“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.

Garlic Chive Dumpling ニラ頭饅 or 韮菜万頭

We used to grow garlic chives or “nira” ニラ in our herb garden but it failed in two ways: 1) the garlic chives were very fibrous except when we harvested them very young and 2) they grew like weeds taking over the entire herb garden. The plant had deep roots that were very hard to extract. It was quite a lot of work to get rid of it and we are not completely successful even now. (Digression alert: Some years ago we hired a gardener to do the spring clean up which included the herb garden. When he found out the herb garden contained garlic chives he specified the clean up would include everything EXCEPT the garlic chives.) Although we did make quite a few garlic chive dishes, we gave up growing our own. We have been shying away from even buying garlic chive for a while (besides it is not readily available). Since Weee almost always carries garlic chives, we tried them. They came in quite a large bundle (about 1 lb). We tried it in several dishes and, even though they were fully grown, the garlic chive were not fibrous at all.  We added garlic chives to our stir-fried dishes, soup and as a “ohitashi” ニラのお浸し. We still had some garlic chives left so I started looking for new recipes to use them. I came across a recipe by Koh Kentetsu on YouTube.  I was not familiar with this dish. I am not sure if this is based on a known Chinese dish or invented in Japan but it is apparently very popular. 

A quick internet search indicated that “nira-manju” or “garlic chive dumpling” was “invented” in a Chinese restaurant called “Niramanju Fussa” or “韮菜万頭福生” near the Yokota American military base 横田米軍基地. In any case, I have not tasted or seen the “original”. I made this based on the Koh Kentetsu recipe but I ended up making some changes (in the seasonings, not intentionally. Since I made this dish from memory after I saw the YouTube video). This is in the similar ilk as gyoza 餃子 and shumai  焼売 but maybe even better. We really like the garlic chive flavor and cripsy skin (picture #1). It re-heated nicely in the toaster oven. Since I seasoned the filling adequately, we did not use dipping sauce.

The innovations of his recipe is to use two sheets of store-bought wonton skin to encase the filling and the instructions of how to encase the filling very easily for a home cook. It was cooked exactly like gyoza producing a nice crispy skin on both sides (picture #2) and juicy inside.

Ingredients: (made 10 good-sized dumplings, see picture #2)
1/2 lb ground pork
1/4 lb garlic chive, finely chopped (about 1/5 in)
6-7 medium shrimp, thawed, and minced (optional)
1/2 tsp minced/graded ginger (original recipe used only ginger juice)
1/2 tsp minced/grated garlic (optional,  original recipe does not use this. My wife felt this added too much garlicky flavor)
1 large cap of fresh shiitake mushroom, finely chopped

Seasnings:
1 tsp Shao Xing wine
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp dark sesame oil

20 Wonton skins

Directions:
Add the meat, shrimp, garlic, ginger and seasonings in a bowl and mix well
Add the mushroom and garlic chives and further mix and cover. Let it stand in the refrigerator for a few hours
Using a medium sized ice cream scoop, make balls of the filling and place them on a rimmed baking sheet.
Place the wonton skin on top of the filling balls (I moistened all the edges to make sure it would stick)
Using all five fingers, press down on the edge and turn several times until the sides of the wonton skin adhere to the filling. Then flip it over (picture #3). (If you just steam this, you are making “garlic chive shumai” ニラシュウマイ).

Place the second set of wonton skin on top (I also moistened the outer edges). Using the same process, turn and totally encase the filling to make sure all sides are attached to the filling and each other
Press gently to make a disk (picture #4)

(I covered the dumplings with a plastic wrap and refrigerated 1-2 hours before cooking but this is not needed. I just wanted to have all the dumpling assembled before cooking them in the evening.)
Using a 12 inch non-stick frying pan, I added the vegetable oil with a splash of sesame oil on medium flame and browned one side (2-3 minutes) and turned it over to brown the other side for another 2-3 minutes (picture #2)
Add a small amount of water (about 1/4 cup). Cover with a tight fitting lid to steam for 2-3 minutes or until the steam stops coming out.
Remove the lid and let the moisture evaporate. Keep browning the bottom and the other side with the addition of a small amount of sesame oil toward the end of cooking.

This is a really nice dish and easier to make compared to gyoza (because you do not have to clip the edges). A good amount of garlic chive adds a nice flavor (my addition of garlic was a bit too much for my wife, I will omit it next time). This is a perfect small dish with drinks.

Red and Green Udon “Pasta” with Prosciutto 生ハムのせ緑と赤のうどんパスタ

I came up with this for lunch one day. This is a left-over control dish. A few days ago since it is getting hot, we had cold “udon” pasta with tomatosトマトの冷製パスタ for lunch.  We usually make this dish with thin udon 糸うどん rather than fettuccine. I also cook up more than what we can use for this dish since cooked udon noodles can be used for other dishes and are handy to have. We also had left-over roasted red pepper sauce and pesto which I made a few days ago and used to make a white pizza with those sauces on top. We still had a bit more of the red pepper sauce and pesto left, so I came up with this dish (picture #1). The topping is prosciutto. It was also left over from the cold tomato pasta. I also added grated Parmesan cheese and a drizzle of our favorite Spanish olive oil. 

I thought of making cold pasta but ended up with warm pasta. I just sautéed the pasta in two separate small frying pans with small amount of olive oil. I added the red pepper sauce and pesto to each pan and warmed them up.

I topped this with prosciutto, grated parmesan and drizzle of olive oil. This was a quite good pasta dish. In addition, we managed to finish a few left-overs.

Egg roll 春巻き

Although I posted a few egg rolls 春巻, none are traditional/classic. So, I tried to make something close to “classic”. After consulting several recipes, I came up with this one. The filling is mostly vegetables (cabbage, carrot, bamboo shoot, rice noodle, shiitake mushroom, and a small amount of pork that I had roasted (in Weber with some smoke). It came out ok but we decided we are more used to and probably prefer gyoza 餃子 and shumai 焼売. We had fried shrimp heads from when we took out sashimi and sushi from Tako Grill. We re-fried and served them with the egg rolls. Sweet and sour sauce must be the most common dipping sauce but I did not make any sauce and instead, served this with green tea salt. 

Since I did not measure the ingredients, this is not recipe but note to myself. The filling made a total of 14 egg rolls.

Ingredients:
3-4 leaves of cabbage, thick ribs removed and cut into small rectangles
1 small carrot, peeled, sliced and Julienned
Half of a package of boiled  bamboo shoot, sliced and julienned
Ginger, skinned and thinly julienned
2 caps of fresh shiitake mushroom (dried could be better but I did not have time to rehydrate them )
1/4 package of dried rice “harusame” 春雨 noodle, soaked in boiling water for 5 minutes, cut into bite sized pieces
1 tbs vegetable oil plus a splash of sesame oil
4-5 slices of roasted pork julienned (or uncooked julien or ground pork and shrimp)

Egg roll wrappers
Mixture of water and flour to make a slurry/glue (to fasten the ends of the egg roll wrapper)

Seasonings:
2 tsp oyster sauce
2 tbs Xiaoshing wine
2 tbs Soy sauce
2 tsp potato starch + water to make slurry
Salt and pepper
1 tsp sesame oil

Directions:
In a wok on medium-high flame, add the oil and sauté the ginger, vegetables and the pork. Season with the salt and pepper. When, the vegetables are cooked add the seasonings and mix. Add the starch slurry and splash in the sesame oil and mix.
Spread the filling on a metal cookie sheet to cool to room temperature and then refrigerate covered.
(I made the egg rolls several days after I made the filling)

Assembly:
Place the wrapper diagonally and place the filling near center but more toward the bottom, fold the bottom corner over the filling and then both sides and roll. Paint the flour/water mixture on the far conner of the wrapper and complete the roll (see picture below). (I made the rolls 1-2 hours prior to cooking. I covered  them and placed them in the refrigerator).

Instead of my regular “tempura” set up, I used a 10 inch frying pan for to  “fry” them.  Place the rolls with the end seam side down first and turn it over after the bottom is brown and continue cooking until the wrapper is all brown and crispy.

These were pretty good. The filling was adequately seasoned and the wrapper was crispy. Initially we thought there is too much wrapper as compared to the filling since we were more used to the proportions of gyoza. But over time the flavors melded together and actually tasted better. We discovered one egg roll made a nice lunch. Also they crisped up very nicely in the toaster oven.

Pumpernickel Boule ドイツ黒パン

Although, most of the time, we eat home-baked bread, we buy some breads to use especially when we make sandwiches. Pumpernickel bread/boule is one of them. We used to get it at the bakery in Whole Foods. Sometime ago, for some reason, they stopped baking pumpernickel and Russian black bread.  We also discovered the local Giant grocery store stopped selling pumpernickel bread. So our usual commercial sources are not available. If we want pumpernickel we have to make it ourselves. I have baked a traditional pumpernickel bread which is very dense and good as a cocktail bread but not good for making sandwiches. So, I was tasked by “she-who-tasks” (i.e. my wife) to make pumpernickel bread suited for sandwiches. So I baked this pumpernickel bread using a recipe from King Arthur. It came out rather nicely ( picture #1). It has a nice crust but not too thick.

The cut surface shows nice uniform air holes and just right texture (picture #2). It has nice flavors as well, We had it as a part of breakfast with butter and honey. 

I made some common sense modifications especially in the directions.

Ingredients: (I weighed except for the yeast)
4 cups (480g) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 cup (116g) Pumpernickel Flour*
2 tablespoons (11g) black cocoa, for dark pumpernickel color
2 1/4 teaspoons (14g) table salt
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (425g) water, lukewarm

* The original recipe listed  1 cup as 96g. We keep pumpernickel bread in the freezer and my wife got me 1cup which happed to be 116 grams. The original recipe calls for  “rye bread improver” and “deli rye flavor” from King Arthur but we did not have and did not use them.

Directions:
1. Combine all of the ingredients and mix and knead  using a standing mixer fitted with a kneading hook for 7-10 minutes or until the dough is elastic and slightly sticky.
2. Let the dough rise in a lightly greased, covered bowl for 1 to 2 hours in a 85F proofing box; it should become puffy.
3. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Gently deflate it, and shape it into a ball.
4. Place the shaped loaf onto a “round silicon round loaf  lifter” with tabs (or parchment paper) and place in the bowl, covered with a plastic wrap and placed it back in the proofing box for 1 hour (or until the volume doubled)
5. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
6. Slash the loaf making a cross on the op  and place the dough in a preheated Dutch oven and place the lid
7. Bake the loaf for 35 minutes with the lid on and 5 more minutes with the lid off
(digital thermometer inserted into the center reads 190°F to 200°F) 
8. Remove the Dutch oven from the oven, and transfer the bread to a rack to cool completely. (I used “silicon round loaf lifter” which made this transfer easy and safe)

This bread had a light crispy crust and a nice, moist, dense interior texture. It also had a gentle savory pumpernickel flavor. The quality of the bread was perfect and far superceded the commercial variety. The sandwiches have “stepped it up a notch”. 

Gyoza made with New Round Gyoza Skin 日本風の餃子の皮で作った餃子

When I make gyoza, I use “wonton skin” which is readily available at a regular grocery store. The wonton skin is square and a bit thicker than a classic Japanese-style gyoza skin. Japanese-style gyoza skin (picture #2) is available (most are frozen) but I did not bother to get it until now. Since we were getting groceries from Weee anyway and they had Myojo brand 明星食品 frozen Japanese-style gyoza skin, I ordered this with frozen ground pork for making gyoza.  The result is definitely worth it (for us). Since it is round, the gyoza looks nicer and the thin skin makes a nice crispy outside without being too heavy or filling (#1). I served the gyoza with pickled daikon, cucumber and marinated quail egg. 

The filling is my usual. Finely chopped cabbage which I blanch and squeeze out moisture, finely chopped scallion, ground pork, grated garlic and ginger. I added soy sauce and small amount of sesame oil. 

Cooking is also as usual. First, brown all sides of the gyoza (the standard method is brown only one side but we like brown and crispy on all sides) with vegetable oil with a splash of dark sesame oil. Once all sides are brown, add a small amount of water and place on the lid. Steam for 1-2 minutes or until no more steam is coming out. Remove the lid and crisp up the skin again.

I made quite a few gyoza. We keep them in a sealable container in the fridge and warm them up in the toaster oven. It works well and the gyoza tastes almost exactly like they were just cooked.

Instant Pot BBQ Baby Back Ribs バーベキューベイビーバックリブ

Some time ago, we received an Instant Pot as a Christmas gift from my wife’s sister who recommended BBQ baby back ribs cooked in the pot was one of the best dishes she made. We did not have a chance to make it until now. I also made BBQ sauce. This was very good. The meat just slides off the bone and is tender but not mushy. It is a bit sweet to our taste, though. I served this after I removed the bone (picture#1).

The recipe is an amalgamation from several sources.

Ingredients
1 rack of baby back pork ribs membrane removed

Rub:
2 tbs  brown sugar (I should omit this next time)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder

Rib Pot:
1 cup Water
1/2 cup rice vinegar vinegar (the usual is to use apple cider vinegar)

1/2 cup BBQ Sauce (recipe below)

Directions:
Combine the Rub ingredients in a small dish. Rub on the front and back of the ribs.
Pour Rib Pot ingredients in the bottom of the Instant pot and then place the trivet in the pot.
Place the ribs inside the pot, standing on their side, wrapping around the inside of the pot.
Choose “Stewed meat” which will set the Instant pot to high pressure and 25 minutes. I turned off “Keep warm”. Release the pressure 10 minutes after  the cooking is completed (or let it depressurize naturally)
Remove the ribs from the pressure cooker and set on a foil lined baking sheet. Brush with BBQ sauce (picture #2) and set under the broiler until sauce begins to caramelize, about 5 minutes (picture #3).

BBQ Sauce:
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups brown sugar (319.5 grams) packed 1 1/2 cups ketchup (352.5 grams)
1/2 cup apple rice  vinegar (119.29 ml)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons onion powder 1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons kosher salt

Directions:
1. Combine all the ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium heat.
2. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

The length of the cooking in the Instant pot determine how tender the meat will be. We cooked it for 25 minutes which appears to be just right. It is tender and bone comes out easily but not too mushy. Next time, I will omit the brow sugar form the dry rub and reduce the brown sugar from the BBQ sauce.

Mushrooms Udon Bowl きのこ沢山のかけうどん

“Udon” うどん are thick Japanese noodles made from wheat flour, salt and water. I’ve posted many udon dishes over the years. We usually use dried udon noodles because it is convenient. Udon appears to have many regioanl varieties. In Shikoku 四国 and Kansai 関西 (Osaka area),  Sanuki (-style) udon 讃岐風うどん is famous and is characteristically “chewy” as opposed to southern Kyushu 南九州 or Fukuoka 福岡 udon which is famous for its softness. The udon we usually get is somewhere in between. We tend to like thin udon such as “Inaniwa” 稲庭 udon or “Harima thread uson” 播磨糸うどん. I’m not sure what triggered it but we decided to get  frozen Sanuki-style  udon from Weee. The noodles are a bit on the thicker side with a square shape and straight edges (see 2nd picture below) which are characteristics of Sanuki udon or udon in the Kaisai region in general. For lunch, I made “kake-udon” かけうどん which is warm udon in broth. I used whatever was available for topping indluding three kinds of mushrooms (shiitake, maitake and simeji), soft boiled duck egg, simmered pork and edible chrysanthemum.

Underneath the toppings are the Sanuki-udon.

Ingredients: (2 small or half servings)
Mixed fresh mushrooms (I used shiitake sliced, mitake torn into small pices, and shimeji separated)
One package of frozen Sanuki udon, thawed and cooked in boiling water for 3-4 minutes
2 slices of simmered pork
Edible chrysanthemum, blanched
One soft boiled (pasteurized) duck egg, halved
Blanched sugar snaps
Dashi broth
X4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce

Directions:
Sauté the mushrooms in olive oil for a few minutes, add the broth (enough for two bowls) and simmer for a few minutes, add the noodle sauce to taste, place the pork, egg, chrysanthemum, and sugar snaps on the top to warm them up for few minutes
Divide the udon into two bowls, arrange the toppings and pour in the seasoned broth.
Add 7 flavored pepper flakes or “shichi-mi tougarashi 七味唐辛子 (optional)

The udon was really chewy. We like it but it requires a bit of effort (chewing). This type of udon may be perfect for “Nabeyaki udon” 鍋焼きうどん.

Cucumber and Wood Ear in Mustard Sauce キュウリとキクラゲの辛子和え

We got fresh wood ear mushrooms “Kikurage” 木耳 from Weee. In an effort make the mushroom last longer I go through several steps. I wash the mushrooms, blanch them, then wash them again in cold water. I let them dry on a dish towel. I then place them in a Ziploc bag with some pieces of paper towel to absorb excess moisture. The texture does not change by blanching and wood ear does not have much flavor. Never-the-less, I am trying to use it up and look for new recipes. I found this recipe at e-recipe. I deviated from the original by adding roasted/barbecued pork instead of ham and also some changes in the dressing.

Ingredients:
One American mini-cucumber, ends trimmed, cut into half length-wise, then sliced on bias
Wood ear mushroom (fresh or hydrate dry), cut into julienne (amount arbitrary)
Slices of roasted pork (or ham) cut into julienne (amount arbitrary)

For dressing:
1 tsp roasted sesame oil
2 tsp sweet vinegar (I used homemade which I keep in a bottle; the ratio of vinegar to sugar is 2:1 with a dash of salt)
1 tsp ponzu-shouyu
Japanese mustard (prepared from the tube) (amount to taste or for your liking)

Directions:
Knead the cucumber slices with small amount of salt, let them stand for 5 minutes and squeeze out excess moisture
Dress all the ingredients with the dressing. You could add more mustard. Adjust the taste to your liking
Refrigerate before serving.

This is a good small dish as an “otoshi” おとうし drinking snack. The wood ear adds nice crunch, the pork adds great flavor and the cucumber is refreshing. Spicy Japanese mustard also makes this dish. Best with cold sake but even goes with red wine.

Cold Thin Udon Noodle with Home-made Ponzu 自家製ポン酢、冷やし糸うどん

Cold noodle dishes using somen 素麺, soba 蕎麦 and ramen noodle “Hiyashi chuka” 冷やし中華 or “Hiyashi ramen” 冷やしラーメン are common especially on hot summer days in Japan. Cold udon うどん dishes are less common, except, as I understand it, in Osaka where you can have many combinations of cold/hot soup and cold/hot udon noodles. I made this cold udon dish just like cold ramen or “hiyashi ra-men” just substituting the ramen noodles with thin udon.

Since I made two kinds of pork a few days ago; Simmered pork and Barbecued pork, I cut some julienne pieces off of both kinds. We have a profusion of perilla in our herb garden and I added a chiffonade of perilla. My wife just harvested myouga 茗荷 and I made myouga picked in sweet vinegar. I included both fresh and pickled myouga as a topping (in the center). Other toppings included “Gari” ガリ pickled shouga ginger, cucumber and golden thread omelet or “Kinshi-ran” 金糸卵. For the sauce, I used my home-made ponzu-shouyu mixed with dark sesame oil (just a few splashes). I also added Japanese hot mustard and yuzu kosho shown on the rim of the plate (upper right).

Our myouga patch was doing well in terms of the foliage but the underground buds were slow to mature this year. But finally we had a good harvest. Myouga is such a unique herb/vegetable. We like to enjoy fresh as a topping or type of salad but pickled in sweet vinegar is also a very good way to prepare the myouga. At least for one or two weeks, the color of myouga becomes very red and sweet vinegar adds to the flavor. Then eventually the color fades to white.

I did not post about the home-made ponzu. This is just for my convenience. Since it is difficult to get fresh yuzu, I used bottled yuzu juice plus lime juice.

Ingredients:
100 ml yuzu juice (Either freshly squeezed or bottled) plus freshly squeezed lime of lemon juice to make 100ml
150 ml soy sauce
I small square of “konbu” kelp
I small package of bonito flakes

Directions:
Just mix the yuzu juice and soy sauce. In a clean sealable container (I used a clean and empty rakyo pickles plastic container) and added the kelp and bonito flakes.
Place in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks (I kept it for 2 weeks)
Strain the kelp and bonito flakes and transfer the ponzu in clear sealable container and keep it in the refrigerator.

I think my home-made ponzu is slightly better but not much better than the commercial one since I could not use freshly squeezed Japanese citrus such as yuzu. This was a cool refreshing dish for a hot day. 

Simmered Pork and Nappa Cabbage 豚肉と白菜の煮物

When we get a large bone-in skin-on piece of pork (either fore- or hind-quarter), I do secondary butchering to remove the skin and bone. With the meat I usually make one large roast for barbecuing in our Weber grill, and one smaller roast for making simmered pork or “Nibuta” 煮豚 in the Instant pot. I usually hand-chop the remaining trimmings into ground pork which I use to make “mapo tofu” 麻婆豆腐, “niku-miso” 肉味噌 or other dishes.  This time the pork came from the fore-quarter and after I did all my usual preparations additional small blocks of pork remained. So I sliced them very thinly and made two dishes; one was a classic homey dish of meat and potato stew or “nikujaga” 肉じゃが and the other was this nappa cabbage dish. I made this dish since I had quite a good amount of left-over nappa cabbage or “hakusai” 白菜 and also brown shimeji mushroom or “bunashimeji” ぶなしめじ.

I added sugar snaps スナップ豌豆の塩びたし for color.

This is based on a recipe I saw on-line but because of the ingredients I had (or didn’t have), I had to make some modifications.

Ingredients:
4 leaves of nappa cabbage, bottom trimmed, cut in half lengthwise. I cut the bottom half thick portion on a slant (45 degree against the cutting board surface) 1 inch long (called “sogi-giri” 削ぎ切). This makes a slightly thin segment). The leafy tops were cut into 1 inch long pieces.
120 grams of thinly sliced pork (the amount is arbitrary. More the better?)
1 package (150 grams) of brown shimeji mushroom, bottoms removed and separated
400ml Japanese dashi broth
1 tbs each of sake and soy sauce (to marinade the pork)

Seasoning
2 tbs sake
2 tbs x4 Japanese noodle sauce (or 1 tbs each of mirin and soy sauce)
1/2 tsp ginger juice (from grated ginger root)

Direction:
Marinate the pork in the mixture of sake and soy sauce for 5-10 minutes.
Put the dashi broth in a pan on medium heat. When it boils add the marinated pork. When the meat changes color, add the nappa cabbage and mushrooms. Cook for a few minutes and add the seasoning. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until the hard part of the nappa cabbage is cooked through.
Serve warm with topping of blanched green beans or sugar snap or chopped scallion (optional).

Although this dish uses the combination of seasoning similar to “niku-jaga”, this dish came out much more mildly flavored and gentle. This is a good dish for drinking snack or the accompaniment for rice.

Keema curry Japanese Version キーマカレー

Keema (meaning ground meat) curry and its variation dry curry are popular in Japan. I posted  some variations of these dishes before. This is not a genuine Indian or Pakistani keema curry but a Japanese variation. One of the reasons I made this dish was to use up left-over ground pork. I am sure pork is not the kind of meat usually used in genuine keema curry. Also, it’s usually made with a premixed Japanese curry powder (I used S&B brand*) which has a taste distinctive from Indian curry flavoring. I would characterize Japanese curry powder as milder, not hot, somewhat sweeter with a somewhat different range of spices. I thought I added a good amount of Japanese curry powder to the keema and it had plenty of flavor that could described as “spicy” but it was not really hot. The dish also included many vegetables (onion, celery, carrot—almost a myripoix), garlic and ginger plus the addition of garam masala. The addition of tonkatsu sauce toward the end of the cooking was a distinctly Japanese touch that would not be found in an Indian curry. It did add to the nice complexity in flavors. We like this curry very much. I served it over rice with a sunny-side-up fried egg, rakkyo らっきょう and fukushin-zuke 福神漬け pickels and (home-pasteurized) egg with runny yolk, which are classic accompaniment for Japanese curry.

*Reportedly it contains Turmeric, Coriander, Fenugreek, Cumin, Red Pepper, Black Pepper, Cinnamon, Ginger, Star Anise, Cloves, Cardamon, Fennel, Nutmeg, Laurel Leaves, Allspice and Garlic.

Similar to what I posted before and also I consulted the recipe on-line. Instead of tomato I used Ketchup.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground pork
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 Jalapeño pepper, seeded deveined and finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground garlic
I package brown shimeji mushroom, bottom cut off and separated (optional, I just had a package and wanted to use it up)
2 tsp or more curry powder (I used Japanese S&B brand)
1 tsp Garam Masala
salt and black pepper to taste
1 tbs ketchup
1 tbs tonkatsu sauce
1 tbs unsalted butter
1 cup chicken broth (or more if too thick)
2 tbs olive or vegetable oil

Directions:
In a pot on medium flame, add the oil. When hot, add the onion, carrot, celery, Jalapeño pepper, garlic and ginger. Sauté for 2-3 minutes, add the curry powder, salt and pepper and stir for several more minutes. Push the vegetables to one side of the pan, add the ketchup in the exposed bottom of the pan and sauté until color changes to dark red/brown (Maillard reaction).
Add the pork and stir and cook until the pork separated and color turns. Add the chicken stock and simmer for 10-20 minutes. Add the gram masala, butter and tonkatsu sauce and simmer for 5 more minutes. If needed add more curry powder (or cayenne pepper powder).

This was a very nice refreshing change from Indian inspired curries we have been making recently. It is nicely spicy in a mild almost sweet manner. Served over rice with the accompaniment of Japanese pickles used for curries this was a very Japanese interpretation of the spicy dish known as curry.

Mapo (mabo) Tofu 麻婆豆腐

Mapo tofu 麻婆豆腐 is a very popular dish in Japan and is called “Mabo tofu”. The Japanese version with which I am familiar is quite different from the original Sichuan 四川 dish. Now, however, even in Japan, authentic mapo tofu appears very much appreciated using Sichuan peppercorn 花椒 and touban-jan or douban-jan 豆板醤 as the main spices. These spices produce a “spicy hot” and “numbing” taste—we are not great fans of “spicy” and “numbing”. I have not made this dish for some time. Since I got a fairly decent medium firm tofu from Weee, I decided to make this dish. It is sort of an amalgamation of the authentic and Japanese styles. I used a small amount of touban-jan so that it is not too spicy for my wife and I added more to my serving later. Instead of using Sichuan peppers, I just sprinkled Japanese pepper powder or kona-sansho* 粉山椒 just before serving. I think this turned out OK and we had this over rice for lunch one day.

*Digression alert: Sansho 山椒 or Japanese pepper is from a shrub closely related to but different from the Sichuan pepper plant. Japanese use the young leaves from this plant as a garnish/herb called “kinome” 木の芽 which has a very nice almost citrusy smell. The unripe fruit is used in many Japanese simmered dishes but does not have the tongue “numbing” characteristic of the mature plant. The mature and dried fruit from the Japanese pepper plant is ground into a powder called “Kona-sansho” 粉山椒 which is available in a small jar in Japanese/Asian grocery stores. It is regularly used on grilled eel dishes with sauce or “unagi-no-kabayaki” うなぎの蒲焼. It is not spicy hot and imparts a very unique flavor but, in large quantities, sansho powder does have a “numbing” effect similar to its Chinese counter part.

Ingredients:
One tofu block (I used medium firm), cut into small cubes, blanched for a few minutes and drained
2 tbs peanut oil
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced shallot
1 tsp touban-jan
1 tbs miso mixed with 1 tbs mirin (in lieu of tenmen-jan 甜面醤, Chinese sweet soybean paste)
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/3 tsp dark sesame oil
2 stalks of scallion, chopped
150 grams ground pork (I used hand chopped trimming of pork)
Japanese sansho powder, to taste
1/2 tsp potato starch mixed with 1 tsp water or sake (potato starch slurry)

Directions:
Place the wok on high flame and add the oil. When hot, add the ginger and shallot. Stir for 30 seconds, add the garlic stir for another 30 seconds. Add the touban-jan and stir for another 30 seconds or until fragrant.
Add the pork and cook for one minute or until done.
Add the drained tofu and gently toss
Add the chicken broth, miso mixture. Add more chicken broth if needed.
When the mixture starts boiling add the scallion and sesame oil. Stir for 30 seconds
Mix in the starch slurry and cook until bubbly
Sprinkle the sansho powder and serve

This was just right for us. I added a bit more touban-jan to my serving. The power of Japanese pepper added its unique flavor without numbing the tongue. A few days later, we had the leftover mapo tofu as a rice bowl or donburi. Since I had a pasteurized egg, I made a slightly undercooked scrambled egg as a topping. I also added blanched sugar snaps.

In this dish, since it had been a day or so after the dish was made, the spices further melded together and got more tame and multi dimensional. Overall the flavors were great.

Pork Curry Quesadilla ポークカレー ケサディア

This was a lunch of impromptu quesadilla made using left-over pork “Vindaloo” curry. My wife’s recent modifications to this curry included the addition of navy beans which makes a richer creamer sauce. We had the curry with rice for lunch several times and only a small amount of curry was left—not enough to make two servings of curry and rice for lunch. My wife suggested we make curry quesadilla. I had one over-ripe avocado which I had to use before it went bad so I made a sort of guacamole. The resulting lunch, consisted of a pork curry and three cheese quesadilla topped with avocado and sour cream. This was really great.

Traditional quesadilla is made from one corn tortilla which is folded in half. We like to use two wheat tortillas which is more convenient for us.

I did not have fresh cilantro but made something resembling guacamole. I also served sesame (udon) noodle salad and celery salad with mushrooms, white beans and feta salad.

We keep tortillas frozen. I removed two and layered them with paper towels to absorb any water from the ice crystals which usually form on their surface.  I microwaved them for 10 seconds. I then heated some oil in the frying pan on medium heat until hot and shimmering then briefly fried both sides of the tortillas. Again using paper towels I blotted off any excess oil.  I turned down the heat, placed one warm tortilla in the pan, and spread the curry on top; it was just the right amount.

I scattered shredded (actually hand chopped) cheeses on top. They included two kinds of cheddar (“sharp” and one actually called “Seriously Sharp”) and smoked gouda. I placed the other tortilla on the top. I cooked this with lid on for several minutes until the cheese melted. I removed the lid and turned the tortilla over and cooked an additional 1-2 minutes. This was a nice quesadilla if not authentic. The flavor of the curry blended perfectly with the guacamole. The tortilla was nice and crunchy. Also, you can’t go wrong with 3 melted cheese flavors and a topping of sour cream. This was a mighty fine lunch.

Crispy Roasted Porcelet Belly パリパリ皮のロースト(子)豚バラ

Some time ago, we bought a special pork belly called “Porcelet” from D’Artagnan. It is from a milk-fed piglet and arrived with the skin on. The quantity was quite large so we divided it into 3 pieces one of which we used right away and froze the other two. Since the pieces in the freezer generally will not improve the longer we keep them frozen, we decided to make something out of one of the pieces. We thawed a portion of about 2 lbs. After consulting many recipes on the Internet, I decided to use the recipe from “America’s test kitchen (ATK)” on YouTube. It is a modification of a Chinese dish called “脆皮燒肉”. Actually ATK has two versions of video posted; one by  “The Pangs”, a father and son (Kevin Pang) Chinese cook duo and the other by Dan Souza. After watching both (which are mostly the same recipe), I cooked this porcelet with crispy skin. I made two sauces; one by Dan Souza which is inspired by North Carolina BBQ sauce with mustard and vinegar and the other by the Pangs which is Hoisin sauce based. We had this with oven fried potato which my wife made (using white potato and a bicarb treatment but using olive oil instead of duck fat) served with ketchup (picture below). OMG! This is an excellent pork dish with very crispy skin, juicy and tender meat/fat.

Here is the appearance of the pork belly after it was finished. The skin is golden brown and has multiple bubbles and extremely crispy.

Ingredients (This made three large portions providing servings for both of us for several meals over several days):
2lb skin on pork belly (in our case, porcelet belly)
Salt (for salting the skin)
Vegetable oil (to add to the rendered pork fat to make it 1 cup of fat)

For dry rub
Brown sugar and salt (1:1) ratio, we used regular sugar with one tsp dark molasses and kosher salt (#2)
Chinese 5 spice powder, optional, but makes it closer to the authentic flavors).
We found this rub a bit too salty so we will change the ration when we make it again.

Sauces (the amounts are from the original recipe, I made a much smaller amount keeping the ratios of the ingredients the same)

For the Chinese sauce
1/2 cup Hoisin sauce
4 tbs rice vinegar
1 tsp grated ginger
2 tbs scallion, chopped

For the Mustard sauce
1 cup Dijon mustard

1/3 cup wine vinegar (I used rice vinegar)
1/4 cup brown sugar (I used dark buckwheat honey)
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
Hot sauce (as much as you like, I used 1tsp Sriracha)

Directions:
Cut the pork belly into three equal portions (#1)
Cut the skin and underlying fat (but not the meat) every 1/2 inch interval (#1)
Put the dry rub (#2) on the meat side including the ends and sides but not on the skin (the sugar will make the skin burn while baking)
Salt the skin surface (about 1/2 tbs for each piece) (#3)
Refrigerate without covering for 12-24 hours  (To dry the skin surface) in a glass baking pan (liquid will come out while in the refrigerator)
Some juice accumulated in the bottom of the baking dish and the skin surface looks dry without residual salt visible
Place the pork in a baking pan with the metal rack
Bake at 250F for 2 and half to 3 hours (to the internal temperature of 195F, in my case the temp went over 200F) (#4)
Set the pork aside and pour out the rendered fat to the 1 cup measuring cup. Add more vegetable oil to make it 1 cup.
Pour the fat into a 12 inch frying pan and place the pork skin side down in the cold oil and then turn on the heat to medium (#5)
Fry for 5-8 minutes or until the skin is golden brown and develops multiple bubbles and crispy (#6)
Let the meat rest for 10 minutes before slicing using the slits on the skin as a guide.

This pork was fabulous; probably one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. The meat was tender and the skin was wonderfully crunchy. It had a delicate pork flavor. We tried both sauces but we probably like the hoisin-based sauce best with this wonderful pork. The mustard sauce is good but a bit too vinegary for our teste. In any case, this is an amazing dish and the skin was crispy beyond belief. We are glad we made this dish. Our only concern is that it tasted a bit too salty for us. I may reduce the salt and/or increased the drying time in the refrigerator.

Addendum:
For us, knowing how best to reheat the left-overs is often important (since this is something we often do.) Particularly for this dish when re-heating, we would like to have the skin crispy and the underlying meat juicy. So, I sliced two each for a small appetizer one evening. I wrapped the slices together, standing up and wrapped all sides and bottom with aluminum foil but exposed the top (skin). I placed this package skin side up in the toaster oven and toasted at 7 (darkest setting for toasting bread). This heating method worked very well. The skin was crispy and the meat/fat underneath is soft and juicy and nicely warmed up. The picture below shows how I served it with the two sauces; The dark one on the left is the hoisin-based and the one on the right is mustard and vinegar. We both agree that the hoisin-based sauce is much better. The next batch I may add Chinese 5 spice powder in the rub.

Tomato and Egg Stir-fry on Rice トマトと卵炒め丼

 This is a variation of tomato and egg stirfly I posted previously. I learned that this is based on a Chinese dish called “番茄炒蛋” and there appears to be many variations. The main difference between this version and the recipe I posted previously, is the addition of caramelized catsup which adds a slightly sweet dimension. I made this one day for a lunch from my memory since we had skinned Campari tomatoes which needed to be used fairly soon. I made it as a type of “donburi”. Since I just made “simmered” pork or “nibuta” 煮豚 using InstantPot, I included a slice and also broccoli rabe (rapini) which I blanched earlier.

I may have overcooked the tomato a bit, but it was juicy and flavorful and very nice over the rice.

Ingredients:
4 skinned Campari tomatoes, cut into quarter pieces
2 eggs
Vegetable oil and dark sesame oil for stir frying
Salt and peper to tast
1tbs Ketchup
A dash or more of Sriracha sauce (to taste, optional)

Directions:
Add the tomatoes, ketchup and Suriracha into a small bowl and coat the tomato pieces.
Add the vegetable oil and a splash of sesame oil into a frying pan on midum high flame. Quickly stir fry and season with salt and pepper.
Add beaten eggs and let it sit until the bottom is set.
Gradually mix until the eggs are cooked (for 1-2 minutes).

Heat up the slices of simmered pork and chopped up blanched rapini in a separate frying pan with a small amount of oil. Season the rapini with salt and pepper (optional).

Pour over the bowl of rice and place the pork and rapini on top.

In general, we like “donburi” dishes. This one is no exception. The caramelized Catsup adds a nice complex slightly sweet dimension. Also the slow heat from the Sriracha is nice and enough juice came out of the tomatoes to make a nice sauce for the rice.

Black bean pumpkin gyoza 黒豆かぼちゃ餃子

My wife wanted a seasonal quesadilla which is composed of pumpkin puree, black beans, cheese, and roasted pork. After enjoying the quesadilla as a lunch, a good amount of the filling remained.  My wife suggested we use it to make gyoza. It sounded a bit like an odd combination for gyoza but I have seen a recipe for gyoza stuffed with potato salad so I complied. I added more finely chopped BBQed pork . Since we ended up with quite a good number of gyoza, we realized we couldn’t possibly eat them all before they went bad so we decided to freeze some. Then the next question was how? In the past I made up some gyoza and without any additional preparation froze them. The shells became brittle and shattered apart. So we decided some degree of preparation was required to keep that from happening again. So I boiled them first and froze a number of them that way. Then we realized that we would have to fry them before serving. So we got the (brilliant) idea that if we boiled, fried and then froze them, all we would have to do is toaster-oven them (the verb form of noun toaster oven) without thawing and then serve. In any case, the pre-boiled gyoza were fried in a small amount of peanut and sesame oil to produce nice brown crispy shells, frozen than toasted in the toaster-oven as shown below. (Easy-peasy). 

You can see, on the cut surface, small cubes of pork, black beans and pumpkin puree. It is not typical gyoza flavors but it worked. 

We have two frozen batches; one boiled but not fried and the other boiled and fried. Any bets on which batch gets eaten first?

Spare ribs cooked in Instant pot with home-made BBQ sauce バーベキューソース豚スペアリブ

 This was the second version of pork spare ribs we made using Instant Pot. I asked my wife to come up with the BBQ sauce. We looked at a few Instant Pot rib recipes. Most of them start with dry rubs and add apple juice/vinegar in the bottom of the Instant  Pot and place the ribs on the trivet and pressure cook. After that, smear the BBQ sauce and grill it for a few minutes. My wife said, she does not like charred and blackened BBQ sauce on the surface. She remembered a BBQ sauce based on a recipe from Joy of Cooking that she used to make years ago. So we looked up the recipe and made her version based on the notes she wrote many years ago on a post-it note she stuck in the book next to the recipe. This was more traditional flavors but it is also very good. The meat came off the bone very easily.

First my wife made the BBQ sauce:

Ingredients:
One medium onion, coarsely chopped

1 cup ketchup

2 Tbs. Vinegar (we used sushi vinegar)

1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 Tbs. Brown sugar

1/2 tsp. Salt

1/4 tsp. Paprika

1/4 tsp. Pepper

1 Tbs. Mustard

Directions:
For Sauce:
Sauté and caramelize the onion in olive oil. Add the ketchup and cook until it caramelizes and darkens (Maillard reaction). Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for about 20 minutes.

For cooking ribs in the Instant Pot.

Ingredients:
4-5 pork spare ribs
onion and garlic powder
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
the BBQ sauce made above
Water

Directions:
Rub the ribs with onion and garlic powders, salt and black pepper
Using the sauté function, heat the Instant Pot and when the oil is simmering, add ribs and brown all four sides, add the BBQ sauce and water so that the ribs are just submerged.
Choose manual, pressure cook to high-pressure and 35 minutes
Let it naturally de-pressurize and remove the lid
Using the sauté function, reduce the sauce for 15-20 minutes or until thick.

This is relatively easy to prepare without additional grilling in the oven. The meat fell off from the bone and the BBQ sauce was sweet, sour, and  tomato-y but not dry or crusty. We are quite satisfied with this.

Spareribs cooked in Instant pot, Chinese style 中華風豚のスペアリブ

 At the beginning of the COVID pandemic, many workers at the major meat packing plants came down sick and some of the plants had to shut down leading to concerns about an impending meat shortage. So, we stocked up on meat, buying and freezing, some cuts we usually don’t get but were available at the time. My wife (a.k.a. Freezer inventory control officer for the household) informed me that we have frozen pork spareribs from that period dated April 2020 which were not getting any younger. With no impending meat shortages in sight, it was with some relief that at least that part of the epidemic was over, we decided it was time to reduce our “Covid stockpile”. The ribs turned out to be quite meaty. Some pieces contained 2 ribs (country style?). In any case, we decided to cook these in the Instant Pot rather than in the oven. The way the ribs were cut, made it possible for me to easily divide the ribs into shorter pieces.  We decided to make two different kinds of spareribs: one with BBQ sauce and the other in Chinese style. This worked well due to the capacity of the Instant Pot. The latter recipe based on what we saw on YouTube, but I had to modify it, as usual, due to the lack of some ingredients. In any case, the picture below shows the final product. It was definitely “off-the-bone” tender and had a sweet and sour taste which was quite good.

Ingredients:
5 3-inch pork spareribs (#1), seasoned with onion powder, garlic powder, salt and black pepper
Vegetable oil for sautéing and searing the meat
(Herbs and aromatics, #2 below)
3 shallots finely minced
4 garlic gloves finely minced
1/2-inch ginger finely minced
one cinnamon stick
2 star anis
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
(Seasoning liquid #3 below)
4 tbs soy sauce
2tbs brown sugar (I used mixture of dark molasses and sugar)
2tbs oyster sauce
2tbs red miso (instead of hoisin sauce* since I did not have one)
1 cup sake
2 tbs rice vinegar

*I usually have hoisin sauce, but I do not use it often. I must have thrown out the opened one which I kept in the fridge some time ago. Red miso appears to work in the recipe.

Directions:
Using  the “sauté” function of the Instant Pot and a small amount of oil (wait until the oil gets hot), I browned the ribs (#1) in all 4 sides (despite our belief that browning of the meat in a stew is not needed).
Take out the meat and add a bit more vegetable oil and bloom the spices (#2) add the aromatic vegetables (#2) and sauté for several minutes.
Add back the ribs and add the liquid seasonings (#3)
Add 1/2 cup water and pressure cook at high-pressure for 35 minutes with natural de-pressurizing.
Remove the lid after de-pressurized and turn on “sauté” function and let it reduce for 20 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
We tasted a finished rib. (The result after the tasting shown in #4. As you can see it was so good not much was left for the picture after our “tasting”.) The meat easily came off the bone.

This is a good sparerib in oriental/Chinese style. The meat is very tender and falls off the bone easily. With sweet and salty flavor with anis and cinnamon flavors are very nice. I was afraid that the seasoning may become too salty, but it was just fine. Using the Instant Pot made the entire process easy.

Pork belly and diakon simmered in miso 大根と豚バラ肉のみそ煮

 We have been getting gourmet meat such as duck and lamb from D’Artagnan. This time, we got an email promotion from them for pork belly from young pig called “porcelet”. Since we have not had pork belly (from adult pig or otherwise) for sometime (we usually get it from Whole Foods), we decided to give it a try. It arrived hard chilled with skin on. It was also much larger than we expected. Although the ad said it was 6 lbs. it was essentially half of the entire belly and we realized that in its present shape it probably would not fit in our freezer so I immediately divided it into three portions. I vacuum packed and froze two and thawed one. I made several dishes from the one piece I thawed. One dish is shown below. I thinly sliced a small portion while it was semi frozen. This preparation is called “buta-bara komagire” 豚バラ細切れ and is usually used to “season” other ingredients, mostly vegetables, rather than served as a “meat dish”. I used it to make a Japanese style miso simmered dish with root vegetables. The original recipe came from erecipe, a Japanese recipe site. One evening I served this dish (left) with dashi-maki omelet, rapini buds (substitute for “nanohana” 菜の花 dressed in mustard-soy sauce or “karashi-jouuyu” 辛子醤油 and skinned Campari tomato.

Ingredients:
150 gram (1/3 lb) Pork belly, thinly sliced
1 carrot, medium, peeled and cut into bite size (“rangiri” 乱切り).\
Lotus root (renkon), I used frozen already cut ino slices, I used 4 which was cut into half circle.
1/3 Gobo burdock root, skin scraped off and cut into bite size (“rangiri”), soak it in vinegared or acidulated water until use (this is my addition since I had some left over gobo)
1 small piece of ginger root, skin scraped off and cit into julienne.

Pre-cooked green beans or other greeneries

oil for sautéing (I used peanut oil with  a dash of dar sesame oil)

Simmering liquid
150 ml Japanese both
3 tbs sake
1 tbs mirin
1 tbs sugar
2 tbs miso
1 tsp soy sauce (this is added at the end of cooking)

Directions:

Add the oil to a pan and sauté the ginger until fragrant. Add the pork and cook until the color changes

Add remaining vegetables and cook for few more minutes.

Add the simmering liquid (sans the soy sauce)

Cover it with either a parchiment paper lid or “otoshi-buta” 落とし蓋 on low flame for 20-30 minutes and the liquid reduces by half.

Remove the paper lid and mix the contents of the pan

Add the soy sauce and green beans

Pork and miso are a good (and classic) combination. The ginger flavor also goes well. This is Japanese home cooking and is very satisfying. It goes well with sake or rice.