- Hi, I'm Rie, I'm a Tasty producer in LA.
Today, I'm going to be showing you
how to make most mesmerizingJapanese dessert.
Japanese people, includingme, are obsessed with seasons.
Cherry blossom season issuch a short amount of time,
so from the end of Marchto beginning of April,
a lot of people go for picnics, hiking,
and have a party underthe cherry blossoms.
It's my favorite seasonand I miss Japan so much,
especially around this time of the year,
because LA has no seasons.
I think our ancestors started to preserve
this beautiful flowers sothey could enjoy it longer.
Traditionally, raindrop cake,
in Japanese we call mizu shingen mochi,
is made with agar-agar.
Agar-agar is a jelly-likesubstance made from algae.
So unlike gelatin, it's vegetarian.
Agar itself has no flavor,
so raindrop cakes tastelike sugar water Jell-O,
so pour your favorite syrup on top.
Japanese people also value
beautiful looking desserts and food.
No offense to your brownies
or chocolate chip cookies,those are delicious,
but maybe not quite as visually pleasing.
You are also eating with your eyes,
and this raindrop cakeis a perfect example.
The cherry blossoms areencased in a drop of water.
It reminds me of cherryblossom on a rainy day.
(tranquil music)
I think mochi is gettingpopular all over the world.
The powder I used for this video,
called shiratamako, itis made with rice flour.
I used matcha for the ice cream flavor.
Matcha is powdered green tea.
It's packed with antioxidantsand boosts your metabolism
so you can eat matcha icecream without feeling guilty.
Mochi is super easy tomake and easy to work with,
but it is very sticky,so make sure you use
a lot of starch on the surface.
Typically, mochi's madewith steamed mochi rice
and eaten mainly around New Year's.
However, the mochi weused for mochi ice cream,
we call gyuhi, used all year round.
I like matcha flavor becauseit's a little bitter,
so it's a good balance to the ice cream.
I made this video for Tasty Japan.
I wanted to make a mochi ice cream video,
but mochi ice cream ischeap, so I was wondering
how I could convince ouraudience to make mochi ice cream.
And I was like, okay, let's make it giant,
'cause I've never seen giantmochi ice cream before.
If you don't have matcha,
you can use cocoa powderor strawberry jam.
After we published the video,
I saw that some of ouraudience actually made it
and tagged us on our Instagram account.
It made me very happy.
It's one of the best feeling I get
from being a Tasty video producer.
As I mentioned earlier,
Japanese people obsessedwith seasonal ingredients.
Pumpkin and chestnut flavors
are very popular during the fall season.
We used kabocha pumpkins for our video.
Kabocha is the mostpopular pumpkin in Japan.
They are sweet and a dryertexture than butternut squash,
perfect for baking andcooking and I love using them.
Kabocha is getting popular in America.
I can find them in grocery stores easily.
Japanese people have startedcelebrating Halloween,
but Halloween in Japan ismore popular among adults.
Dressing up in costume isnot for trick-or-treating.
Some of the Western traditional holidays
are misinterpreted in Japan.
We celebrate Christmas, but it is more
like a romantic holiday for couples.
So this kabocha pumpkin pudding was made
by Tasty Japan producer Saki,
but she was strugglingwith unmolding the pudding.
So I learned this cooltrick on the internet.
This is how to unmoldpudding in a bundt pan.
So hold tight your bundt panand plate, and you just spin.
'Kay, made me a little bitdizzy but, pudding is unmolded.
So this pumpkin pudding,
it's not your typical Halloween treat,
but I think it's really pretty
because of the color contrast,yellow and shiny brown.
And also, when you pour the chocolate,
I feel like it look like a spider web.
So, I think it's aperfect Halloween dessert.
Some of you watching this video
might have seen this recipealready, but stay with me.
It's one of the most viewedand shared Tasty Japan video.
I didn't know how deeplyorange the yolk of the egg
until I moved from Japan to the states.
As you can see Tasty producerAlvin made the video in Japan,
so the egg yolk is very orange.
Alvin and I went to Japan together
a year ago for research purposes.
Alvin was obsessed withthis jiggly cheesecake
that he saw on the internet.
We went to the store andwatch how they make them.
So this cheesecake you can eat year round,
but I chose it for winter dessert
because you want to enjoy while it's hot,
you wanna eat it right aftercame out from the oven.
So I think this is aperfect dessert for winter.
I've started cooking moreand more since I moved
to the United States, mainlyas a homesickness cure.
Even though I'm not physically home,
it feels like home wherever I am
when I cook and eat Japanese food.
I didn't have a lot of friendswhen I moved to the states,
but whenever you meet new people,
I've found that talking aboutfood is a great icebreaker.
Regardless of their age, gender, or race,
everyone has their ownpersonal stories about food.
I love everything aboutJapanese dessert and culture,
I'd love to hear your stories.
- [Voiceover] Oh, yes!
(serene music)
(camera shutter clicking)
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