japanese sweets

Happy Easter!

/ Mutsumi / 6 Comments

I was planning to make some sweets in the Easter theme. Yes, I tried but unfortunately I did not have enough time. You wonder why I have been so busy these days? I promise to tell you about it soon.

However, I have some photos of Japanese sweets in the Easter theme that I made in 2014. Because not many people have seen them I decided to take this opportunity and re-introduce my creation to you.

Easter Chicks & Eggs, Japanese Sweet

Easter Chicks

These are “Easter Chicks & Eggs” made of Japanese sweet, ‘Nerikiri‘ which are free from Gluten, Dairy and Egg. Yes, it’s Egg free!

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🎂 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!   😀

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  🙂

Mochi / Shiratama Dango (白玉だんご）

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You might know one of the famous very Japanese food ‘Mochi (Rice Cake)‘. We traditionally eat it during New Year’s days (we celebrate for 3 days). ‘Mochi’ is made from sweet glutinous Rice by soaking, steaming & pounding it.

Mochitsuki

Traditional ‘Mochi-Tsuki’ (Rice cake pounding)

It has become very rare to see the traditional ‘Mochi-tsuki‘ (Rice cake pounding) these days. It’s only seen in some kind of festival. Instead we have an electric Mochi maker for home use and people can make Mochi easily, however, it is still fiddly to go through the process for making small amount of sweets at home.

But there is another type of ‘Mochi’. It’s so much easier to make particularly for a very small amount. It is ‘Shiratama- Dango’.

<Mochi / Shiratama Dango> 

Shiratama

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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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🎶 “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. 💓

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 ‘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!

/ Mutsumi / 10 Comments

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 ‘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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‘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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Matcha Chocolate in an Origami Box

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Matcha Chocolate 2

On New Year’s Eve I was invited to friends’ house for the New Year’s Eve Dinner with some other good friends of mine. Many of us are foodies so we each brought some different dishes.

The main dish and dessert were already made by somebody else so I made some nibbles for drink before the dinner started. It was Mushroom Vol au Vents and Cheese Twists. It took a while until the main dish was ready to serve so my nibbles went down a treet whilst we were waiting.

starter1     starter2

The main food was a roasted chicken brought in by Miss D. She also cooked all the side dishes such as Braised Red Cabbage, Lentil with Italian Sausage and roasted potatoes & Tomato with garlic (famous? Gwyneth Paltrow recipe). It was delicious! Thank you Miss D for your hard work.

Our course followed by a selection of Cheeses & Biscuits, Grapefruit Posset and Melting Snow Man made by the friend’s daughter and then Herbal Tea.

As our little tradition of exchanging gifts on the New Year’s Day I took some ‘Matcha Chocolate’ in a handmade Origami Box with me.

Matcha Chocolate

Matcha Chocolate 1

It’s easy to make and taste so good. It can be a very good gift for a Matcha lover. I presented it in a handmade Origami Box.

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