First myoga harvest in 3 years 三年ぶりの茗荷の収穫

We could not harvest our myoga (myouga) 茗荷 for the past three years due to various obstacles . More recently, most of our myoga plants disappeared for some reason. Possibly the rabbits ate them. (They did have signs of being tasted by some critter before they disappeared).  Or more likely,  they were removed by mistake by our gardener's nephew who was helping out with the fall clean-up. (I suppose they looked "weedy"; not like something we should have in the garden and they were taking over, which was OK with us).  We tried to purchase some myoga though the internet without success. So when our landscaper came to do some work in our yard this year we asked if he could get us some replacement myoga. He kindly gave us 4 myoga plant/rhizomes from his father's myoga patch (his father is a retired master Japanese garden landscaper).  We thankfully planted them this spring. Just to give a clear message to all involved (rabbits and especially gardener's nephews) we surrounded the plants with stakes and a plastic mesh fence to make it clear that these were not plants to be messed with.  In any case, later in the spring we discovered a few straggler myoga from the previous batch which we think survived because they were "hiding" behind and amongst other plants.

We have posted many uses of myoga including picked myoga. We still have some pickles left from 3 years ago in our refrigerator.  We are still enjoying them despite the fact they are "refrigerator pickles". They are still quite good and show no sign of going bad. But it is time to look for the new harvest. One weekend, my wife donned her  mosquito suit. On hands and knees with head buried in the plants, scrabbled into the dirt with her hands to uncover the buried flower buds of the myoga which is the part that is eaten. (They have to be harvested before they emerge from the ground. Once they bloom they become soft and mushy and aren't good.) It is not a pleasant task...but, hey, we really like myoga!  She found three developing buds (see below) from the old surviving myoga plants but none from newly planted myoga. (We'll probably have to wait until next year for them to be established enough to produce buds.)

My wife also said she uncovered a few very premature buds and covered them up again so they could grow bigger. We should wait for few more weeks to hopefully get a better harvest. In any case, we have not had fresh myoga for some time.  So, I served this as a garnish for cold "hiya-yakko" tofu 冷や奴.

The tofu is, as usual, one of the "Otokomae" 男前 tofu. I also garnished with chiffonade of perilla. For sauce, I used the usual, concentrated noodle sauce from the bottle.

Myogo may be acquired taste but we really love it especially fresh and it was wonderful to have their taste again. It has a very unique flavor that is hard to describe and there is no equivalent to which to compare it. Hope we will have more myoga harvest this year.

Fluffy "soufflé" pancakes 日本のスフレパンケーキ

We have been a big fan of pancakes; making so many different types over the years.  Our division of labor is that my wife prepares the batter and I cook the pancakes. While we were browsing through YouTube, we came across "fluffy pancakes".  We first saw a Korean version and then a Japanese version. We came across quite few recipes on line. The constant factor in all the recipes is separating the eggs yolk, whipping the white and incorporating it into the yolk, flour mixture.  Then cooking the pancake on low flame with a cover or lid piling up more batter while it is cooking to give it height (or thickness). The differences among the recipes are the amount of sugar and eggs and type flours (either AP or cake flour). Also, we both remember making a type of fluffy pancake in which separated yolk and whipped egg white were folded into the batter but apparently we did not blog it or this was before we started our blog and we do not remember the details at all. So, one weekend, we made this fluffy pancake for lunch. We served the pancakes with a  fried egg (using pasteurized eggs).

Our pancakes did not fluff up as much as seen in the YouTube videos but still pretty fluffy. For the sake of picture taking, we served three pancakes but we divided this up and we each ate one and half pancakes.

My wife came up with a reasonable hybrid of all the recipes she browsed.

Ingredients (makes three small pancakes):
1 egg, yolk and white separated
1 tsp (5g) sugar
2 tbs (20g) milk (we used light cream)
1 tbs (10g) vegetable oil
4 tbs (32g) cake flour
2/3 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
A dash of vanilla extract

Ingredients (X 2 makes 6 small pancakes):
2 egg, yolk and white separated
2 tsp (10g) sugar
4 tbs (40g) milk (we used light cream)
2 tbs (20g) vegetable oil
8 tbs (64 g) cake flour
1 1/3 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
A dash of vanilla extract

Directions:
Mix the egg yolk, sugar, milk, and oil in a bowl with whisk until foamy and well mixed (#1).
Add the cake flour and mix until incorporated.
In a stand mixer, whip the egg white to hard peak
Add 1/3 to the flour egg yolk mixture and mix using a whisk (#2), fold in the remaining egg white using a spatula.
Meanwhile preheat a non-stick frying pan on low flame for 10-15 minutes and melt butter, spoon in the batter (#3) and put a lid on. After few minutes, add more batter on the top to make it thicker.
After 10-15 minutes, turn the pancakes over (#4) and cook another 5 minutes with a lid on.

When we had this, I had a Proust's "Madeleine" moment. The texture and taste of these pancakes transported me back to Sapporo 札幌 when I was a kid and my father took me and my brother (don't tell Mother) to an ice cream parlor*. This pancake really reminded me of those  pancakes (they were called hotcakes back then. It appears that  they still serve them but  they are now called pancakes).  Next time when we go back to Sapporo, we have to go there and try the pancakes. As to this version, this is our first attempt at this. We will certainly try to perfect this recipe.

* This was called "Yuki-jirushi" parlor 雪印パーラー. (The picture shows the old location which I visited as a kid). It was run by a big dairy company in Hokkaido. It is still in operation. It moved from the original location to its current location in a nearby building in April, 2017. Until then, it was at the same place we went to as a kid so many years ago.

"Tonkatsu" pork cutlet with sous vide pork 低温調理のトンカツ

We like tonkatsu トンカツ and make it occasionally. Although in Japan, serving undercooked pork is not unusual especially when using SPF pork from specific named-producers (although it does not specifically say it is cysticercus free, I am sure the risk is extremely low). I am sure American pork is relatively safe as well but I, just to be safe, make sure I cook pork completely. In the Weber grill, I roast pork using indirect heat to the inner temperature of 145F as per USDA standard. (Actually, I start going down to the grill when it reads 142F, by the time I am ready to remove the pork from the grill, the temperature will reach 145F). I previously posted sous vide pork tenderloin at 140F for 3 hours which appears to be safe for both bacteria and cysticercus. Going back to tonkatsu, I usually insert an instant digital thermometer in the center of the meat until it registers 140F but it is not easy to get it right. Many times,  the pork is a bit overcooked (since I err on the side of overcooking). To eliminate this anxiety of under or over cooking, I decided to try making tonkatsu from sous vide cooked pork tenderloin. This is what it looks like. I only deep fried it for a total of 1 minute  since the meat itself was precooked. As you can see the center looks slightly pink. It tasted great with a nice fried bread crust. So why is the center is pink?

I sous vide cooked pork tenderloin seasoned with salt and pepper at 140F for 4 hours which is more than enough to completely cook the pork and render it safe. I soaked the vacuum packages after completion of cooking in ice water for 30 minutes to quick cool down before moving them to the meat drawer of the refrigerator for future use. Just before making it into tonkatsu, I sliced it and the cut surfaces were totally homogenous and gray (see below).

So, the only explanation I can come up with is the oxygen exposure. The pork was cooked in a vacuum but after it was breaded and deep fried, oxygen may have bound to myoglobin to make a slightly pink color. This was an  interesting experiment and  proof of concept. I am not sure I will do this as a regular way to cook tonkatsu, though.

Frozen squid with butter and yuzukusho 冷凍イカのバター柚子胡椒炒め

I described the type of squid we can get from our regular grocery store which is previously frozen and thawed at the store "for your convenience". Although occasionally I can get a larger frozen squid from Japan at our Japanese grocery store, it is not consistent. So, I started looking for frozen squid at our grocery store. I found one from PanaPesca. Actually, I realized I had previously gotten frozen octopus of the same brand. One weekend, I decided to have this squid.

I thawed this in the refrigerator, washed and quickly cooked it in salted boiling water with a splash of sake for 30 seconds. Although it smelled better than the previously thawed variety, they were smaller and for some reason the "beaks" had not been removed from the tentacles. In any case, we enjoyed this squid  two ways on different days. This is sautéed with butter and yuzu-kosho 柚子胡椒. I served this with our usual spicy tofu and store-bought fish cakes (the latter two were heated up in the toaster oven).

If I sautéed the uncooked squid, it could have been better but the combination of butter and yuzu-kosho was good. Squid was quite tender and flavorful.

I wish the squid was a bit larger but I may stock this one in the freeezer.

"Nori" tsukuda-ni and natto 海苔の佃煮納豆

I saw this recipe in one of the food blogs I follow. It involves natto and "nori tsukuda-ni" 納豆と海苔の佃煮.   I am all for new recipes involving natto. So, I had to try this.

"Nori" 海苔 is several types of edible seaweed which are mostly aqua-cultured. If one hears "nori", most people think of a black sheet of paper-like dry product, which is an essential ingredient in making sushi especially rolled sushi. But fresh or salt-preserved "nori" is available in Japan and my favorite was its use in "fresh nori miso soup" なま海苔の味噌汁. Another popular "nori" product is "nori tsukuda-ni" 海苔の佃煮. When I was growing up (or even now), one particular "nori tuskudani" brand by "Momo-ya" 桃屋 called "Edo-murasaki" 江戸むらさき (meaning "Edo purple*") was most popular.  It was/is sold as a condiment for rice or "go-han" ごはん. As a kid, I did not like it since it tasted almost "chemical" to me. I've known for some time that I could get "nori tsukudani" at our Japanese grocery store but I did not even consider it until I read this recipe. I just had to try it. So, I got a jar, mixed it with natto and topped cold silken tofu with the mixture. For  "just-to-make-sure", I added a healthy dollop of the nori tsukudani on top as a garnish (shown as dark jelly like substance in the picture below).

*"Edo purple or Edo-murisake": Is the brand name for  "nori tsukuda-ni". It's made by cooking and reducing seaweed in mirin and soy sauce among other ingredients. Japanese refer to the color of soy sauce as "purple" which is also considered an auspicious or regal color. In certain situations, "murasaki" could mean "soy sauce". The method to make "tsukuda-ni" is said to have originated in "Tsukuda island" 佃島 which is located in Chuo ward 中央区 of current day Tokyo or Edo (the old name of Tokyo). In addition, Tokyo bay was (or may be "is") famous for cultivating "nori".  So, it is apt to name "nori tsukudani" as "Edo purple".

The below is a picture of the jar of  "nori tuskudani" I got. In addition to the brand name "Edo-murasaki", the package has an additional name; "Gohan-desuyo!" ごはんですよ！.  According to Japanese Wikipedia and the company website, this version was added to their usual product line-up  in 1972 (or 1973) . "Gohan-desuyo!" was added to the name to represent a variation from the original product (which they still produce) resulting in something that was not cooked as long and was more moist. This phrase could be translated as "Dinner is served! or YO! Chow-time!". "Gohan" literally means cooked rice but "cooked rice" is also equivalent  to "dinner" for Japanese. The label also states made with 100% domestic "nori" (in this case domestic must mean Japanese).

This appears to be an improved version from the one of my childhood. I tasted a bit before mixing it into the natto. It tasted better than I remembered. I am not sure if this is purely due to a change in my perception i.e. adult taste buds, or the changed and improved recipe mentioned in Wikipedia. I mixed it into the natto using my handy-dandy natto stirrer (shown here as white sticks). I also added finely chopped scallion. I did not add any soy sauce since "nori tsukudani" is salty.

This was pretty good but I am not sure this is particularly outstanding from the regular way of preparing natto. Or as my wife said, "It's edible but I wouldn't walk down the block to get seconds". Nonetheless this re-introduced me to "nori tuskudani". I may try it on freshly cooked white rice next time.

Perilla-wrapped marinated tuna tempura 漬けマグロの青紫蘇包天ぷら

This is the last of three dishes I made from the frozen block of yellowfin tuna. Actually, I was planning to make all three dishes one evening to finish up the tuna block. We, however, bogged down with the first two dishes (we had other small dishes as well) so I made this dish a day later. As a result, the tuna was marinated for 20 hours or so but it did not adversely affect the taste.

The perilla is from our herb garden. This year, our perilla went crazy and is almost 5 feed tall and the leaves are rather large. Although this is based on a recipe on line, I made some changes and used thin tempura batter instead of just potato starch. I also used toothpicks to secure the perilla. This perilla-wrapped tempura is similar to natto tempura I posted before.

I just cut thickly sliced tuna which was marinated into two bite size and wrapped it with half of the perilla leaves (depending on the size of the perilla, you may have to use a full leaf). I put a toothpick through to secure the perilla on the tuna.

I made thin tempura batter from cake flour and cold water. I coated the tuna package with the batter and fried it in 350F peanut oil for 30 seconds (I wanted the center still rare). Since the tuna was marinated, I did not have any dipping sauce or my usual green tea salt for this. This was quite good. The tuna almost tasted like beef with a crunchy curst nice perilla flavor. This will go with any kind of drink.

Otoshi 5 kinds お通し５種類

I served this 5 kind of otoshi お通し appetizer on our relatively new five compartment plates. This was the evening I also served perilla-wrapped marinated tuna tempura 漬けマグロの青紫蘇包み天ぷら but I diverted a few of the tuna skewers to be served as is (see below) which was pretty good. This multiple otoshi to start was inspired by izakaya in Japan, "Suiko"酔香 and "Shuhai" 酒杯, where they regularly serve otoshi consisting of 6 dishes. Having store-bought items makes putting together 5 otoshi easy. Actually I had more than five I could have served as starters but this plate only had 5 positions.

The left two are composed of spicy clam salad and seaweed salad. Both were store-bought and fairly good. If you avoid eating the conspicuous red peppers  (seen at the upper left edge of the dish) the "spicy"clam salad is not too spicy. The seaweed salad appears artificially dyed but has a nice crunch.

The center two otoshi are sea food; boiled octopus leg 茹で蛸足 dressed in sumiso sauce 酢味噌 (I made the sumiso to my wife's spec "not too vinegary". I used dashi to get the consistency of the sauce). The dish on the right is perilla-wrapped "zuke" marinated tuna which I "stole" from the skewers destined to be made into tempura.

Although the tuna was marinated, I put on a few drops of wasabi soy sauce. I am now making different sauces ahead of time and storing them in the refrigerator in small squeeze bottles; (sauces like sumiso, wasabi soy sauce, mustard soy sauce, and sesame dressing.) This makes assembling multiple dishes more efficient. The last dish is eggplant and broccoli seasoned with black bean garlic and toubanjan (or Duabanjiang) sauce. I made this dish a few days ago to use up Italian eggplant leftover from making ratatouille. I made it sort of Chinese stir-fri-ish but I cannot even remember how I made it (I also used Japanese miso, come to think of it). It is not spicy and I added blanched sugar snaps for a color. Although I cannot reproduce it, my wife liked it.

So, this was a great start. I served few more small dishes and planed to finish with perilla-wrapped zuke tuna tempura.

Tuna and natto with wakame sea weed 若芽鮪納豆

In my quest to make frozen yellowfin tuna more palatable, some time ago I made this combination of natto and tuna . The picture below shows the second dish I made with a combination of natto and tuna. This time I added salt preserved wakame seaweed 塩蔵わかめ.

The only drink that could possibly go with this type of dish is cold sake.

I made sure the natto was mixed very well with my natto-stirring contraption to reduce the smell so my wife literally wouldn't "turn her nose up" at it. I used the mustard and sauce packets that came with the natto and also added finely chopped scallion. I washed the salt preserved wakame and hydrateded it for 5 minutes. After squeezing out the excess moisture I dressed it with soy sauce and sesame oil.

As before, the sliced of tuna was marinated in concentrated "mentsuyu" Japanese noodle sauce 麺つゆ for several hours before the excess marinade was blotted off with a paper towel and the tuna was cut into small cubes.

This combination makes the tuna much better and even my wife is fond of this dish,

Fennel Ricotta Muffin フェンネル リコッタ マフィン

My wife rediscovered some muffin tins and how to fill them to make muffins with generous tops, so now she's into making muffins. Although the freezer space is getting tight, she recently made another wonderful batch of muffins. This is a fennel flavored and ricotta cheese stuffed muffin and is from the "La Brea Bakery" cookbook. (As usual my wife made alterations to the original recipe).

When I saw this cross-section of the muffin I thought my wife had cut the cooked muffin in half and added a layer of cheese but she told me that she just put the ricotta cheese between two layers of batter then cooked the whole thing together.

As shown below this is the result of "over filling" the muffin cups with batter. The tops are touching each other. The large tops, however, create a problem. When removing the muffins from the tin while still warm and putting them on the cooling rack, they started collapsing under the weight of the heavy tops. My wife quickly solved this problem by turning the muffins upside down while cooling on the wire rack. Once cooled, they can withstand the heavy tops without any problem. (According to my wife, although all the recipes say only fill the muffin cups 3/4 full, she thinks this technique results in a perfectly shaped muffin just the right size for breakfast). Also, notice the cream colored portion showing on the top of the muffins in the picture below. That is where the cheese filling partially oozed out while the muffin was baking and added an additional creamy sweetness to the crust.

I ask my wife for the recipe.

Ingredients:

For the batter 
1 tsp. fennel seeds
3 cup AP flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tbs. plus 1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups yogurt
3/4 vegetable oil

For the filling 
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt

Directions:
Toast the fennel seeds in a pan until they turn slightly brown and fragrant. Grind or crush them into as fine a powder as possible. In a large bowel combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. Add the crushed fennel seeds. In another bowl mix the yogurt and oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir until incorporated.

In another bowl mix the ricotta cheese, vanilla and salt.

Fill a liberally greased muffin tin cup half full with the batter. Top with a generous dollop of the filling and top with more batter to cover the filling and mound up over the edge of the cup. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 18 to 20 minutes.

These are lovely muffins. They are not too sweet and have a subtle fennel flavor. They have a nice moist cake like texture. The filling becomes incorporated into the texture and adds a nice layer of creaminess with a pleasant burst of cheesy vanilla sweetness. These are muffins that make it worth getting up in the morning.

Yamakake variation 山かけバリエーション

This is a variation of "Yamakake" 山かけ. Since the frozen block of yellowfin tuna キハダマグロの冷凍冊 I had in the freezer was getting old, I decided to use it. I divided the block into three portions and tried to make three different dishes. Since frozen yellowfin tuna is not the best quality tuna, I made thick slices and marinated all of them in concentrated Japanese noodle sauce (from the bottle) or "mentsuyu" 麺つゆ. I used to make the marinade myself but I am getting lazy. Grated nagaimo 長芋 (or yamaimo if you can get it) with tuna sashimi "Yamakake" is a "golden" combination.  This variation is based on a recipe I saw on line. I made a sauce (dissolving wasabi in soy sauce) separately and placed it in a small squeeze bottle so that I could add any amount I liked after the dish was assembled.

For greenery, the recipe called for "Daikon" sprouts which I did not have so I just used thinly sliced American mini-cucumber.

Instead of grating nagaimo, I made small chunks by crushing it in a Ziploc bag using a meat pounder. This is called "Tataku". Most frequently, this is done to cucumber called "tataki kyuri" 叩き胡瓜 so that the seasoning will cling better to the irregular surface. For nagaimo, this process gives a nice crunchy texture (chunks) with a grated texture along the edges of the chunks.  We like this combination of the textures very much.

One more additional step was called for in preparing the tuna. After a few hours of marinading, I sandwiched it between hydrated kelp which is called "Kobujime" 昆布締め. This is usually done for white meat fish but as per the recipe I added this step.  I did this for 1 hour. Before cutting the tuna in into smaller cubes.

We really liked this version of yamakake. We are not sure "kobujime" process really added much though. In any case, this was definitely wroth trying again (hopefully with better quality tuna sashimi).

Sous Vide chicken salad with mango for lunch マンゴー入り低温調理鶏胸肉サラダ

I regularly make sous vide chicken breast. Using skin-on and bone-in split breast, sous vide at 140F for 4 hours produces really good moist chicken. Most of the time, I ice it down in the cooking pouch and use it for chicken salad or just for sandwiches. If you do not open the pouch and keep it in the meat drawer, it will last for at least 2 weeks. I did not describe the chicken salad recipe accurately in the previous post. I add some fruit to this curry flavored chicken salad. The original recipe calls for grapes and cantaloupe which makes a wonderful salad. I did not have grapes or cantaloupe this time but had champagne mango, I added to this to the salad and it went extremely well. This was a weekend lunch.

We served my potato salad (Instead of Yukon gold, I am using Russet potato recently) and cheesy muffin with prosciutto and chives.

I added thinly sliced cucumber, salted with the moisture squeezed out and lightly dressed with sushi vinegar before mixing it into the potato salad.

I removed the skin and deboned the sous vide chicken breast (I also removed the tenderloin for another dish) then cut it into bite sized cubes. The dressing is the same as before; mixture of mayo, Greek yogurt, mango chutney, curry powder, and lemon juice. Since the dressing included mango chutney, I thought adding mango to the salad may work. So, I added champagne (yellow) mango cut into small cubes.

This worked well. The dressing is sweet and sour with curry flavor (although not hot despite a large amount of curry powder used due to the Greek yogurt and mayo) which is echoed in the taste of mango (more sweet than sour). This was a really good satisfying lunch.

Italian-style octopus salad and more small dishes イタリアンたこサラダ

This is a variation on the theme of Italian-style squid salad イタリアンイカサラダ. To use up boiled octopus legs, I made this salad one evening. The dressing is made with rice vinegar, Dijon mustard and olive oil seasoned with salt and black pepper.

For vegetables, thinly sliced Vidalia onion, American mini-cucumber, finely chopped celery, skinned Campari tomatoes, Kalamata olive on the bed of our home grown arugula. Like squid salad, this is a good combination and a rather healthy starter.

We then proceeded with our usual suspects of small appetizer dishes.

This is cold tofu or "Hiyayakko" 冷や奴. I changed the topping with bonito flakes, finely chopped scallion, "ikura" salmon roe and blanched edible chrysanthemum all dressed with concentrated noodle sauce.'

This is the last of Chinese-style squid salad 中華風イカサラダ (store-bought).

This is Spanish Mackerel simmered in miso sauce サバの味噌煮 I made a few days ago with a side of blanched broccoli. I just warmed them up by microwaving for 15 seconds. Once I make this, we can usually stretch it out for about 10 days storing it in the refrigerator. This is always a good-to-have item.

We still had left over gyoza 餃子 I made and store-bought fish cake. Sugar snaps are blanched, cooled in ice water and soaked in Japanese dashi broth seasoned with salt スナップ豌豆の塩びたし.

We really like to have many small dishes with many different taste and textures.