Sweet Potato Sweet

Sweet Potato treat

Left over sweet potato from last week’s post ( I linked it for you just in case it is too bothersome to scroll down) was transformed into… Sweet Potato…right, how original!

I saw this sweets recipe in Kinokuniya the Japanese Book Store and I immediately fixated. It ( the true name of the recipe is Golden Sweet Potato)looks darling! Lucky me, I have all the ingredients at home. Trained in Switzerland and France, pretty woman- author Yasuyo Shida (信太康代) has written several cook books including the one that I studied at in the book store, in a standing position (立読み) – Sweet Potatoes, Chestnuts, Pumpkin Sweets – Is the title too straight forward?…maybe a little, but I will take it, no confusion here.

Ingredients and instruction (revised) for 12 or 16 mini Sweet Potato sweets

Preparation: cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

• Sweet potato (Satsuma sweet potato is preferred) 300g, peel skin, cut in chunks then soak in water for a few minutes.
• Baker’s sugar 100g divided in half
• Unsalted butter 30g
• 1 egg separate yolk and white
• Milk 2 Tablespoons
• Weak Power flour (薄力粉) 130g Combine with cocoa powder, cinnamon and baking powder listed below and sift  three times.
  
• Cocoa powder 20g
• Cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon
• Baking powder 1 teaspoon

For decoration

• 1 egg yolk beaten
• Black sesame seeds

1. Put soaked sweet potatoes in microwave proof bowl and sprinkle with 1 Tablespoon water.Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 5-7 minutes at 60% power. Put back in microwave if potatoes are still hard.
2. Mash sweet potatoes with wooden pole or potato masher immediately.
3. Add butter while still warm and mix well.
4. Add 50g of sugar and keep mixing. 
5. Add egg yolk and combine well.
   
6. Divide into 6th or 8ths inside bowl (I transferred to a shallow plate for photo shoot but you don’t have to). Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the dough is ready.
    
7. Meanwhile, make dough. In a large bowl and  mix rest of sugar (50g) and egg white well.
   
8. Add milk and mix well.
9. Add sifted flour, cocoa powder and baking powder mixture in the bowl and combine well.
   
10. When it comes together,  knead with your hands until it becomes supple. Add a little bit of milk if the dough is too dry to handle.
11. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 20 minutes. 
12. Divide dough into 6ths or 8ths
    
13. Dust with a little flour on the surface and rolling pin. Roll the dough to approximately 6 by 4 or 5 by 3inch oval shape.
14. Heat oven to 334F. Lay the sweet potato filling on the top of dough. Wrap the filling with dough to make it look like a sweet potato.
15. Cut in half diagonally and brush the cut part with beaten egg yolk. Press some black sesame seeds in.
    
16. Lay on the prepared cooking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.Cool on a cooling rack.
    

I like to re-heat it in the microwave for 20 seconds or so to eat. Hot black bean tea is perfect for this sweets. Some Japanese scientists say the black bean will prevent sugar from turning into fat. I have yet to see any evidence that that is true. I had some more sweet potatoes to spare – so I made Sweet Potato …darn, they have to come up with a better name!

Believe it or not,  I’m in a frequent buyers program at Kinokuniya.

I eventually bought the cook book. See? I’m not always a freeloader. And I love to spend time browse/reading there.

Driving on 1-5 south, I saw this: nature’s master piece. Honey slow down!You’re ruining the art! I mean my photo shoot.

 I wishing you a beautiful Autumn blessing.

 

 

 

Vege-t-able

Three vegetable sweets

Really? is the word I uttered for Aya Kakisawa (柿沢安耶)’s vegetable sweets. She is owner/ chef of Patisserie Potager (パティスリーポタジェ) in Meguro, Tokyo and uses vegetables in all her creations. She opened this shop in 2006, when she was still in her 20’s. She seems to have everything  - beautiful, brainy and talented. She graduated from prestigious Gakushuuin (学習院) University in French literature. I thought her degree does not exactly translate to being a pastry chef but actually she was studying French home cooking under a food researcher too while in the university and after graduating ,she studied abroad in France for more training in cooking. I believe finding your passion or dream at a young age is a real head start. I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. Only about 10 years ago I just realized that I love to paint and accidently found the teacher with lots of patience. Lots! 

In any major city in Japan, it seems there are pastry shops on almost every block. Therefore competition is fierce. Pastry chefs are always thinking, experimenting for new creations called shinsaku (新作). At the beginning of each season, many stores come up with shinsaku cake to lure more customers. I know from experience that if there is  ‘new ‘ word on front of the name of cake, I’m sure I will have it. One thing my husband and I must do in Japan is try popular cake shop cakes. We sometimes walked a good distance in our quest for the best cake in town. One time we got lost and it started raining. It was very important to us (me) to find the shop so we bought one cheap umbrella at convenient store and pressed on. We had to ask 4 people (including a police man) to reach the destination. It was bit embarrassing for my husband. I’m somehow high maintenance when it comes to foods,,,,and bags.

The Patisserie Potager stands tall for its originality. Although some of the recipes are not love at first try for me but it grows on you. On the other hand some are so peculiar that I may never repeat though I applaud her efforts and her out of the box thinking. She also is a great business woman who made good connections with celebrities. For instance she made a birthday cake for the popular singer/actor Masaharu Fukuyama (福山雅治) and other famous people and she does catering to big social events and occasions. I’m a huge fan of gorgeous Masaharu Fukuyama so I am jealous of her success too. Ah, do you need extra help at his February 6th birthday party?

Burdock Florentine I tweaked her recipe for this.

Base-Tart

• Cake flour 200g
• Almond flour 40g
• Cocoa powder 5g
• Unsalted butter 70g
• Sugar 25g
• 1 egg- scramble

1. In a bowl,combine cake flour, almond flour and cocoa powder . Set it aside.
2. Put butter and sugar in an another bowl and mix until pale yellow in color with hand mixer.
3. Add egg  a little at a time. mix well each time.
4. Add flour mixture and combine with rubber spatula.
5. Put in the middle of a large sheet of plastic wrap and twist up at the top to make a tight ball. Leave in refrigerator for 1 hour.
6. Heat oven to 355 F. Flatten the ball of dough into the 9x9 inch square pan as evenly as possible. Prick top several times with folk.
7. Bake for 20 minutes.

Burdock sauté

• Burdock 100g –Peel the skin, slice thin and soak in water for about 20 minutes.
• Unsalted butter 1 teaspoon or 4g
• Sugar 1 teaspoon or 4g
• Water 70g

1. Heat frying pan at medium high. Add butter and burdock and sauté for a couple minutes.
2. Add sugar and continue to sauté until sugar dissolves.
3. Pour water in and cook until water evaporates and burdock is tender yet has firm texture.

Caramel and Finish

• Honey 40g
• Sugar 40g
• Unsalted butter 40g
• Heavy cream 60g
• Almond slice 20g lightly toasted
• Pumpkin seed 20g

1. Heat oven to 355 F.
2. Put honey, sugar, butter and heavy cream in a frying pan. Heat at medium high.
3. Cook stirring continuously with rubber spatula until it turns dark brown and gets thick.
4. Add burdock sauté, almonds and pumpkin seeds.
5. Pour caramel mixture over the baked tart then as quickly as possible spread across the entire top. It hardens very quickly so be speedy.
6. Bake for 20 minutes.

Daikon radish Fra mange’s vivid mint color sauce from daikon leaves is stunning and has light fresh taste. This could be a vegan dish that screams “healthy”. I like the crunchy texture from the bits of daikon but my family critic/my son says ‘Interesting’ which means I don’t care for it.

Carrot rice tart has sesame oil aroma and savory side of sweet. My son says ‘ different’; that means no way. Thank you for your constructive criticism.

It was hard to find daikon or carrot with leaves still intact at the market. It was good to know that leaves are edible.