Tofu in warm broth ミニ湯豆腐

It is getting cold. We decided to have a hot tofu dish called “Yu-dofu” 湯豆腐.  “Yu” means “hot water” and “dofu” is “tofu*. I am surprised to find out I never posted “Yu-doufu”. I deviated from a traditional “yu-dofu” a bit by seasoning the broth lightly and adding fresh shiitake mushrooms and scallion to the broth. I also served it with “Ponzu” ポン酢 as a dipping sauce. I served individual portions in mini-donabe  ミニ土鍋 (picture #1). This is the perfect dish for a cold night. 

*This is another example of “rendaku” 連濁, “yu+tofu”  becomes “yu+dofu” when making a compound word.

Ingredients (for 2 small mini-donabe servings)
2/3 block of medium firm (you can use silken or firm as well), cut into one inch cubes
450ml Japanese broth (I used a dish pack which contains kelp and bonito and re-enforced the flavoring by using additional squares of kelp)
1-2 tbs x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce
2 scallions, white parts chopped finely and the green parts cut into 1.5 inch segments
2 caps of fresh shiitake mushroom, sliced thinly

Directions:
Add the seasoned broth to individual mini-donabe on low flame.
When the broth is warm, add the cubes of tofu, shiitake mushrooms and chopped scallions.
Simmer gently for 5-10 minutes until the tofu cubes are throughly warmed. Add the green parts of scallions and simmer for another 2-3 minutes or until the greens are wilted.
Serve with the ponzu if desired.

I think using lightly seasoned broth and ponzu as a dipping sauce made the tofu a bit more flavorful. You can add more vegetables but then it may not be rightfully called “yu-dofu”. 

I realized I have a special perforated spoon and fork for serving yu-doufi as well as the container for dipping sauce which is used  half submerged  in the cooking broth in the center of the pot. We used them long time ago but almost forgot about it. I managed to find them (picture #2). 

In the traditional/classic “Yu-dofu”, add the water and kelp in the donabe pot, fill the dipping sauce container and place it in the center of the pot. Add the cubes of tofu in the kelp broth and let it simmer so that the tofu and the dipping sauce are both warmed up. The tofu is scooped up using the perforated spoon and fork and placed in the dipping sauce in the center and then moved to the your small bowl. The condiment is  usually chopped scallion. But bonito flakes, grated daikon and Japanese red pepper powder can be added. If you omit bonito flakes (in the broth and dipping sauce), then the dish is vegan.

We like the modification I made to this dish. The broth the tofu is cooked in has a nice “dashi” favors of kelp and bonito and seasoning it with the Japanese noodle sauce makes it nice to drink. Dipping the tofu in ponzu adds an additional dimention.

“Taco Carnitas”-ish タコ カルニタもどき

This all started when my wife found a package of mini-corn tortillas at Whole Foods (picture #3). Even without opening the package, we can smell the nice corn flavor. I did not make pulled pork but since I had a 1/2 lb of ground pork (left over after making gyoza,) I decided to make something similar to “Taco Caritas”. I made the spice mixture for the pork, salsa, and guacamole. Since we did not have lettuce, I also made shredded cabbage. Instead of sour cream, we used home made Greek yogurt (pictures #1 and #2). It was a bit messy to eat but it was quite good and we liked these corn tortillas.

On the top of guacamole is the Green yogurt (mixed with olive oil and seasoned with salt).

Ingredients (made 4 small taco):
Small corn tortillas (picture #3)
1/2 lb ground pork
Shredded cheese (we used cheddar)
Shredded cabbage (optional)

Taco seasoning (since we did not have chili power I did not use it)
I just mixed; ground cumin, ground coriander, smoked paprika, onion power, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and salt. 

Salsa: (I made this several hours before)
3 skinned Campari tomato, chopped roughly
3-4 sprigs of cilantro, leaves removed and chopped (I used frozen cilantro leaves I prepared previously. This works fairly well. Much better than dried cilantro.)
2 stalks of scallions, finely chopped
2 tsp olive oil,
2 tsp lemon juice (or rice vinegar)
Salt 

Guacamole: (I made this a few days ago)
1 ripe avocado, stone and skin removed and roughly mashed using a fork
2 tsp lemon juice
1 stalk scallion, finely chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and deveined, finely chopped
1tsp chopped cilantro leaves
1/4 tsp sriracha
Salt to taste

Greek Yogurt dip: (also I made this several days ago)
1/4 cup Greek yogurt (we used the home yogurt my wife makes, strained)
1 tbs olive oil
Salt to taste

Directions:
Warm the tortillas (wrapped in aluminum foil in preheated 350F oven for 10-15 minutes).

In a non-stick frying pan on medium flame, add the pork, spread thin and cook until one side is browned. Crumble the pork and add the taco seasonings and cook until the pork fat is rendered and the meat is  throughly cooked, set aside.

Assemble taco by placing the pork, cheese, salsa, guacamole, greek yogurt and cabbage on the tortillas.
Fold the tortillas and enjoy (messy, though).

For non-authentic taco, this was quite good and filling. For us, the mild heat was just right.

Braised daikon with carrot, wood ear, and fried tofu 大根と人参の炒め物

This is a slight variation from “ kinpira daikon” 金平大根 I posted before. I made this dish since I had  the tail end of a daikon from Weee that was a few weeks old and not getting any better with age. Besides adding the usual deep fried “ther-age” tofu 油揚げ, I also added wood ear mushroom. This is a good dish for a drinking snack or side dish for rice.

The close up. The wood ear adds a nice crunch and the daikon is fully cooked but still has some crunch left. The seasoning was rather gentle. This is better than my usual “Kinpira daikon”.

Ingredients:
5inch segment of small daikon, peeled, sliced and cut into julienne.
2 samll carrots, peeled, sliced and cut into julienne.
1 “abura-age” fried tofu, hot water poured over in a colander (called “abura-nuki” 油抜き or reducing the oiliness), squeezed dry and cut into julienne.
1/4 cup (amount arbitrary and optional) wood ear mushroom, blanched, drained and cut into julienne
1 tbs vegetable oil with as splash of sesame oil

Seasonings:
2 tbs mirin
1 tbs sake
2-3 tbs x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce (or soy sauce)

Directions:
Add the oil to a frying pan on medium flame
When the oil is hot add the daikon and carrot, stir for several minutes until all pieces are coated with oil and the daikon looks slightly transparent.
Add the abura-age and wood ear and stir briefly.
Add the mirin and sake and stir until liquid reduce  for few minutes
Add the noodle sauce (or soy sauce) and stir until liquid is almost gone for few more minutes

I usually add flakes of red pepper when the oil is hot but I did not to preserve gentle sweet and salty flavors. Using the noodle sauce added a bit more sweetness and “umami” from “dashi” in the sauce.

Marinated Tofu and Egg Sir fry

Good tofu is difficult come by here.  There was a Kyoto-based tofu maker called “Kyozen-an” 京善庵 which used to produce good quality tofu we could get at our Japanese grocery store. Unfortunately, it closed their factory in New Jersey and went out of business because it was not meeting US regulation. “Otokomae tofu” 男前豆腐 is another kyoto brand of good tofu we could get but not any longer.  Currently the best tofu we can get is “House Food” ハウス食品. They make fresh tofu in the factories located in California and New Jersey from US soy beans. We found that their “medium firm” tofu is the most versatile which we get from Weee. This blog is a variation on the theme of tofu and egg stir fry. This is vaguely based on the recipe I saw on Youtube. The main idea is that the tofu is marinated before stir frying. The seasonings are oyster and soy sauce. I also added the last of  the fresh shiitake and wood ear mushrooms I had on hand. I ended up using a block of tofu cut in half for this dish and another one. I started out intending to make a whole block of tofu into “braised spicy marinated tofu”. So I accordingly marinated one block. Then I changed my mind and made half the block into the spicy tofu and the other half into this dish. This was a hearty and very filling lunch for us (picture #1).

Ingredients (2 servings):
1/2 block tofu, cut into half inch cubes and marinated overnight 
3 eggs, beaten
3 scallions, chopped fine
1 tsp garlic, finely chopped 
1 tsp ginger, finely chopped
1 stalk of garlic green* (optional garnish)
3 caps of fresh shiitake mushroom (optional)
1/2 cup wood ear mushroom (optional)
1 tbs vegetable/peanut oil
1tsp sesame oil

Tofu marinade:
1tbs soy sauce
1tbs mirin
1tsp sriracha
1tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp each grated ginger and garlic

Seasonings:
1 tbs oyster sauce
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs shaoxing cooking wine
white pepper to taste

*my wife recently learned about garlic greens. According to what she read, she took a head of garlic we got from our grocery store separated it into individual cloves and planted them in a pot of soil on the window sill. Green leaves sprouted out quite quickly.  These taste of garlic and can be used in cooking. We tasted them and they had a mild but distinctive garlic flavor. These sprouts however, will never develop garlic bulbs because a certain number of “cold units” (cold days) are needed to trigger bulb formation. (Luckily they will never get those cold units sitting on the window sill in our kitchen). Last year we planted some garlic cloves in the herb garden in October (before the first frost) and in the spring harvested a very nice crop of garlic cloves. 

Directions:
Drain the marinade from the tofu
Mix the tofu, eggs and half the chopped scallions (white part)
Add half of the oils in the wok or frying pan on medium high heat
When the oils are hot, add the egg-tofu mixture and cook until the bottom is set. Turn it over using a silicon spatula. Toss and let the eggs coat the tofu. Remove from the wok and set aside (picture #2).

Add the remaining oils to the same wok. Add the garlic, ginger cook for 1 minute until fragrant, add the mushrooms cook for another few minutes and add the remaining scallion and stir (picture #3).

Add back the tofu and egg mixture and stir and toss. Add the seasonings and stir for 1-2 minutes.
Garnish with either chopped green part of scallion or chopped garlic green.

We had this as a lunch and it was quite filling. Although the tofu did not absorb much of the marinade, the combination of seasonings, eggs and tofu and mushrooms worked well. The egg and the tofu have very similar soft textures but very different flavors. The mushrooms introduced yet another set of textures; meat-like from the shitake and crunchy-chewey from the wood ear mushrooms.  Overall a very satisfying dish. 

P.S. This is a picture of a sunset we had recently. This is what we saw outside our window. It is probably the most beautiful sunset we have ever seen here and we had to commemorate it by including it in this blog.

Chestnut olive oil bread 栗とオリーブオイルケーキ

This is a variation on the theme of  “olive oil cakes” that my wife has been making recently. Previous versions were: “almond olive oil cake” and “Hazelnut olive oil cake”. The hazelnut olive oil cake was gluten-free but since our purpose in making these cakes was to use various unusual nut flours rather than make gluten-free cakes, she added a small amount of AP flour in the almond olive oil cake which appears to make the cake more stable by preventing the center of the cake from collapsing after it cooled. This time, she added more wheat flour and the cake consistency is closer to “regular” cake. The chestnut flour gave a really nicely distinctive flavor. Next time, she said she might add chunks of prepared chestnuts.

Ingredients
2 cups firmly packed chestnut flour
1/2 cup AP flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/3 extra-virgin olive oil (medium quality is OK)

1 cup sugar
4 large eggs at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 20 cm 8" springform pan with olive oil then line with baking paper (parchment paper), then grease the paper. In a medium bowl, mix the chestnut flour, AP flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, beat the olive oil, eggs and sugar for 2 to 3 minutes on speed 7 or 8 until it becomes pale and thick (like pouring cream or runny mayonnaise). Add vanilla extract and beat on speed one for 10 seconds. Add the Dry ingredients and mix in gently using a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes. It will puff up dramatically in the oven but it collapses as it cools. (This version did not collapse as much as previous nut olive oil cakes). Remove from the oven and allow the cake to fully cool in the pan before releasing from the springform pan. This is a rustic cake that has higher edges and a flatter centre.

This is a very distinctive cake. It has a moist dense texture and a deep rich nutty chestnut flavor. (The flavor is unique, in a good way, and very distinctive.) Because of the intense rich flavor a small piece goes a long way. We found it is particularly good served with a slather of blueberry flavored cream cheese. 

Matsutake and beef cooked in an Aluminum Foil Pouch 松茸と牛肉のフォイル焼き

We got matustake from Weee for the third time this year. Compared to other sources from which we used to get matsutake, Weee provides the best in quality and the amount 0.5lb is just right for us. Our favorite way to eat the mushrooms is “Touban-yaki” 陶盤焼き, but, this time we happened to have thinly sliced beef thawed (also from Weee). In addition I saw a recipe using beef and mastsutake 松茸と牛肉のフォイル焼き (in Japanese) and so I decided to try it. It came out very nicely. The combination of lightly marinated beef and matsutake worked. I modified the marinade just to soy sauce and sake. When the foil pouch was opened the matsutake smell waft out. (One of the great treasures of working with this mushroom).

Ingredients: (made two small servings/pouches)
1 large matsutake (or 2 small ones), cleaned and sliced thin
6-8  pieces of thinly sliced beef (in our case, it was rib eye)
1tsp soy sauce
1tsp sake

Directions:
I spread the beef slices in one layer on a plate and sprinkled the soy sauce and sake on them. 
Let it marinade for 10 minutes.
I placed a rectangular piece of parchment paper on a large enough rectangle piece of aluminum foil. (I placed the rectangular piece of parchment paper just as a precaution to make sure the beef did not stick)
I placed the beef slices and then the sliced matsutake on the prepared aluminum foil. 
I folded and crimped the edges to make a pouch encasing the meat and mushroom with some spaces around (I made two pouches).
I placed the pouches in the preheated toaster oven at 400F, and cooked them for 10-12 minutes.

When we opened the pouches, a nice matsutake smell wafted out and we wrapped the matsutake in the slices of beef and really enjoyed them. The combination worked well.

“Imo-ni” Stew famous in Yamagata 芋煮庄内風

When we had “Hiya-oroshi” 冷やおろしsake this year, one of them was from Yamagata prefecture 山形県 and is called “Shounai-bijin 庄内美人” or Shounai beauty. The name is based on the geography of the area where it is brewed. This sake was  brewed by “Watarai Honten 渡會本店“ which is located in the central plane that extends to the coastal areas of Yamagata called “Shounai flat  庄内平野”, hence the name “Shounai Beauty 庄内美人” (see picture #4 for the sake label and area map). While I was checking the brewery’s website, it states that  the best dish that goes with this sake is “Imo-ni*” 芋煮 a stew characteristic of the area and referred to as “Shounai-style”. It is made from pork and seasoned with miso. Other areas of yamagata make imoni with beef and seasoned with soy sauce.  I had a bag of frozen taro or satoimo from Weee and just thawed thinly sliced beef. So I made “Shounai-style” with miso seasoning and beef.

*Digression alert: You can look up description in Wikipedia for “Imo-ni”. My understanding is that this is a stew in Tohoku 東北 northern main land Japan especially in Yamagata. It has more social aspect than just a dish. In autumn, they have a big social gathering/party often outdoor sometimes making a gigantic “nabe” 鍋 which has to be hoisted using a crane. No matter which variations, the-must-have ingredients are “imo” or “potato” specifically “Satoimo 里芋” or taro and beef or pork.

Besides “satoimo” and beef or pork, “kon-nyaku” こんにゃく, “negi” 葱 Tokyo scallion and “gobo” burdock root are the most common ingredients but it appears one can also use carrots and mushrooms. 
We really liked this dish and it naturally went very well with “Shounan-bijin hiyaoroshi” sake. 

I happened to get a fairly large (especially for us) cast iron pot with a cedar lid (picture #2) which is perfect for this dish. This is the first time we used this pot.

I sort of followed a recipe from a NHK cooking program called “Today’s dish” or  “Kyou-no-ryori 今日の料理” which is also available on-line.

Ingredients: (makes 6-7 servings)
1 lb satoimo 里芋 (I could have used fresh but I happened to have prepared frozen ones)
1/2 lb thinly sliced beef cut into small strips
1 cake of kon-nyaku コンニャク, hand torn into small bite size pieces, parboiled and drained
1/2 gobo burdock root, skin scraped off using the back of a knife and cut into small strips”sasagaki ささがき (you shave off the “gobo” into the small strips as though you are sharpening a pencil with a knife producing thin strips in the shape of small bamboo leaves). Soak in cold water and drain just before putting into the pot.
2 scallions, cut on the bias
2 large fresh shiitake, cut into a bite size (optional)

Seasonings
2 tbs miso
1 cup sake
2 tbs mirin
6 cups Japanese broth of kelp and bonito (or water)
1-2 tbs soy sauce

Directions:
Cook the beef in the pot (I used a small amount of vegetable oil to prevent sticking).
When the beef is cooked add the miso and cook for one minute until fragrant.
Take out the miso and beef and set aside
Add the satoimo, kon-nyaku, gobo, mushroom in the pot and add the sake to remove any fond on the bottom of the pot
Add the water (or broth) and simmer for 20 minutes or until the satoimo is cooked through.
Add back the beef (and miso), scallion, mirin and cook 10 more minutes (picture #3)
Add the soy sauce to adjust the seasoning.

We had Shounai-bijin Hiyaoroshi cold with the imo-ni dish. Among the two hiyaoroshi we tried this year, we like this one best. Just for your information, the pin is in the “shounai” region.

Norwegian Mackerel Teriyaki 冷凍ノルウエイ鯖の照り焼き

We used to get fresh whole mackerel from Whole Foods or Hmart (via the Instacart) but we have not gotten whole mackerel for some time. At one time, I got frozen filets of Norwegian mackerel at our Japanese grocery store. I figured the time had come to use this. I was not sure if the filets were already salted (many frozen filets of mackerel appear salted), but there was no indication on the package. I thought about making salt grilled 塩焼きor miso simmered 味噌煮 but decided to make “teriyaki 照り焼き”. We served this with Shiitake mushroom risotto. A bit of a cultural mixture but both went well together. Since I took some care to reduce the fishiness, it had a good teriyaki taste (I did not use sugar in the sauce just mirin). The only problem (especially for my wife) is that these filets had quite a few small bones.

Ingredients:
2 frozen filets of Norwegian mackerel, thawed
2-3 tbs sake
Salt
AP flour
1 tbs vegetable oil

For teriyaki sauce
2 tbs mirin
2 tbs x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce

Directions:
After thawing, I wrapped the filets with sake soaked paper towels and let them sit in the refrigerator for 1 hour or so.
I then patted the filets dry with paper towels and salted them on both sides and let them sit at room temperature for 20 minutes and again patted dry the surface.
I cut a shallow oblique cut on the skin and then cut one filet into 4 portions.
I then dredged in flour.
I placed the filet portions skin side down in the frying pan with the vegetable oil on medium low flame.
I let it cook mostly from the skin side. After 5-6 minutes when the edges got opaque in the thick portions and top became opaque in the thin portions, I flipped it over to finish cooking (you can slightly under cook at this point since it is further cooked in the teriyaki sauce). Remove the fish and set aside. Wipe the oil from the pan clean.
Add the mirin and noodle sauce on medium high flame and let it reduce in half.
Add back the fish and coat all sides with the sauce until the liquid is almost evaporated.

I made the teriyaki sauce not too sweet. This was quite good especially for frozen mackerel and it was good to taste mackerel again after such a long time. But the bones were quite a botheration. When I filet the fresh mackerel myself, I remove most of the bones. I could have done this. Maybe next time.

Chestnut Apple Soup クリとリンゴのスープ

Some years ago, we gave up on preparing fresh chestnuts especially the North American variety. These have a characteristic tough inner membrane that goes deeply into the flesh of the nut and is extremely hard to remove. So we switched to already prepared roasted chestnuts that come in a pouch. These come from France and are infinitely easier to use. The only problem is we bought them last year in bulk (12 packages) and we have quite a few packages left. But this is chestnut season—time to bust into those packages of chestnuts. My wife suggested using them to make chestnut soup which we made before. In addition, we found several Fuji apples in the refrigerator. We bought them sometime ago but totally forgot about them. The surface of the apple was wrinkled and looked dry. When we tasted them after peeling the wrinkled skin and surface dried parts their texture was a bit mushy but sweet, juicy and certainly edible. My wife pointed out that we didn’t have parsnips which we often use in this type of soup and she suggested using the newly recovered apples instead. So, we made chestnut soup from the packaged chestnuts and apples and garnished with some left over sautéed shallot and shiitake mushrooms. Adding the apple made this soup sweet (in a very natural way) and great. We really like this. We had this as a lunch with slices of the baguette I baked sometime ago (frozen).

I essentially winged it although I did see some recipes using chestnuts and apples on the internet

Ingredients: (made a bit over 4 cups of the soup)

100 grams of the prepared chestnuts (we used the brand called Gefen)

2 medium onions, finely chopped

1 large stalk of celery, string removed and chopped fine

2 carrots, peeled and cut into small dice

2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped in small pieces

3 cups or more chicken broth

2 tbs olive oil and 1 tbs butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Garnish: (optional)

1 medium shallot, sliced

3 large cups of fresh shiitake mushrooms, cut into half and sliced

1tbs butter and olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a pan on medium low flame, add the oil and butter. When it is hot and the butter is melted, add the onion and celery and sauté for a few minutes,  Add the carrots and apples and sauté for few more minutes. Add the chestnuts (crumble as you add). Add the chicken broth and simmer for 30 minutes.

Using the immersion blender or mixer, blend the vegetables, add cream (optional).

Garnish

Sauté the shallot until soft and edge is brown, add the mushrooms and cook for a few more minutes and season.

This soup is extremely good. The apple and chestnut are a perfect blend. The apple brings a fresh sweet slightly acidic sharpness while the chestnut is a deep nuttiness. The mushroom garnish is the final touch—bringing a mellow umami to the whole collection. The apple and the mushroom really made this soup special.

Bagel ベーグル

My wife was not into bagels but this dramatically changed after our recent stay at a hotel/B&B in California. It was a good comfortable accommodation. But essentially we did not see any hotel staff while we were there. There was no front desk and you communicate with the hotel owner/proprietor via digital communication and instead of a key you get a “code” which allows you to open the front door and your room doors during your stay. It had a spacious communal kitchen and dining room where we could self serve coffee, yogurt,  bagels/muffins, and fruit for breakfast. They had blueberry bagels and my wife really liked the bagel. While we were staying there we had bagel and cream cheese as a breakfast every day. So when we came back, my wife got a few varieties of bagels from Whole Foods and an on-line gourmet bakery to try. My wife thought these bagels were not as good as we had at the hotel. I reminded her that I did bake bagels many years go but felt it was not worth the effort since she was not particularly fond of bagels back then. Now since, she suddenly developed a taste for bagels I decided to try making some. As a trial run, I made 6 bagels (3 plain and 3 sesame, picture #1). They came out great with nice flavor and texture. (they were was slow fermented over night in the refrigerator) but the crust is a bit too hard and I thought I could improve on this.

The sliced surface shows irregular holes and a nice moist and slightly chewy texture (picture #2).

The original recipe came from the newly published King Arthur baking cook book called “Big Book of Bread”. The original recipe made 12 bagels but for this trial I halved the recipe and made six.

Ingredients (make 6 bagels)
DOUGH (I weighed everything)
413 grams unbleached bread flour, plus more for dusting
8.5 grams salt
1.5 grams instant yeast
269 grams warm water
Yellow cornmeal, for dusting

WATER BATH (this is the amounts in the original recipe)
1,816 grams (8 cups) water
42 grams (2 tablespoons) honey
18 grams (1 tablespoon) fine salt

Directions: (Although I tried to follow the original instructions, this is description of what I did)
Place all the dough ingredients in a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook and knead for 5 minutes after the dough ball is formed around the hook.
On the lightly dusted board, take out the dough ball and hand knead briefly to make a tight ball.
Place the dough ball in a lightly oiled bowl, turn over to coat all surfaces. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap.
Let it rise for 1.5 to 2 hours until the volume doubles (I used a bread proofing box at 85F).
I deflated and divided the dough into equal 6 portions by weighing (the total dough weighed 693 grams so one portion was about 115grams).
I made balls and with the seam side down, covered loosely with a plastic wrap and then a dish towel and let them rest for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile I prepared a rimmed baking sheet line with a parchment paper and lightly dusted with corn meal.
I flattened the dough ball into a disk and pushed my finger through the center to make a ring and placed it on the parchment (#1 in the composite picture)
At this point, I placed another sheet of parchment paper on top and then covered with plastic wrap. The plastic wrap didn’t stick to the baking sheet so I taped the sides to the baking sheet. I refrigerated it overnight.

Next morning:
I was not sure if I should let the dough bagels come to the room temperature or immediately boil them. (The instructions were silent on this topic). So I did not warm up the dough rings and I boiled/simmered them 3 at a time one minute on each side (#2 in the composite picture)
I placed the boiled dough rings on the parchment paper. I placed 3 one sided on a plate covered in sesame seeds and left the other 3 plain (#3 in the composite picture).
I baked at 470F (in convection mode, the original recipe calls for 475F) in the upper 1/3 position rotating the baking sheet at 10 minutes and baked for total of 20 minutes (#4 in the composite picture).

As I mentioned the bagels came out nicely and my wife likes them but the crust is a bit too hard and chewy. (I am not sure that the convection vs regular oven made the difference?).

The second try
We finished the first batch and made the second with a few modification. I let the dough rings come to room temperature (let them sit for 1 hour) before boiling. Interestingly, in the first batch, the dough rings sank and then floated up to the top of the water after10 seconds or so but this time they floated to the top immediately.  I boiled each side about 30 seconds this time. I reduced the oven temperature to 450F and cooked them for 20 minutes.

The results were better. The crust was not as dark in color and slightly less crunchy but less chewy. The crust can be a bit less crunchy still. 

The third try

I made the hole in the center smaller to make the body of the bagel a bit thicker. I let the dough rings come to the room temperature (let them sit for 1 hour) before boiling,  I reduced the boiling time for 20-10 seconds each side. I preheated the oven to 450F, reduced it to 400F just before putting the dough in the oven. I cooked them for 25 minutes. 

I could have made the holes a bit bigger but the all bagel did not flatten out too much. The crust is very crunchy but not too thick. The inside is not too chewy and lots of flavors. We are getting close to having bagel perfection (at least based on our opinion)

The fourth try and probably final recipe

This is my 4th try and this is definitely the best one. The modifications are as follows;
1. After overnight fermentation in the refrigerator, let it sit for 1 hour to warm up before boiling
2. Boil for 10 seconds each side
3  Bake at 400F for 25 minutes
4. Instead of attaching the sesame seeds on the surface, I kneaded the roasted sesame into the half of the dough (3 bagels)  after the first fermentation as per suggestion of my wife.

In the picture #4, upper three are plain and the lower three are with sesame seeds. Both came out well with nice thin crunchy crust and perfect inside which is not dry or too chewy. The size of the holes is just right and the bagels have nice height. It has good flavor and texture. The sesame ones have nice sesame flavor but because the seeds were mixed into the dough rather than put on top they did not come off. (Slight digression alert: We also sprinkled toasted sesame seeds on top of the cream cheese we put on the sliced and toasted bagel. Again this addition intensified the sesame flavor but the seeds stayed put.) 

We think this is most likely our final bagel recipe.

Crispy Enoki Mushroom エノキのパリパリ焼き

This is another dish made using enoki mushrooms. I have posted quite a few enoki dishes. Turns out this is one of our favorite enoki dishes. It is fairly easy and quick to make and works well as a drinking snack. It is pre-seasoned and has a nice crunchy crust and nice softer texture inside with lots of enoki flavor (#1)

The recipe came from the major soy sauce maker Kikkoman website (in Japanese).

Ingredients:
1 package (200grams) enoki mushroom エノキダケ, cut off the bottom (about 1/4)  but make sure the  mushrooms are still connected at the bottom end
1-2 tbs vegetable oil for frying
4 tbs “katakuriko” 片栗粉 potato starch

Marinade
2tbs soy sauce (I used x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce)
2tbs sake
1tsp grated ginger

Directions:
Make 7-8 portions of the enoki mushroom still connected at the bottom, flatten and marinade for 10-20 minutes at room temperature
Drain the marinade and dust the mushroom bunches with the potato starch
Using a non-stick frying pan on medium flame, add the vegetable oil and fry each bunch of the mushroom, flatten using a spatula
Turn over several times until both sides are brown and crispy for about 5 minutes (picture #2)

Since the enoki is long, I cut each bunch into two portions. No sauce is needed since it is pre-seasoned (marinated). This dish will go well with sake or wine.

P.S. This year, we planted both moon flower and morning glory seeds along our fence on the side yard. The moon flower started first and, for a while, both morning glory and moon flowers were blooming. The moon flowers are finished and now the morning glories are indeed putting on a glorious display. Only problem is that as the morning glory gets going in earnest, frost will come and it will be season over.

Marinated Chicken Tender Cutlet 鳥のささみのカツレツ

We like chicken “sasa-mi” 笹身*  tenders and made quite a few dishes and posted them in the past. One of the problems with chicken tenders is that they tend to get dry when cooked. The best way is to make sous vide skin-on, bone-in chicken breast , then remove the tenders from the breast after cooking. This will provide succulent and chicken tenders. I serve these tenders by teasing them into small strands by hand and usually dressing them in sesame dressing. But only one tender can be had per chicken breast half. Other ways of cooking including Yakitori 焼き鳥 works well but over cooking happens if you are not careful. Japanese will serve undercooked (on purpose) or even “raw” chicken tenders but it is not safe to do so here. In any case, I came up with marinading the tenders in ponzu and mirin mixture (hoping the acidity of ponzu may further tenderize and keep them moist and the sweetness of the mirin mitigates the sour taste of the ponzu). I marinate them at least a couple of hours before breading and deep frying them (Chicken tender cutlet). The night I made these chicken tenders they had been marinating over night. Since I had hot oil when I cook them this way, I also fried some arancini I had made some time ago from left-over mushroom risotto. (I shaped the risotto into balls with cubes of Mozzarella cheese in the middle then breaded and froze them. I discovered you can deep fry frozen arancini and they come out really nice.) I served this with fried “renkon” 蓮根  lotus root marinated in X4 Japanese noodle sauce and then dusted with flour. I also served spicy tofu cubes (previously cooked and just heated up before serving in the toaster oven) (pictures #1). 

*Chicken tenders are called “sasa-mi 笹身” in Japanese. “Sasa” is a type of smaller bamboo plant (broad-leaf bamboo) and the shape of its leaves are similar to that of chicken tenders. “mi 身” means “meat”.

The chicken tender cutlets were indeed very nice. The tenders came from Whole Foods. We usually do not buy chicken from Whole Foods but these tenders are one of the best we can have. The round item shown on the left in the picture is the arancini cut in half (you can just see the melted mozzarella in it). The center item is the chicken tender cutlet and beside that on the right is renkon (picture #2).

Ingredients:
One package (1.5lb) chicken tenders

Marinade*
2 tbs Ponzu shoyu
2 tbs Mirin

(*Addendum 12/11/24: Now I use a new marinade which makes the chicken really tender and moist.)
2 tbs mayonnaise
1 tbs soy sauce (or x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce which also adds a bit of sweetness and dashi-based umami)

Flour, egg water and panko for breading
Peanut oil for frying

Directions:
In a quarter gallon Ziploc bag add the ponzu and mirin, and the chicken.
Knead to spread the marinade and remove the air as much as you can and let it marinade at least few hours or overnight in the refrigerator

Remove the chicken leaving the marinade.
Bread it with the flour, egg water and Panko bread
In 180F oil, fry for 3-4 minutes turning until crust is golden brown and the center of the thickest part is opeque.

This was quite a meal. The tenders, arancini, and fried renkon were really good. Plenty of crunch with different profiles of flavors. (My wife really likes chicken tender cutlets made this way). The left-overs warm up perfectly in the toaster oven. 

Prosciutto-wrapped Haddock 生ハム巻きハドック (コダラ)

Haddock is not fish we usually cook but we had some in our freezer which we received as part of a “white fish sampler” from Vital Choice. Although we finished all the “Chilean sea bass” and almost finished all the “sable fish or black cod”, sole and haddock were left behind. So we decide it is time to try the haddock. I was not familiar with this fish in Japan but the Japanese name is reportedly either “Kodara コダラor montuski-dara 紋付ダラ”.  From our previous experience, haddock is not our all time favorite. If you are going for “cod family”, true cod is much better. Then, my wife found this recipe for “prosciutto-wrapped haddock”. We thought wrapping in prosciutto may give the haddock an additional dimension and make it a bit more interesting. The original recipe was a “baking pan” affair in which the main and side dish are cooked in a baking pan in the oven. I decided to cook the haddock as well as the vegetables in a frying pan. The haddock was much better this way but still faces stiff competition from Chilean sea bass and sable fish. As a side I cooked green beans, shallot and skinned Campari (or cocktail) tomato in the same frying pan I cooked the fish.

Ingredients:
One filet of haddock, thawed and cut into two small servings, skin removed (I removed the skin but skin is very delicate and probably not need be removed).
Prosciutto, enough to wrap the two filets (2-3 slices)
Black pepper
Olive oil and butter

For the side
10 green beans, blanched
1 shallot, sliced 
2 Campari tomatoes, skinned
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Season the haddock with pepper (but not salt since prosciutto has enough salty flavor), wrap the filets with the slices of prosciutto 
In a 10 inch non-stick frying pan, add the olive oil on medium flame. When the oil is hot add the shallot and sauté until lightly caramelized, add the green beans and tomato and cook for another minute, season with salt and pepper
Push the vegetables to the side to make space in the center of the pan. Add the olive oil and butter and place the prosciutto wrapped filets
Cook one side for 1-2 minutes, turn it over and cook another minutes or until done.
Serve it with the side of the vegetables and wedges of lemon.

This is not bad. It really “kicked-it-up-a-notch”. But if we have a choice we would choose other fish. We may try this with true cod or halibut.

Hiyaoroshi Sake “Shichi Hon Yari” 七本槍 純米ひやおろし

“Shichi Hon Yari” 七本槍純米ひやおろし is the second hiyaoroshi we tasted. This one is from Shiga prefecture 滋賀県 (near Kyoto on the shore of lake Biwa 琵琶湖, the largest lake in Japan). This is “junmai 純米” made from “Yamadanishiki 山田錦” sake rice. We tasted it cold. To us, this sake tasted dry, clean and fruity and the taste profile close to ginjo. We didn’t think it had a pronounced “rich” umami flavor. We felt that the previous hiyaoroshi we tasted (Shonai Bojin 庄内美人) had a richer and umami-laden taste profile. Interestingly both sakes are located in a similar place on the Tippsy sake’s profile charts. 

As before, I prepared “sake-no-sakana 酒の肴” or drinking snacks which go well with the sake. We defrosted “Ootoro 大トロ” fatty tuna (from Riviera Seafood Club). It was slightly sinewy and layers tended to separate but the sinew was not bothersome to us. The quality was quite good. I served in three ways; straight sashimi, salted and seared with one side torched or “aburi 炙り” and marinated or “Zuke 漬け”. All were pretty good but I liked “aburi” the best. Also we had scallop sashimi ホタテの刺身 also from  Riviera. We also had the last of “uni shuto ウニ酒盗” from Maruhide 丸秀 and “squid shiokara イカの塩辛” (my wife calls it “squid and guts”) we got from a Japanese grocery store frozen (from Hakodate Hokkaido 函館北海道).

 

All these sashimi and shuto and shiokara all went well with cold hiyaoroshi sake. This was a great way to celebrate the change of season to fall. 

Hiyaoroshi Sake Dewanoyuki “Sho-nai Bijin” 出羽ノ雪 庄内美人 ひやおろし

It is the season for “Hiyaoroshi ひやおろし” or “Akiagari 秋上がり” sake. As I mentioned in the previous post, this type of sake is bottled in the spring and cold-aged until the following fall. It is considered a seasonal sake and available in autumn in limited quantity. We can now enjoy some of the hiyaoroshi sake without visiting Japan in autumn thanks to “Tippsy sake”. This year we got two kinds. The frist one we tried is one from Yamagata prefecture 山形県 (which is known for many excellent sake breweries; some are considered  “cult” sake such as “Juuyondai” 十四代.) called  Dewanoyuki Shonai Bijin Hiya-oroshi” 出羽ノ雪庄内美人. It is “kimoto-junnmai 生酛純米 made from sake rice varieties Dewakirari 出羽きらりand Miyamanishiki 美山錦. We tasted it cold. We really like it. It has nice rich “umami” and nice fruity finish but dry and not yeasty. 

Of course, to enjoy a good sake like this, we need good “sake-no-sakana 酒の肴” drinking snacks. This is what I served. From top left clockwise; sugar snap peas in salt broth スナップ豌豆の塩びたし, Wakame sea weed in ponzu sesami oil dressing わかめのポン酢胡麻油あえ, in the next square dish are seasoned boiled egg or “ajitama” 味玉 and pickled daikon and cucumber 大根と胡瓜の漬物, in a round small dish is  urchin shutou ウニの酒盗, in the small bowl is herring in wine sauce (from the jar) which I added sour cream dill sauce. 

While we really like both of them, among the two hiya-oroshi sake we tried this year we particularly liked Sho-nai Bijin. (the other one will be posted soon).

Almond Olive Oil Cake アーモンドオリーブオイルケーキ

This is a variation my wife made of “Hazelnut olive oil cake”. Instead of hazelnut flour (which is a very expensive flour), she used almond flour. She made a number of  modifications. It turned out very nice (#1). Since she used small amount of wheat flour, this is not gluten free.

Because of the olive oil, the cake is very moist and nice alomond flavor coming from both the flour and the almond essence. Since this is not too sweet, perfect for breakfast.

Ingredients
1 1/4  cups firmly packed almond flour
1/2 cup AP flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup + 1 1/2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil (medium quality is OK)
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
>1 tsp almond extract (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 20 cm/8" springform pan with olive oil then line with baking paper (parchment paper), then grease the paper. In a medium bowl, mix the almond flour, AP flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, beat the olive oil, eggs and sugar for 2 to 3 minutes on speed 7 or 8 until it becomes pale and thick (like pouring cream or runny mayonnaise). Add vanilla and almond extract beat on speed one for 10 seconds. Add the Dry ingredients and mix in gently using a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes. It will puff up dramatically in the oven but it collapses as it cools. Remove from the oven and allow the cake to fully cool in the pan before releasing from the springform pan. This is a rustic cake that has higher edges and a flatter centre.

This is nice variation on the theme of breads made with exotic flours. This has a very moist tender texture and a nice flavor from the combination of almonds and olive oil. (They go surprisingly well together).

Egg-wrapped Kabocha カボチャの黄金焼き

I was trying to use up a kabocha カボチャ we got recently from Weee. Then, I saw this recipe on Youtube. It was named poetically as “golden grill 黄金焼き” due to the egg covering the kabocha. It was simple enough and I decided to make it. This dish is essentially cooked kabocha cut into a bite size pieces, coated with flour and then dipped in beaten egg and fried. The seasonings  are salt and pepper. I made this for lunch one day (picture #1). This is a pretty good dish and indeed nice golden look to it.

We had it with left-over gyoza 餃子 I made and new pumpkin salad, and spicy (not really) crunchy tofu square* (picture #2).

*I made some modification. I now coat the tofu after marination with a mixture of rice flour and potato starch which make really good crunchy crust.

Ingredients:
1/4 kabocha, skin shaved off (optional, many do not mind having the skin), cooked (either steamed, boiled, or microwaved) until soft and  cut into a bite size. 
AP flour for dredging
Salt and pepper to taste
One large egg beaten
2 tbs vegetable oil

Directions:
Dredge the kabocha pieces in the flour (you could season the kabocha pieces before dredging or season the beaten egg. I did the latter).
In the frying pan on medium flame, add the oil.
Dip and coat the kabocha pieces with the egg.
Cook one side until golden and turn it over (1 minutes each).

The original recipe suggest dipping into “aurora” sauce which is the mixture of mayo and catsup popular in Japan

So, from the one relatively small “Kabocha” we got from Weee, I made our usual traditional simmered kabocha, new kabocha salad with bacon and walnuts and finally egg wrapped kabocha. This was a nice combination of flavors but I had to wonder if it wouldn’t have been simpler to get the same effect by just cooking the kabocha pieces in scrambled eggs. 

Black Cod Marinated in Saikyo miso 銀鱈の西京(味噌)焼き

We have a quite a stash of frozen food including fish. This evening, we raided the stash and had black cod a.k.a. sable fish or “gindara 銀鱈”. I made “nitsuke 煮付け” or simmered in broth, and “miso-yaki” 味噌焼き or grilled miso-marinated. This is a variation of grilled miso marinated but I used “Saikyo-miso” 西京味噌, which is a Kyoto sweet white miso, so I can call this “Saikyo-yaki” 銀鱈の西京焼き. Although the miso itself is sweet (and salty), traditionally, more sugar and mirin (both are sweet) are added to the marinade. The amount of sugar in the marinade makes grilling a bit tricky since it is very easy to burn. I managed this by placing the fish on a piece of parchment paper in a dry frying pan. This worked well by preventing the fish from sticking to the pan and burning due to the high sugar content. I removed a thin wedge from the center of the filet since the small bones concentrated there are difficult to remove. It does not look pretty but worked well since cooking on skin side, it became flat so that the fish cooked evenly. I added a side of green beans sautéd in butter.

Since my wife made corn broth, we used it to make corn rice as another side. I also served “asazuke” 浅漬け salted vegetables (daikon, nappa cabbage, carrot and cucumber).

Ingredients: (two small servings)
1 filet of black cod (sable fish) or “gindara” 銀鱈 divided into two portions (for us small eaters)

for marinade
3 tbs Saikyo miso 西京味噌 (kyoto sweet miso) 
1 tsp sugar
2 tps mirin 
1-2 tbs sake (adjust the amount so that the miso mixture is easily spreadable but not runny)

Directions:
On a piece of plastic wrap large enough to wrap both filets, spread half the marinade in the center in the size of two filets.
Place the filets on the marinade and spread the remaining marinade on the surface of the filets and wrap with the plastic wrap.
Place on a plate and let it marinade overnight in the refrigerator.
Remove as much of the marinade as possible using a silicon spatula.
On the bottom of the stainless steel frying pan on low flame, place the parchment paper
Place the filets skin side down on top of the parchment paper and cook for 4-5 minutes
Flip it over and cook another 4-5 minutes or until done.

The is one of our favorite fish (Chilean sea bass, salmon belong in this group). The corn rice had a very nice corn flavor without any corn kernels in the rice and went well with the fish. The green beans were unusually high quality—very sweet and rounded out a really good meal. 

Matsutake (from Weee) Touban-yaki 松茸の陶盤焼き

In past years we have gotten fresh California chestnuts 栗 and matsutake 松茸 mushrooms to celebrate the tastes of autumn.  But trying to get these items from various sources was a bit of a hassle and several times the quality of the items left a lot to be desired. So this year we sort gave up on enjoying these delicacies. Then we discovered that Weee had fresh matsutake. I was not sure of the “grade” of this matsutake or place it originated (I assumed somewhere in North America). The amount of just right (8oz or 226grams). We used to get 1lb which was a bit too much for us to finish before it went bad. Knowing that Weee’s grocery quality is quite good, we decided to get it. It turned out this was better than what we had been getting before. We had this fresh matustake grilled on “tou-ban” 陶盤 or shallow earthen ware disk with half dome lid. I also added ginko nuts to complete the autumnal theme (picture #1). We really like this and the quality was excellent.

This is how it came (picture #2). It is from “Pacific Northwest” (assume to be Oregon and Washington states).

Upon opening, this is so-called “grade 1-2”.  Caps are not open or very slightly open and compared to ones we used to get the surface is not all dried out and much cleaner.

These matsutake could be cleaned just using a wet paper towel (picture #4). In the past, I had to use a knife to removed the surface to clean it since dirt was embedded and surface was very dry. So this is much better. The cut surface was clean with no “worm holes”.

We wanted to have this in the simplest way and decided to “tou-ban” grill. We had this served with a “spritz” of Meyer lemon juice. The matsutake had its usual subtle but distinctive smell and the texture was better than others we had before. This was quite a treat. Weee came through again!

Kabocha salad カボチャサラダ

Halloween season is coming and we got a Japanese “Kabocha” カボチャ pumpkin (or squash) to celebrate the season. I have posted quite a few kabocha dishes. The most traditional is simmered kabocha カボチャの煮物. Although I have posted  “kabocha salad” カボチャサラダ, this is a new version with more ingredients which I saw on YouTube. Besides cooked kabocha, it has bacon, onion, celery and walnuts. The dressing is mayo with soy sauce. As suggested I served with fresh cracked black pepper.  With bacon and walnut, this cannot be bad.

Ingredients:
1/2 small kabocha pumpkin, seeds removed, skin shaved off (optional)
3 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 small sweet onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 celery stalk, de-string (or peel), cut across in thin slices
1/3 cup of walnuts, toasted and chopped 
2 tbs mayonnaise
1 tsp soy sauce
salt and black pepper

Directions:
Place the onion and celery in a bowl, add 2 pinches of salt and mix. Let it stand ofr 5-20 minutes and knead until more water comes out. Wash in cold running water and squeeze out any excess moisture and set aside
Cut the kabocha in small enough pieces to fit into a silicon microwave cooking container, add a small amount of water, place the lid and microwave until soft (4-5 minutes)
Mash the kabocha while it is hot
Add the bacon and walnuts
Add the mayo and soy sauce
Add the celery and onion and mix

Garnish with freshly cracked black pepper and serve

This is a good dish as a drinking snack. The kabocha provides a creamy base. The bacon adds enough saltiness without adding any salt.

Enoki mushroom frittata エノキ オムレツ/フリッタータ

We like mushrooms. Our favorite is shiitake. Maitake 舞茸 or hen-of-the-woods is also great. Although it may not be one of our absolute favorites we also like enoki エノキ mushrooms and we have made many dishes using enoki mushrooms. Actually, many years ago, when we were dating, we went to a Robata-yaki restaurant in Japan town, San Francisco. One of the dishes we had was enoki wrapped in foil and grilled with miso and butter. My wife said it was first time she had enoki and later I recreated the dish many times. It was one of our favorites. In any case, this is a new enoki dish I saw on YouTube and made it for lunch one day. There appears to be some variations but it is essentially, an enoki omelet or frittata. It was really good. Since I had some roasted red pepper sauce, we added it on top and it went very well. On the side I served coleslaw and skinned Campari tomato (picture #1).

Ingredients:
1 package (200gram) fresh enoki mushroom, root ends cut and removed, separated and cut into one inch segments
3 large eggs
2 tbs “katakuri-ko” 片栗粉 potato starch
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbs vegetable/olive oil

Directions:
In a bowl, add the enoki and the potato starch and mix to coat
Add the eggs and mix well
In a non-stick frying pan on medium low flame,  add the oil and when oil is hot, add the enoki/egg mixture, spread and flatten with spatula
Place the lid and cook for 5 minutes or longer until the bottom browns and the surface looks dry
Flip and cook the other side for another 3-4 minutes (picture#2) so that the mushroom is cooked and lighly brown
Remove from the pan and cut into wedges and serve

We had the remaining half later heated up in the microwave oven which came out very nicely. This is easy to make and we really like the texture and flavors of enoki with eggs. Interestingly the mushrooms loose their distinctive shape and meld into the egg mixture. They add a type of density to the mixture which has an unctuous mouth feel. We will make this again.