Chickpea fries ひよこ豆フライ

My wife saw this recipe for chickpea fries in the Washington Post. She then realized she had bought chickpea flour some time ago, to make an Indian dish but she never made the dish. The flour had been sitting in the freezer for some time. So, she thought this would be a good way to use the chickpea flour. She figured, the most arduous  part of making this dish was that it had to be deep fried.  But, turns out that was not a problem for her since I am the one who does the deep frying in our kitchen. In any case, this was our collaborative effort. As with any fried starch, this was very good. The outside was light but crispy and the center was creamy. These are very similar in texture to the fries we make with nagaimo (but have not posted). We did not make a dipping sauce. We did not even need salt. 

Ingredients(We halved the recipe which made about 20 fries)
1 teaspoons olive oil, plus more for greasing the parchment
2 cups water
1 cups (120 grams) chickpea flour
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Cut two pieces of parchment paper to fit a 9-by-13-inch sheet pan or casserole dish. Use a little olive oil to lightly grease one side of each piece of parchment. Place one parchment piece on the bottom of the baking sheet (oil side up) and reserve the other.

In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the olive oil and water. Just before it starts to boil, slowly sprinkle in the chickpea flour while whisking to remove many (if not all) of the clumps and form a smooth batter. Whisk in the salt and pepper and reduce the heat to low. Switch to a wooden spoon and cook, stirring constantly, until the batter stiffens and starts to pull away from the sides and/or bottom of the pan, 10 minutes.

Scoop the batter onto the greased parchment in the pan and spread it out evenly as quickly as you can (it will start to firm up as it cools). Place the second piece of paper, greased side down, on the batter and gently press to smooth it out evenly. Transfer the pan to the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, until it has cooled and set. (we kept it in the fridge for three days before frying).

When the batter has set, remove the top paper and use a butter knife to cut the chickpea block into 20 sticks.

In our Tempura pot, heat the cirsco oil until it reaches 350F (or 180C) on an instant-read thermometer. Working in batches to avoid overcrowding, gently add the chickpea sticks to the oil and cook, turning with tongs when needed, until golden on both sides, about 3 to 5 minutes per side. Using the tongs, transfer to the rack to drain.

These were very good—crunchy on the outside silky smooth on the inside with a very subtle grainy taste. Initially they were extremely greasy but over time the excess grease got absorbed and added to the outside crispiness. We subsequently read that instead of frying they should be sautéed in a frying pan with a small amount of oil which would significantly reduce the greasiness. These crisped up very nicely in the toaster oven. 

Shrimp Chicken Gyouza エビと鶏肉の餃子

I made Ricotta and parmesan cheese meat balls from a half pound of the ground chicken we bought from the grocery store recently. From the other half, I made shrimp/chicken gyoza エビと鶏肉の餃子. I used a mixture of chicken, shrimp and cabbage as the basis for the gyoza. Somehow the shrimp took center stage taste-wise. The taste of chicken became muted and sort of disappeared leaving a nice shrimp taste and texture from the large chunks of shrimp I added. The good amount of the cabbage I added to use up the last of a head of cabbage I had in the fridge stepped back from center stage too but added a nice lighter texture. (If I wasn’t told I would never have known the chicken and cabbage were involved.)  Since I seasoned the filling rather well, the dipping sauce became optional. This is a different and great gyoza. It heated and crisped up nicely in the “toaster oven”. I made a small salad with cucumber and blanched wood ear mushroom dressed in mustard/pon-zu dressing 胡瓜と木耳のからしポン酢あえ.

Ingredients (made about 40 gyoza)
6 large shrimp, frozen,  (I used 6 large frozen shrimp, thawed, shell removed and cut into small chunks with some made more into almost paste.)
1/4 head of cabbage, core removed, finely chopped, blanched in salted water for a few minutes, moisture squeezed
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground garlic
1 tsp potato starch
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
40 Gyoza wrappers (I used Myojo 明星 brand, frozen, thawed)

For cooking
1 tbs neutral oil plus a splash of dark sesame oil
4-5 tbs water

Directions:
In a large bowl, add all the ingredients (except for the wrappers) and mix well.
Separate the wrappers and moisten the half perimeter with water, add 1tsp of the filling in the center and close the wrapper (I make a half moon shape), crimp the edges in 4-5 places
Cover it with a plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to cook

Cooking
Add the oil in the non-stick frying pan on medium flame and when the oil is hot, slide in the gyoza and cook for 2 minutes or until bottom side is browned.
Flip each gyoza and brown other side (optional but we like cripsy skin on all sides)
Turn down the flame and add 4-5 tbs of water and place the lid and let it steam for 2-3 minutes
When no more steam is escaping, remove the lid and crisp up the bottom (you could add more sesame oil if you like)
Repeat for another batch

Compared to my usual pork/cabbage filling, this is lighter and with a nice delicate shrimp flavor and texture (“puri-puri” プリプリ). The myojo brand of gyoza wrappers I used was perfect because they are smaller and thinner than the square wonton skins I usually use. This delicate wrapper really let the lovely delicate shrimp flavor shine through. They crisped up very nicely in the toaster oven. 

Anchovy Onion Cocktail Biscuit アンチョビイと玉ねぎカクテルビスケット

I made “plupo al ajillo” from boiled Spanish octopus legs from D’Artagnan. They were the last of the octopus legs we had gotten from D’Artagnan. I did this since the octopus was not getting any better in the freezer and has been facing some fierce competition from the very good ones we have been getting recently from Weee. Instead of just salt I used filets of oil packed anchovy. This came out extremely well. After simmering in olive oil for 5 minutes, the octopus was very tender and the anchovy really added nice salty and umami-rich flavor. With my mini-baguette, this was a really good appetizer. 

Nonetheless after this, we were left with 4-5 more anchovy fillets. (There usually seem to be more anchovies in a can of anchovies than we can usually use). My wife came to the rescue. She found this recipe for “Anchovy onion cocktail biscuit” in the Washington Post. Given the “excess anchovy” situation and since we are big fans of savory cookies and biscuits, there was no way we could “pass”. This was a really good biscuit. It tasted so good with a glass of red wine. Caramelized onion and anchovy made this biscuit really savory and the texture was great.

Ingredients (makes 50 bite-size biscuits)

For the onions
1 medium onion (6 ounces), halved and sliced
4 anchovy fillets, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (we used small amount of cayenne pepper)
1/2 teaspoon salt (adjust depending on the saltiness of the anchovy)
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream (we used light cream)

For the dough
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (226 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for the counter
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3 ounces/85 grams) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch dice and frozen (#1 in the composite)
3/4 cup (2 1/2 ounces/71 grams) grated Gruyère cheese, plus more for sprinkling if desired (#1)
2 1/2 tablespoons (1/2 ounce/15 grams) grated parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling if desired (#1)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Heavy cream, for brushing (we did not use)

Directions
Step 1
Make the onions: In a skillet over medium-low heat, combine the onion, anchovies, oil, crushed red pepper flakes (in our case cayenne pepper) and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally and adjusting the heat as necessary, until the onions are soft and golden, 30 to 45 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool, then chop the mixture. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl, add the cream and refrigerate for about 15 minutes.

Step 2
Make the dough: In a food processor, combine the flour, baking powder and salt and pulse until combined. Add the frozen butter and process until the mixture resembles a coarse meal, about 15 seconds. Transfer to a large bowl and mix in the cheeses until combined (#1). Add the onion mixture and pepper and, using a fork, stir just until the onions are evenly distributed. The dough will be crumbly.

Step 3
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Step 4
Lightly flour a work surface, turn the dough out on it and shape it into an 8-inch square. If the dough is too dry to stay together, sprinkle it with more heavy cream, 1 tablespoon at a time, just until it holds its shape. Using a sharp knife or bench scraper, cut it into quarters. Stack one quarter on top of another so that you have two stacks (#2). Push them close together; then, using a rolling pin, gently flatten and roll it out into a 1/2- to 3/4-inch-thick square. For neater biscuits, trim any uneven edges of the dough with a bench scraper or sharp knife, reserving the trimmings, then cut the dough into 1-inch square biscuits.

Step 5
Reroll the trimmings and cut additional biscuits as needed. Working in batches if necessary, arrange the biscuits about 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet (#3).  Lightly brush each biscuit with heavy cream. Sprinkle them with additional gruyere or parmesan, if desired. (We didn’t do this). If your kitchen is very warm or the dough has gotten soft, chill the cut biscuits in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes.

Step 6
Bake the biscuits for 7 minutes, rotate the pan front to back and continue baking 4 to 5 minutes more, or until the tops are golden (#4). The biscuits are tender, so if the sprinkled cheese on top melts causing them to stick to the parchment, gently free them with a thin spatula before lifting them.

Step 7
Serve warm or room temperature.

These were surprisingly good biscuits.They started out with a very strong onion flavor which as they cooled down mellowed into a smooth slightly sweet carmelized onion flavor that blended well with the saltiness of the anchovy. The texture was a bit surprising. the outside was crunchy like the crust of a pie but the inside was a very soft combination of butter and cheeses.  These make great “small-bites” to go with a glass of wine.

Burdock Root Kelp Roll ごぼうの昆布巻き

We decided that salmon kelp rolls are not just for new year and started making it regularly.  We ususally get a half filet of a whole salmon which is much more economical per unit weight but you end up with a lot of salmon. The way I usually handle this is; 1. Scale the salmon skin, 2: Remove the belly portion (we have it as an appetizer, lightly salted and dried overnight in the refrigerator), 3. Remove flesh from the skin from the irregular pieces such as the both ends (From them I make salmon cakes), 4. Thinly slice and make Russian marinated salmon and 5. Cut into half inch buttons and make salmon kelp rolls, 6. When the salmon is particularly large, I also could make two small fillets.  This leaves a good amount of salmon skin. I cut the skin in a few inch rectangle and make them flat with a small sheet of parchment paper separating the each pieces and place them in a sealable plastic container stored in the fridge until I cook them

When I make salmon kelp rolls, I try to hydrate just the right amount of “Konbu” kelp and “Kanpyo” goard peel, but, often I have some extras. So, to use up the hydrated kelp and kanpyo, I made burdock root kelp rolls since I had burdock roots at hand.  I served this with slamon kelp roll, green beans with sesame dressing and crispy salmon skin as a starter one evening.

I did not follow any particular recipe. 

For burdock root, I just scrape the skin, cut into the length matching the width of the kelp.  Boil for 10 minutes, roll in the kelp and tie with the kanpyo. Then, I cooked them very similar to the salmon kelp rolls.

This is quite good. I seasoned it less sweet and a bit more salty than the salmon kelp rolls. It has a nice crunch.

Quesadilla with Mini-corn Tortilla and Browned Cheese

My wife really liked the mini corn tortilla we got from Whole Foods (#1 in the composite picture). Using this tortilla, last time we made something resembling “taco carnitas”.  This time, we made something resembling quesadilla with a bit of a twist.  This was inspired  by a Youtube episode in which melted and browned cheese was transferred to tortillas which were made into quesadilla. Since we made a mochi and mushroom dishes using the melted and brown cheese, it was not too difficult to transfer the browed cheese to the tortillas (#2 in the composite picture) to make our quesadilla. I added more cheese and small dices of roasted/Bbqed pork we had. I served this with guacamole I made a quick salsa (the first picture). This was a bit messy to eat. We ended up using folk and knife. This was very good the tortilla has nice corn flavor. The browned cheese layers made it better.

This is not a recipe but just a note for ourselves to remember.

Ingredients (for two mini-quesadillas)

Two mini corn tortillas (#1 in composite)

Two slices of low-moisture mozzarella cheese

Three slices each of sharp cheddar and smoke gouda cheese, cut int small dice

3-4 slices of roasted pork, cut into small dice

Guacamole

Salsa, sour cream (optional)

Directions:

In a dry no-stick frying pan in low flame, add the slice of the mozzarella cheese.

The cheese will melt and bubble and edges start browning after a few minutes

Place the tortilla on the top of the melting cheese and let it cook for one more minute (the cheese needed to be uniformly browned but it is not easy to judge)

Flip it over and the brown crispy layer of the cheese is attached (#2 in the composite picture)

Place on half of pork and cheeses (#3 in the composite picture)

When the cheeses start melting, fold the tortilla with a small spatula and press  and hold (#4)

After one more minute, carefully flip over and cook other side for one more minute.

Top it with the guac (and sour cream if using)  and the side of  salsa. This was perfect lunch for us.

Assorted Japanese Mini-pans 日本のミニ菓子パン各種

When I was browsing the Weee site, I came across an item called “assorted Japanese mini pan”. This category of Japanese “pan” bread is called “Kahi-pan” 菓子パン or sweet bread. “Kahi” 菓子 is a rather inclusive Japanese word which may mean candies, cake, sweets, or snacks. When this word is applied to bread, it is sweet bread and/or bread with sweet filling. The most classic is “anpan” アンパン in which sweet red bean paste or “an” 餡 is inside a round bun. While I was growing up in Japan, for whatever reason, my parents would not allow my brother and I to have “kashi-pan” in general. So my memories of having these sweet breads are non-existent. This changed when my wife discovered these Japanese sweet breads on one of our trips to Japan.  Thereafter, whenever we were in Japan, she had to have some for breakfast so we would stop at one of the  Japanese bakeries and buy some. She first found “melon-pan” followed by other Japanese sweet and savories. So when I told her an assortment of Japanese sweet bread was available at Weee she asked me to get it. Apparently, this comes from a small bakery in New Jersey called “Parisienne bakery” (#1 in the composite picture). Despite its name, this bakery appears to specialize in Japanese breads and pastries. In any case, the box came with 7 mini-pan.  We split one at a time as a part of our breakfast.

We can easily recognize a mini melon-pan (A). It tasted exactly same as a full sized.

“B” is, I think, “kuri-kinton” 栗きんとん filled. “kuri-kinton” is a classic “Osechi” 御節 new year’s dish made of mashed sweet potato and chestnuts (#6 in the composite). “C” is almond flavored custard cream filled (#5 in the composite). “D” is “an-pan” filled with smooth sweet red bean paste or “koshi-an” 漉餡 (completely smooth without any remnant of red beans). “E” is another “an-pan” filled with sweets red bean paste with some remnant of red beans or “tsubu-an” 粒餡 (#3 in the composite). “F” is a “kri-mu pan” クリームパン and filled with custard cream (#5 in the composite). “G” is, I believe, another classic  called “Chocolate corona or チョコレートコロナ” which is shaped like a whelk shell and filled with chocolate cream. I did not take a picture of the cut surface but the filling was almost solid milk chocolate (probably because we ket this bread in the refrigerator).

As far as I am concerned these Japanese sweet breads are pretty good and enjoyable, but in small doses. My wife, was absolutely delighted with the treat and has asked me get them again when we order groceries from Weee.

Ricotta Lemon Cookie リコッタチーズ レモンクッキー

I just made meat balls with Ricotta and parmesan cheeses using ground chicken instead of pork. I used only 2 tbs. from the container of ricotta. I mentioned to my wife that not only was that container open and mostly full but we were getting a back log of other ricotta cheese containers in the fridge, although luckily they hadn’t been opened. (Apparently, for some reason, every week we bought another container from the grocery store). I suggested to my wife that we should push using ricotta cheese for a while. Then, she saw the recipe of Ricotta cookies at King Arthur site. This was just what we needed and decided to make some. The original recipe used a glaze but we both agreed we did not need one. The original recipe also called for something called “ Fiori di Sicilia” which we didn’t have. But the recipe suggested micro-grated lemon zest and vanilla could be substituted for the “fiori di Sicilia” which is what she did. This turned out to be a great and not-too-sweet cookie. It has a soft consistency almost cake like rather than cookie. We had this as a part of morning breads (#1). We really liked it.

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups (150g) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/4 cup (41g) Semolina Flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
6 tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup (149g) granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 cup (227g) ricotta cheese, whole milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Lemon zest from one lemon (micro-grated) or 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia*

Instructions
To make the dough: Weigh your flours; or measure them by gently spooning them into a cup, then sweeping off any excess.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater attachment, combine the butter and sugar. Beat on medium speed until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. (The mixture will not be lightened in color or fluffy in texture.)
Add the egg and mix until fully combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat briefly. Add the ricotta, vanilla, and Fiori di Sicilia. Briefly mix to fully combine.
Add the dry ingredients to the ricotta mixture all at once. Mix slowly until no dry floury streaks remain. Cover the bowl or transfer the dough to an airtight container and chill for at least 2 hours, or up to overnight.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the center. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
Scoop the chilled dough into generous tablespoon portions.
Place the dough balls onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them evenly apart (about 12 dough balls per baking sheet)
Bake the ricotta cookies for 15 to 17 minutes, until the edges of the cookies just start to turn light brown.

This was a very nice cookie. It had a soft cake like texture and the lemon flavor really came through nicely  giving it a light slightly sweet flavor. It went very well with our morning coffee. That excess of ricotta cheese won’t be around for long now that we have discovered these cookies.

P.S. Out of curiosity we bought some “fiori di sicilia” flavoring and tried it out in another batch of cookies. While the resulting cookies were very different in flavor from the ones make with just the lemon zest and vanilla, they were still very good. The flavor was much less lemon but had an intriguing somewhat floral after taste. The texture of the cookie was still moist and soft like the previous batch. Next time I may add more of the flavoring to see if I can make it a bit stronger.

Chocolate Milk Bread チョコレートミルクパン

We regularly get a catalog from the King Arthur Baking. One of them had a recipe for “chocolate milk bread”. Being a fan of Japanese milk bread, my wife decided to make it. Compared to regular milk bread, this is much more difficult to make. A direct quote from my wife: “This is the weirdest bread I’ve ever made.” The dough was especially soft and sticky having the texture of dough you would pour rather than knead. Also the instructions to mix on high speed for 20 minutes were unique. The dough did indeed get stiffer after this treatment but it was still impossible to ”fold” and “shape” as instructed. We ended up using a floured board and a baker’s scraper to form it into a loaf and placed it in a pan. It rose very high after baking but collapsed a bit after it was removed from the pan and cooled. The texture was nicely soft but chocolate flavor was muted. We like it very much but knowing the difficulty of making this, we are not sure it is worth the effort to make it again.

Note: We made a second batch of this bread and using “Common Culinary Knowledge” (CCK) we added enough flour to make a stable workable dough. We also did not knead it 20 minutes but the usual kneading time of 7-10 minutes. We also did not bother reweighing the tangzhong but used it as it came out of the pan. The resulting bread was infinitely better than the first batch and is definitely worth making again (even though no distinctly chocolate flavor comes through). 

Ingredients (X1 one loaf)
Tangzhong
2 tablespoons (11g) black cocoa
2 tablespoons (11g) Dutch- process cocoa
1 1/2 tablespoons (11g) King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (70g) milk, whole preferred; cold
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (70g) water, cold
1/2 tsp. King Arthur espresso powder (optional). (this brings out the taste of the chocolate

Dough
1 3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon (219g) King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour, plus more for dusting or to make the dough stable and useable. 
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (70g) milk, whole preferred; warm (110°F)
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon (41g) granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons (10g) King
Arthur Baker's Special Dry Milk, optional
2 1/2 teaspoons (7g) instant yeast
scant 1 teaspoon (5g) table salt
3 tablespoons (43g) unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg, beaten; divided
Scant 1/2 cup (75g) semisweet chocolate chips

Ingredients (X2) (Why make just one loaf when you can make 2 ?) We made 2 loaves
Tangzhong
4 tablespoons (22g) black cocoa
4 tablespoons (22g) Dutch- process cocoa
3 tablespoons (22g) King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (140g) milk, whole preferred; cold
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoon (140g) water, cold
1 tsp. King Arthur espresso powder (optional). (this brings out the taste of the chocolate)

Dough
3 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (438g) King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour (or however more is needed to make the dough stable and useable.  
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (140g) milk, whole preferred; warm (110°F)
6 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoon (82g) granulated sugar
3 tablespoons (20g) Dry Milk, optional
5 teaspoons (14g) instant yeast
2 teaspoons (10g) table salt
6 tablespoons (86g) unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs, beaten;
Scant 1 cup (140g) semisweet chocolate chips (we didn’t use this)

Directions:
To make the tangzhong: In a small saucepan, whisk the cocoas, flour, milk, and water until no lumps remain. Over low heat, bring the mixture to a boil, whisking constantly, until the mixture looks glossy and thickened to the consistency of hot fudge sauce, 3 to 6 minutes. Transfer the tangzhong to the bowl of a stand mixer; it will weigh about 145g after cooking (or 284 if doubling the recipe). If your tangzhong is more than 155g, (or 310g when doubling the recipe) return it to the pot and cook it a bit longer. (We did not bother to do this with the second batch and the bread turned out just fine.)

To make the dough: Add the flour, milk, sugar, milk powder, yeast, salt, butter, and egg to the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the cooled tangzhong.

Using the dough hook, mix on medium-low speed adding additional flour as needed until a soft, sticky workable dough forms, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Increase the speed to medium-high and continue mixing until the dough almost clears the sides of the bowl (it will stick to the sides for much of the mixing time) and is smooth and elastic, 15 to 20 minutes total (We did not do this with the second batch we made, 7-10 minutes worked just fine). Every few minutes, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, then continue mixing. Eventually the dough will strengthen enough to mostly pull away from the sides of the bowl; the dough will still be slightly sticky but significantly more manageable than it was before. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let it rise until puffy and doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Lightly grease an 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan or 9" x 4" Pullman loaf pan with nonstick spray or vegetable oil.
Use a bowl scraper to gently ease the dough out of the bowl onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently form the dough into two loaves. (At this point the original recipe gave complex instructions on how to fold the dough into various squares, which, given the consistency of the dough was quite impossible. It held together but was more a pouring consistency. (#1) Forming it into loaves was the best we could do.) (#2) Cover and let the loaf rise until it just crests over the rim of the pan, 45 to 90 minutes, depending on the temperature of your kitchen. (#3) (If using a 9" x 4" pan, let the dough rise until it's about 1" below the top of the pan.)

Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the chocolate milk bread for 30 to 35 minutes, until the loaf is fragrant, the top crust is firm, and the internal temperature is at least 190°F. Remove the loaf from the oven and cool briefly in the pan before turning it out onto a rack to cool completely.

The loaf was so soft that when we turned it out it started collapsing on itself (# 4) and we had to cool it on its side. Nonetheless once it cooled it stabilized and the soft texture was very nice. (maybe we should leave it in the pan longer before turning it out). There was almost no flavor of chocolate. We ate it for breakfast lightly toasted with butter. It is good we made this bread because it makes our library of Japanese milk breads (to the extent we know of it) complete. But there are various of the other versions we would choose to make before doing this one again.

P.S. Turns out that over time this bread has gotten better. A nice very subtle chocolate flavor has moved to the fore. The texture has also gotten firmer

Apple Pie Muffin Made with Juiced Apple アップルパイマフィン

This all started when my wife made “apple pie muffin”. Since the recipe called for “apple cider”, which we did not have, I used our juicer and made apple cider. I discarded the resulting apple pulp. My wife found out and said she could have used the pulp to make muffins like she did with carrot pulp making the carrot bread muffin. We still had a number of apples and the previous batch of muffins vanished quickly so this time, I made apple cider and kept the apple pulp. My wife made this version of apple pie muffin using both the apple cider and pulp. Why separate the  juice and pulp of apple and then combine to make muffin is a big question but it worked and she made a nice apple muffin (picture #1). Interestingly there was much more apple juice to the amount of pulp. I would say the pulp was slightly over 1 cup and the juice was over 2 cups. (So that explains why those apples were so lovely juicy.) 

Ingredients (X 1, made 12 muffins)

For the crumbs: 
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar 
3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice 
1/2 cup flour 
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon 
4 tbs butter 

1 tsp. salt (optional)

For the muffins: 
Juice 3 apples. Drain the pulp (1,2,&3) and save both the pulp and the juice. 
1 to 1 1/2 cup of apple pulp.
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, 
1 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 
2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened, 
3/4 cup granulated sugar 
2 large eggs, at room temperature 
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt; for table salt use half as much by volume 
1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature 
1/3 cup apple juice, at room temperature.

Directions: 
Prepare oven and cooking utensils: Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

Make the crumbs for the Muffins: Stir together brown sugar, pie spice,1/2 cup of the flour, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of the cinnamon in a medium bowl until well combined. Work in 4 tablespoons of the butter using fingertips until mixture is well combined and resembles wet sand. Set aside. (On a whim my wife decided to add 1 tsp. of salt. This was a remarkable improvement. The salt complemented and accentuated the sweetness of the crumbs. It also provided a surprising note of enrichment.) 

Make the batter for the muffin: In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat granulated sugar and remaining 2/3 cup butter on medium speed until fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to scrape down sides as needed. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined after each addition, about 30 seconds. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together salt, baking powder, baking soda, flour, and remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Whisk together sour cream and apple juice until well combined. Stir flour mixture into butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with sour cream mixture, until flour mixture is moistened but large flour streaks remain. 

Assembly: Spoon batter into bottom of each paper liner. Sprinkle 1 packed teaspoon brown sugar mixture evenly over batter in each muffin liner

Bake for 5 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F and continue baking until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 12 to 18 minutes, rotating pan halfway. Let cool in pan 10 minutes. (#4)\

These were very good muffins and a bit less work than the previous version of apple pie muffin. It had a very tender moist texture with a subtle apple flavor. The salted crumb topping was a nice surprise accentuating the taste of the crumbs that complemented the slightly sweet apple flavor of the muffins.

Wild Rice Salad ワイルドライスサラダ

This is our on-going saga of dealing with BUB (best-used-by) date. We found a vacuum-packed package of wild rice (from Whole Foods) in which BUB was a few years ago. We opened it and decided to cook up half and see if it is OK to eat. It was OK and I made a wild rice salad (not following any particular recipe) with sweet onion, celery, pecans, and craisin (dried cranberry) and my usual honey mustard dressing.  This turned out to be quite good. We vacuum packed and froze the remaining half of the wild rice.

Cooking wild rice:
To save time, I decided to use our trusty Instant Pot. Since I never cooked wild rice in an Instant Pot, I looked it up. The information I gleaned was that the ratio of rice and liquid is 1.3 to 1 since the liquid does not evaporate in an Instant Pot. So I washed and drained 200 grams of wild rice and added 154 grams of chicken stock and cooked it on high-pressure for 20 minutes and naturally de-pressurized. The rice liquid ratio appears correct and the liquid was almost completely absorbed. But when we tasted it, it was clearly under cooked because it was still very hard (al-dente was an under statement). I ended up recooking it by adding the same amount of the chicken stock as the first time and cooking it another 30-40 minutes in a regular pan until the liquid was all absorbed. I did not add any salt but even low sodium chicken stock (Swanson’s) added enough saltiness. We liked the resulting wild rice. 

So, next time, I may increased the cooking time to 30 minutes to see if that will work better.

Making the salad:
Cooked wild rice (I used half of the cooked wild rice which is 100 gram dry weight of wild rice)
2 stalks of celery, strings removed and finely diced
Half of medium sweet onion, finely diced
1/2 cup pecans, roasted in toaster oven and chopped 
1/4 cup craisin
Zest (micro-grated) and juice of one lemon

Dressing
1 tbs Dijon mustard
1 tbs honey
2 tbs rice vinegar
6 tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Just add all the ingredients and the dressing in a bowl and mix. 

This made quite a large amount of the salad. The lemon zest and the juice added nice citrucy flavor.

Sashimi Daikon Garnish 刺身の大根つま/けん

Sashimi is usually served with garnishes called  “Sashimi-no-Tsuma 刺身のつま”. The kanji ideogram assigned to the word “tsuma” can be “妻” meaning “wife” which has a somewhat sexist tone indicating shashimi is the main character or “husband” and the garnish supporting sashimi is characterized as the “wife” supporting her husband. The alternative meaning is  “褄”  “edge” specifically in reference to the edge of Japanese kimono clothes since these garnishes are often placed at the edge of the serving plate. The “tsuma” can be thinly julienned daikon, cucumber, carrot, daikon sprout (“kaiware daikon” 貝割れ大根) and other vegetable. Other items such as perilla leaves, lemon slices, “kasisou 海藻” sea plants, edible flowers such as dandelion are also common.

Besides being decorative, there are thought to be several purposes for these garnishes: 1) to refresh your mouth, 2) help keep the sushi fresh (preservative effect) (this is attributed especially to daikon), 3) draining excess moisture away from the sashimi so it isn’t sitting in exuded moisture. Daikon garnish is especially noted for this when it is placed underneath the sashimi. But in the end, I think, being decorative and traditional are the main reasons for why the “tsuma” sashimi garnish is used.  Although eating “tsuma” is not against the etiquette (which I often do but only a small portion of it), the vast majority of “tsuma” is untouched and discarded after serving its purpose much like parsley garnish in the west.  I have seen that, in some sushi bars in Japan, after the sashimi was served, the chef will make a small hand roll of these garnishes and serve it to the guests. Some sushi bars or Izakaya may not use garnish at all or  instead of the traditional garnishes, use other green leafy vegetables.

One evening, I served a small assorted  sashimi plate (picture #1) which included tuna chutoro 鮪の中トロ, scallop ホタテ, botan-ebi shrimp ボタン海老. I also serve tuna and avocado cubes 鮪とアボカドの角切り. All came from Riviera Sea Food Club. Later I fried up the shrimp heads as tempura 海老の頭の天ぷら.  All are good but the point of this post is the “tsuma” garnish. I added the “diakon-no-ken 大根のけん” and perilla leaves from our window sill planter.

Among the “tsuma” garnishes, thinly julienned items are called “ken 劍” which means “sword” apparently from its shape. To make this properly, after the skin is peeled, the inner part is peeled into paper thin layers called “Katsura-muki 桂むき” which produce a long, paper thin sheet of daikon. This is cut into manageable size, stacked and then julienned. Katsura-muki is one of the most difficult Japanese knife skills and it is beyond me. Other alternatives are special cutters. The cheaper one is essentially a spiral cutter which does not produce a true “ken”. The more expensive cutters indeed produce “katsura-muki” and quite good “ken” which is being used in many sushi bars and Japanese restaurants in the US (and probably even in Japan since these cutters are designed and produced in Japan including commercial motorized ones).

So, when I serve  sashimi, I do not add “daikon” garnish.  Recently, however, when I was browsing the new Izakaya cook book called “Rintaro”, I found a short passage indicating you could make authentic “Daikon-no-ken” by using a regular slicer. I tried it and it worked (picture #2).

The important idea is how to preserve the direction of the fibers within the daikon. Once I figured how this would work, I tried it. I first cut the daikon into 2 inch lengths, peeled the skin, and using the Benriner slicer (#1 in the composite picture) adjusting to produce fairly thin slices, made the slices cut along the length. By slicing this way, the direction of the fiber is same as in the “katsura-kuki” sheet. I then stacked them (#2 in composite picture) and julienned along the length (#3 in composite picture). This method produces a nice crunchy consistency because it does not cut across the fibers of the daikon. Soak the julienne in cold water (#4 in composite picture) and then drain before serving. Because both slicing and julienne are done with sharp blades, the surface is shiny and the results are really good if not perfect.(Picture #2).

I am sure this is a very minor thing but I feel better knowing I can do this without mastering the katsura-muki technique. By the way, my wife and I enjoyed all of the daikon garnish.  Since we had excess of the “daikon tsuma”, I made Japanese style salad next day. I added cucumber and carrot prepared like the daikon. I made a simple Japanese style dressing mixing sweet vinegar, soy sauce (x4 concentrated noodle sauce) and sesame oil (picture #3) and served with chicken sausage with sage and apple we got from a local gourmet grocery store. The salad was nice accompaniment to the sausage and very refreshing. 

Braised Eggplant with Ground Chicken 茄子のそぼろ煮

I am always looking for a new recipe especially using eggplants. This one also came from a  chef Kasahara’s 笠原 Youtube episode. Although the original recipe calls for ground pork, I happened to have ground chicken so I made it with eggplants and ground chicken. This turned out to be a good dish and the eggplant absorbed the flavors and almost tastes like meat.  I did not add a poached egg as suggested in the original recipe.

Ingredients:
2 Asian eggplants (long and slender), stem ends removed, peeled the skin in stripes, and cut into half inch rounds
1 1/2 tbs vegetable oil with a splash or dark sesame oil
200 grams ground chicken
2 scallions, finely sliced
1 tsp minced ginger
2 tbs x4 Japanese noodle sauce
2 tbs sake
2 tsp sugar
200 ml water

(hand torn perilla leaves as garnish if available)

Directions:

Add the 1 tbs oil to a frying pan on medium heat, cut side down brown both sides for about 5-7 minutes. remove from the pan and set aside

Add the remaining 1/2 tbs oil to the same pan and add the chicken and cook for few minutes until color changes and meat crumbles into small pieces, add the ginger and cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant

Add. the sugar and cook for 1 minute until the surface of the meat becomes shiny (the original recipe calls for more sugar)

Add the sake, soy sauce or noodle sauce, water. Put back the eggplant and cook for 5-7 minutes until the liquid reduces to the point only a thin layer of the liquid remains, add the scallion and mix and shut the flame off

I thought this might be too sweet but the seasoning worked well. My wife really liked it. I will add this dish to my eggplant go-to recipe.

Apple Fritter アップルフリッター

We received a Christmas present which included a good number of apples and pears. We finished all the pears and made a significant dent in the number of apples but we still had several honey crisp apples left. We happened to come across this recipe for “apple fritters”. Since we have never made an apple fritter, and we also happened to have some apples on hand, we decided to try it. It was kind of a production but we fried up fritters for breakfast one weekend. We did not bother with “glazing” them. Hot off the oil (#1) and with cappuccino/cafe late, this was quite a special breakfast. Crispy outside and soft inside with apple cinnamon flavors—can’t be beat, although we should not have this type of breakfast too often.

The original recipe came from “Serious eats”.

Ingredients

For the apples:
226 g granny smith apples (we used two honey crisp apples, peeled, cored and diced in small pieces)
42g unsalted butter (1 1/2 ounces; 3 tablespoons)
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon plus a pinch kosher salt

For the dough:
355 g all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons apple pie spice*

2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Canola oil, for frying

*Apple pie spice: 1 tsp. ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ginger and 1/2 tsp cardamon.

Directions:
In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Cook, whisking constantly with a wooden spoon, until milk solids sink to the bottom of the skillet and turn light golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add apples and stir to evenly coat in butter. Cook, stirring occasionally, until apples are crisp-tender and still hold their shape, about 5 minutes. Add lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of the sugar, and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves and apples are glazed in sugar mixture, about 2 minutes. Transfer apples to a large plate and refrigerate until cool, about 20 minutes.

Set a wire rack inside a 13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheet; set aside. Fill a large Dutch oven with 1 1/2 inches of canola oil and heat over medium-high until oil is 375ºF (190ºC).

In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, apple pie spice, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 teaspoon salt to combine; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, milk, sour cream, and vanilla to combine. Add sour cream mixture and cooked apples to dry ingredients, and, using a flexible spatula, fold together until a thick batter forms.

Working in batches carefully drop about 1/2 cup of batter into the hot oil and, using the back of a spoon, immediately press fritter until fritter is about 4-inches in diameter. Fry, adjusting heat as needed to maintain temperature, and use a spider skimmer or slotted spoon to flip fritters halfway through. Cook until fritters are browned, puffed, and cooked through, about 5 minutes (picture #2). Transfer finished fritters to prepared wire rack and repeat with remaining fritters (picture #3).

This recipe made a quite large amount (picture #3). The fritter heated up very well in the toaster oven. They were quite a treat (Can’t go wrong with sweet, spicy, fried bread.) The outside had a wonderful crunch and the inside was soft and sweetly spicy. The apple gave a burst of sweet fruit taste. 

Mock Tofu 擬制豆腐

I saw this recipe of “Mock tofu” or “Gisei-dofu 擬制豆腐” on Youtube by Chef. Kasahara 笠原. It looked interesting and I happened to have extra tofu and fresh shiitake mushroom which needed to be used up before going bad. Supposedly, this is a common form of “shojin-ryouri 精進料理” or vegetarian cooking done by Buddhist monks. The name “mock” or “gisei” reportedly comes from the fact that tofu was crumbed, other ingredients are added,  formed into an original rectangular shape of tofu and cooked. No eggs should be used in the original shojin-ryori but modern renditions use eggs as binder and some recipes even call for ground meat. 

While I was making this, I realized a U.S. block of tofu is larger than a Japanese block so I was afraid that the final loaf which had more tofu may not firm up but it did. The cut surface looked more like tofu than omelette (picture #1). I did not make it too sweet but this is a very good looking dish and tasted very gentle with nice texture.  Adding more tofu appeared to work. According to Chef Kasahara, this is his regular osechi “new year” dish. I may add this to my osechi next year. Since this could be a new year osechi dish, I served the slices on a small crane design plate we bought in Kyoto some years ago since the “crane” is very suitable motif for new year cerebration.

Ingredients: (made two loaves measuring 2 1/2 and 5 1/2 inch)

1 package (14oz or 400gram*) tofu (I used medium firm), drained, wrapped in paper towel with a weight on the top (I used two cutting boards as weights) for 20 minutes, crumble by hand

3 large eggs, beaten

4-5 caps of shiitake mushroom, thinly sliced

1 small carrot, julienned

3 scallions finely chopped

1 tbs vegetable oil

*Apparently Japanese one block of tofu is smaller. The original recipe used one block which was 300grams. 

Seasoning*:

1 tbs x 4 concentrated noodle sauce or soy sauce either light colored or regular

1 tbs mirin

* Original recipe calls for soy sauce and sugar. The above is not as sweet.

Directions:

Prepare loaf pans (I used two 2 1/2 x 5 1/2 inch silicon loaf pans) by lining with parchment paper and lightly oil for easy lifting (see “A” in the composite picture).  Preheat oven to 350F*.

In a frying pan on medium heat, add 1 tbs vegetable oil and sauté the carrot and mushroom. After few minutes, add the crumbled tofu and keep stirring for another 5 minutes or so until water is not seeping out from the tofu. Add the seasonings and cook until no liquid is visible on the bottom. Add the scallion, mix and shut off the flame.

Add the half of the eggs and mix. The residual heat will semi cook the eggs. Add the remaining eggs and mix.

Pour in the mixture to the loaf pans and press and flatten the surface with a silicon spatula.

Place the loaf pans in the 350F oven for 30 minutes (“A” in the composite picture) .

*Original recipe calls for 250C oven which is over 480F. I thought this was way too hot. Using my own discretion, I baked at 350F (about 180C) using the toaster oven in convection mode.

After cooling down for 10 minutes, I lifted the load out of the pan using both ends of the parchment paper (“B” in the composite picture). I sliced it after it cooled to near room temperature.

As I mentioned before, because of the larger proportion of tofu in my rendition (albeit by accident), the cut surface looks more like tofu than omelette. I do not think this dish should be omelette with tofu mixed in. More like tofu dish hiding the use of eggs like some Buddhist monks may have done. 

Obviously, you could alter the vegetables you can use in this dish. Renkon, wood ear mushroom, green beans, hijiki, ginnan, mitsuba etc were suggested. I also saw the recipes adding ground meat but I do not particularly like that idea.

In any case, we really like this dish as I made it (by accident??).

P.S. I made this dish again with few modifications. 

1. Seasonings: I used 2 tsp sugar and 2tbs x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce making it sweeter thatn the first. This appears to have worked. Both of us liked the a bit sweeter taste better.

2. I used three silicon loaf pans without parchment paper lining but coating the inside with a small mount of oil. The giese-tofu came out without problem. I am not sure the oil is needed.

“Endless” Konnyaku 無限コンニャク

I saw this recipe on Youtube. Many Japanese recipes use the word “Mugen 無限” meaning “endless” in front of the items indicating the dish is so good that you will be eating endlessly or without stopping. This one is “mugen-konnyaku” 無限コンニャク.  I have posted quite a few dishes using Kon-nyaku 蒟蒻 or konjac. I am not sure why Japanese including myself like kon-nyaku. It is made of vegetable roots and has a consistency similar to rubber and does not have any taste or calories. Certainly, this is not one of my wife’s favorites. The only version of konnyaku she sort of likes is “spicy konnyaku stir fry コンニャクのピリカラ炒め” despite the fact she usually does not prefer spicy dishes. I suppose since konnyaku does not have any taste, even a spicy taste is  better than no taste. In any case, this recipe claims that it tastes like “meat” and you can eat it forever or without stopping. Although this may not be true, it is nonetheless  a very interesting dish. Certainly the consistency of the konnyaku is much chewier and the seasoning clings to it better compared to other konnyaku dishes. I added a few sprinkles of seven flavored red pepper flakes or “shichimi tougarashi 七味唐辛子. I think I may have over boiled the konnyaku which made it a bit too chewy. I think this dish has potential and I can make it better next time.

Ingredients:
1 block of konnyaku
1 tbs x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce
1 tbs mirin
White sesame
1 small individual package of bonito flakes
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 tsp sesame oil

Directions:
Boil the konnyaku in enough water to cover completely for 10 minutes (I may have boiled it longer than 10 which may have made the consistency too chewy*).
Drain and wrap it in a cloth dish towel and pound using a rolling pin (I used a meat pounder) until the konnyaku is all shredded.
Add the oils to a frying pan on medium heat (add the red pepper flakes if you are using them), stir continuously until bubbles form on the surface. Further evaporate the water from the konnyaku for 5 minutes or so (all the moisture boiling away is from the konnyaku since no additional water has been added to the pan.)
Add the mirin and noodle sauce and stir until only small amount of liquid remains.
Add the bonito flakes and stir which absorbs most of the remaining liquid.
Sprinkle the white sesame and serve.

*I made this dish second time and timed the boiling to 10 minutes. This gave a much better consistency. It is chewy but not too chewy. I also used a small amount of red pepper which made the dish not really hot but added flavor.

I do not think this tastes like meat but it is certainly different from any other konnyaku dish I’ve ever eaten having a much chewier consistency and very well seasoned.

Apple Pie Muffin and Pan Cake アップルパイ マフィン

As part of the season, we received some fresh fruit which included of several Granny Smith Apples. In general, these apples are not good eating apples and are typically used in baked goods such as cake. My wife remembered that she had saved a recipe she found on the internet about apple muffins that taste just like apple pie and thought this would be a perfect use of the Granny Smith Apples.

The original recipe came from “Serious Eats”. This is a somewhat complicated muffin to make. It comes in 3 parts. First is making the apples by coating them with spices and then cooking them in melted butter until they start getting soft. Second is a layer of crumbs to put between two layers of dough. Third is the muffin dough itself.

My wife made muffins (pictures #1 and #2) and baked in a baking dish as a flat cake (picture #3).

The problem was that these three different parts were not specified in the original recipe but instead all clumped together with phrases like, “2 1/4 cups AP flour divided” and it wasn’t until you were knee deep in the directions that you discovered 1/2 cup of the flour was supposed to be used to make crumbs and the other 1 3/4 cups was used for the actual muffin batter. As a matter of fact the recipe did not even specify there was a layer of crumbs and it took my wife some time to figure out the recipe consisted of 3 parts at which point the recipe started to make sense. Added to all that we wanted to use up all the Granny Smith apples but once we cooked them all we realized we had too many for just one batch of a dozen muffins. So we decided to double the recipe and make 1/2 as muffins and 1/2 as a pan cake (i.e. a flat cake baked in a baking pan). Hopefully we have sorted out the three components of the recipe below so they are clearer than the original and by showing the recipe as X1 for just muffins and X2 for muffins and pan cake. Good Luck.

Ingredients (X 1)

For the Spiced Apples:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 small tart apple such as Granny Smith cut into 1/4 inch pieces (1 cup chopped)
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt; for table salt use half as much by volume
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

For the crumbs:
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 tbs butter

For the muffins: 
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour,
1 teaspoons ground cinnamon,
2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened,
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt; for table salt use half as much by volume
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1/3 cup apple cider, at room temperature (We didn’t have any cider so we juiced another apple)

Ingredients (X2) We wanted to use up the Granny Smith Apples but we ended up with too many apples so we chose to double the recipe and make 1/2 as muffins and 1/2 as pan cake

For the Spiced Apples:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tart apples such as Granny Smith, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt; for table salt use half as much by volume
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

For the crumbs:
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 cup flour
3 tsp cinnamon
8 tbs butter

For the muffins:
1 1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened,
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
3 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 teaspoon kosher salt; for table salt use half as much by volume
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
2/3 cup apple cider, at room temperature (We didn’t have any cider so we juiced another apple)

Directions: whether making 1X or 2X of the recipe just use the quantity of ingredients specified for that amount.

For the Spiced Apples:  In a 10-inch skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Once melted, add apple pieces, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and pie spice and cook, stirring frequently, until apples are tender, about 10 minutes. Transfer apple mixture to a fine mesh strainer set over a medium bowl. Thoroughly strain, gently stirring to remove as much excess moisture from apples as possible; set aside to let apples strain until they reach room temperature, about 15 minutes. Spread strained apples in an even layer on a large plate and refrigerate uncovered until cooled, 15 to 20 minutes. Reserve strained sauce for use as a glaze. 

Prepare oven and cooking utensils: Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. If making pan cake grease the medium sized pyrex cooking pan then line with greased parchment paper.

Make the crumbs for the Muffins: Stir together brown sugar, pie spice,1/2 cup of the flour, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of the cinnamon in a medium bowl until well combined. Work in 4 tablespoons of the butter using fingertips until mixture is well combined and resembles wet sand. Set aside.

Make the batter for the muffin: In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat granulated sugar and remaining 2/3 cup butter on medium speed until fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to scrape down sides as needed. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined after each addition, about 30
seconds.

In a medium bowl, whisk together salt, baking powder, baking soda, remaining 1 3/4
cups flour, and remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon.

In a small measuring cup whisk together sour cream and cider (apple juice) until well combined.

Stir flour mixture into butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with sour cream mixture, until flour mixture is moistened but large flour streaks remain. Fold cooled apples into batter until evenly dispersed and batter is just combined. (Do not over-mix.)

Assembly: Spoon 2 tablespoons batter into bottom of each paper liner. Sprinkle 1 packed teaspoon brown sugar mixture evenly over batter in each muffin liner; top with remaining batter (about 3 tablespoons per well) spreading into an even layer. (Liners will be very full.) (1 and 2 in the composite)

Bake for 5 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F and continue baking until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 12 to 18 minutes, rotating pan halfway. Let cool in pan 10 minutes.

If making pan cake, spoon 1/2 the batter into the baking dish, cover with crumbs, and cover crumbs with remaining batter. Bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes reduce temperature to 375 and bake for 30 minutes and start testing for doneness by seeing if wooden pick comes out clean (3 and 4 in the composite).

Carefully remove from pan and serve warm or at room temperature, drizzling with reserved strained apple juices from step 2 just before serving.

Although this is a fairly convoluted recipe for apple based muffins it is probably worth it because the end result is very good. They do taste distinctly of apple pie. The texture is very light, soft and tender. The cooked apples introduce a burst of cinnamon flavored moistness that is very pleasant. The crumbs kind of melted into the texture making an internal layer of buttery cinnamon flavored dough. The pan cake had all the similar characteristics but was simpler to make. These muffins are a bit unique in the combination of flavors and textures they deliver. Despite the initial difficulties now that we have the recipe sorted out we will be making them again.

Bottarga/Karasumi Taste Test 日本の唐墨とサルジニアのボタルガの味比べ

We enjoyed the fresh uni and karasumi 唐墨 from Maruhide 丸秀 a few days ago. We decided that while we still had some of the karasumi left, we would get some Sardinian bottarga and have a taste test. The last time we tried Sardinian bottarga was 11 years ago. The brand we bought back then was called bottarga Di Muggine from L’Oro di Cabras, Sardinia, Italy. We tried another one this time. The one we got is called “Sardinian Gold” from “Bottarga Brothers” through Amazon market place (picture #1, right). In terms of the price, the karasumi is 3.5 times more expensive than the bottarga. The color of this bottarga is about the same as the karasumi. I remembered that the bottarga we previously bought was darker in color and stronger in taste compared to Japanese karasumi I had eaten back then. The information brochure that came with the bottarga we just bought stated that when bottarga is exposed to air, the color it becomes darker and the taste becomes stronger.  So, to prevent that from happening, I separated the sacs and vacuum packed one for later use.

I sliced both and slightly toasted them. We had them with cold sake. In the picture #2, the left is karasumi and the right is bottarga. As you can see the bottarga is larger in size but the color is exactly the same. Both tasted good and about the same. We like this “Sardinian bottarga gold”.

Of course we needed some more items to go with the sake. In the picture #3, from left to right are karasumi/bottarga, squid shiokara イカの塩辛, Russian marinated salmon 鮭のロシア漬 with pickled cucumber topped with ikura, and daikon namasu 大根なます with slices of boiled octopus leg and also topped with ikura. The boiled octopus legs came from Weee (originated from China). This is excellent and as close as I can think of to a Japanese prepared boiled octopus leg. All these small dishes went so well with cold sake.

*Digression Alert: Although Sardinian bottarga is most well known, other cultures also make similar fish roe (usually gray mullet roe), salt cured and then dried under the sun. A small pamphlet came with our bottarga included the other types of bottarga the company sells which included Greek, Egyptian, French (two kinds) and Brazilian.  Japan, Korea and Chinese also make their versions.

“Karasumi” Japanese Bottarga from Maruhide 丸秀の唐墨

Our source of quality sea urchins “Maruhide” 丸秀 has made some changes after the original founder’s daughter took over some time ago. I noticed “karasumi” Japanese bottarga is available. We decided to get our usual fresh uni (both in salt water 塩水うに and regular alum-treated in a metal case), uni shutou ウニ酒盗 and karasumi* 唐墨. They arrived on Christmas eve and we had a tasting of two kinds of uni and karasumi. In the serving picture, the left is uni in salt water and the right is regular alum-treated. The center is slices of karasumi lightly toasted. we had these with “Tengumai Kimoto Junmai” 天狗舞生酛純米 hot since it was a very cold outside. Both the uni were very good. The salt water uni is softer in texture and alum-treated one keeps its shape but we did not taste the “bitterness” sometimes associated with alum-treated. Karasumi is wonderful with almost uni-like after taste or more like preserved uni (or neriuni ねりうに) flavor which is more concentrated.

*Digression alert: I already pontificated about “Karasimi” that it is originally from Sardinia which came into southern Japan during the edo-period and that the shape of bottarga to Japanese was reminiscent  of “sumi” ink block from China hence the name  “kara-sumi” in which “kara” 唐 means “China” (more precisely Tang-dynasty) and “sumi” means “ink”. We really like karasumi which is a regular part of the “osechi” box from Sushi taro. Karasumi is also associated with a fond memory of when we were in Japan last time in fall. Because of the approaching typhoon we left Sapporo one day earlier and stayed in a hotel near Narita airport. We went to a sushi bar in the hotel for dinner and a drink. It was not crowded. We tried to sit at the sushi bar where an old couple was already seated.  Although the rest of the restaurant was empty there was a “reserved” sign on the sushi bar. When we indicated we would like to sit at the bar, a waitress told us the bar was a “no set menu order,  a la carte only” in English. To that I reply in Japanese that it was fine with us. After a quick look of surprise the waitress ushered up to our seat at the sushi bar. So we sat and a very friendly sushi chef came greeted us and asked where we were from. Once he found we were from Washington, DC areas, he beamed and said “The Nationals!” (he was a big baseball fan). I asked for “otsumami” drinking snacks of his choice (i.e. omakase) first. Several sashimi were served and he said they had “karasumi” so we ordered it. It was very nice and served slightly toasted. The old couple appeared “surprised” at our ordering karasumi (in such close quarters with only two customers we were all aware of what each other was eating) and that my wife enjoyed it. So they also ordered some too.

The karasumi we got was from Hyogo prefecture (#1 below). It was very small (especially for the price). I sliced it and tasted a small piece. It tasted very good but I wanted to compare this with Sardinian bottarga so I ordered some on-line. Stay tuned karasumi tasting coming up.