Ichigo Daifuku?

You may ask yourself, what the hell kind of title is that for a blog posting.  Well grasshopper, since we are still in Japan, I will tell you.

Ichigo Daifuku is a very common dessert in Japan.  It has become a popular dessert here as well.  Sweet bean paste wrapped around ice cream and then wrapped in rice dough call "mochi".  Ours were wrapped around strawberries.  We should have split one open for presentation.

I made a main course dish called Pearl Balls.   Doesn't quite have the same ring, does it?
Ground pork balls with egg, a cornstarch slurry, chestnuts, ginger, scallions, soy sauce, sherry, sugar, salt and then coated in rice and then steamed.  Dim Sum comes to mind.  Nice plate!  Needs a dipping sauce, but it doesn't call for one.  Chef said, no!  Yes Chef.

Just so you understand, in Cuisines Across Cultures, we work as teams now.  We collaborate on some dishes and work on others by ourselves.  But, we do have to present them all together.  It's fun and more pressure.  Not only pleasing the Chef, but not letting down teammates.

Ichigo Daifuku for everyone as we killed this one.