The Sugar Bar

3rd March, is Hinamatsuri 雛祭り or Girls’ Day in Japan. This is a day when families wish for the healthy growth and happiness of their girls. Hina dolls (of the emperor, his court officials and ladies), dressed in imperial Heian costume on a red-carpeted doll altar, are displayed from end of February to 3rd March. They must be taken down after the festival due to a superstition regarding the marriageability of the girls if left displayed. These dolls absorb the ill luck or bad fortune from the girls and it seems (probably influenced by an ancient Chinese tradition) some dolls are set loose down rivers to send away that ill fortune. Because it is also the Japanese Peach Blossom Festival (Momo-no Sekku 桃の節句), peach blossoms are often displayed with the dolls and offerings like shiro-sake and wagashi are placed together with the dolls on the carpeted stand. These offerings are later enjoyed by everyone.

Wagashi meant for this occasion, hishi-mochi, come in three colours of pink, white and green representing the pink of the peach blossoms, snow and new growth respectively. Not only is this symbolic for the blossoming of youthful girls, it marks the advent of Spring. Can’t help thinking about my favourite Hanami Dango, which also comes in those three colours, eaten at the Hanami Festival or cherry blossom viewing festival.

Hikichigiri is a traditional wagashi eaten on the day of Hinamatsuri (you can see what it looks like here). It reminds me a bit of a sea anemone! Although I don’t celebrate the festival and I very surely could not find hikichigiri in London, I was determined not to be left out of an excuse to eat wagashi anyway. A stop-on-impulse visit at Minamoto Kitchoan, previously blogged about here, meant four little wagashi treats to take home. I‘ve the oribenishiki to chase away autumn/winter, hinamonogatari just for Hinamatsuri, sakuradaifuku to welcome spring and the mitarashi dango to represent my eagerness for summer. Yes, each chosen wagashi has a season in mind!

Hinamonogatari 雛物語 - ‘Doll Story’ - A spring wagashi known as hina-arare ひなあられ for Hinamatsuri, or popped rice.

Seems these are only available during the festival so they are extra special, especially when you’ve got the picture of a hina doll on the packet! These rice crackers are made by frying dry steamed rice in hot oil before colouring them. They are so pretty to look at and like sugar puffs, are crispy and delicate. I dropped a few in some of my dango sauce (mitarashi dango below) and they even made the same crackling noise as rice krispies.

Flowers, tea, nature, paintings and the appreciation of all four are an important part of tea ceremony. This next one really got me thinking…

Oribenishiki 織部錦 - Adzuki and Chestnut Paste Kurimanjyu Cake dusted with fine sugar

I read up a little that the five-lobed compound leaf on the cake’s brown top is an indicator of the adzuki bean and chestnut inside. But I wasn’t convinced and thought the leaf and subsequent three leaves beneath it represented something else. In terms of the name, I discovered a few interesting things:

Oribe is a reference to Furuta Oribe (1544-1615), a famous 16th century tea master who was a favourite student of Sen no Rikyū, both of whom were important contributors to the Japanese tea ceremony chado. Oribe founded the Oribe school of tea ceremony which is still in practise today in Japan. He became famous as a tea master after the death of Sen Rikyū, and became the tea ceremony instructor for the second shogun, Tokugawa Hidetada. He changed the tea ceremony from a style suited to merchants to one adapted to the samurai. He also developed the Oribe gonomi (Oribe taste) with novel designs of pottery (all a little out of shape, wonky-looking or chipped with shades of green and yellow), stone lanterns, and so on with a style that stressed utility and a beauty simple, humble and unassuming.

Nishiki in the name might refer to the richly coloured brocade of Japanese kimono or the Higo Yamato Nishiki (a type of camellia flower often seen on kimono and its name meaning ‘Old Brocade of Japan’). Camellia is symbolic of the advent of spring and is also largely associated with chabana - a branch of flower arrangement during tea ceremony championed by Rikyū. The cake definitely doesn’t show a camellia flower and its pattern of a 5 compound leaf rather than say a maple leaf really confused me and how it had any relation to brocade, kimono or tea ceremony but part of me thinks it might refer to the tranquility and simplistic beauty (reminder: Oribe philosophy) which even leaves must and also do deliver. Correct me if I’m wrong or share with me your thoughts on this. I’d greatly appreciate it.

So there was my rather Zen and intellectual moment with a cake and a cup of tea. Bet you guys don’t often do that with sweets, now do you? I admit if you put a cupcake in front of me or a good fruit slice or scone, there’ll be no pondering and appreciation of the seasons/nature. Just gobble gobble and swallow.

Moving away from that autumn/winter treat though, come end of March, it’s all about sakura in Japan. Joy to spring and the blossoming of flowers. That would surely put a smile on my face once this awful grey just goes away (even if only for a little while).

Sakuradaifuku 櫻大福 - Mochi with Sakura Shiro-an Filling coated in taro starch - another spring wagashi

A strong perfume of sakura is unleashed once you open the packet and as you bite into this, the perfume is always there gently wafting about you, making it such a delightful sweet to enjoy which tantalizes all the senses as wagashi is supposed to do. Although this is different from sakuramochi whether in ball form or East Japan’s crepe rolled-form then wrapped in a sakura leaf, I believe the flavours are quite similar. Sakura leaves are pickled in salt water before use in this and there is a strong combination of sweet savouryness in the shiro-an or white-bean paste filling. I think this has got to be a new favourite daifuku of mine because I’ve never actually managed to taste sakura as pure and strong as in this shiro-anko filling.

Shiro-an is made from navy beans or lima beans. I was very pleased to see a variation from the usual anko or red adzuki bean filling. The mochi surrounding the filling was coloured a very light pale pink with bits of crushed sakura kneaded into it. What a pretty sight and of course with daifuku, it’s name literally meaning ‘big or great luck’, I can’t help thinking that a lot of luck and fortune might be coming my way now that most of this has been consumed!

Mitarashi Dango 御手洗 団子 - Japanese mochiko dumpling with a soy sauce and sugar syrup

Although my favourite kind of dango is the hanami dango, I do love the caramel-ish coloured soy sugar syrup in this. With my penchant for sweet and savoury together, it’s hard to say no to this. This variation of dango is often eaten at the summer Mitarashi Festival - a purification festival - and traditionally offered to the gods at Shimogamo shrine. Hence, the name 御手洗: ‘honourable washing of hands’.

To celebrate, I made my own mitarashi dango too according to this recipe here which is so simple to follow with clear photographed instructions. I loved the mitarashi sauce but found I had to add a bit more potato starch. I like my sauce not so drippy but real thick and gooey. Also, as you can see from the difference in colour between Minamoto Kitchoan’s and mine, mine’s a lot ‘thinner’ and less caramel brown. That’s because that photograph was taken after the first dipping/coating of the sauce.

Leaving the dango on the skewers to cool a little more to room temperature after cooking, drizzling and coating with mitarashi sauce at intervals lets the sauce set better around the dango. You’ll get a darker colour than the initial thin light-coloured appearance. I didn’t grill them as the recipe called for and although it is actually a lot tastier when grilled, as you would normally find them if you bought them from the store, again my kitchen fails me. Or rather my kitchen utensil-poverty limited me. But it’s actually fine to leave them as it is up to the boiled stage. It lacks that extra grilled x-factor but together with the sauce, and left for a bit to cool and set, these dango sticks are just amazing treats for everyone.

These were consumed without any more cracking of the head and name deconstruction, thankfully. Might stay off informative posts for a while as this one really sapped me dry. Off to nom on a few more dango bits.

It’s Shrove Tuesday, ie. Pancake Day! Well it’s not like I need an excuse to have pancakes. It sorta is like a Sunday brekkie thing to have but pancakes when it’s not even mid-week is so much more indulgent and delicious. Knowing that just about the rest of England is having pancakes too (albeit the English crepe-like ones) - savoury or sweet - helps with feeling all fat and happy, and a lot less like the lone greedy chubster.

I spied some gorgeous rhubarb pancakes over at Nic’s Cherrapeno and I couldn’t help getting some rhubarb as well. I think it’s gotta be one of the prettiest pink edible things and I simply love it in a trifle or yoghurt. Thanks Nic for a lovely pancake idea. I’m really glad I made this as I love all things tart. Although the rhubarb sauce wasn’t as tart as I wanted it to be (didn’t wanna tart-out my flatmate), I thought it was a very delicious variation of the usual plain pancakes or the same old blueberry pancakes I find myself having every time.

I’d love to stay on here longer, but I gotta hit the books again. Yes I am a geek, don’t judge me. And yes the work’s starting to pile up. Third yes, I’ve turned into a granny who fights the cold with hot soups, cups of tea and blankets about my knees. Well, grannies are so in right now. You can’t fault that. Off I go, leaving you the recipe.

This recipe’s given me the fluffiest, softest pancakes ever. But it didn’t rise enough to my liking and it may have needed some rising agent like baking powder. I might have to experiment and compare with other recipes in the future. Nevertheless, they were good. Like little fluffy clouds.

Recipe yields 8 pancakes
Rhubarb Pancakes
Ingredients

1 cup self-raising flour
2 tbs melted butter
3/4 cup milk
1 tbs sugar
1 egg yolk
3 egg whites, whisked to form stiff peaks
pinch of salt
about 1/2 cup rhubarb sauce

In a dry medium bowl, whisk egg whites to form stiff peaks.

In a separate large bowl, sift flour, sugar and salt. Make a well in the centre.

Beat lightly together the egg yolk, melted butter and milk. Pour into the well and mix gently to form a lumpy batter. Fold in egg whites, leaving some touches of egg whites intact.

In a small frying pan, heat some butter, add a ladle of batter and fry until bubbles start forming on the surface. Flip and allow the other side to cook for another minute or so. Repeat until all the batter is used up. Keep the other pancakes in a warm oven or let the hungry buggers you live with gobble them up whilst you work hard at the stove!

Rhubarb Sauce
Recipe can be found here, which I used for a ganache. You can use this in the pancake batter and to serve over them.

In the last post, I made it clear that I wasn’t a fan of Valentine’s Day (other than the fact that feasting for moi-self is allowed) and the most ironic thing was, the couples I knew weren’t even doing anything to celebrate it. It is totally agreed upon that the whole (I won’t even call it a festival) ‘event’ is simply a construction of contrived social imagination. As much as I dislike the fuss and the hype, the commercial exploitation of it all, I do love the fact that it’s a day where I can eat pretty things (like the cupcakes aforementioned) and not feel guilty about it at all.

Chocolates are so clichéd. At least for Valentine’s day.

But when would I ever make chocolates anyway? Might as well just put all my whining in a bag and throw it away, enjoy myself making them instead, no? And if I was envious of anybody about anything, it wouldn’t over my dead body be the fact that these smug couples were coupled up at all. Really,the issue lies in what they were cooking and eating to celebrate the day. So here, I messed about to make these chocolates for myself, friends and colleagues. Not beautiful. Not perfect. But you don’t gotta be with someone to be able to feast! And eat chocolates. And if you’re single, you don’t have to settle for a giant Cadbury’s bar that’s selling for a quid from Tesco. Honestly, I’m quite glad I attempted chocolates and de-virgined my new silicone chocolate mould.

I had fun making these, with a couple of heart attacks from failed samples and broken chocolates. Whilst photographing this in a hurry before rushing to work, I dropped my chocolates and broke quite a few of the good ones. Scared the daylights out of me, got depressed about the ones that died on the kitchen floor but very pleased that the ones which made it into the mouths of friends were finely appreciated.

The last time I made chocolates, I was a kid. My elder sis A and I had been given little plastic moulds, brushes and edible paints one Christmas I think. Our chocolates were pretty crude and garishly painted but we were so proud of them. Thinking back on those proud chocolates, I wish my sis and I (this time with C my younger sis) will make chocolates soon together some time. Hopefully when I’m a little more skilled and have completely mastered the art of chocolate-making (she says. pffft).

I had quite a few failures. Having 5 researches going on at once, CNY dim sum lunch planned, work at AA and this dumb romance drama I was all worked up about really had my head going full speed at all directions. Confused and totally not with it was moi this weekend. That really showed up in my chocolates. I also needed a brush to paint the chocolate mould, about 2 layers after setting each in the freezer for a minute or two to get the chocolate casing even but all my paint brushes (used to paint back in the days) were at home. I was slightly unprepared but made do with my MAC lipbrush. Probably the funniest thing I’ve done all week but it sorta worked. In addition to that, I had a bit of a problem with my chocolate candy melts solidifying too quick in my icy cold kitchen. So some came out with uneven surfaces, air pockets, cracked surfaces which were too thinly painted. But soon realized that a 10 sec microwave blast of my candy melts before each use made for a smooth, glossy and easy-to-work-with chocolate candy.

Gotta say these may not look like much, but they tasted pretty good. I’d probably swap milk chocolate candy melt for dark chocolate in the future. I’m just not that big a fan of milk chocolate and I’d probably have my rhubarb ganache a little more tart since I love sour flavours. But that’s just me. The taste testers thought the ganache was just right and luckily enough, they only got to see the good chocolates. You guys unfortunately get to see the rough ones that didn’t make it into the pretty box photographed in a hurry before rushing to work. Oops. Nevertheless, hope the weekend went by beautifully for everyone! More feasting on its way as it’s still Chinese lunar new year for another 14 days and Shrove’s Tuesday tomorrow. Hip hip hurray.

How to make these chocolates:
Ingredients

milk chocolate candy melts
chocolate mould
paintbrush
filling of choice

Depending on how many chocolates you’ll be making, the amount of candy melts needed will differ. I purchased a 300g bag of candy melts and found I used about 1/3 for 20 chocolates.

Follow directions for melting the chocolate (normally a 1 minute full power blast, followed by a quick mix with small whisk or fork. Then series of 10 second blasts followed by mixing until completely melted and smooth).

Wash and clean chocolate mould. Ensure the mould is completely dry and dust-free before using. Some recommend cleaning it til glossy to get the professional smooth finish. I was too lazy to and so suffered the consequences!

Fill 1/4 of each mould with melted chocolates and working quickly, paint the sides up with chocolate. Place in freezer for about a minute or two to set. Then paint one more time thinly with chocolate so the insides are smoothly covered. Some of mine weren’t properly coated which meant ganache filling oozing out in strange places. Place in fridge to set the 2nd wet layer.

Remove from fridge. Add ganache to fill about 3/4 of the way and then pour melted chocolate over to seal the chocolate completely. Ensure that the sides are sealed and wipe off any excess that spills over onto the mould surface. Leave in fridge to set for 30mins or more.

If using a silicone mould, gently press out the formed chocolates. Successful ones should have no cracks, oozing ganache filling and visible air pockets on candy surface.

White Chocolate & Rhubarb Ganache
Ingredients

255g white couverture
1/2 cup extra thick double cream
1/2 cup rhubarb sauce (see below for recipe)

Break up white chocolate in bowl.

In a small saucepan or milkpan, heat the cream until small bubbles begin to form. Remove from heat and pour over broken chocolate. Leave for 5 mins then mix with a rubber spatula until melted. Add the rhubarb sauce and gently fold in.

Leave in refrigerator for about 1-2 hours until well set. Remove, mix again before using.

Rhubarb Sauce
Ingredients

1 package fresh rhubarb, washed and chopped
2 tbs butter
1 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of ground ginger
2-3 tbs caster sugar, or to taste

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter then add the rhubarb to sauté. Once it softens, add the sugar and spices. Mix with wooden spoon and lower heat to simmer until it attains a sauce-like consistency.

If sauce is still too tart, sweeten to taste. Serve with pancakes, in pancake batter, with toast, etc. There are so many ways to serve this. Reserve sauce can be stored in jam jars in the fridge for about a week.