Oba-chan no o-zoni (or Happy New Year)

here we are again, another year has begun.

2012.

year of the dragon.

every new year, my Oba-chan (Japanese grandmother) would make us a special soup called o-zoni, which usually contained a grilled rice-cake or two, some vegetables, mainly daikon and carrots in miso... there is also a typical new year tradition of making o-sechi ryouri but since we were such difficult eaters, Oji-chan and Oba-chan had that mostly for themselves, and only in later years did my brother and i learn to appreciate this.

we were huge fans, however, of o-zoni, which in our house was made with miso (hence the latter half of this blog s name) and is apparently more traditional in western parts of Japan, whereas the clear soup; suimono, is more the norm in eastern Japanese households. in both cases though, the chewy rice cake or mochi, either grilled or just plain, is added to the soup.

we would have been making the mochi at my great-aunt s house and there was always too much, but it was so much fun hitting the steamed glutinous rice in a huge stone mortar with enormous wooden hammers and trying not to hit the hands of the person who had to fold the mass and add some water to keep the whole thing from sticking.

recently i found some pictures from way back when of us doing just that.

here s my brother

and me

boy, that does bring back memories.

and memories were exactly what prompted me to make that o-zoni yesterday morning to ring in the new year.

i must admit i haven t made miso-shiru (miso-soup) at home in a very very long time. but i do always have the ingredients in my cupboard, so i really can t say what kept me.

a few weeks ago, i had also been lucky enough to find dried rice cakes at the Chinese supermarket. i guess this was the trigger for me to try and make the o-zoni my Oba-chan used to make.

i wanted to recapture those moments, and especially the taste, and the textures...

OBA-CHAN no O-ZONI (Grandma s o-zoni)

10 cm piece of daikon or white retich
1 fairly thick carrot (although mine was a bit thin)
a few rice-cakes, either grilled or not
a few mangetout peas
1 liter water
1 tablespoon dashi stock granules
2 tablespoons white miso paste

Oba-chan used to just slice the daikon and the carrot into thick matchsticks, but i wanted to make those pretty flowers, and after having used a cookie cutter i realized mine had 6 petals instead of the more auspicious 5... but hey, they were cute enough ;-)

boil the root vegetables in the water with the dashi stock granules until soft. if not grilled, add the dried ricecakes and cook until pliable, then add the mangetout and cook until al dente. if the rice-cakes have been grilled, add them with the mangetout. turn off the heat and mix the miso paste with some of the stock until blended, then add into the rest of the stock. do not boil anymore, just heat through.

arrange the vegetables in a miso-bowl, and finish with some mitsuba leaves, which i did not have, so i used coriander. some people like to add some shichimi (seven-spice) and/or some yuzu at the end for extra flavor.

this one though, tasted exactly like my Oba-chan s... and that s good enough for me.

Oba-chan passed away in 1993, but Oji-chan is still going strong at 102. i hope he s enjoying some o-zoni as well and remembering...

New Year 1970... Oji-chan, Oba-chan and moi

Happy New Year everyone!

little cheesecake pots

the run-up to Christmas is hectic. even without kids, well, one kid who s now more out of the house than in... it s hectic.

making Christmas cards, buying gifts, decorating the house, deciding on a menu (although the past years it s been a yummy collaboration with my mom-in-law), well, you know how it is.

which is why this easy little sweet pot is such a joy to make, and to eat.

if you re a fan of cheesecakes, but don t want to make a whole cake and wait for it to cool until set, here s a solution:

LEMONY CHEESECAKE POTS WITH RASPBERRIES

INGREDIENTS:

100 gr digestive biscuits, crushed
30 gr butter, melted
300 gr Philadelphia cream cheese
3 tablespoons lemon curd
handful of fresh or frozen raspberries
1 tablespoon of sugar

METHOD:

1. mix the crushed bisuits with the melted butter and divide between little pots or ramekins (just to make a crust, as thin or as thick as you like) and leave to chill in the fridge until set
2. mix the cream cheese with the lemon curd and taste. adjust by either adding a little more lemon curd or sweeten with a little icing sugar
3. divide between the pots or ramekins and chill
4. heat the fresh or frozen raspberries with a little splash of water and the sugar until the fruit just collapses, leave to cool
5. when ready to serve, divide the raspberries between the pots and dive in ;-)

sweet and simple, but just that little bit indulgent, just enough to get one thru these crazy days.

in case i don t get to post before the end of this year, let me wish you a Merry Christmas and may 2012 bring you all you ever wanted, and above all, happy cooking days!

sugary cinnamony goodness

when the days are getting shorter and colder, it s nice to have a little something that brings warmth and cosiness.

filled with yeasty sugary cinnamony goodness, at the moment, it beats just about everything, even the French toast with soft brown sugar that mom used to make, for a lazy weekend breakfast.

there are quite a few foodie blogs out there that have the most beautiful pictures with a well-defined recipe (Hungry Girl por Vida, Joy the Baker, Annie's Eats are among the best).

so i am not going to give you the whole story in pics. (reason one being that i like to use natural light and i m not getting much of that here these days, reason two being that i also have a full-time job and i only get to take reasonable photos during the weekend, and reason three, these gals i mentioned above already took such beautiful pictures, i really can t top that, so do please have a look-see). but i will write down my version of the recipe.

there are those who will say never to mix cup measurements with metric, but i did, and i often do (because i do have those cups and spoons as well), and it works for me.

CINNAMON PULL-APART BREAD:

INGREDIENTS:

for the dough:

2 3/4 cups or 350 gr all-purpose flour
1/4 cup or 50 gr fine white caster sugar
2 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
60 gr unsalted butter
1/3 cup whole milk
1/4 cup water
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

for the filling:

1 cup or 200 gr fine white caster sugar, or you could use unrefined cane sugar
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg, optional
60 gr unsalted butter, melted

METHOD:

1. mix 2 cups of the flour, sugar, yeast and salt and set aside
2. beat the eggs and set aside
3. melt the butter with the milk, add the water and leave to cool until lukewarm
4. add the milk/butter/water mixture to the flour mix, and beat in with a wooden spatula
5. add the eggs and mix in, then add the remaining 3/4 cup of flour
6. i use the Richard Bertinet technique for working the dough, which is a whole lot different to the traditional method of stretching and kneading on a work surface, but works brilliantly for a rather wet dough like this one (ofcourse the traditional method of kneading is fine too, but you might just be adding too much extra flour to the dough - due to flouring your work-surface - which would make it quite heavy in the end)
7. once soft and pliable, shape the dough into a ball and leave to prove in a bowl, covered with either a clean towel or plastic wrap, for about an hour or until doubled in size
8. once risen, knock it back a bit and roll out to a rectangle of approx. 30x50 cm
9. mix the sugar with the ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg (if using)
10. brush the melted butter all over the dough and sprinkle all over with the sugar and spice mix
11. cut the rectangle into 6 strips horizontally as well as 6 strips vertically
12. stack the squares on top of each other to make six decks of dough
13. put these side by side in a prepared loaf tin (i used a 28x12x8 cm old-fashioned one)
14. leave to prove again for another 45 minutes while you pre-heat the oven to 175-180°C
15. bake for about 30-40 minutes until nicely browned
16. leave to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes before carefully loosening the sides with a pallette-knife and taking out the bread to cool down some more (if you can resist the temptation to eat straight away)

what can i say that hasn t been said before... this one is a definite winner, although i ve been thinking i might like to add some chocolate nuggets, or maybe add some ground cardamom seeds?

before baking

scrumptious

ps. huge huge thank you to LKB for letting me in on 'the secret' ;-)