She knows my love of Hello Kitty and desserts so I knew this had to be good…

Whohoo! Hello Kitty shaped daifuku! Little tender cakes filled with a sweet chestnut filling. Have you ever seen anything so adorable?! Why don’t we sell this on the regular here in the states? I’d buy them and eat them everyday. This was even cuter than the things I saw at the Sanrio dessert cafe in Hawaii!

Cutest food ever from halfway around the world and man, was it tasty!

It’s National Soup Month! Is it because it’s cold or something because it was hovering around 80 here in LA for most of January…Anyway, to celebrate I’m posting soup!

Green tea noodles make this soup special. Then again so do lightsaber chopsticks.

ingredients:
1-1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon mirin
1 bundle green tea udon noodles
1/4 cup roasted chicken
2 Tablespoons edamame, shelled
2 Tablespoons sweet corn
3-4 slices kamaboko
fried nori chips

In a large pot of boiling water, cook the green tea noodles until soft, approx 6 mins. Drain (do not rinse) and set aside.

In a saucepan heat the chicken broth, soy sauce and mirin on medium high until hot.

Pour the soup into a bowl, add the noodles and top with the chicken, edamame, sweet corn, kamaboko and nori chips. The beauty of this is you can put in anything you have around. I even added two gyoza for the heck of it.

As many ingredients as this has, this is still a fairly light soup – perfect for a cold day or…an 80 degree winter day at the beach.

I stumbled across this giant sushi mold at Marukai (a local LA Japanese market) and immediately bought it. Nevermind that the instructions were in Japanese and I don’t speak/read Japanese – it was Hello Kitty and that’s all that matters.

The basic parts speak for the themselves. The mold works like a musubi press or springform pan. You add sushi, press down layer upon layer and when you take the mold off, you have an adorable kitty head – tho not before you decorate her face with the liftable template!

It was all genius – and large, 8″ to be exact so it’s like making a traditional Hawaiian pan sushi. I took the liberty of making up my own fillings since I had no idea what the box said but this thing is pretty versatile.

sushi rice ingredients:
2 cups rice
3 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons sugar

salmon filling ingredients:
1 (6 oz) can pink salmon
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon sugar

face toppings:
1-2 pieces Spam, cooked
1 egg, scrambled
furikake

Cook the rice in a rice cooker. When it’s done and piping hot, scoop it out into a bowl and add the rice vinegar, salt and sugar. Stir together well to combine.

Scoop half the sushi rice into the press, layering it evenly, then push the press down to get the rice flat.

In a small bowl combine the salmon, soy sauce and sugar. Spoon that over the pressed sushi rice and press down again. Make sure you clean off the pressing plate after each press to make sure you have a clean surface.

Spoon the last of the sushi rice over the pressed salmon and one last time, press flat again.

For the bow I fried some Spam in a pan until cooked through, then used the template to cut out the bow.

I did the same for the nose by scrambling an egg and using the most yellow parts to cut out an oval nose shape.

I placed the template on top and sprinkled furikake for the eyes and whiskers then placed the egg nose and Spam bow into place.

There you have it, the most adorable giant sushi ever. It was so cute that when I made it for New Year’s Day no one wanted to cut into it – but one bite and they were hooked!

Included in this year’s festivities, I decided to make a giant Hello Kitty sushi head. Perhaps not your traditional New Year’s food but it sure was cute. It was so cute no one cut into it! However, after I cut the first slice it was gone pretty quickly!

I’ve been doing this for a few years and I think I’ve finally got my routine down. (Check out 2010 & 2011 here.) After shopping at four markets and cooking for 2 days-here’s the whole menu I put together for this year’s celebration:

Guava Jelly Chicken Wings
Brown Sugar Meatballs
Root Beer Pulled Pork
O.G.’s flank steak
Mac Salad
Hello Kitty Sushi
Spam Musubi
Somen Salad (noodles – for a long life)
Furikake Shrimp
Tazukuri (teriyaki fish – for a prosperous year)
kuromame (black beans – for health and success)
kurikinton (sweet potato w/chestnuts – for wealth)
Gobo (burdock root – for a strong family)
Sushi
Ozoni (traditional new year’s day soup)
Mochi (longevity)
Kamaboko (joy, happiness)
Hawaiian Sunrise Jell-o
Pink An (azuki bean) Mochi
Chocolate Mochi Brownies
Yokan

Guava Jelly Chicken Wings (recipe here)
Nice and sweet with a fruity floral flavor. Chicken wings are the perfect party snack.

Brown Sugar Meatballs (recipe here)
Always a party fave and easy to prep since it’s all in the crock pot.

Root Beer Pulled Pork (recipe here)
Another easy prep – flavorful pork cooked for 8 hours and I serve it on King’s Hawaiian rolls.

O.G.’s Flank Steak
I don’t even need the other dishes, this is all I want for my new year. I always tell her to make it because she does it with all of her ‘secrets’ which I’ve yet to figure out…

Mac Salad
There were a lot of Hawaii family members representin’ at Oshogatsu this year so my Hawaiian Mac Salad was a must.

Giant Hello Kitty Sushi
Yep – I made a giant Hello Kitty sushi, 8″ wide! Sushi rice and seasoned salmon pressed together with a furikake face, egg nose and to top it off, a bow made of Spam.

Now onto the ‘good luck‘ food:

Spam Musubi (recipe here)
I make a double batch and this is always the first to empty out on the table. Nori (seaweed) is supposed to bring ‘joy’ to your life so I ensure it by making it fancy and dipping them in furikake. Extra flavor and extra joy.

Somen Salad
Noodles signify long life and my take on it is Somen Salad. This is our family version as found in the O.G. comic/cookbook.

Furikake Shrimp
All Oshogatsu meals must have shrimp – the ‘bend’ of a shrimp signifies a bent old person’s back which means you will live a long life if you eat a lot of shrimp. If you’ve got a shellfish allergy, well – I guess you’re out of luck?

Tazukuri
These tiny teriyaki fish are supposed to ensure a ‘good harvest’ meaning you’ll have a profitable new year.

Kuromame
Black beans ensure good health. Um. I never eat these and I’m ALWAYS sick. Coincidence?

Kurikinton
Japanese sweet potatoes with golden chestnuts. Anything yellow or golden is supposed to signify gold, so if you eat it you’re guaranteed to be wealthy!

Gobo – burdock root
Eating this keeps your family ties strong.

Sushi
The best New Year’s sushi comes from Sakae Sushi in Gardena but you have to order it early, we’re talking MONTHS early and uh…we didn’t make the cut. So we were stuck with this sad chain-store version. Next year we’ll get on the stick!

Ozoni
Ozoni is traditional Japanese New Year’s soup. It’s supposed to be the first thing you eat on the first day of the year to ensure a fab new year. Some are super fancy, mine is certainly not but I load it up with a bunch of stuff: shitake mushrooms, tofu, char siu pork, mizuna, green onions, nori chips and decorative kamaboko only sold once a year. The kicker – toasted FRESH mochi. You can’t beat that.

Are we done yet? No way.
Desserts and lot of them. That’s my idea of a party:

Hawaii Sunrise Jell-o
I came up with this one day when I was thinking about incorporating Hawaiian Sun juice into layered Jell-o. The taste was AMAZING and it was gone in no time. I guess this will be permanent on the menu for next year!

Pink Mochi (recipe here)
Pink and mochi, my two fave things. I hand-make these the day before the party, it’s both fun and relaxing. There’s nothing better to ring in the New Year than freshly made mochi filled with sweet red bean.

Chocolate Mochi-Brownies (recipe here)
This is another thing that will probably make the menu next year. The minute I put these out they were GONE! Chocolate brownies with that distinct mochi chew. Irresistible.

Yokan
Yokan, a traditional Japanese jelly – almost like a thick jell-o. I’ll admit I’m NOT a fan. But O.G. said we had to have it and since they only make the red and the green version once a year, it’s special for Oshogatsu.

Well I survived cooking for yet another New Year’s Day. 20 dishes – that ain’t half bad. At least I can rest for a year until the next one. Happy New Year!

My friend Deb is a cartoonist – her strip “Bento Box” is currently running in the Honolulu Star Advertiser. I am lucky to have friends that love comics and food as much as me and when they come bearing gifts, I always know it’s going to be good!

Back in July at SDCC Deb stopped by my table and gave me a can of Matcha cocoa. Very cool stuff! The minute she put it in my hand I knew exactly what I was going to do with it…

ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup Valrhona cocoa powder
3 Tablespoons Matcha cocoa
2 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coffee

chocolate frosting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep a cupcake pan with liners.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, matcha cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time. Then the vanilla.

Alternating the flour mixture and the buttermilk until combined. Add in the coffee.

Pour the batter into the prepped liners. Bake for 15-20 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool on a wire rack.

Frost with chocolate frosting and serve!

When the I got the Marvel cookie cutters the first obvious cookie recipe that came to mind, with Hulk being green and all, was of course my matcha (green tea) sugar cookie recipe. If it was good enough for Yoda it was good enough for Hulk. But Hulk has a slight temper and I thought spicing them up would be a good bet.

Then I filled the cookies with a smooth homemade Milk Chocolate ice cream. Such a delicious combo it might even keep Bruce Banner calm as can be.

ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
pinch of salt
1 Tablespoon matcha (green tea powder)
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 egg

Milk Chocolate Ice Cream (recipe here)

Matcha is a fine, concetrated green tea powder. You can find it in asian markets, the asian section of your grocery store, or online.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt and matcha. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until combined. Add the egg and the lemon juice.

Slowly add in the flour until it is incorporated. The dough will form quickly, and when it starts to pull away from the bowl, it’s done!

Split the dough into two and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill until you are ready to use.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prep baking sheets with silpats.

Start rolling out the dough. I use powdered sugar instead of flour so it doesn’t get that dough-y taste and the sugar adds a slight sweetness. Roll the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. The best things about these cutters is they don’t stick!

Use your cutter to cut out the shapes and transfer onto the silpat lined baking sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool on a wire rack.

When the cookies are cooled, scoop the Milk Chocolate Ice Cream on one side (face down) of the cookie. Then press the other cookie on top to make a sandwich. Keep in the freezer until you are ready to serve!

While I make my Watermelon Ice Cream Bombe on the regular, I wanted to somehow incorporate cake. My family LOVES ice cream cake.

So I made a ‘green’ base by baking a matcha (green tea) cake, and then layering it with a fresh watermelon ice cream, studded with mini chocolate chip ‘seeds’. It came out beautifully and the family loved it!

watermelon ice cream ingredients:
5 cups watermelon, cubed (will become 2 cups watermelon juice)
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup mini choco chips

In a blender, blend the cubed watermelon until it becomes fully liquid.

Pour into a cheesecloth and strain out the pulp. Keep 2 cups of pure watermelon liquid.

In a bowl mix together the watermelon liquid, sugar, lemon juice, and heavy whipping cream until the sugar is dissolved.

Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and churn per the manufacturer’s directions. In the last 5 mins, add in the mini chocolate chips.

Keep in an airtight container in the freezer until ready to use.

matcha cake ingredients:
4 eggs, separated
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup cake flour, sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon matcha powder
Pinch of salt

Matcha is a highly concentrated green tea powder, you can find it in the tea section of most asian markets. It’s…pricey. But nothing can compare. Nothing will give you a full rich taste green tea taste like powdered matcha.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prep a springform pan.

Separate the whites and the yolks. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry and set aside. In another bowl, beat the egg yolks until light. Add the sugar and vanilla, and mix well.

In a bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and matcha powder. Add the flour mixture to the egg yolk mixture. Fold in the egg whites.
Pour the batter into the springform pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until done, depending on your oven. Let cool on a wire rack.

Once the ice cream has set and the cake has cooled, now you can assemble!

Level off the cake and place it back into the springform pan. Warning, the cake may have shrunk.

Spoon the watermelon ice cream on top of the matcha cake, speading evenly.

Gently press the ice cream down to form an even layer. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer until you are ready to serve.

When the cake is cut you will have sweet, delicious slices of fresh watermelon…in cake and ice cream form! Perfectly refreshing for summer!

This is one of my favorite things to make because it’s so easy. Just throw everything in your rice cooker, turn it on and you’ve got dinner in 20+ mins.

‘Shoyu’ means soy sauce and ‘gohan’ means rice, what this is – is a mix up of tasty rice with chicken and veggies, all thrown together and DEElicious.

ingredients:
2 cups rice (uncooked, washed)
1 cup cooked rotisserie chicken, chopped
1/2 cup carrot, julienne
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup water chestnuts, sliced
1 (14 oz) can chicken broth
1-1/2 Tablespoons sugar
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons mirin
fresh ground pepper

Place the washed rice into the pot of the rice cooker. Layer the carrot, mushrooms, water chestnuts and cooked chicken on top.

Mix together the chicken broth, sugar, soy sauce and mirin and pour on top of the rice mixture. Season with fresh ground pepper and start the rice cooker as usual.

When the rice cooker is done, fluff up the rice everything mixes together. You’ll have a flavorful, easy one pot meal! Even the rice spoon is happy!

This is one of those old skool recipes you’d find in a Hawaii church cookbook. Yaki means ‘to cook’ and manju is a sweet Japanese confection, like mochi but it uses regular flour instead, so there’s no chew. It’s more cake or in this case, cookie-like.

This recipe comes in handy when you don’t have butter. It uses very few ingredients and comes together rather quickly. This is one of O.G.’s FAVES.

ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup cold water
1 cup an (sweetened red bean)

I prefer smooth red bean for these cookies. An aka red bean is sweet and can be found in Japanese markets in cans and bags.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, prep a baking sheet with a silpat.

In a the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the flour, sugar and salt, adding the oil and water slowly.

Mix until combined and the dough starts to pull away.

Shape dough into small balls and then flatten it out. Add a Tablespoon of the an filling in the center.

To close, pinch the edges together, roll back into a ball and flatten slightly.

Place them on the prepped cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

A simple, crumbly-crisp cookie filled with delicious sweet an. Perfect with afternoon tea!

Mochiko is one of my favorite ingredients. Savory or sweet, it’s so versatile. This is a take on old skool Hawaiian custard mochi but in cake form filled with beautiful fresh blueberries! A lovely cake with that special mochi ‘chew’.

ingredients:
1 pound mochiko (1 box)
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
2 cups sugar
1 can evaporated milk
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1-1/2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 pan with melted butter. Set aside.

Mochikois a sweet rice flour that you can find in Japanese markets or even online. It adds a chewiness to both desserts and savory dishes.

Stir together the sugar and the melted butter. Add the evaporated milk and mix well. Then add the eggs one at a time, along with the vanilla.

Carefully stir in the mochiko, baking powder and salt.

After the batter is mixed, fold in the blueberries. If you are using frozen, move quickly – the batter will start to color or ‘gray’.

Pour the mixture into the prepped pan and bake for 1 hour.

Let the cake cool in the pan and then cut it into squares to serve.

This dessert is a lovely blueberry cake with an added surprise of a mochi chewy consistency. It’s perfect with afternoon coffee and tea!