Rabu, 28 Desember 2011

Comfort foods

Merry late Christmas! It's been a little while since my last post, but I have a few good excuses for that. First, I've been sick, second, the holidays kept me busy and third, I've been in the midst of figuring out which road I should choose for 2012.  Go back to school and get a second degree or concentrate on a career path. The second seems much more appealing to me since I am really eager to move out and buy a place of my own however, that isn't possible if I am to go back to school.

Most of the people around me right now have an entire week off for the holidays either from work or from school. So the mood is very festive and I am surrounded daily by the ones that matter. I wish this week could last a little longer. I've been having many culinary experiences lately and trying out many different recipes. I managed to make MOCHI for the first time. They ended up being really hard the second day since I didn't add any wheat starch..  I stacked them up to make a little mochi christmas tree!
Recipe
Basically I mixed 2 cups of glutinous rice flour, 1 cup of sugar and a bit of baking powder in a large bowl and gradually added water. Don't forget the wheat starch, around 1 cup should be good. Mix it up until the mixture becomes like dough. If the dough is sticky, add flour or cornstarch to make it more manageable. I split the mixture in 3 different parts and added different food colouring to each part. You then make little balls with it in your hands and fill them up with red bean paste. Finally, you steam your mochis for 10 minutes and serve! Wait for them to cool down a little first. 

Here are a few more little delicacies I had fun making this past week with my family.

 We all know how our relationship with food changes during the holidays. Whatever diet you were following went out the door in a split second and if you weren't on one you might consider starting one now. Here are a few yummy photos/prints found while browsing on Etsy.  Visit their shops!