marron gold

Tried a new (to me) variety of sweet potato called Marron Gold

After scrubbing it and cutting it in half 

I rubbed some olive oil on the parts that would touch the parchment paper and baked it in a 200C (400F) oven for 1 hour

This was delicious! sweet

instead of tasting like sweet potato though, this reminded me of those Chinese candied carrots

was reading about this variety, it is apparently grown in Ibusuki, Kagoshima and because they registered the name, it can only be called Marron Gold if it is grown in Ibusuki, Kagoshima, so this variety is apparently "rare" to come by.

I’m glad we tried this and will get it again if I see it at the market

imoya kinjiro

Since I like to add grains to our rice, I wanted to try Imoya Kinjiro’s multi grains.

They are the same shop that V & I bought imo kenpi from.

You add this to 2 cups of white rice and cook it in your rice cooker.

I love that they not only have 16 different grains in this mix but also bits of dried sweet potato. 

They also give you a little book of recipes, hope to try some of them out.

shinagawa yakiimo terrace

The last time I went to this event was just as the pandemic was starting up in 2020

This year you had to buy an entrance ticket for 500 yen which they were pre-selling online.

Choose a time and date that you wanted to attend...11:00-13:00, 13:30-15:30, 16:00-18:00, Wednesday (2/1) to Sunday (2/5).

I chose Wednesday at 11:00-13:00.

I was happy that I could pay for this with my mobile payment account.

The check-in desk opened at 10:30, they checked our QR codes then had us stand in another line until 11:00 when the event opened.

We had to put this sticker on so they knew we had checked in (photo above).

You should know that there are two types of roasting textures…hokuhoku which is flaky and can be a little dry. The other type is nettori which is wet and sticky.

In the past all roasted potatoes were the hokuhoku type, but recently new varieties have popped up and when roasted they are nettori.

For this event, there are 15 vendors.

First stop, Souunmitsuimo, a shop from Okayama.

This yakiimo had so much "sugar" coming out of it!

This variety was nettori and super sweet...800 yen tax included

Next, Higeshoten, a shop from Fukui. 

They had a variety called Tomitsu. 

I purchased their Tomitsu beniimo…500 yen, not as sweet as Souunmitsuimo, but still sweet and hokuhoku.

My last stop was Kobe Imoya Shinomoto, a shop from Kobe. 

They had an original variety called Satoura Gold…600 yen tax included 

This variety was slightly sweet and hokuhoku

Mitsuharuka…700 yen tax included 

This variety was sweet and nettori.

I’m glad I was able to purchase the varieties I wanted.

It was the first time for us to try these varieties.

I put most of these into the freezer for us to enjoy in the coming weeks.

I hadn't noticed before but noticed today that you can see Tokyo Tower from this park.

Since most of the other vendors are from areas near Tokyo, I'll check them out in the future.

daimaruya

Last week, I ordered a 10 package tasting set from Daimaruya, a store that sells hoshiimo (dried sweet potato) which we visited back in 2019.

If I am not mistaken, all the varieties are grown in Ibaraki.

The fun part of this set is that you do not know what varieties you will receive.

I like how fast it was delivered.

We ordered it on Monday, paid the for it at the post office on Wednesday and received our order on Thursday.

Daimaruya does not take credit card payments for their online store, so the only junk part was to have to pay for it at the post office.

Unlike post offices in the US, Japan's post offices have their own bank services.

If we had a bank account at the post office, we could have gotten a discount on the handling fee for these dried sweet potatoes.

I'm looking forward to trying all the different varieties.

I've put most of these packages into the freezer and will take them out for us to snack on.

After we eat through all of these, I might make an account at the post office so we can order more dried sweet potatoes.

What are you enjoying these days?
 

marenoya

There is a tiny daigaku imo shop in Kamata called Marenoya.

I had them bookmarked and when Satoshi and I were out walking, we noticed a line and stood in line for these.

Small size daigaku imo and thin cut daigaku imo.

These were delicious and not overly sweet.

I liked that they didn't stick to my teeth like some others do.

The thin cut was like eating sweet potato chips coated with the daigaku imo “caramel” sauce, some were crunchy and some were not.

We'll be back to try some of the other items on their menu.

Marenoya

3-2-1 Kamata

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 090.1777.1351

Closed Mondays & Tuesdays

Hours: 10:00-18:00

sweet potato glace

Came across two types of candied sweet potato...one was called Benikirishima glace which were sticks.

The other one was called Benisakurajima glace which was cubes.

Both sweet potatoes were grown in Kagoshima prefecture (Kyushu) and made by Japan Potato (Japapo).

I'm glad we got to try these and am always on the look out for others to try. 

daigaku imo

Last month, I told you I had bought a junk yakiimo (roasted sweet potato).

Well, I realized that it might be the market that I had bought it from not the sweet potato, I think they are not cooking the sweet potato long enough....because the one I had bought yesterday from that market was again...junk.

So, to try to save it, I wrapped it in foil and stuck it in the fish grill (broiler) for about 40 minutes.

Today, I used half of the re-roasted sweet potato to make daigaku imo.

About this time of year you can find daigaku imo in the premade food area of the markets and see them at festivals.

Daigaku imo literally means "college/university potato".

One story of how this got its name is a college student who couldn't pay his tuition made this to raise money.

Another story is that a sweet shop near a university, made this and it was a hit with the students.

Sweet potato is deep fried then coated with a "caramel" coating.

When I tried daigaku imo in the past, the sweet potato itself was super dry and the caramel was so sticky that everything stuck to my teeth...meh

To make this, instead of deep frying the sweet potato, I "fried" them on a special foil that gives foods a nice sear.

This foil is coated with silicon, so you can turn any pan into a non-stick and cook foods without adding oil.

I noticed this foil leaves a residue on non-stick pans, so I do not use this foil with non-stick pans....

After "pan frying" the roasted sweet potato, I coated the sweet potato with the "caramel".

Adapted from the internet:

350 grams roasted sweet potato, cut into bite sized pieces

1 tablespoon oil * only if you do not have access to this special foil

Caramel sauce:

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons mirin (sweet rice wine)

1 tablespoon shoyu (soy sauce)

1 teaspoon vinegar (to prevent the sauce from crystalizing)

pinch of salt

black sesame seeds

Prepare the sauce ingredients except the sesame seeds and mix well.

“Fry” the sweet potato in a pan on medium, then add the sauce ingredients to the pan and coat the sweet potato well.

Turn the heat down to medium-low and cook in the caramel until everything is nicely coated and most of the liquid is evaporated, about 2 minutes.

Sprinkle with black sesame seeds.

Enjoy!

NOTES: Using roasted sweet potato was good because the sweet potato was moist, not dry.

The caramel was a little sticky but didn’t stick to my teeth.

Once the sauce goes into the pan, everything goes quickly, so don't walk away!

Don't cook this too long or your caramel will burn, 

It was my first time making this and I'm glad I tried, and would do this again.

It was easy, tasty and a nice way to save a junk yakiimo.

Have a safe weekend.

hoshi imo

While watching another episode of "Matsuko no Shiranai Sekai", they talked about sweet potato in particular, hoshi imo.

Hoshi imo is sweet potato that is steamed, sliced and then dried.

This episode reminded me that we visited a shop in Ibaraki that sold dried sweet potato called Daimaruya.

After watching this episode, we went to the supermarket and Satoshi found these hoshi imo.

The one on the left is a whole sweet potato, they use smaller sweet potato and since it takes longer to dry, most companies/farmers don't make a lot.

The variety for this version is called Beniharuka.

The sweet potato on the right has the skins left on.

The variety is called Silk Sweet.

According to the show, hoshi imo uses a variety called Tamayutaka and was dried to a point where when you took a bite, there was a pull to it, almost like beef jerky.

Nowadays with more tender varieties of sweet potato, the hoshi imo turns out more half-dried and still very sweet.

I've never bought hoshi imo in the past because the versions I've seen were really brown and not too appetizing.

I'm glad we tried these and will keep my eye out for more in the future.

shinagawa yakiimo terrace

The other night on the news they advertised a food event being held January 27 to February 2 called Shinagawa Yakiimo Terrace.

15 vendors bringing different varieties of yakiimo (roasted sweet potato).

During the week, the event started at noon but this past Saturday & Sunday they were starting at 10...so I went to check them out on Saturday, since Satoshi had a German class.

I got to Shinagawa a little after 10 but went out the wrong exit, so by the time I reached the event it was already past 10:30.

This was a look at another booth from the line I was in...

The booth I stood in line for was called Moi Moi.

They are a roving sweet potato truck from Chiba...I've shown you a yakiimo truck before here.

Anyway, since the event was held in a park in the shadows of a high rise, it was fahreezing with the blustery winds.

As I stood in line, I noticed a sign for the booth that said that all their sweet potato come out at different times, so I decided on two types that I wanted to buy but knew that if they weren't roasted yet, I'd have to choose two others.

Luckily, the two that I wanted were ready...Ayamurasaki.

Deep purple goodness! slightly sweet and delicious.

Ayakomachi

Bright orange...tasted sweet like carrots!

I'm glad I got to try these varieties of sweet potato and look forward to this event next year!

yakiimo season

It's yakiimo (roasted sweet potato) season.

This variety was Benitenshi, which we tried earlier this year, was 198 yen (plus tax).

The flesh was super sweet with a natural sugar coating from the roasting.

What are you enjoying these days?

yakiimo

So I experimented with the fish drawer grill/broiler and cooked one of the purple sweet potatoes in it...

The pilot light (at least I think it was the pilot light) for my gas range kept going out, so it took about an hour to cook.

Still, I think this came out pretty good.

I have two more sweet potatoes and will try cooking one in the oven.

This was fun trying to cook it with the grill/broiler.

supermarket finds

It's been awhile since I've seen yakiimo ((yah-key-ee-moe) roasted sweet potatoes) at the supermarket.

Since the market I was at was roasting some, I picked up one for us to try.

The variety that they were using is called Benitenshi (literally pink angel) from Ibaraki prefecture. (how cute is the package?!)

The sweet potato was HUGE! and I appreciated that they weren't charging by weight...just a flat price 298 yen (plus tax).

This was so sweet and moist! like they added cream and sugar to it!

To tell you the truth, I hadn't bought sweet potatoes in awhile because whenever I would steam them, they would come out quite dry.

I'm glad we got to try them this way and will definitely buy again when I see it.

nakamurasaki

Maeshika had purple sweet potato..whoo!

This variety is called Nakamurasaki which literally means "middle purple".

I couldn't remember how much it was, but think it was 270 yen (plus tax).

When cut the middle is more purplish than the outer edges.

When cooked though, the whole flesh turns dark purple (love!)

I made some sweet potato salad with half of the nakamurasaki and a kurisatsu that I steamed.

I mixed 1 teaspoon of curry powder with mayo then folded the potatoes in it.

Not the most aesthetic, but delicious!

With the other half of the nakamurasaki, I roasted it in the oven and then cut it up and put it into some tapioca coconut milk...mmm!

kurisatsu

Came across a new type of sweet potato at Crazy Pantry called Kurisatsu.

In Japanese, "kuri" is chestnut and "satsu" is short for satsuma imo (sweet potato).

Apparently the aroma is supposed to resemble chestnuts while the texture is like sweet potato.

I cooked some with some rice, shoyu (soy sauce), mirin (sweet rice wine) and sake (rice wine).

It could've used more salt but this tasted just like kuri gohan. (chestnut rice).

I hope Maeshika still has some purple sweet potato next week, I want to make sweet potato salad...