Vegan and Gluten Free Japanese Sweets Class

Sydney

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Food and Drink

•

Cooking

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Japanese Cooking

Vegan and Gluten Free Japanese Sweets Class

Learn how to create traditional Japanese Wagashi sweets

Sumi Saikawa
(Sumi's Kitchen In Sydney)

5.0 (40)

2 hours

3 to 5

$80 (or 4 payments of $20 via- Afterpay)

Sydney

•

Food and Drink

•

Cooking

•

Japanese Cooking

What you'll do

Discover how to create traditional Japanese Wagashi and experience whisking powdered green tea at this fun desserts class in St Ives!

Traditional Japanese sweets, known as Wagashi (literally Japanese confections), capture the essence of the four seasons. They are an artistic Japanese confectionery made by copying seasonal features. Wagashi is often served at tea ceremonies, but it also makes for a great sweet that can be consumed any time of the day.

Wagashi can be categorised into three different types, such as Nama Gashi (fresh sweets), Han Nama Gashi (semi baked sweets) and Higashi (dry sweets).

In this class, your teacher will show you how to create the Nama Gashi – fresh sweets. They are the most well-known for their beautiful presentation and delicate taste.

They are perfect for the gluten or vegan diet as they are made from rice flour, kuzu starch, beans, Japanese aga aga and sugar.

Class outline:

Learn how to make key ingredients, such as bean paste.
Create three types of seasonal wagashi.
Learn how to prepare, make and drink matcha green tea during a Japanese tea ceremony.

Over the course of the two-hours, hands-on class, which is perfect for beginners, your teacher Sumi will guide you on how to prepare and make individual wagashi.

This class is suitable for people who are Japanese sweets lovers and for gluten/vegan diets, follow a vegan lifestyle or just have an interest in these desserts.

Please note: All ingredients will be gluten-free, however, the environment is not totally gluten-free.

Knowledge required

This class is for anybody interested in Japanese sweets. Beginners are welcome.

What you'll get

Three delicious Japanese wagashi sweets
Taste matcha green tea
Great discussion with like-minded people
Insight into Japanese culture
Recipes for everything you make

What to bring

Please bring your favourite apron, tea towels, mask and pen.

Sumi Saikawa adheres to COVID-19 government guidelines.

Location

St Ives, NSW

Exact location is anonymised for privacy. You'll get the specific address after booking.

Vegan and Gluten Free Japanese Sweets Class location

Your teacher

Sumi Saikawa
(Sumi's Kitchen In Sydney)

5.0 (40)

I was born in a Zen temple in Kobe Japan, which was an amazing environment to grow up in as a little kid. I was always in the kitchen to help make shojin ryori with mum (Temple cooking) for as long as I can remember for the temple. This was where my curiosity and fascination of food came from especially its part to play in culture and role it plays to keep the body and mind healthy.

From there, I graduated from university and worked as a dietitian in Japan for many years before meeting my husband and coming to Australia. My husband and I immigrated to Australia over 27 years ago now where we have made ourselves a family with 2 (not so young anymore) children. Now, I run lots of health oriented - cooking classes including "shojin ryori" for people living in Australia and Japan from all stages of life from the elderly to children.

My meal style: I try to give to initiative to prepare the foods even in a busy life. I appreciate the foods and I try to make food which will make me be happy.

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Verified reviews

We only show reviews from customers who have paid for and attended this class

Cecilia Chan • May 2022

My family & I enjoyed the lesson very much. Sumi was friendly, professional & presented everything well. Everything was well prepared & thought out. The venue was clean & comfortable. We all learned something new & had fun at the same time.

Lai Clare • Apr 2022

It was very well prepared and detail, I have learned a lot, thanks Sumi for the great learning experience

Adriana Litver • Apr 2022

5 ClassBento workshops attended

Wonderfully authentic and very informative. Will definitely sign into another class with Simi she was a hospitable and patient teacher

Heezee Lu • Apr 2022

I love the course and it helps me to be mindful while creating the dessert. Relaxing and exciting at the same time under our experienced teacher, Sumi San. Thank you and highly recommended especially the face to face experience.

Cooking workshop review by Heezee Lu Sydney

Mary Trevisan • Apr 2022

I attended Sumi's class as part of a small private group booking. Sumi is a very gracious host and a good teacher. She is a clear communicator who had all of the supplies we needed ready to go. We all learnt a lot from the class and we are all keen to use our new skills at home.and to attend further classes in Japanese sweet making
Everything from the venue to the supporting materials to the lesson and tea ceremony was fantastic. I highly recommend this class.

Vegan and Gluten Free Japanese Sweets Class review by Mary Trevisan Sydney

Isaac Leung • Apr 2022

Saikawa-san is an expert in her craft, and she patiently walked us through the techniques and process of creating the Japanese sweets.
Due to the time constraints of the class, we walked through the theory for creating the materials, and also had a demonstration of the preparation of nerikiri, rather than going through the full process of actually preparing the bean paste from the raw materials, but the instructions in the provided sheet were clear and concise.
While canonical wagashi preparation involves the use of a number of specific tools, this class utilised more common tools, focusing on techniques that allow the preparation of wagashi for home cooks.
The workshop was held at the host's home, which has a rather large kitchen area, just right for the number of people in this intimate workshop. Also present were Haru and Aki, who were very cute and enthusiastic dogs.

Vegan and Gluten Free Japanese Sweets Class review by Isaac Leung

See 4 more reviews

Pem Sukhum • Apr 2022

Teacher was pleasant. Class was not exactly what I expected, as we didn't make the ingredients themselves, but it was made up for by the printed notes and demonstration. Kitchen space was great and spacious but we spent time in the dining table. The tea ceremony segment was interesting. Overall the actual class was more of a sculpting class than a cooking class, but still interesting, with nice take home notes for practice at home

Halina Rubenstein • Apr 2022

Great teacher, very informative and a intimate class of 4 people made for a great afternoon.