry.” People in Thailand would probably get mad at me. This is obachan’s stress-induced fish curry. That’s what it is. :P But to my surprise, it wasn't bad at all. I might try this dish once in a while… to prevent my freezer from being fully occupied with frozen fish fillets. ----- WARNING! Obachan’s another ill-thought project is going to take place this weekend. Be very afraid ;) Categories: Asian-inspired

Sake to Sakana #3 Kubota

* The author of this post does not recommend sake-drinking to anyone who has not reached the legal drinking age or who should not consume alcohol due to medical/psychological concerns. No, I haven’t forgotten about this project. How could I? ;) This sake was what I enjoyed last Sunday night, after enjoying those cream puffs in the afternoon. BTW, I don’t remember if I mentioned this before, but I do make moderate use of what we call “2 channel,” a Japanese internet forum conglomerate(?) which is said to be the largest in the world. (Now I’m so happy that English Wikipedia has this nice coverage of 2ch! :D) When I started this “Sake to Sakana” series, I stepped into the wild jungle of 2ch and found a couple of extremely informative forums about sake and appetizers. Those threads are still my favorite and I browse them once in a while. This sake, Kubota 久保田 was one of those brands that so many people recommended to sake beginners. Also Mr. John Gaunter includes this Kubota in his list of “super popular sake” on his wonderful site, Sake-world.com. So I had been wanting to try this brand for quite a while, and I almost jumped with joy when I found 720 mL bottles of Kubota at EAON shopping mall. Unfortunately what I found was “Senju　千寿” rank of Kubota, the less expensive honjozo 本醸造 version, not ginjo 吟醸 or daiginjo 大吟醸. (The junmai daiginjo 純米大吟醸 version is named "Manju 萬寿 Kubota", and costs apx. three times more.) But I was determined to try the one I found anyway. The impression I had at my first sip of this Kubota was “Gosh, this is SWEET!” It was almost “creamy” sweetness that I had never tasted before. The distinctive (at least, to me) sweetness was followed by a pleasant sensation right after, which I liked very much. But I couldn’t help wondering, “Is this what they call ‘light and dry’?” because the impression of the sweetness was too strong. Then I warmed it, as I always do to see the changes in the taste at different temperatures. It WAS interesting. I think first I warmed up this sake to be a little warmer than body temperature, and I thought I felt the sensation stronger than the sweetness. Then as it cooled down to be about body temperature or a bit cooler, it got to the point where the sweetness and the sensation were felt almost simultaneously, making a very pleasant harmony. So my conclusion is: I like this sake lukewarm (Nurukanぬる燗). Read More This is an appetizer made with salmon, which I don’t know how to call. I saw it on TV Saturday morning and immediately decided to try it out, because everyone appeared in the program said it was great. I gave it a little twist of my own, though. Ingredients: 150 g Salmon fillet 3 or 4 cm Shironegi (white leek??) 2/3 to 1 Tbsp miso 1 tsp mirin 1 tsp sake A few drops light soy sauce A pinch corn starch White sesame seeds for topping Chop samlon fillet in small chunks. Slice Shironegi. Mince salmon and shironegi together until they turn into a coarse paste. Add the seasonings (miso, mirin, sake, light soy sauce and corn starch) and mince and mix. Repeat scooping up the paste with the knife and pushing it down onto the cutting board, until the seasonings are evenly mixed with the paste. Spread in a baking sheet or something lined with aluminum foil, sprinkle with white sesame seeds and bake until the top is appetizingly brown. Remove from the baking sheet, remove the foil and cut in rectangles. In the TV program, they used miso only, but I wanted to add a little sweetness with mirin and sesame seeds. It might be good to sprinkle shichimi or sahsho pepper on top for extra flavor. I guess you could use food processor instead of mincing with a knife, but they say the knife-and-cutting-board method would bring out the salmon flavor better. Another appetizer I enjoyed that night was this edamame-ten -- my recent favorite. It is edamame (green soybeans) mixed in white fish paste and deep-fried. Unfortunately this is not home-made… it’s one of the fish-cake products they sell at supermarkets. But it is so good with the natural sweetness and crunchiness of the beans. Now I have to make an embarrassing confession for someone in the quest of good home-made appetizer recipes. To tell you the truth, I’m hooked on this combination of jagariko and sake. Jagariko is the name of potato crackers, and the one in the photo is a cheese-flavored version. I found this appetizer idea in one of the 2ch forums mentioned above, and I wish I didn’t. This is very dangerous… because with this crunchy potato crackers, I cannot stop munching and drinking… Definitely bad for health. Very bad… :O Categories: Sake

Cream Puffs with Double Filling

Cream Puffs with Whipping Cream and Chestnut Cream Filling This was my very first time making cream puffs. Believe it or not, I didn’t make a disaster. Oh, I’m serious. I really expected a disaster, because I’ve heard a lot of sad stories about cream puff shells that “did not rise,” or “rose but fell after a short while.” You know where I got the recipe for the shells? A calendar hanging near the bathroom in my apartment. My boss gave it to me in the beginning of this year, and it has beautiful photos of sweets with recipes. “Cream puffs with chestnut cream filling” was on its October page, and I dreamed about trying it out, staring at the photo while brushing my teeth. Finally, I bought a can of chestnut cream at my favorite store MARCO yesterday, and started my project early this morning. The can says the cream is imported from France. Is this a popular brand over there? To my surprise, the puff shells came out of the oven alright and did not fall. The only thing was that the bottom part was a little tough. But not too bad for a first try… I think. The filling was a combination of vegetable whipping cream and chestnut cream. I added a little whipping cream and rum to the chestnut cream, which probably made the cream a little too runny. But the taste was VERY satisfactory. :) These cream puffs in the autumn afternoon sunshine... And the steam drifting up from the teacup... Oh, it was so very healing. Too bad these photos are not showing how they actually looked. Please use your imagination. ;) Categories: Sweets

Kogyoku Apple Jam

Vanilla Ice Cream with Kotyoku(Jonathan) Apple Jam I’m glad that Kogyoku (Jonathan) apples are becoming popular around here recently. Now I know two supermarkets in my neighborhood where I can buy Kogyoku apples throughout the apple season. I used to envy those who can get granny smith for making apple desserts, but Kogyoku apples here are said to be a decent substitute. When I thought about making jam with these sour apples, an idea popped up in my mind. What if I use the skin, too? Would that make the jam red, or at least pink? So I googled, and found that quite many women in Japan thought the same thing. I found a Japanese website with appetizing photos of apple jam with red spots (the skin) showing here and there. I thought that the jam would look lovely with ice cream or yogurt. So I tried it out, with the amount of sugar being 25% of the weight of the Kogyoku apples. While in the pot, my jam looked pretty close to the jam on the Japanese website mentioned above, but after canning, mine turned darker orange. Mmmm.... And the color seems to be getting darker with time. The difference is: I used spices, like cinnamon and nutmeg, and I also added a little amount of pectin at the end, which was probably unnecessary. Though not too happy with the color, I like the taste of this jam very much -- I found the texture of the skin rather pleasant. But I’m not too crazy about the combination of this jam and buttered toast. Categories: Sweets

Project Dashimaki Tamago -1-

Dashimaki tamago Yes, I finally bought a tamagoyaki-pan the other day. (Must be a stress-induced impulsive buy. :P) Here's my not-so-successful dashimaki tamago. Mmmmm... Definitely needs improvement. There you go. This is my tamagoyaki-pan (copper). And I'm practicing rolling the eggs with chopsticks, not a turner. It is a common practice for beginner Japanese chefs. Of course I don't mean to be a chef in the future or anything, but just wanted to be able to do that because that looks cool. Now, I can roll dashimaki tamago, at least, with these chopsticks. But my dashimaki doesn't taste good at all. So I guess I need more experimenting with the amount of dashi and other seasonings... Categories: Japanese