Arare rice crackers : zarame ume + shoyu

Shoyu arare (soy sauce caramel rice cracker).

Ume zarame arare (plum and sugar rice cracker).
They are 2 classic flavors for Japanese rice crackers.
You had already seen :

savory arare
matcha arare

Let’s make 2 new types of Japanese rice crackers. Here is my simplified recipe :

Cut a mochi in cubes.
Everything about mochi (click)

Let dry 2 days.

Toast till golden in the oven toaster.

ザラメ This square candy sugar is called zarame.

umeboshi pickled plum

For the plum sugar flavor, pass in a mix of pasted umeboshi flesh and sarame sugar, dry in the toaster a few minutes, add more sarame sugar.

For the shoyu, put a block or a tbs of kurozato black sugar in a sauce pan with a little water. When sugar has melted add some soy sauce, simmer till it gets syrupy. Coat the arare.

I have no idea about how long you can keep them. They disappear immediately after the photos are taken.

Mitarashi tokk

Matcha and wagashi. Tea and cakes. That’s an informal tea ceremony with a Korean twist.
The model is mitarashi dango, skewers of mochi balls in a sweet sauce. But these are sticks…

I’ve used Korean mochi (tokk). I have no idea if that exists elsewhere than in Osaka, but you can see this version here. It’s very convenient to prepare.

Boiled them till soft (10 minutes).

Put on skewers. Passed a little sesame oil around.

Grilled the skewers.

I’ve made a sauce by melting a small block of kurozato black sugar in water, adding a little soy sauce, a pinch of hot chili and a little potato starch to thicken.

Reheated the sauce and painted the skewers with it.

Served with matcha green tea.

Tarte au sucre lorraine (grandma’s sugar bread)

La tarte au sucre du dimanche. The sugar pie for Sunday afternoon visitors.
Yes, there are 2 of them in this post. Not the same days. OK, 2 days in a row. You start eating this humble simple sweet brioche, and you never stop…

The grandmas (les Mémés ) and the aunties (les Tantines) would bake it. With little variations. Poked or not. Just butter or a little cream.

Ideal with a cup of coffee. Yes, I have mismatch vessels… That makes the food taste more authentic.

Carrot tofu pancakes and ‘caramel salé’ spread

Soft red pancakes, with a very creamy spread of caramel salé, caramel flavored with salty butter.

Tant pour tant, equal weight.
(1 : 1 : 1) sugar : cream : salted butter.
Melt the sugar into blond caramel, add in the warmed cream. Remove from stove, add butter.
See what you can do with it here, I mean besides eating it all with a spoon.
You can also continue :

To the hot tant pour tant caramel, I have mixed in 2 additional volumes of cream. It became very liquid, it has a cream textured when cooled. I have then added a few bits of rock salt.
It can be used like a jam or a spread.

The pancakes are also tant pour tant, 1:1:1. It’s flour (plus baking powder), tofu, carrot paste (grounds when I juiced kintoki carrots with mandarin oranges).

Chocolats au caramel salé (melty salty fudge choco sweets)

Decadent simplicity. Dark bitter chocolate filled with a soft salted butter caramel paste.

Tant pour tant, equal weight.
(1 : 1 : 1) sugar : cream : salted butter.
Melt the sugar into blond caramel, add in the warmed cream. Remove from stove, add butter. Let cool and whip.

Recipe credit : Catherine H.