Korean-style egg & wakame soup

Korean-style egg & wakame soup

Ready in under 10 minutes, this super-quick egg and wakame seaweed soup is good to have up your sleeve in case you need a little something extra to round out a meal. It is on fairly regular rotation at our house, in preference to miso soup, actually. It is our go-to soup for serving with the sashimi rice bowl with ginger, garlic and sesame, below. Both recipes were on the same page of the August 17, 2010 edition of Orange Page (no longer available for purchase).

Every ingredient in the soup is a staple of the Japanese kitchen so I never need to shop specially to make it, but outside of Japan, you may need to get hold of cut wakame seaweed (which is also excellent in salads like this one), toasted sesame oil and torigara soup chicken stock granules.

Kankoku-fu kakitama-jiru: Korean-style egg & wakame soup

Serves 4

1/2 a negi (Japanese leek), sliced into thin rounds
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 cups (400 ml) water
2 tsp torigara (chicken bone) soup granules
1 tsp Japanese soy sauce
2/3 tsp salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 g cut wakame seaweed
2 tsp ground sesame seeds

1 In a small pot, heat the sesame oil over a medium heat. Add the negi and cook briefly until wilted. Add the water and torigara soup granules and bring to the boil.

2 Add the soy sauce and salt and stir, then pour in the beaten egg in a circular motion. Once the egg becomes fluffy and cooked, add the dry wakame and cook for a few moments. When the wakame has reconstituted, ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle with the ground sesame.

Enjoy!

Sashimi rice bowl with ginger, garlic and sesame



 Sashimi rice bowl with ginger, garlic and sesame

This is one of the Young Man's favourite quick dinners. He can even make it, and the Korean-style soup we always have with it, all by himself!

With ginger, garlic, negi and sesame, the flavours are bold but fresh. Shredded perilla brightens the dish, but you could use basil instead, if that's what's available.

We usually make this with maguro (tuna) sashimi, but it was not available on the day, so I used buri (yellowtail) instead.

Domburi are a larger sized rice bowl used for oyako-don and other rice-and-topping dishes suffixed with a don! They have a capacity of around 550 ml, compared to 250-350 ml for regular rice bowls. It doesn't really matter how much rice you use in this dish, however, and you could certainly make it in one big bowl to share, if you don't have domburi.

This recipe is from the August 17, 2010 edition of Orange Page (no longer available for purchase).

Sashimi no zuke-don komi-dare: Sashimi rice bowl with ginger, garlic and sesame

Serves 4

700 g warm, cooked rice (about 4 domburi bowls full )
400 g block of sashimi (tuna, for preference), cubed
2 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
10 shiso (perilla) leaves

For the dressing
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and grated to a slush
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbsp finely chopped negi (Japanese leek)
1 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
1 tsp ground sesame seeds
1 tsp toasted sesame oil

1 sheet yakinori (laver), torn into small pieces (optional)

1 Place the cubes of sashimi in a bowl, pour over the soy sauce, mix well to coat and leave to marinate for about 5 min. Cut the stalks off the perilla leaves, cut in half lengthwise, and slice into fine strips. swish in a small bowl of water and drain on kitchen paper.

2 In a small bowl, mix the dressing ingredients together. Fill 4 domburi bowls with rice and top with the marinated sashimi, including the juices. Pour over the dressing and sprinkle over the perilla and yakinori, if using.

Enjoy!

Shimeji & beef pepper fried rice



Shimeji & beef pepper fried rice

We are finally getting some colder weather in Yokohama, so it is time to dust off a favourite autumnal rice recipe. With meat, veggies and rice, you could just about get away with calling this a one-dish meal, but we often have it with a soup of some sort. Either way, it comes together in about 30 minutes (less if you have already cooked the rice), so it's great for those nights when  you can't be bothered with too much faff and bother in the kitchen.
The pepper here is quite full-on, so adjust the amount to your family's liking. Shimeji mushrooms are one of many great varieties of mushroom in Japan. The most readily available variety here is buna shimeji, but other varieties, or even other mushrooms will work well, too. The beef should be the thickness of bacon, or slightly thinner.

The original recipe, from the October 17, 2008 edition of Orange Page, calls for shungiku (chrysanthemum leaves), but any green will do really, so ring in the changes, as I have here with the komatsuna greens. The original recipe also calls for 200 g of rice per person, but I usually do 2 rice cooker cups of rice for 4 people, which comes out at around 700 g cooked.

Shimeji to gyuniku no pepper chahan: Shimeji & beef pepper fried rice

Serves 4

700 g of warm, cooked rice (enough for 4 domburi bowls)

40 ml toasted sesame oil, divided

4 packs shimeji mushrooms (about 400 g total)

200 g thinly sliced beef (kiriotoshi)

1 bag komatsuna greens (about 200 g), stalks only

2 tsp crushed black pepper

2 tsp Japanese soy sauce

1 Place the cooked rice in a bowl. Pour over 2 tsp of the sesame oil and 1 tsp salt and mix thoroughly. Remove the base from the shimeji and break the mushrooms apart. Cut the beef into bite-sized slices if large. Wash and slice the komatsuna stalks into 7 mm pieces.

2 Place the remaining sesame oil and black pepper into a wok or large frying pan and heat on a medium flame. Add the beef and shimeji and stir-fry for about 3 min. When the shimeji soften, add 1 tsp salt and the soy sauce and quickly mix through.

3 Push the beef and shimeji to the side of the wok and put the rice and komatsuna stalks in the middle. Using a wooden spoon to "cut" through the rice, stir-fry for about 2 min. Once the rice separates, mix the beef and shimeji through. Continue to stir-fry until the komatsuna stalks are done and the rice and other ingredients are well incorporated.

Enjoy!



Grilled chicken with Japanese leek & salt dressing

Grilled chicken with Japanese leek & salt dressing

"Leek and salt dressing?" you ask.

Oh yes, this gutsy leek, garlic and sesame oil dressing is one of the stand-outs of Japanese cooking. It goes well with grilled or sauted chicken and pork, can be mixed through noodles and, stretched with additional sesame oil, used as a dipping sauce for gyoza. Try it once and you'll know what it's all about!


Negi: Japanese leeks

Negi is a Japanese leek. Much thinner and finer than a Western leek, along with shichimi-togarashi, wasabi and ginger, it is considered to be an appetite-enhancing condiment (yakumi).

If unavailable, finely chopped regular spring onions, about enough to fill a 200 ml cup, can be substituted. If using actual negi, the easiest way to chop them finely is to cut a slit down the length of each leek, open them flat and slice finely cross-wise, then the other way.

Add the salt gradually to taste.

Grilling, here, means cooking over or under an open flame. There is an ingenious grill pan many Japanese cooks use over a burner on their stove. I prefer to use my stove's grill. Either way, you want to cook the flesh side first so that the chicken skin crisps up nicely after turning. A lot of the chicken flavour is in the skin, which you will miss out on if you use skinless chicken thighs.

Negi-shio Grilled Chicken: Grilled chicken with Japanese leek and salt dressing

Serves 4

4 boned chicken thighs, skin on (around 800 g)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the Japanese leek-salt dressing
2 Japanese leeks, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, pressed
3 tbsp Japanese sesame oil
2/3-1 tsp course-ground black pepper
1 1/3-2 tsp salt

1 Place the chicken skin side down on a chopping board and remove any visible fat. Pierce the skin of each thigh with a fork around 10 times. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix the dressing ingredients together well in a  small bowl and leave to allow the flavours to meld.

2 Heat the grill for around 2 minutes. Place the chicken on the grill skin side down and grill for 7-8 minutes over medium heat. Turn and grill for a further 4-5 min or until done.

3 Remove chicken from grill and cut widthwise into slices about 1.5 cm wide. Place on a serving dish skin side up and top with the leek-salt dressing.

Serve with steamed rice and salads.

Meshi-agare!

Recipe source: Orange Page March 3, 2009 edition (no longer available for purchase)
Negi photo source

Japanese-style carrot salad with ginger soy sesame dressing

Japanese-style carrot salad

This little vegetable side packs a punch and comes together in a snap. With a few speedy side recipes like this up your sleeves, cooking a Japanese meal on a weeknight is a much more do-able proposition.

Carrots and the spice ginger are a classic pairing in Moroccan cuisine, as in Claudia Roden's eye-opening carrot spread. Here, the ginger is not the dried spice, but fresh ginger juice which, if anything, is even more of a palate wake-up call!


Ceramic grater



The intention here is that you will serve this salad with a main dish, another small side dish and rice. The recipe is easily scalable, though, if you will be making fewer dishes.

The ginger-soy-sesame dressing would also be good with pan-fried broccoli or in place of regular soy sauce on hiyayakko (chilled tofu).

To get the juice from the ginger, I use a ceramic grater like this one, which pulps rather than grates the ginger. Squeeze the pulp and the juice comes right out. Since grated ginger and ginger juice are often called for in Japanese cooking, I wouldn't be without this neat little gadget in my utensil drawer.

The nori (dried laver seaweed) called for here is the plain kind, but use what you have or just skip it if you don't have any.

Wafu ninjin salada: Japanese-style carrot salad with ginger soy sesame dressing



Serves 4 as a side dish

1 carrot (about 160 g)

ginger juice from a piece of ginger the size of a man's thumb

1 tsp Japanese soy sauce

2 tsp Japanese toasted sesame oil

yakinori

salt

1 Peel the carrot and either continue shaving it into strips with the peeler or cut into fine strips with a mandolin. Place in a bowl, add a pinch of salt, mix with your hands and leave for 5 min to release some of the juices.

2 Meanwhile, peel and grate the ginger, preferably with a ceramic Japanese grater, and squeeze the juice out. Discard the ginger pulp. Squeeze the juices from the carrots by hand, tip out any juices remaining in the bowl and return the carrot strips to the empty bowl. Add the ginger juice, soy sauce, sesame oil and toss. Tear the yakinori by hand and add to the salad. Toss again and serve immediately.

Meshi-agare!

Recipe source: Orange Page March 17, 2012 edition

Cherry blossom dainties

Cherry blossom dainties

Cherry blossoms (sakura) are serious business in Japan. As the season approaches, the weather report always carries estimated times of blossom opening and full bloom so people can plan their cherry blossom appreciation parties accordingly. A quick burst of warm weather during the week had the weather people forecasting full bloom last weekend. The timing couldn't have been more perfect for trying out this easy recipe for sweet bean-filled cherry blossom dainties, AKA sakura mochi!

Tomoe koshi-an powder

This may require a trip to the Japanese grocer's. I don't keep shiratamako (glutinous rice flour with added potato starch) or an (sweetened bean paste) on hand, much less salt-preserved cherry blossoms, so it certainly did for me!

Shiratamako, despite its name, is not actually a powder. It has a lumpy texture in the packet, but dissolves instantly on contact with water. It differs both from joshinko (Japanese white rice flour) and mochiko (glutinous rice flour without added potato starch).

The shop I went to had a couple of choices on the an front. The portion-sized packets seemed to be on the watery side to me, so I opted for Tomoe koshi-an powder. This worked really well, and there is plenty left over for future adventures into Japanese sweet making. If using ready-made an, you will need 160 g. I use smooth koshi-an, but the original recipe calls for the bumpier tsubu-an.

The Young Man (and many Facebook friends) were mightily impressed with these. I am almost ashamed to admit that they came together in just over 40 minutes!

Sakura mochi: Cherry blossom dainties

For the an
36 g Tomoe koshi-an powder
108 ml water
80 g sugar
[or 160 g ready-made an]

16 g shiratamako
80 ml water
40 g plain flour
4 tsp sugar
pinch red food colouring dissolved in 1/4 tsp water
vegetable oil
6 salt-preserved cherry blossom flowers

1 To make the an, bring the water and koshi-an powder to the boil, reduce the heat to medium, add sugar and stir until thickened, taking care not to allow the an to burn. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Roll into 8 equal sized balls.

2 Gently swish the preserved cherry blossoms in a cup of water to remove the excess salt.

3 To make the mochi batter, using whisk, mix the shiratamako with half the water. Add the food colouring-water mixture, flour, sugar and the remaining water.

4 Heat a frying pan over low heat and coat with a little vegetable oil. Make oval-shaped pancakes with the batter, using about 20 ml of batter each time. When the first side dries, cook briefly on the other side and set aside to cool.

5 Wrap a pancake around each ball of an, with the side you cooked first on the outside. Top with a cherry blossom.

Meshi-agare!

Recipe source: ABC Cooking Studio (there's also a helpful video (in Japanese))
Tomoe koshi-an photo source

Cucumber with Yukari purple perilla seasoning

Cucumber with Yukari purple perilla seasoning

Spring has come to my part of Japan in a rush. The cherry blossoms are blooming and the sun out and the wind up. The hearty vegetable sides of last week are making way for this week's fresh and crunchy salads. I've been waiting for this!

This simple salad, if you even want to call it that, features cucumbers pressed to release their juices then tossed with a tart-fruity-savory seasoning mix and sesame seeds. It's the sort of thing you can easily whip up on short notice if another small dish is required.

Japanese cucumbers are long and thin, and usually measure about 15 cm in length. Their flavour is mild and cooling. Continental cucumbers and other Western varieties can be substituted here, but it might be worth removing the seeds and any bitter skin first. Lebanese/Middle Eastern cucumbers make a better substitute.

Fresh green perilla leaves (aojiso or oba) can be hard to get outside of Asia. Mint or basil (or a combination of the two) can be used instead. Whatever takes your fancy, really.

Yukari is a brand of dried purple perilla seasoning more often used to flavour cooked rice, although it goes well with crunchy vegetables, too. It contains dried purple perilla leaves, salt, sugar and other flavorings. I've heard it called Japan's sumac, so feel free to substitute sumac if you have that but not Yukari in your cupboards.

Cucumber with Yukari purple perilla seasoning

Serves 2 as a side dish

2 Japanese cucumbers or 3 Lebanese cucumbers
5 fresh green perilla (aojiso) leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp Yukari brand red perilla seasoning (or sumac)
2 tsp white sesame seeds

1 Slice the tops and tails off the cucumbers, halve lengthwise and slice thinly on the diagonal. Cut the stalks off the fresh perilla leaves and tear into small pieces.

2 Place the cucumber slices in a plastic bag (a sandwich bag is ideal), add the salt. Holding the opening of the bag tightly closed, gently squeeze the cucumbers to help release their juices. Squeeze the air out of the bag, twist the top and leave for about 10 minutes. Squeezing the cucumbers lightly from the top, pour the juices out of the bag. Add the Yukari or sumac, toss quickly to coat, and arrange in a bowl or serving dish. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds.

Recipe source: Orange Page April 17, 2010 edition (no longer available for purchase)

Meshi-agare!