dairy free

πŸŽ‚ One Year Anniversary!

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Happy B SJ

Today is a Special Day for Sakura Junction. It was this day, one year ago, I started this Blog. It is the one year anniversary! Hooray!

Although I wanted to write a Blog for such a long time, I could not start until last year. I wondered if there would be anybody that wanted to read my post or even if I could write something readable and carry on writing …

Now one year has passed and I appreciate that many people have stopped by my blog. I am so happy that you are very supportive to me, especially the people who take the time to leave nice comments.

Before starting the Blog there were many subjects I wanted to write about. I have written some of them but there are lots more I haven’t done yet. Maybe I am not a fast writer but hopefully I can cover all the things I want to write gradually.

Birthday Ukishima Cake with Strawberry An

So, for my Blog’s one year anniversary I made a Birthday Cake. Oh, actually it is not a normal cake. It is a Japanese sweet ‘Ukishima‘ cake and decorated with ‘Strawberry-An‘. When I was thinking what I could make for this special occasion an idea popped into my head and I had to make it. The spongy base is plain ‘Ukishima‘ and cream part is ‘Shiro-An (white bean paste)’ mixed with Strawberry topped with dried Raspberry. And of course the candle is edible made of ‘Nerikiri’ Japanese sweet. The whole thing is free from Gluten and Dairy.

Birthday Ukishima cut

It might look big, but it is quite small. You can compare the size with the fresh strawberry.

I am happy that I can celebrate the first year. I hope I can do that for the following years to come.

Birthday Ukishima

Thank you very much for reading my Blog, my lovely readers!Β Β  πŸ˜€

Hishi-Mochi Ukishima on Hinamatsuri

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Usa hina

My little Rabbit Hina-ningyou

The 3rd of March is Girls’ Day in Japan. It is called ‘Hina Matsuri‘ or ‘Momo no Sekku‘ and we celebrate girls’ health and growth (Don’t worry we have Boys’ Day as well). This day we decorate ‘Hina Ningyou‘, the dolls of a princess and a prince or even with lots of their servants and music players on red carpeted shelved space, with Plum blossoms in a room.

My Hina Ningyou are Rabbits. I brought them when I came to England. They are very small and cute.

There is certain food we eat on the day that is all pretty and beautiful for girls of course. Main meal is definitely ‘Chirashi-zushi‘ which is Sushi rice served with colourful fish, vegetable and egg on top. We also have a clear soup with ‘Hamaguri‘ Big Clam.

One of the typical sweets for this day is ‘Hishi-mochi‘ which is Rice cake in a diamond shape in tricolours of pink, white and green). ‘Hina arare‘ (pastel coloured Rice crackers) and lots of sweets in flower shape & colours are often had as well. The girls have a drink called ‘Amazake‘ which is sweet Sake. Yes, it is a kind of Sake. Although there is alcoholic Amazake but normally we have sweet sake without alcohol, so young girls can have it on this Hinamatsuri.

I have been thinking what I should make for this day and wanted to try something new for me. And then one idea stuck in my mind so … here it is.

Hishi-Mochi UkishimaΒ 

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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. CheersΒ  πŸ™‚

Shiratama Zenzai

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Very strong wind was blowing around this week. It was a gale caused by the Storm Imogen on East coast of Britain. We started having extremely mild winter and then suddenly it became wintery winter! Cold and miserable.

On a cold day like today I feel like having something warm and comforting. There is only one thing in my mind. It must be definitely …

Shiratama zenzai 3

‘Zenzai’ with Mango & Matcha ‘Shiratama’

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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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🎢 “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.

Β Have a lovely weekend, Everyone. πŸ’“

How to make ‘Shiro-An (白あん)’ (Quicker version)

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Shiroan White Bean Paste

By going through the preparation for markets and recent private order I had a chance to make ‘Shiro-An’ so I can finally post β€˜How to Make’ it here.

‘Shiro-An’ is one of the main ‘An/Anko‘ Sweet Bean Pastes for Japanese Sweets which is made from white beans such as Butter Beans or White Kidney Beans. I used to think that it is just one type of Anko but since I started making wider range of Japanese Sweets I now realised that ‘Shiro-An’ is definitely the most important one among of all ‘Anko’ Sweet Bean Pastes.

Shiro-An is not just a tasty filling but it is also an essential ingredient for making Japanese sweet. Because it is 1. in white colour so that you can change it into any colour you want 2. having a very smooth texture, it is very versatile and basically it acts like a great shape shifter. It can be used in all sorts of sweets in disguise. My recent hit sweet ‘Ukishima’ and also ‘Nerikiri’ are just two examples that ‘Shiro-An’ is used into a different shape. Unless you are told you don’t realise.

So How do you make ‘Shiro-An (白あん)’/ White Bean Paste? Well, professionally it is a long process but I am going to show you the easier method. Some steps are omitted here but the product you get tastes very good. What you need is just patience and lot of care.

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My First Order!

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Hooraaaay! I had the first order for my Japanese sweets and I managed to deliver them to the client last Saturday. (Sorry, it takes so loooooong to write in a second language)

The client was a lady who lives locally. She visited my market stall on the 6th of December and liked my products. She wanted my Japanese sweet for her husband’s birthday party who loves Japanese food. What a lovely thought!

So what she ordered me was 35 pieces of β€˜Ukishima’ with Matcha Green Tea & Apple and Chocolate & Chestnut flavours. I prepared the ingredients ready for making it on time for the Saturday.

So, Voila!

Ukishima

35 Pieces of Ukishima became ready! I cut and trimmed the edge of each piece carefully.

Ukishima matcha

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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 β€˜Osechi (γŠη―€)’ 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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