Umami Mart Registry
Japanify

Kinako-Dusted Mitarashi Dango

My baba-chan in Tokyo always has a package of Mitarashi Dango on her dining table by her Zojirushi. I look back fondly on those afternoons when I'd sit around and eat dango with her while Richard Clayderman streamed out of her tape player. Mitarashi Dango are rice dumplings draped in...

Japanify

Kokuto Sundae

Ever since shelter in place came into effect, I have been diving head first into two indulgences: K-dramas and sweets, often at the same time. It took me a few tries with the K-dramas. I got about three episodes into Let's...

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Kohi Zeri (Coffee Jelly)

Kohi zeri (coffee jelly) is a common dessert in Japan. You can find it everywhere - prepackaged at the conbini, at craft coffee shops like Maldive in Shimokitazawa, heck you can even get one fresh off the plane at Royal Coffee Shop...

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Matcha Cream Anmitsu

My two favorite desserts are pie and anmitsu. The word is a mashup of two of its main ingredients anko (red bean paste) and mitsu (syrup). Although I can access good pie in Oakland, there is literally no place I can get anmitsu. Every...

Kuishinbo

Kuishinbo: Otsukimi Dango

Japan has a wonderful fall tradition known as otsukimi (お月見) or Moon Festival, which celebrates both the moon and promise of a good harvest for the year. Besides otsukimi, it's also called chushu no meigetu or jyugoya. The custom is believed to have originated in China. In...

Tokyo JUNKtion

Tokyo JUNKtion: Ikko-an (Koshikawa)

After reading Moto's post about making anko (sweet bean paste), I began to reminisce about my visit to a wagashi (traditional Japanese confectionary) shop in Koishikawa, Tokyo called Ikko-an. All of the wagashi are made by hand by the owner Chikara Mizukami, while his wife works...

Merry Xmas Wagashi (Sweets)

By Kenji Miura I celebrated Christmas in Japan by making wagashi, or traditional Japanese sweets. Santa is shaped out of shiro-an (white bean paste). The holly is made out of ogura tsubu-an (red beans boiled with sugar, skin-on). The tree is comprised of shiro-an and...