Happy Pies!


National Pie Month is here and Valentine’s Day is coming! Let’s make hand pies—or are these empanadas? Whatever; I know they aren’t turnovers because they haven’t been folded over like one. Every food culture in the world seems to have their own version of a hand pie, both sweet and savory. The English can probably claim to be the original hand pie, with the Cornish Pasty dating back to the 19th Century.

The county of Cornwall, located on the southwestern tip of of England, is a huge tourist destination known for its world renowned beaches. But it wasn’t always so—most Cornish people made their living in the tin mines centuries ago and the pasty was a quick meal for the miners and easy to eat. Miners could hold the pasty by their signature pinched crust, even with their dirty hands, and throw that part away after eating the rest. There were a couple of reasons for this—mining caused arsenic to come up and the miners didn’t want to ingest any for fear of poisoning. And a more colorful reason was to appease the fairie spirits of the mines, by leaving behind the crusts for them to eat. No harm in hedging all your bets to be safe in a mine!

I made 3 kinds of hand pies for National Pie Month with different ingredients.

The fillings were just fresh strawberries and strawberry jam, fresh apples with brown sugar and cinnamon, and store bought kalua pork (Hawaiian style) so I could have a savory one.

Just buy some ready made pie crust, cut them out with a cookie cutter and crimp the edges with a fork to hold the ingredients inside.

Coat them with egg wash and throw them in a Toaster Oven for 20 minutes. You can do them all at the same time and you’ll have a mess ‘o hand pies made to order.

Now here’s a question that needs answering. Is a quiche a pie? Of course it’s a pie. It’s a savory egg custard pie that you bake in an oven that originated in France, that you can have for dinner. You could also make an apple or cherry pie for dessert too, if it pleases you. What about a frittata? Is a frittata, which is also an egg custard, a quiche? NO, because it isn’t baked in a crust, and it isn’t French. A quiche needs to bake longer and has that creamy texture, and just smells like a tempting weekend breakfast.

My favorite thing to order at the pancake house in our neighborhood is the diced ham and scrambled eggs. It comes with a short stack of their famous pancakes, which I drown in maple syrup. The eggs are always fluffy, and I like to eat them with ketchup and Tabasco®. Doesn’t this slice of quiche kind of look like the same, except that it’s been baked in a pie?

Here’s my last pie for Pie Month. A humble slice of homemade custard pie, which happens to be my go-to comfort pie. Hawaii people are into custard pie—did you know that?

Local style custard pies are slightly different from the Mainland ones; a little creamier I would say, rather than eggier—softer and silkier in texture. The secret ingredient is using evaporated milk rather than whole milk or cream. And eat it chilled; that’s really the only way. Next time you visit Hawaii to binge eat all that amazing local food, save some room for a slice of custard pie. It’s a well-kept local secret.

Happy National Pie Month and Happy Valentine’s Day! This is still the best use for a pie:

 
 

Products used in this post: Micom Toaster Oven ET-ZLC30

Please note that these recipes were not tested by Zojirushi America.

All images by Bert Tanimoto ©2023

09-September_qwest_pie_throwing_0111 (pie in face) by Seth Lemmons, under license by Creative Commons

 
 
 
 

What is Mochi? A Guide to One of Japan’s Most Iconic Dishes

When it comes to traditional Japanese foods, mochi is definitely one of the most popular. Though it is enjoyed all year long, these chewy rice cakes are especially revered on New Years Day, as it is believed to bring good luck and fortune to whoever enjoys them. Today, we’ll be diving into the deep history of this delicious Japanese snack – from how it’s made, how it’s enjoyed, and how you can make your own! Let’s dive in. 

History of Mochi 

Made with processed rice flour, mochi “rice cake” has been enjoyed in Japan for centuries, and comes in all different shapes, sizes, colors, and flavors. In Japan, locals traditionally make this in a ceremony called “mochitsuki,” where people take turns pounding the mochi with wooden mallets in a stone or wooden mortar called an usu.  but today, mochi powder has made it easy to make mochi quickly and uniformly at any time. 

It is believed that mochi was first introduced to Japan from South East Asia during the Jōmon period (c. 14,000–300 BC), with homemade production of mochi increasing during the Kofun period (c. 300–500 BC).  

How is mochi made? 

Mochi is made of mochigome (short-grain glutinous rice), where the rice is steamed, pounded, and mashed to create a chewy paste. It is then molded into its desired shape, and can be enjoyed immediately or dried for later use. It is recommended to freeze mochi if preserving it, rather than refrigerating it. 

The great thing about mochi is that it can be enjoyed both as a savory or sweet dish. When enjoying it as a savory dish, you can dip the mochi in soy sauce, or make it into a rice cake soup, or even chikira udon! 

There are many different sweet forms of mochi as well, such as, but not limited to: 

  • Daifuku (soft round mochi stuffed with red bean paste or white bean paste) 
  • Kusa mochi (green rice cakes colored and flavored with mugwort) 
  • Warabimochi (or bracken starch dusted with nutty soy bean powder)
  • Akafuku (covered in red bean paste) 
  • Chichi dango (sweet mochi served on a stick) 

New Year’s Mochi, or “Kagami Mochi 

Kagami mochi, or “mirror rice cakes”, are traditional Japanese New Year decorations made with two round mochi cakes, one large and one smaller. The smaller piece of mochi will be placed on top of the large, and a Japanese orange with an attached leaf will take its place on top. In addition, it may have a sheet of konbu and a skewer of dried persimmons under the mochi 

Traditionally, the kagami mochi was placed in various locations throughout the house at New Years’. Today it is usually placed in a household Shinto altar, or kamidana. It can also be placed in the tokonoma, a small decorated alcove in the main room of the home, as a New Year’s offering for good luck and fortune.  

Make Your Own Mochi 

Are you ready to make some mochi on your own? At Zojirushi, we like to make Butter Mochi, a sweet and slightly savory dessert that is made of rice flour, eggs, butter, and milk. Grab your Zojirushi Home Bakery Supreme® Breadmaker BB-CEC20 or any of our other wonderful Zojirushi Home Bakery Breadmakers and get ready to indulge in this delicious sweet treat! 

How do you like to enjoy mochi at home? Do you have your own special mochi recipe that you’d like to share with us? Remember to share your thoughts, comments, and questions with us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram! #Zojirushi #ZoFan 

Cook Your Favorite Winter Meals with Zojirushi Electric Skillets

Are you looking for easy winter recipes to warm up to this season? Whether you’re cooking for one or cooking for a few, our Gourmet d’Expert® Electric Skillets are perfect for making all kinds of easy meals and snacks – from hearty soups, grilled meats, hot pot, and even desserts. Today, we’ll be sharing our ultimate recipe guide to our favorite electric skillet dishes for the winter, from sukiyaki, fondue, pasta dishes, and more. Let’s get cooking! 

If you need an introduction to our electric skillet line, make sure to read our product guide here to learn more. 

Gourmet d’Expert® Electric Skillet EP-PBC10 

This single pan, multifunctional electric skillet features a deep dish ideal for soups and stews and a wide 10-½” surface great for grilling and sautéing. If you have a Gourmet d’Expert® Electric Skillet EP-PBC10, bookmark these recipes:  

Vegetarian Miso Nabe 

This nabe, or hot pot, combines carrots, shiitake mushrooms, green chard and vegetable based meatballs cooked in a delightful umami-rich miso broth. It is truly filling and easy to prepare! 

Japanese Curry Nabe 

Serve up this delicious soup with chicken drumsticks and vegetables cooked in curry-based soup with garlic, soy sauce and chicken broth. A nutritious meal that’s subtle yet perfectly aromatic. 

Soothing Chicken Congee

This divine take on a comforting classic is packed with nutrients from antioxidant-rich turmeric and ginger. 

Chocolate Fondue 

For all who have a sweet tooth, enjoy dipping fruits, baked treats, marshmallows, and pretzels dipped in chocolate with this chocolate fondue recipe.  

Gourmet d’Expert® Electric Skillet for Yin Yang Hot Pot EP-PFC20 

The Gourmet d’Expert® Electric Skillet is a multi-functional electric skillet with two cooking pans; a deep pan with a divider for Yin Yang hot pot, and a dual surface griddle pan for grilling meats and vegetables. If you’re in the mood for a comforting hot pot dinner, try these recipes: 

Kimchi Hot Pot and Yosenabe 

Have the best of both worlds and try these two hot pot soups side by side! For the yosenabe (pictured left), we cook a light soup base with different meats, seafoods, and veggies, and enjoy with a ponzu-based dipping sauce. For the kimchi hot pot (pictured right), we cook pork belly and veggies in a kimchi soup base, or make it vegetarian by swapping out the pork with mushrooms. It’s a savory hot pot with a kick! 

Sichuan Hot Pot and Three Delicacies Hot Pot 

If you love Chinese style hot pot, make your own with a Sichuan soup base and your choice of vegetables (pictured left). This one will be spicy and numbing – great for spicy food lovers! For the Tree Delicacies hot pot (pictured right), another traditional Chinese hot pot, gather the main ingredients: meat, veggies, and seafood. You can’t go wrong! 

Gourmet d’Expert® Electric Skillet EP-RAC50 

The EP-RAC50 Electric Skillet is a truly versatile electric skillet that can do it all – with an ultra-deep dish for soups, a flat grilling plate for stir frying and grilling, and a steaming plate that adjusts to two different heights. Here are our top electric griddle recipes: 

Sukiyaki 

Sukiyaki is a popular Japanese recipe that is often cooked and served at-the-table. Common ingredients include beef, tofu, negi (green onion), leafy vegetables, shiitake mushrooms and shirataki noodles. Have fun cooking and eating at-the-table! 

Oden

Oden is a classic Japanese stew with a variety of ingredients cooked in clear soy-flavored dashi broth. Commonly served from fall to winter. Daikon or fishcake are most popular, but there is no strict rule for ingredients.

Self-Serve Cheese Fondue 

The word Fondue comes from the French verb Fondre, meaning “to melt”. You can prepare everything in advance, and let guests serve themselves while you enjoy the fondue yourself! 

Cheesy Grilled Potato

The lightly peppered potato slices are grilled to perfection with an addition of smoked cheese at the end. The more cheese the better! 

Chicken Breast Cacciatore 

Cacciatore in Italian means “hunter”, which refers to a meal prepared “hunter style” with tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, bell pepper and sometimes wine. Buon Appetito! 

Do you have a Zojirushi Electric Skillet at home? What are some of your favorite dishes to make during the colder months? Remember to share your thoughts, comments, and questions with us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram! #Zojirushi #ZoFan 

It's Soup Month!


It’s Happy New Year and Happy Soup Month! Are you a souper star soup lover? Try answering these Jeopardy® questions about soup and see if you are:

  1. The Campbell’s Soup® website calls this soup and a grilled cheese sandwich an unbeatable dinner combination.
  2. The New England style of this chunky seafood soup, is made with fresh littlenecks.
  3. It’s a thick Italian soup with vegetable, beans and bits of pasta.
  4. Bun bo hue, a spicy meat and noodle soup, is a specialty of this country.
  5. This made in America soup uses different meats and, of course, okra.
  6. The TV show in which a character says, “No soup for you.”
  7. This beet soup can be served hot or cold, but it should always be topped with sour cream.
  8. A popular soup associated with San Francisco uses this tangy bread as a bowl when serving it.
  9. Miso soup sometimes has cubes of this as one of its ingredients.

    (Too easy, right? Answers at the bottom if you need it.)

Being Japanese, I love miso soup best. And I’m not that picky about it, but with the many kinds of miso paste available and the different kinds of ingredients you can put into it, the varieties can be extensive. When I was growing up there were only three main types: RED (aka miso), WHITE (shiro miso), and BLENDED (awase miso). But today they are classified by ingredients, taste, color and region, so that means there are a lot of brands. I’m not going to get into a miso tutorial, but I know that the red miso is characterized by a strong, intense flavor, and it seems to go best with the heavier foods. Our local tonkatsu (pork cutlet) restaurant would always serve aka miso soup. White miso, on the other hand, is mildly sweet and a lot of people like it for mixing in salad dressings or light sauces. And as you might guess, awase miso is the most versatile miso and what we used to make our tonjiru (pork and vegetable miso soup) at home. You talk about a meal in itself, be sure to sprinkle the spicy shichimi togarashi (7 spice blend) on it for that extra kick.

Another popular soup at my house is Hawaiian Chicken Long Rice. (who woulda guessed that?) Treat yourself to a luau in Hawaii or go to the nearest “local” foods restaurant and see if they have this on their menu. It’s really pretty simple to make, so you can probably do it yourself with a decent recipe. It’s only chicken broth, bean thread noodles, shredded chicken, minced garlic, ginger and chopped green onions. Some people like it soupier than others, but either way it’s sometimes a chore trying to pick up those slippery noodles! It never fails to splash back into the bowl and cause a spattered mess when I eat it. Do not attempt to eat Chicken Long Rice with chopsticks unless you’re an experienced user…you have been warned.

By now you might have guessed that my favorite soups sorta reflect my background. Yep—Japanese, Hawaiian and American. And I’m partial to chowder type American soups more than chicken noodle or vegetable broth. Clam chowder is great, but you can’t beat Corn Chowder, with chunks of potato, bacon and the sweetness of corn. It’s got to be thick enough to stand a cracker in, and dressed with black pepper before spooning it. So good!

By the way, when soup gets this thick, how come it isn’t a “stew” already? What’s the difference? Why is chili a soup on the menu anyway? Can we discuss some of these burning questions? According to some experts, the main difference is the amount of liquid that’s used—stews usually contain less of it, and the amount of time a soup is simmered, causing the liquid to thicken and lessen, it becomes more of a stew. OK, that makes sense, but where does that leave chowder, or chili? By definition, soups are made primarily with broth or water, which is how chowder is made, and why it’s called a very thick soup. By that definition, chili isn’t really a soup because the water content is low, but restaurants don’t know where to put it so it’s always under “soups”. Both soups and stews are considered comfort foods that are eaten out of bowls, even chili. But if you’re from Hawaii, you eat chili on a mound of rice, on a plate.

Have a warm Soup Month, everyone. Make some soup and load up your Zojirushi Food Jar to go!

1.Tomato 2.Clam Chowder 3.Minestrone 4.Vietnam 5.Gumbo 6.Seinfeld® 7.Borscht 8.Sourdough 9.Tofu
Did you remember to answer in the form of a question?

 
 

Products used in this post: ZOJIRUSHI x HELLO KITTY® Stainless Steel Food Jar SW-EAE50KT, Stainless Steel Food Jar SW-EAE50

Please note that these recipes were not tested by Zojirushi America.

All images by Bert Tanimoto ©2022

 
 

Meet the Zojirushi Micom Water Boiler & Warmer CD-NAC40/50

Micom Water Boiler & Warmer CD-NAC40/50

It’s officially winter, which means it’s time to curl up with a hot beverage or meal to get cozy for the holiday season. With the Zojirushi Micom Water Boiler & Warmer CD-NAC40/50, you can prepare a variety of delicious winter foods and beverages at the touch of a button – from hot teas, quick stews, and instant foods like ramen or oatmeal – making it the perfect winter companion for your home or office. Get to know this popular water boiler in our complete breakdown below and learn how to prepare some of our favorite water boiler recipes, too!

Design & Functionality

The Micom Water Boiler & Warmer features a sleek, contemporary design that comes in a Metallic Black color and in a 4 or 5 liter size. Made for your convenience, the water boiler features a swivel base for easy serving, an easy-to-read wide window water level gauge to show you how much water you have in your water boiler, and a detachable power cord to avoid any tangles when storing.

LCD display shows actual water temperature at all times

There are four keep warm temperature settings that you can set your water heater to, which are 160°F, 175°F, 195°F and 208°F. Not to mention, there is a Quick Temp mode, which reaches 160°F, 175°F or 195°F temperature settings without boiling, shortening your waiting time. Because this water boiler has a micro computerized temperature control system, the LCD display shows accurate water temperatures at all times, and also has an energy-saving timer function between 6-10 hours. You can use this feature to set up a delay timer to boil your water later, by simply pressing the “timer” button.

Swivel base for serving convenience

As always, safety is a top priority for us in our design process, and this Micom water boiler has an auto shut-off feature that prevents water from boiling dry, an automatic dispense lock, and all surfaces that come into contact with food or water are BPA-free.

 Use & Care

To use these water boilers, simply fill the water to your desired level of water by referencing the clear water level lines on the inner container of the pot. Close the lid, select your desired temperature, and wait for the water boiler to work its magic! When the warm water has reached your desired temperature setting, the machine will let you know it’s ready by serenading you with a melody. Now all you have to do is press “unlock” and then “dispense” to dispense your water. Note that to use Café Drip mode for drip coffee, simply press the unlock button twice before dispensing.

This water heater features a nonstick coated interior that makes it easier to clean and a detachable lid that you can clean separately. See the water boiler in action:

 

Easy Water Boiler Recipes

If you’re looking for some easy water boiler recipes, look no further. Here are some of our top recipes you can enjoy for the holidays, and all year long:

Silky Milky Oolong Tea

  • Silky Milky Oolong Tea – this sweet and creamy tea features a robust taste of oolong. Drink it for a pleasant boost of caffeine and comfort.
  • Spiced Rooibos Tea – when you’re looking to wind down, indulge in this cinnamon-spiced caffeine-free tea that’s rich in antioxidants.

Green Tea Chicken Stew

Do you have a Zojirushi water boiler at your home or office? What’s your favorite thing to make with your water heater? Remember to share your thoughts, comments, and questions with us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram! #Zojirushi #ZoFan