Making Sakura Mochi

Sakura Mochi (cherry blossom mochi) is a very popular seasonal Japanese dessert in the spring time. There are two kinds of Sakura Mochi. For the eastern (Tokyo) style, anko (sweet azuki bean paste) is wrapped in a thin pancake, and for the western (Kyoto) style called "Domyoji", anko is wrapped in a sticky layer made of domyoji (cracked mochi rice) flour.

I'm from Tokyo, but I love the western style, Domyoji, and I've been making them at home almost every spring time past years.

The ingredients are not very easy to find outside of Japan. This time, I got all the top quality ingredients back from Japan. So, I was especially excited.


Salt-marinated sakura (cherry blossom) leaves (from Izu) and flowers (from Okayama). They were rinsed to remove excess saltiness and set aside.


Domyoji-ko is made from mochi rice (sweet rice), which was steamed, dried, then cracked into a course powder. For sakura mochi, tiny amount of food coloring is used to give the light sakura color before cooking it. And, past years, I made my Sakura Mochi without coloring the domyoji-ko. This time, I found domyoji-ko which was already colored in pink. I steamed it in my donabe steamer, "Mushi Nabe", it came out so pretty! I see many people cook domyoji-ko in microwave for convenience, but I highly suggest you do the traditional way, steaming! Domyoji-ko, steamed in donabe has the best texture and the flavor.


Once the domyoji-ko is steamed, a small amount of sugar is added and mixed. Then, I wrapped anko (sweet azuki bean paste...I used coarse kind from Hokkaido) with it.


To finish, each piece was topped with a salt-marinated sakura flower and wrapped in a sakura leaf. They were so good that I always feel nothing can beat homemade Sakura Mochi! I made 12 pieces and ate 10 by the next morning (2 were saved for Jason). I love Sakura Mochi so much. The aroma of sakura from the flowers and leaves give such special nuances to this delicacy.

Here's my recipe:

Sakura Mochi

Yield: 12 pieces

Ingredients:
150 g domyoji-ko (cracked mochi flour)
12 pieces salt-marinated sakura leaves
12 pieces salt-marinated sakura flower
240 g anko (sweet azuki bean paste)
1 tablespoon sugar

Procedure:

1. Soak the domyoji-ko with an ample amount of lukewarm water in a bowl for 10 minutes. Drain.
2. Soak the sakura leaves and flower in water in separate leaves for 5 - 10 minutes. Remove them from the water and pat dry. Set aside.
3. Divide the anko into 12 and shape each into a ball. Set aside.
4. Get Mushi Nabe ready. Rinse a tenugui (thin cotton towel) and wring, then line the Mushi Nabe grate with it. There should be extra length of tenugui hanging from both side.
5. Spread the drained domyoji-ko over the tenugui and wrap lightly with the remaining ends of tenugui from both sides. Cover with lid and steam for 25 minutes over medium-high heat. Turn off the heat and let it rest for 5 minutes.
6. Transfer the steamed domyoji-ko to a bowl (you can lift the whole tenugui carefully and invert the contents into a bowl easily) and add the sugar. Mix with a spatula well.
7. Set a bowl of water on the side. Wet both hands and take 1/12 of the domyoji-ko and flatten to a round shape.
8. Take a piece of anko and wrap with the domyoji-ko nicely. Top a piece with a sakura flower and wrap with a sakura leaf. Repeat the process with the remaining ingredients.

Sakura Mochi can be stored in a tightly-sealed container up to 1 day in a cool place (no refrigeration).

Happy Donabe Life.

DONABE Tasting Dinner at Otium

I had another fantastic night at Otium in Downtown LA!
I had friends visiting LA from Japan, and it was their first time to come to LA, so I really wanted them to experience Otium.

Chef Tim created a special tasting course menu including multiple donabe dishes for us!


Beautiful cured salmon dish, followed by chawanmushi, topped with uni, caviar, and ikura. I loved the nuance of vinegar in the sauce for chawanmushi. So unique and delicate.


First donabe course was buri kama (collard of grown-up yellowtail), grilled, then smoked in donabe smoker, Ibushi Gin. The skin was perfectly crisp, and the meat was so delicate and juicy with a nice oily texture. With every bite, the aroma of smoke delighted my palate. Beautiful.


The rice course was made with double-lid donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san". It was black cod with very light potato sauce and charred spring onion, dusted seaweed, etc.


The rice was Mori-san's short grain rice from Uruguay. What a unique combination of flavors and it was so delicious. My friends are from Niigata, the premium rice growing region of Japan, so they are true rice snobs. And, they were raving about how the rice was cooked perfectly in Kamado-san by Chef!


Here comes donabe steamer, "Mushi Nabe"! Chef Tim slowly steam-roasted a whole chicken for almost 2 hours in the donabe. There was generous amount of shaved black truffles stuffed under the thin skin. Under the chicken was a variety of California vegetables including colorful carrots, potatoes, savoy cabbage, etc. with the jus.


The chicken was carved so skillfully tableside by Christian. The dish was outstanding. The chicken was so tender and packed with umami flavors. The aroma of the truffles were so elegant. Wow, I was really happy.


Dessert was donabe s'more, made in donabe smoker, Ibushi Gin. So pretty.


Because I just returned from Australia, I ordered 2011 de iuliis, Shiraz (Hunter Valey, NSW) for the main course. It was not a overpowering big red but rather elegant and worked wonderfully with the chicken.

My friends were really blown away by the whole dinner. I want to thank chef Tim and the team for the amazing night!

Happy donabe life.

Chef's Table Dinner at Otium

Donabe feast! (Photo by Asami)

I've been so busy past weeks but I can finally post this report about the amazing dinner I had last last month.

My husband, Jason, was back home from Hawaii for 12 days during the holiday season. He was going to leave again for Australia for a couple of month in January. So, during his short stay back in LA, we just wanted to stay in the city and enjoy home cooking and local dining.

Our friends, Asami & Steve, were also back in LA for a short time (they live in Nagoya, Japan now), so we got together to have dinner at Otium, in Downtown LA. I was so excited to taste Chef Timothy Hollingsworth's special dishes again.


We were seated at the chef's table right by the open kitchen, and the special night began.


Butternut Squash/ Ricotta/ Coffee/ Pepitas
Little Gem Lettuce/ Bottarga Vinaigrette
Great beginnings.


Polenta/ Black Truffle/ Hen Egg
Rich, savory, and beautiful texture.


Prawn/ Eggplant/ Pineapple/ Green Curry
This was my first time to taste a dish made with donabe steamer, "Mushi Nabe", by the chef! On top of the grate was grilled and steamed prawns and pineapple, and once the grate was removed, in the bottom was muscles in green curry. How creative the dish was! And it was so spicy and delicious.


Hamachi/ Rice/ Bok Choy/ Caramelized Garlic
The rice was cooked in double-lid donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san"over charcoal grill. Hamachi kama was nicely fatty and so flavorful.


Somoked Duck/ Turnip/ Pear/ Hazelnut
Yes, this dish was made in donabe smoker, Ibushi Gin! The aroma when the lid was removed was gorgeous. The meat was perfectly cooked and smoky.


Persimmon Pudding/ Ricotta/ Pistachio/ Truffle
Yes, with white truffles shaved over the persimmon. I thought I was already so full, but the dessert was too good to resist.

We had an incredible time together over amazing dishes and wine. I love Otium so much and it was an unforgettable dinner.

Happy donabe life.

Our donabe on Bon Appetit magazine!

I am so excited that our Iga-yaki donabe is featured on Bon Appetit magazine, both on the cover and inside! It's the latest January 2016 issue and titled, HEALTHY-ISH.

Inside, our double-lid donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san", and donabe steamer, "Mushi Nabe", appear in 3 full-color full pages in the feature titled, "THE NEW HEALTHY 2016 - JAPANESE HOME COOKING", starting from page 82. Kamado-san is used to make a hot pot dish, and the recipes by Tadashi Ono and Harris Salat look so delicious!

Happy donabe life.

**On page 90, our Mushi Nabe is introduced as the "stainless-steel steamer" by mistake, but it's obviously, authentic Iga-yaki donabe, so it's an earthen ware:-)

Super Happy Donabe Steamed Vegetables

...for my American friends.


I wanted to express with my donabe dish.

#lovewins
Happy donabe life!

Donabe-steamed Pork & Lotus Root Shumai

Simple steamy donabe dinner courses on a weekday...
With donabe steamer, "Mushi Nabe", everything is cooked and enjoyed right at the table.


Started with simple steamed vegetables (you can find the basic recipe here)...colorful carrots, lotus root, kabu (Japanese turnip), shimeji mushrooms, asparagus, and green garlics. I served with simple mixture of shio-koji and olive oil. Really tasty!


Then, I made pork & lotus root shumai. Instead of regular pork shumai, by adding coarsely minded lotus root, you can enjoy its nice crunchy texture with juicy pork.

You can find the recipe (for both standard pork shumai and pork & lotus root shumai variation) in toiro kitchen's website.

Happy doanbe life.