Kiem Hwa

I was reading Obasan's Blog where she descibes making Mizugashi and she uses a citrus fruit called Konatsu, where you even eat the white rind (its apparently sweet). She seems to use Konatsu quite a bit in her cooking expeditions. Konatsu seems to have been developed in Miyazaki Prefecture, as stated in the Kochi City guide website. Now I'm really curious about this fruit. Has anyone tried it out, and what citrus is it most similar to?

Yes....I love Japanese buns! I actually have a few links but I havent tried out the recipes yet....takes alot of time to translate them..... One with pictures of the buns Izumi-san's recipes.....lots of bun recipes here too. Panasonic's webpage

How about some sites for good pan recipes (like the ones in pan-ya sans). I love pans so much Im willing to translate a recipe myself if I know the recipe is likely to be a good one.

The soybean package says it takes about 100 days to get mature soybeans. As for the kabocha, Im not sure how old the plant is, MIL thinks its less then a month old.

Time for a garden update.... My Camellia sinesis are getting bigger and fast! The tallest one (furthest to the left) is just over 12-inches tall, the slightly shorter one (right) is 9-inches tall. Also some seeds i picked up from various Camellia plants in Japan are growing too! (small one in the front with slightly different shape and more shiny leaves) I have soybeans now! I planted 3 batches at delayed time intervals so i could have an incremental crop... the oldest ones are now over 2-feet tall and have some developing soybeans! I have Kabocha growing now too! This crazy vine is growing all over the back yard and since they started growing, the adjacent Shiso havent grown much.... The largest Kabocha is now almost 5-inches in diameter The second largest is about 3.5-inches diameter The third largest is about 1-inch in diameter. There are also several ones smaller than this last one. Finally, my Yuzu seedlings are growing well too. The tallest on has reached almost 12-inches in height. My question about the Yuzu tree....this is just grown from seeds. (I also have Key Lime and Kaffir Lime seedlings about the height of the shorter Yuzu seedlings). Since these are grown from seed and are not grafted to a root stock, will they not grow as tall? Will they be weaker? Will they not be able to produce as much fruit? Should I give them more special care to ensure a long life and good fruit production from them (pruning frequently, etc..)??? Any advice?

ohh... sounds dreamy... Can I get this in the US?? I see there are agents in Hong Kong, China, and.....Kuwait???

My sister is coming home for a visit in July...hehehe....I'll be adding this to my omiyage list

← Haha...its the idea of eggplant that he doesn't like.... Once I was cooking dinner with a mischevious friend, and we cut an eggplant up into little bits and cooked it with garlic and some flavoring (I forget exactly what we did). He showed up later, and I told him it was beans... he ate it, and liked it...he wanted seconds!!! We were laughing so hard and told him it was eggplant... he stopped eating it immediately!

The poll from my house: 1 for beer 1 for sake 1 for umeshu

I usually panko and deep fry my nasu and then eat it with shoyu, otherwise I slice it thin (about 1/2cm), and dip in flour that has pepper and salt mixed in, and fry it in a tiny bit of oil. i will have to try out these other suggestions though. However, I only get to eat nasu when i am not around my BF because he hates it

In your blog you mentioned you think the Tounyuu no warabimochi was made with kudzu. You dont think it was made with warabi starch? Not that I'm very familiar with the differences in texture, but I do have warabi starch in my kitchen as well...maybe i can experiment. Any guesses as to recipes for Tounyuu no warabimochi? If you think the ingredients are the same as godoufu, what do you think contributes to the differences in texture that you observed? Next time i will definately try my godoufu with kinako/kuromitsu as you recommended. i was lazy and pretty much only ate it with ponzu sauce the first time.

In my Shojin Ryori cookbook, there are two recipes (besides umeboshi and umeshu). Ni-ume (Simmered Ume): Green ume are simmered in a small amount of shoyu (4tsp) and sugar (4 Tbsp) for 10 min, then rinsed in cold running water (under the tap) overnight, drained, and sprinkled with the same ratio of shoyu-sugar for serving. Ao-ume no Satou-zuke (Sweet green ume): these are the sweet crispy ones, a recipe from the Shinshuu region, adopted by Sanko-in. The ume are pricked with needles and soaked in water for 1 day. Then lightly salt and let stand for 72hrs. Then wash and the seeds can be removed. Then soak for 12 hours in water to get rid of the salt. Then sprinkle with shochu and sugar (2Tbsp each) . Then put into an airtight jar and put in a cool dark place for at least 2 months. Fruits are served with the sweet liquid. I wish I had some green ume so I could try these out!!!!

Is the matcha kinako just made with matcha + kinako? I thought before that the green "kinako" was some special kind of kinako made with green beans (I think someone told me that..... )

ooohhhh.... tounyuu no warabimochi? What was that like? I have warabi powder too

Kuromame cocoa tounyuu: black-soybean cocoa soymilk, with some black sesame added (kuro-goma iri). A recent find in the healthy foods section of the grocery store. I guess its healthy since now you can drink your kuromame for breakfast It tasted similar to when I use my powdered soymilk with a little bit of unsweetened cocoa powder added.

A recent find in Shirokiya: "Samejima Wagashi": These were kudzu-"manju", filled with either koshi-an (smoothly mashed red beans), or with a matcha or ichigo (strawberry) flavored filling that also had the consistency of the koshi-an (maybe flavored white beans??). Oishikatta What does "Samejima" mean?

Kizami Natto no Ao-jiso Age: shiso-wrapped Natto tempura, a recipe from a Shojin Ryori (vegetarian Buddhist monk food) book I recently found. Before frying: the natto was minced, mixed with a dab of karashi, and wrapped in a shiso leaf: After very briefly frying in a (too thin) tempura batter: Well.....it still tasted like natto...I still think my shiso plants are weak, even though i used the youngest leaves this time. Also shown is yamato-imo no nori-maki: grated mountain yam rolled in a piece of nori and fried until lightly golden brown, then rolled in a shoyu-ginger sauce, which was pretty good! A nice new way to enjoy yamaimo!

Kizami Natto no Ao-jiso Age: shiso-wrapped Natto tempura. Before frying: the natto was minced and wrapped in a shiso leaf: After frying in a (too thin) tempura batter: Well.....it still tasted like natto...I still think my shiso plants are weak, even though i used the youngest leaves this time. Also shown is yamato-imo no nori-maki: grated mountain yam rolled in a piece of nori and fried until lightly golden brown, then rolled in a shoyu-ginger sauce, which was pretty good! A nice new way to enjoy yamaimo!

I recently found a recipe book on Shojin Ryori (vegetarian Buddhist Monk foods), and there are quite a few recipes using yamaimo, so last night I tried an easy one: yamato-imo no nori-maki: grated mountain yam rolled in a piece of nori and fried until lightly golden brown, then rolled in a shoyu-ginger sauce. It was pretty good! A nice new way to enjoy yamaimo! Also shown is Kizami Natto no Ao-jiso Age, shiso-wrapped Natto tempura.

Browsing the internet, I found an article describing the term "Chinmi" 珍味, which according to my online Japanese dictionary means "delicacy", although this page defined it as "odd taste", and refers to "local cuisines that have fallen out of popularity or those cuisines that are peculiar to a certain area." This is the page, and it lists various regional "chinmi" dishes: http://chinmi.biography.ms/ Most of these dishes are not defined here, so I wonder what they are. I also found this page, but its in Japanese, so I cant figure out if these are "chinmi" products? http://www.chinmi.net/ I wonder what it takes to be considered "chinmi", and which of definitions above is correct?

Recently, the Shirokiya over here featured some miso with things added such as barley, I guess some were Kinzanji miso 金暫時みそ , as Smallworld tried out recently. How is this stuff? What kinds of things would you use it for....miso soup.... or as a topping for tofu or rice? Quote from an article in Metropolis: "Kinzanji miso has a heady, sweet aroma and a chunky texture. It is a healthy alternative to creamy vegetable dips." Quote from an article in Kippo.or.jp: "A fermented bean paste known as Kinzanji-miso today was first brought to Japan from China by zen monks of this locality in the mid-13th century. Kinzanji-miso includes chopped vegetables such as melon gourds and eggplants, whose juices produce a salty liquid that collects above and below the paste. This liquid is said to be the forebear of shoyu." More about Kinzanji miso: http://www.marushinhonke.com/english.html I also saw miso with peanuts added into it, I wonder how this one is? Here is a webpage about the history of miso: http://www.thesoydailyclub.com/SFC/Fsoyfoods411.asp

In Hawaii we like Spam in our yakisoba Otherwise, ours pretty much looks like your picture...except without the mayo. Although maybe I will try that now. I like the tiny pink shrimps, I garnish with those sometimes too.

We also talk a little about growing shiso in the Growing Japanese Plants Thread

Thanks Hiroyuki!!! Ill try adding more sugar and see how it goes

Yeah it was....thanks kristin!