Up on the ladder: japanese food

Showing posts with label japanese food. Show all posts

Saw an ad for this on instagram and I guess since I was following matcha and asian starbucks accounts that I was ad targeted and boy they got me good lol! This box service apparently just started so I was able to get the grand opening discount. But it seems this company has a handful of Japan type monthly boxes so it seems to be established already. Sakuraco box focuses on the tea culture in Japan. So each box has tea, sweets, and some sort of tea ware. Its mostly sweets so far. The sweets are more on the traditional side which is what I like rather than snacks like Pocky. Each box will have exactly 20 items inside. The price for one month is $37.50 with the 1 year sub its $32.50 per box. I just got the box and I've enjoyed what I've tried so far. Sure its a bit pricey, but I think its worth it as someone who likes tea and Japanese sweets and lives too far away from Japan.

Since they ship from Tokyo, they do charge shipping separately so shipping costs me about $12 per box so each box cost me $44 with their grand opening discount and 6 boxes sub discount. That makes each item cost $2.20 for me. This price will be a bit higher without discounts. I think if you paid full price for one box its about $2.50 each. Some of the snacks are bite sized and small like about 1.5" small. Its up to you if you feel ok with paying that but the sweets so far all vary in sizes but generally compared to American sweets they're small. The box is only 8" x 8" x 4" but shipping was fast. Took 3 days from when DHL picks up the box to delivering it to my door. I probably shouldn't worry about anything melting when summer comes around since shipping is fast. Did anything break? Only thing that broke was the straw roll cookie and one of the monaka got a tiny bit crushed. Everything else looks fine!

The sweets are nice but I wish there was more tea options than just one. This box is sakura themed so the tea is pickled sakura flowers which is pretty to look at since its the full flowers. They only include two packets of it so only two cups of tea. The contents of the next box is already revealed and it seems there's always a certain type of sweets or snack includes. Other than two servings of tea, there's at least one cake type sweets, a cup sweets (like pudding), monaka, candy type, and cracker like snacks which so far are the senbei which are shrimp crackers. Of course this could change but so far all this is fine with me. They do put info on allergies or whether it vegetarian.

UPDATE: So I've gone through the second box and have something to note. Some snacks can go stale since some won't include the little preservation packet so be sure to eat the cake types and other soft snacks that don't have the preservation packet in their packaging asap!

So I've seen on youtube people using and eating these hard square blocks of mochi. They would heat it up over a fire like marshmallows, toast them in a toaster oven, put them in soups or waffle makers, and dipped them in soy sauce. They looked really good since I am tired of mochi ice cream and regular filled mochi. Sadly there isn't a place around me that sells them. So I opt to just making them.

I figured they're just regular mochi so I used a recipe from Cookingwithdog:

50g mochiko flour (sweet rice flour)
60g sugar (adjust sugar to your liking)
100ml water
potato or corn starch for dusting (kind of optional)

Mix flour and sugar together in a microwave safe container or bowl. Then add the water in parts and mix it well.

Then cover the container and microwave for 2 minutes. Carefully mix the dough till smooth. Then microwave it again for 40 seconds. Mix till glossy. It will be very very sticky! You can transfer the dough to another container if you want. Dust the dough with starch to make it easier to handle.

You must refrigerate it for 30 minutes or so. It will harden a bit, but nothing like the blocks. You can freeze it too. Once harden you can cut it up to pieces and toast them in the toaster oven. The crispy outside edge and chewy warm inside is more appetizing than roasted marshmallows to me.

Recently I just learned that the blocks are called kiri mochi. I never had them before so I have no idea if they are sweet or plain tasting. I do see there are listed on Amazon as well so maybe I will actually buy some and try it.

I've heard about this dish for awhile, but I never seen it in Japanese restaurants so I couldn't try it. Somen is known to be a summer dish since it is normally chilled. The noodles are a white wheat thin noodles that you dip in a mentsuyu (dashi soy sauce) sauce. It seems you can add a variety of toppings to go with the noodles.

You can find Somen noodles in asian supermarkets, but it may not be there in the asian sections of your normal western supermarket. The noodles do have a variety of package sizes and brands to choose from. They also can be pricey compare to pasta. The cheapest one I got was about $2 and its made in Korea. I like how its has one serving of noodles already wrapped in a paper band so there's 4 servings in one bag. Cooking somen noodles is fast too. Just boil for 3 minutes and rinse with cold water then chilled it in ice water. I skipped the ice bath and just ate the noodles just cooled or room temperature. The noodles already have a bit of oil in them so they will not stick and clump together. I topped it with eggs, grated ginger, and chopped scallions.

For the dipping sauce, there's quite a few different variations from different regions of Japan. I just used the most easily accessible recipe with just mirin, soy sauce, and dashi stock. I used the powdered dashi stock and measured 100mL of it. I soft boil 2 tablespoons or 25ml of mirin in a pot. Then I add the same amount with the soy sauce and then add 100ml of dashi stock. Bring that to a boil then stop the heat. You can let it cool before serving or refrigerate it. This stuff taste pretty salty if you try it by itself, but you can adjust it with water or dashi stock to your liking. The sauce is suppose to be quite salty so this is normal. Once you dip the noodles in it will flavor the dish well enough. There are somen dipping sauce that you can buy already made, but making it is pretty easy since I have all the ingredients.

Overall, this dish is delicious! Its relatively inexpensive and fast to make. I really like the taste of the noodles and how thin they are. Definitely already one of my favorite types of noodles. Definitely recommend giving it a try.

Look Royal Uji Macha Chocolate. These are Japanese chocolate snacks that I've found at my local asian market. They come in cookies 'n cream, strawberry, and matcha flavor. I've only got the matcha on to try out. The prices for these can vary from $6-$10 depending on where you buy them. I forgot to count them, but it was less than 10 pieces in a box.

They're actually pretty good. The chocolate is smooth, and the mousse-like matcha filling taste like matcha. It has the bitterness of matcha, but its light. The sweetness from the chocolate helps balance it as well. I didn't think matcha and chocolate would go that well together. On top of the mousse is matcha syrup sauce, but its not runny so its not going to make a mess.

Overall, I do like this chocolate, and think its worth trying. The price is on the high side, but it is delicious so I think its worth it as well as its under $7.

This is a common brand of canned coffee in Japan, and I wanted to try it out. It can be heard to find this brand though. I only found it in a Japanese market, and couldn't find it in any other asian markets.

The taste is smooth, but also sweet. Its more milky than coffee, but I am the type that tends to like black coffee. There is a light subtle bitterness of coffee in it, but the sweetness is what you will mostly taste. Its not overly sweet that it makes it gross, but its enough sweetness to make it enjoyable. I do find this coffee drink pretty delicious.

If you like coffee with milk and sugar this is one you should try! Would definitely recommend it.

Like with the Cheese flavor, this one is also light. Its a tad sweeter than the cheese, but it does have this whipped cream like taste and feeling. The taste it subtle and light so the majority of the taste it the bread itself rather than the flavor.

This time I've provided a bit better photos of the snack. Definitely give these a try if you find them!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LR2I08/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004LR2I08&linkCode=as2&tag=mastermay&linkId=7YPSVEP5PJ4MP7FO

Bread snacks are popular types of food in Japan and Asia. Unfortunately it's hard to find these bread snacks in the U.S. Usually you can find them in Japanese market and maybe Asian markets. Be sure to check the label to see if it says it's from Japan because there are food items that looks Japanese by using Japanese words but are from other countries.

Melonpan is the most popular kind but I won't talk about since everyone else does. I will talk about these D-Plus bread. These are 2" high by 3.5" wide circular bread. But it is soft and light like a pillow. It's definitely tasty if you warm it up a bit.

These come in a variety of flavor a too. This one I'm talking about is cheese. Now this doesn't mean there's a cheese fillings. There are little specs of cheese inside the bread. Although the sweetness of the bread kind of defeats the cheese flavor here it's still good. The flavor is really light. You couldn't even taste cheese. It's just mostly taste like bread which may sound boring to some people. But many Japanese snack items are usually light in flavor.

Overall I enjoyed this cheese bread. It's light, tasty, and not heavy on the stomach. I will have to try the other favors when I get the chance!

I saw this at a asian grocery store, and decided to try it out. It is a frozen packet of seasoned thinly sliced beef and onions. It is meant to be a topping to put on rice or noodles. Its practically like a donburi dish.

The packet is 6.3 oz and its a pretty good amount of food. Its already cooked so it just needs to heat up. You can heat it by placing the whole packet in boiling water for 10 minutes, or microwave it out of its packet and in a microwave safe bowl for 2 minutes. I chose to microwave it on top of old rice and since I didn't thaw it it took almost 4 minutes to get it piping hot.

Its surprisingly good! I didn't expect much, but its definitely tasty and filling. The beef is really thin and tender, but it does has some stringy stuff which I'm not sure what its called exactly. It has a very sweet and savory taste. It is seasoned with soy sauce, wine, beef broth, and sugar. So if you like teriyaki, this is quite similar to it.

The ingredients look good too: Beef, onion, water, soy sauce (water, wheat, soybean, salt, alcohol [to retain freshness]), sugar, contains less than 2%of each of the following: burgandy wine (burgandy wine, salt, potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfite [preservatives]), brown sugar, sweet cooking rice wine (water, mirin {rice extract, alcohol, salt]), dextrose, corn syrup solid, lactic and succinic acids), beef broth base (beef broth, autolyzed yeast extract, beef fat, modified food startch, caramel color), white wine vinegar, monosodium glutamate, seasoning (yeast extract, fermented wheat protein, maltoextrin, salt)

Overall, I think this is a pretty good easy meal to have if you're a busy person or just don't feel like cooking. Sadly I never see this anymore other than that one asian store so I' not sure if you can find it locally.

A friend of mine introduced this to me and it was surprisingly good. Ochazuke is a Japanese dish of basically green tea poured over rice with a couple of toppings. Dashi soup can be mixed with the green tea to give it a more soupy taste.

You can buy dry mix of ochazuke which is pretty good and easy to make. It has dried green tea pellets, nori, rice cracker pellets, and well MSG. The msg is probably what makes it good. The Nagatanien is usually the brand you see everywhere for ochazuke, and I really haven't seen any other alternatives. One bag comes with either 4 or 8 packets for about $3.

Directions are simple, just have 100 grams of rice and pour 150ml of water or green tea along with one packet onto the rice. Truth be told I don't really taste the difference between water and green tea. This packet is salty but I like it. Its a great simple dish for cold weather. You can't really taste any green tea, and it just taste like soup.

I recommend it, and it be a good cheap alternative food for college people!

Nagatanien Ochazuke Nori - http://amzn.to/1wKieHS

Castella is a popular Japanese style spongecake. I have recently found some and it is quit delicious! The first ones I've tried were from Japan and it market only had matcha and chocolate flavors. The matcha had a light matcha flavor and its sweetness is what really shone through more. The chocolate is pretty good as well and has a nice chocolate flavor that I don't find in many chocolate cake snacks that you can get on the go. Both were light and moist. Each pack came with 3 square slices and cost about $3.60. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of them.

Last weekend I went to a Japanese market and found more castella products. I got the cheaper ones that was labeled "castilla" and they were made in China. The company's name is Imuraya so it is a Japanese company. They came in a nice package with 10 pieces. They came in original and green tea flavor. These are as good as the first ones I've had. They were about $6 each. They make such great snacks and are the perfect size for me. If you ever find these I do recommend trying them out!

Imuraya Castilla Original - http://amzn.to/1xx4Of8
Imuraya Castilla Green Tea - http://amzn.to/1nKDQkf

Kewpie has become a more known product quite quickly lately so I wanted to give my 2 cents on it. This Japanese mayonnaise has become more widely available in supermarkets and online. Its packaging makes it quite easy to recognize with its bottle shape and being wrapped in a plastic bag. You might be able to find it in the Asian sections of your supermarket. If not you might have to find a Asian market. Amazon has it as well but it is a few dollars above what its prices in supermarkets.

Unlike American brand mayonnaise this mayonnaise is yellow in color, its made with rice vinegar, and uses egg yolks rather than the whole egg. This gives it a tangy flavor that quite balances out with the creaminess of the mayo. MSG (monosodium glutamate) is listed in the ingredients so this definitely boosts the tastiness of this mayo. If this is a concern for you I'm sorry to say that there isn't an alternative Japanese mayo brand that doesn't have msg. You might have to find a homemade recipe. Other than msg the other ingredients are all natural.

All the information is on the plastic bag so nothing is really on the bottle itself. The baby logo is taken from the kewpie dolls that were popular in the early 1900s. The bottle is rather easy to use, but it does conform a bit to how you squeeze it so it does take an odd shape when you're half way done. It kind of makes it awkward when you have a bit at the top, none in the middle and the rest on the bottom.

This mayo is pretty good (probably because of the msg) but I think people exaggerate how good it is. Lots of reviews say they use it for many things, but I still keep it at egg salads and sandwiches. Also the bottle does have a use by date usually within a couple months, but this is completely useless. I've had the mayo for over a year and it hasn't change in taste or color at all. Still haven't gotten sick or anything from it. You might see Kenko mayo which has almost the exact same bottle and packaging. I have yet to taste this so I can't say if its any different.

This is my first attempt at Doria. A dish I've heard about for awhile but have never seen it at a restaurant or even knew what it consisted of. Then recently a Japanese cooking channel on YouTube did a video on it, and it inspired me to want to try it out.

A typical gratin (a technique meaning to top a dish with a brown crust) dish the main ingredient is a starch with a milky sauce and topped cheese which you brown in the oven. Doria is not different but instead of potatoes its rice with meat and vegetables like friend rice. You layer on top of it bechamel sauce also known as white sauce and white gravy or country gravy. Then you top it off which whatever cheese you like and bake it in the oven till the top is golden brown crispy and delicious!

My first try came out delicious and the best thing about Doria is that you can customize however you desire like a pizza. Its great for anyone and its not an expensive dish to make. Plus you can really just eye ball the amount of ingredients to use. Nobody cooks at home so I had some really limited supplies, but was able to make it.

First I made the rice. I didn't have any vegetables in my fridge so I used hotdogs, eggs, and deli ham slices to mix into my rice. Melted a bit of butter on a pan and added the chopped meats. Cook them through and I added an eggs and stirred till cooked. I added a bit of oil so the egg won't stick to the pan so much. Then I added leftover rice and combined everything. Season with salt and pepper and be sure to taste it before you finish cooking the rice. If you want to season the rice with sauces or whatever you can. The rice doesn't need to be tasty and if it tastes a little bland that's ok since the white sauce and cheese will balance that out. So don't over do it with the seasoning.

I don't have an oven proof dish or any dish or baking pan that will fit into my toaster oven so I used aluminum foil and made it look like a dish. I used a plastic takeout box to help shape it and keep its shape. Then I placed the rice into it. Now for the white sauce!

On low heat melt a bit of butter and then add the same amount as the butter with flour. Stir till it combines and starts bubbling. This is known as a roux. If this is your first time making something like this I advise taking it slowly because it can be easy to mess up especially if you over cook it. Still on low heat, slowly add milk till your desired amount and stir. This should cover the top of the rice so make enough to do that. I make a little less then needed but that's ok. Cook the mixture and stirring it till it thickens to your liking. Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Now you need a soup stock to season the sauce. Traditional Doria uses consomme soup or powder, but if that's not what you have or can find using chicken stock or bullion. Or if you're like me and don't have any of these you can also get seasonings from ramen or any dry boxed/bagged meals. I only had beef ramen so I used a teaspoon of the soup seasonings into the white sauce. Be sure to taste it and season it to your liking! You can get creative with white sauces if you like. Use cornstarch and water if the roux is not enough to thicken the sauce.

Now you can top the dish with cheese. I have shredded cheddar jack cheese and sprinkled it on top. Set my toaster oven to 450F on broil and left the makeshift foil dish in for about 10 minutes. And now its finished!! Its so delicious and its definitely something I will make again. Thanks for reading! :D

First Sakuraco box!

How to make toasted sweet rice cake (kiri mochi)

Japanese Somen (Soumen) Noodles - Cold Dish

Fujiya Look Royal Uji Macha Chocolate

UCC Coffee with Milk

D+ D-Plus Natural Yeast Bread - Wheat Cake Hokkaido Cream flavor

D+ D-Plus Natural Yeast Bread - Wheat Cake Cheese flavor

Aijinomoto Beef and Onione with Oriental-Style Sauce

Nagatanien Ochazuke

Castella

Japanese Brand Mayonaise Kewpie

Doria: Japanese Style Gratin

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