Daifuku from AEON supermarket Whampoa
Besides sushi, I mentioned that I also bought (Japanese) drinks and snacks at the AEON supermarket in Whampoa, Hong Kong, and in this blog post, I will introduce one of the Japanese snacks that I like: the daifuku (大福).
Just in case, you don't know what that is, it is a glutinous rice flour ball filled with anko (sweetened red bean paste made from azuki beans). It is covered with a thin layer of starch to prevent it from sticking. There are small, bite-sized daifuku, but also large ones as big as the palm of your hand. On Wikipedia, I found the story behind the name, daifuku, and it is funny that the Chinese character for belly (腹) and luck (福) is pronounced the same as "fuku". So, this filling rice cake snack, which gives you a big (大, pronounced as "dai") belly, also gives you big luck.
In the refrigerated area in the AEON supermarket in Whampoa, I found two kinds of daifuku: the shiro daifuku (white, 白) and the kusa daifuku (mugwort, 草). The flattened daifuku were very large (110 g). The rice cake was very chewy and I really liked the not too sweet anko filling with still visible bits of red beans. At first glance, I thought that the green daifuku was green tea flavored, but it had a mugwort flavor. I don't know how to describe it, but it has a light, grassy flavor. It is something that you need to get used to, so if you don't want to take any risks, it is better to get the white daifuku.
I think it was about HK$10 each and it tasted really fresh for something that was imported from Japan. It's a shame that you need to keep them refrigerated at 1°C - 4°C and consume them within four days, or else, I would have bought a few as souvenirs, back to the Netherlands.
Just in case, you don't know what that is, it is a glutinous rice flour ball filled with anko (sweetened red bean paste made from azuki beans). It is covered with a thin layer of starch to prevent it from sticking. There are small, bite-sized daifuku, but also large ones as big as the palm of your hand. On Wikipedia, I found the story behind the name, daifuku, and it is funny that the Chinese character for belly (腹) and luck (福) is pronounced the same as "fuku". So, this filling rice cake snack, which gives you a big (大, pronounced as "dai") belly, also gives you big luck.
In the refrigerated area in the AEON supermarket in Whampoa, I found two kinds of daifuku: the shiro daifuku (white, 白) and the kusa daifuku (mugwort, 草). The flattened daifuku were very large (110 g). The rice cake was very chewy and I really liked the not too sweet anko filling with still visible bits of red beans. At first glance, I thought that the green daifuku was green tea flavored, but it had a mugwort flavor. I don't know how to describe it, but it has a light, grassy flavor. It is something that you need to get used to, so if you don't want to take any risks, it is better to get the white daifuku.
I think it was about HK$10 each and it tasted really fresh for something that was imported from Japan. It's a shame that you need to keep them refrigerated at 1°C - 4°C and consume them within four days, or else, I would have bought a few as souvenirs, back to the Netherlands.
