Chicken tender tempura with perilla and pickled plum 笹身の梅肉とシソ入り天ぷら

I mentioned this dish in the previous post of Ume-Shiso Rolled Chiken 梅しそ巻き. Finally, I had a chance to make it. This is a classic flavor combination of chicken, pickled plum "umeboshi"  and perilla or "shiso" 青じそ. This is such a perfect combination of the flavors. You need a cold sake for this dish.

I use chicken tenders. Remove the sinew which runs on one end in the center from the tender. From the side, cut a slit which encompasses 60-70% of the length of the tender (make sure not to cut through). Remove the meat (or fruit) from "umeboshi" and chop it finely to make a kind of paste ("bainiku" 梅肉). Spread the the paste inside the slit your made in the chicken tender. Cover the open side with one or two perilla leaves (depending on it's size). Dip it into tempura batter and deep fry until done (2-3 minutes). For tempura batter, I just used cake flour with cold water. I also made Perilla tempura by dipping only one side of the perilla leaf in the tempura batter (it just looks better this way) for garnish. You do not need any sauce with this dish since it has the strong flavor of the pickle plum but I served this with a lemon wedge and a powdered green tea/salt  mixture 抹茶塩 (green stuff on the right in the above picture).

Braised burdock root きんぴらごぼう

This dish definitely qualifies as a Izakaya dish especially as "tsukidashi" 突き出し or "otoushi" お通し, the very first small appetizer in Izakaya which is served without your asking for it as soon as you sit down at the counter. Again you can find extensive discussions about this subject (in Japanese).

This is a very homey dish that you can only have in an Izakaya or at home but not in a fancy restaurant. It goes well with a glass of cold sake or with white rice. The root vegetable used here may not be very familiar in the U.S. but it is very popular in Japan. It is called "gobo" 牛蒡 or burdoc root. It has lots of fibers and is believed to have some medicinal properties. It has a nice crunch and a nutty, distinctive flavor. Among the gobo recipes, this dish, "kinpira gobo" きんぴらゴボウ, is by far the most popular and also our favorite gobo dish. "Kinpira", allegedly, is named after the character "Sakata Kinpira" 坂田金平, who was said to be a very strong and brave worrier, as told in a traditional story telling with songs and music called "joururi" 浄瑠璃 in Edo time. It requires a certain preparation which is the most labor intensive part needed to make this dish. The burdock is rather ugly, very thin long (few feet long) dark brown root vegetable. It is available in most Japanese grocery stores.

First prepare a large bowl of cold water with a small amount of vinegar or lemon juice (acidulated water). Cut the "gobo" root into shorter segments, so that they will fit into your bowl with the acidulated water. Under running water, scrape off the brown skin using the back of your knife exposing the white underneath.  Since it will discolor very quickly, place these segments in the acidulated water immediately after the skin is removed. Take out one segment at a time from the acidulated water, cut thin ovals by slicing it diagonally using a sharp heavy knife (the root is fibrous and hard). Spread them overlapping like a stack of cards and then julienne them into match sticks. Immediately put them back in the acidualted water and repeat the process until all are julienned. I usually soak julienned burdock root for 10-15 minutes in the acidulated water (the water will become dark grey), then I wash them in running water and drain. If needed, spread them on paper towels and blot dry. Meanwhile, I peel and cut 1-2 medium size carrots (the amount of carrots to the burdock root is totally up to you) in the same manner as the burdock root and set aside.

In a  large saute pan like the one shown below or a Chinese wok on a medium high flame, add 1 tbs of vegitable oil and 1 tsp of dark sesame oil. I add red pepper flakes to the oil (the amount is totally up to you). When the oil is hot, add the burdock root and saute for 1-2 minutes so that all is coated with oil. Add carrots and saute another minute or so. Most recipes use sugar and soy sauce which, to me, will make this dish too salty and too sweet. In stead, I use 3 tbs of mirin, 3 tbs of sake and 2 tsp of soy sauce (I add bit more soy sauce later) and braise (you need to keep the ingredients moving using, in my case, long bamboo kitchen chopsticks as seen below, until most of the liquid has evaporated (10 or more minutes). I taste and add a small amount of soy sauce toward the end if necessary. When the liquid is almost all gone, turn off the flame and mix in white sesame. This dish gets better after one day. Serve at room temperature with extra sesame on the top.

Mountain yam wrapped in bacon 長いものベーコン巻き

I am not sure where I first had this dish. Wrapping vegetables in thinly sliced meat or bacon is a favorite Japanese cooking technique. Classic examples of this type of dish include: scallion wrapped with thinly sliced beef or pork called "negimaki" 葱巻き, as well as burdock root and asparagus wrapped the same way. They are ususally sauteed and then braised in the usual sauce of mirin or sugar and soy sauce.  In this dish, I used a mountain yam 長芋 and bacon. Cut yam into small rectagles (I should have cut it smaller here), wrap them in bacon and saute with the seam side down in a dry frying pan. Turn and make all sides of the bacon nicely crispy. I happened to have some very nice and sweet mission figs so I sauteed the cut surface of the figs briefly in the bacon grease. I served this with reduced balsamic vinegar and grated dikon to cut the grease. It has a very interesting texture and flavor combination. This dish can go with sake or wine. My wife must have liked it, since two pieces that I left in the pan because the bacon wrapping unraveled during the cooking, disappeared while I was not looking. I am not sure if it was just the bacon she really liked or the entire dish. (She said it was the entire dish...but you can't go wrong with anything including bacon!)

Deep-fried pork and onion skewer 豚肉とタマネギの串揚げ

Deep-fried pork and onion skewer 豚肉とタマネギの串揚げ (Mark's book p60)

This is also a very popular item either in Izakayas or restaurants specialized in "kushiage" 串揚げ.  Kushiage ("kushi" means a skewer and "age" means to deep fry) is skewered small pieces of meat, fish, or vegetables, breaded and then deep dried. My wife and I are getting too old to have an entire meal of deep dried food either kushiage or tempura. But we enjoy few deep fried items in Izakayas. This combination of pork and onion is very common and very good. We mentioned "Muroran"-style yakitori with this exact combination. Onion and pork cooked together impart some synergetic enhancements of each flavor.

Here, I used pieces of pork tenderloin and onion skewered alternately on bamboo skewers.  Some commercial establishments (not good Izakayas) may use a batter (water and flour) to coat the skewers before breading but this will usually make a very thick and oily crust. I use a more traditional method of dredging the skewered meat and onions in flour (AP flour), dipping it in an egg wash, and finally coating it in Japanese Panko crumbs (as described in the recipe in Mark's book). I deep fry using a low-meidum temperature since it will take some time to cook the pork through (15 minutes or more depending on the size of the pork). I sliced along the skewer to show the pork onion layering as it was done in the Mark's book illustration but, of course, you should just serve the skewers without cutting it. Serve this with a Japanese hot mustard and "tonkatsu sauce". The usual accompaniment is a thinly shredded cabbage but I lightly dressed the cabbage with my version of honey-musdard dressing as per my wife's request (she said she can not face a mound of a raw shredded cabbage). This dish can go with sake, beer, or red wine. We had this dish with a nice California Cabernet Sauvignon Flora Springs 2005.

Stewed Japanese pumpkin かぼちゃの煮物

Stewed Japanse pumpkin カボチャの煮物 

Although this vegetable is called Japanese pumpkin, "Kabocha" カボチャ, it is a type of winter squash. This dish is the most common way to serve kabocha. Again, like many Japanese dishes most of the work for this dish is in the preparation of the squash. It appears that kabocha is grown in North America especially in California and Florida and, reportedly, many are exported to Japan. You can sometimes get kabocha even in regular grocery stores. The quality of the kabocha can vary a lot and success of this dish depends on the quality of the kabocha.

Cut the kabocha in half using a heavy chef's knife or cleaver and remove the seeds and "guts". I cut the halves into 8th or to a large bite size pieces. I "shave off" the skin just leaving a hint of green behind (meaning the remaining layer of skin is extremely thin). I do this by securely placing the piece of kabocha on the cutting board and using a heavy chef's knife or vegetable cleaver "nakiri" 菜切り包丁. I use a paring knife and bevel all the sharp edges 面取り and soft parts (near where the seeds were). This is to prevent the kabocha from crumbling while cooking. Do not discard these scraps. I always use them to make a wonderful kabocha pottage (see below).

In a saute pan large enough, put all the kabocha pieces in a single layer with skin side down. Add "dashi" broth so the kabocha pieces are half submerged. Sprinkle sugar over the kabocha pieces (for the amount of kabocha which will fit in a 12 inch saute pan, I use about 2-3 tbs of sugar but but you can use more), and 2 tbs each of soy sauce (if you do not want the kabocha to color too dark, you could use "usukuchi" or light colored soy sauce) and sake. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes until kabocha is cooked through.  Remove the lid and turn up the flame, gently shake the pan and reduce the liquid until it just coats the bottom of the pan and glazes the kobocha.  Let it cool down in the pan and serve at room temperature.

Kabocha Pottage カボチャのポタージュ

I make Kabocha pottage from the scraps when I make the above kabocha dish. The recipe is very standard for any type of pottages. I mince one medium onion and saute in melted butter in a deep pan until soft and semi-transparent, season with salt and pepper. Peel and cut up one small potato into small cubes. Add to the pan with the kabocha scraps, saute briefly and add chicken stock to cover (I used a commercial, 1/3 less salt, non-fat variety from Swanson which comes in a carton). Add two bay leaves and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until all the ingredients are soft. Take off the pan from the burner and make sure to remove the bay leaves. Using an immersion blender (or food processor), process until smooth consistency is achieved and no solids remain (you may add more chicken stock to adjust the consistency). Add 1/3 cup (or whatever amount you prefer) of cream, mix and put the pan back on the burner, adjust the seasoning. I often add a small amount of white miso as a "hidden taste" 隠し味 for some Japanese touch but it is optional. I often serve this with the leftover stewed kabocha as seen above. Here, I garnished it with minced parsley.