Nope, Not Hedgehog, but Taiwanese Aiyu Jelly

It's play time!

Who said that we can't play with food, boo them! Let's get our hands wet and start squeeze the gooey liquid out of aiyu seeds. Also a great dessert to make with kids at home, so easy and kind of fun, with possibly some water splashing around.

Taiwanese aiyu jelly -

Ingredients (about 8 to 10 portions)?

• 68 grams dried aiyu (seeds still attached, use less if already separated)
• 2000 ml water (avoid RO water)
• Few Taiwanese green lemon (yellow lemon works fine too)
• Some honey

How?

Why avoiding RO water? The reason is that RO water can hinder the formation of jelly. The result can be watery or gel-like texture.

Use hot water to make some honey water. It'll better help the honey to melt. Store in the fridge to cool down first.

The aiyu seeds used here are still attached to the dried fruit. It's not necessary to remove them. Gently rinse the seeds with water then transfer to a cloth bag. Tie a knot to the opening.

Prepare a big pot of water, about 2000 ml. The aiyu seeds versus water proportion can be tricky at first. On top of that, once finished, aiyu jelly will become firmer even when stored in the fridge. However, about a day or two it'll revert back to watery texture. So it's best to consume within one day.

Insert the aiyu cloth in this pot of water, start rubbing and squeezing it. Think of it as massaging the aiyu seeds. Soon after, it'll turn slimy and gooey, keep going till the entire water turn slightly slimy too. You'll get a feeling that no more yellow hue can be squeezed out once done.

Transfer the pot to the fridge, about 30 minutes after, the water will start to coagulate and become more jelly-like.

The texture will change from watery to gooey, then start to firm up. Sometimes after half day or one day, the jelly will revert back to watery form. The best way is to serve it when aiyu water reaches your favorite texture. 

Scoop some aiyu jelly to the serving bowl, serve with cold honey water and squeeze some fresh lemon juice to further brighten up the flavor. Garnish with thinly sliced lemon.

I like my aiyu jelly on the softer side. Some prefer it firm that you can cut the jelly in half with a gentle bite. Play around the proportion, keep it fun, it'll be delicious with honey water no matter what.


Other dessert recipes:

• Mango mousse for two
• Milk chocolate matcha lava cake
• Steamed pear with rock sugar
• Custard-like matcha pudding  (抹茶プリン)

Brown Rice SPAM Musubi

It was meant to be regular white rice musubi, but I'm too used to making brown rice at home...and the brown rice was already soaked in water...So here it is, healthier version musubi with a CA vibe.

Brown rice SPAM musubi -

Ingredients (about 8 servings)?

• 2 cups cooked brown rice
• 4 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup oyster sauce
• 1 can SPAM 
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Few sheets dried seaweed/nori

How?

Cook the rice. Once ready, pour in some rice vinegar and fluff the rice. Set aside to cool off.

Cut the SPAM into 8 rectangular slices. Trim the dried seaweed sheets based on the length of SPAM slices. The width of the seaweed should be about the same as the length of the SPAM slices. You'll get a better idea by looking at my pictures.

Prepare a container for the sauce, add in soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar. Mix and make sure the sugar has been fully dissolved.

Drizzle some oil to the pan and turn to medium heat. Transfer SPAM over and pour in 2/3 of the sauce. Don't pour in all the sauce at once just to be safe. Sear the SPAM with the sauce, no more than one minute then flip and sear the other side. Bubbling sauce is fine, just watch the heat and not burning it.

Use a musubi mold if available, otherwise I just scoop some rice to the center of the seaweed sheet. Press tightly, I also use the side of the knife to help with shaping straight sides. Shape and press till tight rectangular bed of brown rice formed.

Top the rice with same sized SPAM. Fold in one side of the seaweed. Wipe the edge, the sealing edge with some water then fold the other half of the seaweed over. Press and seal.

I've got some sauce left, so decided to cook some chicken tenders with it. Garnish with toasted white sesame seeds. One extra dish made right on the spot.


Other seaweed recipes:

• Hijiki salad (ひじきサラダ)
• Wafu pasta recipe - shio kombu and mizuna spaghetti
• Cheese and nori pork rolls
• Mozuku cucumber