Aomori.
Now tell me, how many of you have heard of it?
I haven’t, not until I got to know about Aomori and its abundance of fresh produce.
I love Japan and I’ve learnt sometime ago that every part of the lovely country has its own wonderful produce to offer the world.
For Aomori it is her fresh seafood and fruits.
Situated in the northernmost prefectural city on Honshu, Japan’s main island Aomori enjoys colder temperatures compared to Tokyo and the rest of western side of Japan.
The significant difference in temperature between daytime and night time is another contributing factor to its fertility to grow multiple fruits and vegetables, all with natural sweetness and juiciness.
In part of its effort to introduce authentic Japanese delicacies to Malaysians, Senya latest Japanese fair is all focused on Aomori.
In conjunction with this effort, Senya at Publika is running a fun Facebook contest to spread awareness of Aomori prefecture as well as to encourage the public to sample the prefecture’s specialties.
Considering that travel to Japan isn’t affordable for everyone, Senya Solaris provided an alternative by having the produce bought into Malaysia and prepared in an authentic manner by skilled Japanese chefs in Senya Solaris outlet.
So here we are, savouring Aomori specialities in a comfortable environment and paying fair prices for them.
If you participate in their FB contest, you will stand a chance to win a RM100 Senya voucher to enjoy your next Senya meal for free/RM100 less, so remember to take part ok?
Here are the 10 Aomori dishes available during this fair.
My advice? Try them all!
I have a few favourites, but overall all the dishes are enjoyable, unique and adeptly prepared.
1. Aomori Apple with Pork Belly Skewer (RM6).
Aomori is the best producer of apples throughout Japan and besides the world famous Fuji Apple, there are varieties of apples produced in the region.
The rivers with its crystal clear water and low temperature maintain the soil of Aomori land in the best condition to grow fruits and vegetables.
In fact, do you know that more than 50% percent of apples produced in Japan are from Aomori and 90% of apples exported from Japan are from Aomori?
Well, now you do!
And from here on you will notice the appearance of Aomori apples in a few of the featured dishes in this Aomori fair.
This delicious bacon skewer was our appetiser and the juicy bacon was wrapped around a chunk of preserved Aomori apples.
The preserving process involved dipping the apples in sugar syrup but as that made the apples too sweet, the Chef de-sugar it by boiling it in water before wrapping it in bacon and grilling it over charcoal.
The result?
Succulently juicy and sweet apple with smoky savoury pork belly.
2. Fried Aomori Baby Scallop & Long Bean Sprout (RM25).
This dish made use of Aomori baby scallops. The baby scallops are small and thus the umami and sweetness of scallops are condensed in each piece.
This dish offers health benefits too as long bean sprout’s is rich in vitamin C, E and its Vit B content are twice as much as normal bean sprout.
3. Grilled Aomori Squid with Guts (RM22).
Yes, you read right. GUTS.
As in the bowels of the squids. But please, it doesn’t taste as weird as it sounds ok!
Using imported Aomori squids this traditional Aomori dish is mainly eaten by fishermen. It can only be prepared with fresh squid because guts need to be fresh to make this.
So do YOU have the guts to eat this?
It is said to be good with shochu and sake!
4. Aomori Baby Scallop Kakiage Tempura (RM19.80).
This rather appetising “snack” consist of onion, carrot, mitsuba leaves and Aomori baby scallops.
For those who aren’t aware, “Kakiage” is a variant of tempura which can be easily made at home with chopped vegetables and seafood.
This light and crunchy creation is absolutely addictive and I really love the sweet, juicy onions used!
5. Vinegared Saba Sushi (RM22.80).
Saba sushi isn’t as common as say, salmon sushi.
However if you like soba, try the vinegar-ed Aomori Saba.
Aomori’s saba flavour is stable at any time throughout the year, but it gets better in winter as the Saba fishes grew fat to protect themselves from the cold.
By the way, this type of sushi is called “oshizushi” meaning ‘pressed sushi’.
The standard Oshizushi does not have include anything within the rice, but Senya’s Chef had added egg, cucumber, sakura denbu (the pink item you see here), and kanpyo to make look like futomaki.
6. Nanbu Aomori Senbei Hot Pot (RM19).
If you fancy something soupy, try the traditional hotpot Senbei Jiru which is a local dish of Aomori especially in the area called Nanbu.
This tasty broth blends the sweet salty elements of shoyu (soy sauce) with the savouriness from chicken broth.
An important element is the Nanbu Senbei (rice cracker) which will soften in the soup when the senbei is boiled. It is then enjoyed as part of the soup and other ingredients.
7. Aomori Seafood Barachirashi Don (RM33.80).
We are all familiar with Chirashi Don.
The version here differs slightly with the use of boiled Aomori baby scallop as well as Aomori squid and Aomori vinegared saba, tuna, garlic and Aomori yam.
It is said that compared to the famed Hokkaido scallops, Aomori scallops are creamier and richer in taste.
This bowl combines the vinegared baby scallops with the fresh normal sized scallops, both imported from Aomori.
Frankly, this is one of the best Chirashi Don I’ve had in the Klang Valley.
It is a big bowl of superior ingredients for the price!
There are baby scallops, fresh scallops, tuna, salmon, squid, saba, garlic, yam, cucumber, shiso leaves, ikura, egg, preserved mushrooms and of course, a generous portion of vinegared rice underneath it all.
8. Pork Don with Preserved Aomori Apple (RM23.80).
You’re forgiven if at first glance you are inclined to equate the top layers with eel (unagi). It does look like unagi, but it isn’t!
This is in fact one of Senya’s signature dish; pork don. During this Aomori fair, the don will be served with preserved Aomori apple.
Just like the pork skewers earlier, the preserved apples are desugared. However here the apples were accented with lemon flavour. This serves to remove the over-rich taste of the whole dish and reduce oiliness.
The pork slices tasted like well, tasty char siew!
9. Aomori Baby Scallop Miso Curry Milk Ramen (RM22.80).
The Aomori baby scallops made its appearance again.
But what got my attention was the slab of cold butter crowning the dish.
What is it doing there you ask?
Well, believe it or not, this dish was created by some children of Aomori. They added milk and curry into ramen and it turned out to be wildly accepted in the region. Since then it had evolved to be a traditional Aomori ramen!
Tastewise it is deliciously milky, slightly spicy and very umami. Quite different from your usual pork broth based ramen!
10. Cream Cheese Snow Mountain & Aomori Apple Sorbet with Cinnamon Cookie (RM16).
A Aomori dessert would have well, Aomori apples!
This is cream cheese mousse with Aomori apple ice cream and cinnamon cookie. I was too full to fully appreciate the dessert but I would return for this.
I love how light the cream cheese was and the match of the apples and scented cinnamon cookies with the ice cream.
Aomori is a best producer of Apple in Japan and there is an area called Hiromae-shi which produces the best quantity of apples in the whole of Japan.
There is also a park called Hiromae-shi Ringo Park which is popular for this Amori Apple Soft Cream.
It was an education session with the Senya team and I left rather blessed to have first hand experience of its cuisine.
In fact I’m planning a revisit with some friends for the Chirashi Don, the Pork Don, the Ramen and the dessert.
This Aomori promotion is only from 15th to 29th of February so if you are keen to try any of the 10 dishes listed above, do head over to Senya Solaris (Publika) during this period!
So, WHICH DISH DO YOU THINK WILL BE THE MOST POPULAR DISH USING AOMORI INGREDIENTS DURING THE PERIOD OF AOMORI FAIR?
The contest runs from 15th to 29th of FEBRUARY 2016.
It is SO SIMPLE so please do take part!
You can vote for your favourite here –> https://www.facebook.com/senya.solaris.dutamas/posts/1263100843716577
At the end of the voting period, there will be 5 randomly selected winners.
Do remember that yoou are only allowed to LIKE on ONE photo. You are automatically disqualified if you vote more than once.
So, which is your favorite Aomori dish?
Vote here –> https://www.facebook.com/senya.solaris.dutamas/posts/1263100843716577
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SENYA SOLARIS
D5-G3-5 Solaris Dutamas,
No.1 Jalan Dutamas 1, 50480
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Hours:
Mon: 5:30 pm – 12:00 am
Tue-Sat: 12:00 pm – 2:30 pm
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