There are many ways to serve Mochi, but a lot of people like to eat Mochi with Kinako, roasted soy bean powder and Kuromitsu, brown sugar syrup.
I didn’t realize how much I like Mochi.
I should buy some extra while it’s still available at stores so that I can enjoy it all year round.
I like to keep Koya Dofu, freeze-dried tofu, in my pantry because it doesn’t go bad for a long time, and it can be used to make many “meat” dishes as it has the right texture.
Katsu, or dee-fried meat, is a popular dish in Japan, and my husband and I both like it too.
Doesn’t this look great?
I use Panko for the crunch.
You can use any type of sauce, but this time I decided to go with sweet dark miso glaze.
This is popular in the Nagoya region, where I grew up.
This sauce goes so well not only with the Katsu but also with the shredded cabbage (and rice).
I’m so glad that now a few local Asian grocery stores carry the type of dark miso from the Nagoya Region, “Haccho”.
I made extra, because I knew we would enjoy this on other things as well.
Yes, I’m still eating Mochi.
In Japan we typically celebrate New Year over three days, from the first to the third of January, so I’m doing things correctly.
This time I decided to serve Mochi in a nontraditional way.
Toasted Mochi was served with melted vegan butter, cinnamon, and date sugar.
A great thing about Mochi is that you can enjoy different textures.
Some part is crunchy, and the other is soft and chewy.
This was delicious!!
Loved my Mochi with this wonderful combination of butter, cinnamon, and (date) sugar.
I’ve been really enjoying my date sugar.
Because it doesn’t dissolve into liquid, it cannot be used for everything, but I try using it in as many things as possible.
I have a few more Mochi pictures, but I thought I would take a little break.
These are basic Boule loaves.
This was the beginning of my bread-baking.
I’ve baked these so many times, and I still love them.
It’s delicious simply with butter, but it’s also great to make a sandwich with.
Mochi Day 2.
Today I had my toasted mochi dipped in sweet soy glaze, and then wrapped in roasted seaweed.
This is another traditional way to eat Mochi.
So good!!
I forgot to share this yesterday.
My sister brought these New Year ornaments a few years ago when she came to visit us in Minnesota.
Mochi, sticky rice cake, is eaten at the beginning of the year traditionally in Japan.
I was shocked to find out that Mochi was sold out on December 30th when I went to the Asian grocery store which typically carries a lot of Japanese foods including seasonal items!
I apparently underestimated the number of Japanese people living in this area.
However, the next day our neighbor came for a rescue!
They were able to find Mochi at a different store and got some for me.
There are many ways to enjoy Mochi, but Zenzai (you add a toasted Mochi to sweet bean soup) is one of the popular ones.
This Macha Zenzai is one of its versions.
I initially made this (picture above), where I used straight Matcha.
This was delicious as you can really enjoy the unique bitterness from Matcha and how well it goes with the sweet read beans which is added as a topping.
But I also wanted to try the Matcha “latte” version.
This was also delicious, and probably better received by non-Japanese or people who are not used to drinking Matcha straight.
Can you tell the Mochi was nicely browned and puffed?
Mochi was added to the Matcha latte as well as chestnuts and sweeet red beans.
You now know why Mochi is called “sticky” rice cake?
It’s sticky and stretchy!!
Be careful when you eat Mochi though because every year the number of deaths caused by choking spikes in January in Japan; people die from choking on Mochi.
I am looking forward to enjoying more Mochi dishes the next few days.
Happy New Year, everyone!
I asked my husband what people eat on new year’s eve in the U.S., but I got the impression that there isn’t really any specific dish.
So I decided to make Chinese-themed food, which I’ve been having craving for.
Vegetable pot stickers.
Mapo Eggplant and Tofu.
Vegan “Duck.”
I also made fried noodles, fried rice, and broccoli with chili garlic oil.
My craving was completely satisfied!
Now I need a little nap (or workout actually) before dinner.
I love Banh Mi, but I don’t get to make it as often as I like.
Because this sandwich requires certain ingredients, I do need extra planning or time to make one if I have to make from zero.
Luckily today I happened to have several key ingredients already.
Thus, I was able to put this together without much hassle.
I just purchased Daikon radish and cilantro.
I had homemade vegan meat (actually two types of meat!) already.
I had some leftover dishes that could be put together to make “pâté”.
And when this idea came to me, I was at an Asian grocery store which sells the type of baguettes (soft and light) that were perfect for Banh Mi sandwich.
Doesn’t this look great?!
I used homemade “pork” and “chicken” vegan meat for this, and they worked great, by providing different flavors and textures.
Ta da!
You can probably see the meat better in this picture.
You can also see how strong I look (I’m not that muscular, but in this picture I look very strong, don’t I (lol)?).
Definitely satisfied my Banh-Mi craving!
My mother-in-law is so sweet.
She knows I like magazines, and she gives me hers when she is done reading them.
We don’t get to see each other too often, so when we see each other, she brings me a big stack of magazines.
I enjoy going through them when I take a bath, and when I see an interesting recipe or food ideas I tear off the page.
Over the years those recipe/food idea pages accumulated, and I finally decided to go through them again and organize them in a better way.
(This was another thing on my to-do list, and I feel good about crossing this off too!)
One of the recipe pages I kept had “Meatball “Pizza” Casserole”.
This was from “Food & Family Fall 014”.
I was not in the mood to go grocery shopping today, but I realized that I could make this with what I had.
I veganized and adjusted the recipe according to what I had.
Red sauce – from a jar.
Vegan meatballs – from Ikea.
Vegan pepperoni – homemade.
Chopped onion.
Broccoli.
Nutritional yeast.
Pizza crust – homemade.
Vegan cheese – homemade.
This turned out great!
We enjoyed it very much.
I like this “upside-down” pizza, as the crust doesn’t get soggy.
Probably I’m not alone.
As a new sourdough starter holder, I enjoy trying new recipes with sourdough discard.
So when I found out that you can use discard to make banana bread, I jumped on the idea.
My first sourdough banana bread turned out great!
I used date sugar, which not only darkened the bread but also added some caramel-like rich flavor.
