Sakura kanten jelly dessert!

The one thing that excites me at the start of the year is spring~ I love all the beautiful things associated with spring. Especially sakura flowers.

I was also inspired by a talented friend and artist of mine – @Lovelimzy.  She creates the most beautiful flora mixed media art pieces.

Recently we met up for dinner and she passed me her lovely calendar set that features prints of her creations. I was so thrilled and happy! Decided to make something flora to match the theme~

Check out a glimpse of her calendar, totally heart it~~ check out her FB page here.

Although sakura season is not here yet, I decided to make this super pretty sakura flowers kanten jelly dessert!

What is kanten? It is Japanese agar dessert.

In recipes, you can swap kanten powder with our local agar powder but the texture will be different.

Personally I find that Japanese kanten jelly has a slightly softer and tad chewier texture which I prefer. And if you are making Japanese Tokoroten, you will have to use kanten powder to get that right texture (read this article on Japan Times).

Lucky for us, we can get kanten powder here in Singapore. They are sold at Meidiya-Supermarket located at the basement of Liang Court. Check the section where they sell sweets ingredients like bean paste, syrup and flours.

You may need to look out for the Japanese description to locate the product – Kanten powder/flour is written in Japanese Kanji as 寒天粉 or it may also be written in Japanese Hiragana as かんてん粉.

For the sakura flowers, I used the preserved sakura flowers that I bought from Japan which is not available here.

In Singapore, the alternative option will be to get ‘Sweet Sakura Tea’.

Open the tea packs and select the whole sakura flowers you would like to use, you will need at least 2 packets of the sakura tea for this recipe. I would recomend to rinse the flowers first before using if not it may be too salty. I usually soak the flowers in some water then drain and pat dry before use –  see recipe details.

So many people have been asking me about this jelly cake mold. I bought this jelly mold super long time ago from Rakuten Japan.

If you are keen, I managed to find the following online retailers that carry the product

1. Bento & co, website link.

2. Little Bento World in Autralia, see here.

3. Rakuten global shopping site, see link here.

This mold is actually very versatile, it can be used to make sushi cake, cake and jelly etc.

A super easy Japanese Kanten Jelly recipe for you~

Recipe for Sakura Kanten Dessert

Ingredients

(milk layer)

• kanten powder 2g
• milk 100ml (if you dont like milk, you can even change this to a juice you like * a pink colour juice will be nice~ to match the sakura flowers)
• water 200ml
• sugar 30g

1. Add all the ingredients in a pot, bring to low boil slowly. Keep stirring gently as the mixture heats up. When all powder and sugar are dissolved and incorporated, remove pot from heat. Pour into your jelly mold till the halfway mark and let it rest (at room temp) for about 30mins until harden.

(top clear layer)

• kanten powder 2g
• water 300ml
• sugar 30g
• sakura essence 3-5 drops (optional)
• sakura flowers 8 pcs

1. Soak the sakura flowers in a bowl of water to get rid of the salt. Drain and pat dry the flowers gently with paper napkins and arrange the sakura flowers around the jelly mold.
2. Add all rest of the ingredients into a pot, bring to low boil slowly. Keep stiring gently as the mixture heats up. When all the powder and sugar are dissolved and incorporated, remove pot from heat. Pour gently into your jelly mold to fill it up.
3. Using a thin skewer, adjust the positions of the flowers as you need.
4. Let the jelly rest at room temp for about 30mins until it firms up. Chill in fridge.
5. Dessert recommended served chilled.

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The post Sakura Kanten Jelly Dessert appeared first on Little Miss Bento.

In the mood of a traditional bento lunch today, I packed a sakura theme bento. Since I can’t bring actual cherry blossoms to me from Japan, I decided to make myself a sakura bento instead. Heh.

I love the pink color theme in this bento. I made two onigiri rice balls, where I mixed the rice with salmon flakes, sakura flowers and oboro (a type of pink colored minced fish). I then topped it off with a sakura flower. The sakura flowers are in pickled form which I bought from Japan, you can also buy them online.

The sides were a salad side of chicken, cucumber and carrot; and tamagoyaki egg roll, lettuce, wagashi sweet, and a sweet side of sakura bean paste, mini dango balls and sakura mochi.

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The post Sakura Traditional Japanese Bento　桜の和弁当 appeared first on Little Miss Bento.

A Panda Sakura Viewing Bento today! :)

A little earlier for Sakura… but oh well! 

I absolutely love Sakura flowers, anytime of the year! After enjoying cherry blossoms in Tokyo last year end March, the beautiful images of the rows of sakura flowers left a very deep impression in me. Hopefully I can enjoy it again, perhaps with my hubby the next time (was travelling alone in the earlier trip). 

Since we are already in March month (though still a tad early for sakura blooms), I decided to make a Panda Sakura Viewing Bento, plus I get to cook my sakura soba noodles. Yeay!

Panda is enjoying the beautiful sakura and having a cup of hot green tea~~

The ingredients for the panda included rice, seaweed and some ham. The little green tea cup was made from rice and green egg sheet – I thought the cup of green tea looked quite real. heheh happy!

The sakura flowers were made from ham and I arranged them on a bed of sakura soba noodles. The side dishes included sauteed thinly sliced pork with shiitake mushrooms, sauteed jumbo beans with carrots and prawns, some strawberries, lettuce and a kawaii sakura flower wagashi (traditional sweet). 

Have a good Monday everyone and a great week!

今日パンダさん花見のキャラベン。

桜が大好きですね！とても、とても綺麗です。昨年3月末に東京で桜を楽しんだ後、又見たいです。

今日のキャラベンは楽しかったんですね。パンダさんは熱いお抹茶を飲んでね～～ハハ。

パンダさんキャラクターの材料は：飯、海苔、ハム。お抹茶は飯と（緑）薄焼き卵を使いました。桜の花はハムですよ。下は桜のそばです。

おかずは：椎茸と豚肉ソテー、野菜炒め、イチゴ、レタス、和菓子。

皆さん、素敵な一日なりますよ～

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The post Panda Sakura Bento　パンダさん花見のキャラベン appeared first on Little Miss Bento.

 

Since we are in the start of the new year, it always reminds me of the wonderful spring experience I had in Japan last year where I saw sakura blossoms. Hope to also see Ume flowers (plum blossoms) someday too! And of course the autumn leaves (known as momiji) in Japan. 

This was a really quick bento, took me about 10mins preparation, 20 mins cooking, and another 5 to 10mins to wash up. 

Do try making a soba bento too, especially great for a rush day! Plus soba taste great even when it is cold :) 

The chawanmushi was so yummy. I hope you like this recipe!
I used the egg shell (halve) to measure the liquids, let me know if you have any questions on the measurements :)

今日桜そばのお弁当を作りました。桜そばは綺麗し、可愛いですよ。ピンク色が好きですから。桜そばは明治屋のスーパーで買ったんです。桜の味は美味しかったんです。

おかず：焼き鮭、茶碗蒸し、さくら餅、レタス、サツマイモ。簡単な和食料理ですね。 

Chawanmushi Recipe for Bento

*Makes 1~2, depending on the size of your container. 
Ingredients
1 egg
dashi stock (1 egg shell halve)
water (2 egg shell halve)
white soy sauce (1/2 teaspoon)
mirin (1/2 teaspoon)
additional ingredients you would like to add inside the steamed egg (suggestions would be mushroom, chicken, prawn etc)

Topping (sauce)
Tsuyu 1/2 teaspoon
dashi stock 3 teaspoon

Method
1. Beat the egg in a bowl, try not to introduce too much bubbles
2. Add in the dashi, water, mirin and white soy sauce and mix well
3. Place your ingredients (e.g. chicken, mushroom) at the bottom of the container. 
4. Pour the egg mixture into your container through a sieve, this step is important as it removes the bubbles and ensures that your egg is smooth
5. Wrap a small piece of foil, ensuring that the opening is covered.
6. Place a steamer rack in your pot and water for the steaming process. After the water comes to a boil, bring it down to medium heat (but still boiling) and place the containers in the steamer. 
7. Steam for 3mins, turn off the heat and leave the chawanmushi in the pot for 10mins. 
8. Remove from heat. In a small saucer, mix 2 tsp of dashi stock and 1/4 tsp of tsuyu, add a spoonful of this to the each of the chawanmushi. 

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The post Sakura Soba Bento　桜そばのお弁当 appeared first on Little Miss Bento.

桜お握りのお弁当

Sakura Onigiri Obento

A little early for spring :P Made a sakura onigiri obento today for breakfast.  Absolutely love my new onigir bamboo box!

The post Sakura Onigiri Obento 桜お握りのお弁当　 appeared first on Little Miss Bento.