Monday, April 25, 2011

holland-yaki

Have you ever had castella? It is an eggy cake that comes from Portugal, I think the Portuguese name for this is Pao de Castela.

Anyway, whenever there are festivals here you can see vendors selling baby castella, these are castella baked in miniature molds. Sometimes they are in the shape of cartoon characters, like Doraemon.

Most times they are just cylindrical in shape.

Yesterday as we were leaving the grocery store, this vendor caught our eye.

He was selling "holland-yaki" and when we passed by, he was quickly flipping them out of the mold with a toothpick.

Satoshi and I looked at each other and turned back to buy some.

These sweets were being sold in different amounts and we bought the smallest, 18 for 525 yen (about US$5.25).

After he gave us 2 to sample, the vendor said he also put a little extra into our bag.

When we got home, we had them with coffee, he actually gave us 4 extra (I counted...a total of 6 when you include the samples).

I looked at the back of the package and one of the ingredients is white miso, though you can't taste it at all.

Not sure why these are called Holland-yaki but these were delicious, so easy to eat them in one sitting...which we did.

19 comments:

jalna said...

Love the sentence, "Satoshi and I looked at each other and turned back to buy some." I imagine a bell going "bing" at that moment. Makes me laugh.

Cooking Gallery said...

These look delicious! Remind me of mini sponge cakes :).

K and S said...

Jalna, "bing" :)

Thanks CG, it was like mini cakes :)

Take care you two.
Kat

Japan Australia said...

Never been a fan of castella. Guess it reminds me of sponge cake, which is my least favourite cake. Castella seems to be very popular all over Japan and you can find different varieties in different parts of Japan.

Japan Australia

Deb in Hawaii said...

They look perfect with a cup of tea or coffee.

Happy Easter! (OK, well it is still Easter here anyway!) ;-)

chow and chatter said...

oh these look tasty new to me

OkiHwn said...

Fill it with creamy filling and you get a big Twinkie!

Melanie Gray Augustin said...

I used to love castella. At school we'd often have it as it was a common omiyage.

K and S said...

very popular indeed J-A.

happy easter Deb in Hawaii!

hope you get a chance to try them Rebecca!

they aren't THAT big Nate :)

hope you can get some when you come to Japan Melanie :)

Take care everyone.
Kat

Nami @ Just One Cookbook said...

Good morning Kat... this is SUGOI oishisooooo.... I really, really want to eat this right now. Your food reports always make me hungry and miss home!

K and S said...

one more item to add to your "to eat" list Nami :)

Take care.
Kat

K said...

Yum, looks tasty! Are these like ningyo-yaki?

K and S said...

I think ningyo-yaki have sweet bean paste inside K, these weren't filled.

Take care.
Kat

Rowena said...

I like how you can get portuguese stuff and you don't even need to go to Portugal! Never heard of these, so if some sharp person Italy starts making some....instead of cupcakes (so american :-P), I'm there!

K and S said...

man, I wish they would bring the sweet bread Rowena, like King's...actually tempura is a portuguese word, unreal yeah? Anyway, think taiyaki dough in nugget form, that was how these were.

Take care.
Kat

Parisbreakfasts said...

I would love to pop one of these right now!!

K and S said...

I'll get you some PB :)

Take care.
Kat

Su-Lin said...

I love the sound of mini sponge cakes! Not seen these in London but perhaps I should look out for the Portuguese version!

K and S said...

I hope you'll get to try castella Su-Lin, even if this version isn't in your area :)

Take care.
Kat