Manju and Mochi 101
A culinary adventure by Sabeen Abbas
The Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (JCCC) is located just off the Don Valley Parkway at Wynford Drive. After a stop-and-go ride through post-work traffic, my mom and I arrive a few minutes late for Chef Shoji’s manju and mochi workshop at the JCCC. We sneak into the class as he demonstrates how to mix a paste for dorayaki – a red bean stuffed pancake. He shows us his kitchen tools – two heavy iron skillets with nine circular holes, branding irons with kanji characters. He drops the dorayaki mix made with flour, baking powder, eggs, milk, sugar, soya sauce, and mirin into the iron skillet. He has bent the length of his measuring spoon so that it hooks over his mixing bowl. When bubbles form on one side, he lifts up the pancake with a knife and flips them onto a hot tray to cook the other side. Chef Shoji is a retired auto mechanic who brings a methodical approach from his years of fixing cars to fixing up desserts. There is a tool for everything, he instructs us, and if there isn’t you have to make one.
