Fall Jewel 2014 - KAKI

This year I followed my friend's recommendation and wait to crop KAKI, Japanese persimmons until November.  I kept them covered with a crop net since late September.  

It was a great suggestion.   While my mom's Giant FUYU KAKI ripened at extreme fast rate along with the Figs (in Campbell) I noticed my KAKI are in good shape waiting for the cold front to freeze it over, even.   It will become sweeter.

Some of them have grown larger than any other year's.  I left half more on the tree those that are facing south and southwest.  They seem to have slower ripening rate than the ones that were facing north and northwest.

KABOCHA TEUCHI UDON (Homemade UDON with Japanese Pumpkin)

KABOCHA TEUCHI UDON was a highlight of this weekend.  Since fresh raw RAMEN did not reappear at the grocery store for over two months now, in disappointment, it's time to make my own.   I searched for some recipe for noodle, but after kneading the basic dough for TEUCHI UDON, I decided to add mashed KABOCHA.   KABOCHA is Japanese pumpkin that was previously roasted, mashed.  I was going to freeze some of it for future use, but this is a great opportunity to find out how it will be if mixed into the UDON dough.
A night before serving, prepare the dough.
Basic TEUCHI UDON recipe is 240 mL of warm water, 15 g Kosher salt, 400 g flour.
Knead for 8 minutes. 
I added 3/4 C of mashed KABOCHA and added additional 125 g of flour during mixing.  Knead for another 8 minutes.
Refrigerate overnight.
If you do not have a powerful commercial size mixer, after initial mixing by hand over the work surface,  place the formed dough ball in a heavy duty 1 gallon size freezer zip lock bag.  Rest for 30 minutes in refrigerator.  Roll it flat in the bag as you release air out of the bag and zip lock it.  Then, place on a clean floor surface and with a clean foot, of course, gently knead the dough with your foot.  Every minute, turn the dough in the bag over to fold and press down with your foot.  Knead for 8 minutes.  Then place in refrigerator for overnight or minimum of 3 hours of rest period.  This method is mentioned in many other bloggers' site.   And I think it is a very innovative method when a heavy duty mixer is not available and in place of strong arms.

Take a portion of the dough out of the bag onto a well floured work surface.
Chop a bunch of well washed green onions and set aside.
Set aside your favorite vege pickles and accompaniment for the noodles.  Hard boiled eggs, Exxo sauce, shrimp cakes, fish cakes, etc.
Start boiling a large pot of water.  Prepare your favorite soup base - DASHI base - 600 mL boiling water, 20 g shaved BONITA - KATSUOBUSHI (sold at Asian market in Japanese section), 20 g KONBU (dry, cut, kelp or sheet kelp for DASHI making).   5 to 6 pieces of SHIITAKE.  Simmer for 30 minutes.   Add 1/8 C Soy sauce when ready.

 Roll the dough out into a manageable rectangle.  5 x 12 inches, for example, and use Pizza cutter to slice.  ** Make sure the dough before you cut is well floured or they will stick to each other.
Pull a strand away and tap the noodle on the work surface by pulling both ends in a jump rope motion to stretch the noodle.   Otherwise, roll out the dough to a thinner length and slice into noodle strips.

Add into boiling water.
After the noodle afloat to the surface, cook 1 minute longer.  Strain and transfer into a noodle bowl.

Place all the topping goodies on top of the noodle.  Ladle hot soup over them.

And serve with hot chili oil or 7-flavor chili peppers - NANAMI TOGARASHI.

Banana Bread and Banana KAKI Muffins

There are so many different recipes to try baking with persimmons, and I decided to test with my favorite banana bread recipe.  It turned out pretty good.   KAKI  (Japanese FUYU Persimmon/Non-stringent) is crisp and peeled and chopped into cubes.  Basic banana recipe is used and half of the batter is used for a small loaf of banana bread and the other half for the Banana KAKI Muffins.    I did not use very much cinnamon.  That's the whole point of my test cooking and baking with KAKI.  To find it's best taste without drowning it with spices.   The muffins are prepared with cinnamon, ground cloves, and lemon peels.

 

Extra KAKI are sliced and placed in freeze bag for future use; soft KAKI are gently pressed with the side of the spoon to separate it a bit and placed in ice-cube tray for later use in my future concoction... actually, I did use in the earlier post I blogged in KAKI Mochi Cookies, for example.