Simmered Dried Daikon Threads 切り干し大根の煮物

I realized that I posted this same dish 14 years ago. Although the statute of limitation may have passed I am re-blogging this recipe. This is because in the intervening years additional sources of Japanese food items which previously were not available have become available and I recently got a new package of “kiriboshi daikon” 切り干し大根 (*digression alert) or “threaded and dried daikon” from “Japanese Taste”. So I decided to make this traditional dish (picture #1).

*”Kiriboshi” is an example of  Japanese language form referred to as “rendaku” 連濁 or “sequential voicing”. In sequential voicing, when two words are combined to make a compound word, the first consonant of the second word which would generally be “unvoiced” which is called “seion 静音” in the combination becomes “voiced” i.e. when pronounced you can feel your vocal chords vibrate. In this example, kiri 切り(is an adjective for the state of being cut) and hoshi 干し is an adjective for dried. In the process of making a compound word meaning cut and dried “kiri+hoshi” becomes “kiri-boshi” i.e. the h in hoshi remains silent or unvoiced so it becomes b which is voiced which is called “dakuon 濁音”. This is a common thing in combined words in Japanese. (This is Japanese grammar 101/102 the short course—enjoy). 

I served this as a part of starting appetizers. This is a very gentle slightly sweet (from the dried daikon. The drying process makes the daikon sweeter) taste was enhanced with “Umami” of kelp and bonito broth. In the picture below, the dish on the right is salmon kelp roll, blanched sugar snaps and skinned Campari tomato. The kelp for the salmon kelp rolls is called “Hidaka kelp” 日高昆布 from Hokkaido. It has a nice texture. I got this also from “Japanese taste”.

Ingredients:
1 package (30gram) of “kiriboshi daikon”, washed and soaked in water to hydrate for 30 minutes and drained. The excess water (the daikon) squeezed dry.

One sheet (a full size one) deep dried tofu or abura-age 油揚げ, soaked in hot water and squeezed dry, cut in half lengthwise and cut into thin strips.
One medium carrot, peeled, sliced thin on bias and then julienned.
Kelp and bonito broth, enough to cover the above ingredients, about 200ml.
2 tbs x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce (or 1 tbs each soy sauce and mirin).
1 tsp vegetable oil and a splash of roasted sesame oil
Green beans, blanched in salted water for 3-4 minutes, the amount arbitrary

Directions:
Add the vegetable oil with a splash of roasted sesame oil in a sauté pan on medium flame.
Add the carrot and stir for a minute, add the daikon and abura-age, stir briefly
Add the broth to cover the ingredients and simmer
Season it with the noodle sauce (or the soy sauce and mirin), simmer for 30-40 minutes until the liquid is mostly reduced
I did not cook green beans with the rest of the ingredients because they were very good green beans and I did not want to over cook them. I just boiled them for 3 minutes to cook them but keep them crunchy. Before serving, slice the green beans on bias and garnish.

This is a nice seemingly simple dish which actually has fairly complex combination of flavors and textures. The daikon is slightly chewy and the abura-age has a rough texture and almost tastes like meat. Perfect for a small appetizer. 

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.

Carrot Panna Cotta 搾りたて人参ジュースのパナコタ

When we get groceries delivered, carrots come in a 5 lb. bag. That is a quite a lot of carrots and before we could use them up, carrot tops sprouted and fine roots started growing. We ended up having to throw all of them out. So, in order to prevent that from happening with the next batch we got, we wheeled out our often forgotten juicer and made fresh carrot juice . Using the about 10 carrots, we made just over 2 cups of carrot juice. (We used the pulp to make a very nice carrot salad. So nothing was wasted).  The juice tasted very fresh and sweet. My wife wanted to use it to make panna cotta. She served it topped it with cream. This is a very refreshing dessert. (And don’t tell anyone but because it is basically vegetable juice we would like to think it is also fairly healthy.)

Ingredients:
2 cups carrot juice
1/2 cup milk 
1 1/4 tsp unflavored gelatin. (General rule-of-thumb is the ratio of  gelatin to liquid. I found 1/2 tsp of gelatin for every cup of liquid works pretty well. The ratio used for this panna cotta resulted in a vert soft jel. For a firmer jel use 1 1/2 tsp gelatin for  the 2 1/2 cups liquid. 
cream to top off the dish

Directions:
Put the milk in a side dish. Spread the gelatin on top to hydrate it. Put the hydrated gelatin/ milk mixture in the top of a double boiler.  Heat until all the gelatin has dissolved. Remove from the heat. Add the carrot juice.and stir until everything has been incorporated. Distribute the gelatin/carrot juice in the little jars or dishes in which it will be served. Put in the fridge until the liquid firms up. Top it with some cream before serving. 

This is a very simple but light fresh tasting dessert. It was a very soft get so it dissolved into a sweet carroty flavor in the mouth. (It is amazing how sweet it is given that no additional sugar was added.) This is a great way to take care of those extra carrots.

Steamed Carrot Buns with Ginger Custard 人参蒸しパン生姜カスタードクリーム

When I was making our weekly grocery list, my wife asked me to include carrot juice. Apparently, she found a recipe for steamed carrot buns on the King Arthur web site. I told her we have a 5lb bag of carrots in the fridge and they were getting old. I volunteered to make fresh carrot juice using our often forgotten juicer. The carrots were growing whisker-like roots and the sprouting carrot tops were trying grow leaves but otherwise they looked ok to me so I made some juice. But when we took a taste we found it had a slightly moldy after taste. So instead of carrot juice, I added a bag of fresh carrots to the grocery list. When the carrots arrived I made the carrot juice and this time, it tasted really great. So, my wife went ahead and made these buns with ginger custard cream.

The buns have nice texture and pretty color (pictures #1 and #2) but we did not taste much of carrot. She sliced the buns and layered on the custard (picture #2). The ginger custard has a nice ginger flavor and complimented the buns.

The original recipe is from King Arthur Flour website.

Ingredients (made 12)
Custard
1 cup (227g) milk
1/2 cup (113g) heavy cream
one 1" piece (12g) fresh ginger, scrubbed and coarsely grated
6 tablespoons (74g) granulated sugar
2 tablespoons (14g) cornstarch
pinch of table salt
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon King Arthur Pure Vanilla Plus or King Arthur Pure Vanilla Extract

Dough
1 cup carrot juice. (The original recipe called for 1/2 cup (113g) milk, and 1/2 cup (113g) carrot juice, warm)
1 heaping teaspoon instant yeast
3 cups (360g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
6 tablespoons (74g) granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more for coating the bowl
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Directions
1.To make the custard: In a medium saucepan over medium- low heat, bring the milk, cream, and ginger to a bare simmer — you should see the liquid steaming with some tiny bubbles forming around the edges.
2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk the sugar, cornstarch, and salt until well-combined and lump-free. Add the egg yolks and whisk vigorously until the mixture is smooth, airy, and pale, about 1 minute.
3. When the milk mixture is hot, slowly dribble it into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. This process of slowly adding hot liquid to the eggs yolks is called tempering and ensures that the eggs don’t scramble from sudden heat. After slowly adding about 1/3 cup of the hot milk, add the rest of the hot milk faster. Once it is all incorporated, transfer the liquid back into the pot, set over medium-low heat, and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture starts to simmer and thicken to a pudding-like consistency, about 3 to 4 minutes.
4. Pour the custard through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing it through with a spatula or spoon, and into a container. Stir in the vanilla. Place a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours. While the custard chills, make the dough.

5. To make the dough: In a medium bowl, combine all the dough ingredients and knead — by hand or with a mixer — to make a soft, elastic dough, about 8 to 10 minutes in a stand mixer. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let it rise for 60 to 90 minutes, until it's nearly doubled in bulk.
6. To shape the buns: Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 10 equal pieces (around 68g per piece).
7. Shape each piece into a smooth, tight ball. Place the shaped buns in a layer of a steaming basket lined with parchment paper leaving plenty of room in between for the buns to expand. (I was able to fit 4 buns per steamer layer.). Transfer any buns that don’t fit onto a plate or baking sheet. Cover all of the buns and let them rise for 30 to 40 minutes, until puffy and slightly larger.
8. To steam the buns: Bring a shallow pot or frying pan of water to a boil. Place the steamer basket over the top and steam for 10 minutes. Remove the steamer basket from the water and let the buns rest, still covered, for 10 minutes. Finish steaming any remaining dough balls.
9. To fill the buns: Once the buns are cool, cut them through the center. Then use a small spoon or a pastry bag to fill the bun with about 2 to 3 tablespoons (30g to 40g) of chilled custard. Serve right away.
10. Storage instructions: These buns are best served immediately. If you’d like to fill only a few buns at a time, save the steamed, uncut buns and the extra custard in separate airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. To reheat the buns, wrap in a damp paper towel and microwave in 15-second increments. Let cool slightly, then split open and fill with the chilled custard.

These are a very elegant bun to eat for breakfast. The steamed bun had a nice soft texture and although it was slightly sweet we did not detect a distinctive carrot flavor. But they made a great ginger custard delivery system. The custard was very sweet vanilla with an essence of ginger flavor. You can’t go wrong with this combo. 

Simmered Shad Roe with Vegetables シャッドロウの煮付け

I usually make this from “tarako” cod roe たらこの煮付け. Since we got some shad roe, I figured the same recipe should work and tried it. I also added daikon and carrot and garnished with salt broth soaked sugar snap  スナップ豌豆の塩びたし. I served this as a small appetizer dish. It is good but tasted very similar to the tarako version. The vegetables are good as they soaked up the flavor of the broth.

Ingredients:
Half sac of shad roe, roe sac (membrane) cut lengthwise only on one side and then cut across to bite size.
1 tsp ginger root, peeled and julienned
Precooked daikon and carrot (optional)

Cooking liquid
1/2 cup Japanese dashi broth (from dash packs, bonito and kelp)
1 tbs mirin
1-2 tbs x4 Japanese noodle sauce or soy sauce

Directions:
Add the ginger to the cooking liquid and heat up to simmer
Add the roe and gently simmer for 10-15 minutes (roe will “blossom” since one side is still connected to the roe sac membrane)
I also added precooked (boiled) daikon and carrot to the simmering broth

This is a good appetizer dish.

Beef with Kon-nyaku and Vegetable “Kimpira” Stir-fry 牛肉と蒟蒻の金平

We were having some very extremely cold and snowy weather recently. One of the best dishes for this kind of cold weather is sukiyaki すき焼きand similar nabe 鍋 dishes. We recently got thinly sliced (2mm in thickness) beef rib eye for sukiyaki from Weee. This is not top quality beef but it is very reasonably  priced and quite good. So, one very cold evening, we cooked sukiyaki at the table and had it with hot sake 燗酒.  The package included 1lb of beef, which was more than we could eat in one sitting so besides the leftover sukiyaki, we had leftover uncooked beef as well. Thinly sliced beef is used in many Japanese dishes but we usually do not have beef (we usually have chicken or pork and occasionally lamb) so I did not have a favorite “go-to” recipe to use the beef.  I looked through some beef recipes on the web but ended up with my own variation (picture #1). We had a cake of kon-nyaku (konjac) 蒟蒻, and an end piece of daikon 大根. So I included those in this dish. Many Japanese dishes call for small Japanese green pepper called “pea-man” ピーマンwhich is quite different from American green pepper. Instead I used, seeded and deveined Jalapeño pepper.  For the seasonings, I added “Douban-jang”. 豆板醤 to add slight heat. For an impromptu dish, everything came together rather nicely. This is a just note to myself so that I can recreate it in the future.

Ingredients:
150gram thinly sliced beef, cut into thin strips (picture below, this was rib eye) (picture #2)
One cake  of kon-nyaku 板コンニャク, washed, par-boiled
One small carrot
2 inch of daikon
One large Jalapeño pepper, seeded and deveined
1 tbs vegetable oil and 1 tsp dark sesame oil

Seasonings:
1 tsp douban-jang (or more if you like spicy)
2 tbs sake
1 tbs mirin
2 tbs soy sauce (I used x4 Japanese noodle sauce)

Directions:
I tried to cut all the vegetables in the same, thin rectangular pieces. I halved the  kon-nyaku cake in thickness, added shallow criss-cross cuts on both sides and cut into the similar rectangular shape but some came out a bit thicker and larger. (Picture #3 from left to right are kon-nyaku, carrot, Jalapeño pepper and diakon).

I added the oil in a non-stick frying pan on medium flame (vegetable plus sesame oil). I added the beef and cooked until almost done and added the remaining vegetables and the kon-nyaku and stir fried for 2-3 minutes.

I added the sake, mirin, and soy sauce. When coming to the boil I added douban-jang (picture #4) and mixed well. Placed the lid on and let it simmer for 5-7 minutes.

I removed the lid and turned the flame to medium high and stirred until the liquid was almost gone. I tasted and adjusted the seasoning. In this case, it came out slightly sweeter than I intended but it had a nice sweet and salty flavor and a mild spicy kick. Certainly, the beef added more flavor. I could have cut the daikon into thicker pieces since it became very soft. The kon-nyaku absorbed the seasonings and added nice texture. We like this dish. It will go with rice or drinks. In our case, probably the latter.

Happy New Year 2024 明けましておめでとう2024

Like the last year, we put the New Year’s decoration including “Kagami-mochi” 鏡餅 and dragon or “tatsu 辰” zodiac figurines shown in the picture #1 in the room we spend most of our time rather than in the tokonoma 床間 in the “tea-room”.  Upon waking New Year’s day, we learned of the magnitude 7.6 earthquake that hit Ishikwa prefecture 石川県. We hope for the wellbeing of the people affected.

On New Year’s eve, we started the evening with a plate of assorted sashimi, most of the sashimi came from “Riviera Seafood Club”, our most recent favorite source of “home freezer” sashimi or sashimi that we can store in the freezer here at home and thaw at any time we want sashimi. Since the portions are smaller than sashimi we can get from other sources, we can eat more than one kind of sashimi at a time. On the New Year’s plate (picture #2) we had chutoro tuna 中トロ, hamachi はまち, scollop ホタテ, and octopus leg タコの足 (which was from D’artagnan). I added wasabi with chopped wasabi plant stalk (from tube) and yuzu kocho 柚子胡椒 (from tube).

On New Year’s day, we had only coffee (cafe latte and macchiato with a bit of steamed cream) rather than our usual breakfast so we wouldn’t be too full for the large lunch we planned of “Ozhoni” お雑煮 New Year’s soup. As usual, I served the soup in real lacquer ware bowls (gift from my mother many many years ago) with a side of some New Year’s dishes I made (picture #3).

This year, I precooked all the vegetables and proteins that went into the soup. This included “gobo” burdock root 牛蒡, shiitake 椎茸, shimeji しめじ and wood ear 木耳 mushrooms, carrot 人参, daikon 大根, and “kinu-saya” 絹さや snow peas. The protein included sous vide chicken breast (a few slices) and poached shrimp. As usual, I encased the “mochi” 餅 rice cake in “abra-age” 油揚 deep fried tofu pouch (peaking out of the bottom right of the soup bowl). I made the broth from the dashi packs I usually use as well as by poaching the shrimp in the dashi broth. I seasoned it with x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce. By precooking the vegetables and the proteins, I had better control over cooking everything just right. It also made it possible for me to make a better arrangement of the ingredients in the final soup bowl serving. Just before serving, I added frozen yuzu zest which added a nice yuzu 柚子 citrus favor (picture #4).

The side dishes (picture #5) included the usual New Year’s dishes I like to make including: salmon kelp roll 酒の昆布巻き, salmon “Russian” marinade 鮭のロシア漬 garnished with “ikura” イクラsalmon roe, daikon namasu  大根なますand poached shrimp.

We also had a few small glasses of  sake with this as a libation to the New Year. Now, this evening we will be hitting the Sushi Taro Osechi box すし太郎お節箱. The below is a preview (pictures #6 and 7).

We expect some good New Year’s feast to come with the osechi box. Already salivating!!

Simmered “Shirataki” Konjac Noodle and Deep-fried Tofu しらたきと油揚の煮物

A few days ago, we had sukiyaki すき焼き. I thought the whole bag (400 gram or 14.1 oz) of “shirataki” 白滝 (meaning white cascade) or noodle form of konnyaku (or konjac) was too much to use all of it for sukiyaki. So after I preparing it (i.e. washed, boiled, washed again and cut into convenient length) I kept 1/3 in water in the refrigerator. I was pondering how I could use this and came across this recipe on-line and decided to make it. This appears to be Kyoto “o-banzai” おばんざい style home cooking and has nice gentle and comforting flavors.

Ingredients:
1/3 package (about 100 grams) of “shirataki”, washed, boiled, washed again and cut into convenient length
1 small carrot, peeled and julienned
1 abura-age, hot water poured over (to thaw and remove excess oil), water squeezed out and then cut into thin threads
1 scallion finely chopped
300 ml Japanese dashi broth
30 ml sake
15 ml mirin
20 ml soy sauce (I used x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce)

Directions:
Add, the shirataki, carrot, and abura-age in a pot add the broth and cook for 5-10 minutes.
Add the seasonings and cook until the liquid is reduced by 1/3.

The original recipe calls for sugar but I did not add it. Japanese noodle sauce does have some sweetness which compensated for not having any sugar. This could be a side dish for rice but it is also perfect for a drinking snack.

“Canned mackerel and hanpen” Satsuma-age like fish cake 鯖缶とはんぺんの薩摩揚げ

Canned mackerel or “saba-kan” 鯖缶 is a very popular canned fish item in Japan and is readily available in the U.S. Upon inspection, of the canned mackerel in our pantry, I realized that the “Best used by” date had just passed on one of the cans. (I thought canned food lasted forever but that is apparently not the case). I needed to use this can fast and I then saw a perfect  recipe of fried fishcake on the Japanese website I follow using canned mackerel and “Hanpen” fishcake はんぺん.  This type of fishcake is called “Satsuma-age” さつま揚げ, which is a very common dish served grilled in Izakaya. Although I attempted to make Satusma-age from scratch, it was not quite authentic due to the lack of appropriate kinds of fish. The current version is interesting because instead of using ground fish meat “surimi” すり身 which is the authentic way to make Satuma-age this recipe used a mixture of canned mackerel and hanpen.  I served this with the usual grated ginger and soy sauce. It does not have the texture of authentic Sastuma-age but this was good; crispy outside and tender inside with the firmer texture of edamame and carrot. It all worked. The inclusion of ginger and deep frying toned down the otherwise strong flavor of the mackerel. This is a perfect dish with sake.

Ingredients:
One can of boiled (Mizu-ni 水煮) mackerel (190 grams with the liquid, about 150 grams fish meat), drained and crumbled
2 hanpen steamed fish cakes, frozen, thawed (240 grams), cut into small pieces.
1 tbs potato starch
1 tsp sugar
30 grams julienned carrot(1/3 of medium carrot), boiled or microwaved for 30 seconds
60 grams cooked and shelled edamame
1/2 tsp grated ginger

Peanut oil for shallow frying

Directions:
Mix all the ingredients until completely incorporated (The original recipe placed everything in a plastic bag and hand massaged it to make the dough, I did not have the patience to do that so I used an immersion blender, #1).
Mix in the edamame and carrot and make flat ovals (I made 8) (#2)
Add the oil to the frying pan to the depth of 5mm and heat to around 350F and shallow fry for 3 minutes (#3)
Turn over and fry the other side for 3 minutes (#4)
Drain and serve immediately (or once refrigerated, toaster-oven to warm).

This is not Satsuma-age but it is a nice fishcake and we really like it. Since the ingredients (hanpen and canned mackerel) are easy to get, this is a good and easy dish to make.

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.

Carrot soup with shrimp エビ入り人参スープ

 This is an impromptu dish I made one weekend for lunch. We bought a bottle of carrot juice sometime ago with the intension of making the carrot curry shrimp dish. But I did not have a chance to make it and the carrot juice passed “used best by” date by a few weeks. Not to be deterred by a “hypothetical (?)  best by” date wife cautiously tasted it and declared it perfectly good. She suggested using it to make a carrot soup. So, I came up with one based on what we had in the refrigerator.  I added boiled shrimp to the soup and served it with a potato muffin my wife made some time ago.

I made the soup the day before I served it. When I served it I added some cream and warmed it up. My wife suggested adding shrimp which was in line with the carrot shrimp curry we were originally planning to make. This was a perfect suggestion since we had frozen shrimp which was also past its “best by” date. The shrimp was shell-on. I gently poached them shell on in salted water with some sake then removed the shell. I garnished the soup with chives.

This is not following any recipe and I just winged it.


Ingredients:
450ml (15.2oz) bottle of carrot juice
4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into small cubes/coins
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 parsnips, peeled and cut into small cubes/coins (I added this because I had it and it was passing it’s peak)
2 small red potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes
1/2 tsp fresh ginger, peeled and chopped finely
1 cup (or just enough to cover the vegetables) chicken broth
1tbs olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

6 shrimp, poached and shelled (optional)

Directions:
Add the olive oil in a pan on medium flame, add the onion and cook for several minutes or until soft but not browned. Add the carrot, parsnips, potatoes and ginger. Add the chicken broth to just cover the vegetables. Simmer for 30 minutes or more until all the vegetables are soft. Add the carrot juice and cook for a few more minutes. Using either a food processor or immersion blender, process until the soup is smooth. Season with salt and pepper.


Just before serving, add the cream to your liking and warm it up. Add whatever topping and garnish.

This was a good soup especially since I made it not using any recipe. We did not taste the ginger but the taste of parsnips came through. There was enough carrot flavor to tell this was a carrot soup. It went well with the potato muffins and was perfect lunch.

Carrot cake with pineapple muffin パイナップル入り人参ケーキマフィン

 Recently we received two pineapples as a gift. They were probably the best pineapples we have ever had. They were certainly much better than the ones from the grocery store. They were very sweet, juicy and not fibrous except for the center cores towards the top and bottom. Although they were good, it was a lot of pineapple. Then, my wife found a recipe for carrot cake muffins in the recently re-discovered cookbook “Mostly Muffins” which uses pineapple and she went for it. This was a delicious most tender soft muffin. It did not taste of pineapple; but it must have contributed to making the muffin extra-tender. The amount of carrot that went into the batter was also quite large. Both the pineapple and the carrots basically disappeared into the muffin. This is another excellent muffin.

As usual, I ask my wife to provide the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup AP flour
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. mace
1/2 cup crushed pineapple including juice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups shredded carrots
1/2 cups raisins

Double recipe
3 1/2 cup AP flour
1 1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. mace
1 cup crushed pineapple including juice
1 cup vegetable oil
2 egg, lightly beaten
3 tsp. vanilla
4 cups shredded carrots
1 cup raisin

Directions:
Put the pineapple in the bowl of a food processor with a blade and puree. Shred the carrots in a food processor. Set both the pineapple and carrots aside. In a bowl mix the dry ingredients (flour thru mace). In a separate bowl mix the wet ingredients (pineapple thru vanilla). Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir until just mixed then add the carrots and raisins. Mix until incorporated. Scoop the batter into 12 heavily greased muffin tins. (I used the 2nd largest scoop). Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes until a tester put into the middle muffin comes out clean. These muffins are exceedingly tender. They have to be cooled completely before attempting to take them out of the muffin tins. (The first batch I made fell apart into large crumbs when I tried to remove them from the tins soon after they came out of the oven. The second batch was fully cooled and came out just fine.)

These are really good muffins. As stated previously they are very tender with a mild cinnamon sweetness and a nice firm texture element from the raisins. Great for breakfast.

Banana carrot muffin バナナニンジンマフィン

 This is another muffin my wife made. We thought it was a bit unusual since it uses grated fresh carrot and banana. My wife got this recipe from her sister. It came from “Wild about muffins” by Angel Clubb.  Although we do not know the published date, this book appears old. After just a quick search on the internet, however, it appears that there are quite a few muffin recipes using bananas and carrots. So, apparently, although we have not heard of it before,  this is not such an unusual combination.

Some recipes add nuts but my wife added raisins as per the recipe she used.

Ingredients: (Makes 12 muffins)

Dry ingredients

1 1/2 cup (210g) AP flour

1/2 cup (85g) sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg

One pinch of ground cloves

1 cup (125g) grated carrot

Wet ingredients

2 eggs

1 Tbs. molasses (this plus the white sugar results in brown sugar)

1/2 cup(125ml) oil

1/2 cup (125) buttermilk

1/2 cup (125ml) mashed banana

1 tsp vanilla

Other ingredients 

1/4 cup (40g) raisins (optional)

nuts (optional)

Directions:

Combine the dry ingredients and add the carrots stirring until they are coated with the flour. This helps keep them from sinking to the bottom of the muffin. Mix the wet ingredients together and combine them with the dry ingredients. Add the raisins and mix until they are incorporated. Using a large scoop put the batter in a well greased muffin tin. Cook in a 400 degree oven until a skewer comes out clean about 18 to 20 minutes.

These muffins were quite good. They were very moist with a mild nutmeg banana flavor. The raisins are a nice addition. They are a nice addition to any breakfast. Next time we might add some nuts.