Recipes with ?? yuja (Asian citron) on YouTube

Yuja, also called Yuzu in Japanese, is a very exotic ingredient to most Westerners. Most Americans have never seen the fruit up close and personal since fresh yuja imports from Japan or Korea are forbidden by US law to protect our own citrus crops from possible insect infestations.



Most Koreans consume Yuja in one form: as a drink. Koreans don't usually eat the fruit raw.



I want to expand the yuja's culinary use beyond the ubiquitous hot drink known as yujacha. So  far, I have posted 8 different recipes at Koreafornian cooking using the lemony yuja as the primary flavor including the following.



1. Yujacha hamataschen. This is my Korean spin on a centuries-old Jewish cookie called Hamantashen.  Hamantashen are triangle-shaped cookies filled with dried fruit or chocolate and traditionally eaten during the Jewish festival of Purim.



2. Yuja chicken. This recipe enlivens a Chinese American restaurant favorite ? orange chicken ? with tangier citron and zippier Korean hot red pepper.



3. Yuja butter. A compound butter is a butter that has additional flavors, herbs, etc. added to it. I mixed yujacha and butter for a tart, citrus compliment for scones, muffins, fruit cake or nut breads.



4. Yuja scones. For most Americans, scones are for high tea or Easter Sunday brunches?very British and very proper. Throw off the British rules and have them for a dessert or a mid-afternoon snack (with or without black tea and cream).



5. French Toast with Yujacha syrup. French toast goes back to Roman times, making it one of the first "egg toast" dishes in recorded history. I've found that yujacha syrup and French toast complement each other very well.



6. Yujacha Salmon. A simple glaze that will add a zippy tang to your salmon. It also makes an excellent dipping sauce for chicken strips or spring rolls.



7. Yujacha Rolls. These rolls are inspired by cinnamon rolls and are quicker to prepare than Yujacha Hamantashen but use the same filling.



8. Yuja curd, which is a yuja twist on the English classic lemon curd. This would make an excellent accompaniment to any sweet breakfast food such as scones, granola, English muffins,or cheese blintzes. You can also use the yuja curd to make your own Yuja meringue pie.



At this point, you may think my love affair with (??) yujacha has become an obsession.



If I am obsessed, I want everyone in my audience to benefit from it. I will be posting several more yuja recipes on my blog in the near future. Please subscribe to the RSS feed of my blog or "like" me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/KoreafornianCooking and be the first to discover my newest recipes and Korean food news from around the world.