Showing posts with label JAPAN. Show all posts

[RECIPE] Tsuguharu Foujita Breakfast x Croquette

I first came across Foujita's name when I was casually browsing the history of Fauvism and Pablo Picasso. Who is this highly talented (and well-known avant-garde of Montparnesse), only now long forgotten?  

- Foujita in his studio Wikipedia  

After studying art in Japan, Foujita arrived in France in 1913 and befriended with some of the most well-known artists today like Modigliani, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. 

He achieved great success in his early years that he eventually made enough money to install an expensive bathtub with hot running water and that his models often came by for free showers. 


Autoportrait - Tsuguharu Foujita 

Foujita's unique painting style, largely influenced by Japanese prints, emphasized more on line than color, that was a sensation to the Western art circle. Drawings of women and cats upon a simple white background, with powerful, unbroken strokes. 

Thoroughly inspired by his simplistic and strong approach on line and structure, I wanted to create a recipe based on this, and what better way than making the Croquette (Korokke in Japanese) for breakfast? 

The Korokke was introduced in Japan around the early Meiji Restorations and is very similar to the French form of Croquette, a fritter filled with potato and vegetables. For my recipe, I've used sweet potatoes instead, a perfect Western meet Asian rendition, just like Foujita's paintings. 

[Ingredient] Makes about 8 croquettes 

2 Medium size sweet potatoes 
30g of Minced meat 
1/5 of an onion 
Pepper 
Salt 
1 egg 
10g of flour 
10g of breadcrumb
Olive oil 

[Preparation]
Steam the sweet potatoes, mash it up and leave it to cool 

[Procedure]
  1. Cut the onion into small dices 
  2. Stir fry the onions until semi-transparent and flavorful 
  3. Add in the minced meat and stir fry 
  4. Add Salt and Pepper 
  5. Once the above is ready, add this to the mashed sweet potatoes and mix well 
  6. Prepare 3 different dishes with flour in one plate, beaten egg in the next and the breadcrumbs stationed in the third plate. Set up this station so that you can work your way from left to right. 
  7. Roll the sweet potato mix into a small size bowl, and throw it back and forth with your hands to get rid of excessive air. 
  8. Damp the sweet potato ball into the flour, dust off any excessive flour and damp it into egg and then the breadcrumbs. Shape and the flatten the ball as needed. 
  9. Once this is done, heat the oil in a flat pan and you can test the temperature of the oil by adding a little piece of breadcrumb. When it starts sizzling (and not oil is not yet blacken), this is the right temperature (about 170C -180C) to put the croquette in. 
  10. Fry until its golden brown on both sides. 
Hope you enjoy! If you have an artists that you absolutely adore and would love a recipe whipped up for it, let me know :) 


[TOKYO, JAPAN]: Top 3 Shrines for career, health and love: Kameidoten Shrine, Matsuchiyama Shoten, Imado Shrine

If I had one word to describe Tokyo, it would be the word "Transient". 
It's a clash between modern otaku technology vs. conventional Bushido traditions. 
It's probably my 5th time to Tokyo, but I can never run out of places to go to, a new restaurant, a local art gallery, a shrine in Wisteria season. Opportunities abound. 

Sakura (Cherry Blossom season) is the big flower season around end of March to early April, but if you are visiting in May, there's always the Wisteria. 


The Kameidoten Shrine, is a popular Tenji shrine that Japanese people go to to pray for academic successes and happiness. It is famous for it's red arched bridge and a garden full of plum flowers (End of January to February) and wisteria (End of April to June).  

 Taking a slow stroll around the quiet neighborhood of Sumida park.
 This is one of those temples that don't come up in guidebooks, the Matsuchiyama Shoden Temple

The legend goes that one day in year 595, the Matsuchiyama mountain suddenly appeared and it has been considered as a sacred spot since then. It also appears in many Ukiyo-e prints and poems during the Edo period (so the temple has been around for 1400 years...) for its beautiful mountain view.

There are a lot of Daikon (Radish) and money bag motifs in and around the temple, which symbolizes career success and family harmony. What I love about this place is that it is not crowded with tourists, and you can really immerse in this quiet sanctuary. 

 Imado Shrine - to love
This is considered one of the top 5 matchmaking shrines in Japan, and what's cute about it is that although the original deities worshipped are Emperor Ojin, Izanagi-no-mikoto, and Izanami-no-mikoto, the welcome cats "Maneki-Neko" became more popular than the actual deities, and were said to be given power for match making. 
 There is a legend too that during the Edo period, an old grandma had a cat, but due to financial reasons, she had to let it go. One day she had a dream of the cat, which said "Ask the potter to create a statue of me, and good fortune will come". This is also the place where Imado pottery came to birth, and obviously the cat won its respect from tourists all over the world to come pray for love and marriage.