 |
Taking on Shokugeki No Soma's Curry Challenge:
Pistachio-Covered Deep-Fried Mochi Balls, filled with Chicken Korma,
accompanied by Tamarind Chutney |
A few months ago, as I finally emerged from my end-of-degree confinement cave, I tumbled head first into an entanglement of the elongated scroll that my bucket list had become. Throughout my university hermitage, I had only peered out of my library alcove and hoodie-and-jeans combo (an almost monastic garb at that point) enough to catch glimpses of hobbies that I kept telling myself I wanted to try, but postponed at every corner of opportunity. "Later, later. Exams are coming, projects this, projects that." Past the first year of undergraduate, I had a ridiculously unhealthy personal/social life:work balance. So, as I emerged from my studying stupor, I was exalted to finally get to tackle my bucket list. I'd been warned that the post-grad blues might uppercut me out of nowhere, so I decided to dive in my personal interests while I still had this residual energy from graduation's sense of relief.
I did spend my first two weeks whipping my résumé into shape and doing an initial job hunting sweep of my career path of interest, but I gave myself a 4-to-6-months break to catch a breather. I browsed through the possibilities, leisurely, the contemplation alone easing my mind into a spa state: TV shows lined up from 2013, games I finally had the time to immerse myself in, acrylic painting, playing piano again... In the end, I picked up learning Japanese hiragana, bringing my blog back from the undying and, fueled by the most insanely entertaining cooking anime (Japanese animation - typically of various styles and themes that can target audiences of children as much as adults), I felt motivated to experiment new styles and flavors of baking/cooking again.
I used to lean on and enjoy baking sessions wedged in-between exam waves as a form of stress release therapy, but as the bandwagon of dietetics internships engulfed me, I had completely discarded all forms of entertainment to catch up on much needed sleep. For a while, I lost my baking touch and interest. Shokugeki No Soma (also known as Food Wars!) tickled that forgotten enjoyment to life again.
 |
| Shokugeki No Soma's cast - this is my favourite scene in the ending theme song! |
Food Wars! Shokugeki No Soma is a comedic, food-themed shounen "battle" anime that follows the adventures of Yukihira Soma as he enrolls into the most prestigious elite cooking school of Japan: Totsuki Cooking Academy. Everything in that school revolves around cooking skills, from important administrative decisions to electing a worthy student body council. The students' cooking abilities are judged through intense "cook-offs", kind of like a sport competition, but with gastronomic creations (imagine Iron Chef). On top of these inter-student "food wars", even the classes look like cooking bootcamp all semester-long. The Academy organizes event after event of similarly intense cooking exams to attribute a student's passing grade.
Totsuki Academy's students have to come up with creative and polished culinary dishes to surpass their opponents in the anime's iconic "food battles/wars", also called "shokugekis". During those cook-offs, anything and everything could be wagered, including a student's expulsion from the Academy or the acquisition of new living quarters. What's absolutely great is that on top of being a visual feast (the animated food looks SCRUMPTIOUS), the show also incorporates real-life cooking techniques into the "battles"'cooking strategies. It's a pleasure and an inspiration to see a cooking master plan unfurl. I have to say this is also the first comedic anime that I have loved. I usually lean towards animes that have a slightly darker edge to them (such as Psycho-Pass, Shinsekai Yori or Claymore), but I was pleasantly surprised and enamored with Shokugeki No Soma. Despite being a comedic anime, the plot is very well-paced and every character is fleshed out. The supporting cast is also fairly large, but the writers managed to attribute a distinctive cooking specialty and personality characteristic to each of them, and I found myself being charmed by all the secondary characters. Fair warning: this show also interprets foodgasms quite literally.
 |
| Are you hungry yet? |
An epic shokugeki of this show is themed on curry, and each contestant is free to present his/her gastronomic interpretation of it. As curry has quite numerous international variants, you can imagine how creative this got. I won't spoil you with examples because the show is really worth watching and finding this out by yourself. If you hurry, you might be able to catch up on the first season before the second one comes out anytime now (it has been scheduled to start airing in July)! The dish that I'm sharing today is inspired by this Curry Shokugeki. After all the crazy curry ideas that I saw on the show, I got really excited and wanted to come up with a dish that I would present if I could participate in this fictional world.
 |
Taking on Shokugeki No Soma's Curry Challenge:
Chicken Korma-filled Deep-Fried Mochi Balls, dipped in Tamarind Chutney |
I decided to make dim sum deep-fried sesame balls (jian dui), but have them covered with pistachio chunks instead of sesame seeds, filled with chicken korma and accompanied with a tamarind chutney. This was the first culinary experiment with more than one dish element that I tried to tackle, and I got both satisfying and disappointing end results.
First of all, well, my deep-fried mochi balls look very sad: they're practically bald. The pistachio chunks all fell off when the mochi balls cooked. Moreover, the outer layer of the balls wasn't as golden crisp and crunchy as jian dui. Other than that, I'm a die-hard fan of mochi so I still enjoyed the inner chewiness.
 |
| Pistachio-Covered Mochi Balls, Filled with Chicken Korma |
My coup-de-coeur of this culinary experiment is the tamarind chutney. I absolutely LOVED it: it's sweet-and-sour with a hint of flames in the backdrop, and I think I'll start spreading it everywhere.
The chicken korma was good, but quite mild. I think it didn't rank as high as the tamarind chutney in my stomach because I was expecting more of a spice punch. On rice, however, it is great. There's probably an unwritten rule somewhere that sauces and gravies are just meant to be soaked up with chewy rice grains (naan bread would probably be fantastic too. Mmmm, naan). Next time, I might add a couple of potatoes in the pot - chicken chunks alone made the sauce look quite lonely.
I'll only share the recipes for the chicken korma and tamarind chutney because I can see myself cooking a batch of this stuff again :) The mochi balls need a bit of re-handling.
 |
| Chicken Korma |
Chicken Korma
Ingredients:
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts,
cut into stew chunks
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 ounce tamarind pulp (a golf
ball sized piece)
1 1/4 cup boiling water
10 green cardamom pods (seeds
removed from pods, pods discarded)
6 cloves
3 star anise, whole
1⁄2 teaspoon black peppercorns
3 medium, ripe and juicy tomatoes, each cut
into 8 pieces
250 ml plain Greek yogurt
3 tablespoons
sesame oil
2 dried red chilis
2 teaspoons Sriracha sauce
3 black cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
3 garlic cloves, minced
7 shallots, thinly sliced
1 inch piece ginger root, minced
2 1/2 teaspoons garam masala
1 teaspoon salt
Preparation:
1. In a large bowl, combine chicken chunks and red wine vinegar. Make sure that the chunks are well coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30
minutes.
2. In a small bowl, place the tamarind pulp and pour the boiling water over it. Let stand 30 minutes to soften the pulp.
3. In the meantime, combine the green cardamom seeds, cloves, star anise and peppercorns in
a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. Pound/grind until everything is ground and well-combined.
4. Using the back of a spoon, purée the softened tamarind pulp and mix with the water until it reaches a liquid gravy-consistency. Then, filter this tamarind gravy through a sieve to remove the tough skins and fibers. Mix the ground spices and the Sriracha into the tamarind gravy; Set aside.
5. Purée the tomato chunks in a blender and set aside.
6. Heat the oil in a deep, heavy skillet over medium heat; stir in the red
chilies, black cardamom and cinnamon stick, and cook for 2 minutes or until fragrant.
7. Add the garlic, shallots, and ginger; Cook, stirring, for 6-8
minutes.
8. Add the reserved tamarind and ground-spice mixture. Cook, stirring continuously again, for 2
minutes.
9. Add the tomato mixture and turn heat to medium-low. Stir to combine.
10. Stir in the garam masala; cook, until mixture thickens, about 15-20
minutes. Season with salt.
11. Add the chicken chunks and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5-7 minutes.
12. While the chicken is cooking, whisk up your Greek yogourt to break down its gel matrix. Its consistency should look a bit more liquidy. Set aside.
13. When the chicken chunks finish cooking, take the pot off the heat and let cool 10-15 minutes.
14. Add 1/4 of the sauce (without chicken chunks) to the Greek yogourt, 1 tablespoon at the time, to warm it up gradually. As it becomes more lukewarm, transfer the Greek yogourt mixture to the pot and mix well to combine. Make sure that your curry isn't still too hot at that point or the yogourt will curdle.
15. Taste for seasoning one last time. Add salt and extra Sriracha if needed.
16. Enjoy on rice or with naan bread :)!
 |
| Chicken Korma |
Tamarind Chutney
Ingredients:
1⁄8
tsp. ground cumin
1/4 cup tamarind paste/compressed pulp
45 ml palm sugar, broken into small chunks, or brown sugar
1⁄8 tsp. ground ginger
1⁄8 tsp. salt
Sriracha to taste
Preparation:
1. Soften tamarind paste in equal parts water. Let stand 15-20 minutes.
2. Use a rubber spatula to push the softened tamarind paste through a fine mesh
strainer (remove fibers and seeds). Set aside.
3. In a small pot, bring 45 ml of water to boil. Add sugar and stir frequently
until dissolved. Add tamarind pulp and combine until the mixture is homogenous.
4. Stir in cumin, ginger, salt, and sriracha; cook, stirring occasionally, for
3-4 minutes.
5. Transfer to a small bowl, cover and refrigerate to cool.
