Three Asian flavors for Italian Easter rice pies

The bunny and the bells wish you a Merry Easter, even you don’t believe in chocolate eggs.
Well, that’s a personal version of the Italian Easter pies filled with rice and ricotta. This one is simplified and plant-based.

I’ve added flavoring to cooked rice, let it overnight to soak the liquid.

That’s the Asian touch. Lots of zests of yuzu, mikan (mandarin orange) and kumquat, and some juice. I also mixed it a good amount of firm tofu, after squeezing water out of it and crumbling it. Then some coconut yogurt.

Filled pies (the crust is simply flour, olive oil, water sugar, yuzu zest).

Decorate them. That doesn’t cost more and that’s so much prettier.

Bake about one hour at moderate heat.

Let them cool. Ideally wait till the next day so the flavors have the time to develop fully.

Yummm… I love Easter sweets.

A bowl of vitamins…

A fruity brunch is magical. It uplifts the mood.

The base is oatmeal, soaked with coconut milk and cream and some yuzu citrus juice. A few dried grapes inside. Let one hour or more.

On top : mikan mandarin oranges, goji berries, yuzu citrus peel.
And some freshly ground sesame, a little black sugar to add before mixing.

Petits chocolats in 2 minutes

They are already selling the Valentine Day chocolates and chocolate-making equipment. I got those fancy individual silicone molds and played a little.

I’ve had a little fun, melting ordinary chocolate in the micro-wave, mixing in stuff. As you can see it’s a bit messy but that doesn’t matter when you take out the molds.

spicy orange stars : bitter chocolate, cocoa mass, mandarin orange zest, cinnamon and nutmeg.

hot ginger squares : bitter chocolate, cocoa mass, raw ginger cubes, habanero powder.

Both were delicious.

more chocolates

Black beans, Korean wind

Another nutritive and easy plant based lunch, warmed up by Korean condiments.

Season plant : mini-daikon. I briefly steam them.

I’ve boiled 500 g of kuromame black soy beans. I have a stock for New Year. And some more.

I just added stuff around.

Gim. Korean nori. Sheets of seaweed. The weeds are small leaves in the water, they become small flakes. They are cooked into sheets on a hot plate.

Korean make them less smooth than the Japanese ones, and usually more flavored. That seems more labor intensive as you can’t just press the sheet. But I’ve not seen those being made.