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colate the green tea flavor has a green outer shell and smooth green filling each colored and flavored with powdered green tea matcha in each case and regardless of the color the filling is white bean an based further complexity of flavor and a gentle sweetness result from the addition of egg yolk butter and sweetened condensed milk which gives it the familiar fragrance and flavor of western style cakes and cookies i ve noticed that sweetened condensed milk pops up more and more often in wagashi ingredients these days someday i ll try to reproduce this wheat flour manju and post a recipe but not today i lost most of the photos i took and didn t realize it until the manju were eaten up and it was too late to take more photos sorry about that by the way these manju were delicious while you re here check out the rice flour based bunny manju and bunny mochi recipes too posted by dosankodebbie at 5 11 pm email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels autumn festival manju moon viewing rabbit tsuki mi usagi manju wednesday may 11 2011 salt preserved cherry leaves ingredients tender leaves of a sakura cherry tree preferably yae zakura 50 grams salt 10 grams 20 of the weight of the leaves white plum vinegar 50 cc directions 1 pick the sakura cherry leaves while they are still young and tender large ones work best along with about 1 2 cm of their stems and clean them well by rinsing in water 2 drain the leaves and pat them dry place them in a sieve and pour boiling water over them 3 quickly place the leaves in very cold water to prevent further cooking or change in color 4 drain the leaves again and remove excess moisture by patting dry or using one of those plastic spinners you use to remove excess moisture from lettuce leaves 5 lay the leaves out on paper towels or a tray and separate them into groups of similar sized leaves 6 sprinkle 1 3 of your salt over the bottom of a glass cake pan or round plastic storage container divide up the leaves into groups of ten leaves of roughly the same size and stack them on top of each other in the same direction lay the stacks in the pan on top of the salt preferably without overlapping one stack with another 7 sprinkle the rest of the salt over the top of the leaves and pour the white plum vinegar around and in between the stacks of leaves 8 place plastic wrap over the leaves then lay a flat lid or dish over the wrap and something heavy like a clean brick or some cans of soda on top of the flat lid dish 9 after two or three days each stack of leaves can be placed in a small freezer bag press out the excess air do not remove the salt at this time the leaves can be stored in the refrigerator or freezer this way for up to two years 10 soak the leaves to get rid of excess salt before using them in a recipe when i use the leaves for sakura mochi i like them to retain a slight saltiness note if you can t get hold of white plum vinegar you can dissolve 50 60 grams of salt in 100 cc of lukewarm water and pour that over the leaves in place of steps 6 and 7 posted by dosankodebbie at 2 35 am email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels cherry leaves pickle preserve sakura sunday march 27 2011 salt preserved cherry blossoms i love using salt preserved cherry leaves and blossoms in my spring desserts check out my sakura mochi recipe to see the most common way the leaves are used my sakura cheesecake recipe uses both leaves and blossoms if you do not live where these can be purchased you might try making them yourself though it is a lot of trouble today i am posting directions for salt preserving the blossoms i will post directions for preserving the leaves in my next post please keep in mind these two things 1 most of the sakura fragrance and flavor is in the leaves so use the leaves for cooking and the blossoms mainly for decoration or to add very slight fragrance to green tea 2 try to use the deep pink blossoms of the yae zakura tree these tend to bloom later than other varieties of sakura and have large multi layered petals choose a tree that is far from the exhaust fumes of motorized traffic ingredients yae zakura blossoms 200 grams salt first stage 50 grams ume zu plum vinegar either white or pink will do 4 tablespoons salt second stage 50 grams directions 1 remove the blossoms from the branch at the point they are connected to it stem and all rinse them gently but thoroughly in cold water drain the water and pat the flowers dry using paper towels 2 toss the first 50 grams of salt with the blossoms and place the salted flowers in a small bowl place a weight 400 grams over the flowers cover all with plastic wrap and set aside overnight this will draw out the excess water from the flowers 3 next day gently squeeze out the water from the flowers then sprinkle them with the plum vinegar place a weight this time only 100 grams over the flowers cover all with plastic wrap and let sit for three days 4 spread the flowers still with their stems over a paper towel lined woven bamboo tray so that no flower overlaps with another place the tray in a dry shady place for three days 5 toss the dried flowers with the second 50 grams of salt and store them in a small clean screw top jar to keep at room temperature for future use or you can keep the plum vinegar steeped flowers from step 3 in the refrigerator and eat them like pickles more detail and photographs of the procedure can be found at this japanese site posted by dosankodebbie at 7 47 pm email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels cherry blossoms cherry leaves pickles sakura salt preserve monday february 28 2011 ebi senbei shrimp flavored rice crackers my favorite version of homemade ebi senbei uses all mochi glutinous rice is flavored with dried shrimp and fried in oil to become puffy and crispy the basic recipe can be adapted for different flavors and cooking methods it s a great way to use leftover rice ingredients cooked rice i use mochi rice or a mixture of regular rice and mochi rice 120 grams sakura ebi dried tiny pink shrimp 3 tablespoons a little bit of salt oil directions 1 place cooked rice in a suribachi ribbed mortar and grind it with a surikogi wooden pestle till the rice is partly mashed add shrimp and grind a bit more mixing shrimp into the rice 2 using a wet spoon divide the partially mashed rice into 8 10 roughly equal portions lay them on a piece of waxed paper or plastic wrap that is about the size of your microwave tray place another piece of plastic wrap over the rice and press with your hand to flatten each portion to a tenth of an inch thickness 3 remove the top layer of plastic wrap sprinkle the tops of the rice portions with a little salt cook in microwave for about 3 minutes at 500 watts to evaporate excess moisture 4 replace the top layer of plastic wrap over the rice and flip it over so that the bottom layer of wrap or wax paper is on top remove the layer that is now on top salt the rice once again and cook in microwave for 2 3 more minutes 5 let the rice cool to room temperature then cook the portions in hot oil for one minute on each side or till the crackers are crispy and light brown remove from oil and drain in a wire net or on paper towels till cooled the result is a light air filled crispy senbei the senbei will cook most evenly and quickly if excess moisture has evaporated from the rice portions by sufficient microwaving and being left on the counter to air cool if the rice has been flattened unevenly it will cook unevenly experiment to find out how much microwaving and how much frying will result in the kind of sembei you prefer variations a instead of shrimp try mixing kizami konbu finely shredded kelp seaweed into the rice b instead of frying the senbei in oil grill it on a wire net over a gas fire or hot coals grilling results in harder sembei that has a dry crispiness some people prefer grilling may result in some burnt areas but that can also be appetizing so no worries c instead of sprinkling the rice with salt sprinkle with sugar crystals for sweet senbei posted by dosankodebbie at 9 15 pm email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels konbu rice crackers senbei shrimp thursday february 17 2011 usagi manju steamed dumpling these rabbit shaped dumplings become especially popular in the year of the rabbit such as this year i made them with traditional tools and cooking methods no food processors or microwave ovens appear in this post i was never as fond of manju which has the texture of steamed bread or cake as i am of mochi type confections and haven t had much experience making them but these turned out wonderfully moist and flavorful so much so that i m determined to devote more time to manju making in the future yama imo mountain yam is a central ingredient in the best usagi manju recipes but my experiments with the most commonly available mountain yam naga imo failed because this yam is much too loose and watery for the purpose i was finally able to get hold of a much denser mountain yam called tsukune imo tsukune imo is often packed in sawdust to make it stay fresh longer and has the shape of a fist this yam is ground to a paste and combined with joshinko non glutinous rice flour and sugar in a ribbed mortar called suribachi using a wooden pestle called surikogi a common filling for usagi manju is shiro an white bean an perhaps flavored with yuzu zest or blended with mashed cooked egg yolk for a bright yellow color but for today s filling i used what i had on hand and ended up with a combination of kinako parched soybean flour moistened and flavored with ume usually referred to as japanese plum though it is really a kind of apricot jam and umeboshi salt pickled ume this oblique reference to plum blossoms seemed appropriate for this time of year as they symbolize the beginning of spring ingredients tsukune imo cleaned and peeled 90 grams joshinko 90 grams sugar 90 grams kinako 50 grams ume jam 50 80 grams large soft umeboshi 1 directions 1 peel the yam and grate 90 grams of it with a metal grater to give yourself a head start then place the grated yam in the ribbed mortar and grind it with the pestle until the yam is a smooth paste stirring vigorously with the pestle also helps to fold air into the yam 2 add sugar a little at a time and keep grinding and stirring with the pestle you don t have to use all 50 grams of sugar if you prefer it less sweet 3 sift the joshinko and add it to the yam mixture a little at a time mixing with the pestle until the dough is tender but firm enough to hold a shape this is hard work as the yam gets stiffer and more glutinous the longer you stir it 4 divide the yam dough into 8 equal segments and make each segment into a ball set aside 5 place the kinako in a small mixing bowl using a spoon or spatula mix in a little ume jam and chopped umeboshi seed removed adding more jam until the kinako mixture is moist enough to roll into balls that keep their shape make 8 balls and set aside 6 with moistened hands gently flatten a yam ball on one palm place a kinako ball in the center of this and wrap the yam dough around it using gentle finger pressure shape the dumpling in the traditional rabbit shape as explained in the usagi mochi post repeat procedure with the rest of the balls simple round manju are perfectly fine too 7 put some water to boil in the bottom level of a steamer pot place the uncooked manju on little squares of wax paper and place them on a rack above the boiling water so that no manju touches another manju or the boiling water itself cover the steamer and cook the manju over medium heat for fifteen minutes if like me you don t have a steamer improvise with a regular pot and a metal vegetable steamer 8 when the manju are done steaming remove them from the heat and let them cool to room temperature add ears and face details with food dye as described in the usagi mochi post note you can also experiment with shaping the yam dough itself to look like each dumpling has ears and a tail however this tends to make the dough thinner in some places than others and the manju may split in the thin places during steaming the splitting of the manju thus revealing the filling is not a bad thing and some round manju are made like this on purpose to give them character but if you want your manju to look like a rabbit it isn t helpful for the dough to split posted by dosankodebbie at 5 08 pm email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels manju moutain yam new year usagi manju yama imo yamaimo year of the rabbit wednesday february 2 2011 usagi mochi gyuuhi series i ve been busy in the kitchen making all kinds of rabbit shaped confections in celebration of the year of the rabbit and had meant to post some of them before the end of january unfortunately i used up all the ingredients for the popular usagi manju before i could refine the recipe enough to share with you so while i wait for my pantry to be restocked i ve been playing around with gyuuhi gyuuhi is made from shiratama ko glutinous rice flour sometimes sold as mochi ko sugar and water confections made with gyuuhi usually have the word mochi in the name you may remember that i first introduced gyuuhi a year ago in the post on plum blossom confections gyuuhi is easy to make tender and smooth so using it to cover a ball of filling and shaping it as you please is relatively easy in today s post i wrapped the gyuuhi around a ball of koshi an and gently patted it into the rabbit shape that is traditional in the world of wagashi thick in the rear and slimming to a rounded point in the front gyuuhi is too tender however to use for shaping the bunny ears facial features or bunny tail so i marked the ears and face with a toothpick dipped in red food coloring this is common in the world of wagashi but i find it less than aesthetically satisfying ingredients koshi an smooth an 200 grams shiratama ko 50 grams sugar 50 grams water 80 cc katakuri ko potato starch enough for dusting work surface tiny bit of red food coloring dissolved in water note measurement conversions can be found in the plum blossom post directions 1 divide the koshi an into 8 pieces and roll into balls set aside 2 place shiratama ko sugar and water in a microwaveable bowl and whisk ingredients briskly till there are no clumps at all 3 cover the bowl with plastic wrap and heat in microwave oven at 500 for 3 minutes 4 mix the goo ified ingredients rigorously with a wooden spoon or spatula and remove the resulting clump of dough to a katakuri ko or cornstarch dusted surface 5 divide gyuuhi dough into 8 pieces and flatten each into a circle place one an ball in the middle of each circle and wrap gyuuhi around the ball 6 pat the filled dough into the rabbit shape described above dip a toothpick into the dissolved food coloring and press into the rabbit at the right places to mark its ears and face give me a couple more weeks a...