Mandarin mikan daifuku mochi

丸ごとみかん大福 marugoto mikan daifuku is a currently popular daifuku mochi tea sweet. It’s a cousin of the now classic ichigo daifuku.

Most *bakers* wrap the mikans with shiroan white bean paste, but I really like the anko red bean paste and mikan orange pairing.
For the recipes to make the mochi and paste refer to this post (click).

Mikan, Japanese mandarin orange. The early ones have a green skin. Now, they are becoming really sweet.

Azuki beans to prepare tsubuan sweet bean paste.

With kurozato black sugar.

Serve fresh. Then cut :

Scallop biryani

It’s the second biryani for the Daring Cook Challenge.

The key ingredient : baby scallop. I got them already steamed.

The gravy with sweet spices (wuxi, cinnamon, cardamom, saffron, paprika…), shimeji mushrooms and goji berries.

Thai jasmine rice soaked in a mix of thick coconut milk and water, then cooked.

At the layering stage, I’ve added a few edamame beans. More shimeji mushrooms ans saffron threads on top.

It’s ready. Toppings : dry coconut, gojis and minced coriander leaves. Goya (bitter squash) to decorate the plate.

Fingerlicking yummy… Biryani is eaten with the hand. Well, I do that after taking the photos.

The extras standing behind the star, on the first photo. They are greenhouse mikan that just arrive on the markets now.

source daring cook
Fish Biryani:

Servings: 4

Ingredients

3 tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
4 green chillies
4 cloves garlic
1 onion
3 tablespoon (60 ml) (2 oz) (60 gm) ghee
2 cups (500 ml) (370 gm) (13 oz) basmati rice, soaked for 30 minutes and drained
3 cups (750 ml) coconut milk
1 lb (½ kg) white fish fillets, cut into 1 inch (2½ cm) pieces
Salt
Directions:

1. Blend the tomatoes, turmeric, cumin, chillies, garlic, and half of the onion to a smooth paste.
2. Thinly slice the remaining onion and fry it in the ghee over medium high heat until lightly browned. Stir in the rice and fry for 2 minutes. Add the coconut milk and enough water to bring the liquid about 1 inch (2½ cm) above the rice. Cover and simmer for about 5 minutes until the rice is half cooked.
3. Add the paste, fish, and salt. Cover and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes or until the rice is dry.

Dekopon, the citrus with a nose

デコポン dekopon is a fruit I am enjoying these days. deko is means something that pops out, that is convex. The reason is obvious.

It has that pear shape… or like a snout at the point where the stalk is attached. The size is like a big orange.

It can be opened by hand, the rind is thick, the inner skin is thick too, like a pomelo. Inside the fruit is perfectly round, the “nose” is empty.
Taste is between pomelo and mikan (mandarin orange), on the sour side. It has a nice flavor.

Did you know citrus trees had spears ? Apparently not all of them, so I had not noticed so far.

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.