UKISHIMA

I was missing Japanese sweets, SAOSHIKA, which my friends had used to bring me from Tokushima, then I started wondering if UKISHIMA was close to SAOSHIKA and decided to try.
I had both AZUKIAN(sweet bean paste) and SHIROAN(white sweet bean paste), so I made 2 colored one with Taisho- Kintokimame(one type of red bean) from Hokkaido.

The result was not very like SAOSHIKA, but I derived happiness from the delicate sweetness of Wagashi, and I had a nice tea time with Genmai Tea from The Matcha House.
The combination of Wagashi and Japanese green tea is wonderful♪

＜Recipe＞

Koshian(Shiro or Azuki)  200g
Wheat flour                 10g
Joushinko(rice flour)　15g
Baking Powder           　1g
Yolk             　　　　　　 1
Sugar             　　　　 　45g
Egg white     　　　　　 　1

1.　Mix Koshian with sifted flours (flour, joushinko, baking powder).
2.　Add yolk to 1 and mix them.
3.　Add 20g of sugar to 2 and mix them.
4.　Whip egg white and 25g of sugar and make strong meringue.
5.　Add 1/3 of merinque to 3 and mix them well.
6.　Add the rest of merinque to 5 and mix them.
7.　Place a baking sheet in a mold and pour 6 in it and steam it for 15 minutes.

* If you want to make Matcha taste one, use Shiroan and substitute 5g of Matcha for 5g of joshinko.
   If you want to make a two colored type, pour one colored mixture and make the surface smooth and drop by drop place another colored mixture gently on the first layer and make the surface smooth gently and steam.

Bon profit!!!

DORAYAKI

If we have "ANKO", we can gratify the sudden desire to eat "WAGASHI" easily♪
So, among "WAGASHI", I made the most easiest one, DORAYAKI and had a happy time with Hot Milk...
(Of course it is nice to have DORAYAKI with Japanese Tea, but I love the combination with Hot Milk, please try!)

The combination of TSUBUAN＆Whipped Cream is very popular among Japanese people and also people in other countries. Some who does not love WAGASHI due to ANKO can enjoy if WAGASHI is served with Whipped Cream.

Photo provided by The Matcha House

If you have SHIROKOSHIAN, you can make MATCHA AN mixing with Matcha.

＜Recipe＞

Egg 　　　 　　　　 2

Sugar              　70g

Honey      　　 　12g
Mirin  　　　　 　12g
Baking soda 　 　4g
Water　　　　　  20g
Flour   　　　　 100g

1.　Mix eggs and sugar in a bowl roughly(just to be mixed, not necessary to be thick and creamy).
2.　Add honey and MIRIN and mix roughly(if you do not have MIRIN, you can add SAKE Spoon1＋Sugar tea spoon 1, if you do not SAKE, you can change to Sherry or White Wine...).
3.　Mix water and baking soda and add to 2.
4.   Add flour to 3 and mix roughly.
5.　Leave the mixture for 30minutes
6.　Using Teflon coated pan, baking small pan cake(around 10cm in diameter) at low heat without any oil.

7.   Small bubble appears on the surface and the surface becomes dried, flip it to bake other side(Side B) for 10 seconds.

8.　Once the pan cakes cool down, fill ANKO, Whipped Cream, Cream Cheese or whatever you like between 2 pan cakes(Side B without colour should be inside touching the filling and Side A which has brown color should be outside).

If you have Electric Hot Plate, you can make pan cake easily but if not, the point to have nice brown colour is not to use any oil on the pan, which means the pan should be Teflon coated. If you have to grease your pan, use as less oil as possible and wipe unnecessary oil with kitchen paper.

Bon profit!!!

PS　I am normally buying MATCHA from The Matcha House because they provide Organic Matcha, which we can enjoy not only the good taste but also the beautiful green colour, the result is so different! As a consequence, when I make some sweets with MATCHA, the staff from The Matcha House offers to take photos. The quality of photos is much better than mine! If you run out of MATCHA, I recommend you to try theirs!

Matcha Daifuku with Strawberry

WAGASHI(Japanese Sweets) is also something we want but cannot find easily in Spain.

If we get intense cravings for ANKO(red/white bean paste), we can go to a convenience store, grab KUSHIDANGO or DORAYAKI and satisfy it even in the middle of the night if we are in Japan, but not in Spain.
（Speaking which, one day it happened to me, so I called my brother who was on his way home and asked to buy something with ANKO, then what I received was... A CAN of TSUBUAN! TSUBUAN is ANKO itself, then if I say I want to eat ANKO, TSUBUAN can be the one but couldn't he find anything else, like, as I said, KUSHIDANGO or DORAYAKI??? Anyway I ate it...)

Last year a take out Japanese food shop opened in my neighborhood and I was informed that they were selling DAIFUKU, so I ran into the shop and bought one! But the one I got was something cheapie and flozen like those we would get at souvenir shop at country side.

So if we want, we have to make it!

Using SHIRATAMAKO(rice flour) I bought in JAPAN, I made Matcha Daifuku with Strawberry.

As I had SHIROAN(white bean paste), I added Matcha and made Matcha AN, which had beautiful colour and good smell.
I prepared Japanese tea and enjoyed a happy Tea Time♪

Photo provided by The Matcha House

＜Recipe＞

SHIRATAMAKO　  150ｇ
Water           　　　  　 180ｇ
Sugar                　　  　  70ｇ

SHIROAN     　　 　   200ｇ
Matcha 　　　                   2 tea spoons（mix with 1 tea spoon of water）
Strawberry    　　　           8
Potato starch

1.　Mix SHIROAN and Matcha dissolved with water and cover each strawberry by this Matcha AN.
2.　Mix SHIRATAMAKO, sugar and water in the bowl.
3.　Cover the bowl with film and microwave 600W for 2 minutes and mix it well with wooden spatula. (Repeat 3 times)
4.　Once Mochi(rice cake) is transparent and done, take it out in the tray in which you place potato starch.
5.　Extend Mochi pushing with hand, cut it into 8 pieces, place a strawberry with AN and cover it with Mochi.

Bon profit!!!