Umeboshi, or sour salted plums, are a staple in Japanese cuisine. The salty plum tastes great with plain rice, especially in an onigiri (rice ball)!
Japanese regularly make umeboshi tea by simply putting a umeboshi into green tea. Any green tea is fine, but sencha works best because of its simple taste. Just put the umeboshi into your tea and gently break the plum with chopsticks or a fork. The tea becomes salty, sour and a bit fruity. It tastes refreshing, and is a nice hangover cure!
Make cold hojicha in large quantities and have it ready in your fridge all through summer! It is a delicious and healthy alternative to sodas and store-bought sweetened drinks. If you have small children, it is truly recommended to make this a healthy habit before they become accustomed to the taste of sugary sodas.
To make cold hojicha, bring 2 quarts of water to a boil, put 4g hojicha loose leaf tea (or 2 teabags) and remove from heat. Cover and wait 21 minutes (yes, twenty-one minutes!). Strain into a pitcher. When the tea becomes room temperature, put it in the fridge. Enjoy the earthy aroma of hojicha every day!
Matcha Mille Crepe Cake; a soft and rich combination of matcha and cream. These crepes are matcha flavored and the cream is plain vanilla. It is a fun project to work on during a long weekend and the end result is so rewarding! This recipe makes one 6 inch diameter cake.
Ingredients
- 80g (3oz) flour
- 10g (3 teaspoons) corn starch
- 1 tablespoon matcha powder
- 35g (2 tablespoons) sugar
- 1 cup (250cc) milk
- 2 eggs,
- 20g (2/3oz) unsalted butter, melted
- 45g (2½ tablespoons) sugar
- 300 cc (1⅕ cups) heavy cream
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, corn starch and matcha powder, sifting. Add the sugar and mix.
- Add the half of milk and mix. Add the eggs and mix. Add the melted butter and mix. Add the second half of milk and mix well.
- Strain the batter and refrigerate for one hour.
- Heat a non stick pan (or well seasoned frying pan) over medium heat. When the pan is hot, oil the pan and wipe excess oil with paper towel.
- Scoop the crepe batter with a ladle and pour it to cover the pan. Rotate the pan to make a thin crepe.
- Cook the crepe for 2-3 minutes and flip with a spatula. Cook for about 1 minute and transfer to a cutting board.
- When crepes are done, stack them in 2-3 layers on a cutting board and cut off the outside border with a knife, using an upside-down bowl/plate that are slightly smaller than the crepes as a guide. (If you don't mind a bit of irregular shapes or want to make the cake look rustic, you can skip this step.) We used a 6" cake pan as a guide.
- In a medium bowl, put the sugar and heavy cream. Beat the cream with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.
- Place one crepe on a plate and spread the whipped cream. Place another crepe on top and spread the cream. Repeat till the last crepe. (We gently pressed the crepe each time with the removable bottom from the 6" cake pan to make the cake even on the height.)
- Cover the cake with remaining creme. Refrigerate for 2 hours and sprinkle the cake with matcha powder.
Cold brew sencha with honey lemon is a perfect summer drink! It is tasty and refreshing! To make honey lemon, thinly slice a lemon and put the slices in an air-tight container with 1-2 table spoons of honey. Store in refrigerator for up to three weeks. Just put the honey lemon slice in cold brew sencha to make a perfect summer drink. You can add some vodka to give it a kick! Cheers!
Hojicha Mochi with Tapioca Flour
Hojicha mochi has an earthy flavor and jelly-like texture. You can substitute kinako (roasted soybean flour) with almond flour. Place one to two tablespoons of almond flour on a small sheet of aluminum foil and toast for one minute in a toaster oven. It burns easily, so watch closely. Move the almond flour a few times with a spoon. We put black bean anko sauce on top. You can drizzle maple syrup, if you like.
Ingredients
- 5g loose leaf hojicha (or 2 teabags)
- 1⅔ cups (400cc) water
- 80g (2.8 oz) tapioca flour (starch)
- 30g (1 oz) brown sugar (or regular sugar)
- 1-2 tablespoon kinako (roasted soybean flour) or toasted almond flour
- ½ to 1 tablespoon sugar
- black bean anko sauce (recipe can be found at matcha jelly) to taste
- maple syrup to taste
Instructions
- Line a 6" x 4" container with a sheet of plastic wrap.
- In a small pan, put the hojicha and water. Bring it to boil over medium heat and reduce the heat to low. Simmer gently, covered for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Strain.
- In a medium pan, combine the tapioca four, brown sugar and hojicha and mix well with a wooden spoon.
- Cook the mixture over medium heat until it starts to boil.
- Reduce the heat to low. Stir vigorously for about 8 to 10 minutes or until the mixture is thick and evenly translucent.
- Remove from heat and pour the mixture into the container (the mixture is very hot, so be careful)
- Cool it to room temperature and then put it in the refrigerator for one hour (if you leave it for more than one hour, cover it with a sheet of plastic wrap)
- In a small bowl, mix the kinako (or almond flour) and the sugar.
- Spread a sheet of plastic wrap on a cutting board and put the half of the kinako sugar.
- Put the mochi onto the kinako sugar and sprinkle the remaining kinako sugar on top.
- With a knife or a pizza cutter, cut the mochi into small pieces, about ¾ inch squares.
- The mochi is sticky--if you need to use your fingers to separate them, coat your fingers with some kinako sugar.
- Coat all sides of the mochi with kinako, put them on a plate and serve.
- Add anko sauce or maple syrup to taste.
This is a confection inspired by a cake called Mont Blanc. It means “white mountain” in French, and is very popular in Japan. It is usually a mound or a sphere of spaghetti-thin strands of chestnut cream. Inside is chestnut paste or whipped cream over a sponge cake base. It’s rich, sweet, and absolutely delicious! We made our own Mont Blanc with sweet potatoes and matcha. It doesn’t look like a mountain, but it tastes amazing! If you have a homemade sponge cake for the base, that's good! We just used an angel food cake from a local market.
Ingredients
- 400g Japanese sweet potato
- 200cc heavy cream
- 6 tablespoons (82g or 3 oz) sugar
- 300 cc heavy cream
- 1-2 tablespoon sugar
- angel food cake
Instructions
- Peel the sweet potato and cut into 1 inch thick round slices. Put them in a microwave safe container, sprinkle some water over and cook until soft (5-6 minutes).
- Put the cooked sweet potato slices, heavy cream and sugar in a food processor and puree. Strain (you need to push the mixture with a spatula through the sieve). Cool in the fridge for 3 hours. Put the sweet potato cream into a piping bag with your desired tip.
- Beat the 300cc heavy cream till stiff peak form.
- Cut angel food cake into ½ inch thick round slices (or shapes however you like). Put some whipped cream on top of the angel food cake and then ice it with the sweet potato cream.
Matcha Soufflé Cheese Cake
Matcha Soufflé Cheese Cake is light and fluffy! It melts in your mouth...so delicious! This recipe is for 6" cake pan.
Ingredients
- 1 package (226g=8oz) cream cheese
- 20g (3/4 oz) unsalted butter
- 50cc milk
- 3 egg yolks
- 35g (1¼ oz) flour
- 1 tablespoon matcha powder
- 55g (2 oz) sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 210℉.
- Line the cake pan with parchment paper.
- In a medium pot, put the cream cheese, unsalted butter and milk and cook over low heat, constantly mixing with a wooden spoon. When the cream cheese is melted and well combined with the butter and milk, remove from heat. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl.
- Then, add the egg yolks. Make sure the mixture is cool to the touch so that the egg yolks do not set. Mix well.
- In a small bowl, combine the flour and matcha powder and sift. Add the flour to the cream cheese mixture.
- In another large bowl, put the egg whites and sugar and beat until firm peaks form.
- Add the egg whites to the cream cheese and flour mixture in two times. Mix well with a spatula.
- Pour in the batter into the lined cake pan.
- Place the cake pan in the center of an oven safe dish large enough to hold the cake pan. Gently pour 100℉ water into the dish, 1 inch deep. If your cake pan has a detachable bottom, make sure to cover it with a sheet of aluminum foil to avoid the water seep into the pan.
- Bake for 60 minutes. Then increase the temperature to 320℉ and bake for another 15 minutes.
Matcha jelly is light and sweet! It is super easy to make and it makes a perfect dessert for entertaining. You can make the anko sauce with canned black beans. Anko is usually made with red beans (azuki beans), but canned black beans work just fine! This recipe is for two to three small individual cups.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon cold water
- 1 packet (7g) gelatin
- 350 cc water
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon matcha
- 15 oz canned black beans
- 2-3 tablespoons sugar
- heavy cream
Instructions
- Sprinkle gelatin over one tablespoon of cold water and mix well.
- In a small pan, heat 350cc water and dissolve sugar and matcha.
- Add the gelatin to the matcha water and mix well. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Stir and pour into cups and chill in the refrigerator to set.
- For anko sauce, cook the canned black beans and the sugar in a small pan over low heat stirring until desired consistency. Mash the beans with a potato masher if you like. We lightly mashed half of the beans. Chill. (you can pour this anko sauce over pancakes, vanilla or matcha ice cream, and etc. Be creative!)
- Put the anko sauce on the matcha jelly to serve. Pour some heavy cream on top. You can whip the heavy cream with a little bit of sugar, if you like. Put the small amount of heavy cream and sugar in a jar with a tight lid, and just shake until desired consistency!
Matcha Mille Crepe Cake
Matcha mille crepe cake is a gorgeous cake made with thin stacked layers of buttery crepes, with sweet and flavorful matcha cream in between. It is creamy and scrumptious! Remember to use lukewarm milk.! If the milk is cold, the butter will hardens and if it is too hot, eggs will set. This recipe makes a 7.5" cake. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 150g (5⅓ oz) all purpose flour
- 80g (3 oz) sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups whole milk (lukewarm)
- 40g (1½ oz) melted butter
- some vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons matcha powder
- 60g (2 oz) sugar
- 1 cup heavy cream
- extra matcha powder to sprinkle on top
Instructions
- In a large bowl, put the flour, sugar and salt. Add the eggs and mix well.
- Add the milk in 4-5 times and combine well each time.
- Add the melted butter and mix well. Strain and refrigerate for one hour.
- Heat a non stick pan (or well seasoned frying pan) over medium heat. When the pan is hot, oil the pan and wipe excess oil with paper towel.
- Scoop the crepe batter with a ladle and pour it to cover the pan. Rotate the pan to make a thin crepe.
- Cook the crepe for 2-3 minutes and flip with a spatula. Cook for about 1 minute and transfer to a cutting board.
- When crepes are done, stack them in 2-3 layers on a cutting board and cut off the outside border with a knife, using an upside-down bowl/plate that are slightly smaller than the crepes as a guide. (If you don't mind a bit of irregular shapes or want to make the cake look rustic, you can skip this step.)
- In a medium bowl, combine the matcha powder and sugar.
- Add the heavy cream in four times and mix well each time.
- Beat the cream with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.
- Place one crepe on a plate and spread the whipped cream. Place another crepe on top and spread the cream. Repeat till the last crepe.
- Cover the cake with remaining creme. Sprinkle the cake with matcha powder and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Matcha Ice Cream (no churn)
This matcha ice cream is easy to make with just seven ingredients, and you don't need to have an ice cream maker. Enjoy this flavorful matcha ice cream throughout the summer!
Ingredients
- 80g (3 oz) sugar
- 2 tablespoons matcha powder
- 1½ tablespoon corn starch
- 400cc (4/5 cup) water
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
- a dash of vanilla extract
Instructions
- Mix the sugar, matcha powder and corn starch in a small pan.
- Add the water and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until thickened. Refrigerate until cold, about 2 hours.
- In a large bowl, put the heavy cream. Beat with an electric mixer, beat until stiff peaks form.
- Add the condensed milk slowly, with the mixer's speed low. Add the vanilla extract. Turn the speed back up to high and combine well.
- Transfer half of the whipped cream to a separate bowl. Add in the cooled matcha mixture and mix well. Add the remaining whipped cream to the bowl and gently fold with a spatula to create swirls. Don't over mix.
- Transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze for at least 6 hours.
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