One of the most monumental scene in Memoirs of a Geisha was when Chiyo met the Chairman for the first time. It was also the first time she tasted cherry flavored shaved ice. The picture of her savoring that ball of snow flavored red is sweetness. Kakigōri is a Japanese ice dessert that’s popular during hot summer days. We can anticipate eating Kakigōri really soon, that is if the weather would stop acting unpredictably cold again.

Popular flavors include: strawberry, cherry,lemon, green tea, grape, melon, “blue-hawaii” sweet plum, and colorless syrup. Some shops provide colorful varieties by using two or more different syrups. To sweeten Kakigōri, condensed milk is often poured on top of it. It is nearly identical to a snow cone but can have a slightly rougher consistency and a spoon is almost always used. The traditional way of making kakigori involves using a hand cranked machine to spin a block of ice over an ice shaving blade. However, electric ice shavers are most often used; though street vendors can still be seen hand-shaving ice blocks in the summer.

Make your own shaved ice: Kakigori with poached apricot
In addition to the streets, Kakigori is also sold in festivals, convenience stores, coffee shops, restaurants; during the hot summer months Kakigōri is sold virtually everywhere in Japan. Some coffee shops serve it with ice cream and sweet bean paste. Convenience stores may also sell it already flavored and packaged similar to ice cream.

The most common Japanese pickle we know off are Umeboshi which is a plum pickle often served with rice and gari, pickled ginger used as palate cleansers to accompany sushis and sashimis. Japanese pickles are different from the western pickles which uses vinegar as a preservative agent. Also, ingredients used in picking in the west seems a little more palatable than the ingredients used in Japanese pickles.

In Japan, pickling does not stop at fruits and vegetables, pickling goes way out to rice bran, soybean to even fish. The purpose of tsukemonos is to offer color, texture and aroma to meals in Japan. It is even a good appetizer to start the meal with. The most common ingredient used for pickling in Japan are soy sauce, miso, vinegar, rice bran (nuka), salt, brines and sake lees (sake kasu).

Read here for more info about Tsukemono

I found a really nice website that offers some good recipes to start you off with making your own Japanese pickles. There are three recipes (all vegetarian) of pickling used in the site and they are Salt pickling, rice bran pickling and miso pickling that you can use.

Here’s one of the recipes to check out:

KYABETSU TO NINJIN NO ASAZUKE (pickled cabbage and carrot)

1 small head of regular cabbage (3/4 pound),
the leaves cut into pieces about an inch square
1 medium sized carrot, cut into matchstick slices about an inch long
1 Japanese cucumber, unpeeled and cut into matchstick
slices about an inch long
4 tablespoons of salt

Method:
Place vegetable slices into the pickle press (or jar) and add one teaspoon of salt, mix well by stirring with your hands. Add the second teaspoon of salt and mix again. Add the final tablespoon of salt and mix well. Clamp on the top of the pickle press and screw down the lid until it pushes down tightly on the top layer of vegetables. Leave under pressure overnight or for at least 10 hours. Remove the pickles from the press and place them in a colander, wash them well to remove salt, pat them dry and serve.

I’ve only had the opportunity to eat Daifuku once and I must say, I prefer this to plain mochi because the filling always gives a wonderful surprise when you take a bite. I found this really useful video on how to make daifuku:

Do you like tamagos? The sweet savory Japanese omelette is no stranger to sushi or eaten as it is. I sometimes find tamagos to be a tad too sweet for my liking but I don’t mind them in general. This video teaches you how to make them just like in the restaurants:

Ok ok, it’s just pancakes when i meant “western style”. Why the hassle of making elaborate dorayakis or okonomiyakis when you can have simple pancakes made in your own kitchen? You can get all the ingredients from a Japanese store except maybe blueberries whcih can be a bit expensive. But feel free to use bananas if you like or any other berries you can get your hands on.

This pancake recipe is a no fail recipe that will always give you fluffy pancakes :)

Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup corn flour
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
a pinch of salt
1 egg
1 cups of milk

Optional: blueberries.

Method:
1. Mix all the dry ingredients together. Add milk and eggs. Whisk until batter is smooth.
2. Heat pan under medium heat and add a bit of butter.
3. Take 1/4 measure cup to scoop up the batter and pour into the heated pan.
4. Add your blueberries (frozen is fine too) now and cook the pancake for 2 minutes on each side. Or until it is brown around the edges.
5. Serve with butter and syrup.

You remember those days when you wake up and you’re 15 minutes to start work and you’re less than ready? All you want to do is put on a shirt and some decent pants and run out of your apartment to catch a cab to work because it’s the 3rd time this month that you’re almost late because you’re hooked on your XBox 360. So you run down, hail a cab and realize that you almost knocked the cab driver with your wonderful morning breathe :P

Nevermind help is here for those mornings, and these gums are only available in Japan. The No Time Gum is a gum that contains tiny scrubs that cleans your teeth as you chew while imparting a peppermint freshness to your breath :)

Being late to the office has never been easier :P

Via InventorSpot.

This delightful sponge cake was introduced to Japan by the Portuguese. The cake is a popular street food sold all over Japan especially during festivals. Now a specialty of Nagasaki, the cake is thought to be originally from Spain, brought by way of Portuguese merchants in the 16th century. The name is derived from Portuguese pão de Castella, meaning “bread from Castile”. Castella cake is usually sold in long boxes, with the cake inside being approximately 27cm long. It is somewhat similar to English madeira cake, also associated with Portugal. Note that there are similar types of sponge cakes named after the same fashion, in French: Pain d’Espagne, in Italian: Pan di Spagna, in Greek: Pantespani (Castile is a former kingdom of Spain comprising its central provinces, thus “Pain d’Espagne’ is quasi synonymous to “bread from Castile”).

Castella is made of natural ingredients, so its simple taste is a favorite of many Japanese people. There are now many varieties made with ingredients such as powdered green tea, brown sugar, and honey. They may be molded in various shapes; a popular Japanese festival food is baby castella, a bite-sized version.

Just Hungry has a wonderful Kasutera recipe, it would do you good to check it out. Also the author of the blog is ahalf Japanese living abroad. She has lived in Japan throughout her childhood and said that she has fond memories of Kasutera during tea time :)

At first glance, i thought the name was very Thai like. But instead, this Japanese gassy alcoholic drink has been around for a while now. I believe you won’t be able to miss it. It’s cans’ design look like an energy drink. Flavors comes with lime, grapefruit, apple, orange, pineapple, grape, kiwi, ume (plum), yuzu and peach. It’s mostly sold in restaurants and bar.

I thought they could have a better packing really. Oh well.

The Japanese have been consuming this jelly(as dessert and as an ingredient in their daily consumption) for way over 2000 years! I personally LOVE Konnyaku jelly desserts because they’re so refreshing and clean tasting, you just want to pop them into your mouth all the time :)

Their texture is not unlike gelatin but instead of animal products, Konnyaku comes from a type of mountain potato. To make Konnyaku the potato is grind and mixed with calcium hydroxide or oxide calcium extracted from eggshells to obtain a sticky jelly like substance. So it is ALL vegetarian, no animals are harmed :) This fiber-ful food is not only delicious but also very good for you. It lowers cholesterol and maintains well being because we all know Fiber is good for you. In fact, Konnyaku is a diet’s dream because it expands 20-30 times its size in the tummy making you feel full and it’s low in calories too.

Konnyaku is also known as Konjac, konjaku, devil’s tongue, voodoo lily, snake palm, or elephant yam.

You can usually find Konnyaku in Odens in Japanese cuisine but they are also used to make jelly desserts as I mentioned earlier. Because the Konnyaku jelly is flavorless by itself, it is a great medium to use for any type of flavoring. I used to make Konnyaku jelly desserts with fruits within. I just pop pieces of fruits into ice cube trays and pour some konnyaku solution in and wait till it sets in the fridge :)

The method of preparing Konnyaku Jelly is similar to preparing gelatin. You need to dissolve the powder with water according to instructions on the packet and dispense at your liking :)

Here are some Konnyaku product brand you can look out for in Japan:

Maybe you guys should look for some before summer’s over. It’s a great refreshment for those hot summer days :)

I heard that they are to die for. Is this true?

Soft white chocolate sandwich in between two langue de chat cookies, melts in your mouth like clouds. Has anyone ever tried this?

Well, for those of you who are interested in trying this confectionery, you’re in luck as they sell it online now. And for you who reads this blog but have never been to Japan, order one for yourselves. I already did :P

Their online shop can be accessed here: https://www.shiroikoibito.ishiya.co.jp/