Cashew tomato curry with cheese curds (and chicken) カシュートマトカレー

As we mentioned earlier, with an abundance of homemade buttermilk, my wife has started making cheese using 4% milk and the homemade buttermilk. (One aspect of using heirloom cultures such as the one we are using for buttermilk is that you have to keep using them to keep them viable and active.) As a result we now have an abundance of homemade cheese curd. Although we enjoy eating it plain or marinated in olive oil and various spices including jalapeño, there is a limit to how much we can eat. My wife found this curry recipe and thought it would be a good way to further diversify the use of our abundant cheese curd supply. The original recipe was vegan but our version is not, since we added barbecued chicken. This is a very interesting and unique curry (for us) since it uses emulsified raw cashews and pureed tomato in addition to the usual Indian spices. It has a nice fresh tomato flavor and slow heat. The browned cheese curd substitute for meat was something new for us and we really liked it. Later, since we had extra chicken meat from a Weber cooked chicken, we added the dark meat which meant the dish was no longer vegan. But the chicken really “kicked it up a notch”; adding an additional smokey layer of flavor. The next picture shows how we served it with rice, tomatoes and broccoli for lunch. As usual, I ask my wife to take over.

Ingredients:
for the cashew puree
1/2 cup (2 oz.) raw cashews
1/2 cup boiling chicken broth

For the curry
4 Tbs. (2 oz.) butter (1 tsp. to brown the cheese curd and 3 tsp. for the curry)
8 oz. cheese curd cut into 1 inch cubes (firm tofu could be substituted)
2 cups tomato puree
1/8 to 1/4 tsp. cayenne powder
1/2 tsp. garam masala
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
Optional chicken broth if the sauce gets too thick.

For the chicken
dark meat from barbecued chicken amount to taste
Since the meat came from the chicken legs it was a bit dry. So we cooked it again in the Instantpot (the chicken meat, 1/2 cup of chicken broth at high pressure for 35 minutes with natural depressurization). The chicken tasted much better and was extremely tender after its encounter with the Instantpot.

Directions:
To make the cashew puree combine the cashews and the hot chicken broth. Let soak for 30 minutes. Then puree until smooth in a mini food processor (#1). Puree the tomatoes and set aside. (We used canned tomatoes)(#2). Cut the cheese into 1 inch squares (#3). Put 1 tsp. of the butter in a frying pan and melt until slightly browned. Add the cheese curd and cook until golden brown on both sides (#4). Set aside. Add the remaining 3 Tbs. of butter to the pan. Once it melts add the cashew puree (#5). Then add the cayenne powder, garam masala, paprika and sugar. Bloom the flavors. Cook the mixture until fully blended. Add the tomatoes and blend completely. Cook until the mixture thickens slightly. Add the cheese curd and cook until the mixture darkens (about 5 -10 minutes) (#6). (A splatter guard would be recommended because the mixture may tend to spit.) If the mixture gets too thick add some of the chicken broth. Add the chicken and continue cooking for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with a drizzle of cream on top. 

 

We really liked this curry. The browned cheese curd was something new for us. We didn’t know it could be cooked like that and it added a new dimension for our approach to cheese curd. We will probably use it in other recipes. It was crispy on the outside with a pleasant browned butter flavor and soft on the inside. The curry sauce was very smooth with a bright tomato flavor and a slow heat. We found the sauce itself was surprisingly filling. We realized this is because it is nut based, so in essence, we were eating handfuls of cashew nuts. The version without the chicken was very nice but we thought the addition of barbecued chicken really made it even better by adding chicken and barbecued smokey flavor. We learned a lot from making this curry and it really expanded our “curry horizons”. We’ll be making this and various versions of it in the future. 

“Shoga-yaki” ginger pork bowl “tei-shoku” lunch 豚の生姜焼き丼定食

A few weeks ago, my wife suggested that it has been quite a while since we had sukiyaki すき焼き and it would be nice to have some. I agreed, but when I went to the Japanese grocery store, I forgot to get the frozen "Sukiyaki meat" すき焼肉. So, the next time I went I was proud of myself for not forgetting the meat. But apparently I picked up the wrong thing. My first clue was when my wife said, “I didn’t know sukiyaki is made with pork, I thought it was beef.” Instead of sukiyaki beef, in my haste I had picked up thinly sliced pork for "shouga-yaki" 生姜焼き. Since this package was next to the "shabu-shabu" シャブシャブ beef, I assumed it was also beef but for sukiyaki. In my enthusiasm I bought not one but two packages of the stuff. All was not lost, however, as I may have mentioned before, in Hokkaido 北海道, where I am originally from, many families use pork instead of beef for sukiyaki as was the case in my family. So, we went ahead and used one of the packs of pork to make sukiyaki. It was not good. The pork was too lean and too thickly cut. It got hard when cooked as sukiyaki. (So note to self: next time when at the Japanese grocery store get appropriate sukiyaki beef). Meanwhile, since I had bought two packages of this pork, I had one package left and it was clear that it would not be used for sukiyaki. So, one weekend I decided to use the pork as originally intended and made “shoga-yaki” ginger pork. Pork shoga-yaki 豚の生姜焼き is a very popular dish in Japan. When I was a college student, coffee shops near the university served lunch in addition to tea and coffee. In addition to  “Western-style” lunches such as sandwiches or spaghetti, most of the coffee shops also served Japanese-style  bento 弁当 or teishoku 定食* and shoga-yaki was among the popular ones. I am sure this has not been changed even now.

*Digression alert: I am sure it is no need to explain “bento” but here it goes anyway. When “bento” is served in restaurant/coffee shop, it is usually a lidded rectangular box which contains the entire meal but unlike pre-packaged bento, the rice and dishes are warm or just made. "Teishuku" (please follow the link for illustrated guide) is the Japanese concept of a "complete" meal or "meal set" which includes a bowl of  rice, soup, tsukemono 漬け物 (pickled or more likely salted vegetables), main dish (protein) and small "kobachi" 小鉢 side dish or bowl. In many "Taishu-shokudo" 大衆食堂 or "public" eateries which serve those who want drinks with food and those who want a complete meal, many different teishoku are available (the main protein dish varies and can be grilled fish, sashimi, or meat etc) but the remaining items, or “sides” such as soup, tuskemono, are usually the same for each available teishoku. The main and side dishes can be had as a single dish without other items (this is great especially if you are just drinking). It could also be "teishoku" for the price of a few more yen. 

So, this is  my rendition of "shoga-yaki" donburi teishoku 生姜焼き丼定食. In this case, the main protein and rice were combined as a donburi.

The main dish shown in the next picture is a bed of rice to which I added pork shouga-yaki with onion, seasoned shiitake mushroom (this was from dried shiitake and seasoned in "ama-kara" 甘辛 or sweet and salty with mirin and soy sauce) and blanched broccoli.

Miso soup is wakame ワカメ sea weed, "abura-age" 油揚げ fried tofu, silken tofu 絹ごし豆腐 and chopped scallion ネギ.

The "Kobachi" side dish was simmered root vegetable including "renkon" lotus root, "gobo" burdock root, "takenoko" bamboo shoot, shiitake mushroom, and "konnyaku" devil's tongue and blanched sugar snap in salt broth.

The tsukemono is cucumber, daikon, nappa cabbage, jalapeño pepper, and ginger (I salted this a bit stronger than I usually do; with salt 3% of the weight of the veggies instead of usual 2% and also added a dash of Vodka which makes it last much longer without changing the taste. (With this preparation it can easily last for at least one week in the refrigerator).

How to make pork shouga-yaki ginger pork (Although I posted "shouga-yaki" over 11 years ago, this time,  I am using a more appropriate, albeit not perfect, cut of meat). I am sure that there are so many variations and preferences and, of course, you could use other meat such as beef but this is what I made.

The essence of this dish is thinly sliced meat sautéed and seasoned sweet soy sauce flavored with ginger. Using lean meat can make tough shouga-yaki and using fatty cuts such as thinly sliced pork belly will prevent that but the traditional cut to be used is "pork roast" meat 豚のロース cut thinly (thin enough but not paper thin).

Ingredients:
Thinly sliced pork, 4-5 slices for one meal size serving (in Japan, specially packaged "shouga-yaki" pork is available widely. The one I got here is a bit too lean, the perfect cut has more fat. I used the entire package which is about 20 slices).

2-3 tsp neutral oil

Onion slices, optional

For marinade:
Mirin, soy sauce, and sake (1:1:1) ratio, enough to marinate the meat plus more to add while cooking.
Grated ginger (amount arbitrary, totally depends on your taste, I used whole grated ginger but you can use just the juice from grated ginger).
Dash of dark sesame oil
(optionally, grated onion).

Directions:
Marinate the meat. The amount of the marinade is enough to cover all meat slices and a bit more (additional 1/4 cup). I marinaded for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
I drained the marinade (the excess marinade reserved) and spread the meat slices on a paper towel to remove excess marinade.
In the non-stick frying pan, add 2 tsp neutral oil on medium flame. 

Add onion slices and cook until soft and somewhat transparent, set aside

Cook the meat slices, spread out without over lapping, in batches. One side 30 seconds and the other side 15 seconds. Do not overcook (the meat will finish cooking when cooked with the marinade later).
Set aside the cooked meat slices.
When all the slices are cooked, add the marinade to the pan (if not enough add more sake, mirin and soy sauce).
Add back the cooked meat with the accumulated juice and the onion .
Quickly cook and coat each slice with the marinade. Take it out and set aside.
Since I was planning to make a doumburi, I added a small amount of water at the end and heated the marinade to make sauce.

Assembly:
Top the rice with the shouga-yaki pork slices (I used 3 slices per bowl).
Pour in the sauce from the frying pan (just slightly moisten and season the rice).
Add any other garnish or topping (such as ginger julienne in vinegar or "benishouga" 紅生姜). I added seasoned shiitake mushrooms and blanched broccoli.

Compared to the sukiyaki we made with this pork, the shouga-yaki came out much better. The meat was tender and well seasoned. Perfect lunch for the weekend.

Buttermilk biscuit redux バターミルクビスケット 第二弾

This is one of my wife's baking projects. Since we really liked our old friend the “tried-and-true buttermilk biscuit she used to make many years ago and reintroduced to our diet recently, when she found a recipe labeled “better” buttermilk biscuits, she had to try it.  This is basically a "redux" of the previous recipe with some improvements. The major difference is that it includes an egg. It also has a slightly different way of doing the envelop folds that cause the flakey layers such as those shown in the picture below. The end product is very flakey but a bit more moist which makes it a bit better than the previous recipe. As usual I will ask my wife to  with "how-to"es.

Ingredients:
3 cups (360 gr.) flour (or 2 cups AP flour and 1 cup plus 2 Tbs. Cake flour)
3 Tbs. Sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
1 1/2 stick (170 gr.) cold butter cut into small cubes (I froze the butter cubes)
1 large egg
3/4 cup (180 Milliliters) cold buttermilk

Directions:
Mix the dry ingredients (flour through soda) in a bowl. Using your hands quickly work the butter into the dry ingredients until the pieces of butter are the size of small beans. (It’s ok to have the butter in visible chunks because that is what contributes to the flakiness). In another bowl combine the egg and the buttermilk. Whisk with a fork to combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Lightly mix until a crumbly dough forms. Turn out onto a floured surface and using a rolling pin roll the dough into a 1 inch thick 2 1/2 inch wide strip with the narrow end facing you. Fold the dough into thirds as you would a letter. (This creates a thin but long strip of dough which is a slightly different from the usual configuration of a square which is then folded). Turn the dough one quarter turn, roll out into 1 inch thick 2 1/2 inch wide and fold again. Turn, roll it out and fold again. Roll it out one final time and cut into 12 pieces. Put on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. Cook in a 400 degree oven for 18 to 20 minutes until the biscuits are golden brown. (If you used frozen butter you may cook a little longer to make sure the centers are cooked.) Cool on a rack.

These biscuits were excellent. They were flakey, had a slight sweetness, the tang of the butter milk and and taste of butter. While they were nicely flakey they were also very moist on the inside. (The biscuits made with the previous recipe while still very good were a bit drier.) This will probably be the buttermilk biscuit recipe we will use in the future. 

Riviera Seafood Club sashimi リビエラシーフードクラブからの刺身

This is my on-going effort to find retailers where I can get sashimi-grade fish. As I have mentioned previously some of the on-line places like "sushi at home" or "fish for sushi" which sold sashimi fish have come and gone. The good and reliable Catalina Offshore Products is still going strong and we still get occasional shipments of sashimi fish from them. When it comes to Uni うに, Maruhide 丸秀 is the place to go. We have gotten frozen blocks of sashimi-grade tuna from "Great Alaska Seafood" and although it is yellowfin tuna, it is better quality than the frozen yellowfin tuna blocks we got from the  Japanese grocery store.  Recently I became aware of another vendor called  "Riviera Seafood Club" (according to the website it was launched in July 2019, and is family-run).  I finally decide to get some akami 赤身 (8oz), chutoro 中トロ (8 oz) and hamachi はまち(8 oz) sashimi from them. Unlike some of the other vendors we have tried, they offered smaller portions which is nice and makes it easier to manage use of the shipment. The chutoro block had one half almost akami and another half of toro. I divided up the block and served the toro part the evening we received the sashimi. The reaming akami was used to make imitation negitoro and cubes of avocado and tuna next evening. The hamachi still had the skin attached which needed to be removed. The picture below shows the serving of the various sashimi.

The quality of akami was good. The chutoro was good in terms of texture and taste but had some sinew (which happens sometimes especially in the toro parts of tuna). The hamachi was ok but didn’t appear to be super fresh. I marinated it in sake, soy sauce and grated ginger juice for the next evening, which made it more palatable.

I think this is a good alternative source of sashimi. It came exactly as they suggested (ordered on Wednesday and arrived on Friday). The only odd thing was that there was no communication. No order confirmation email or shipping notice aside from a text message I received from FedEx concerning expected delivery date.We may try this place again. It is good to know we have more than one place where we can get sashimi.

Chicken onion sauce curry 鶏肉のタマネギソースカレー

This is another of my wife's curry porojects. This time, instead of the usual pork, she used chicken thighs. This one uses an onion-centric sauce with the usual Indian spices. Since we decided that we like potatoes in any curry, she added potatoes as well. We also added blanched broccoli and skinned Campari tomato while heating the curry which adds colors as well as fresh taste. I will ask my wife to provide the ingredients and directions.

Ingredients:
4 chicken thighs
2 to 3 onions diced
1 1/2 inch cube of ginger peeled and coarsely chopped
Several garlic cloves (or as many as like) peeled
1 Tbs. Ground coriander
1 Tbs. Ground cumin
1/2 tsp. Ground turmeric
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2-3 tomatoes peeled
3 to 4 small red potatoes peeled
2 tsp. Salt
Some chicken broth as needed
1/2 tsp garam masala
Several tablespoon of plain yogurt
Finely chopped parsley


Directions:

The line up of spices is shown in the first picture below. Take 1/2 of the chopped onions, the garlic and ginger put into a blender and blend to a paste. Set aside. Sauté the remaining onions in a frying pan. Cook until slightly browned. (Second picture below) Remove from pan and set aside. Add the onion/garlic/ginger paste to the pan (Last picture below) and fry until it too turns slightly brown. Add the spices (coriander through cayenne) until they “bloom” and become fragrant. Add back the sautéd onions and the tomatoes and salt. Stir until all is blended. Add in the potatoes and the chicken. If more liquid is needed add some chicken broth. Cook until the chicken is cooked and becomes tender. Finally add the garam masala and several spoonfuls of yogurt. Top with the parsley just before serving.

This is another good curry. The onions add a pervasive gentle sweetness underlying the complexities of the other spices. The cayenne pepper gives is a slight “sing” of hotness that builds slightly. The chicken becomes flavorful and tender, just falling off the bone. The potatoes also absorbs the flavors and a nice robustness. A great dish with rice or bread for lunch or dinner. 

PA Dutch Schnecken ペンシルバニアダッチ シュネッケン

My wife grew up in the PA Dutch area of Pennsylvania and PA Dutch food is something special for her from her childhood.  For Christmas, we usually get German-style cookies from a bakery called “Bredenbecks” which is located in Philadelphia, (historically Germantown but currently Chestnut Hill) and has been in business since 1886. According to my wife, these cookies were her grandfather’s favorite and he used to bring a large tin of them from Bredenbecks every year when her grandparents came for Xmas. So, for my wife, Bredenbecks’ cookies are associated with a good time during the holidays as a kid. Last Xmas, my wife decided to try something different in addition to the traditional German cookies. So she ordered a tin of “Schnecken” (which means “snail” in German).* As I mentioned before, I am not a “desert” person and I have to admit I am also not a charter member of the traditional German cookie fan club. For these reasons I have no problem by-passing a plate full of them without taking one. But the schnecken were great! (My wife actually caught me red-handed snarfing some directly out the tin between meals). 

*digression alert: One year my wife decided to order a stollen in addition to the traditional German cookies from Bredenbecks. While the cookies are shipped in a tin, the stollen was shipped in a light cardboard box. The goodies were delivered to the front door and quickly discovered by the resident squirrels who recognize a good thing when they smell it. They busted into the box and helped themselves to the stollen. By the time we got home the only things left were a cardboard shipping box with a large hole in it, a few large crumbs and chunks of stollen scattered all over the front porch. It was a merry holiday for some lucky squirrels. 

Recently my wife was going through one of the old PA dutch cookbooks she has when the recipe for PA Dutch schnecken jumped out at her. Knowing how much I liked the ones from Bredenbecks she couldn’t ignore the recipe and decided to surprise me with some. As shown in the picture below the schneken from Bredenbecks are little cookies and shaped more like a mini-croissant than a snail. 

As shown in the next picture, the PA Dutch schnecken my wife made is more like cinnamon a bun but as you can see, it is indeed shaped like a “Schnecken”.

The picture below shows the cut surface. Alternating layers of bread and cinnamon sugar/ butter. This version is not too sweet but very flavorful and we are enjoying them mostly as a breakfast.

I ask my wife, as usual, to share the “how-to” part.

Word of advice from wifey: in the tradition of old recipes used to make dishes for large farming families (such as the PA Dutch), doing hard labor chores the yield from this recipe is quite generous.…it makes 2 dozen schnecken! 

Ingredients:
For the dough
1 package of yeast
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/3 cup sugar
4 to 5 cups AP flour
1 1/2 cup milk (buttermilk would work too)
2 eggs beaten
1/4 cup melted butter

For the filling
1/3 cup butter softened
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. Ground cinnamon

Optional topping
1 egg white mixed with 1 tbs water
1/2 tsp. Sugar per muffin (more or less to taste)

Directions:
Add the dry ingredients (yeast through flour) to the bowl of a mixer with a dough hook. Mix together the wet ingredients (milk through melted butter) together and mix well. With the mixer running add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Add more flour as needed to make a soft dough. Knead for 7 to 10 minutes. Cover and let rise in a warm place.

Meanwhile combine the ingredients for the filling (butter through cinnamon) into a paste and set aside.

When the dough has doubled in size punch it down and divide it into two portions weighing them to make them about even in size. Roll out each portion into a rectangle of about 15 X 18 inches. Spread 1/2 the filling over each rectangle right to the edges. Roll up each “as for a jelly roll” as specified by the instructions. Cut each roll crosswise into 12 pieces. (A word of advice: to get pieces of somewhat equal size, cut the roll into thirds. Then cut each third into fourths (3 x 4 = 12). Place the slices cut side down into a well greased muffin tin. (First picture below) Cover and let rise until double. Just before baking brush each muffin with the egg wash mixture and sprinkle on the desired amount of sugar per bun. This sugar will caramelize slightly when cooked. Bake in a 375 degree oven form 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. (Second picture below). Another word of advice: remove the buns from the tins immediately after they come out of the oven before the caramelized sugar hardens . Once it hardens it will become extremely difficult to extract them. Also, scoop any caramelized sugar left on the bottom of the tins before it hardens and spread onto the buns.

Here are a bunch of snails. 

Imagine how nice it was to come home to the rich baking smell of butter, cinnamon and caramelized sugar. As usual my wife made a small one for me to eat immediately upon my arrival. Needless to say that one disappeared very quickly. While this is basically a cinnamon bun it is more demure than its better known cousin the sticky bun. The sweetness is just right with a gentle taste of cinnamon and a lovely soft slightly chewy dough. Only 2 dozen yield?

Buttermilk mini pie (Tassie) バターミルクミニパイ

While my wife was browsing the Washington Post, she found several small pie (tassie) recipes for the holidays. One was called "Buttermilk chess tassie". We are not sure of the origin of "chess" but it is reportedly a classic southern pie. "Tassie" is not a word we were familiar with but it means a small pie or tart and reportedly originated from the Scottish word "tass" meaning a small goblet. In any case we will call this "Buttermilk Mini Pie". This is perfect for us since it uses buttermilk (of which we have an abundant supply since my wife started making it) and it is small. A perfect single sweet bite as a dessert.

The below was C&P (cut and paste) from WP recipe.

Ingredients:
For the crust
4 tablespoons (2 ounces/60 grams) unsalted butter, softened, but still cool to the touch
1 1/2 ounces (40 grams) cream cheese, softened, but still cool to the touch
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon (70 grams) all-purpose flour

For the filling
1/3 cup (65 grams) granulated sugar
3 tablespoons buttermilk
1 large egg, cold
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt
2 tablespoons (30 grams) unsalted butter

Recipe doubled:
For the crust
8 tablespoons (4 ounces/120 grams) unsalted butter, softened, but still cool to the touch
3 ounces (80 grams) cream cheese, softened, but still cool to the touch
1  cup plus 2 tablespoon (140 grams) all-purpose flour

For the filling
2/3 cup (130 grams) granulated sugar
6 tablespoons buttermilk
2 large eggs, cold
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt
4 tablespoons (60 grams) unsalted butter

Directions:
To make the crust: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment — or, if using a hand mixer, in a large bowl — beat together the butter and cream cheese until smooth, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and add the flour. On low speed, mix until no streaks remain and the dough starts to come together, about 1 minute. Scrape any stray dough from the sides of the bowl, gather into a ball and flatten into a smooth rectangle or disc. Cover tightly and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Cut the cold dough into 12 equal pieces, (I did this by dividing the total weight of the dough by 12 to get the gram weight of each piece. That way they would at least be somewhat equal). Using your fingers, evenly press each piece into the bottom and up the sides of 12 mini muffin cups, making sure there are no holes. (This part was a bit tricky because it was hard to get the dough evenly distributed. Rolling the dough into a round does not work well. I found the best way was to make a small ball out of the dough, put it in the cup then using my thumb push down on the center of the ball forcing a depression in the center and the displaced dough up the sides of the cup.) Also, I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to get the little pies out of the cups once cooked so I put half of them in mini-muffin papers and the rest just in the greased cup. Turns out there is enough butter in the recipe that the papers were not necessary. Refrigerate uncovered, while making the filling.

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.

Make the filling: In a medium bowl or 1-pint glass measuring cup, whisk together the sugar, buttermilk, egg, vanilla and salt until just combined. In a small skillet over high heat, melt the butter until it foams, 1 to 2 minutes. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until it starts to turn brown and smell nutty. Use some of the butter to temper the egg mixture. Then add the rest of the butter and stir until blended.

Retrieve the muffin pan from the refrigerator, and add 1 heaping tablespoon of filling into each dough cup, filling it almost to the top. (I used the smallest ice cream scoop).

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is set.

Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely before removing the tassies.
In any case, this was sweet smooth with some tang from the buttermilk. The browned butter gives it a rich nuttiness. I am not a dessert eater but I had no trouble “choking” this down.

Cabbage curry salad (or rescued caramelized cabbage) カレー味のキャベツのサラダ

Making good on her threat to rescue the somewhat less than successful “skillet caramelized cabbage” my wife transformed it into curry flavored cabbage. Getting a cue from coleslaw, she added carrots and raisins. Then she further transformed it by turning it into a salad using mayo and strained (Greek) yogurt as a dressing. I think this dish may have been inspired by a recipe in her favorite Indian cookbook by Madhur Jaffrey’s called “Quick and Easy Indian Cooking”. Even so, I am certain, the recipe would not have called for the use of failed skillet caramelized cabbage. Nonetheless this was much better than the original.

Ingredients:
1/2 head of cabbage (about 1 1/2 lbs.) (I used the previously made caramelized cabbage)
3/4 tsp. Cumin seeds
1/2 tsp. Fennel seeds
1 tsp. Sesame seeds
1 cup raisins.
1 medium or large onion diced
2 to 3 carrots julienne
1 tsp. Salt
1/8 to 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tbs. Lemon juice (I used sushi vinegar)
1/2 tsp. Garam masala

Directions.
Put some oil in a frying pan on medium high heat. When the oil gets hot add the cumin, fennel and sesame seeds to bloom the spices. When the sesame seeds begin to pop quickly add the raisins. They will essentially fry puffing up and turning light brown. Then add the onions and sauté until they have browned a bit. Add the carrots and cook until they soften somewhat. Add the cabbage. Stir and cook until blended and the cabbage has become soft. Add the salt and cayenne. Then at the very end add the lemon juice (or sushi vinegar) and the garam masala.

This was a major improvement over the sorry caramelized cabbage dish. The spices had depth of flavor and some zing but were not too hot. The raisins gave it sweetness that contrasted well with the tangy note added by the vinegar. The garam masala gave it a bright spark at the end of the bite. I would almost go so far as to call it a coleslaw curry. It tasted great both hot or cold. Although this can be eaten hot or cold, we further morphed it to salad.

I served this dish with sweet potato croquet, French fries made from sweet potato. I think this was a small dish that went with a drink in the evening.

This was a lunch over the weekend. I served the cabbage curry dressed with the mayo greek yogurt combo. The plate included a curry flavored chicken salad, cantelope and grapes (chicken was leftover breast meat from the whole chicken we cooked on the Weber grill) and Angel biscuit.  Both salads were curry flavored but tasted quite different.

I think my wife was indeed successful rescuing the cabbage from the original dish. 

Hiyaoroshi #2 and Uni tasting 冷やおろし＃２、海水うに

This is a continuation of our exploration of the “Hiyaoroshi” sake ひやおろし we recently acquired (with a complementary uni tasting on the side.) As I mentioned before, this sake is seasonal; only available in autumn and until recently, the only way to enjoy this seasonal sake was to visit Japan in autumn. This fall, however, thanks to Tippsy sake, we could enjoy hiyaoroshi here in U.S. So far, we’ve tried 5 different hiyaoroshi sakes. All of them were “Junmai” class but the aging process really “kicked them up a notch” making them taste superior to regular Junmai sake. All the hiyaoroshi we tasted had rich savory and complex flavors with some fruity floral characteristics. We tasted (from left to right) three sakes; “Ooyama”, “Gokyo” and “Kisoji”.

1. Ooyama 大山 (meaning “big mountain”) is from Yamagata prefecture 山形県 (which is famous for many excellent and “cult” sakes including “Juyondai”  十四代). The brewery is “Katou Kahashirou” 加藤嘉八郎酒造. This sake is called “Tokubetsu junnmai” 特別純米. “Tokubetsu" means “special”. My understanding is that this designation does not have an official definition, but usually the rice is polished to 60%. This is the same level of polishing as “Ginjou” 吟醸酒. So, by definition, this type of “Tokubetsu junmai” could also be sold as “Ginjo”. It is up to the brewer to decide what to call it. Junmai is usually characterized by robust and rich flavors while ginjo is characterized by more elegant crisp fruity flavors. So, depending on the aim of the particular sake, the brewer could call it either way. We really like this sake. Quite rich and dry with some acidity．

2. Gokyo 五橋 (meaning “five bridges”  indicating a famous 5 arched bridge called “Kintai kyo” 錦帯橋 spanning Nishiki-river 錦川 in the city of Iwakuni 岩国 (where the brewery “Sakai shuzou”  酒井酒造 is located).  This is labeled as “Junmai”  but again RPR (rice polishing ratio) is reportedly 60%. The flavor profile is very similar to the previous sake; again rich, savory with hint of fruit.

3. Kisoji 木曽路 (meaning “Kiso route ” which is the mountainous route connecting Tokyo or “Edo” to Kyoto in Kiso now a part of Nagano prefecture 長野県.) (Digression alert: We have visited Kiso. It is famous for “Hinoki” trees and deep forested mountains. We brought some Hinoki products from Kiso back with us from our trip and we are still using them after all these years.) The brewery is called “Yukawa brewery” 湯川酒造. It is again “Junmai” class with RPR of 70%. However, it is made using an ancient labor intensive techniqu called “Yamahai” 山廃. This sake is probably our favorite among the five hiyaoroshi we tried.  In addition to a rich savory taste it has some fruitiness with nice crisp acidity (maybe due to the “Yamahai” process).

We are happy with any one of the hiyaoroshi sakes we tried. We hope Tippsy sake continues bring hiyaoroshi next fall. 

Of course, with such libation we needed a good food to accompany it. We got some fresh uni from maruhide 丸秀, prepared two ways. One was uni preserved in salt water or “Kaisui uni” 海水うに (on the left). The other was regular uni preserved with  potassium alum, (in the center). I thought the regular uni had a better texture but my wife tasted a hint of the alum. Of course, the salt water uni was presented as nature intended. I also served “ikura” salmon roe which was marinated in concentrated Japanese noodle sauce or “mentsuyu” 麺つゆ in a cucumber cup.

The sake and these uni (plus the ikura) were made for each other. They went so well together. What a treat!

Sir-fried "kinpira" Astuage tofu 厚揚げのきんぴら

Atsuage or Nama-age 厚揚げ、生揚げ is a type of deep fried tofu which has only the surface fried; the center remains as basically uncooked tofu. I have posted a few dishes using Atsuage. If the quality is good, just grilling it making the surface crunchy and inside soft and hot with soy sauce and chopped scallion is the simplest and best way to cook it. This time, the atsuage I got from the Japanese grocery store was a U.S. made brand I had not used before and not being sure of its quality I came up with this quick stir-fry dish. Since I did not have the appropriate greens such as asparagus or snow peas, I used the sugar snaps I prepared.

Ingredients:
1/2 atsuage, cut into thin slices and cut in half length-wise making thin strips.
1 tsp vegetable oil
2 tsp concentrated noodle sauce or 1 tsp each of mirin and soy sauce
10 blanched sugar snaps or snow peas.

Directions:
Heat the oil on a medium flame in a frying pan. When the oil is hot, add the atsuage and stir several minutes until the surface gets crisp and the interior raw tofu parts browns slightly.
Add the seasoning, the sugar snaps and stir for an additional minute.
Garnish with chopped scallion and serve immediately.

For a quick impromptu dish, this was quite good. Since all the sides of the tofu strips are crispy and seasoned, this is better than just toasted with soy sauce.  

Swedish cardamom buns カルダモンロール

This is one of my wife's baking projects. She saw this recipe in the "Milk Street” magazine. It is a sweet roll seasoned with ground cardamom. We were not sure whether we would like the cardamom flavor in a  sweet roll but my wife decided to try it. This was a great success. It is sweet and the sugar/cardamom mixture melted and made a nice crust especially on the bottom.

Ingredients:
For the dough:
390 grams (3 cups) AP flour
103 grams (3/4 cup) bread flour
80 grams (6 Tbs.) White sugar
1 Tbs. Yeast
1 tsp. Ground cardamom (more if you want stronger cardamom taste)
3/4 tsp. Salt
1 1/4 cup whole milk warmed to 100 degrees F.
113 grams (8 Tbs. Butter) melted and cooled
1 large egg separated (yolk for dough. White to brush on buns before baking)

For filling
170 grams (12 Tbs.) Salted butter at room temperature (maybe try less butter to keep it from running out and puddling during cooking.)
163 grams (3/4 cup) packed light brown sugar
2 tsp. Ground cardamom
27 grams (2 Tbs.) white sugar

Directions:
To make the dough: in a stand mixer with dough hook mix AP flour through salt to combine. Add together the wet ingredients (milk through egg yolk). Then with mixer running slowly add the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until the ingredients form a sticky dough. Increase mixer’s speed and knead until the dough becomes smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Line a 9 X 13 baking dish with parchment paper (#1). Put in the dough and press it with your hand to flatten it into an even layer. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until almost doubled in size (about 1 hour). Transfer to a refridgerator and chill for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours. (I chilled the dough overnight.)

When ready to fill and shape the rolls first make the filling by mashing the butter through cardamom together to form a well combined paste. Set aside. Turn the chilled dough onto a large cutting board. Roll out into a 12 X 16 rectangle. Spread the filling in a even layer on the dough spreading out to edges (#2). Do a three envelope fold with the dough (fold bottom third to middle then top third over that fold (#3). 

Rotate the dough 180 degrees so the short side is facing you. Roll the dough out into a 12 X 16 rectangle and repeat the envelope fold.

To form buns: Rotate the rectangle so the long side is parallel with the counter’s edge. Cut the dough crosswise into 16 even strips (#4). Pick up one strip by the ends and gently stretch it to about 16 inches by gently bouncing it against the counter while very gently pulling on the ends. At the same time twist the ends of the strip in opposite directions while gently stretching to create a looose spiral about 16 inches long. While holding one end of the strip in place between your thumb on one side of the dough strip and index, middle and ring fingers on the other side of the strip wrap the strip around your 3 fingers (index, middle and ring) without untwisting the spiral. Then tuck the end under and up into the center while sliding the resulting turban shaped knot off your fingers (Rt. Side of #4). Using 2 cookie sheets lined with parchment paper put 8 of the buns on one sheet and 8 on the other sheet using the pattern shown in #5 below. (Using this pattern is helpful because the muffins expand and they can cook without touching.) Cover and let rise until doubled. When doubled in size add 1 Tbs of water to the egg white beat the mixture together and then brush on the buns. Top with 1/2 of the white sugar listed in the filling ingredients list. Bake each sheet one at a time in a 400 degree oven for 15 to 18 minutes until the buns are a deep brown (#6). (When the trays are cooked separately it allows the muffins to be exposed to equal heat all around and helps caramelize the sugar to make a crunchy candy like crust.) 

As shown below it is a good thing to cover the sheets with parchment paper because it is normal for some of the filling to seep out and caramelize on the baking sheet.

Once the overflow cooled it became a nice candy/caramel with crispy texture (as shown in the next picture). We enjoyed some of it as a snack.

This is a perfect roll for breakfast. It is best soon out of the oven because it is covered in a crispy light caramelized candy crust both top and bottom. While not too sweet, the crust provides a wonderful crunchy texture over the softly chewy bread inside. Although the bun tends to lose its crispy candy crust over time as it melts into the bread and  it is still extremely good. Although we were initially unsure of whether we would like the cardamon flavor, it was gentle and went extremely well with the buttery caramelized flavor coming from the sugar. This bun has everything going for it as a breakfast. 

P.S. As I was browsing a Japanese newspaper web site (Asahi Shinbun 朝日新聞), I came across a series of articles describing a number of amazing bakeries in Japan. One of the articles was about a family-run bakery in Urawa ward of Saitama city さいたま市浦和 called "Bake house Yellow knife".  Among the amazing breads they bake was Swedish cardamon rolls. It appears that this kind of artisanal bakery with dedicated bakers paying attention to every detail is becoming more common in Japan now-a-days.

Pork with chickpeas and potato curry 豚肉、ジャガイモと雛豆のカレー

This curry is a variation of "Pork with chickpea curry". This time, in addition to the chickpeas, she added black beans (left over from making pumpkin and black bean quesadilla) and potato. We decided having potato in any curry is a nice addition reminiscent of any good Japanese-style curry.  We added skinned Campari tomato and blanched broccoli before reheating and serving the curry.

Ingredients
1 can black beans
1 can of chickpeas

3 small red potatoes peeled and cut into pennies

3 garlic cloves
1 1/2 inch cube of ginger sliced
3 Tbs. chicken stock
1/4 tsp. cardamom
4 bay leaves
1 inch cinnamon stick
3 medium onions peeled and coarsely chopped
1 Tbs. ground cumin
1 Tbs. ground coriander
1 Tsp. ground turmeric
3 medium tomatoes peeled
1 Tbs. salt
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper or to taste

Directions:
Put the ginger, garlic, and chicken stock in a food processor with a blade. Pulse until it forms a paste.
Put several Tbs. oil in a frying pan. Add the cardamom, bay leaves and cinnamon. Heat until the spices bloom and become fragrant. Add the onions and stir until they are partially caramelized. Add the ginger garlic paste and stir until the garlic smells fragrant and the mixture has been incorporated with the onions. add the cumin, coriander, and turmeric stirring until they become fragrant. Add the potato and tomato. Mash the tomato. Cook gently until the potatoes become soft. Add the chickpeas, beans and the stewed pork with the liquid in which the pork was cooked. Cook for 20 minutes until all the flavors meld. If the curry looks too soupy reduce it on low heat until the desired consistency is reached.

Although this a variation of a previous curry recipe the slight variations makes it different somehow. The chickpeas add a slightly firm texture while the black beans add a creaminess. The potatoes absorb the curry flavor and add yet another texture. This makes a very satisfying dinner or even lunch.

Buttermilk biscuit バーターミルクビスケット

This is another one of my wife's baking projects. She used to make these biscuits (and tarts) often but she has not made them for quite some time. Since she started making buttermilk using the heirloom starter from "Culture for health", she has to make it regularly to keep the culture healthy and productive. So she has to make the next batch before the current batch gets too old. With this constant stream of buttermilk, she also has to find ways to use it. She remembered our old favorite; buttermilk biscuits. Then we realized she used to make them BB (before Blog). So that synched it. It was a “two-fer”; a way to use the buttermilk and a new blog entry. This was the perfect one to make. Back in the day she used  to  make them with "crisco" but she stopped using hydrogenated fat and now uses real butter instead. In any case, these biscuits came out really nice and flakey.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups AP flour

1 cup plus 2 Tbs. Cake flour

1 tsp salt

4 tsp baking powder

3 tsp sugar (or more for sweeter biscuit)

1 tsp baking soda

10 tbs. Butter

1 1/2 cups buttermilk 

Directions:

Sift together the dry ingredients (flour through baking soda). Cut in the butter. Add the buttermilk and lightly mix. Turn out onto a cutting board. (The dough will look dry and like it won’t possibly come together but don’t panic keep gently kneading it and it will). Roll out into a square about 1/2 inch thick. Make an envelop fold (bottom third over middle third and top third over both). Turn 180 degrees roll out to 1/2 inch thick again and do another envelop fold.. After rolling it out again, cut into squares of desired size (first picture below). (I cut the dough into squares instead of rounds because it requires less working of the dough. With a round you have to roll out the dough that remained after cutting out the circle. The less the dough is worked the flakier it will be). Put on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Cook in a 450 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown (second picture).

Oh what an old classic friend these biscuits are. They are multilayered flakey. The crust has a satisfying crunch and the interior is soft and buttery. The buttermilk gives it a slight tang.  Can’t be beat for breakfast or any other meal. 

Skillet caramelized cabbage スキレットカラメライズドキャベツ

My wife and I are always looking for new and interesting recipes. One day, we simultaneously and independently both came up with the same cabbage recipe that appeared in the Washington Post. The article touted how glorious this cabbage dish was. Although, in general, we are not fans of cooked cabbage, we thought this might be an exciting new preparation which would significantly change our opinion much like blackened  Brussels sprouts revolutionized our appreciation of that vegetable. The picture below shows the dish just as it came out of the oven after one hour of baking.

We served a portion as recommended in the article with a dollop of Greek (strained) yogurt and dill (we did not have fresh dill so we used dry dill).  To our disappointment after all was said and done this dish was just "cooked cabbage" with a slight caraway flavor.  If you are a fan of cooked cabbage this is the dish for you. We, on the other hand, were much less than impressed. My wife said she will attempt to transform this it to something better (subject of future post).

Ingredients
1 medium head green cabbage (about 2 1/2 pounds)
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 medium yellow onion (about 8 ounces), halved and sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced or finely grated
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/2 teaspoon fine sea or table salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup fresh dill fronds
3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt (nonfat, low-fat or whole)

Directions:
1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.
2. Cut the cabbage in half through the core, then cut each half into four wedges, making sure that each wedge retains some core to hold it together, so that you have 8 wedges.
3. In a large, ovenproof, high-sided skillet over medium-high heat, heat 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons of the oil until shimmering. Add four wedges of cabbage to the skillet and sear until the cabbage is well browned and slightly softened, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer the cabbage to a plate, and then repeat with another 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons of the oil and the remaining cabbage, transferring the cabbage to the plate once browned.
4. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of the oil to the same skillet. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes, then stir in the garlic and caraway and cook, stirring, until aromatic, 30 seconds more. Return the cabbage to the skillet, overlapping the wedges as needed. Season with the salt and pepper, then add the broth and vinegar and bring to a simmer.
5. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake, uncovered, for 60 to 75 minutes, or until the cabbage is very tender and the liquid has reduced to about half.
6. Serve garnished with dill fronds and dollops of yogurt, and seasoned with additional salt, if desired.

We were a bit underwhelmed since our expectations were high. It was another cooked cabbage. As I mentioned, my wife is going to "make it better". She is threatening to make "cabbage curry". We will have to see.

Japanese egg plant stir fry with cumin 茄子のクミン炒め

As I mentioned previously Tako Grill started a mini-Japanese grocery store in addition to take-out. Occasionally I get some Japanese groceries when I stop by for take out. This time I got Asian (Japanese) eggplant (slender long eggplant with light purple color). I decided to make something a bit different and came across this recipe in e-recipe. It is interesting since it uses bacon and cumin seeds not ususal Japanese seasoning. 

The recipe also said this will go with wine; a major encouragement so I decided to make it. Initially when I tasted it I did not taste much cumin but later it became more pronounced and I am glad I did not add the additional ground cumin I contemplated. 

Ingredients:
One Asian (Japanese) egg plant, cut in half lengthwise and then sliced into 1/4 inch thick half-moon slices.
2 strips of bacon, cut into small pieces
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbs olive oil
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Add the olive oil in a frying pan on medium flame
Add the cumin seeds and fry until fragrant and starts making popping noises.  But be careful not to burn it. 
Add the eggplant and the bacon
Keep stirring until the bacon gets crispy and the eggplant gets soft and cooked.
Season with salt and pepper.

These are not the flavors you would expect in a  Japanese eggplant dish but they are a great combination. The eggplant is unctuous in texture and picks up the smokiness of the bacon. The bacon itself adds a burst of saltiness. The hint of cumin adds another taste dimension that “plays well” with the eggplant and bacon. As indicated this does go very well with red wine or sake. We really like this dish.

Hiyaoroshi sake ひやおろし

When we traveled to Japan, we ususally chose late spring early summer to avoid the rainy 梅雨 and typhoon 台風 seasons.  We could not handle the heat and humidity of summer months.  Over the years, we made some exceptions. We visited Japan once in winter to attend New Year with my family and twice in late September and October just barly evading typhoons (in 2013 and 2017). It is nice to visit Japan in fall, since it is the harvest season with great produce especially fruits and vegetables. Seeing golden rice paddies at sunset from the Shikansen is something to remember.  In addition, we could enjoy seasonal sake only available in the fall which is the main point of  this post.

In 2013, we visted “Tako Grill” in Kuroishi 黒石, Aomori 青森. Chef Kudo 工藤 opened this Japanese Tako Grill after he left “Tako Grill” in Bethesda and went back to his home town in Japan. When we visited, he served us local Kuroishi sake  “Kikunoi Akiagari”  菊乃井　秋あがり. We really liked this sake.  We liked it so much Chef Kudo had to send a waitress out to get more from the brewery since we drank what he had at hand. 

The “Hiyaoroshi” 冷やおろし or “Akiagari” 秋あがり is a seasonal sake and is only available in the fall. My undestanding is that the sake is brewed during the winter and bottled in the spring. It is pasturized or “hi-ire” 火入 and then stored in a cold environment until fall when outside temperatures get cold.  Up until now we thought the only way we could enjoy “hiyaoroshi” was to go back to  Japan in the fall. Now, we discovered we can get “hiyaoroshi” sake in the U.S. from  Tippsy sake.  Recently we got two hiyaoroshi from them; one is “Otokoyama” from Asahikawa, Hokkaido 男山、旭川 (right) and Koshi-no-homare from Niigata 越の誉, 新潟 (left). Both are junmai class sake.

We first tasted "otokoyama" (meaning "manly mountain") . The label shows what looks like baby seals drinking sake. (We momentarily contemplated whether this image suggested under-age drinking…by seals)? This is a very nice sake. Although it is "tokubetsu junmai",  it does not have any yeasty smell/taste but is rather dry with rich complex flavor and some fruitiness up-front. We had this with imitation negitoro and it went very well.

The next evening, we had "Koshi-no-homare" (meaning "pride of Echigo 越後" - old name for Niigata). Reportedly, this sake was buried under snow for 250 days. A snow crystal is the only image on the label. This sake tasted a bit lighter up-front than the "otokoyama". It has nice after-taste flavors. We had this with an assortment of drinking snacks.

Although we tend to favor "Otokoyama" (and that is not just because I am from Hokkaido), we are very happy with either one. It is so nice that Tippsy sake brought "hiyaoroshi" sake to U.S.

Negitoro from "nakaochi" tuna 中落ちでネギトロ

 Our Japanese grocery store "Maruichi", gets a bluefin tuna for sale once a month (I assume from NY).  The date is not fixed and you have to look it up on their website. Since it often arrives on a Friday and because of my work schedule I shop on a Saturday I usually get there the day after they received the tuna. As a result I have the “pick” of what is left over from the previous day and the types of tuna portions and quality available are a bit unpredictable. Nonetheless, I was able to get some pretty decent tuna sashimi. On one of such expedition, I got a segment of tuna back bone with some meat attached. We had a similar item at "Maguro Ganchi" まぐろがんち in Kanazawa 金沢 some years ago. The dish called "negitoro" ネギトロ is supposedly made from "nakaochi" 中落ち and "sukimi" すきみ tuna meat. Sukimi is the fatty meat just under the skin. I made "negitoro" from this nakaochi tuna.

Using a spoon (or more traditionally using a shell), you can removed most of the meat from the back bone and ribs. As you can guess, this is very reasonably priced but tastes good. Many Japanese Izakaya often serve this nakaochi as a sashimi or Korean style marinaded tuna called "Yukke".

Since this nakaochi was not really fatty, I made my usual pseudo-negitoro with the addition of mayonnaise. 

As usual, we had this with a slice of cucumber wrapped up in small rectangle of nori. We had this with "Otokoyama hiyaoroshi"男山ひやおろし...a perfect match!

Chicken stew with red wine and chestnuts 鳥もも肉と栗の赤ワイン蒸し煮

This is another dish made with chicken and chestnuts. Compared to the previous one which had a traditional Japanese flavor, this one uses red wine. 

This dish tasted quite different from the Japanese flavored one and because it was made with red wine (needless to say) it went very well with red wine. Since the chicken was dredged in flour and then cooked, the sauce was thick; nicely coating the chicken and chestnuts.

Ingredients:
2 chicken thighs, bone removed and cut into bite size
200 ml dry red wine (I used Tempranillo from Rivera del duero which I happened to have)
2 bay leaves
1 medium onion, cut into rings
1/3 celery stalk, sliced on bias
1 clove garlic
2 tbs vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
1 tbs butter (I used unsalted)
2 tbs AP flour
10-15 prepared chest nuts (I used commercial chestnuts from a jar)

2 tsp Worcester sauce
Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish

Directions:
Marinate the chicken in the red wine and the bay leaves for one hour (room temperature) or overnight (in the refrigerator).
Remove the chicken, reserve the marinade and the bay leaves
Season the chicken with salt and pepper, dredge in the flour and set aside
Add the oil to the pan and sauté the garlic, celery, and onion. Remove when cooked and softened and set aside.
In the same pan, melt the butter and brown the chicken pieces.
Add back the vegetables and the marinade with the bay leaves, the Worcester sauce and cook for 15 minutes mixing occasionally.
Garnish with chopped parsley.

We really like this dish. Although the original recipe calls for sugar and granulated chicken bouillon, I did not use them. The chicken kept its shape. The chestnuts added an additional “meatiness” to the dish.  The combination of red wine sauce and mildly sweet chestnuts went well together. 

"Hamnase" with asparagus アスパラのハムネーズかけ

While I was looking for something to watch on YouTube, I came across a channel called ”Iron Chef's Kitchen" 鉄人の台所 in which the original Japanese iron chef "Michiba Rokusaburo" 道場六三郎 (who is now 90) shares his cooking/recipes. One of the episodes was about "Hamnaise" ハムネーズ in which he mixes "ham" and "mayonnaise" to make a sauce for asparagus. It looked interesting. I did not have "ham" but I did have prosciutto. So I made "prosciuttonaise" and put it over asparagus (left upper). The dishes shown below are the line-up of dishes for our “home Izakaya” one evening. Clock-wise starting from upper left is "asparagus with prosciuttonaise" アスパラガスのハムネーズ和え, "Udon-noodle salad with peanut butter dressing" うどんのピーナッツバター和え, "Chicken tenderloin with sesame dressing" 笹身の胡麻和え, "Rapini in Japanese broth" 菜の花のお浸しand "Chicken kara-age" 鳥の唐揚げ and "chicken and chestnuts stew" 鶏肉と栗の煮物. All these dishes except for the "prosciuttonaise" have been previously posted.

Among these six, the asparagus dish is sort of new. I used prosciutto which may have worked better than ham because of the saltiness. I added chopped parsley which was not part of the original Iron Chef recipe and it added a fresh taste. This prosciuttonaise was very nice and certainly made this a good dish.

Ingredients:
For prosciuttonaise dressing.
2 slices of ham or prosciutto, cut into small pieces
2 tbs mayonnaise
2 tsp white (sweet) miso
2 skinned campari tomato, seeds removed and cut into small squares
2 tsp chopped fresh parsley (my addition)

For asparagus.
10 fresh green asparagus, bottom woody part removed and bottom 1/3 peeled
1 tsp butter
2 tbs salted water

Directions:
Mix the ham and parsley together.
Cook the asparagus (like cooking "gyoza" as the Iron chef said) by first sautéing in melted butter. Then adding salted water just covering the bottom of the frying pan. Place on the lid and steam for 1 minute or until the asparagus are cooked but still crunchy.
Cut the asparagus into the desired length and top it with "prosciuttonaise".

For the next dish I could have used peanut butter instead of "nerigoma" ねりごま sesame paste. Using either one, the resulting dressing has a very similar taste. But in this dish, I used sesame paste and also freshly roasted (in a dry frying pan) sesame which I ground using a Japanese "suribachi" mortar. This gave a very fresh and strong sesame flavor.

For this dish I used peanut butter and topped it with crushed peanuts. 

The chicken, gobo, daikon, carrot all went well with sweet chestnuts.

This is a imitation of "Nano-hana" using "buds" of rapini or broccoli rabe. Instead of my ususal mustered soysauce or "karashi-jouyu"　芥子醤油, I made this "ohitashi" お浸し using a mixtire of Japanese broth with concentrated Japanese noodle sauce and topped it with "katusobushi" 鰹節 bonito flakes.

Finally, chicken kara-age 鳥の唐揚げ. This time I made this dish by deep frying (double frying). I just heated the previously cooked kara-age in the toaster oven but the crispy outside came back and it was almost as good as when it was just made.

We had these dishes with a glass of red wine. (Our choice of house reds currently includes "Pessimist" from Daou). Everything went well with the wine and although each dish was small there were many of them so after finishing them all we were quite full.