COK LA Launch Party: Mango Mochi

Alright, I know this is a wicked tease, but there is no recipe here.
I'm just going to taunt you with photos of something I'll be making
for Compassion Over Killing's Los Angeles Office Launch Party this
Saturday.

I mentioned yesterday that I was making mochi, so here you go.
This is the tester batch of Mango Mochi that will be gracing
palates and plates at the party...

After mixing together the mochiko, flavoring, sugar, and juice you
steam it in a pan or bowl for 30+ minutes...


While the outer mochi is steaming, prepare your filling.


After steaming, you allow it to cool just enough to handle.
You need to work quickly because once it cools completely it is
way too hard to handle and shape properly.


Using potato starch (katakuriko) you shape the mochi ball into
a patty and cup it in your hand to plop the filling.

Pinch the edges together to seal and roll in the starch again
if needed.



I make it sound easy, but it is really sticky and messy.
Once you get the hang of it, it's a lot easier to get the
filling right without it bursting out somewhere or leaking.

Want some? You know where to find me!

Launch Party Prep, Mochi and Memories: Kushi Dango Recipe

Huzzah! Am I ever glad to be back on my broomstick!
It took too long, but I am over my illness and the doctors set me right.

I am most pleased to actually be able to enjoy cooking and food again.
Not sure who is happier though, me or Monkey-man! He was eating the
bland, simple foods right along side me. I couldn’t stomach much and
he was sweet to not make me feel left out of something exciting. But I
don’t think he could stand eating beans on toast much longer either!

So I am back and getting ready for the Compassion Over Killing
Los Angles Office Launch Party! It is going to be amazing! There is
going to be tons of great people, food, and a darn good time for all!
You can check out the event on Facebook or get your tickets here!

One of the product donors, Eco-Vegan, is donating some amazing
veggie meat for the party-- and I have the honor of dressing and
cooking it up for the party-goers!

Tomorrow I’ll show you the awesome samples they sent me to test out
the recipes for the party.

Because of the party, I’ve been working on some of the menu items.
One of which will be Mango Mochi! Not a lot of people may be very
familiar with mochi and I am a huge exception to that rule.
Mochi has become a little better known lately, but is pretty unusual.

Mochi is a Japanese sweet made from pounded sweet, sticky rice.
Depending on the occasion, it will be served plain, flavored, colored
with barley or beans, wrapped in pickled leaves (sakura-mochi),
filled with sweet bean paste (an-mochi), baked, served on sticks,
the list goes on and on.

I chose this dish for a number of reasons... first my menu is
Thai-Japanese fusion. A traditional Thai dessert is a steamed,
layered, sweet rice cake that is very similar to a plain Japanese mochi.
Second, I wanted to choose something that would be easy to eat,
pick up, and would be soy and gluten-free for those with allergies.
But most of all, I have very fond memories of mochi and I’d love to
share them at such special occasion...

I took Japanese language courses for many many years growing up
and became entranced with many of the cultural traditions. Wish I was
still fluent, I was as a teenager. Not like riding a bike though.
Watching anime as a kid I loved watching the characters munching on
the sticky treats. Of course the American producers would change the
dialogue and call mochi donuts instead to match US interests.
But I also grew up in a very heavy asian community in So Cal,
so many of the shops nearby offered fresh mochi!

Also, when I was growing up my parents were very into watching
Sumo. I know this may sound very weird to you, but its true. It is
not a bunch of fat guys bumping bellies like many Americans believe.
It rich in cultural traditions (many of which are dying) and extremely
cool to watch. Whenever they got the chance, my parents would take us
to actual tournaments. Instead of hotdogs and peanuts, you’d find red
bean cakes, mochi and Sapporo!

Well, I didn’t drink beer, but I certainly enjoyed the sweets and
maybe some green tea soymilk or red bean ice cream!

Skip to my teen years- Hilo, Hawaii. The communities in Hawaii
emerged from a plantation culture, a conglomeration of Japanese,
Chinese, Filipino, Portuguese, Thai and so on. As such many of the
traditions are seen in the local faire. You see a lot of sushi, char sui,
and yes mochi. Hawaiian mochi is often baked instead of steamed
(oh gods, or worse microwaved) and made with condensed milk or
butter. This yields more of a chewy cake instead of a plush bun.
But there are traditionalists, and my favorite was Two Ladies in Hilo
who would make the Strawberry-An Mochi, read bean filled, and even
Taro. But my favorite was the Momo-Mochi-- (Momo= Peach)
Peach and white bean filled. PEACH LOVE!

(To find more vegan Hawaiian Recipes, check out my vegan-hawaii series)

It is from the Hawaiian fusion flavor that I pulled out some wicked
mango mochi. I'll be posting some pictures as I go along and certainly
of the party, but here is something in the meantime. These we would
get at sumo tournaments and anime expos. Plus, something you can
depend on being vegan. FYI, many of the prepackaged versions do have
MSG in the sauce. Find it fresh! If you live in LA, you can get it in
Little Tokyo.

Easy, delicious and not as sweet as your usual mochi cake these are
great for parties or just a snack. Careful, they are addictive!

Kushi Dango



Mochi:
1 1/3 cup rice flour
3/4 boiling water

Mitarashi Sauce:
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp potato starch + 1 tbsp water

You can use mochiko (sweet rice flour), they will just be a bit
stickier and chewier. Joshinko, plain rice flour is made from long
grain rice and not as glutinous as the short grain mochiko. Don’t try
to use western style rice flour-- the stuff you’d find in the gluten-free
zone of American and western markets-- it is not the same as Japanese
or other Asian rice flours.

I used party picks here, but traditionally they are grilled on skewers
(3 on each).

Pour the hot water over the rice flour and stir with a wooden spoon or
paddle. Once it has cooled enough to handle, knead in the bowl with a
little extra rice flour. It is more folding over and over to make sure
there are no lumps, not exactly like you’d knead bread dough.

Next pull off little scoops and roll them in between your palms to form
smooth balls. They should be around 3/4 inch in diameter or about the
size of a walnut in it’s shell.

Place into a lightly greased steamer with some room in between. They
will expand and stick together, so give them some space if you can.
Steam the rice balls on high for 10-15 minutes. Scoop them out and
push on to damp skewers. They will be very sticky.

While your pan is heating, start the sauce by bringing the water, sugar
and soy sauce to a boil. Add the potato starch mixed in water and stir
til thickened. Keep on low.

Place the skewered mochi on a hot, non-stick pan and grill each side
until a golden brown. Brush with the mitarashi sauce and serve
immediately. If you used a joshinko rice flour they will last longer,
if you used mochiko they will get denser the longer you wait.

Taste of Aloha Part Seven: SCAM Musubi

This is the reason this series took me so darn long. I've been working
on this recipe for two freakin' weeks. Every time I was going to post it,
it didn't work out quite right or I didn't have time-- so I put up a
different recipe.

The idea to do a vegan spam was a reader request, but it is also one of
the true stereotypes about Hawaii. Yes they love their SPAM. I guess
some people do make the SPAM and eggs thing, but even more
popular is SPAM Musubi. It is basically SPAM wrapped with white
rice and nori. Yup that's it. The rice is not flavoured either.

Sound tasty right?

Well, I had no idea what SPAM even tasted like so I started googling
for a description of the taste. According to the majority of people on
q&a sites SPAM tastes like salty dog food. OK, so I needed to veganize
salty dog food.

Dude, how am I supposed to know what dog food tastes like?

So, I'm sticking with the salty part. Apparently, it is not just a little
salty--- but veeery salty. I'm thinking a really salty lunch meat.
Now if you've had SPAM in the past, you can try this and tell me
what you think. My main goal was to not make something unpleasant,
but make something that is comparable. It doesn't need to be
blindfold test the same, but just be a good substitute for people
craving salty dog food.

I started with vegan dad's original process of making lunch meat.
Here they talk about making vegan SPAM, but they really had no
intention of it tasting, ect like SPAM. I tried using soybeans, but
it wasn't that great. I instead switched to red beans and tomato paste.

Here is what I came up with...

Vegan SCAM (Salted Canned Artificial Meat)



1 can of red kidney beans
1 can of tomato paste
1 cup of cooked oatmeal
2 cups of vegetable broth
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp soy sauce/braggs/miso (opt can add more salt instead)
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp white pepper
2 1/2-3 cups vital wheat gluten

Blend all ingredients (except the gluten) until smooth.
Pour into a bowl and slowly add just enough 'flour' to form
a wet sticky lump. You want it to still be moist so your end
product isn't completely dry.

Form into two thick logs and wrap with foil. Steam for 40 minutes.
Remove from steamer and check to make sure that all parts of the
scam are still covered with foil.

Place in a dish or on a pan and bake for 40-50 minutes at 350F.
Remove and allow to cool completely. No matter what shape you may
have formed it in pre-steaming, it will have swollen into a
roundish log. I tried making it into a rectangle, but it doesn't work.

Cut the edges to make into a rectangle and then slice into 1/4" slices
like a loaf of bread.

Sushi Rice

White/Med Grain rice cooked (1 cup rice to 2 cups water)
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt

Fold the rice, as opposed to mixing it or else you will squish it
and end up with a bunch of mush.

Slice a sheet of nori into desired widths.
Wet your hands and shape about a 1/4-1/2 sized scoop of rice into a
rectangle to fit onto your slices of SCAM. Set the SCAM and rice onto
the end of a piece of cut nori. Roll up and allow to rest on the side
where the nori ends. The moisture of the sushi will seal the nori.



Love it or hate- You just made vegan spam musubi.
There are no wrong or right ways to shape your musubi, so google it
and check out some other pictures. Some use twice as much rice,
so it is on both sides of the spam, but I didn't want that much.

That concludes the Taste of Aloha series, I hope you enjoy it!