Happy holidays🥰🎍✨
Documentation on Osechi (Japanese new year bento) item🍱
Each item has wishes & meanings, I try to cook to make those points stand out✨
Today introducing a dessert of apple & yuzu agar jellys (寒天, kanten)🍎🍋
It’s pretty & always everyone’s favorites.
Quick recipes of “Yuzu-kan & Ringo-kan”(arranged to be easier) & Stories🍎🍋
Yuzu fruits are important for Japanese cuisine, it’s really the signature fruit & flavor for the cold seasons.
Agars are trasnparent seaweeds, almost no calories.
In winter when the power of the sun weakens, it bears a yellow fruit that resembles the sun.
We put Yuzu in bathtubs on the winter solstice day, believing its strong citrus scent would will protect us from any bad spirits & catching a cold.
I think the shredded Yuzu on surface looks like gold and pretty…💖
Shape is in the shape of chrysanthemum (good luck flower… also used as Imperial Family Emblem) & Pine tree (They grow in harsh conditions, even on rocks in the ocean- symbol of courage, perseverance and longevity.).
I used the Japanese cooking equipment called “Nagashi-kan”, a silver container that’s used to make all sorts of jellies & steamed fish cakes etc -but you should be able to substitute with tupperwares etc.
■ Kanten (agar) base
- Soak agar in water (10g of agar- ±600CC water)
- Boil & dissolve. Take off any foams.
■ Yuzu🍋
- Grate the yuzu sukin. Do not grate the white fluffy part, as they are bitter. Squeeze and use the juice.
- Add sugar (to match your taste), mix with kanten base, boil, and let it cool.
■ Apple🍎
- Choose redder apple, and cut (If big one, don’t use the inside- but the fruit around the skin).
- Mix sugar (& add a bit of lemon juice), add kanten base, boil, and let it cool.
Pretty and yum💖
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毎年大好きで作るのが、有元葉子さんの本で知った寒天で作るリンゴ羹と柚子羹です。
柚子は表面がまるで金粉のようにきらきらして、美しいのです✨
糸寒天、若干煮詰め不足で緩くなってしまいましたが、さわやかで美味しかったです🥰