Blog Categories

The pumpkin on the other hand, is a central part of Japanese cuisine - it goes into everything - soups, pickles, mixed rice and tempura.

Kanten is vegan jelly and healthy.

if i ever go back to live in japan, one thing i shall surely miss from my life in the uk is the cheese. you see, japan doesn't really do...

Pumpkin Kabocha Scones Younger Japanese (and not a few older ones) love Halloween. Millions of people strut their spooky stuff in Tokyo, Osaka and other cities in Japan on Halloween night - if you're ever in Japan over Halloween, you have to go and take a look - you'll never have seen anything like it! On a related note, I've been using some of my home grown Japanese kabocha pumpkins on perfecting a pumpkin scone recipe - if you've never tried pumpkin scones, I think you're i

Berry fruit Kanten Serving a chilled dish of kanten in Japan is a true sign that summer has arrived - when the mercury is into the thirties and the cicadas outside are in full song, there's nothing like a little bowl of chilled kanten and fruit to give you that, "ah...i needed that.." feeling. If you haven't heard of kanten, it's a seaweed based gel that is derived from red seaweeds. You could be forgiven for concluding that kanten is in fact, agar agar, but the two are a lit

Do you remember a recipe for berry fruits kanten that I posted a few weeks ago? I'm a fan of kanten because it's easy to use, versatile,...

Hello everyone. Here's my latest offering - a kanten based dessert made in two layers. For anyone who hasn't come across kanten before,...

Souffle Pancakes Here's another Japanese expression for you, "fuwa fuwa" (it's pronounced fwa fwa ). What does it mean? If you imagine something light, airy and fluffy, you're headed in the right direction. The other day, I went to the Fuwa Fuwa cafe in Russell Square, London. It's a specialty outlet that sells one yummy product - you guessed it - Japanese souffle pancakes. The cafe has recently moved to bigger premises just a few units from where it began in the Brunswick S

Chocolate desserts probably wouldn't be high on your list if you were asked to name Japanese foods but the Japanese actually consume more...

Now that the days are growing shorter and the nights a little chilly, my thoughts turn to warming autumn drinks and there's nothing...

Matcha Muffinscheese cake Have you ever seen the very entertaining "Paul Hollywood in Japan" series? Yes, that Paul Hollywood , the celebrity chef and baker. He goes to Japan to sample the food culture and entertain us with a few quirky features of Japanese life. Anyway, I was interested to see how surprised he was by the quantity and quality of Japanese bakeries. But I'd forgotten that most people react like that when they're in Japan for the first time - they just don't e

Matcha Tiramisu If you are of a certain age, you might remember that back in the 1980s, Tiramisu was the absolute must eat dessert, especially in Japan. Nowadays, this Italian dessert is still a firm favourite and like most foods that have stood the test of time in Japan, it's "gone native" to fit the Japanese palate and undergone a few changes. For example, unlike the Italian original, Japanese tiramisu doesn't use eggs which makes it a little less rich and a little less cal