Japanese Anniversary Dinner

This post is centered around Japanese cuisine for a very specific reason. My parents celebrated their 25th anniversary recently. If not for the quarantine, we would’ve gone to our family-favorite restaurant, Ichiban Sushi. Since we couldn’t go out to celebrate, I decided to make them a home-cooked Japanese meal instead. Even though they might not have gotten the same experience as they would’ve from a restaurant, I tried to make the meal as centered around them as possible, and made foods that I know they love.

I made sushi, of course, and decided on tempura for a complimentary flavor and texture. I couldn’t forget dessert, so I decided to challenge myself with a whole new recipe for the end of the meal — Japanese cloud cake.

SUSHI

Origin:

Although immensely popular and thought to originate in Japan, in actuality, sushi has a birthplace outside of the country — in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. Raw fish, the central ingredient in sushi is a staple in Japanese kitchens. Buddhism, the second major religion in the country, practiced not eating meat, which resulted in fish becoming a huge part of Japanese cooking. Fermented rice is said to have been used to preserve the fish, in a “pickling” process. There are legends surrounding the airing of the preservative properties of fermented rice and fish, which also plays a major role in other Asian cuisine.

The fish and rice dish got introduced to the US in the mid 20th century and quickly gained popularity. Restaurants and sushi bars opened in Los Angeles and moved east, all the way to New York City and hasn’t slowed since. Although sushi started with the combination of raw fish and rice (nigirizushi or sushi nigiri), over the past few decades sushi rolls (or maki) have entered the western palette and encouraged some twists, such as the popular California rolls.

Today sushi is enjoyed in countries around the world and has interesting additions such as eel, crab, caviar or roe, avocado, and many more, and with some more exciting twists. Innovations such as sushi pizza, sushi burgers, sushi burritos, and sushi donuts are just a few modern takes on the Asian roll.

Process:

There were a few steps  to the sushi-making process. First, I had to make sushi rice with white wine vinegar. Rather than fermenting the rice (as in the traditional sushi rice making process), this is a quicker way to produce the distinct taste of sushi rice. Preparing other ingredients was also easy enough. I set aside sliced cucumbers, smoked salmon, and seaweed. Although the process was as straightforward as putting the rolls together, I still had some difficulties along the way. 

Next, I portioned out certain amounts of rice, smoked salmon, and cucumber for each roll. The rolls couldn’t have too much or too little of anything, which could throw off the flavor balance. Once I finished making around eight or so rolls and slicing them, sushi was ready to be served.

Taste

The rolls I made were not as complex as the rolls found in sushi bars. I used a fairly simple recipe to utilize what we already had and not take trips to the grocery store for ingredients. The rolls might have been even a little bland, but they were refreshing and allowed me to isolate individual ingredient with each bite.

TEMPURA

Origin:

Tempura (derived from the Greek word tempora cuaresme meaning “in the time of Lent”) surfaced in the mid 16th century. Traditionally, tempura was thought of as food for the Christian holiday, Lent. During Lent, Catholics in Portugal would forgo meat, making tempura a customary food during this time. It is believed that the original form of tempura was created in Portugal in “tempura balls”, which consisted of vegetables that were rolled into balls with tempura batter, and eventually fried. Tempura refers to the batter that is used to coat vegetables, potatoes, fish, and shrimp, amongst other things. 

Tempura is believed to have entered Nagasaki, a Japanese port town, and from there quickly spread to the rest of the island. Prior to the introduction of tempura to Japanese cuisine, there weren’t practically any fried dishes or methods to fry food in Japan, which explains the fast spread of this fried dish around the country. Although the Japanese version of the dish is the more  renowned, the original version remains prominent in Portuguese cooking. Today in western cuisine tempura is usually made with cheeses or meats, very different from the intention of the traditional tempura balls.

Cooking Process:

This is a dish my mother used to make for my sister and me, and although she hadn’t made it for us in over five years, we still had a box of tempura flour in our pantry (it might have been slightly out of date, but desperate times call for creative measures!). I mixed ice water with the flour, creating a lumpy mixture and used this as the batter. I then dipped shrimp, beans, and cauliflower florets in the batter, and deep-fried the vegetables and shrimp in oil. 

Taste:

The tempura looked plain, but was delicious. The batter worked perfectly with the shrimp and the vegetables. It was perfectly crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside. And I made my own  dipping sauce to go with it. I didn’t have a recipe, but instead worked with what I had around the house. I used equal amounts of lemon juice, soy sauce and sesame oil and added sugar and chili paste to give it a bit of a zing! The Tempura and the dip worked really well with the sushi. I’d definitely recommend making tempura, it’s not only delicious but also works beautifully with any other dish.

CLOUD CAKE

Origin:

Japanese cloud cake (also called soufflé cheesecake or Japanese cotton cheesecake) is an interesting twist to the cheesecake. The cake resembles a cloud because it has so many egg whites beaten into it, and is baked in a bain-marie. Cloud cake is known for its sponginess and airy texture, which makes it so unique. The dessert is believed to have originated in the 40s or 50s, but is gaining new popularity with restaurants serving it in the US, due to the opening of Uncle Tetsu’s restaurant. Although the restaurant only has two locations, the recipe is a favourite amongst home-bakers as a unique twist on the classic cheesecake.

Cooking Process:

Unfortunately, my cloud cake didn’t go as planned. 

There could be many reasons why it didn’t turn out the way I intended, but I narrowed it down to the baking process itself. Since  it was my first time baking this cake, I stuck to the recipe exactly, but as I didn’t have the right equipment, it went very wrong...

I started by mixing the wet ingredients (besides the eggs) together over medium heat until the mixture was completely smooth and uniform throughout. Next, I mixed them into the egg yolks and combined them with all the other ingredients. Next, I beat all the egg whites (there were over a dozen used in this recipe) until they formed stiff peaks and then folded the beaten egg whites into the rest of the ingredients. I put it into the cake pan, prepared the oven, and got ready to bake it.

Now, this is where, I believe, I went wrong with the dessert. You’re supposed to use a bain-marie when baking the cheesecake. A bain-marie is a “hot water bath” used to bake more delicate desserts, such as custards and cheesecakes. But since we didn’t have that at our house, I improvised. Although classic American cheesecakes can be made without a bain-marie, this Japanese cheesecake needed the water bath.

You’re supposed to put the cake pan into the bain-marie and then fill the gap between the containers with hot water and then put it into the oven. I used a regular baking tray instead, which did not do the cheesecake justice. I baked it as instructed, lowering the heat after 25 minutes to let the cake rise, but the cake never rose. 

The recipe said not to transfer the cake to another plate to avoid the cake deflating, so I didn’t take out the cake and decided to serve it on the detached part of the pan that I had baked it in.

The recipe also advised using parchment paper around the cake pan to make sure that the cake didn’t stick to the pan, but since we’d run out of parchment paper,  I used aluminum foil around the cake pan and between the pan and the batter. When it came out I was already disappointed, the cake didn’t seem to have risen at all, and was not tall or jiggly, unlike the recipe had said. The foil blocked my view, and I wasn’t able to see the damage until too late.

I opened up the foil, revealing the bottom half of the cake, and saw, to my horror, that the bottom half was all egg! It was like a thick layer of giant omelet.

I was very disappointed since it was such a momentous day for my parents. But my family and I ended up laughing over the deflated outcome.

Taste:

The texture of the top half of the cake was airy and light. It was not too sweet (common for Japanese desserts) and didn’t resemble American cheesecake because of its low amounts of sugar and cream cheese. The top half of the cake didn’t end up tasting too bad, especially the next day after it had been refrigerated. However, there was this overwhelming “eggy” smell and taste to it.

I would recommend trying to make  this dessert, but with the correct materials so as not to waste so many eggs and time on the cake. However, I valued the learning experience, and if anything, it makes me want to perfect cloud cake even more.

Research:

https://www.tripsavvy.com/interesting-facts-about-sushi-1458387

https://asahiimports.com/2015/03/20/tempura-the-japanese-fried-food-with-a-surprising-origin/

https://www.justonecookbook.com/souffle-japanese-cheesecake/

https://sushiyoshiboulder.com/tempura.php

https://www.pbs.org/food/the-history-kitchen/history-of-sushi/

https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-bain-marie-995752

Photo Credits:

Maya Pandey