Recipe for Tokyo Cheesecake by Laure Kié

In her book Le grand livre de la cuisine japonaise (‘The Big Book of Japanese Cuisine’), Laure Kié shares a recipe for a Japanese version of cheesecake. This one does not taste of vanilla but is rather more tart and fresh, made with yuzu, a Japanese citrus fruit with a flavour that is a subtle mixture of lime, mandarin, and grapefruit. 

The chef proposes 170 recipes covering a broad spectrum: in addition to traditional Japanese dishes, Le grand livre de la cuisine japonaise offers step-by-step instructions to make sauces, condiments, and accompaniments for these. The book also contains tips, advice, and recommended establishments. 

Ingredients

160 g shortbread-style biscuits

600 g cottage cheese

A few raspberries to decorate

3 level tsp agar-agar

100 ml liquid crème fraîche

Juice of 1 yuzu

60 g melted butter

70 g caster sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C (gas mark 6).

Using a rolling pin, crush the biscuits into a powder, then mix with the melted butter. 

Spread the mixture into a spring-form cake tin. Bake for 15 minutes.

In a bowl, whisk the cottage cheese (after draining well) with the yuzu juice and the sugar.

In a saucepan, mix the liquid cream and the agar-agar.

Boil, stirring from time to time, then continue to boil for at least 30 seconds while whisking.

Incorporate the hot cream with the cottage cheese mixture while whisking rapidly until the mixture becomes smooth.

Pour the mixture over the base, then place in the fridge for at least three hours.

Remove the cheesecake from the tin and decorate with raspberries before serving.

Le grand livre de la cuisine japonaise (‘The Big Book of Japanese Cuisine’) (2015), a recipe book by Laure Kié, is published by Mango éditions (not currently available in English).

Laure Kié was born in Tokyo to a Japanese mother and a French father. It was in Japan, alongside her mother, that she discovered the basics of Japanese cuisine. After travelling across Asia to learn the secrets of its various culinary specialities and staying on traditional Japanese farms on multiple occasions, she settled in France where she shares her recipes in specialist books and also on her blog.