afternoon tea

Melting Moments with Houjicha Cream

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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

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Another day, another ‘Tai-yaki’

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Tai-yaki SJ (2)

On the day I did not have any sweet at home, the first & only thing I thought and wanted to make for my afternoon tea was ‘Tai-yaki‘. It is a fish shaped Japanese sweet with sweet Azuki bean paste filling.

It was sunny day even in London in winter and a Robin & a few Blue Tits were flying around in the garden. I felt Spring was getting closer. I had to have something nice.

Taiyaki halved

A cup of hot Sencha Green Tea was very nice too.

If you want to try out Tai-yaki, the recipe is on my old post. Please check it. Cheers  🙂

Soufflé Pancake with Strawberry Sauce

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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

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Pancake Day in Japanese Style

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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

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Sake Soufflé Quiche with Fig & Pine Nuts

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my dish

‘Sake Souffle Quiche with Fig & Pine Puts’ and ‘Rosy Sake Jelly with Raspberry Sauce’

As I announced in my previous post I received the second prize in Gekkeikan Masters Cooking Competition. I had to develop two dishes, one in savoury and one in sweet, by using ‘Sake‘ (Japanese Rice Wine) which should not be a Japanese dish. This is the photo of my dishes at the competition venue.

My savoury dish was Sake Soufflé Quiche with Fig & Pine Nuts and the dessert dish was Rosy Sake Jelly with Raspberry Sauce. I was originally developing this Soufflé Quiche for making it in one bigger tin and then cut into smaller size for 2 to 4 people.

Sake Soufflé Quiche with Fig & Pine Nuts

My Sake Souffle Quiche in a bigger size

However, during the process in the competition the situation had changed and I had to adjust the recipe for using smaller tins. I had to use a small portable oven on the site so baking it in smaller tins was much quicker and also had less chance of burning the top and bottom so that it was a good move for me in the end.

Here is the recipe of my ‘Sake Soufflé Quiche with Fig & Pine Nuts‘ in a smaller size.

Sake Soufflé Quiche with Fig & Pine Nuts

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🎶 “Haru yo Koi, Hayaku Koi”🎵

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Cherry wrap

Cherry Wrap Manju with Matcha Green Tea

🎶 “Haru yo Koi, Hayaku Koi”🎵

Thia is a Japanese song for Children. “Come here, Spring. Hurry up, Spring”. It is sung from a child’s point of view. It must be the feeling of lots of people right now.

It is a weird winter this season. It started so mild and then suddenly freezing! In many area in the world it seems like snowing a lot now or even a blizzard. It was the same here in London. Because it was so mild we did not need to use central heating and I did not even wear any woollen jumper for a long time and then it became so cold last week. We are lucky that the temperature is getting slightly milder now.

However, for the people who are fighting with the snowy environment I just want to say to “Keep warm & safe and also Have a Break”. Maybe with a hot ‘Matcha‘ Green Tea and a good Japanese Sweet to make you feel relaxed and keep you going. You cannot do anything productive if you are exhausted.

The sweet in this photo is ‘Cherry Wrap’ Manju with ‘Matcha‘ Green Tea. It is a Japanese style crepes with the real Cherry Blossom I preserved myself wrapping sweet Azuki bean paste. It feels like the winter has just started but it will be gone in 2 or 3 months time. Then we will see lots of Cherry Blossom again. Hope this Cherry Wrap gives you a warmth in your mind by thinking the lovely season awaits ahead of us.

 Have a lovely weekend, Everyone. 💓

‘茶’ – Japanese Tea

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3 tea in cup

Did you know that all the tea is made from the leaves of exactly same tea plant, Camellia sinensis? They might be grown in different countries in different climates, but yes, English Breakfast tea, Japanese Sencha tea, Chinese Oolong tea or Sri Lankan Ceylon tea … any tea is from the same leaves. The difference is just the process of how to make them from leaves into a tea. I found it very fascinating that the same tea leaves can taste so different just by how it is treated.

In Japan we have several types of tea. Unlike Chinese tea most of Japanese tea is steamed and unfermented. That is why it has kept a clean green colour and aroma with lighter flavour. Some of the famous ones are as follow.

3 tea leaves 2

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Happy New Year 2016!

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2016 New Year card

🎍 Happy New Year! 🎍

In Japan we celebrate three days for the New Year. Yes, the New Year Days are very big deal for Japanese. It is the biggest National Holiday and everybody should be resting including the person who cooks for the family too. In order to have less cooking time home chef prepares celebratory meal ‘Osechi (お節)’ until New Year’s Eve. It is like a bigger version of Bento box filled with lots of delicious & luxurious food all of which last for 2-3 days so that you just need to add some extra thing such as ‘Sushi’🍣, ‘Sashimi (さしみ)’ or something warm.

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Mission Accomplished!

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nerikiri ready to go

‘Nerikiri’ ready to go to Market

It’s over! My mission to running a stall in the Chritmas market in two weekends in a row finished! Pheeeeeeeew.

Although I was planning and practicing some sweets as products, not everything went according to plan. What I have learnt from this experience was that “Food is a living thing”. Even when I thought I was following the recipe I had a great result before, something went wrong when I really seriously wanted to make everything neat and delicious. It was so unpredictable.

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