Sweet Japanese Christmas Dishes

While Christmas isn’t considered a national holiday in many Eastern countries, the festive season is still celebrated with plenty of tasty treats. We take a look at some of the ‘sweetest’ Oriental Christmas dishes enjoyed in Japan.

Christmas Wagashi

Wagashi is a traditional Japanese sweet made using ingredients such as red bean paste, mochi, or agar jelly. Typically, it comes in cute and intricate shapes, and these can change with the season, meaning that festive themed Wagashi are not uncommon around Christmas time. Festive shapes often seen with Wagashi include Christmas trees, snowmen, reindeer and Santa. While the outside is festive, the flavours within will remain traditional.

Yuzu

Between November and January is peak time for yuzu, the Japanese citrus. The fruit is used to flavour an incredible assortment of sweet treats, including tea, cakes and yokan (a traditional jelly cake). Some Japanese people take this one step further, making mini yuzu-shaped cake bites and flavouring more delicate desserts like macaroons and puff pastries.

Christmas Cake

While standard Christmas cakes, as you’d find in England, are available in most supermarkets, one of the more popular Christmas cakes in Japan is the Strawberry Shortcake. The cake is also known as Kurisumasu Keiki. Possibly due to its red and white colouring, these strawberry cakes have become a very popular dessert eaten on Christmas Eve in Japan. The cake is made using round layers of white fluffy sponge covered in whipped cream, with strawberries between each layer and on the top.

If you would like to try to make this Christmas classic, follow the recipe below:

Cake:

50g flour

50g sugar

¼ tsp baking powder

4 eggs

2 tbsp milk

2 tbsp honey

Cream:

500ml double cream

4 tbsp sugar

around 20 fresh strawberries

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 175°C

2) Whisk the eggs in a bowl, and gradually add in the sugar for the sponge part of the recipe and mix until combined. Fill a separate bowl with warm water and place the egg bowl inside it so the mixture is warmed. Continue to whisk until the mixture looks almost white.

3) Warm the milk in a microwave for ten seconds (in a suitable bowl, of course!). Stir in the honey and then whisk it into the egg mixture.

4) Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixing bowl with the egg and gently mix it all together.

5) Place the mixture into a buttered cake tin and bake for 25 minutes. Once out of the oven, allow to cool.

6) In a bowl, whip together the double cream and sugar until it forms stiff peaks. Separate the mix into two portions.

7) Take half of the strawberries, cut them in half, and add them to one portion of cream.

8) When the sponge is cool, cut it in half horizontally. Spread the strawberries and cream mixture on top of one of the halves, then place the other slice on top.

9) Use the remaining cream and a spatula, or icing bag, to spread around the rest of the cake. Decorate the top of the cake with the remaining strawberries. Enjoy!

If you are looking to enjoy any of these tasty treats this Christmas, then check out the range of oriental fresh and oriental frozen foods available at Oriental Mart!