- There's 粟ぜんざい and “just” ぜんざい. The former adds millet to the red bean soup and もち of the latter, and is considered more tea-like.
- As for the bean soup, you can either use coarse bean paste or with こしあん. In the first case, it's more common to have grilled 切り餅, in the second case prepare little dumplings (MR25).
- In either case, serve this with something salty, like 大徳寺納豆 or salted sea weed.
- For this, either find a small plate, or use a 信玄弁当箱.
- If you can't find 大徳寺納豆, you can use touchi from Chinese stores, which is similar; or salted kelp.
My Recipe
For next time, it might be nice to try out replacing the chestnut ice cream with a millet ice cream by steeping the millet in the milk, blending it and then following the recipe below.
- I'm not a big fan of the original ぜんざい; I find it a bit simple and awkward, both the 粟ぜんざい and the “normal” one. So my current version is not an 粟ぜんざい, but an 栗ぜんざい: Chestnut gelato wrapped in 餅 dough, served on 粒あん.
- Gelato:
- 225 gr chestnut paste
- 75 gr palm sugar
- 100 gr milk
- 10 gr 醤油
- 125 gr cream
- Mix first four ingredients (making sure the milk doesn't go above 60°). Whip cream, then add mixture to cream and refrigerate (or place in freezer for ~20').
- I used the Kitchenaid ice cream maker, which went well and made the ice cream in about 15'
- While the ice cream is still soft, portion it out into little balls into a clad wrap-lined egg carton (Joshua Weissman's idea).
- 餅 (it's actually a 求肥 dough:
- 110 gr もち粉 or 白玉粉
- 110 gr sugar
- 165 gr water
- Mix everything, let stand a few minutes, then heat while stirring until slightly translucent (takes about 4'). Scoop onto cornstarched surface, fold over, wait 5'
- Roll out 3 mm thick, then cut ~10 cm circles, put each on a slightly larger clad wrap rectangle and refrigerate them.
- 栗アイスクリーム餅: Working one ice cream portion at a time: Take もち disk out of the fridge, place on chilled surface, place ice cream in it. Avoiding touching the ice cream, fold the もち dough and close; then 絞り in the clad wrap and freeze again for an hour at least.
- Soup: 粒あん, some Kirsch, some water, a pinch of salt. Heat and let water evaporate until it's quite thick again.
Recipes
- If you're making the soup from dried beans: rinse them, add new water, bring to a boil, strain, add new water and simmer for 1 hour. Add as much sugar as beans, Sapporo also adds some soy sauce!
- For the fine soup, you can just mix こしあん with water.
- For the 餅粉 dumplings, add water to 餅粉 until you can knead and shape them. Make balls, then make a little indentation (KM25). Add to cooking water, and take out when they rise (after 1' or so). Put into cold water.
Serving
- Instead of using a pair of chopsticks, use one くろもじ and a helper, 利休-shaped helper chopstick; because conceptionally, it's a sweet and not 懐石.
- In that case, add the pair like you would in 懐石 resting on the R rim of the tray (淡交テクスト)
- MR25 put both the chopstick and 黒文字 on the lid of the bowl. I think that looks a bit dangerous.
- However, you can also just put one 黒文字 on top of the lidded bowl
- In either case, the tray is served just like the normal 懐石 tray, with the guest leaning a bit forward to receive it. The host shifts back, bows silently; the guest place the tray outside.
- then add the door announce 「お菓子をどうぞ」.
- The guests then ご一緒に, then take the trays half inside.
Ideas
- For the salted thing, some fried bacon might set nice accents.