Key Food Topic

I’m really not a fan of anpan. Bean paste is blech!

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Hmm, well I would just add some of my home grown hot chilli then, that should sort it :smiling_imp:

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Whaa? I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like red bean
Does this mean no taiyaki for you either?

I’m not a huge fan of it either, I can have a little bit if I drink a ton of tea but it’s just too sweet overall. Not to mention the grainy texture…

Same here, I bought taiyaki once and I really wasn’t fond of the red bean filling.

That sounds like what I got when I made it with 50%sugar: that was awful. I like it with about 25%. It’s still a pretty unique taste though; I wouldn’t want to eat it in large amounts.

Sounds like the sweetness added to the bean paste would put me off, prefer spicy to sweet but then I suppose it wouldn’t be anpan and might end up like one of Sanae’s specials!

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I prefer to make custard filling for my taiyaki. Last time I made a matcha custard that was really good. I like azuki bean paste, but I like it more with ice cream or in mochi.

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i’t’s time, to GET my uguu on

I had taiyaki for the first time during another trip to Japan in December! It was at a nice market area near Fushimi Inari Mountain in Kyoto. You should definitely go there if you get a chance, the shrines are really beautiful.

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I make Taiyaki and Dango all the time, will take pictures next time.

Does Misuzu’s juice actually have gelatin in it? Does anybody have any idea how to make it, or do I have to get creative?

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Do you have a link to a dango recipe that you like? I would love to try making them.

I pretty much use this one.

When it talks about roasting the dango, I found it easier to just put them on a pan and rotate them until they start to turn golden brown.

You can substitute rice vinegar for mirin. I couldn’t find mirin anywhere, and I’m too young to buy alcohol. I found the rice vinegar at the grocery store.

Recipe calls for both joshinko and mochiko. I have an assload of mochiko and didn’t feel like buying joshinko too so I just used the one kind. Turned out fine.

Post pics when done!

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Quite surprised that one of my local supermarkets has mirin as well as rice vinegar, also a few other bits and pieces such as miso stock, dashi, wasabi paste, and of course udon noodles. We don’t have a Japanese community or dedicated East Asian groceries where I am, so there isn’t much demand I expect (in London they will have more through). Perhaps one day I will be brave and actually cook a proper recipe like tonkatsu - that was Sunohara’s staple convenience diet wasn’t it? You’d have to be still braver to try my cooking!.

I’ve been drinking green tea for a few years but only just tried sencha and matcha - can’t tell any difference in the taste between them but they are both much more refined than the “standard” green tea.

And also surprised the other supermarket has just started selling Chicken Chilli Ramen - just ready meal for microwave, as well as Firecracker chicken/prawns, gyoza, plus the range of “bento” sushi and katsu.

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As promised, Taiyaki photos are here.


My dad won’t eat sweets, so I used the last of the batter to make him one without chocolate. Unfortunately, I was distracting by people trying to talk to me and burned it. He was left with an empty stomach, and I feel pretty shitty about it.

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So, does anyone have a recipe for orange powapowa soup? :wink:

BTW I have renamed my home office “The Reference Room” :tea:

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I always thought it might have been some sort of pumpkin soup. That never fails to get me all powa powa :happy:

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I think I joked once to the Discord chat that this soup I once had was because it was sufficiently orange. It was a curry noodle soup and spicy, so if it wasn’t powapowa it sure has the pow down. Hehehe.

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Going off at a slight tangent…but to those who enjoy trying to recreate Japanese recipes from Key Games or elsewhere…

Does anyone else here grow their own veg? It’s hard/impossible to find fresh Japanese veg in supermarkets and grocers here but the seeds are fairly easily available. I have successfully grown from seed Mizuna; plus Ishikura and Shimonita spring onions and this year I will try the Kyoto Market Japanese Leek.

Depending on your climate of course will determine what you can grow but they do well enough in temperate zones, and fresh greens are always better than bought! Would be interested to hear any other success stories - daikon anyone?

The jackpot would of course be Wasabi ¥ ¥ ¥

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After much searching I have now found some seeds for Daikon radish - there’ll be no stopping me now!

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I’d like to try the super spicy mapo tofu from Angel Beats! There is actually a Chinese Take Away here in my town which has Ma Po Tofu on the menu but it’s at the far end of the town so not an easy option unfortunately. As a Chinese Take Away maybe they make it a bit spicier? I don’t think my cooking skills are up to it even if I could get the right ingredients…

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