249 replies to this topic

[torakris]

in honor of wagashi no hi, I picked up some mizu-manju yesterday. they were made with salted cherry blossoms and shio-an.

[Hiroyuki]

And how much discount did you get on that day?

[torakris]

And how much discount did you get on that day?

there were some things on sale but it wasn't really any different than another other sale......

[Hiroyuki]

Sorry to hear that. You didn't have to buy any if the wagashi shop didn't honor Wagashi day.
By the way, the one in the photo is quite different from what I know of--very watery.
Example:
http://www.issendo.j.../s_mizuman.html

[torakris]

Sorry to hear that. You didn't have to buy any if the wagashi shop didn't honor Wagashi day.
By the way, the one in the photo is quite different from what I know of--very watery.
Example:
http://www.issendo.j.../s_mizuman.html

That is actually the type I am more familiar with as well, I normally receive them even still packed with a little water. These were much drier and the shiro-an filling I thought was unusual, that is why I bought them! and because I love anything with sakura.....

[itch22]

I love Mushi-Kasutera, a steamed cake with sweet potatoes. I have a recipe I've been using but when compared to similar cakes my version seems to be lacking some where. Here is my recipe and let me know if any of you seem room for improvement.

I sift scat 300g of cake/pastry flour with 140 cups of caster sugar. To that I add a lightly beaten mixture of 45ml sweetened condensed milk, 4 eggs, and 40g shiro miso. I beat together untill smooth and then leave to rest for 1 hour.

I then add a mixture of 10ml cream of tartar, 2.5ml of bicarbonate of soda, and 15ml water. I then add 30ml of melted unsalted butter and 2/3 of a sweet potato (diced).

After mixing again I pour it into a muslin lined, preheated steamer. I then add the remaining 1/3 diced sweet potato as a garnish to the cake and steam for 30 minutes of until a bamboo skewer placed an the centre of the cake comes out clean.

[torakris]

I don't know too much about mushi (steamed) kasutera as most of the kasutera I see is the baked kind. It doesn' t sound any different than mushi pan though.

How is the taste different than others you have eaten?
The addition of miso is interesting, don't think I have ever seen that before. You might try to leave that out and try a diffferent kind of sweetner, like brown sugar, honey or even maple sryup.

[torakris]

here is a previous mushi pan thread:
http://forums.egulle...178&hl=mushipan

[Hiroyuki]

when compared to similar cakes my version seems to be lacking some where.

I guess you are talking about something like these:
http://www.coara.or....o/chuukahuu.htm
http://ww81.tiki.ne....a/musipan2.html
http://gourmet.yahoo...3055&id=U000643

I can't find anything wrong with your recipe, except that I have to agree with torakris about leaving out miso. I'm wondering--is it your special ingredient? And, what exactly do you mean by similar cakes? Store-bought ones? I guess store-bought ones in Japan contain food additives to improve taste.

[torakris]

I noticed that 2 of the 3 recipes Hiroyuki linked to have vanilla essence, you might want to try that. Also though I love the seet potato version, my favorites are the brown sugar ones and those made with matcha (green tea)!

[itch22]

I'll try leaving out the miso and adding a bit of maple syrup to see what difference it makes.

Yes, I mean compared to store bought ones. There is a Japanese bakery in Ottawa (I can't remember the name) that I try to visit whenever I'm there.

[gus_tatory]

i have been wanting to recreate a 'cake' i tried at a Japanese restaurant called 'satsuma'.
it is of the jelly-roll type, and the cake part is a sweet-potato cake. the filling is red adzuki beans, cooked, seasoned, and pureed.
it's a great cake--not too sweet. does anyone have any ideas on how to prepare the bean filling?
thanks in advance,
gus

[helenjp]

Was the bean-paste texture quite smooth, or could you see mashed beans (or more unlikely, whole beans)?

[gus_tatory]

hi helenjp--
it was a pretty smooth, sweetly mild red bean paste--delicious.

[Palladion]

i have been wanting to recreate a 'cake' i tried at a Japanese restaurant called 'satsuma'.
it is of the jelly-roll type, and the cake part is a sweet-potato cake. the filling is red adzuki beans, cooked, seasoned, and pureed.
it's a great cake--not too sweet. does anyone have any ideas on how to prepare the bean filling?
thanks in advance,
gus

Err, hold on. Was the cake called satsuma, or was the restraunt called satsuma? Either could make sense, as satsumaimo is the name of the Japanese sweet potato (imo is defines it as potoato, regular yellow potatoes are called jyagaimo). Or it could just be a Japanese word used for the name of the restraunt.

As it's a smooth filling, you want something called koshi-an. The other major type of red bean filling is tsubu-an, which isn't smooth, and still has chunks of the azuki beans in it.

Never made it myself, but from what I've read you soak the beans, then simmer them until soft, then combine them with sugar. Pretty much what you'd expect. For smooth paste you also need to pass them through a sieve of some kind at some point in the preparation, I think, to remove the shells. I remember a thread a while back where people discussed using about half as much sugar called for in recipes for the red been paste, in order to get a final product that wasn't overly sweet, one that had a more pronounced bean flavor, so the proportion of sugar to bean is something that you're going to want to play with.



-------
Alex Parker

[Katherine]

Sweetened Bean Paste

[Koshi An]

12 oz. dried beans (I've used red beans or black beans. The original recipe does call for azuki beans)
water
1/4 cup mirin
1½ cups sugar
1/8 cup light corn syrup or millet jelly
¼ teaspoon salt

Soak the beans overnight. Bring to a boil and drain. Cover with fresh water and cook until soft. Puree until smooth, put into a nonstick pan, and heat gently while stirring, until it simmers (you want the sugar to melt and thin it down here). Put through a sieve to remove skins. Discard skins, then put the bean puree back in the pan and add millet jelly or corn syrup. Over low heat and stirring constantly, cook until enough water has cooked off to make it very thick. Freezes well.

[torakris]

more information is also in the anko thread:
http://forums.egulle...9&t=39473&st=0#

sweetened red bean paste is probably one of my least favorite foods here, maybe that is why I am always searching out the fruit daifuku.....

[gus_tatory]

i have been wanting to recreate a 'cake' i tried at a Japanese restaurant called 'satsuma'...
gus 

Err, hold on. Was the cake called satsuma, or was the restraunt called satsuma? Either could make sense, as satsumaimo is the name of the Japanese sweet potato...

thanks all for the info/recipes.

and yes Palladion, it was the cake that was called "satsuma"--sorry for lack of clarity.

Katherine--thanks for the koshi an recipe. and torakris: there's a really small amount of red bean paste, just enough to hold the sweet potato genoise/sponge cake roll together. it's nice!

if i make this, i'll be sure to take photos.

[Foodie_Penguin]

more information is also in the anko thread:
http://forums.egulle...9&t=39473&st=0#

sweetened red bean paste is probably one of my least favorite foods here, maybe that is why I am always searching out the fruit daifuku.....

My Mum makes anko from scratch in the UK and I've only ever seen her make it with azuki beans and sugar, nothing else.

She soaks the dried azuki beans overnight and then cooks them in a pressure cooker. (with sugar?) To get the smooth paste, she puts the cooked beans into a food pressure and purees (?) them.

I remember using an uchiwa (fan) to cool the finished anko as my Mum stirred it to thicken it.

The finished anko is used to make daifuku and kuriman. She also made the daifuku "dough" and kurmian "pastry" from scratch.

Note: the anko spoils quickly but it does freeze well.





Foodie Penguin

[torakris]

Anyone interested in wagashi might want to check out the rest of the site as well:
http://konny.fc2web..../jsweets_e.html

A lot of information!! recipes in English and descriptions of various ingredients with pictures.

[helenjp]

Konny wagashi URL

Now that's the real thing! I checked out shiro-an, and yes, there it is in the same hairsplitting detail that I recall from when I used to make it myself.

Nerikiri...interesting that they are popular in Nagoya - definitely saw more of them in Osaka and especially Kyoto than I ever do in Tokyo.

Must teach the kids how to make tsubu-an at least - that should be enough to satisfy basic expat cravings if they ever live out of Japan!

[helenjp]

I've made koshi-an various ways...the recipe for shiro-an (white lima-bean an) on the Konny site that Torakris found is an excellent guide to producing very fine koshi-an if you use azuki instead of lima beans.
Konny's perfect White Koshi-an

However, don't worry about rubbing the skins off by hand for koshi-an.

This is how I do it (proportions to taste - the less sugar you use, the lighter color and more floury/grainy texture you will have, and you will also need to freeze it to keep it for long):

Soak beans, cook over gentle heat until soft, draining off and replacing water 2-3 times. Drop a piece of greaseproof paper onto the surface if you are really determined to prevent any hard beans...but this is not likely to be a problem with small amounts and shorter cooking time.

When beans are soft but not burst, drain, and mash roughly. Now rub through a sieve. I haven't had good results with a food processor (and I did try it!) but if you have a very powerful one you may be able to get a very smooth an without flecks of skin in it. A metal sieve works OK, but a horsehair sieve and a flat wooden rice spatula is best - no chance of getting bits of tough bean skin in the final an.

The skins are discarded, and the seived bean starch is EITHER transferred to a pot and cooked (koshi-an) OR allowed to soak in cold water then water is gently tipped off, and bean paste is drained through a cloth before being transferred to a pot, etc. This extra step produces "sarashi-an" (bleached or refined an).

Stir bean paste and sugar over gentle-moderate heat until enough moisture has evaporated that you can pull a wooden spoon through the mix and leave a clear trail on the bottom of the pot - the "walls" of bean paste don't immediately collapse together behind the spoon. The paste will thicken somewhat as it cools anyway, so don't try to make it really stiff.

Now put dollops of paste onto a tray to cool, and fan to cool quickly (helps maintain good color).

Chinese bean jam is cooked slightly differently, and sometimes contains oil.

[gus_tatory]

wow--
thanks helenjp, torakris, and others for your amazingly detailed, complete resources/recipes. i'm trying this cake this weekend, so will post back. can't wait!

[origamicrane]

Hi guys
I had a lovely cream mitsumame last night just right for the end of summer.
The restaurants in my area don't do many japanese desserts
and i want to know whats other japanese summer time desserts are popular?
pictures and recipes would also be welcome

[torakris]

In Japan none of these would really be considered desserts as the Japanese don't really eat dessert except for possibly a nice piece of fruit. Most of the foods discussed in this thread would be more of snacks.

I recently had an incredible dessert/snack at Monsoon Cafe a South east Asian restaurant, it was a cold shiruko (normally made with soupy red beans and some kind of mochi) with kabocha and coconut milk with little balls of mochi and a large spoonful a thick azuki paste, it was wonderful and really hit the spot on that hot day.
Wish I had taken my camera...

[origamicrane]

torkris
you know the mitsumame jelly how is it made?
i came across a recipe for it online
but too me it looks too simple

jello: 1/2 stick agar-agar (kanten) / 6 tbsp sugar / 1 tsp lemon juice

ifit is that simple might go out and buy a bag of kanten tomorrow

[torakris]

I am assuming there is water in there too....
Yes it really that simple, though I have never made it myself......
I really like the kuro (black) mitsumame that is made with brown sugar instead of white....

[Hiroyuki]

I need one clarification, origamicrane. Agar-agar is NOT kanten. Do you mean you can buy kanten in your area?

My father comes from Nagano prefecture, an ideal place for making kanten, and I used to eat it a lot as a child. My mother did not add sugar or lemon juice.

[torakris]

As far as I know kanten is referred to in English as agar agar.

from the internet:
ちなみに、寒天は英語ではアガー（agar）ですが、語源はマレー語のアガーアガー（agar-agar）、19世紀にはじめて英語の辞書に登場したといわれます。
http://www.housefood...ook/ireland.htm

translation:
In English kanten is called agar, the origins of the word is actually from the Malaysian agar agar and in the 19th century it started to turn up in English dictionaries.

Also more on kanten (agar agar) with pictures of it in the original seaweed form:
http://www.net-repor...u05_kanten.html

[torakris]

I think kanten can be confusing because it can be used to refer to different things. It can be used to refer to the powder or sheets of the seaweed derived gelatin like substance used for making youkan, tokoroten and the jelly like cubes used in dishes like mitsumame that also can go by the name kanten.