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So I just attempted to make yakimochi like the one I had with Robyn in the City a couple of weeks ago, and I failed miserably. X/ It was highly disappointing because ever since I got a bag of adzuki beans at the local Oriental Grocery (Stony Brook has an abnormally massive Asian population, so it makes sense that we’d have a nearby supermarket brimming with awesome Asian foods, yum!), I’d had my heart set on having homemade yakimochi.

I cooked up the sweet red bean paste with the adzuki beans last night, and THAT came out fantastic. Of course, if it hadn’t, I’d have to seriously reconsider my goal of becoming a chef/baker of some sort, since it’s ridiculously simple. Soak beans, cook beans, drain, add sugar and oil, cook and mash until it becomes a paste. About the only thing you could do to mess it up would be to undercook the beans or something. :P

With that done, I’d planned on making the mochi to wrap the bean paste in and cooking it in a pan tonight. Well, apparently it must not be the sticky kind of mochi on the yakimochi I had because no matter what I did after I made the mochi, I couldn’t get it to cook into a wonderful doughy, slightly crusty shell. :( It just stayed gummy until it got burnt/caramelized on the outside. It didn’t taste HORRIBLE, but it wasn’t exactly what I’d consider edible either.

At least I only made a little bit of bean paste and mochi…

Anyway, I was hoping that maybe someone who reads this might be able to point me in the direction of a recipe that’s appropriate for making a yakimochi dough. I can’t seem to find one myself, and regular mochi clearly is not the way to go. XP

5 Comments Categories: Desserts · Food Musings · Japanese · No Photos

This morning I’d settled on making rice pudding using arborio rice for lunch, but come the end of my morning class, I decided something more savory and lunch-like was a better idea. Rather than attempting to transform my remaining arborio into a sugar-laden confection, I went for my take on fusion cuisine: teriyaki risotto. To be perfectly honest, I can think of no better food combination than Japanese and Italian, and this risotto totally proved me right.

A lovely little Asian soup bowl brimming with risotto

Normally risotto is made with some kind of broth or wine or combination of the two as the liquid, but I decided to use teriyaki sauce diluted in water instead. Sautée the rice in some unsalted butter until it’s clear except for the little center pearl of white, and then begin the tedious process of gradually adding the simmering liquid until you get that delectable creamy-saucy texture that defines a perfect risotto. Once all the liquid was added and absorbed, I stirred in some heated mixed baby string beans and carrots, a little extra teriyaki sauce, and a light drizzle of sesame oil. Sprinkle with a bit of salt, and voilà! a fantastic lunch for two (my sister shared it with me, and confirmed the risotto was “OMG SO GOOD” ;)).

Mmm…morsels of creamy ricy veggie goodness…

Unfortunately my camera is being highly uncooperative lately and refuses to take anything but blurry photos of my food. :P Hopefully it’ll shape up over the course of tonight and tomorrow so I can legibly photo-document what should be a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner prepared by yours truly! I’m the chef for this year’s family feast for the first time, and I hope to create the best ever meal we’ve had for the holiday. :D

On another food-related note for the day, one of my Chinese suitemates has a bowl full of tapioca in the fridge, and every time I’ve gone in it to get something the past few days, it’s made me crave bubble tea. Naturally, this necessitated a stop at the Kelly Tea and Coffee House on the way back to my room from my last class today. ;) Looking over their menu of bubble tea flavors for the day–strawberry, sweet tea, and taro–I was immediately drawn to that last flavor scrawled in lavender marker on the menu board. Through my recent research of Asian desserts I’d come across the mention of taro several times, and it definitely piqued my curiosity, what with the enthusiasm people so frequently possessed when talking about it.

Happy beads of tapioca swimming in sweet, delicious taro-ness!

After a very short mental debate between strawberry and taro, I chose to go with the unusually-purple drink over the cotton-candy-pink option. I most definitely was not regretting that choice after the first sip, and I subsequently added “something made with real taro” to my mental list of Unusual Foods to Try. ;D I’m definitely a fan of bubble tea–the novelty of slippery beads of tapioca mixed in with sips of a sweet, fruity- or tea-flavored beverage is just too much! Yum! :yum

And now I need to get more of this darned art history paper written and plan out the timing for all the things I’m cooking for Thanksgiving dinner. I’m determined for it to be a blazing success! Well, hopefully not blazing in the LITERAL sense… :?

3 Comments Categories: Beverages · Fusion Cuisine · Italian · Japanese · Main Meals · Photos · Rice · Side Dishes · Vegetables