Dorayaki

Dorayaki (Japanese Red Bean Pancake)

OCTOBER 28, 2011

by NAMI

I’m so excited to share this traditional Japanese dessert recipe today.  If you are a regular reader of Just One Cookbook, you probably know that I rarely make dessert.  I know a lot of readers come here to look for Japanese dessert recipes but are probably disappointed at what little dessert recipes I have.  I am aware of that and I hope to increase my desert collections on Just One Cookbook.  In fact, I have one more dessert recipe coming up next week as well.  So I’m working on it…slowly…    Today I’m guest posting at my fellow foodie friend Mai’s blog, A Cup of Mai.  Mai cooks delicious food and takes gorgeous pictures, and she has a good fashion and artistic talent which I am completely lack of.  I love how Mai updated her master bedroom and how she cooks delicious spare ribs and bakes chocolate macarons with ganache filling!  You will see what I mean when you visit her blog – so click Here to check out my guest post and spend some time on her blog with a cup of coffee or tea!

Today’s dessert Dorayaki is best described as a dessert sandwich with red bean filling between two slices of pancake.  If you are familiar with Japanese cartoon from the 70’s, you probably know this dessert from the anime character Doraemon who is crazy about Dorayaki.  I grew up eating this dessert in Japan and packaged Dorayaki is usually sold in Asian or Japanese grocery stores in the US.  However, it is really easy to make at home and much more delicious if you make it from scratch.  Hope you give this simple recipe a try.  Have a great weekend!

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Dorayaki (Japanese Red Bean Pancake)

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 8 Dorayaki

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 140g (2/3 cup) sugar
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 160g (1 cup) all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1-2 Tbsp. water
• 1 (18 oz/520g) can Ogura-An, or homemade sweetened red bean paste

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, and honey and whisk well until the mixture gets fluffy.

2. Sift flour and baking powder into the bowl and mix. Keep in the fridge to rest for 15 minutes.

3. Stir in ½ Tbsp of water at a time to get the right consistency. It should be a little bit thicker than pancake batter. If the batter is too thin, Dorayaki buns will be too flat and not fluffy.

4. Heat a large non-stick frying pan on medium-low to medium heat. Dip the paper towel in oil and coat the bottom of the pan with the oil. The pan should be slightly oiled but shouldn’t be visible. That’s the secret to get nice texture on the surface of Dorayaki. With a ladle, drop the batter from 1 foot above the pan to create 3 inch diameter “pancake”. When you see the surface of batter starts to bubble, flip over and cook the other side. Transfer to a plate and cover up with damp towel to prevent from drying. Continue making pancakes.

5. Make sandwich with red bean paste. Put more red bean paste in the center so the shape of Dorayaki will be curved (middle part should be higher). Quickly wrap them with saran wrap until you ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Green Tea & White Chocolate Cookies

NOVEMBER 11, 2011

by NAMI

When I saw my foodie friend Anh’s Matcha and White Chocolate Cookies post on her blog A Food Lover’s Journey last month, I knew I needed to make it.  I love both traditional and modern Japanese sweets that contain sweet red bean paste or/and matcha (green tea).

I was not only excited to eat these cookies, but I was also looking forward to taking pictures of cookies for the first time.  I have seen how all the food bloggers take pictures of cookies – most common one is usually by tying them with ribbon!  Despite my excitement, I did not have the right type of ribbon so I ended up using cooking twine…  I actually struggled a lot with my very first cookie photos because it was such a hard object to make it interesting.  But the cookies were wonderful.  I know I’ll make these again and again!

As for the recipe, I pretty much followed Anh’s recipe because I don’t see anywhere I need to change or want to change.  The amount of white chocolate I used was a guesstimate.  For those of you who want to try this recipe, I hope you can find 100% pure matcha powder in your local Asian grocery store.  The good quality ones should have very beautiful green color, not dull green.  Here’s the Maeda-En Brand I use for my Green Tea Ice Cream and this recipe and it’s around $6 for 1 oz (28.5g).  It’s a bit pricey but matcha is expensive in Japan as well.

I leave you with these delicious cookies as I have packing to do for a little get-away with my family.   Happy Veteran’s Day and have a great weekend!

*For Vegan Green Tea Cookies, please click here.  Roxana of A Little Bit of Everythingmade these delicious Green Tea Cookies on my blog.

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Green Tea & White Chocolate Cookies

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 36 cookies

Ingredients:

• 240g all purpose flour
• 15g 100% natural green tea powder (matcha powder)
• 150g unsalted butter, softened
• 130g powder sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

• As per readers' requests, here is the measurement in cups. However, I highly recommend using a scale to get a perfect result.
• 2 1/8 cups all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. matcha powder
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp. powder sugar.
• Pinch of salt
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Sift the flour and the matcha powder.

2. Cream together the butter, sugar, and salt until soft and light.

3. Add the egg yolks and beat well.

4. Gradually add the flour/matcha powder mixture.

5. Fold in the white chocolate chips.

6. Shape the dough into 2 round logs and wrap them in plastic wrap. Rest in the refrigerator overnight.

7. Preheat oven to 300F (150C) degrees. Remove the dough from plastic wrap and cut the cookie slices to 7mm (1/4 inch) thick. If you put too many chocolate chips, this step can be a little tricky as you see in the photo.

8. Bake for 20 minutes then cool on a rack.

Source: A Food Lover’s Journey, originally from Okashi Treats by Keiko Ishida

Enjoy!

Strawberry Daifuku

Strawberry Daifuku (Strawberry Mochi)

MARCH 20, 2012

by NAMI

Daifuku is a popular traditional Japanese sweet; it is soft mochi with anko (sweet red bean paste) stuffing.  There are many varieties of Daifuku, but it’s the same soft mochi exterior with different stuffing.  During the spring time, Japanese confectionery shops sells a seasonal Daifuku with a whole strawberry as the filling, called Strawberry Daifuku (Ichigo Daifuku in Japanese).  The combination of fresh soft mochi, sweet anko, and juicy and tart strawberry is a match made in heaven.

Today I’m beyond excited to announce that my Strawberry Daifuku recipe is being featured on the spring issue of Flavour Fiesta Magazine!

Divya is the author/cook/baker/photographer behind Flavour Fiesta and she issues beautiful quarterly online magazine about food and her recipes with beautiful food photography.  Looking at her blog and how professionally it’s laid out, it’s hard to tell that Divya’s blog just had its first blogiversary this month.  I’ve been closely following her for about half a year and I continue to grow my admiration toward her and her blog.  Her strong dedication to improve what she does amazes me and I wish I had similar artistic talents.

Visiting her blog over the past few months, I could recognize her hard-working ethics toward her blog, especially with the food photography.  I think I already work very hard on my blog consistently thinking of ways to improve.  But I learned that she works even harder than I do after working this project with her.  Not only she’s very detailed and thorough at what she does, but she’s also a generous person to kindly share her advice and tips for my food photography when I needed some help to improve.  Her food is always so delightfully presented; the colors, flavors and textures always catch my eye and I can already taste the food simply by looking at her photos.

I’m so truly happy for her that this spring issue is already the third release of her online magazines and wish her continued success.  It was really pleasure to work with such a creative and talented blogger and I fondly cherish my experience working with her.

Now please prepare a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy Divya’s Flavour Fiesta Magazine!

* My Strawberry Daifuku recipe continues after the image below.

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Strawberry Daifuku

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 3 minutes

Yield: 6 Strawberry Daifuku

Ingredients:

• 6 Strawberries
• 150g (5.29 oz) Anko (Sweet Red Bean Paste) (I used premade "Koshian" today)
• 100g (3 ½ oz) Shiratamako (Glutinous Rice Flour)
• 20g (2 Tbsp.) sugar
• 150 ml water
• Corn starch for dusting

Instructions:

1. Hull the strawberries and dry completely with paper towel. Divide anko into 6 same size balls. Anko gets sticky on your hands, so wash your hands and dry completely each time you make a ball.

2. Wrap the strawberries with anko. Leave the tip of the strawberry uncovered. Wash your hands and dry completely each time you wrap a strawberry with anko.

3. In a medium microwave-safe glass bowl, mix shiratamako and sugar with a whisk.

4. Using a silicone spatula, slowly add water in 3 parts and stir until the mixture has reached a thick consistency. Cover loosely with plastic wrap.

5. First, microwave 1 minute (for 1200W microwave). Mix well with a wet silicone spatula. The mixture is still whitish and floury.

6. For the second time, microwave 1 minute again, and mix well with the wet silicone spatula. Now it starts to resemble mochi, but there are still some floury parts.

7. For the last time, microwave only 30 seconds. Now the mochi texture should look translucent.

8. Sift corn starch on the tray and put the mochi on top.

9. With silicone spatula or kitchen scraper, fold the mochi in half one time so it won’t be as sticky and then divide into 6 equal pieces.

10. Put some corn starch on your hands and flatten and expand each mochi into a 3” round or square. Then put the anko covered strawberry on top of it, with the tip facing down.

11. Start covering the strawberry from all sides and use your thumb to hold the mochi on top.

12. When all sides of mochi meet at the top, twist and close. Hold the mochi with both hands and form into nice round shape. Repeat the process for the remaining mochi.

13. Serve at room temperature and they must be consumed within 2 days.

Notes

If you want to make more than 6 pieces, I highly recommend you to work in batches.

If you use the 120g Shiratamako package like I did, here’s the portion: 120g Shiratamako, 24g sugar, 180 ml (3/4 cup) water.

Enjoy!

Chicken Teriyaki

MARCH 22, 2012

by NAMI

When I first came to the US as a foreign student, I didn’t have a car for the first few months because I lived in a dormitory and my parents assumed that I would eat at the cafeteria at school, and I did…for a few months.

Then I got bored with the cafeteria’s menus, got my first driver’s license and car, and moved into an apartment.  I started to cook on my own mainly because I missed my mom’s food.  The closest Japanese supermarket was miles away and I was still scared of driving on the high speed American freeways back then.  Luckily, American supermarkets in the area carried some Asian products so I could get some basic ingredients there, which saved the cost of flying back home to ease my craving for my mom’s home cooked meals.

Today I’m guest blogging at The Three Little Piglets, where my blogger friend Jen shares easy,healthy, and budget-friendly recipes.  When she asked me if I can make a Japanese dish with a few easy-to-find but essential ingredients, I thought authentic Chicken Teriyaki would be a great first introductory dish for cooking Japanese food.

Just so you know, the “chicken teriyaki sauce” in a bottle does not taste like real teriyaki sauce in Japan.  Like I mentioned before in my Beef Teriyaki post, teriyaki is a cooking technique: terimeans “luster” given by the sweet soy sauce marinade and yaki means “cooking/grilling” and it’s not really the name of the sauce.

Please click HERE to check the recipe and say hello to Jen.  If you enjoy baking, you will love following her blog.  I personally can’t wait to try her Just Like Doubletree Cookies and Orange Cardamom Madeleines.  Hmmmmm!  Just talking about them make me drool!

So dear readers, when you think of Japanese food, what dish comes to your mind first?

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Chicken Teriyaki Recipe

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Yield: Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 lb boneless chicken breast/thigh (I used 3 pieces of chicken thigh with skin)
• 2 Tbsp. sake for steaming
Teriyaki Sauce
• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 1 Tbsp. sake
• 1 Tbsp. mirin
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/4 onion, grated, including juice (This is a grater I use.)
• 1 inch ginger, grated, including juice

Instructions:

1. Rinse chicken in running water and cut into smaller pieces. I cut one thigh into 4 small pieces so the chicken will be cooked through quickly and we can use chopsticks to eat. Then prick the chicken (not the skin side) with a fork.

2. Combine Teriyaki Sauce ingredients in a bowl or Ziploc bag.

3. Add chicken and marinate for 2-3 hours.

4. Heat oil on medium high in a large skillet. When it’s hot, place the chicken pieces from skin side. The marinade will burn easily so try not to add any liquid in the pan. Do not throw away the marinade.

5. When skin side is nicely browned, flip the chicken (now skin side is up). Then add sake and cook covered for 8-10 minutes.

6. Then remove the chicken to a plate and clean the skillet.

7. Heat a little bit of oil and put the chicken back to the skillet, skin side down first to make the skin crispy.

8. Then flip again (now skin side is up) and pour the Teriyaki Sauce. Cook until the sauce is reduced a bit. Use spoon to pour on top of chicken a couple of times while you are cooking.

9. Serve the chicken and pour sauce on top.

Mom’s Korokke

Mom’s Korokke (Croquette) お母さんのコロッケ

MARCH 26, 2012

by NAMI

Before I share my recipe today, I want to apologize for my delayed response with emails and comments lately.  I’m usually pretty good at responding to readers’ recipe-related questions in less than 24 hours, but recently I’ve been struggling to find the time.  Finally my husband came back from his week-long business trip (thank God!) and my son’s school performance is now over.  I have one more week left before my up-coming Japan trip.  I’ll be working to catch up on emails and comments this week, and I thank you for your patience.

Now let’s talk about food!  When my mom was visiting during last Christmas & New Year, I asked her to make one of my most favorite food that she cooks.  I mentioned in my blog a couple of times before but it’s Korokke (Japanese Croquette).

Well, I really wished that I had better pictures of her delicious Korokke, but we were making these during a dark winter afternoon, the quality of step-by-step photos and final shots are not as good as I wanted them to be due to lack of natural light.  They are the best Korokke ever, but I guess you will have to take me for my words. 

My mom usually makes extra effort to get the best ingredients when she cooks and she is really good at deep frying any food even without using a thermometer to measure the oil temperature.  I think it’s really her magic touch or maybe just years of experience, but I could never replicate her taste even when I use the same ingredients.  The recipe is actually very simple and there is no secret hidden ingredient.  However, the key for successful Korokke is high quality ingredients and the cooking technique.  Hopefully one day I get better at making these.

I’m going to Japan to visit my family one week from now so I will have another chance to eat these again.  I always request my mom to make this dish every time I went home for the past 15 years.  I grew up eating these for the first 20 years of my life and since then, I get to eat at least once a year when I go back home or when she visits me.  It became sort of a tradition.  Dear readers, do you have a food that you always eat when you visit your home?

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Mom’s Korokke (Croquette)

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

Yield: Makes 16-18 Korokke

Ingredients:

• 2 lb. (about 4) russet potatoes, peeled and halved
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp. butter
• 2 Tbsp. oil
• 1 large onion
• 1 lb. ground beef
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 3 eggs
• 2 cup Panko
• ½ cup flour
• Oil for deep frying
• Tonkatsu Sauce (or Homemade Tonkatsu Sauce)

Instructions:

1. In a large pot, put water and potatoes and bring it to a boil. Cook potatoes until a skewer goes through the potato easily.

2. Remove the potato from the heat and drain the water completely. When you do so, use a lid to partially cover so the potatoes don’t fall out from the pot.
3. Move the pot back to the stove. On low heat shift the pot so that remaining moisture will completely evaporate (but don’t burn them).

4. Transfer the potatoes into a large bowl and mash the potatoes. Add salt, pepper, and butter.

5. Meanwhile, chop onion finely.
6. In a large skillet, heat oil on medium high heat. Sauté onion until soft.

7. Add the meat and break it up with a wooden spoon. When the meat is cooked, add salt and black pepper. Turn off the heat and let it cool.

8. Before adding the meat into the mashed potatoes in the bowl, get rid of the juice from the meat. If the mixture is too soft due to too much liquid, you can’t make a nice korokke shape and it won’t be the right texture when you bite into it.

9. Set aside till cool down a bit (so you can actually hold the mixture with your hands).

10. While the mixture is still warm, but not hot, start making Korokke balls (mom made little one for the kids). Let the Korokke balls rest in the fridge for 15-30 minutes (make sure they are completely cool before deep frying).

11. Dredge each ball in flour, egg, and Panko. Put the Korokke back in the fridge till oil is ready for frying.

12. In a wok, heat oil over medium high heat. Deep fry Korokke until they are golden brown (How To Deep Fry Food). Inside is already cooked, so all you need to do is to make it nice brown color.

13. Transfer Korokke to paper towels and let the oil absorbed in the paper. Serve immediately with Tonkatsu Sauce.

Enjoy!

When we have leftover, we usually make Korokke Sandwich next day.  Add shredded cabbage, put some Japanese mayonnaise and Tonkatsu sauce and sandwich the Korokke with two pieces of bread.  Honestly, I never get tired of my mom’s Korokke, and my dad and I always brighten up when we hear she was making Korokke for dinner.