Cranberry Chocolate Muffins/cake/squares

It cannot be just me don't know what to do with the leftover cranberry sauce after a holiday!

Ready in: 45 minutes

Ingredients for two:
[Shift in advance]
160g flour
40g cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

100g sugar
60g coconut oil+30g butter (or 100g butter)
1 egg
1/2 cup of cranberry sauce or any jam

Required Equipment:
Muffin cups/ cake mold

Step 1: Put sugar and butter/coconut oil in a bowl, mix it well.

Step 2: Add egg, mix it well

Step 3: Add sauce or jam

Step 4: Add shifted powder mix and mix, but not too well

Step 5: Put the mixture in mold

Step 6: Bake it at 350F for 15-25 minutes 

Kuromame Juice- Black Soybean Juice

Happy Halloween!

When I was growing up, I didn't know what soda or juice tasted like. My mom thought (and still thinks) soda and juice were evils and would kill you. Sweet drinks I drank were Yakuruto (probiotics drink), hot chocolate, fresh apple squeeze and black soybean juice.

Black soybeans are one of the power food in macrobiotics. It helps blood flaw, smoothen your skin, recovering from fatigue, and contains full of protein.

Ready in: 60 minutes, after over night of soaking

Ingredients:
1 cup of black soybeans
Water
Sugar
1/4-1/2 lemon juice


Step 1: Soak beans over night in water, and remove beans (you can cook beans with its juice or use beans in a different dish)

Step 2: Boil juice and add lemon juice, and sugar as sweet as you like

Themed Food- Halloween Ghost

I love making themed bentos and dishes. It's fun to make and keeps me smiling when I eat it.

This year, I made steamed ghost dumplings with a noodle salad. They are mixed with steamed dumplings and gyoza (baked dumplings). You can click the links to see the full instructions.

Halloween Jack O'Lantern
Halloween Spiders

Ready in: 20 minutes

Ingredients for two:
2 bunches of noodles
Salad
4 sheets of dumpling wraps
[Dumpling filling: Prepare in a bowl]
10g of minced pork
1 dried mushroom
1 teaspoon of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 teaspoon of Sake
1 teaspoon of sugar

[Dressing: Prepare in a cup]
3 tablespoons of soy sauce
3 tablespoons of sesame oil
2 tablespoons of white vinegar
1 tablespoons of sugar

Required Equipment:
Steamer
Mixing bowl
Strainer
Rolling pin

Step 1: Hand-mix the filing and make 2 small balls

Step 2: Using a rolling pin, roll and thin out 2 wraps. They go on the top of the ghosts

Step 3: Place a meat ball on a regular wrap, and cover the ball with the thin wrap. Place it on a steamer for 15 minutes

Step 4: Cook noodles and rinse them 

Step 5: Put salad and noodles on a plate, and place a ghost on top.

Bento- Halloween Spiders

I had a potluck at work. I tried to make it like a bento box.

Vegan Osechi- New Year Lunch in Japanese Lacquer Boxes

Bento- Halloween Jack O' Lantern

Happy Halloween !

My mom put so much effort in my daily lunch box to encourage me to enjoy food when I was in kindergarten. When I came home, she always asked me "Was yours the best lunch today? Did your friends bring a better one?"

I grew up in a family which loves eating! 

Ready in: 30 minutes

Ingredients for two:

[Pumpkin]

2 cups of cooked sticky rice

Some carrots, minced

1/2 onions, minced

1 clove of garlic 

Salt and pepper

Some green beans

Nori sheet

[Ghosts]- No instruction here

2 boiled eggs, cut to make a mouth (use for mummy's eyes)

Some fake crab sticks

2 Korean sliced rice cake, boiled 

8 black sesames 

[Mummy]- No instruction here

Some fake crab sticks

Udon noodles

Nori sheet

Some eda mame

[Broom]- No instruction here

Shaved carrots

Enoki mushrooms

Nori sheet

Step 1: Fry vegetables till onions get golden







 

Step 2: Add rice, and mix all well. Add some salt and pepper

Step 3: On a plastic wrap, put some rice, and make a baseball-sized ball

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Step 4: Make 3-4 lines on top of the ball

Step 5: Cut nori sheet to make the pumpkin face

Step 6: Place them all in a lunch box



Osechi- New Year Lunch in Japanese Lacquer Boxes

Japanese New Year doesn't start without Osechi!

There should be three different kind of tapas in the first layer, grilled food in the second layer, and simmered food in the last layer.

My grandfather was a very traditional Japanese man. In the early morning of January 1st, he waited for us in the room which had a family altar and home shrine. (By the time he sat and waited, he of course finished his first prayer!) He was all dressed in Kimono which has our family crest. He performed seasonal greetings in a very traditional way and passed Sake among the family. He wouldn't accept any excuse not to be there or not to drink Sake. (Even one small sip of Sake tasted awful for a 6 year old girl!) We had to start the year as perfect as possible, and the ceremony led by the head of the family.

The first day of the year is very special day for Japanese people. Everything restarts. Each food in the box has a meaning. The herring roe should pray for the prosperity of descendants, which I didn't cook. The black beans should pray for hard work, which I didn't cook. The prawn should pray for long life, which yes, I cooked! 

There is also a meaning why we use this layered box, "The luck should come over and over". Most of dishes we use for New Year are made in Japanese lacquer.