Momo mitsu-nyu, a plant based tres leches with peach

Freshly invented, this is the Japanese tres leches. Momo, the peach. Mitsu-nyu, 3 milks. It is vegan, gluten free, and oishii !

More about “tres leches” cake and basic recipe.

This is okara, the fiber left after you squeeze out soy milk. I often make cakes with it.

I’ve made a very simple vanilla okara cake, very simple :
1 cup of okara, 2 tbs of potato starch, 2 tbs of cane sugar, 1 tbs of dry coconut, vanilla powder, enough water to get a sticky dough. Baked on low heat in 2 round molds.

Next day, I’ve soaked the dried cooled cakes.
Syrup : coconut milk + coconut cream + 1 small chunk of kurozako black sugar.
I consider soy creaminess from the okara makes the 3rd milk.

That’s the texture you obtain.

A few hours later, I’ve piled the 2 rounds and garnished.
Cream : coconut cream, powder sugar and green kinako (a grilled soy powder). I’ve completed with slices of peach.

A fresh creamy cake that will live long enough to take and photo and then disappear into the paradise of great food memories…

Spicy kinako bread with creamed edamame

Triple power snack : edamame (green soy beans), kinako and sesame.
That’s an interesting very bread-like quick bread, and it happens to be gluten-free.

Kinako is made by roasting dry soy beans, then making them into a flour. It’s a common ingredient of Japanese sweets.

Mix : 1/2 cup kinako, 1/2 cup oatmeal, 2 tbs yellow and black sesame (half ground, half whole), 1/2 cup onion (half ground, half thinly cut), 1 dry chili pepper (without seeds, thinly cut), black pepper, salt, 1/4 ts of baking powder. Wet with water
Spread and level between 2 sheets of baking paper. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top.
Bake 15 minutes at 120 degrees Celsius, then cut and bake 15 more minutes at 180 degrees.

Warning : the chili pepper’s hotness will develop, so skip it if you are sensitive to it.

The result is a soft and compact dark bread. Let it cool overnight so flavors can develop fully.

For the cream, pass in the blender freshly boiled edamame, a little cold water, lemon juice, a small piece of fresh onion, salt. Let cool in the fridge at least 2 hours.

Kuzumochi (kuzu, kuzukiri, kuzuko,kuzuyu…)

Kuzumochi avec de la poudre de caroube.
(kuzumochi with carob powder).

Kuzumochi is very close to warabimochi (click here) made with bracken. The “warabi” ingredient is cheap, so it is more commonly sold. Kuzu is a great product, but it is costly, even in Japan where it is produced.

葛餅 Kuzumochi :

40 g of kuzuko, 150 ml of water, 5 g of sugar

Recette de base :
Mélanger les ingrédients dans une casserole. Porter a ébullition en remuant avec une cuiller en bois. Quand tout est devenu translucide, rincer un recipient et y transférer le mélange.
Quand c’est un peu refroidit, couper des cubes ou tailler des billes a la cuiller. Servir avec de la kinako (farine de soja grillé) et du sucre.

Standard recipe : mix the ingredient in a sauce pan. Bring to boil while stirring with a wooden spoon. When it all becomes slightly transparent, rinse a container with cold water and poor the paste in it.
When it’s a little cooled, you can cut bits with a spoon like here and throw them in a cup of very cold water. Drain and serve with a cup of kinako+sugar to dip the kuzumochi in it. (kinako is a powder of roasted soy beans)

You can shape your kuzumochi in round tea cups and put a ball of anko (bean jam) in the middle. This is also called mizumanju.

Variations are made with the same recipe :

葛切り Kuzukiri :
(kuzu noodles)
40 g of kuzuko, 120 ml of water
The paste is spread on a flat layer, and then cut in long noddles, Or it is extruded with a noddle cutting gadget and dropped into cold water. These noodles can be served with either kuromitsu (a syrup made from kurazato black sugar), or a vinegared soy sauce.

葛湯 Kuzuyu :
(kuzu hot water)
40 g of kuzuko, 200 ml of water, 10 g of sugar
It is served hot and liquid. Like here :
ginger kuzuyu
Rem : If you let a leftover of kuzuyu cool a few hours, it will thicken into kuzumochi.

(kuzuko, here kuzu + sweet potato)

Shopping :
Kudzu 葛 Kuzu : a Japanese plant, close to arrow-root. Starch is made from its root.

本葛 Honkuzu (yamakuzu, etc) : pure kuzu starch powder
葛粉 Kuzuko : starch powder that may be 100% kuzu or a mix of kuzu and other starches (potato, sweet potato, corn).

For the Japanese sweet recipes and to thicken your sauces, you can use any type (kuzuko, honkuzu…). The color and transparency will vary slightly.
The pure ones being more expensive, many cook with the “mixed” kuzuko. Some people use kuzu for its medicinal property and they want the pure product.

You can buy them in most supermarkets in Japan. Abroad, Asian grocers and some health ingredient stores (macrobiotic, etc) may sell them.

Pour les Français, il existe cette boutique en ligne. Je ne les connais pas. Ils ont beaucoup d’ingrédients de base japonais.

I had no kinako in stock, so I’ve eaten my snack with a mix of carob, powder sugar and cinnamon. Carob is not Japanese at all, but I liked it.

Kinako-bo and mugi-cha (via Gourmande in Osaka)

LY old sweets

There is a surprise in the paper. Kinako (powdered roast soy beans) becomes … These are kinako-bo, sweets made of kinako and honey (or syrup). They taste a little like ginger bread, a little like caramels. (for the set) Cal 344.5 F11.7g C50.3g P17.9g The second surprise-pocket contains : It's roast wheat… oops, no, it's barley, actually. Omugi (barley) and komugi (wheat), 50% chance of error, I plunged. That will teach me to check. It is infu … Read More

via Gourmande in Osaka

warabiiiiii mochiiii, ikaga desuka ? Japanese Summer’s snack

A plate of warabi mochi, a long time favorite Japanese sweet. There are still people with wood carts that they roll, or more often these days small vans, that pass in residential towns at the hour of tea break. They shoot “warabiiiiii mochiiii….” to call customers. Kids, older kids rush out of their houses to buy some.

1.catch a bit with the pick

2. Roll it in a mix of kinako and sugar (or kinako and kuro mitsu black sugar syrup)

3. Guess !
I really don’t know. Maybe it’s decorative. Or they give them to the cat.
I ate them. All. Mmmmmm ! It’s delicious, fresh and nutty, not too sweet (you may skip the sugar).

Well, there was a point zero.
0. Mix about 30 g (2/3 tbs) of warabi-ko (bracken starch) and a cup of water. Cook while stiring with a wooden spatula. First you have a white liquid, then a white paste, then a transparent paste (avoid doing it in a white sauce pan). When it’s all clear, shape balls and throw in iced water -not easy, you should train a lot to become a pro.
Short-cut : tranfer all the paste into a wet mold, let cool 1-2 hours. They can be chilled in the fridge, or -more traditional- at room temperature. Before serving, cut in cubes in a plate of water as you want them wet.