Baking

Melting Moments with Houjicha Cream

/ Mutsumi / 11 Comments

Melting Moments with Houjich Cream

Do you know ‘Houjicha’? It is Roasted Green Tea which is Japanese Tea with a marvellous aromatic scent. I enjoy having it when I want to relax and cleanse my body. Although it is Green Tea, it looks quite brown because it’s roasted.

I normally use loose leaves for making tea but recently I’ve got this lovely powdered Houjicha. The tea leaves were very finely ground and has kept the wonderful aroma and taste. This powdered type is quite a new thing for me and even in Japan (I think). I found it is great that you can add it into whatever you want to make without brewing tea.

Houjicha

Powdered Houjicha & Houjicha loose tea

I have been trying to use this powder in several ways and in order to enjoy its aroma at the maximum in the finished products I think it is the best using it without heating. The scent is so good that I don’t want to lose any during the cooking process. I think ingredients also should be limited. You know what they say; “Simple is Best!”

Melting Moments with Houjicha Cream

Melting Moments with Houjicha Cream double

Continue reading →

Soufflé Pancake with Strawberry Sauce

/ Mutsumi / 4 Comments

Souffle Pancake 1

Yes, yes another ‘Soufflé’ type food. Since the Sake Cooking Competition I like making soufflé. Its very soft light & smooth texture has the luxurious quality.

I also like Pancake. So why don’t I mix the two things I like together? I wanted it to have a custardy flavour so I did not add anything to the basic ingredients except for Vanilla extract.

If it’s a Vanilla flavoured soft sweet … it should be with Strawberries, right?

Soufflé Pancake with Strawberry Sauce

Souffle Pancake cut

Continue reading →

Pancake Day in Japanese Style

/ Mutsumi / 12 Comments

It’s ‘Pancake Day’ today! It is not familiar Day for Japanese but I know it comes every year near Springtime.

So, what is Pancake Day?

Pancake Day is also called Pancake Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday. It is a day before the start of Lent which is the period of 40 days leading to Easter. As you can guess I am not Christian so this is the maximum I can explain about this day. What I understand is that the Pancake day is the day people try to use up all their eggs, fat and sugar in order to clear up the cupboards at home before another feasting period (Easter).

What they do?

People make Pancakes! That is the main thing. There are some festivals and people race with a frying pan on one hand flipping pancake whilst running. It’s a fun day. On social media I saw someone who lives locally asking where is a cafe that serves good pancakes. I guess it is great to know where a good cafe is but what I can’t understand is why this person doesn’t make Pancakes herself? Originally that is what this day is for, isn’t it? And it is not difficult to make a pancake either. You just need basic ingredients of eggs, sugar and flour.

So I made my own pancakes. In my kitchen it cannot be a normal pancake. It has to be a Pancake in Japanese style. I made ‘Dorayaki‘ with ‘Matcha‘ Green Tea flavour.

Matcha Drayaki

Matcha Dorayaki half

Continue reading →

Gluten Free Shortbread

/ Mutsumi / 7 Comments

So I am going to have a stall in two markets, one is on the 6th (Sun) and the other on the 13th (Sun) of December. Both are in North London. I will be very happy if anybody who lives nearby wants to try out my Japanese/Japanese-Western fusion Sweets and come to see me there. 🙂

xmassmall           Xmas flyer 2015 pshoped

The market venue and the date are fixed but the thing which is not fixed yet is what I should bring to those markets – my products.

There is so much demand for Gluten free food these days and I have been developing some. Luckily many of Japanese sweets are originally Gluten free and Dairy free.

Gluten Free Kinako Shortbread with Sesame Seeds

I have this signature biscuit “Kinako Shortbread‘ which is the Shortbread with Japanese ingredient ‘Kinako‘ and white sesame seeds. I know it tastes good and I have sold it before. So I want to try changing it into Gluten Free biscuit this time.

Kinako gf shortbread

Continue reading →

Blackberry Cup Cakes

/ Mutsumi / 2 Comments

Blackberry Cup Cakes 2

It has been Blackberry season in England. It is good to eat seasonal food. That is Macrobiotic Diet. I am very disappointed that I managed picking them only once this season … 😦 It is nearly the end of the season now so it is very unlikely that I could get any more decent berries …

Blackberries

During the season in almost every year I make a tart with Blackberries, except for this year. But this year I made cup cakes with them instead. I have to say it was rather successful! I am annoyed that I could not make the tart but I am happy about these cup cakes so that I am sharing the recipe here with you.

Continue reading →

Tea in the Garden with Two Visitors

/ Mutsumi / 2 Comments

Bella

One afternoon we had visitors. This is Bella the Jack Russel. She came to my garden with Liliane for Tea. This was Bella’s first time coming to our garden so she was so excited and explored everywhere. That is why she was covered with some stuff on her body.

So for the Tea I made two things. ‘Sweet Potato Muffins’ and my signature biscuit ‘Kinako Shortbread’.

tea in garden

Continue reading →

Plum Crumble Cake

/ Mutsumi / 7 Comments

Plum Crumble cake2

plumsI had these plums. They were organic. I was looking forward to tasting them, but was disappointed … they did not have any sweetness. How is it possible that fruits are not sweet, I wonder. So I could not eat them fresh but I had to used them. I was going to bake a cake with them but how? … Umm, OK caramelised a bit before baking!’ That was what I was thinking.

Continue reading →

Can you hear the Scream?

/ Mutsumi / 4 Comments
The Naked Screaming Biscuitmen

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaarrh!!

Day 14 on ‘Photo101’ – Scale & Observation

Can you hear their scream? These are the Naked Screaming Biscuit Men. I was supporting a crowdfunding campaign for a short film ‘The Naked Screaming Man’ last summer and made these little funny & tasty men as a perk for contributors. The film is about a Naked Man hiding behind a bush so I wanted to create edible smaller version of him as a joke hiding behid … broccoli bush?! Basically I scaled the situation down!!

Afternoon Tea with Cranberry Scone and Clotted Cream

/ Mutsumi / 7 Comments

Afternoon Tea with Cranberry Scones

A little break from the still ongoing Report of food story in Japan.

When I go back to Japan I take some little gift to my family. I found it is quite hard to find something nice that the gift-receiver can enjoy and also not be too expensive… So now I always take some FOOD.

This time I took some Butter and Clotted Cream as well as some sweets. WHY Butter?? Well, you may find it strange but there has been a shortage of Butter in Japan for years! As soon as the Butter section shelves are filled in a supermarket, it empties very quickly. And they are much dearer in Japan. It is same for other dairy products such as cheese or fresh cream.

I like Clotted Cream. Of course I don’t have it regularly. It’s too rich but having it on Hot Cross Buns is a Must to have at Easter time. You normally don’t find it in Japan. This was not the first time I took Clotted Cream to my family. I know it is a little too fatty and high calories for my mother but having it once a year does no harm and I just wanted her to enjoy something she doesn’t usually have.

So I made Cranberry Scones to have with the Clotted Cream.

Cranberry Scones

Continue reading →