Three Eel Dishes うなぎの蒲焼料理3種類

Fresh water eel or “unagi 鰻” is a popular fish item in Japan and many restaurants specialize in eel dishes. At these specialized restaurants, eels are brought in live and prepared on site. “Kaba-yaki 蒲焼“ (eel grilled with sauce) is the most common dish with two variations of preparation and cooking* i.e., Kansai, Eastern Japan 関西 and Tokyo 東京 styles.  (Even in Japan, however, other types of restaurants may use previously prepared and frozen eel the majority of which comes from China (99 percent) and the rest from Taiwan.) Once eel kaba-yaki is prepared, two main ways of eating it is “Una-ju 鰻重” and “Una-don 鰻丼”. Both are eel kaba-yaki on rice but the former is served in a Ju-bako 重箱  (a square lacquered box) and the latter in a don-buri 丼bowl. Consequently, Una-ju is the more expensive and formal way of serving eel on rice. Una-don is the more informal way of serving eel.

In the U.S., although some eel is aqua-cultured in Maine and some restaurants may bring it in live and prepared it on site,  most of the eel is pre-packaged and frozen. The majority of this frozen eel comes from China, and Vietnam.

*For Tokyo style the filet of the eel comes from the eel’s back. It is then steamed, and grilled. For Kansai style the filet comes from the eel belly. It is then grilled without steaming. Please see here in more details.

We had a package of frozen eel kaba-yaki (11oz) in our freezer which came from Weee some time ago. We decided it was time to eat it. Since we are not big eaters and eel is quite rich, we ended up making three dishes over 3 days to finish the entire package. (Of course, we had some other small dishes along with the eel so we didn’t just eat eel for 3 days.)

The first dish I made (picture #1), is called “Wu-zaku 鰻ざく”. I posted a version of this some time ago. It is a combination of cold cucumber with julienned ginger and vinegar dressing and warmed slices of kaba-yaki eel. The cold cucumber slices counteract the rich flavor of the eel.

The next day, I made another standard or popular fail-proof eel dish called “wu-maki 鰻巻き” (picture #2). Again, I made and posted a version of this some years ago. I served this with sliced cucumber and grated daikon with soy sauce.

Finally, I made a mini una-ju ミニ鰻重 as a shime or ending dish the next evening (picture #3). I used a small square box which was a part of a larger ju-bako we used for Hanami. The traditional way of serving this is with white rice, some “unagi” sauce and the filet of kaba-yaki eel placed on top. My wife requested “sushi rice” so I used frozen rice we made some time ago when we cooked rice. After thawing and warming up the rice in a lidded silicon container in the microwave, I added some sushi vinegar (from the bottle). I mixed the vinegar into the rice and let it sit for a few minutes. Meanwhile I heated up the eel kabayaki in the toaster oven (on toast mode) until warm with the sauce bubbling. I added “sansho 山椒” Japanese  pepper powder on the top.

For us, this was the perfect ending to the meal. We spread the enjoyment of this eel over several days because too much eel is too much of a good thing. We were quite pleased with the  quality of this frozen eel kaba-yaki from China which we got from Weee.

Morning Glory Muffin 朝顔マフィン

This is by far one of the most complicated muffins, we’ve made in terms of the number of ingredients included (see #1 in the composit picture below). This appears to be a muffin traditionally served for Easter.  My wife found this particular recipe in the Washington Post when she was looking for something special to serve for Easter but didn’t get around to making it until just recently. Besides carrots, it includes raisins, canned pineapple, coconut and walnuts. This is very tender and flavorful muffin but the pineapple and coconut didn’t particularly stand out.  Probably we could have eliminated them and not noticed the difference.

Ingredients (made 17 muffins)
1/2 cup canola oil or another neutrally flavored oil, or more for the pan as needed
1/3 cup raisins
3/4 cup walnut pieces
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 3/4 cups whole-wheat pastry flour (may substitute 1 cup regular whole-wheat flour plus 3/4 cup all-purpose flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
8 ounces canned crushed pineapple with juice (1 cup)
2 medium carrots, peeled and shredded (1 cup)
1/2 cup peeled, shredded green/tart apple
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush the wells of a regular muffin pan with oil, or use paper baking cup liners. Toast the walnuts and coconut until they are fragrant and lightly browned. Let cool.

Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ginger in a medium bowl. Whisk together the oil, brown sugar and eggs in a separate mixing bowl until creamy and well combined. Then whisk in the pineapple and its juice. Then stir in the carrot, apple, vanilla extract and the toasted coconut and walnuts. Add the flour mixture, stirring just until it is incorporated, to form a batter. Stir in the raisins and mix until evenly distributed.

Divide the batter evenly into the muffin cups (#2). Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean (#3). Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool.

These muffins were very moist and the flavor was complex but nothing stood out individually. As with most complex baked goods these got better with time as the flavors melded together. They are an elegant way to celebrate breakfast. We can see why this is an Easter favorite.

Honey Curry Bread 蜂蜜カレーパン

This another one of my wife’s baking projects. Recently, she re-discovered an old cookbook called “Silver Palate Good times Cookbook” which she has had for some time. (It was published in 1984).* (Back in the day, as a joke, I used to call it the “Lead Palate Cookbook”).” As she was going through the pages she came across a recipe for “Honey Curry Bread”. The combination of honey and curry powder in bread piqued her interest. This is a nice bread with honey and curry flavors coming through. The original recipe called for the dough to be braided and then made into a boule-shape. This was a bit complicated and simply done for presentation so just making it into loaves will work just fine in the future.

*She recently started revisiting the old cook books that have been resting on the shelf untouched for some time in response to an expression her friend used to say that recently came back to mind. Her friend used to say, “If you want a different outfit but don’t have the time to go to the store shop your closet”. My wife converted this to the saying, “If you want to cook something new, shop your old cookbooks.” This is because your cooking style may have changed over time and recipes that didn’t interest you in the past may be of interest in the present. This cookbook was a case-in-point.

Ingredients
1/2 cup warm water (105-115°F)
3 packs active dry yeast
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
2/3 cup honey
2 Tbsp curry powder
2 cups buttermilk
2 tsp salt
6–7 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Directions:
Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the curry powder, and cook for 1 minute. (This essentially blooms the curry powder flavors). Remove from heat and stir in the honey. Let it cool a bit then add the honey/curry mixture to the buttermilk. Meanwhile bloom the yeast. Put  3 cups of the flour and the salt in the bowl of the stand mixer. Add the yeast and the cooled buttermilk mixture to the flour. Stir while adding additional flour until a soft dough forms. Knead the dough for 7 to 10 minutes until smooth. Place in a buttered bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size. Punch dough down, divide, into 3 ropes of 1 inch diameter (#1). Braid the ropes (#2). Wrap the braids around themselves to form a bole (#3). (Or skip the braiding and just form into a loaf). Let rise again. The recipe calls for it to be baked at 375°F for about 30–40 minutes until golden brown, but as you can see in the picture it came out a bit high done (#4) so 350 may be better in the future.

This bread was very different from the bread we usually make but was extremely satisfying. The combination of curry spices with the honey gave it a complex savory but slightly sweet flavor that made a very interesting contrast. It tasted great toasted and slathered with butter.

Pork Vindaloo served in Soup Curry-style スープカレー風豚肉のビンダルーカレー

This is a serving variation of  pork “vindaloo” curry my wife made. The pork vindaloo she makes has evolved over the years mostly by how the pork is handled. The most recent iteration involves chunks of pork derived from a large skin-on, bone-in “picnic-cut” pork that I separate it into its various components . I cook the pork chunks in chicken broth (Swanson low-salt kind) using an Instant Pot pressure cooker. This cooking method produces by-far the best pork for curry. The meat becomes very tender and the broth is flavorful and contains lots of collagen from the meat. When refrigerated, the broth congeals. Using both the meat and broth in the curry makes this version of vindaloo the best my wife has made. The curry looks thick when it is cold but when it is heated up it becomes rather soupy (not like roux-based curry). This gave me an idea of how this curry could be served. In Japan, there is the type of curry called “soup curry*” which originated in Sapporo, Hokkaido 札幌, 北海道, my hometown. It became popular as a variation of Japanese curry in 2000s.

I served this curry as a light lunch and did not want to have rice with it. So, instead, I sauteed some vegetables in the manner similar to the one used to make Sapporo soup curry.  I had green beans and asparagus, both briefly steamed and skinned Campari tomatoes.Since I made “dashi-maki だし巻き” Japanese omelet, I also added a piece.  Even without rice, this was a quite filling lunch. We like this presentation. Especially, the sauteed tomato added a nice fresh taste with some acidity.

*”Soup curry” was reportedly invented in Sapporo (in a small coffee shop) in the 1970s and then spread throughout Japan in 2000s. The curry flavored soup was not thickened and vegetables are in relatively large pieces and separately deep fried without batter. The meat is usually bone-in, skin-on  chicken legs but can be any kind of meat. Rice is served separately unlike other Japanese curry in which the curry is served on the top of the rice (hence, the name; rice curry or curry rice) We had soup curry when we were in Sapporo sometime ago. It was good but that particular dish was not outstanding. The one we made here was much better.

Grape-puree Muffin ブドウのピューレのマフィン

We like grapes and often have them for dessert. Our favorites are “Holiday grapes” and “Cotton Candy grapes”. But they are not always available. For example, “Holiday grapes” are only available October to mid-December (hence the name, “holiday” grape). Cotton Candy grapes grown in California are available mid July through September. Cotton Candy grapes grown in Mexico are available April and May. In general we are not fans of generic red and green grapes so whenever we see “special” grapes with the word “sweetness” in the varietal name we try them out. That is what happened recently.

Our usual favorites were not available but we found some green grapes with a fancy name alluding to “sweetness” at Whole Foods and went for them. We were hoping they would be a potential replacements for our aforementioned two favorite grapes. Unfortunately, they turned out to be just tough skin and seeds. What little interior meat they had, although only a small proportion of the whole grape, was indeed quite sweet. But in general, by our standards, these were not good eating grapes.

Not to be deterred, my wife remembered her recent experience making strawberry muffins using a fresh strawberry syrup reduction. She thought, ‘why not try the same thing with these grapes?’ Making them into a grape syrup reduction would eliminate the tough skin and numerous seeds because they would be strained out when the cooked grapes were sieved. Wouldn’t that highlight and accentuate what sweetness the grapes had in their interior meat?’ So that is what she did. Turned out it worked.

Ingredients:
Grape muffin:
1 1/2 cups (180g) cake flour
1 cup (198g) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon tabler / salt
6 tablespoons (85g) butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
1 large egg white
3 tablespoons (43g) water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup grape reduction

Grape reduction:
Package of sweet eating grapes, cooked, pureed, strained, then reduced

Directions:
For the grape reduction:
Put the grapes in a saucepan. Gently heat them on simmer until the skins open releasing juice and interior meat. (These grapes took a very long time to open; the skins were really thick and tough). After the grapes open and exude liquid puree and strain them. (We used a motor boat blender). Return the puree to the pan a continue simmering on low heat until the liquid reduces and turns darker and slightly thicker. (This further concentrates the flavor.)

For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a muffin tin with baking cups. In a cuisine art blender fitted with a blade combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and mix at low speed until the mixture looks sandy. (Similar to making biscuit dough). Beat in the egg, the extra egg white, water, and vanilla, then mix until no dry spots of flour remain. The mixture will be thick. Add 1/2 cup of the grape reduction. Continue to mix on low speed until the batter is smooth. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins.

Bake the cupcakes for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the cake springs back when lightly touched. Remove the cupcakes from the oven, and as soon as you can handle them, remove them from the pan and transfer them to a rack to cool.

This was a great muffin. It had a very refined texture and elegant flavor that was somewhat mysterious. Unlike the strawberry muffins which announced their strawberry-ness very assertively these muffins had a lovely fresh flavor that indicated they were made with fresh fruit but the actual fruit’s identity was not announced flavor-wise although it had a very light natural but rich sweetness. It did not particularly taste grape-like but these were, without a doubt, one of the best muffin we ever made. This distinctive flavor may be unique to the type of grape we used. Unfortunately neither of us payed particular attention to the grapes name so we may not be able to reproduce it again. Nonetheless, we wanted this post for our record.