seed studded anzac biscuits

Monday was ANZAC Day, and while I am neither Australian nor New Zealander, I like ANZAC biscuits, because they remind me of chewy macaroons/oatmeal cookies.

I posted about this many moons ago here.

This time, I tried Nigella Lawson's recipe.

Seed Studded Anzac Biscuits : Nigella Lawson : makes 15

100 grams soft butter
100 grams light brown sugar
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda (baking soda)
2 tablespoons hot water
125 grams plain flour
50 grams unsweetened coconut
100 grams oats
25 grams pumpkin seeds
25 grams sunflower seeds
25 grams sesame seeds

Melt butter, sugar and golden syrup
Take off heat
Add hot water to baking soda (it will fizz), add to butter mixture
Combine with dry ingredients
Scoop out and press down flat
Bake at 180C (350 F) for 8 to 12 minutes depending on how chewy or crisp you want your cookies (longer is crispier)

NOTES: I love the idea of adding the seeds! I didn't have pumpkin seeds, so I left it out. I also used black and white sesame seeds. I didn't have golden syrup so I just used kuromitsu (thin Japanese molasses). Also the coconut that I have is sweetened, so I just used that as well. Nigella used sprouted oats, but I used regular oats.

I also cut the recipe in half so I only had 7 cookies.

I will definitely make these again.

It's the start of Golden Week here. We may be off the grid for a couple of days, will talk to you soon!

roca's cabbage apple & sesame salad

I recently came across Roca's recipes books...this is the same cafe I went to, that recently closed its doors.

The recipes are quite easy and I like that they use a lot of veggies.

I tried the cabbage, apple & sesame salad recipe.

Roca's cabbage apple & sesame salad: from "Roca no Teishoku" serves 2

1 leaf cabbage (60 grams)
1 bell pepper (30 grams)
1/8 red onion (25 grams)
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 apple (60 grams)

1.5 tablespoons ground sesame seeds
1 tablespoon vinegar
pepper

Julienne the cabbage, bell pepper
Thinly slice the red onion
Add the 1/2 teaspoon of salt, mix everything with your hands and set aside
Slice the apple, thinly but not too thin
Squeeze out any water from the cabbage mixture
Mix with the apple and add the last 3 ingredients
Mix well.
Chill before eating.

NOTES: super refreshing! it's crunchy, a little puckery. Sweet from the apple and a little bite from the red onion.

Our bell peppers are really teeny, so that is why 30 grams is the size for the 1 bell pepper. I used a red bell pepper and also ground black sesame seeds.

I've already made this twice (once with ground black sesame seed and the other with ground brown sesame seeds) and Satoshi really likes this salad.

Another type of cole slaw...I am gonna make this often this summer!

p.s. made it to the end of the week, hope you have a nice weekend!

sesame shortbread

This recipe caught my eye in the latest "Elle a Table" cooking insert.

It boasted that an oven wasn't needed...after reading through the recipe...um, well you still are using a toaster to "bake" these, which is an oven of sorts.

Adapted from "Elle a Table" : Oyatsu no Jikan Vol 2 : makes 18 or so cookies

50 grams butter, unsalted
25 grams light brown sugar
25 grams almond powder
75 grams flour
17 grams black sesame seeds
2 tablespoons milk (optional)**

Cream butter in a bowl.
Add sugar and beat until it turns whitish.
Add the almond powder, flour and sesame seeds.
Mix with a rubber spatula.
Add the milk.**
The mixture should come together but not be too wet.
Put some plastic wrap on it and put into the refrig for 30 minutes.
After the 30 minutes, put a piece of foil onto your toaster oven pan and with a teaspoon, scoop out balls, roll them briefly in your hands, then place them on the foil and press them a little in the middle.
Take out another piece of foil and seal the cookies as best as you can.
Toast for 15 minutes.
After the 15 minutes, if they are pale, take the foil off and toast some more, watching to make sure they don't burn.

NOTES: Maybe it was me, but after following the directions, I literally had "dust".

So I added some milk. If you don't drink milk, you could probably use soy milk or almond milk.

**if your dough comes together before adding the milk, then leave the milk out.

I guess if you only have a toaster this recipe is good, but I think using the oven would've been faster. Not to mention, I wouldn't have wasted so much foil.

After taking the foil off, I ended up toasting them for 8 more minutes (probably because of the milk).

These were flaky, delicious. I like the nuttiness from the sesame seeds.

I would make these again, but would definitely bake them. Maybe at 350F (180C) for 20 minutes or so.

If you try this, let me know how it goes for you.

things I'm liking (disliking)

Starting with disliking...I had seen this on Candy Blog and wanted to try it.

Well, big disappointment.

The chocolate was bloomed, on top of that the peanut butter was dried out, almost chalky..blah!

I thought maybe it had to do with the expiry date...nope, that was fine. I guess it just didn't travel too well over the Pacific.

Moving onto liking...If you look at my posts on beer, you'll see I prefer the dark beers.

I recently spotted this dark chocolate bar and had to try it.

Vosges' Smoke & Salt Caramel Bar is delicious.

Using Rogue Ale's Chocolate Stout, Alderwood smoked salt, burnt caramel and 70% dark chocolate, the bar has a nice snap and the caramel that oozes out is dark too.

I like the balance between sweet and salty.

Also liking this sesame candy by Joyva.

It is very hard so I would suggest breaking off little pieces and letting the hard candy melt before chewing on the sesame seeds.

And lastly, these Munchies. Jalapeno Cheddar, get ready for orange fingers and the spiciness tickles the back of your throat.

What have you been liking?

sesame yuzu mochi muffins

The other day, I needed something for my afternoon snack, so I made these "muffins".

The recipe actually calls for mochiko (sweet rice flour), so it actually turned out to a texture similar to this recipe.

Sesame yuzu mochi muffins : makes 6 :adapted from "She Knows Muffin"
147 grams mochiko (sweet rice flour)
3 grams all purpose flour
6 grams baking powder
20 grams ground black sesame seeds
1 egg
40 grams sugar
40 grams yuzu marmalade
50 grams olive oil
70 mililiters milk

In a bowl, sift the flour and baking powder. Add the sesame seeds and set aside.
In another bowl, beat the egg, sugar and marmalade together until almost fluffy.
Put the oil and milk into the egg mixture and stir.
Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture.
Mix well.
Divide evenly into 6 muffin holders.
Heat your oven to 180C (350F). Bake for 25 minutes.
Check the 2 middle muffins for doneness with a toothpick.
Enjoy!

NOTES: The original recipe called for 150 grams of mochiko, but I didn't have the full amount, so I subbed regular flour. It also called for 60 grams of ground sesame seeds, but I thought that was too much, so I cut it back to 20 grams.

Also, the original recipe calls for 40 grams of honey, but I subbed yuzu marmalade instead. I guess I could've chopped up the yuzu, but didn't.

The batter was quite "dry" and baked with cracks, but this was good, not too sweet, the sesame flavor not too overpowering and it was quite moist. It went nicely with green tea on one day and vietnamese coffee on another.

MIL UPDATE: Yesterday, MIL excitedly called to tell me that she was finally able to take a "bath". For the past six months, she was having sponge baths, but the other day when the nurse came to check on her at home, she helped MIL get "into" the furo (bath). Apparently the areas where she had the skin grafts are still tender, so she can't actually sit and soak in the furo, but she said it just felt nice to stand in the furo instead of just getting wiped down. Guess it will take a little while for her to get back to her normal routines.

miso dip

When we went to Kobe last Wednesday, I popped into Fine, a shop by Cerfeuil to see their jams and to see what was new.

I noticed some savory types and checked my cookbook written by them.

Inside the book they had a recipe for a miso dip with sesame seeds and garlic.

The recipe calls for you to fry the garlic, but since I was afraid I would burn the garlic thus getting bitter garlic, I instead roasted it. (425°F/220°C for 40 minutes with some olive oil)

It came out really good and reminded us of houba miso, which we've had in Takayama (pre-blog) and abura miso, which we've had in Okinawa.

A little sweet, a little salty, a little kick from the roasted garlic and nuttiness from the sesame seeds.

We had this with steak but I think it would also be nice with veggie sticks.

Great with beer.

Here is my adaptation of the recipe...makes about 1/2 a cup

40 grams awase miso*
1.5 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon sake (rice wine)
1/2 teaspoon mirin (sweet rice wine)
10 grams garlic, roasted (about a clove and a half), then minced
2.5 grams black sesame seeds
1 teaspoon sesame oil
green onions, chopped (amount to your liking)

*Awase miso is a mixture of miso made with beans and miso made from rice. Different makers combine the two in various ratios. I made my own in a 1:1 ratio. If you can't get the two types just use what you have on hand. Depending on how sweet your miso is, you may have to adjust the amount of sugar. Or if you don't want the dip to be too sweet and more on the salty side, you can cut back the sugar.

Mix everything well. Let chill.

Enjoy!

NOTES: The recipe didn't include this but I also added some chopped green onions for a spicy crunch.

The cookbook says that it would be nice mixed with some vinegar as a sauce for yakiniku (grilled meat), but we think it may not match.

It also said it would be nice in a musubi...so that is what I did and you know what? It was.

I had some leftover steak, so I cut it up into smaller pieces and heated it up with some green onions and a half teaspoon of the miso dip.

Put it into the musubi and lunch was served.

The book only talks about the dip matching with beef but I'm pretty sure this would work with pork and chicken too.

In fact, I sauteed some thinly sliced pork with onions in some sesame seed oil then added the miso (about a teaspoon), a scrambled egg and green onions.

Poured over rice, it was a great buta don (pork bowl).

We love it and I'm making this dip again.

goma-azuki-satsumaimo bread

Have you ever seen a bread this intense?

Yesterday, I had a dentist appointment in Umeda. After my 3 month cleaning and check-up, I wandered the food floor of the Daimaru department store.

I bought myself a bento (boxed lunch) for lunch and also found this great bread made by Paul Bocuse, a well-known French chef--sorry but I had not known about Paul Bocuse until coming to Japan.

This bread ( I think this bread had some kind of French name, but it was in katakana and I couldn't remember it. )is a crusty french bread filled with kurogoma (black sesame seeds), azuki (adzuki beans), chunks of satsumaimo (sweet potato) and shirogoma (white sesame seeds) on top.

In the past, I had tasted another bread made by another bakery with just sweet potato and black sesame seeds, which was also very delicious, so I figured this bread with the azuki beans was a bonus layer of flavor.

I guess a slice of this might have tasted wonderful with butter and/or jam on it, but why would I want to cover up the natural sweetness from the beans and sweet potato?

Looking forward to having more of this for breakfast tomorrow!

bagels (part 3) and grains, grains, grains

I tried making bagels again today. This time with a little more success. I increased the amount of flour, yeast, sugar and water and also increased the amount of time to let the dough rise. The dough got bigger, though it was hard to roll to form the bagel, which resulted in all of them falling apart as I "kettled" the bagels in hot water. Still, it was crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside (I had one, fresh out of the oven with dinner--a veggie soup).

On another note--I don't know about you, but I love grains, in breads and in my rice. I wanted to show you what I add to my rice before cooking it. In Japan, there are all sorts of grains called zakkoku to add to your rice like corn, amaranth, quinoa, sesame seeds, barley, adzuki beans, black soy beans and assorted millet.

This is the 16-grain mixture by a company called HakuBaku. By adding grains to your rice, you can add more fiber and minerals to it. They also have a 5-grain mixture which I've also tried.

I put about a tablespoon or two of the grains into a fine sieve and run water over it, to rinse it. Caution: If you wash the grains with your regular rice, you will lose most of the millet, since they are VERY tiny. Then I add the grains to the rice, add the water and cook.