Red daikon, red mochi.

A colorful version of the Chinese snack that is called in Japan daikon mochi and I can’t pronounce any of its names in Chinese dialects… Well, radish cake.

I washed and grated my red skin daikon radish. It’s white inside as usual.

I steamed the daikon. Added an equivalent volume of mochiko (sticky rice flour) with enough water to get it creamy. For flavoring : salt, chili pepper flakes, dry shiitake mushroom, fish flakes (skip for vegan version). And fried slices of garlic.

I steamed the cakes. Let them chill.

Then pan-fried cuts of very cold cakes in sesame oil. They become creamy inside, crispy around. The flower is a slice of raw daikon.

For sauce : sweet chili sauce + Bulldog Worcester style sauce.

Once upon a spoon, 3 little rabbits were transformed into carrot cakes…

Let’s eat a cute little legend…

It looks very cake-like the next day. The carrot has become very soft too. But it’s not cooked. The fairies have visited during the night.

Raw carrot cake :
Grate a carrot. Paste 1/2 cup of sesame seeds with 2 or 3 prunes. Add 1/2 ts cinnamon. 2 tbs of dry coconut. 1/2 lemon juice. Mix. Powder 1/4 cup of sesame seeds and add enough to the mix to get a paste. Form rabbits. Let one night in the fridge.
Frosting :
Whip : 1/3 coconut cream + 2/3 of soy yogurt (homemade). Add vanilla powder, a little lemon juice and sweetener to taste. Let one night into the fridge before spreading.
Moustache :
100 % carrot

Big moustaches are not as elegant as thinner whiskers but I thought about too late…

Voila ! The ogress has caught one. Nom nom…
I’d eat a real rabbit too if I could, but these were yummy.

February main topics

Edamame avocado breakfast croquettes

Here is a quick browsing of last month, but you can see the whole in a photo board here.

Chinese New Year

Compilation of Chinese recipes
Chinese breakfast fried bread
Sesame balls

Crêpes de la Chandeleur (French crepe day)

colorful veggie
fruity crepe soufflee
crepe compilation

Black bean kuromame

kuromame black bean compilation
black bean tofu
black bean shiso empanadas

Seafood : oysters and watarigani crab

Tartare d’huitres au yuzu (oyster)
Fried watarigani crab
Red curry crab
Oyster omelet

Okara carrot cupcakes

Okara carrot cupcakes

Are not my little cakes cute ? Hey, I have to eat vegetables…
They are healthy carrot cakes.

I was usually using egg to make ok’cake (made with okara tofu fiber, click here for more). Not this time, so they are egg free and vegan, if that matters.

Very simple, just mix : 1 cup of steamed finely grated carrot, 1 cup of okara. 2 tbs of coconut cream. 1/2 cup of juice carrot with a little water. 2 tbs of potato starch for binding. Kurozato black sugar, cake spices. Then into 4 cup cake molds. I shaped the bulk as they don’t grow bigger when they cook. They even slightly shrink.

The baked cakes. I took them out of molds after 20 minutes and continued 20 minutes after putting them upside down, so they dried better. Then I poured a little lemon juice on top and let cool.

The icing is coconut cream (from a can) with vanilla powder and a little sugar.

Daikon mochi, the lucky white carrot cake

That’s not a dessert of course, but the dim sum classic. Turnip cake, radish cake and I spare you the Chinese names, mostly because I’m unable of typing them. In Japan, it’s called daikon mochi. It’s actually made of daikon radish, even in China. But usually not of mochi (sticky rice), but plain rice flour.

So, shred 2 cups of daikon radish. Add 1/2 cup of water, cook a little till daikon gets a little tender.

Add rice flour. I use 上新粉 (joshinko), a processed Japanese flour. Add as much as you can to make a solid dough, still stick.

Flavoring : I fried onion, garlic and some red chili. Cut negi leek greens. Plus salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.

Steam the mix till it changes of color to slightly yellow and slightly transparent. I put it about 40 min, in the rice-cooker with some water under the bowl.
Then if you’re a perfectionist, you let it chill, then place in the freezer 1/2 hour to harden and you can slice it perfectly when it’s half-frozen.

Yes, I made the casual version, I took the paste still soft with a spoon and stir-fried both sides. Serve with hot chili sauce and sesame oil as a dip. And Chinese tea.