Inari Bento

Created heart shaped inari and made it look like a fox:)
Please pick up Japan Up! February issue for more detail !! (available in LA and OC area)

Deco Shiratama dango mochi balls

 I think a lot of Japanese women like to make everything cute.....
Cute bento, cute cread..... and cute mochi!!
Have you seen little white mochi balls in Japanese sweets? It's called Shiratama Dango and often eaten with sweet red bean paste and fruits.

Making cute shiratama dango is very popular in Japan now.
It's super easy to make and fun!
Valentine is coming soon, so I made it look like my husband and me<3

Shiratama dango is usually made with shiratama powder.
However it's a little expensive here in the U.S., so I made with mochi powder.
Not as smooth as the ones made with shiratama powder, but it's still good.

The key ingredients for making deco shiratama dango is silken tofu,
Mixing tofu and mochi powder makes it easy to shape !
It's fun to make with kids;)


Shiratama Dango

50g mochi powder
45~55g Silken Tofu
1/2tbs  Sugar

Coloring
Black- sesame paste
Blown- Cocoa powder
Beige- Kinako (Japanese soy bean powder)
Pink- Dried strawberries, ground


1. Mix mochi powder, sugar  and 45g tofu. Add more tofu until you can form a ball.
2. Dived the ball into the number of colors you want to make.
3. Color each balls. Just add the coloring (see above) little by little until you get the color you like.
4. Shape the dango. (I draw mouth after cooked with a toothpick and black sesame paste)

5. Boil water in a pot and put the shiratama dango. Cook until they start to float. ( about a couple of mins)
5. Transfer to ice water and cool.

Homemade Japanese Curry Roux

My husband looooves Japanese curry!!
I always use boxed instant curry roux when making Japanese curry.
However, it contains a lot of fat. preservatives and other unhealthy ingredients!
So I decided to make it from scratch.
This is as easy as using instant curry roux:) Miso helps it bring out rich flavor.


Ingredients

60g flour
45g Canola oil
10g Curry powder
1tbs Shio Koji, or 1tsp Salt
*See the older post about Shio Koji

1clove Garlic
Ginger, same size as a clove of garlic
1 Onion
1 Potato
1/2 Carrot
1 chicken breast
800ml Water


1tbs Sugar
1tbs Honey
1tbs Ketchup
2tbs Miso
1/2can Diced tomato

Soy sauce to taste


1. Mix flour, oil, curry powder, shio koji or salt together and set aside.
2. Mince garlic and ginger. Cut vegetables and meat into small pieces.
3. Heat a little oil in a pot and add garlic and ginger.
4. Add vegetables and chicken. Cook until the veges get soft.
5. Add water, sugar, honey, ketchup, miso and canned tomato. Cook over low heat about 15 mins.
6. Add the curry paste from step1 and mix well.
7. Taste it and add a little soy sauce if you need.
8. Cook about another 10min over low-heat.



Bear face parts

Ear-eggs
Eyes-egg whits + seaweed
Nose-rice + seaweed
Hands-rice

Heart- red pepper

Pooh Bear Bento

Used up leftover curry for bento.
I was going to make rabbit with mashed potato, but the potato I had at home was yellow....
So made pooh bear instead :p
I think the most difficult part of character bento is crating face parts....
It was difficult to cut the narrow lines like mouth><

Again, the hear was made with red pepper<3

Japanese Curry Bear

Happy Valentine's Day!!!
I made curry bear for my husband<3<3

Arrange the face parts....

And transfer curry to the plate! Make heart by cutting red pepper<3

Sexy Bento

My sister sent me this↓ bento picture a couple years ago.. Sexy bento for her husband lol !

I thought this would be a great bento for Valentine's day!

You need,

White rice
Topping of your choice ( I used seasoned salmon)
Pasta (hair)
Nori seaweed (eyes)
Ketchup (lips, cheeks)
Pickled plum aka Ume (nipples) : My sister used ham instead

1. Make rice balls. 2 big ones and 1 smaller one. Put rice in plastic wrap and push down the middle a little and place the topping there as shown in the picture.

2. Boil pasta.  I wanted to fill the open space with tomato salad later, so I seasoned the pasta with salt, balsamic vinegar and olive oil to make the pasta salad.
Add the pasta on a smaller rice ball to create hair.

3. Create face parts and add on the rice balls. For the cheeks and lips, just dip a chopstick in ketchup and apply to the face.

Valentine Tomato Salad

Looking for some ideas for Valentine's day dinner??
This heart shaped tomato salad is perfect not only for Valentine's day but also for birthdays or anniversaries!

You need,

2 tomatoes
Salad -remaining tomatoes
          -greens
          -cheese
          -balsamic dressing)

1. Slice off the stem and cut a tomato in half. Thinly slice.

2. Transfer the tomato to a plate and slide to make a shape of half heart.

3. Cut the other tomato and repeat the same steps.

4. Add salad inside the heart.

Edible Gift,Tofu Meatloaf

How about healthy(?) tofu meat loaf as a holiday gift? :)


Tofu Meat Loaf
(If you don't want to use tofu, see Meat Loaf Cake. )

300g Ground beef
200g Tofu ( I used soft tofu, but medium or firm would work too)
1/2 Onion
1 Egg
1cup Panko
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.
2. Layer a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the meat on it to make a square shape.
3. Bake at 350F for about 20 mins.

 4. Cut off the edges to make a nice square. Cut into 4 small squares.

 5. Stuck 4 pieces on a plate.

Sauce
8tbs Ketchup
8tbs Worcester sauce

1. Mix all the ingredients in a pot.
2. Put the sauce on the meat.


Ribbon

3 ham
Fried pasta

Make a ribbon with a slice of ham as shown. Connect the s sides of the ham with fried pasta.

Create the rest of ribbon strings with 2 hams. See the final picture.

Found this cute meat loaf idea on Cookpad (Link in Japanese)
Thought this would be a perfect gift for holiday party:)

Tofu Nama Chocolate (ganache)

In Japan, women give chocolate to men on Valentine's day.
This article is about Valentine's day in Japan!
http://japanese.about.com/od/japanesecultur1/a/Valentines-Day-In-Japan.htm

Nama chocolate is one of the most popular valentine's chocolate.
Nama means raw in Japan, but it's not raw food. In this case, nama means "melt in your mouth".

I used tofu instead of creme so it's much healthier than regular nama chocolate!


150g chocolate
100g silken tofu
cocoa powder

1.Drain tofu between paper towels with a heavy weight on top for about 1 hour.
2.Add to a blender and blend for about 3mins
3.Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over hot water.
4.Add the tofu using a mesh sieve.
5.Line a container with plastic wrap and pour the chocolate. Refrigerate well.
6.Cut and dust with cocoa powder.