I do have plenty of gorgeous (yes, cookery books can be gorgeous) recipe books that I brought with me from the UK, but here so many of the ingredients can be hard to find (like self raising flour or golden syrup), and so I was after something Japanese. Torn between a book on how to make wagashi (those delicate, sweet morsels that get served with green tea), a book on baking with vegetables, and another book on the various uses of goma (sesame), I eventually settled on this:
It pretty much covers all of the above, plus has the advantage of being fairly simple to understand :-) Gosh, I am amazed at how many of the 363 recipes I can't wait to cook! Buckwheat sable biscuits? Kinako (roasted soya bean flour) and goma cookies? Sweet potato doughnuts? Obviously, I need to go shopping again...
Of course, I wanted to try something out straight away, so chose a simple sweetcorn bread (actually, it's more like a slightly savoury cake) that could be made in the rice cooker (remember, my temperamental oven has a strong dislike of baking):
This was so easy (and delicious) and turned out exactly like the photo in the book - yay!
Sweetcorn Bread
50g sugar
2 eggs
pinch of salt
1 1/2 tablespoons powdered cheese (I used Parmesan)
100g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon milk
100g sweetcorn, drained (defrosted if using frozen)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Whisk together the sugar and eggs, then add the salt and cheese. Sift in the flour and baking powder, then stir in the milk, sweetcorn and butter. Grease the rice cooker pan with a little butter and pour the batter in. Cook on the white rice setting, checking to see if it is cooked through as soon as it beeps to tell you it is done (if not, press the switch again and cook for an extra few minutes), and turn out onto a rack to cool.
