Japanese Food

you can put it in the oven (similar conditions to when you broil a fish) or in a toaster oven until it browns. you can pan fry it or put it in the toaster too, but i've never tried it that way. Then you can use whatever savory or sweet sauce you want on it. I like raw honey or soy sauce mixed with sugar. I actually like to use a mixture of brown rice miso and raw honey. i've also seen some ppl mix it in with veggies and stuff, but idk how that turns out. Also, you can use it like dumplings in a soup, but be careful because you can actually choke on it if you eat too much. A number of people die in mochi-accident related deaths every new year....well according to this japanese quiz show i saw, lol.

Edited to add:
Also, I'm on this soup making kick and have had suimono all week. I just mix up the garnishes and it's sooo yummy. I think I'm gonna tackle curry next. I picked up some japanese curry mix the other day at the grocery store. Anyone have any suggestions for other ingredients? I don't like carrots (idk why, this is a recent thing, lol), so all I've decided on at the moment is onions and potato, lol.

yeah i was gonna say parsnip, or turnip, if you use radish try to find daikon... and yeah potato, onion, brocolli, cauliflower and mushrooms work well in curry too, oh or spinach for the mochi, that's what Yuki had suggested i think, toaster oven or microwaved with a bit of water so it doesn't dry out, and then soy sauce and sugar.. but isn't it just like eating a glob of dough? i thought there must be more you can do with it but when i googled it that's pretty much all i found so i'll have to try it, must be better than it sounds hahaha. makes good pizza dough apparently lol and i'd read something about the choking thing too, seems like because of the consistency when it's in a soup if it gets lodged in your throat you can't get it out with normal methods (Heimlich etc) so if i do use it in soup i'll cut it up into smaller bits i think. i wonder how long the shelf life is. since it's a traditional new year's thing and i had dinner at my mom's on new year's day i intended to bring it over and try it then but i forgot to grab it when we left the house.

phoenixtearz9 wrote: Instead of carrots, maybe parsnips? They are similar to a carrot, but not as sweet.. or maybe radish, it would depend on the curry, if its a super spicy one, no radish, but if its a mellow one radish would be good.. Whenever I make curry I use potato, onion, and carrot sometimes I will switch out one or the other..

Thank you and LF for the suggestions. I ended up throwing in some okra because I had some in the freezer that needed to be used, hehe. It was really good. I used the hot golden curry mix by S&B. I had to add some hot sauce because it wasn't spicy enough for me, but I literally love hot sauce, so that wasn't out of the ordinary, hehehe.

Kawaikochan wrote: Thank you and LF for the suggestions. I ended up throwing in some okra because I had some in the freezer that needed to be used, hehe. It was really good. I used the hot golden curry mix by S&B. I had to add some hot sauce because it wasn't spicy enough for me, but I literally love hot sauce, so that wasn't out of the ordinary, hehehe.

mmmm when i had curry at this vegetarian restaurant in Toronto in the summer it had okra in it and like 3 or 4 kinds of mushrooms, and potatoes. the okra was a really nice touch, i'd never tried it before. i love how if it's a fairly liquidy curry (which this one was) and you get an end piece of okra the holes fill up with curry so it explodes with curry goodness when you chew it hahaha.


i gave the mochi a shot yesterday, i tried in the toaster oven but i left it in too long i think cause it got pretty tough. i tried another one in the microwave with a bit of water like Yuki suggested and stopped it as soon as it started to puff up, that was a bit better cause it was still gooey in the middle but it still was just like eating a glob of dough lol. i still have 2 packs (2 pieces per pack) i think next experiment will be with soup

we bought some chopsticks to practice at home so we don't look so much like baka gaijin when we go, i've been having fun using them. these particular ones have little grooves where you hold them and at the ends which helps with the grip and control, they're a lot easier to use than disposable wooden ones which is all i've really used before


beca: the sushi place here has deep fried ice cream in a tempura batter, i don't eat dairy so i'm always a little jealous when the others at the table order it lol i will have to try making it at home someday with soy ice cream :D

Since I've been watching Jdramas I'm dying for a bento lunch! I want one so bad! I am a huge fan of sushi. There is a place here in St. Louis that is just amazing. They take so much pride in their food. It's bar style and a seating restaurant but everything is made right there where you can see it and when they bring it to your tables the chefs watch you for a moment and sort of wait for you to take a bite. They are so sweet. It's the coolest place in town. My favorite!

ladyfaile wrote: my mom got some vegan bouillon in different flavours, and she has dried shiitake mushrooms i'll steal some and make a clear soup for the mochi. or maybe i can get my hands on some seaweed

I have no idea what a mochi soup should taste like, but if you're looking for a clear soup, maybe you could try a suimono. They're really easy. Basically dashi (you can make it vegan), and 1-3 other ingredients, one of which has to be a fragrant ingredient (like lime, ginger, etc.). The mushrooms would fit perfectly :)

What is mochi? Ice cream?

It's this glutenous cakeish thing made out of rice, but nothing like what we typically call rice cakes in the US. It's a New Year's tradition, but you can buy it year round. It's actually really cool how they make it.



They start going fast at like 40 seconds in. Impressive, hehe.

I think fresh mochi has the texture of raw bread dough.