102 replies to this topic

[torakris]

Yay Kristin!!!  

So...how does it taste?  Did you refridgerate it?  Does the upper crust peel off easily?  Im so excited!!!

I didn't refrigerate it because it didn't say to, but my house is probably colder than my refrigerator so I don't think it matters..

I didn't try to take off the upper crust but I did cut off the sides and ate them with the kids, it was good but tasted mostly of the browned side and I didn't get the full matcha taste. I will be cutting into it in a couple hours.....

[Kiem Hwa]

Kristin-
So what was the final ruling on your o-cha castella?

[torakris]

believe it or not I actually forgot about it until late afternoon....

ta da!



This was REALLY good!
Definitely let it sit overnight, it made a big difference. I cut off and ate the edges hours after making it and it was dry and cardboard-y tasting with almost no flavor. 24 hours later it was soft moist and very matcha tasting.
I didn't use the full amount of matcha called for in the recipe, it called for 30 grams which was the entire container that I bought, so I only used 20 and I was perfectly happy with that.
I will translate the recipe later today....

[torakris]

Matcha Castella
(translated and somewhat adapted from the recipe above)

5 large eggs
240g /8 oz granulated sugar
200g/ 7 oz strong (bread) flour -- I used one with 12% protein
20-30g / about 1 oz matcha powder
100ml/ 1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons milk, at room temp
4 Tablespoons honey
6 Tablespoons flavorless oil (I used canola)

1. Prepare an 8 inch square baking pan by greasing the bottom, laying down a square of parchment (wax paper) and greasing that. Preheat teh oven to 350 F.

2. Mix the eggs and sugar with a hand mixer (or standing mixer) on high speed for about 10 minutes (probably a little less with a standing). You will know it is done when the batter has lightened considerably and batter dripping from the beaters disappears almost immediately upon contact with the batter.

3.Mix the flour and matcha together. With the mixer running on medium speed at it to the batter a little at a time.

4. Add the milk and mix until combined.

5. Add the honey and mix until combined.

6. Add the oil and mix until combined.

7. Pour it into the prepared baking pan and bake at 350 F for 10 minutes then lower the heat to 325 and bake for 45 minutes.

8. Remove it from the pan as soon as it is done and let the cake cool on a rack. One it has completely cooled, wrap it in saran wrap and let it sit overnight.


Enjoy!

[Kiem Hwa]

Thank you very much Kristin. I really appreciate you taking the time to translate a recipe for kanji-illiterate people like me.

I am going to try this recipe out as soon as the osechi is cleaned out from the fridge (the fridge is so packed right now!!!). Well, not that it has to go into the fridge, but we have to focus on eating those foods first:) Hopefully by this weekend.......

[torakris]

I also forgot to mention that I gave part of it to a Japanese pastry chef friend of mine yesterday since my son spent about 8 hours at her house that day. She came over this morning to tell me how good it was, if she thinks it is good......

[Kiem Hwa]

I made my Matcha Castella.... I don't have a scale yet, but I put 2 Tbsp of my self-milled matcha, and then added 1 Tbsp of bought matcha later (I didn't think I had enough). It came out a little undercooked (forgot to make sure it was done, I was too excited...), but tastes great!!!

Also, just a note, but I could tell the matcha I milled with my matcha mill was bigger grains then the purchased matcha.

However, I think having this recipe is going to be a problem for me..... It is one of the few desserts I have self-control problems with.....

[Hiroyuki]

torakris and Kiem Hwa,

I'm curious to know what kind of drink you have with green tea castella? Tea, coffee, or green tea?
The reason I ask is that I am a huge fan of green tea, but I just don't go for green tea products such as green tea ice cream.

[torakris]

torakris and Kiem Hwa,

I'm curious to know what kind of drink you have with green tea castella?  Tea, coffee, or green tea?
The reason I ask is that I am a huge fan of green tea, but I just don't go for green tea products such as green tea ice cream.

I prefer green tea products to green tea......
I just drank water with it, as I drink water with almost everything. I don't like combining teas/coffees and green tea castella with green tea would be overkill for me.

[Kiem Hwa]

torakris and Kiem Hwa,

I'm curious to know what kind of drink you have with green tea castella?  Tea, coffee, or green tea?
The reason I ask is that I am a huge fan of green tea, but I just don't go for green tea products such as green tea ice cream.

That depends.... when i used to buy this in LA, i was always drinking Mugi-cha (barley tea), and I drank that with everything. Now that I have to share a fridge with several other people there is no room for my tea jug in the fridge, so I drink either water, hot green tea, or coffee (if its breakfast). But actually.... i just eat it by itself all day long.

[origamicrane]

I made my Matcha Castella.... I don't have a scale yet, but I put 2 Tbsp of my self-milled matcha,

Hi Kiem
This castella looks yummy might have to give it a try soon
but just picked up on a comment you made about milling your own matcha.
How do you mill your own green tea? and what type of tea leaf is it that you start with?
thanks for your help

[Kiem Hwa]

Hi Kiem
This castella looks yummy might have to give it a try soon
but just picked up on a comment you made about milling your own matcha.
How do you mill your own green tea? and what type of tea leaf is it that you start with?
thanks for your help

Hi Origami Crane -
See my post in the Gadgets in the Japanese Kitchen Thread:
The tea I have been using is a high-grade (no stems) sencha "gold" from Uji. I think it's important that theres no stems.

http://forums.egulle...opic=58044&st=0

[origamicrane]

cool
hmmm think i might have to locate one

[torakris]

My newest green tea product findings......



on the left green tea tofu, I didn't really care for this..



matcha au lait, just mix the powder with hot water for a hot version or a bit of hot water followed by cold water and ice cubes for a cold version. I prefer the cold, but then again I prefer all my drinks cold. This is really good but needs to be mixed very well to get rid of the powdery taste.

[sanrensho]

Matcha powder in tiramisu works fine. It is definitely more subtle, but I didn't find it clashed with the espresso in the savoiardi biscuits. I made two versions and my wife preferred the matcha version. The only negative was that the matcha powder had a tendency to stick to silverware.

As for using matcha in ice cream, just let some vanilla ice cream soften slightly before mixing in the powder, then freeze it again. That is the way my parents always made it in the days before matcha ice cream became commercially available in North America, and what I do when I have the occasional hankering for green tea ice cream.

Last year, we were treated to a semi-informal tea ceremony by a Japanese student who had studied chado for quite a few years. Surprisingly, the tea wasn't very bitter at all.

[Tepee]

I love green tea anything. 3 years ago, I made a green tea dessert (right at the top). I called it tiramisu for ease of description, but actually it consisted of a flourless chocolate cake and layers of zabaglione (in which I added 3 sachets green tea powder), chocolate mascarpone mousse, and coffee/kahlua soaked fingers in between. I sifted chocolate powder and green tea powder in a check pattern on top. You must excuse the rather uneven sponge fingers (my first attempt!). I must make this again!

[torakris]

I love green tea anything. 3 years ago, I made a green tea dessert (right at the top). I called it tiramisu for ease of description, but actually it consisted of a flourless chocolate cake and layers of zabaglione (in which I added 3 sachets green tea powder), chocolate mascarpone mousse, and coffee/kahlua soaked fingers in between. I sifted chocolate powder and green tea powder in a check pattern on top. You must excuse the rather uneven sponge fingers (my first attempt!). I must make this again!

Teepee,
those are some of the most increble dessert I have ever seen!
If you make it again please share the reipe!!

[Grub]

The Japanese tea ceremony always sounded interesting, so I was real eager to check it out on my visit to Tokyo. I told the local guy (who was showing me around) about this, but he dragged me to a bar in Roppongi instead -- and since I'd spent the last half year in Ireland, he bought a round of Guinness. I was yearning to check out the amazing culture of this place -- Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, theatres and whatnot. Instead, I'm in a bar surrounded by exuberantly cocky US Marine types embassy guards, and Japanese girls -- very obviously out to score themselves said jarheads. It was like a really bad Vietnam war movie or something. Worst pint of the black stuff I ever tasted, too.

Eventually, I did get him to take me to a place that served the stuff, and also sold it. Got a chawan bowl, whisk, spoon-thingie, and a lacquered container for the powder -- reasonably priced. Stuff doesn't taste too bitter, but as Jinmyo said, I don't see any reason to drink this outside the tea ceremony itself...

I found other places that sold the stuff, but at utterly astronomical prices. Bowls that costs thousands of dollars, even tens of thousands of dollars -- I find it hard to believe now, in retrospect, but really, I'm pretty sure I saw bowls in that range. And it made me think -- isn't the tea ceremony supposed to be about simplicity? I just don't reckon you'll reach enlightenment any sooner with a $12,000 chawan, than sipping the stuff out of a Kmart soup bowl.

[helenjp]

isn't the tea ceremony supposed to be about simplicity?

It might be more accurate to say that it's about what you make of simplicity (for example, a lot of money ).

Be that as it may, the most memorable time I've drunk formally presented matcha was at a '70s potters' commune somewhere in the mountains north of Yoshino, while watching the autumn full moon rise from their hand-built tea-house on the top of a mountain...

The reason it was so good was that the potters were using their own bowls - they treated them with respect and affection, but they weren't tiptoeing round them.

However, owing to the sweet-potato shochu, the place has become my own personal Peach-blossom Village - couldn't find my way back there if I tried!

[helenjp]

Volcano muffins - a matcha flavored muffin with a sweet black sesame filling. But we in Japan could *cheat* and use Goma Cream...

[torakris]

a friend brought these over yesterday



matcha cream filled waffles and matcha cream filled eclairs

[Blondie]

A tea shop near me (it’s called Sympathy For The Kettle ) does a green tea latte, which I’ve duplicated with good results at home. I take a bit of matcha, whisk in a small amount of hot water, add plenty of steamed milk and a little sugar. I use a regular whisk but can see how the bamboo version would be more efficient. It’s a nice change of pace from coffee.

[Kiem Hwa]

A yummy Matcha-Chocolate cake I made, following a recipe in a weekly grocery store advertisement (From Roy's Restaurant in Hawaii):


This cake consisted of a chocolate crust (I just followed a chocolate pie crust recipe instead of the recipe's crust), with a matcha-white chocolate-custard topping.

Oishikatta!

Can I post the recipe?

[torakris]

Can I post the recipe?

as long as you can follow The eGullet.com Copyright and Fair Use, Plagiarism, and Bandwidth Theft Policy

[Kiem Hwa]

In the Shiso thread, I posted an image of a drink made of Shiso, tencha, and Oolong, and asked what Tencha is.

甜茶　is tencha.  Tencha is the base tea for some of the best matcha, it is also high in poliphenole which is supposedly good for a variety of things.
more here about poliphenole

However, the picture of the leaf on the bottle looks like a momiji as compared to Camellia sinesis, the tea leaf. So I am still confused about what Tencha is.

Here is a pic I found. It kind of looks like the berry family (raspberries, blackberries, etc).

Here is some Tencha tea.

Since this plant is not the Camellia tea plant, now I am confused.... can anyone tell me more about Tencha, and more about when other plants besides Camellia are used in what I thought were purely Camellia teas (Matcha).

[Kiem Hwa]

A yummy Matcha-Chocolate cake I made, following a recipe in a weekly grocery store advertisement (From Roy's Restaurant in Hawaii):


This cake consisted of a chocolate crust (I just followed a chocolate pie crust recipe instead of the recipe's crust), with a matcha-white chocolate-custard topping.

Oishikatta!

Heres the recipe:
I advise that if you have any intentions of trying it out, to copy this ASAP since the recipes posted on the website change weekly.
http://www.foodland....pes/recipe2.php

[JasonTrue]

Tencha is almost the same as gyokuro-cha, except I believe the gyokuro leaves are folded in some shape. As far as I recall, it's unfermented Japanese green tea which is steamed.

It's still camellia sinesis.

In the Shiso thread, I posted an image of a drink made of Shiso, tencha, and Oolong, and asked what Tencha is.

甜茶　is tencha.  Tencha is the base tea for some of the best matcha, it is also high in poliphenole which is supposedly good for a variety of things.
more here about poliphenole

However, the picture of the leaf on the bottle looks like a momiji as compared to Camellia sinesis, the tea leaf. So I am still confused about what Tencha is.

Here is a pic I found. It kind of looks like the berry family (raspberries, blackberries, etc).

Here is some Tencha tea.

Since this plant is not the Camellia tea plant, now I am confused.... can anyone tell me more about Tencha, and more about when other plants besides Camellia are used in what I thought were purely Camellia teas (Matcha).

[Kiem Hwa]

Tencha is almost the same as gyokuro-cha, except I believe the gyokuro leaves are folded in some shape. As far as I recall, it's unfermented Japanese green tea which is steamed.

It's still camellia sinesis.

So Tencha is Camellia sinesis? How come the leaf looks like a momiji (maple) shape on this bottle?

[Kiem Hwa]

A wonderful page talking about the different teas and how they are made and related to each other:
http://kyocha.or.jp/...tudy/index.html

From there:
Tencha (Matcha powdered tea): Made from new shoots that are raised in the tea fields shaded with reed screens to avoid direct sunlight. New shoots are steamed and dried without pressing. Matcha is made by grinding tencha into a fine powder with a tea grinder.

Process of Making Tencha / Matcha:
http://kyocha.or.jp/...dy/tencha1.html

[JasonTrue]

All tea is from the same plant, unless it's "herbal", in which case it isn't really tea. (not a value judgment).

In a former life I was asked to add some crustacea to a newspaper ad for a restaurant. They were promoting a lobster event and the only thing close I could come up with in our clip art library was a shrimp. I was no illustrator, so a hand-drawn one during a busy newspaper production schedule was out of the question.

Though I think if you pay a designer more than $9/hour they should be able to do some research and come up with something better... you never know.

So Tencha is Camellia sinesis?  How come the leaf looks like a momiji (maple) shape on this bottle?

Edited by JasonTrue, 30 April 2005 - 11:35 PM.