HI Cookery is 7!
Life is a gift and today is a “present”. This belief has guided us when we began our food blog back in 2010. HI Cookery, now in its seventh year, aims to feature a recipe for every day of the year—because there is something always worth celebrating, such as living another day.
This is especially true when Highlander went to the emergency room and then was taken by an ambulance to be hospitalized last summer for pulmonary embolism. This was a shock to both of us since he has been relatively healthy and there were no symptoms of the original blood clot in his leg. Hopefully, the doctors have treated him early on before he developed a deadly brain aneurysm. We are so grateful to God that Highlander is doing better now. His health still needs to be monitored but we realize just how precious life is—it is truly a gift, and getting a chance to live another day is a “present”! We ask our readers to please pray for his complete recovery.
As we have continued to “cook our way through the calendar” for the past seven years, we have finally filled in the all the days for January, February and March! We have leisurely cooked recipes randomly, but now we will be more focused on filling in the rest of the blanks of the remaining months. Tomorrow is not promised but we have scheduled some recipes to be posted already on their specific holidays.
HI Cookery is still a work in progress and we hope to live on and complete the cooking calendar. As always, thanks to everyone who have supported us in our blogging journey. Eat, drink and be merry!
Tapadh leat! Mahalo! Thanks!
Highlander and Islander
“Soylent Green” Tea Cookies
April 1: Soylent Green Day and April Fools’ Day
What a coincidence that Soylent Green Day falls on April Fools’ Day. Why not fool some friends by serving them some “Soylent Green” tea cookies?!
Spoiler alert: Unlike the fictional food depicted in the film, they are not made of people but are made of matcha (Japanese green tea powder), they are not crackers but cookies and they are not mass produced at a mysterious factory but baked in small batches in a home kitchen.
Soylent Green tea cookies are sweet but have an earthy taste about them, which comes from the matcha flavor (or from its movie equivalent the “high-energy plankton gathered from the world’s ocean”). Soylent Green crackers were favored over its predecessor products, Soylent Red and Soylent Yellow. According to movie trivia, the word “soylent” comes from “soy” + “lentils”, implying that the crackers were protein-rich and nutritious. But the world’s ocean was unable to supply enough high-energy plankton to feed the masses so Soylent Green was rationed. Only human remains were a suitable substitute for the plankton-protein but this was not revealed until the film’s climax. Therefore, “Soylent Green is people!”
Have some fun on Soylent Green Day and April Fools’ Day by snacking on Soylent Green tea cookies, watching the classic movie and fooling friends with freaky food.
Recipe
(Adapted from Japanese Cooking 101)
Ingredients
- 4 teaspoons matcha
- ¾ cup cornstarch
- ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon cake flour
- ¾ cup cornstarch
- 5 tablespoons butter, softened
- ¼ cup granulated white sugar
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon soy milk (as in “Soylent”; the original recipe uses regular milk)
Directions
Over a large bowl, sift several times the matcha, cornstarch and cake flour until well blended. In another bowl, cream the butter with both the granulated and powdered sugars. Beat in the two egg yolks.
Mix in the soy milk or milk. Gradually add the dry ingredients and mix until a cookie dough is formed. Cover in plastic film and refrigerate the dough for at least half an hour.
Divide the dough in two balls. Roll out each between two sheets of waxed paper about ¼ inch thick. Use a 1-inch square cookie cutter to cut out shapes OR slice into perpendicular lines with a pizza cutter or knife to cut out squares. Place the squares on lightly greased baking sheets about an inch apart.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 12-15 minutes, being careful not to overbrown the edges. Remove from the oven. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for about five minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and cool to a crisp. Serve in rations by placing a few Soylent Green tea cookies in a plastic bag.
Notes
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