Yummy Yuzu Recipes To Try Making At Home

Looks like a grapefruit, smells like lime and tastes like lemon, yuzu shares similar characteristics with other citrus fruits. Be that as it may, this Japanese fruit stands on its own with its distinct sharp citric flavour and strong aroma. As a culinary ingredient, it's extremely versatile and can be used in a variety of dishes as a garnish, flavouring or the main ingredient. In Southeast Asia, this fruit is available in many forms, most commonly in powder, paste and bottled liquid concentrate making it easy to incorporate into your everyday dishes. Spice up your cooking repertoire and try these yummy and easy-to-do yuzu recipes that will add zest to your life. 

Yuzu-cha

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The simplest and most common way yuzu is consumed is by turning it into hot tea. Because of its zest, it has become a favourite afternoon tea that can shake out your midday slump. However, making one isn't as easy as slicing the fruit and dipping it into hot water — that would result in an overly tart drink. Japanese food blog Just Hungry provides a straightforward yuzu recipe that can guide you. First, you have to place the sliced pieces in a clean jar and add granulated sugar. Shake until the sugar melts and place it in the fridge overnight. Once you're done with this you can just pop the sliced and sugared slices in hot water to make a nice, sweet tea. 

Make it your own: You can also add honey or more sugar as you like to make it palatable to your taste. For those with adventurous tastebuds, you can add mango juice powder to add a depth of flavour.

Miso soup with yuzu kosho

Yuzu kosho is a fermented paste-form of yuzu made with salt and chilli. You can buy it at Japanese speciality stores and also grocery stores; it's usually at the imported aisle section next to other staple condiments like wasabi. Its unique savoury and citrusy taste makes it ideal to use as surprise flavouring for run of the mill dishes like miso soup. You can follow Just One Cookbook's recipe and mix the kosho paste with sesame seeds and add it to miso soup while hot to give it a pleasantly sour taste.

Make it your own: If you love sour flavouring, you can mix some yuzu kosho together with the miso paste as well to make the taste stronger.

Marinading with this tart citrus sauce gives the meat a lovely, fresh tangy flavour — different from a vinegar marinade's punchy taste — and it's easy to do. Just squeeze the fruit's juice and add soy sauce and mirin. Soak the meat into the mixture for about an hour. While waiting, prepare the garnish and begin to cut the peels into small strips. After grilling the chicken, you can put the peels on top for presentation and added flavouring. 

Make it your own: You can also make a separate sauce using leftover juice and soy sauce.

Just because yuzu is famous for its sharp sour flavour doesn't mean you can't incorporate it in sweet dessert recipes like this one made by Ai Made It For You. To prepare the curd, you need fresh yuzu or liquid concentrate. Mix the extracted juice or liquid concentrate with unsalted butter, sugar, salt and eggs (add one at a time). Then, cook the mixture in a double boiler. Afterwards, place it in a container and pop the curd in the fridge. While you wait for the curd to be ready, you can make your cheesecakes. Once done, just top your cheesecakes with the thick yuzu curd and enjoy!

Make it your own: Add peels on top for a more appealing presentation.