helenjp

I've been fiddling with recipes for non-wheat, non-dairy, non-egg cakes on and off since one of my kids had a playmate who was extremely allergic to conventional birthday-cake ingredients. Now that we can buy "riz farine" rice flour designed for baking (very fine grind), baking with rice flour is suddenly more realistic. So...I tried a few versions using different replacements for eggs, and the best were mashed banana, and dried yama-imo. (Fresh yama-imo would be fine too, but I tried dried first to get absolutely consistent results from batch to batch). The banana version tasted best, and the yama-imo had the most cake-like texture, though both had a certain mochi-like character. Since I'm a bit allergic to rice and soy myself, I don't really enjoy the taste-test part, so if anybody wants to do some more experimenting and let me know how it turned out, I'd love to know! This is the current best version (test-batch-size recipe, makes 4 small cupcakes): 80g riz farine rice flour for baking pinch salt 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp cinnamon or 1 tsp cocoa 1/ tsp vanilla essence or 1 tsp finely grated lemon peel if desired 30g sugar EITHER 1 banana (about 100g), mashed and sieved to make about 70ml OR 2 x 8g packets dried yama-imo powder, mixed with about 50ml water 1 tsp oil 4-6 tab (60-90ml) soy milk - depends on freshness of banana, and whether fresh or dried yama-imo was used - add until you have a ribbony dropping consistency in the batter. Sift dry ingredients together. Beat banana or yama-imo and water till slightly foamy, fold in soymilk, esssence/peel, and finally oil. Pour liquid into well in dry ingredients, beat well, divide into cupcake molds (grease well, this sticks more than conventional mixture. 180deg. C (moderate) oven , 12-15 minutes. Points to consider: more oil for springier texture? Would adding 1 tsp. vinegar create more lift? Wetter consistency or drier consistency? Suitable topping for cupcakes (anybody actually like those "tofu cream" things?) or fillling for a roulade? I'm also considering making a pumpkin version but think it might be too heavy for the already dense texture of rice-flour cake. Will post again after I finish tweaking my mousse-style pumpkin/white chocolate ganache filling... The particular child I am considering is also allergic to potato, or I would add 1 tab potato starch (katakuri-ko). Seems there are so many very young children with allergy problems that it would be worth finding a successful "sweet treat/birthday cake" for them, and in Japan, we are blessed with yama-imo, which bakes extremely well (I'm considering increasing the yama-imo and reducing the soymilk, but all yama-imo could well make the texture too coarse).

You couldn't be worse than I am at math (it certainly didn't help that I "saved" my math exercise book to use for sketching...), but I much prefer to use a ratio that I can memorize. I've been trying to finalize a chart for ages, but keep getting diverted by variations - Hiroyuki, do you have a handy chart of the different proportions you use for different dishes?

I noticed wonderful, fresh, yellowtail and mackerel in my local supermarket yesterday too! Unfortunately dinner was already cooked when I spotted it (Late guitar lesson = western food!). If you don't have a knife you like for slicing fish thinly, in a pinch you could try a ceramic knife ( tend to be a bit small for the job, but excellent for cutting soft things neatly). The deba will do a good job of filleting, but not so handy for slicing. A good pair of sturdy fish tweezers is handy for pulling out bones. Did you grow the yuugao yourself? It's never sold around here as a vegetable.

I can buy it loose at a rice shop not so far from me, though it's never in the supermarkets. It's often described as halfway between mochi rice and regular rice. I use it often for making bento in the winter, as it stays softer than regular rice when cold. From memory, the flavor is more mild than intense.

There was also a story in the newspaper recently about Akebono brand salmon commemorating an anniversary with a million-yen 18 karat gold can (empty). Heck, for that price you'd at least expect some fish in it?!

I guess ponzu it is. It almost seems a waste, though it's very good on grilled shiitake (the big, thick ones). I just remembered, sudachi is good instead of yuzu in this type of Sanuki (Shikoku-style) udon. I don't know if this is how people make it now, but the way I learned it was to boil up the noodles, serve them out, pour over a little of the water they were boiled in, and at the table add any or all of grated ginger, negi, yuzu peel, and sesame. Drizzle with shoyu, and down the hatch! When using sudachi, I usually use the juice as well as the rind. Sudachi chuu-hai? Sudachi jam?

Oh yes! Honey!

Sudachi go so well with sanma, and handily just in season at the right time! Sudachi rind and juice go well with grilled chicken too. I was given a nice big bag of them, and am trying to think of special things to do with them.

I do use the Flying Pig - especially handy when I don't want an entire case of something from FBC, but I want more than 1. An added bonus is that I can adjust my order as I go along to fit in a certain number of boxes. Costco is about an hour away for me, and if I pay to have my shopping sent home, Flying Pig is often a better option. Stuff to have brought to Japan....Cream of tartar? Pectin for jam-making? Certain dried fruits for Christmas cake-baking?

1) It is true that it is hard to find pickles and umeboshi made without additives. The crispy red and green ones in particular are usually colored. Somebody gave me a box of expensive ones recently...the label includes Ume, salt, sugars (high fructose corn syrup, food-processing grade vinegar, reconstituted barley malt, fermented (yeast-derived???) flavorings, glutamic acid, flavorings including other amino acids, sake lees, souring agents, sweeteners (sucralose etc), vitamin B1 2) I googled additive free umeboshi, and the typical product ingredients were salt, high fructose corn syrup, sake lees, and Vit. B1 I make honey umeboshi when the weather is warm and dry, by soaking regular umeboshi in water (changing frequently) for 1-3 days, depending how salty they were, and drying them till nice and wrinkly. Then simply put them in a container and cover with liquid honey - they will plump up nicely. There is a method of using honey to make honey umeboshi right from the start but I have never done so. Ｐｉｃｋｌｅｄ－ｕｍｅ．ｃｏｍ has quite a lot about making umeboshi in English, but they also have a Japanese recipe for making honey umeboshi. The author used 17% salt (that is, 17% of the weight of the raw ume in coarse pickling salt) to make umeboshi as usual. Once the ume brine had risen to the top of the ume during pickling, she mixed in 10% honey (10% of the original weight of the ume) and continued to pickle and dry them as usual. This type of ume need to be kept very clean and watched carefully while making.

Recipe in English for hamaguri-zushi The rice inside the omelets can be a straightforward bara-zushi mix with carrot, dried gourd and dried shiitake mushrooms, but you can make it even simpler and just add black sesame seeds (and maybe a small amount of shredded boiled snowpea) if you wish.

Can you say where you saw this dish please? And if you tasted it, did it taste sweet and cakey, or soft and eggy? It could be: a) a date-maki mix rolled up in a mat while warm and allowed to cool in the desired shape, then marked with a red-hot skewer, or b) a roughly mashed hardboiled egg mix rolled in a mat (but this would be hard to mark with a hot skewer, though a sauce mark would be possible) 3) regular Japanese omelet (thick style or thin style) rolled in a mat or possible cut out with a cutter. If it was REALLY cakey, it could be a madeleine, a very popular cake in Japan. Hard to say which, without a few more details! A scallop-shell shape is unusual, but a 3-lobed "pine tree branch" shape is more common and sometimes has 3 short brown lines in a fan shape in the center. Of course, a fan shape (quarter-circle) is not unusual.

From my yomogi file Try and harvest it before it flowers - it will be less bitter. Shira-ae with plenty of sesame and shredded konnyaku is one of my favorite dishes. Here are a couple of Okinawan recipes: Okinawan Takikomi-gohan 50g yomogi (soft young leaves, pull off stems, cut if necessary) 50 thin scraps of pork, season with a little salt and pepper Squash 150g, remove seeds, cube 2 c rice (rice-measure cups 160ml) 1.5 tab miso, 1 tab ea mirin, sake (combine) 2 c dashi (Japanese cooking measure cups 200ml) Salt, pepper Rinse rice, place all ingredients in rice cooker, and away you go! Yomogi, Beef, and Beansprout Soup 10g yomogi, soft young leaves, pull off stems 80g thin scraps beef, 1 grated clove garlic, salt, pepper. Cut up if necessary. ½ bag (150g) beansprouts, tails trimmed Green half of one negi, in short lengths 1 dried red chili, strip veins and seeds 1 knob ginger, grated 4 c water in a pot, add beef, negi, chili pod. Bring to slow boil, add 1 tab sake and simmer 2-3 mins. Remove chili and negi, add beansprouts. Add ½ tab shoyu, and more salt and pepper if needed. Serve up, topping each bowl with fresh yomogi leaves. Aojiru (leaves): soak a double handful of leaves in water about an hour before blending 1 c water with the leaves. You could never make me drink this, yomogi tea is much more pleasant! Since yomogi is related to chrysanthemum; anybody with daisy, chamomile, or chrysanthemum allergy should stay away from it, especially as a bath herb. Medicinally, it is a "styptic", so it will stop bleeding, both internally and externally, and since it is bitter, it also stimulates the liver, and it also suppresses harmful microbial activity without killing off lactic bacilli. As a tea, it will help nausea (but a strong decoction can be very unpleasant). So you can see why it's so valued as an all-purpose remedy for any kind of stomach, gut, or digestive problem! Yomogi-shu: In May or June, dig up whole yomogi plant(s) before they flower. Weigh, and check that you have about (at least) 300g of plant matter. Wash roots and stems carefully, and hang upside-down to dry in the shade (about a week). Immerse in a big 1.8 liter pack/bottle of white liquor (shochuu). Although usable after about 3 months, this really takes about 6 months to reach a useful strength. Take about 1-2 tablespoonsful, either straight or in hot or cold water as a digestive.

Bump! Bitter melon is just coming into season again!

I'm enjoying another "trip" to the Netherlands, thank you Chufi! (And even hope to visit next year???). I agree with the "could eat it every day" comment on your lunch - bread, cheese, and apples...sound wonderful! Hope they made your cold feel a bit better too. Thanks for the "ricing" tip for gnocchi, and I'd really appreciate Shaya's recipe too - so relieved to hear that making gnocchi wasn't just my nemesis! Going to come back and re-read your blog at leisure, too.

OK, after 24 hours, I think I can be sure that my post got lost! Congrats! What channel is that going to be on? What about the kind of food that is served on Japanese beaches...the old saba subway, for example. Somewhere I found a recipe for jellyfish salad (the Chinese type) and peanut butter sandwich...

Sorry, I really meant blondies (the first recipe I found for them called them "caramel bars" or something like that). I haven't tried the brownies that use caramel chips, as I've never seen them for sale in Japan. I use less sugar than some recipes suggest (but you can't reduce it past 50% without losing the texture and shine), and make them about once every 5 years! I think I mixed chunks of them into icecream last time. Some of the photos in this thread give me a headache looking at them, so I wish I could figure out how to get that pretty crackled shiny top without the overbearing sweetness. There must be a gene which enables certain populations to eat brownies! Maybe it would be OK to bake them as a layered bar cookie, with a shortbready-base and just a thin layer of the brownie stuff on top??

"Fish mint", yes that's houttuynia cordata! Canyou please tell me what other plants would normally be combined for a plate of herbs?

Prasantrin, why don't you go ahead and try the caramel brownies if the regular ones are too sweet? They are easier to eat than the chocolate ones.

JasonWW, where do you live (in terms of climate), and what's your gardening environment like? How much sunshine per day, and are your plots garden squares, or shallow containers?) If you can buy seedlings, Japanese eggplant would be a good thing to try. Unless you have a very long growing season, it would be a bit late to start them from seed now. How about eda-mame - soybeans grown for eating while the pods are green, like green peas?

Houttuynia cordata or lizardtail, diep ca, is another leaf vegetable used in Vietnamese cooking. It's used medicinally in Japan. The taste is a little different from the vietnamese type, but I've started using the youngest tips in salads, and would love to know more ways to cook or use this plant. ...and another one in my garden is gynura bicolor (handama, from Okinawa), related to rau tau bay (gynura crepidoides). Looks like a dandelion when it flowers. It's mainly stirfried in Okinawa - how is it used in Vietnam?

So what happened to all those 11-year-olds in the intervening years? Or do you all spend so much on food now that the internet had to go? We have Mr 15 and Mr 13 now. I get up at 5:15 to prepare two HUGE packed lunches, plus husband's dinky little lunchbox, and then start cooking SOLID breakfast. I'm sure that the solid breakfast helps prevent the four o'clock horrors - their schools forbid any kind of food, but their friends all have stashes of candy, because they breakfast lightly, and just can't last from 12:30 to 6:30pm with nothing to eat. I don't think the 15 year old eats as much now as he did when he was 13, and he even requests salad if it looks like I'm not making any. The 13 year old, of course, eats like a 13 year old boy. Fortunately he likes pasta carbonara... Dinner is actually less of a problem now, because Japanese school runs late, and they get home after 6pm - they don't want snacks when they get home, they want DINNER. Serving dinner very early gives me more time to put together a moderately healthy dessert (instead of scarfing down bought snacks as they run in the door), which they even like to help make, if they have time. Time for me to go make some choux puffs.

I thought this didn't belong in the foodstamps thread, but the topic of using ingenuity to eat well on a budget is always deserving of attention. I'm embarrassed to mention this really tiny moneysaver for cheap veges... Growing carrot tops, turnip tops etc in water on a supermarket plastic tray (see, told you it was embarrassingly tiny). It's not (quite) as stupid as it sounds - absolutely no outlay, and the top of the vegetable contains enough nutrients to grow a tuft or two of greenery - with luck, you might even get two cuts. It's not a lot, but it's enough to green up mashed potatoes, omelet, a sandwich etc. Another way to avoid the expense of buying soil mix for container gardening is to grow the kind of herbs that root easily from purchased fresh cut herbs, and really like to be in the mud, such as peppermint or watercress. Keep the herbs in water until they start rooting from leaf nodes up the stem. Then get a container with some depth (chipped bowl, plastic milk container with top cut off, whatever) and stick some plain old dirt in the bottom, settle the cutting into it, fill up, and off you go. You just need to keep topping up the water (and maybe watching for mosquito larvae ). I've grown Japanese seri (water dropwort) that way for years.

Me too! I'm just reading about it now, and thinking "gravy on SCONES?" In NZ, we sometimes made a paler brown gravy with milk for chicken, but it was understood that it was strictly for wimps and that the Real Thing was made with equal quantities of pea flour (what was THAT, I wonder now?) and flour or gravy mix, stirred into the pan juices and simmered on the stove-top, while the roast had a little kip on the carving plate. Real Gravy had to be coaxed out of the gravy boat with a sharp tap to the rump, it never poured freely!

Bit short on time, but a quick reccy indicates something like 300yen per day for a single person on income support in Kagoshima, a regional city (I imagine this may be different in different cities), and in another area, 240 yen per person per day for foodstuffs (that is, separate from labor and other prep costs) for institutionalized adults. At current rates, that's USD2.50 and 2.00 respectively. Note that the 2.50 allowance is for a single-person household, it doesn't mean that a 2-person household gets twice that amount. I'm extremely aware of this issue, because my brother-in-law has moderately severe schizophrenia, and works at a sheltered restaurant/cafe. They used to cook and provide all working and non-working "members" with a hot lunch for 300 yen (that includes labor , utilities and other overheads), but since the foodstuffs allowance was reduced, that is no longer possible. The loss of this cook-your-own program is huge - many people on income support are unable to manage themselves and their money well enough to cook themselves a full meal every day, so the subsidized lunch made the difference between staying well and getting sick. They also learned food prep and nutrition skills that were helping them in their daily lives between visits to the cafe, but that is now all gone. Now the cafe simply earns cash income by selling coffee and snakck-breads to local workers and residents, and does nothing to help the nutritional needs of those who work there. My BIL has a strong interest in nutrition, and when he lived with us, we talked a lot about food that was cheap, easy to prepare, and nutritious. However, I'm horrified to think how few people on disability benefits or other forms of income support are in his position. As somebody said, poor people are often buying from small shops that are within walking distance from their homes and daily commute. They never have enough money to buy in bulk. That forces people to the 100 yen shops, which sell snacks and instant seasoning mixes pretty much. However, recently some sell 100-yen servings of vegetrables, according to my brother-in-law, and that's a huge help, because a pack of vegetables often costs the entire daily food allowance. I will see what menus I could make by shopping within walking distance, once I've checked out what the allowance for a 4 person family would be, but since my brother in law is about to visit, we will be feeding him up and indulging him for a few days!