Prepare mitsu-mame, a popular Japanese product.

Prepare mitsu-mame, a popular Japanese product.

Hints
1. Add water very gradually to shiratamarice flour for complete absorption of water. If you add it too quickly, the flour will only take up part of the water.
2. Cold water firms up the shiratamadumplings.Mitsu-mameis a traditional Japanese dessert. Today, it is less often prepared from scratch, and canned mitsu-mamehas become quite popular in Japan

 

 Preparation of fruit juice jelly. (A) Cut off the top of each orange. (B) Core with a
spoon, separate pulp from skin. (C) Boil the puréed orange and sugar dispersion. (D) Cool down
until set. (E) Garnish with mint leaves and serve.

Orange Jelly
Ingredients
(Serves 5)
4 g agar–agar powder
100 mL (⅖cup) water
25 g (2 3/4Tbsp) white sugar
5 oranges
Mint leaves for garnish

Preparation
1. Cut off the top of each orange, core with a spoon (or melon baller), and separate pulp (about 400 g) from skin.
2. Purée the pulp in a blender.
3. Put water and agar–agar in a pan, and heat at 90–100ºC until completely dissolved.
4. Add white sugar to the pan, boil the mixture until sugar dissolves, and cool it to 60ºC (Hint 1).
5. Add puréed orange pulp to the cooled mixture, pour into the five orange skin “cups,” and cool to less than 20ºC (in a refrigerator or in an ice-water bath) until it sets.
6. Add mint leaves as garnish

Hint
1. The organic acids in fruit juice weaken the gel strength of agar–agar jelly.
When the temperature of the agar–agar solution is below 70ºC, organic
acids no longer affect the agar–agar molecules. This is why the agar–agar
solution should be cooled down before mixing with fruit juice.