Sushi

It must be very long time I haven't made any new post. I prepare to work in the restaurant, so I made some food in the weekend with my friend.





They are the basic sushi: California rolls, topped rice sushi (nigiri-zushi), and some tofu pouches( Inari-zushi),...Pretty simple but delicious. I want to make them again!

Vappu - May Day

Yesterday was the 1st of May, in Finnish it’s called Vappu. My friend and I went to the city centre. We walked to the market square, kauppatori, the popular place where the travellers usually stop by when they visit Helsinki. Then we went to Kaivopuisto (Kaivo park), where there were a lot of people gathering in that place as same as on the street in the city centre. I rarely saw Helsinki crowded and excited like this.

They had picnic with family and friends. In Vappu, people wore white hat (ylioppilashattu), the hats they got when graduated from high school. Not only the young people wore but many elders did as well. A lot of colourful balloons on the street made the day even lovelier. People drank champagne and ate tippaleivät.









One of the old building in this area.





My friend and I walked through those places, chatted and enjoyed sunshine. We watched people, listened to the sounds of music, noise, vehicles, the birds, the sea and its wave... They were all wonderful. What could be better than to be with a true friend on a day like that? I really appreciate, day was so simple and peaceful!















Inside Kappeli, one of the oldest the cafe, restaurant in Helsinki

Chapssalddeok (Korean style mochi)

First time making mochi with a friend. Fun, taste not bad. In fact, I ate a lot of them.

The picture taken using my iPhone 4s which I bought near Christmas for my birthday occasion. While a couple of months ago, I still like Instagram, so fun to play with!

Recipes can be found in http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/chapssalddeok with step by step instructions.

Ingredients

For sweet red bean filling:
red beans, sugar, salt, rice syrup, vanilla extract.

For rice cake:
sweet rice flour, sugar, salt, red food coloring, starch powder

Directions
Cooking time: 2 hours.

Make sweet red bean filling:

1. Wash and drain 1 cup of dried red beans (azuki beans) and place them in a thick bottomed pot.
2. Add 3 cups of water and bring to a boil over medium high heat for 10 minutes with the lid closed.
3. Lower the heat and simmer for about 1½ hours. If the beans haven’t softened after 1½ hours, add more water and cook over low heat until they are soft and can be well mashed.
4. Mash the beans with a wooden spoon (or food processor) until smooth.
5. Put the beans back into the pot and add ¾ cup brown sugar, ¼ ts salt, 1 ts vanilla extract, and 2-3 tbs rice or corn syrup.
6. Stir with a wooden spoon over low heat until the sugar is dissolved and the paste looks a little shiny.
7. Divide the paste into 2 even halves. Keep one half of the paste in the fridge or freezer for future use.
8. Divide the remaining paste into 8 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Set them aside.

Make rice cake with a microwave oven

1. Place 1 cup of sweet rice flour (Mochiko powder), ¼ ts salt, 1 tbs sugar in a microwave-safe bowl.
2. In a bowl add a drop of pink food coloring to ¾ cup water and mix well.
3. Add the pink water to the rice flour mixture and mix it well with a spoon. Push the dough to the center of the bowl.
4. Cover the dough with Saran wrap and cook on high for 3 minutes in the microwave.
5. Remove the rice cake from the microwave and mix it with a wooden spoon for about 20 seconds.
6. Cover it with the Saran wrap again and put it back in the microwave for another minute.
7. Knead the hot rice cake with a wooden spoon vigorously in a circular motion about 100 times to make it chewy.
8. Spread ¼ cup of starch powder on your cutting board and put the rice cake on it.
9. Shape into a smooth 4×5 inch rectangle (10 cm x 12 cm) with wet hands and turn it over.
10. Cut the rectangle into 8 even sized pieces with a wooden knife or spatula, and cover with Saran wrap to keep them from getting dried out.
11. Take one piece of rice cake and flatten it into a round circle about 2½ inch (6.5 cm) in diameter.
12. Add a sweet red bean ball to the middle of the piece of rice cake. Pull the rice cake over the ball and seal it by pinching the edges with your fingers.*tip: Use starch powder to keep the rice cake from sticking to your fingers.
13. Repeat this until you’ve made 8 pieces of chapssalddeok.