Kiem Hwa

Does anyone know how to make the baked sweet chinese buns with the milk-cream (like baked custard) inside? ...yum...yum.....

Hiroyuki's post reminds me.... I finally found myself a yomogi plant, and now its getting pretty big..... What kinds of dishes can I make with yomogi....besides mochi/manju, and tempura (and in soba noodles or in tofu, which i posted about before)?

I got Beard Papa cream puff's at Shirokiya this past Spring, and then I went to Japan and ate them there for comparison (Osaka - Namba station). They looked and tasted pretty much the same! yum.......

Funny that this thread just reemerged...Ive never had Ochazuke, but yesterday I discovered a bottle of the dried-shredded salmon (flakes?) MIL bought a little while ago and I was thinking its about time to try it....then today, I see this thread! Im thinking salmon flakes + ume + wasabi + maybe nori or furikake? As for the ume, should I try the whole ume, or go for the ume paste (or my shiso-ume paste I have a tube of)?

Thanks for all the tips Jasontrue! Ive never made pesto before, so really I was just adding whatever. I added the mirin and lemon juice later because I couldnt yet find/bring out the shiso flavor in the pesto (still in the sauce phase), so I was hoping to bring it out (I was thinking about how helenjp metioned that acid brings out the shiso's red color, so I was thinking.....maybe the flavor?). Well, all I did after making the pesto was mix it into some spagetti noodles, and add parmesan. i think the real problem may be that I was using the oldest leaves on my bush...maybe they have lost flavor by then? tonight though, I made a version of meat jun with my shiso - I marinated really thin slices of beef in a shoyu/sugar/garlic/oil, or for a experiment in a yuzu-ponzu sauce. Then I rolled up the beef with a shiso leaf inside, dipped the rolls in flour, then in egg and fried it. It was pretty good! i could taste the Shiso much better this time (but maybe I have also moved up my bush to the younger leaves).

The other night I tried out making a Shiso pesto - I added garlic, olive oil, a bunch of shiso, a spoonful of sugar, then some mirin and lemon juice - those last three ingredients because I was trying to bringout the Shiso flavor. It looked just like pesto, since my Shiso is now pretty much green, but the taste was unique. While it was good, I couldnt tell it was Shiso, but it was definately not basil or mint. I wonder if there is a way to enhance the Shiso flavor, or if i need to use the younger leaves, or if my Shiso plant's flavor is lacking for some reason.

A wonderful page talking about the different teas and how they are made and related to each other: http://kyocha.or.jp/english/study/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/english/study/tencha1.html

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

Here is a nice article about many ways Shiso is being used in various dishes by chefs in the US: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_..._34/ai_67547987

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.com/recipes/recipe2.php

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

A healthy? Shiso, Oolong(烏龍茶), and another leaf (甜茶) drink i got in Japan: This drink was pretty yummy - I actually bought it a few times. Can anyone tell me what these other leaf (甜茶) is, and what this drink is supposed to be for (sorry its too small to read the hiragana). Website: http://www.itoen.co.jp/products/kobetsu.php?id=47

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?

Last night I made Gyoza, featuring shiso: I made Gyoza stuffed with a ground pork-shrimp-cabbage-etc. mixture, and either added a shiso leave or put cheese. Also, I made Shiso-kabocha-mochi gyoza, using grated kabocha, and pieces of chopped up of mochi blocks wrapped in a shiso leaf! (You cant see the mochi piece in this picture, it buried in the kabocha) Our stuffing came out good, especially the kabocha ones cause I could really taste the shiso flavor, and it had creamy mochi inside, but for some reason our wrappers ended up being kind of stiff and rubbery. We had bought the wrappers, and cooked the gyoza by frying it in a little bit of oil for awhile (~7min), and them adding water and steaming it with the lid on (~7min), but maybe we over cooked them? (we were paranoid about the ground pork getting cooked well). Any ideas?

My green shiso (compare with how red it was a month ago in the above pictures): Though some are still slightly red, and the bottoms of the leaves may still be red even though the tops are green, I dont think this change is age related, as no matter how old or young my plants are (rather big or small, as they are all pretty much the same age, just some are more stunted then others cause I took a long time to transplant them), they all turned green at the same time. I think this is becasue of the hot weather. I did make Gyoza with them! I made Gyoza stuffed with a ground pork-shrimp-cabbage-etc. mixture, and either added a shiso leave or put cheese. Also, I made Shiso-kabocha-mochi gyoza, using grated kabocha, and pieces of chopped up of mochi blocks wrapped in a shiso leaf! (You cant see the mochi piece in this picture, it buried in the kabocha) Our stuffing came out good, especially the kabocha ones cause I could really taste the shiso flavor, and it had creamy mochi inside, but for some reason our wrappers ended up being kind of stiff. We bought them, and cooked them by frying it in a little bit of oil for awhile, and them adding water and steaming it with the lid on, but maybe we over cooked them? (we were paranoid about the ground pork getting cooked well)

poke moco.... Im not sure what to think about this....how was it? This must be a Japanese invention. ive never seen that in Hawaii Edit to add: My BF's sister said she had Ahi-moco here before (at Sam Choy's restaurant). It was a grilled piece of Ahi, in the typical loco-moco style, which she said was really yummy.

Wow, there are at least 4 varieties of Shiso, Im not sure which one I have (except its not the green one). http://www.kitazawaseed.com/seeds_perilla.html Does the age of the leaves have any effect on its flavor?

Shiso is my favorite Japanese herb. I started growing it in pots in my yard, and now I have a few plants with huge beautiful purple leaves. Im trying to think of the many things I can make using these shiso leaves. One thing Im interested in is preserving the leaves (since I cant use them as fast as they grow), maybe in a similar way as Sakura leaves are preserved - in salt?, or in such ways as ume is made, except without the plums. Any ideas about how to do this?

We were there for 10 days.... our motto is.."try it while we can". Im sure I wouldn't eat this much icecream in the same time frame if I lived there. By the way, do you know of any soft-cream recipes? How about machines to make it? I saw this machine by Electrolux, but I cant read well enough to figure out how it works.

How could I forget to mention these Yuzu things I had? A yuzu concentrate i found at the Tennoji Temple Flea Market in Osaka (every 21st of the month I think), for 1200yen. I havent tried it yet, but apparently I can put it in everything....now can I make juice with it??? (I never got to pick up any Yuzu juice to bring home ) Yuzu-soda-milky: an interesting Yuzu drink on the Food floor of Daimaru (I think), in Osaka (Shinsaibashi or Umeda stations both had it) A little yuzu concentrate mixed with club soda, and some whipped cream! Yum!!!! Although I would have felt less guilty if there was no cream (they also sold just yuzu soda) And yuzu sofuto (and Sakura flavor) eaten in Uji. This yuzu-sofuto was the best sofuto I ve had! Also, at a kushikatsu restaurant in Dotombori, Osaka, I had a Yuzu-sake drink. I forget what it was called (kogami or something like that), but it was served heated, a nice sake with yuzu flavor! Yum!!! Maybe Ill try mixing my yuzu concentrate with some sake!

All the sofuto-kuriimo I ate in Japan: Matcha-Sofuto, nice with some matcha sprinkled on top! (eaten in Uji) My #1 favorite: Yuzu! Also sakura was good too. (eaten in Uji) yes.....we ate alot of ice cream in Uji....it was cold that day too...... Houji-cha and Matcha, quite wonderful! (eaten in Arashiyama, Kyoto) Then, in Kyoto (different day from the Houji-cha day), we were walking near the Kiyomizudera temple looking for tsukemono for omiyage.... Shiso-sofuto! Actually, this one was a yogurt? It was very interesting, a shiso-yogurt flavor....yum. Kabocha-sofuto - yummy kabocha flavor, with a scoop of mashed kabocha and kuri (chestnuts) in the middle! Wah! Then of course in the same area i saw Kinako-sofuto, but we already ate two sofutos, we thought 3 in one day (for 2 people) was a little too much (the day in Uji was 3 sofutos/3 people)

Last week at Kitano Ten Mangu Temple in Kyoto (they have an Antique flea market on the 25th of every month), we ate some super yummy tempura-chikuwa kamaboko. These are elongated tube-shaped kamabokos, and maybe they have thing stuffed inside sometimes? The first one we had was on a stick and dipped into a nori-tempura batter (maybe there was some paste-like stuff inside, but maybe it was uncooked tempura batter?). It was so yummy, we went back for another one (there were three flavors), and got the curry-batter flavored one. Yum!!!! Too bad I didnt take pictures (it was snowing). This is chikuwa: http://japanesefood.about.com/library/graphics/chikuwa.gif

I got to do some Sansai hunting when I was in Japan last week I got pretty good at identifying yomogi よもぎ 蓬 yomogi (in the middle) and some other spring plants.....sansai?? This picture was taken in Izumisano (Osaka prefecture). Yomogi everywhere! I also spotted yomogi in Shiga prefecture near Mt Hira, and in Wakayama city (where this picture was taken). Yomogi flavors were everywhere (in March), especially in the buns and breads in the pan-yas, and other sweets. I also sampled some mixed into soft kyo-dofu, which I mentioned in the tofu thread: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...id=883688&st=42 I also was attracted to this yomogi soba I ate in Arashiyama, Kyoto! Very light yomogi flavor, but I also only taste light flavors in other flavored soba/udon noodles ive tried such as matcha flavor or ume flavor. Anthoer one I saw around: Fukinotou ふきのとう 蕗の薹 This picture was taken in Shiga prefecture, near Mt Hira. Here is some gathered fukinotou and yomogi (and some other plants I picked but didnt eat).... i taught my sister how to make tempura Was I supposed to do anything (removing any aku?) prior to cooking these? I cant say the fukinotou tasted much different from any garden weed. Probably not a sansai in the Spring terms, but its nice to know chestnuts - kuri くり 栗 grow wild in Japan! My favorite Autumn flavor! These seemed a little old though....probably sitting around since fall? This picture was taken in Shiga prefecture, near Mt Hira. 山くらげ: Is this pronounced "yamakurage" or "sankurage"? Im not exactly what this is ("mountain jelly vegetable"), or if it a spring vegetable or not, but I bought some dried ones at the flea Market at Tennoji Temple in Osaka, and also some tsukemono in Kyoto (I didnt even realize these two things I bought were the same thing until just now!) Really yummy stuff. The sample at the flea market was rehydrated and dressed with a shiso sauce, the tsukemono I bought cause it was delicious and I had never seen it before. More about 山くらげ: http://www.kumagaya.or.jp/~yasutani/hatake/kurage/kurage.htm http://www.hamaichi.com/mjv.html More about preparing dried 山くらげ: http://www.rakuten.co.jp/kawamoto/425988/425996/ I also bought myself a Sansai Book to look at the pictures while I was there (and to help with my incidental hunting). This book also mentions dokusou どくそう 毒草: poisonous plants, which is definately good to know. http://www.yamakei.co.jp/prev.php?id=9910

I'll add on about my progress too! My Shiso was sown awhile back, it took a few weeks to germinate. I thought I would get poor germination so I sowed tons of seeds, but ended up with a pasture of shiso instead. I still have so many to transplant from the original big pot they are still all togeather in. The ones i transplanted early into large pots are now HUGE! I went to China/Japan for 3 weeks and when I came back they had grown so much! Now about a foot tall with huge beautiful leaves. Also, my yuzu seeds I planted are now about 2-3 inches tall I also have an young Okinawan Plum tree (4ft tall) that I thought had died, but is now growing back tons of sprouts and leaves again Big shiso plants, and the small ones in the pot to the left (partly cut off) are the same age....key = transplant early! And fertilize! Bottom pot is yuzu.

Ahhh...Yuzu-"ko"? Arigato Hiroyuki-san.