うさぎ饅頭 - Bunny Sweets
As Easter is fast approaching, it's the perfect time to make these rabbit manjuus. I love how the Japanese make everything so cute! Despite the cuteness the process is quite simple: attach a small ball onto the main part, paint 2 dots and two lines and there you have it: a bunny rabbit! This year we'll be (not) celebrating the Easter in Japan, so I have to celebrate it before our trip (I need to eat at least chocolate eggs, quark, mämmi and Easter bread, to name but a few).
One time in Ochadai's canteen I chose a dish called neba-neba soba: soba noodles garnished with natto, grated yamato-imo and okra: all things slimy :D I swear it was the only food I couldn't eat there, otherwise I genuinely enjoyed all the cookings made for us. Natto was ok but I really couldn't stomach (no pun intended) all that cold sliminess of grated yamato-imo.
Why I chose to write about that dish now, is this slimy starchy root vegetable yamato-imo, also called Japanese mountain yam, which is essential in the dough of these manjuu. Manjuu is a type of Japanese sweets (wagashi), which I've written earlier about. I've brought yamato-imo from Japan and freezed it in small portions and it has worked well after thawing. I don't think you can find yamato-imo in Finland, but I've seen taro (eddo) in some shops. Taro has some of the same sliminess so maybe it could act as a substitute here. If you try this recipe with taro, please tell me how it went. (When I made these the first time something went wrong despite having yamato-imo and I got very fluffy bunnies indeed...(see the December part)).
Happy cooking and a feathery, pussy willow-y Palm Sunday!
Other wagashi to enjoy:
Kanto Sakura Mochi
Sakura dōmyōji
Warabimochi
Ichigo Daifuku
This tasty and cute wagashi (Japanese sweet) is perfect for Easter!
Ingredients:
- 20 g yamato-imo
- 40 g sugar
- 30 g jouyouko rice flour (I substituted glutinous rice flour which probably made some difference to the dough as it's more sticky than should be)
- 100 g anko (azuki bean paste, recipe in Finnish)
- food colouring and nonpareilles
Instructions:
- Roll anko into 5 balls.
- Prepare the steamer: fill the pot with water. Line up the steamer's bottom with a baking sheet. Punch a few holes to the baking paper to ensure proper steaming. Tie a kitchen towel around the lid of the steamer. Fill a pot with water.
- Peel and grate yamato-imo. Mix it with sugar. Cover the bowl with a clingfilm and place in fridge for 10 minutes.
- Dust the rice flour to a big plate. Pour the batter on it and dust the surface with some of the rice flour on the plate. Work the flour to the batter by folding and dusting more flour until the dough resembles the softness of the ear lobe.
- Take a small piece of dough and divide it into 5 small pieces. Roll them into rounds (the tails).
- Divide the rest of the dough to 5 equal pieces and roll them into rounds.
- Flatten the dough ball, put 1 anko ball on it and while rolling the dough piece, cover the anko with the dough. Finally close the dough around the anko by pinching the seam. If some rice flour remains on the surface, brush it off.
- Dampen the surface of the small balls ('tails') and attach to the 'bodies'.
- Arrange the bunnies in a steamer on top of the baking sheet. Spray them with plenty of water to dampen the surface. Bring the water to a boil, put the steamer part on it and cover with the lid. The water should bubble mildly the whole time. Steam for 10 minutes.
- Let the bunnies cool on a baking paper covered rack.
- Press two nonpareilles for eyes and paint the ears with food colouring.
*Nutritional information is based on average values.
Söpö japanilainen herkkupala pääsiäiseksi!
Ainekset:
- 20 g yamato-imoa
- 40 g sokeria
- 30 g jouyouko-riisijauhoa (käytin tahmeaa/makeaa riisijauhoa, jonka vuoksi koostumus eroaa hieman aidosta)
- 100 g anko-paputahnaa
- elintarvikeväriä ja nonparelleja
Valmistusohjeet:
- Pyörittele anko viideksi palloksi.
- Valmistele höyrytin: laita pohjaosaan vettä ja vuoraa siiviläosa leivinpaperilla. Pistele leivinpaperiin muutamia reikiä. Laita kannen ympäri keittiöliina ja solmi sen päät kannen päälle.
- Kuori yamatoimo ja raasta se. Sekoita sokeri siihen. Peitä kulho kelmulla ja laita 10 minuutiksi jääkaappiin.
- Ripottele riisijauho esim. isolle lautaselle. Kaada taikina sen päälle ja jauhota se lautasella olevalla riisijauholla. Taikinaa taittelemalla vaivaa jauhoa pikkuhiljaa taikinaan, kunnes siitä tulee sopivan kiinteää (kokeile nipistää sen reunaa: sen tulisi olla samankaltainen kuin korvalehtesi).
- Ota pieni osa taikinasta syrjään ja pyörittele siitä 5 pientä palloa (töpöhännät).
- Jaa lopputaikina 5 osaan ja pyörittele ne palloiksi.
- Litistä taikinapallo levyksi, laita sen sisään anko-pallo ja pyörittele taikina ankon ympärille. Nipistele sauma kiinni ja muotoile palloksi. Jos pintaan jää riisijauhoa, harjaa se pois.
- Kastele pienet pallot ja kiinnitä ne hänniksi isompiin palloihin.
- Järjestele puput höyryttimeen leivinpaperin päälle. Suihkuta niiden päälle vettä. Kiehauta höyryttimen vesi ja nosta höyrytinosa kattilan päälle. Peitä keittiöliinalla päällystetyllä kannella. Vesi saa poreilla hiljalleen koko ajan. Höyrytä n. 10 minuuttia.
- Nosta puput jäähtymään leivinpaperille.
- Paina nonparellit silmiksi ja maalaa elintarvikevärillä korvat.
*Ravintosisältö on karkea arvio ja perustuu keskimääräisiin arvoihin.
Follow Kitchenfoxtales via Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook to not miss a post!
Comments
Post a Comment