Musubi mean making a knot. They are also packages of rice, to take with you as lunch pack. The plastic film gives the shape to the ball.
A mix of genmai (brown rice), mochigome (sticky rice), kurogome (black rice, sticky too) and takakibi (sorghum).
Pickled sakura leaves, rinsed.
Wrap. Keep a few hours, or better the next day. The leaves are not very tasty but give a sakura flavors and saltiness to the rice.
As Christmas is approaching, I wish you a nice holiday season. So let’s have a sukiyaki party !
It’s a party meal designed to showcase delicious premium Japanese beef and season produce. A hot pot to cook and share on the table.
The ingredients are cut, cleaned, prepared and presented on big trays on the table.
First tray : fungi, konnyaku noodles and grilled tofu.
There were 4 types of mushrooms : shimeji, enoki, dry and soaked maitake and fresh kikurage.
Second tray : negi leeks, onions, soaked yakifu (gluten croutons) and kikuna (chrysanthemum greens).
Third tray : the beef. Wagyu, Japanese traditionally raised cows. Beside you can see cubes of beef fat.
Each eater is given a bowl with a good fresh egg. Whisk your egg with the chopsticks and get ready to dip you ingredients in this sauce.
First step : greasing the pot with fat and roasting the first slices. They can be enjoyed this way as the beef is delicious, just on its own.
That’s the technique : melt some fat, add some meat, pour a little sugar, then a little shoyu (sauce sauce), a little sake. Mix and cook.
All the other ingredients are added in small batches…
For dessert… well, there are no desserts for Japanese meal. So that’s a French tarte Tatin, made with Japanese apples.
It’s very a simple and delicious coffee cake. Few ingredients, little process and full flavor.
Purple satsuma imo sweet potato. The potato has already a flavor of almond cream cake, so not much is needed.
I took the flesh of a baked potato, and smashed it with a little coconut cream, a little Grand Marnier liquor and very little sugar. Just mixed.
The crust is walnut, oatmeal, a little sugar, a pinch of salt and very little water, together in the blender. Then put in molds and dried in the oven. Well I should have taken it out before filling…
The taste is really pure walnut
So just fill the crust.
Serve chilled or warm. And enjoy with your coffee.
Each family of Osaka has its secret recipe of okonomiyaki. This post is pure spying. I am going to reveal you how my friend Emi makes hers. It’s a delicious simple version very rich in eggs. Before you start, make you sure you have tasty farm eggs.
Then, you need thinly shredded cabbage. She cuts it with her big knife. The flavors are tenkasu (tempura crumbs) and thin slices of pork breast.
The batter : It’s about a tbs of grated yama imo (Japanese yam), water and flour. Whip.
In a bowl, mix batter, cabbage, some tempura crumbs and an egg.
To be always ready, Emi has a reserve of servings of grated yama imo in her freezer.
On the oiled hot plate, first some batter-cabbage mix. Then slices of pork. Then more batter. Then flip.
Then… Why that ? The goal is to make the surface uneven so the sauces will stay on top.
Garnishing : the sauces are poured on top and layered with a brush. Then she puts fish flakes.
So the sauce are :
-okonomiyaki sauce (a mix of the thick sauce and of the more liquid Worcester sauce)
-mayonnaise
And in between ?
Do you recognized ? It’s mustard that gives a spicy tone to the sauces.
So you know all the tricks, you can enjoy it at home too.
A delicious fresh dessert for all the lovers of sour sweetness.
Why zu zu zu ?
Zu or su, is sourness. Many acidic ingredients have this sound in Japanese. Today :
Anzu : Apricot.
Yuzu : yuzu citrus.
Kuzu : kudzu is a root resembling arrow-root and similarly used as a jelly starch.
About 1 volume of dry apricot for two of oat meal in the blender, then just a little water. Put in the mold, dried in the oven.
Yuzu. I’ve really discovered something here : yuzu and apricot are one of those rare matches made in even. Paired they become something else, a richer fruit flavor.
Kudzu as it is sold. It is 本葛 Honkuzu, pure kuzu. There exist others (explanation here).
For more : kudzu recipes.
I mixed the kuzu powder with the juice and zest of a yuzu, a little yellow cane sugar, enough water (as suggested on the package of kuzu) and cooked while stirring, till it became transparent.
Filled the crust. Let cool a few hours. Garnished with whipped coconut cream, toasted sesame seeds and yellow cane sugar.
GOURMANDE in OSAKA 