Chow-chow pickles チャウチャウ ピクルス

In the food section of Washington Post online, I found a recipe for scrapple (a fairly "refined" version) and sent it to my wife. Since she created Auntie N's no-crapple scrapple, I thought she would be most interested in this recipe. As she was looking through the scrapple recipe, she also came across a recipe for a dressing which is based on (store-bought) "chow-chow", Pennsylvania Dutch pickles.  Although she is not Pennsylvania Dutch, she grew up in the Pennsylvania Dutch country. She tells me that chow-chow was ubiquitous and appeared everywhere. It was even served in the school cafeteria.

Chow-chow is one of the classic Pennsylvania dutch "Seven Sweets and Seven Sours" which by tradition should be included in every dinner served to company. The seven sours included: pickled vegetables (such as pickled cauliflower, beets, or cabbage), coleslaw, dill pickles, green tomato relish, meat jelly and spiced cucumbers in addition to chow-chow. (For those who are interested the sweets included: jelly (currant or apple), apple butter or apple sauce, preserves such as quince, candied watermelon rind or wild strawberry, two or three pies such as schnitz, shoofly, funeral or montgomery and cheese cake). As a kid, my wife particularly liked chow-chow because she could pick out the veggies she liked best from the wide selection that made up the dish. Although my wife knew chow-chow as exclusively PA dutch, we found out that it is also a southern dish. The Pennsylvania version, however, is said to be much sweeter than the southern.  Over the years my wife has looked for but never found a recipe that reproduces the chow-chow of her childhood.  She searched on line and found this one based on an old Pennsylvania dutch cookbook from the 1930's.

Vegetables: Red and yellow pepper, cut in strips (one each), Cauliflower (one head, separated into small florets), celery (two stalks cut in to 3 inch buttons), green beans (on hand full), corn (kernels from 2 cobs, uncooked), kidney beans (one 15 oz can), black beans (one 15 oz can), Lima beans (one package, frozen thawed) (picture below upper left). The cauliflower and beans were precooked by steaming.

Pickling liquid: She used sushi vinegar (1 cup), (this is obviously her modification--sushi vinegar is not traditional to Pennsylvania Dutch cooking. She said she used it because it is milder than the traditional cider vinegar), sugar (1 cup), water (1 cup), kosher salt (2 Tbs.), ground turmeric (1 tbs), black pepper corns (1 tbs), cinnamon stick (one), whole all spice (1/2 tbs). She simmered these ingredients in a pot for about 30 minutes. (top right picture).  

Then she strained the syrup to remove the spices. She poured the strained syrup back into the pot and added whole bay leaves (3), hot red peppers (dried, 2), yellow mustard seed (2 tbs), celery seeds (1 1/2 tsp) and simmered the mixture for another 10 minutes. 

She arranged the vegetables in a glass baking dish (top left picture, since we did not have a glass pickling jar) and poured the hot liquid over the vegetables, stirred well and covered. After it cooled she put it in the refrigerator. The recipe said 'wait at least a week before serving. Because of the way these pickles were made they are considered "refrigerator pickles" meaning that they should be kept in the fridge and will not last more than a couple of weeks. The traditional PA dutch method is, of course sterilized, "heavy duty" canning.

After waiting a week my wife tasted the chow-chow...she was ecstatic!! This was the traditional taste of her childhood that she had been looking for all these years.  She was so excited she called me at work to tell me the pickles were a success. She said that the minute she tasted them she was instantly transported back to her childhood--summer picnics, dinners at friend's houses, cafeteria lunches, community suppers at the firehouse. As she said, Proust really knew what he was talking about with those madelaines.  

This is a very mild pickle with a pleasing sweet and sour taste. If truth be told, it is a little too sweet for me (my wife says that she probably liked it as a child because it was sweet--she said she still likes it a lot). All the additional spices give it a distinctive depth of flavor. The veggies are still very crisp and the diversity of ingredients makes it very interesting. Chow-chow is sometimes referred to as "the end of summer pickles". It includes such a variety of vegetables because these are all the veggies that are left over from pickling individual vegetables from the summer harvest. I suspect my wife will be making this again. It is certainly worth the effort.  

Sardines escabeche イワシの南蛮漬け

This is the second dish I made from some fresh sardines we got. For this dish, I used two sardines. This is a classic preparation of "Nanban" 南蛮 or Japanese-style escabeche. Essentially, the fish was first fried and then soaked in sweet vinegar with other vegetables.

Preparation of sardines: For this dish, I decided to use filets rather than the bone-in whole fish. After scaling the fish, I filleted them into three layers; two fillets of fish flesh and one layer of back bone. In Japanese culinary parlance, this is called "san-mai oroshi" 三枚下ろし. I use my own quick way to do this which is more like the Western style of filleting fish than the more traditional Japanese way.  Using  a narrow-bladed boning or fillet knife (instead of more traditional "deba" knife), I cut across just under the gills until the blade hit the back bone (do not cut through). Then, I turned the blade, 90 degree towards the tail and sliced off the fillet along the back bone. I do not even bother to gut the fish beforehand. I turned the fish over and repeated. I ended up with two fillets and the head with back bone attached (hence "san-mai" or three "sheets").  Using a fish bone tweezers, I remove all visible small bones especially inside the belly portion of the fish (this is very tedious). I also cut off some of the edges. After that, I washed and patted the fillets dry. I seasoned them with salt and white pepper and sprinkled sake over everything and kept them in the refrigerator covered until I was ready to cook (#1 in the image below).

Sweet vinegar: Again there are many variations but, this time,  I used my short-cut method. I just mixed rice vinegar (3 tbs), soy sauce (3 tbs) mirin (2 tbs)  and sugar (1/2 tsp). I also added two dried hot peppers cut into small rings (removing the seeds).

Vegetables: I julienned carrot (one small) and celery (two stalks) in a slightly larger than match stick size. I also sliced Vidalia onion (1/2, medium). I like my vegetables to be "cured" so I added and soaked the vegetables several hours at room temperature in sweet vinegar in a sealed container.

Frying: I removed the excess sake on the fish filetts using a paper towel and dredged them in potato starch or "katakuriko" 片栗粉. I deep fried the fish in 170F or 340C vegetable oil for several minutes on both sides. I drained the excess oil by resting the fish on a wire rack (I use a small frying pan with just half inch of oil. I will not reuse this oil since the sardines make it taste "fishy").

Meanwhile, I removed the vegetables from the sweet vinegar and arranged them on two plates (#4 above). While hot, I soaked the fillets in the sweet vinegar and turned them over several times to coat nicely (#3 above). I placed the fillets over the vegetables and garnished them with finely julienned ginger and perilla leaves (#4).

It turned out that the red pepper I used (bought it in a Japanese grocery store) was atomically hot. Especially the vegetables got really spicy. The fish was nicely crunchy with a sweet vinegar taste. No need to worry about bones because of the preparation I did. For me, the spiciness was the higher boundary of "OK" but, for my wife, it was too much especially for the vegetables but she finished the fish with gusto. the only drink we can think of is cold sake for this dish.

Stewed sardines with pickled plums イワシの梅煮

Did I happen to mention that fresh sardines at our new grocery store often look like they just came out of a bar fight the night before? Well, today, they looked slightly better and I decided to go with the sardines. I got six and made two dishes. This is one of them.

Sardines and herrings are related but slightly different. For one, herrings can be rather large but sardines are usually smaller. The sardines we got today were larger than we see canned. So I decided to treat the sardines as though they were small herrings.

The first dish I made from four sardines is called "Umeni" 梅煮 meaning "stewed with plum". Since herrings/sardines are rather oily blue fish with a strong taste,  adding some sourness helps to cut the oiliness. This is very similar to the simmered Pacific saury or "sanma" which I posted before.

Cleaning sardines: The fishmonger at the grocery store was a bit surprised when I said I would do the cleaning myself--"so just give me the sardines as is." Scaling was rather easy since they have large, easy-to-remove scales. For this dish, I wanted to keep the shape of the fish. So I did not want to open the underbelly and gut it. Instead, I cut off the head first and from that opening, extracted the guts using a narrow blade boning knife (being careful not break the belly) and my fingers.

Pre-cooking: Some kind of preparation is in order to reduce oily fishiness of the sardines before the actual stewing. Some would just pour hot water over the fish and then washed in cold water. But I went further. I boiled them in vinegared water first. In about 1 cup of water I added rice vinegar (2 tbs) and placed the cleaned sardines. When it came to boil, I turned the flame down and simmered it for 5-7 minutes without a lid on. I poured the simmering liquid out and gently washed them in cold running water. The skin is very fragile as you can see image below (#1).

Simmering liquid: There are many variations but essentially soy sauce with some sweetness either from mirin, sugar or both. I used water (300ml), soy sauce (3 tbs), mirin (2 tbs) and sugar (1 tsp). I added two "umeboshi" pickled plums and several thin slivers of ginger root (#2) in a Pyrex pan in which 4 sardines snuggly fit (#3). I placed my favorite silicon "otoshi-buta" on the top. Since this is made of silicon, it conformed to even a square pan (#4). I put a reguar lid slightly askew over it on a medium flame. As soon as it started boiling, I turned it down to a gentle simmer and cooked it for about 40 minutes.

After 40 minutes, I removed the both lids and turned up the heat and let it boil gently so that the simmering liquid reduced a bit. I removed it from the heat and let it cool down with a lid back on for several hours to room temperature before serving.

As you can see in the first picture, I garnished it with thinly julienned ginger ("Harishouga" 針ショウガ) and perilla. If you do not like a strong ginger taste, you could soak the julienned ginger in cold water for 5 minutes or so and ring out the moisture before using. I also removed the meat of the Umeboshi and draped it over the fish.

This is another homey dish, probably only served at home, in a "taishu shokudou" 大衆食堂 (eatery for the public) or izakaya. This is a perfect side dish with rice or its liquified form, i.e. sake. We had this with the latter. To enjoy this dish, you need to be a chopstick jedi since the fish has  lot of small bones (remember the "herring-bone pattern"). My wife was not expecting so many bones. She described her first bite as like chomping into a toothbrush and having all the bristles come off the handle into her mouth. But once she realized the situation, she was an expert at removing all available meat from the bones. I admit this is a very labor intensive dish (both preparing and eating) but it is worth it especially if you do not have a neighborhood Izakaya or "taishu shokudou" to visit.

Grilled chicken and soba salad 焼き鶏胸肉のそばサラダ

Did I tell you we had three chicken breasts I had to dispatch quickly? I already made two dishes in the past two days and had one more breast to go. I decided to make some kind of salad with grilled chicken breast.

I used one bone-less and skin-less chicken breast (for two servings). I butterflied the thickest potion to make it even in thickness. I, then, smeared soy sauce and grated ginger root on both sides of the meat and let it stand for 5 minutes while my Foreman's grill preheated. I cooked the breast for less than 2 minutes or until just done.

The rest of the salad components were whatever was available in the fridge. I julienned carrot (one medium) and cucumber (one American Mini-cucu). I also finely chopped scallion (two). I also happened to have leftover cooked soba noodles.

Assembly: I placed the soba on the bottom of the plate and piled the carrot, cucumber and scallion on the top. I cut the grilled chicken in 1/2 inch strips and placed it around the periphery of the plate. 

Sauce: I just mixed "mentsuyu (x2 concentrated)", sesame oil, and grated ginger and poured it (not too much) over the salad. I garnished it with Wasabi flavored "frikake" which also contains sesame seeds and nori strips.

We had this as a lunch but this could be a perfectly good "shime' 〆 dish. Obviously you could make many variations of this type of Japanified salads.

Chicken breast scaloppini 鶏胸肉のスカルピニ

For some reason, we had excess chicken breasts which needed to be cooked before going bad. On a whim, I quickly made this dish.

I used one bone-less and skin-less chicken breast. I cut it into thin (1/4 inch) bite sized pieces using a shaving cut or "sogigiri" 削ぎ切り technique. I then seasoned it with dried basil, marjoram, salt, and pepper, dredged it in flour and sauteed it in olive oil in a frying pan. I used a bit more oil than for sauteing.

I served this with a side of onion-cucumber salad. This salad is very white, so for color, I sprinkled Paprika. If I made a caper lemon butter sauce, this could have been called "chicken piccata" but I did not make any sauce. This is one of making-something-from-the-chicken breast dishes but this was a good solid effort by me. I cannot remember, but we were having a red wine with this.

Chicken breast karaage 鶏胸肉の唐揚げ

I had some extra chicken breasts which needed to be used before they went bad. So I decided to make kara-age 唐揚げ. The difference between kara-age and tastuta-age 竜田揚げ may be sometimes blurred and this one can be considered a type of tatsuta-age as well. I posted tatsuta-age using chicken thighs and marinade of soy sauce and mirin previously.

I used one bone-less and skin-less chicken breast for two small servings. I cut the chicken breast into small and flat bit size pieces using shaving cut or "sogi-giri" 削ぎ切り in which the knife blade is placed on a slant against the grain of the meat. I made about 12-13 pieces of 1/4 inch thickness.

I heated peanut oil in a frying pan (about 1/2 inch deep) to 340F or 170C on medium flame.

Just before frying, I put the chicken pieces in a small bowl and added enough soy sauce to coat (about 1 tbs) and grated ginger root (1/2 tsp, optional). I massaged or kneaded the chicken pieces so that soy sauce and ginger will evenly coat and somewhat penetrate the meat. Then, I dredged the pieces with potato starch or katakuriko 片栗粉 and fried it. Since these were rather thin pieces, they only needed to cook about 1 minute or less on each side.

I drained the oil and served the chicken pieces hot with my usual celery salad. Since the chicken was seasoned with soy sauce there was no need to salt. Compared to the thigh, this is much quicker to cook and also the taste and texture are different. Since I did not use mirin, it may be more suitable as a drinking accompaniment. Any drinks will go well with this dish but the best would be beer or cold sake.

Asazuke "Mizunasu" Water eggplant 水茄子の浅漬け

This is the second dish (rather preparation) of "mizunasu" 水茄子 I bought the other day. We enjoyed half of it eaten "raw' and made the other half into "Asazuke" 浅漬け.

Instead of my usual way of making asazuke, I used brine (salt water about 4%, slightly saltier than sea water, red pepper flakes, thinly sliced kelp, and chopped ginger). As in "raw" eggplant, I made thin wedges using combination of tearing by hand and cutting with knife. I placed them in the brine in a Japanese pickling pot, cranked down the pressure plate and left them in the refrigerator overnight. 

I served this with asazuke of daikon, cucumber and carrot which I made prior to making the eggplant asazuke. This was very refreshing and we like it. Somehow, the eggplant attained a very slight sliminess on the surface and became softer in texture than we expected. Although this dish was very good, both of us prefer eating "mizunasu" totally "raw". But who knows if or when we will be able to get fresh mizunasu again.

Raw "Mizunasu" eggplant 生の水茄子

I mentioned that the types of eggplant available in Japan are quite different from those available here. To my surprise, we found two kinds of Japanese eggplant in our Japanese grocery store; "Mizunasu" 水茄子 ("mizu" means water and "nasu" eggplant) and "Kamonasu" 加茂茄子. I assume these were imported from Japan. Although we saw several Kamonasu in the refrigerated case, only one mizunasu was remaining (left in the image below). Although it did not look particularly great (middle), I decided to get it. This is a type of eggplants which is so mild that it can be eaten "raw", although "asazuke" 浅漬けpreparation is the most popular way to serve it. I decided to make half of it in asazuke and serve the remaining half "raw".

Since the skin had some blemishes, I peeled the skin in a "zebra" pattern using a vegetable peeler. I removed the stem end and cut into the top portion of the eggplant for about one inch and then tore it in half by hand. I did this to make a more irregular cut surface (both to increase the exposed surface as well as for aesthetic reason). I repeated this several time to make thin wedges and soaked them in weak salted water (about the saltiness of a soup). This prevents the eggplant from discoloring. It also takes out some of the bitterness and seasons it lightly. I kept it soaking until I was ready to serve (for about 15 minutes, images above right).

After 15 minutes, the water became slightly brown. I patted the pieces dry with a paper towel and arranged them on a plate. The garnishes and sauce can be anything you like. Here, I garnished it with finely chopped scallion, perilla leaves, and dried bonito flakes. For sauce, I used "yuzu shouyu" 柚子醤油 sauce from the bottle. Alternatively, you could use soy sauce, mentsuyu, sesame sauce or even mayonnaise (straight or mixed with other seasonings).

You would be surprised how mild and slightly sweet this raw eggplant is. The only problem is that getting mizunasu is not easy or consistent. It was totally fortuitous that it was available this time.

Kumato, avocado, broccoli and cucumber salad with sesame dressing クマト、アボカド、ブロッコリー、キュウリの胡麻和え

I am a sucker for "new" food items at the market. I found a brown tomato called "Kumato", which was developed in Spain (I do not think this is the result of genetic engineering), and had to try it. I made a nice and healthy salad with sesame dressing.

Here is the kumato tomato (label on the left indicating this one is from Toronto, Canada. I did not know they produced tomato/kumato for export.). The right picture shows three kumatoes and a regular tomato for comparison. I skinned and then quartered the kumato for this salad. I also included blanched and still crunchy broccoli, a sliced quarter of avocado and cucumber sticks.

Sesame dressing: I first dry roasted white sesame (1 tsp) in a dry frying pan. Although the sesame has already been roasted re-roasting makes it much more fragrant). I coarsely ground the roasted sesame in a Japanese pestle and mortal or "suribachi" すり鉢 as you see in the pictures below. One small gadget you must have is this "suribachi" rake. This is a minuscule metal rake to remove all the ground material from the suribachi as you see in the middle picture below. Using this "rake" you can remove all the ground sesame from the groves of the suribachi (below right). This works well to remove items from Japanese graters especially such items as ginger or wasabi root. The more traditional form of this is made of bamboo.

I added white sesame paste or "Shiro neri goma" 白練り胡麻 (1 tbs), sugar (1/2 tsp) and soy sauce (2-3 tsp).

I served this salad with three small items; "mozuku" モズク in sweet black vinegar (in the back left), matsumae-zuke 松前漬 (center) and squid "bukkake" イカのぶっかけ, all came frozen. Kumato is a bit sweeter than regular tomatoes and has less acidity. One of our guests tried it and really liked it, although we are not too impressed.

Dried Pacific saury in mirin marinade 秋刀魚のみりん干し

No, I did not make this myself. I bought it sometime ago, frozen, and almost forgot that we had it. This is a preparation called "mirin boshi" みりん干し. Japanese love dried or semi-dried fish (This probably started out mainly as a way to preserve fish but the reduction of the water content in  the fish flesh does concentrate the flavors. So now it is eaten for its taste since there are other ways to preserve fish). On our last trip to Japan, we visited stores that specialized in dried fish at the Nishiki market 錦市場 in Kyoto (picture below).

The mirin-bosh I bought was labeled as having been made in Ibaragi prefecture 茨城県. This technique of marinading in a mirin and soy sauce mixture and drying can be applied to different types of fish, for example, species of mackerel such as aji 鯵, saba 鯖, or pafici saury 秋刀魚. I recall eating it in Izakaya while I lived in Japan but they were rather sweet and often dry or even crunchy (almost candied), especially small fish like aji. I am sure if you make it at home, it may be better.

I found a package with two "sanma" fish already prepared (bone-less) in the Japanese grocery store's freezer case. I bought it for the "sake" of nostalgia (it goes well with "sake" as well). This preparation is usually grilled and served hot but some are sold already grilled (in that case, it just has to briefly warmed before serving). The one I got was not pre-grilled. After I thawed it overnight in the refrigerator, I grilled it in a toaster oven. Because of the high sugar content with mirin, it burns very easily. I lined the bottom of a baking dish with aluminum foil and placed a metal grill over it then put the mirin-boshi fish on the grill. I set my toaster oven to "broil" and started cooking the meat surface first. I carefully watched the fish as it cooked. When it started bubbling and the edges started browning I flipped the fish and continued cooking. The skin side started bubbling up and browned much faster than the meat side.

I served this with cucumber with moromi miso and slices of tomatoes sprinkled with salt. This may not have been the best example of this kind of fish; it was rather on the sweet side and not as meaty or juicy as it could have been, but it was not far from what I remembered eating in a small Izakaya in Susukino 薄野. It was nostalgic and brought back memories of good times with friends. This went well with cold sake we were having.

Creamed spinach au gratin ほうれん草のグラタン

One weekend, we were planning to make spinach soufflé. My wife prepared a package of spinach for this but somehow we ran out of time and decided to make the souffle later.  But it is basically not feasible to make soufflé on weekday evenings. Almost one week passed after my wife cooked the spinach and there was still no souffle. Before the spinach went bad, we decided to just make creamed spinach. As a consolation prize, I decided to make it slightly more interesting by adding panko crust mixed with Parmesan cheese and calling it "au gratin".

The amount of two small servings seen above.

Spinach: The package of baby spinach (about 10 oz) was cooked without additional water in a tightly lidded pan for 4-5 minutes or until wilted mixing twice of three time during the cooking. I squeezed out the excess moisture and cut into small (1/2 inch) pieces.

Béchamel sauce: I finely chopped a shallot (one, medium). I then sauteed it in a frying pan with olive oil (2 tbs) and butter (1 tbs). I sprinkled in AP flour (about 3-4 tbs) and sauteed it for few minutes until the flour coated all the shallot pieces and got sort of wet. If you use more fat, it will be easier to make the sauce but with the flour coating the individual pieces of shallot, you can make Béchamel with much less fat. I initially added milk (1%, one cup) all at once and mixed using a silicon spatula. After the sauce thickened, If needed, I add more milk to adjust the consistency. I seasoned it with salt, white pepper and nutmeg (both freshly ground). I then added shredded aged cheddar cheese (about 1/2 cup) and the spinach.

Bread crumbs: I used Japanese panko crumbs (about 1/4 cup or more), added good olive oil (about 2 tbs) and mixed the oil and crumbs by rubbing the crumbs between my finger tips. I also mixed in grated Parmigiano Reggiano (about 3-4 tbs), You could add more on the top of the crumb layer before baking.

Assembly: I divided the creamed spinach into two small flat ramekins and spread the bread crumbs on top. I baked them at 400F in a preheated toaster oven for 7-10 minutes or until the crumbs were golden brown.

This is not as good as spinach soufflé but much more interesting than a simple creamed spinach. We had this as a drinking snack but this will be perfect with toast points or small baguette rounds.

Red snapper and cream cheese dip レッドスナッパーのクリームチーズ ディップ

After grilling a large red snapper, we had lots of fish meat leftover. I made a Japanese style salad with it but did not take pictures. My wife made this dip from the fish meat. This is based on a dip we used to make from locally produced (Northern Virginia) hot smoked trout which we used to buy occasionally. Since we hot smoked our red snapper and the fish meat had a gentle smoky flavor, we thought this may work.

She put cream cheese (one stick or 8 oz, of course, Kraft Philadelphia brand), in the food processor then added about an equal amount of the cooked hot smoked red snapper meat (bones carefully removed), lemon juice (3 tbs), horse radish (1 tbs), salt (to taste, 1/2 tsp) and blended it until creamy and all the ingredients were incorporated. She then added finely chopped dill (as much as you like, we used about 2-3 tsp).

We serve this with our favorite crackers. In this picture, you can see crackers with sesame and roasted garlic behind the glass bowl.

This is a very nice dip. We had this dip with an ice cold white wine. It is very unusual for us red wine drinkers to go for a white wine but this is what hot days will do to you. The wine was Pionero Maccerato Albarino 2009 from Rias Baixas, Galicia, Spain, which got a Wine Advocates score of 90. This one has a nice apple, melon and floral note and some mild acidity. This is a good wine to sip while eating this dip on crackers sitting outside enjoying a summer evening.

Stewed fish head 兜煮もどき

When I grilled the whole large red snapper in a semi-Japanese style, we were left with this head (below). No self respecting person of the Japanese persuasion could bear to just cut it off and throw it out. We could have eaten the meat from the head the night we cooked the fish but we had plenty of meat from the other parts. So I decided to make something else from this.

Authentic Japanse stewed fish head or "kabutoni" 兜煮 traditionally starts with an uncooked fish head which is split in half (called "nashiwari" 梨割り) before stewing. Since we needed the head to properly display the whole grilled red fish, this fish head was already grilled (and even hot smoked). In addition, the head was really big with its thick skull and sturdy cervical vertebrae preventing me from cutting it in half short of using a reciprocal saw.

So, by no means, this was "kabuto-ni" but "kabutonioid" 兜煮もどき. Besides getting a fish head, one of the problems of "kabutoni" is the presentation. This one is particularly not good. It almost looks like a mummified fish head (below) dug up from one of the Egyptian pyramids. In any case, I just simmered the grilled (hot smoked) head with dashi, mirin and soy sauce with slices of ginger. The traditional way is to place the burdock root or "gobou" 牛蒡 in the bottom of the pan and then place the fish head on top but I did not have gobou. I just placed the fish head in the pot and added daikon instead.

With an "otoshi buta" 落とし蓋, I simmered it for 40 minutes or so and let it cool down. I actually served this the next day after it spent the night in the refrigerator and warmed it up the next evening.

The result? Obviously not as good and real kabutoni but it had lots of meat which is a bit on the dry side but not too bad. The skin was not edible (like leather)(but neither was the skin on the rest of the fish edible). The gelatinous stuff behind the eyeballs, which connoisseurs of fish head including myself love, was not as gelatinous but was quite good (my wife graciously offered her share of the eyeballs to me). Next time, we will get a smaller red snapper and may try different dishes from the fillets and maybe a more authentic "kabutoni".

Angel hair pasta pancake with Parmesan cheese エンジェルヘアパスタとパルメザンチーズのパンケーキ

This was made mostly for leftover control but it is a nice satisfying dish. The ingredients I had to work with were: leftover cooked angel hair pasta, one egg (while making poached eggs earlier I broke one of the yolks when I cracked it into a small dish before submerging the egg into the poaching water. Luckily I could save the egg for later use) and a small piece of red onion (less than 1/4). So this is the dish I came up with.


This is variation of the one I already posted. I first sauteed the red onion (thinly sliced) in a light olive oil on a medium flame. Meanwhile I mixed an appropriate amount of pasta, egg, and good amount of grated Parmigiano Reggiano (all precise measurement). I added the sauteed onion and spread the mixture in a small flying pan (the same one I used for the onion) and cooked it for 2-3 minutes on low flame. When the bottom is set and brown, I flipped it (a successful flip is all in the wrist!) and browned the other side for 2-3 more minutes until cooked and the edge was brown and crispy. I grated more Parmigiano on the top and garnished it with chopped chives. I had one last drunken tomato which I served one half per person.

Octopus and Nagaimo stir fly with garlic 長芋とタコの塩バターソテー

I made this dish from what was left of boiled small octopus after making sumiso-ae.  I adapted this from e-recipe. I would have used soy sauce instead of just salt but I followed the recipe.

Octpus: I used boiled small octopus head (body). I sliced the octopus in to thin (1/2 to 1/4 inch) strips.

Nagaimo: I used nagaimo (2 inch segment), peeled, sliced (1/4 inch) and cut in half rounds.

I put a pat of butter (1 tsp) in a frying pan on medium low flame. When the butter melted, I added garlic (1 small glove, finely chopped). When the garlic became fragrant (1 minute), I added the nagaimo rounds and fried both sides (1-2 minutes each). I then put in the octopus and sauteed for another 1 minute. I added salt (1/3 tsp) melted in warm water (2 tbs) and  mirin (2 tbs). I braised it until the liquid is almost all evaporated. I garnished with a very small pat of butter, perilla and freshly cracked white pepper (my additions).

This is an interesting dish. The nagaimo is still a bit slimy and may not be suitable for those with slimonphobia out there but is nicely crunchy with a buttery flavor. The octopus is rather tender (relative to other cooked octopi) and nice garlic taste. Perfect drinking snack for sake.

Small "Iidako" octopus and wakame dressed in vinegar-miso いいだこと塩蔵ワカメの酢みそ和え

When I visit the only Japanese grocery store left in our area, what I find is sort of hit-or-miss. On one such visit, I found boiled small octopus (only head or body portion but not the legs or tentacles) in the refrigerated case. I only saw boiled octopus legs before in this store but this was new, so I bought it.

This is probably "Iidako" 飯蛸. If I am correct, this is a small species of octopus but not a juvenile or baby of a larger octopus such as "true" octopus or 真蛸. I pondered a bit but I decided to make a classic vinegar-miso dressing with cucumber and wakame seaweed. Despite the fact I posted a few very similar dishes before, this is such a classic combination and I could not resist making this dish.

I just sliced the octopus thinly. Wakame was the salt preserved variety which was washed, hydrated and cut into a bite sized pieces (this was the last of the salt preserved wakame that we had). Cucumber was my usual American mini-cucumber, thinly sliced, salted and excess moisture squeezed out. 

"Karashi sumiso" is my usual with Saikyo miso 西京味噌 and rice vinegar and Japanese hot mustard.

The octopus is a bit firm but very nice. It has different textures as compared to the tentacles of larger octopus. I made sumiso sauce a tad too vinegary this time. I served this with braised potato and green beans (right in the image below) as opening dishes.

We tasted a new batch of G-Sake "joy" (I suppose "G" is for "Genshu" 原酒). We think this is a new brew since the shape of the bottle is slightly different (No "BY" or "Brew Year" is listed on the bottle). The taste is about the same as before with a "umami" predominant taste profile. It has a slightly viscous but pleasant mouth feel. As compared to the old batch, my wife felt it was slightly more yeasty but I did not. If this sake had a bit more fruity and crisp upfront taste which leads to the "umami"-laden finish, which this one already posses, this sake would be formidable. But the taste of this sake is a true undiluted or "genshu" style of sake. The assertive vinegary taste of my miso dressing actually went very well with this sake.

Braised new potatoes and green beans ジャガイモとインゲンの炒め煮

This is a very homey dish of potato and green beans. I grew up eating this dish and this is how my mother made it as far as I can remember. When my niece visited us many years ago, I made this dish and she immediately recognized it as her grandmother's recipe.

The amount of potato and green beans are arbitrary. The below picture shows the amount of potatoes and green beans I prepared. I used small red new potatoes (about 10, small one as is and larger ones cut in half after removing any blemish). Green beans, I trimmed off both ends after washing.

I put light olive oil (or vegetable oil, 2 tbs) with a splash of dark roasted sesame oil in a frying pan on medium heat. I sauteed both green beans and potatoes so that they were coated with oil. I added dashi (about 100ml). It immediately and vigorously started boiling. I put the tight fitting lid back on and let it cook for 5 minutes. I then added mirin (2-3tbs) and soy sauce (2-3 tbs). I put the lid back on and cooked another 7-10 minutes. I pierced  the potato and when the knife slid in easily it was done. I remove the lid and just let the liquid reduce until only a small amount of liquid remained (another 5 minutes). If the potato is not cooked but the liquid is almost gone, add water or dashi and cook a bit longer.

I added quartered baby bok choy on the top of the potato and green beans for the last 5 minutes of cooking and served this as a small drinking snack.

This is a classic home cooked dish. The green beans will lose color and it is not a fancy or pretty dish but is a very confronting dish. We went for sake with this.

Vidalia onion salad オニオンサラダ

The health effect of onion is a bit overhyped in Japan but eating raw onion is not easy because of the strong pungent taste. Vidalia onion is a milder onion since it contains less of the sulfa compounds and its derivatives develop by enzymatic actions after slicing, which is the basis of strong smell/taste and also its alleged heath benefits. Onion salads in different incarnations are being served up in some Izakaya. Quick scan of the Otsumami yokocho cookbooks reveals at least two versions. One looks particularly interesting topped with an egg yolk and bonito flakes. This is my more tame version made of Vidalia onion and slices of tomato.

The preparation of the onion is the same as in the cucumber onion salad. I slice onion thinly, salt, knead, let it stand for 5-10 minutes, squeeze and then wash it in cold running water. I then soak it in cold water for 15 minutes or longer and squeeze dry before using. (I am sure the most important substences for the onion's health benefits will be lost in this process but at least you can eat it without crying or smelling like an onion afterwords).

For dressing, I made a mixture of soy sauce, lemon juice, mirin, and sesame oil (to your liking, I did not measure) and dressed the onion. I spread the oinon on the plate and layered sliced tomato (skinned). I sprinkled some Kosher salt, good fruity olive oil and freshly ground peper (I used white pepper) on the tomato slices and garnished it with chopped chives. I chilled it in the refrigerator before serving.

It is very nice refreshing salad in hot weather. It may have lost some of the health benefits but the taste is very mild and even those who may not like raw onion will be able to enjoy it.

Grilled red snapper 鯛の塩焼き

When I posted "sekihan" 赤飯, I had to borrow an image of grilled "Tai" 鯛 (red snapper or sea bream? As usual, it is difficult to equate types of fish available in the U.S. and in Japan) to complete a full-fledged Japanese celebratory feast scene. Red snapper and Japanese "tai" may be totally different species but they are similar in appearance.  I was vying for a chance to get a nice red snapper to make my own salt grilled red fish. One Sunday, my wife suggested we mosey over to our new grocery store to look for a nice whole fish to grill, since it was rather hot and we did not feel like warming up our kitchen.

Among the whole fish they had, the red snapper looked the best, although many were very large. We ended up buying one of the smaller ones but it was still big (over 5 and a half pounds). I have never cooked red snapper this large before.

I asked the fish monger to gut and scale the fish. To my surprise, they did it in an appropriate Japanese way, meaning they left all the fins intact. Most American fish mongers, when asked to just gut and scale, will cut off all the fins using scissors. I'll admit the dorsal fins of some fish including this red snapper are very sharp and dangerous but, for Japanese (and I assume, for other Asian cultures as well), these fins are important, not because we eat them but because they are decorative. In addition, the fish monger did a good job of removing the scales from the head (face). This usually does not happen and is relevant since Japanese often eat the head of red snappers called "kabutoni" 兜煮 or "simmered war helmet". 

So, I decided to honor this fish monger's effort by salting the fins heavily (called "kazarijio" 飾り塩or decorative salting and protecting them with aluminum foil like you see on the left for pectoral fins (middle) and the tail (bottom). The rest of the fish including the skin and cavity were also salted but not too heavily. I decided not to use any lemons or other herbs in the cavity as per Japanese tradition. We deviated from tradition, however, after I made the comment that generally this type of white meat fish can be very bland. My wife suggested since we were already grilling it we should add hot smoking. I protested, "Smoking grilled fish was not traditional." But what the heck, I decide to do it.

Because the fish was so big it just barely fit into our Weber grill (there was no room to make "hot" to "cool" zones so I could move the fish between them as it cooked). I decided to use indirect heat like I do for whole chickens. This was another departure from the traditional Japanese way of grilling this type of fish. They are usually grilled over direct heat but I was concerned that if I used direct heat, the skin would be completely charred before the thickest part of the fish was done. As before, I used lump charcoal divided into two baskets on the left and right sides of the grill. I placed the fish in the center. I used soaked apple wood chips for the hot smoking. I cooked the fish for about 35 minutes (it was slightly underdone but only the meat around the back bone needed more cooking. See below.)

Before grilling, the skin is usually scored (decoratively) to prevent it from rupturing in a random fashion. I forgot to do this. As you will notice in the first picture, the skin split along the dorsal fin area (which was tactically covered by sprigs of parsley for the picture). My wife's theory is that this was fortuitous because the intact skin during cooking may have made the meat very moist but I am not sure. Despite the smoking, the skin retained its red color. Please notice the intact pectoral fin. 

This is by far and away the best red snapper or "tai" fish I have ever tasted. All of the grilled red fish I had in Japan were much smaller and totally overcooked. As a result they were rather dry and tasteless. This one is so flavorful (hot smoking helped), juicy and just excellent! We started snacking on it before we even got portions cut. We found ourselves standing over the fish, tasting morsels and exclaiming at how unimaginably good it was. We finally got control of ourselves and put some on a plate. So we actually ate 3 times more than what you see in the picture below. Since I did not use direct fire, the skin was not very crispy; it was actually fairly leathery and not good to eat (small concession).

Before I started grilling this fish, my wife suggested I make some spicy sauces which would make this white meat fish more exciting. It turned out, the fish was so good we really did not need any sauces. Nonetheless I made two sauces. One was grated diakon with 7 favored Japanese red pepper flakes 七味唐辛子 and ponzu (ponzu-shouyu ポン酢醤油), the other was "negi sauce" 葱ソース or scallion sauce, which is a mixture of lots of chopped scallion, soy sauce, sesame oil, mirin, and a dash of tabasco (in the small blue cup in the picture above). The ponzu-grated daikon sauce was way too harsh and spicy (mostly due to the daikon) but the negi sauce was good.

Since the meat around the back bone was a bit underdone, I put it in a frying pan and cooked it for 7-8 minutes at 400F in a convection oven (The original idea of not using the oven and heating up the kitchen obviously did not work).

The meat around the bone was now cooked and the juice was browned on the bottom of the pan. After I removed the meat from the bone, I added small amount of water and sake to deglaze the brown bits. I tasted it. It had enough saltiness and made a nice broth.

I added the meat to the hot rice as seen below. Since I had "rice seasoning" or "frikake" ふりかけwith a wasabi flavor (contains sesame seeds, nori etc as well), I sprinkled it over the rice. Then, I poured on a small amount of the broth (2-3 tbs).

This is not a true "tai chazuke" 鯛茶漬 but the combination worked well as a shime 〆dish. Since this was rather hot day, our cold house sake "mu" with its clean crisp taste was perfect. We have lots of leftover fish meat including the head. I may have to come up with some new dishes.

Cucumber and Vidalia onion salad キュウリとタマネギのサラダ

We made this for the 4th of July barbecue among other salads. This is a perfect dish for Swedish Smörgåsbord judging from its white color especially next to marinated herring in sour cream. (Japanese call this type of all-you-can-eat buffet "Viking" which is a catchier name and easier to pronounce, especially for Japanese, while suggesting its origin). My wife said, however, that this is not a Swedish but a Pennsylvania Dutch recipe. She grew up eating this salad in the summer and it was one of her favorites. In any case, this is a very cool refreshing salad for hot muggy summer days. In the original recipe sour creme is used. We substituted yogurt for the sour cream, making it is very healthy to boot. The major flavoring is dill.

I helped by slicing and chopping and did other prep works. My wife essentially was in charge of dressing and seasoning this. The amount and proportion of onion and cucumber is arbitrary.

I washed the cucumbers (American mini-cucues) then rubbed the cucumber skin with salt, rinsed and dried with a paper towel. Since we had 6 cucumbers, I used a Japanese mandoline and sliced it thinly. I added a small amount of salt (1/2 tsp), kneaded it and let it stand for 10-15 minutes. I wrung out the excess moisture but I did not wash away the salt (below left). My wife seasoned it with rice vinegar (about 2 tbs or to taste).

I used Vidalia onion (1 medium) thinly sliced. I added a relatively large amount of salt (3 tsp), kneaded and let it stand for 10 minutes or more (above right). I washed and drained several times in running cold water. I then wrung out the excess moisture and soaked in ice cold water (with ice cubes) for 30 minutes (skip this process if you really like strong onion flavor).

Dressing: My wife added Greek yogurt and finely chopped fresh dill (as much as you like).

The salad becomes better after one day in the refrigerator. Especially since we used yogurt, excess whey may develop, just pour it out before serving. Since we used Vidalia onion and salting and soaking all contributed to very mild almost sweet flavor of the onion. Using American mini-cucumber which is closest we can come to a Japanese cucumber also makes this salad much better than using ordinary American cucumbers. 

Pairing with drinks is not easy. Sake and beer will go with this salad but not any wines.

Breakfast burrito 朝ご飯ブリト

I believe that a hearty breakfast is also a good mid-night snack after excessive imbibing. Although I am over with mid-night snacks these days, this was our breakfast. Some Izakaya could served this, minus the too-healthy-looking fruit. This is inspired by some recipes for breakfast burritos and wraps we saw, but I just made it without following any specific recipe.

We thought we would just wrap hash browns and scrambled eggs in tortillas. I made the hash browns and my wife made the eggs. This is for two small wraps or burritos

Hash browns: This is my cutting-corner version of hash browns. I first sauteed onion (half medium size, finely chopped) with olive oil (1 tbs) in a frying pan on medium flame until edges are brown. Meanwhile,  I cooked small, new or baby red potatoes (4-5) after removing the "eyes", in a microwave oven, covered, for 2 minutes or until a skewer goes through easily. I diced the potatoes and added them to the frying pan. I seasoned them with salt and pepper and let it cook for several minutes. I mixed and flipped after the bottom turned brown so that all the sides of the potato were browned (5-6 minutes). I then made a bare surface in the frying pan by pushing the hash browns aside and added ketchup (1-2 tbs). I folded ketchup several times using a silicon spatula until the color became dark and brown rather than red (Maillard reaction). I mixed the ketchup with the rest of the ingredients in the pan. I tasted and adjusted the seasoning (a bit more salt). You could add other seasoning and ingredients such as Tabasco or jalapeno pepper and, of course, crispy bacon, if you like.

Scrambled eggs: My wife made scrambled eggs seasoned with Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and with an addition of a small amount of cream. This is the reason the scrambled eggs below were not bright yellow but they tasted very good.

Assembly: I placed the hash browns, scrambled eggs and small amount of cubed cheese (I used smoked Gouda but cheddar may have been better), and rolled it up and secured it using  toothpicks. On both ends, I also tacked in the tortillas and secured using toothpicks. If you used a large tortillas, you may not need toothpicks but I hate to bite into tortillas all bunched up (folded into multi-layers) at the ends of rolled wraps.

Salsa: This is a quick salsa without jalopena pepper (I did not have one). I just mixed chopped scallion, diced tomato, and chopped fresh cilantro. I dressed it with lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper (I did not use garlic .. .I am not into eating garlic as a breakfast).

I grilled the tortila rolls using a Foreman's grill until the tortilla surface developed brown marks and the cheese melted (2-3 minutes). Once the rolls were heated up, the tortilla will stay put so that you could safely remove the toothpicks without worrying about unravelling. By my wife's request, I cut the rolls in half and served. On the side, we served fresh mission figs (our favorite), blueberry, and the salsa.

This is a pretty good breakfast or mid-night snack depending on your situation.

Sauteed kabocha with pancetta, curry flavor カレー味のパンチェッタかぼちゃ炒め

I have posted Kabocha Hors d'oeuvres previously. This is another variation and is the best so far. This is based on a recipe from e-recipe but I made some changes.

I used the upper half of the kabocha where the meat is thinner than the bottom half. After removing the "guts" from the kabocha, I sliced it into 1/2 inch thick slices. Before sautéing, I microwaved it, covered, for 1-2 minutes or until just barely cooked.

I added a small amount of olive oil (1 tsp) to a frying pan on low heat and fried up chopped pancetta (the amount is arbitrary) until crispy and the fat is rendered. I set aside the crispy pancetta bits on a paper towel lined plate. I added the cooked kabocha slices in the same frying pan and fried them for one to 2 minutes each side on a medium flame until nice brown marks appeared. I added back the pancetta and seasoned it with Japanese curry powder (not too much), black pepper and salt (taste first, pancetta may be salty).

The combination of salty pork fat and curry flavor works very well with Kabocha. the only complaint is that while the skin is quite edible, the sharp contrast in consistency between the skin and meat of kabocha is not pleasant. I will remove most of the skin next time. A very nice drinking snack which will go well with any drink.

Pork, tofu, mushrooms stir fry 豚肉、豆腐、きのこの炒め物

This is a dish I made from whatever I had on hand in the fridge one evening.  This is nothing noteworthy and there is no real recipe but was not bad.

I had pork (trimming from two pork tenderloins), mushrooms (royal trumpet, shiitake and oyster) and tofu which I had to use very soon (left over from another dish). I decided to make a simple stir fry dish somewhat like chanpuru. The amounts were all arbitrary.

I first thinly sliced the pork (more fatty cuts like belly may have been better). I marinated the meat in soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil, scallion (4 small, finely chopped), garlic (grated*), and ginger root (grated). The amounts are all arbitrary. I mixed into the meat and let it stand for 10-15 minutes at room temperature. I had about 2/3 of a piece of tofu which was cut into 1 inch cubes. I tore the trumpet mushroom from the bottom of the stems into several pieces, oyster mushroom was separated and shiitake mushroom stem removed and cut into 4 or 2 pieces depending on the size.

*if you "grate" garlic, it is potent. The best way you could grate garlic and ginger is to use a Japanese small porcelain grater. Metal graters will not work well.

I put peanut oil (1 tbs) plus sesame oil (1 tsp) in a frying pan on medium high flame. I drained the pork of excess marinade (not much left in the container) and sauteed until the meat was browned and almost cooked. I pushed the meat on one side and browned all sides of the tofu cubes. I made some more space by pushing the tofu aside in the frying pan and added the mushrooms. After a few minutes, turning the mushrooms few times, I mixed everything together crumbling the tofu as well. I added whatever marinade was left to the pan and added black pepper. After a few more minutes of stir frying, I tasted it and added salt (or soy sauce) and splashed in some sesame oil.

I garnished it with chopped chives. This is not an exciting dish but very enjoyable. The three different mushrooms with different textures and the fresh ginger and garlic notes were nice. We switched to sake for this dish.

Parent and offspring "salmon and salmon roe" bowl 鮭いくら親子丼

This is a less common version of parent and offspring bowl 親子丼 but it is popular in Hokkaido. This is a rice bowl dish with a combination of salmon and salmon roe topping. As long as you use salmon and salmon roe, it will qualify as a Hokkaido-style Oyakodon. You could use salmon ashimi or even grilled salmon. For salmon roe, you could use "ikura" イクラ as is or marinated in soy sauce and sake. I had salmon roe いくら I bought last weekend and needed to be used up soon, hence this dish. Instead of salmon sashimi or raw salmon, I used smoked salmon.

Salmon roe: I made marinated salmon roe. I simply made a mixture of sake and soy sauce (1:1 ratio) enough to cover the amount of the roe I had. I marinated it overnight in the refrigerator. Because the skin of the salmon roe is semi-permeable, it will absorb the marinade and swell up. This is called "Ikura no shouyu zuke" いくらの醤油漬. This also makes salmon roe last longer and is a good condiment eaten with hot rice or even as a drinking snack with sake by itself.

Assembly: This is very simple. I made sushi rice. I took a shortcut and used bottled sushi vinegar for this. I placed cold smoked salmon and the marinaded salmon roe on the top of the sushi rice. I also made dashi maki Japanese omelet and used it with a garnish of chiffonade of Perilla and nori. 

This is a very nice "shime" 〆 dish. For a regular person, I suggest serving a much larger portion.

Blueberry bread ブルーベリイブレッド

We are again deviating from our theme but when we posted blueberry pancakes, my wife said we had to post this one as well. So here we go; my wife's blueberry bread, which is "berry" excellent. She makes a large amount as you can see and cuts the resulting sheet cake into individual servings then freezes it. We often take this to work as breakfast.

I ask my wife to take over: The recipe will make one 10x15" sheet cake.

Prepare the pan by lining it with parchment paper. Grease the bottom of the pan, put in the parchment paper, then grease the top of the paper. (This allows the cake to release from the pan with no fuss or muss). Next,

Ingredients X1

1/2 cup butter 

1 1/3 cup sugar 

2 eggs and 

2 2/3 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder, 

1/2 tsp baking soda, 

1/4 tsp salt. In yet another bowl add 

1 1/2 cups of buttermilk and 

2 tsp vanilla.

Ingredients X2

1 cup butter 

2 2/3 cup sugar 

4 eggs and 

5 1/3 cup flour, 

4 tsp. baking powder, 

1 tsp baking soda, 

1/2 tsp salt. 

3 cups of buttermilk and 

4 tsp vanilla.

Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and keep creaming. Add the eggs and cream until yellow light and fluffy. In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients (flour through salt).  Alternatively add the creamed mixture and buttermilk to the flour. Pour into prepared pans. Next "install" the blueberries. (If the blueberries are added to the batter while it is being mixed they tend to clump. When this happens the batter around the clump doesn't cook because of the moisture in the berries. This makes for partially cooked patches that are unpleasant. Also during cooking the berries tend to sink to the bottom and form a wet mass.) To install the berries scatter them across the top of the batter fairly evenly (below left). Then take your fingers and gently push them slightly below the surface (below center). The batter will rise around them as it cooks.  If they sink its only to the middle of the cake and they are generally distributed so the batter cooks evenly. (if you don't do this step the berries just ride on the surface as the batter rises and they get over cooked.) Cook at 350 degrees for about an hour for this size (10x15") pan (below right).

This is a very luscious form of blueberry "muffin". It's another recipe that says 'summer is here'. The texture of the cake is very light and moist. The blueberries add a burst of juice and fresh flavor to the cake. 

Blueberry pancake ブルーベリイ ホットケーキ

Well, you will not find this in Izakaya. I don't remember how the tradition got started but this is a seasonal food we eat every year when blueberries arrive in the market. We always consider blueberry pancakes as an announcement that summer has arrived. They are also associated with having a good time eating breakfast out on the deck on a nice summer morning. It has been blueberry season for some time.  In the U.S. this type of quick cake made in a pan or on griddle is usually called a pancake but they go by many other names such as hot cakes, flap jacks, or Johnny cakes.  For some reason, however, in Japan they are called hot cakes or ホットケーキ. As a kid, I thought the only way to make hot cakes was to buy a hot cake mix in a box or visit "Snow brand" ice-cream parlor  雪印パーラー with my father in downtown Sapporo (Don't tell Mother). Apparently, they no longer serve hot cakes. Now, there is no reason to buy pancake or hotcake mix or frozen batters. We almost never visit IHOP, either.

We tried several different recipes for the batter and came up with this combination. This produces a very light and fluffy pancake. We have a sort of division of labor in their production; my wife makes the batter and I cook the pancakes and both of us "install" the blue berries.

An average American guy (you know who you are) can easily eat a stack of four of these (below on the left, this is 8 inch diameter pancake) as a breakfast. We, however, can only pack away one each (above). (My wife claims that as a child pancakes for breakfast were extra "special" and she once ate ten--I find that hard to believe). As you can see, I garnished the pancake with extra blueberries but no powdered sugar. We usually do not add extra pats of butter either (since there is plenty of butter in the batter). As you may know, once blueberries are cooked they turn purple (image below right). Another thing I did not know while I was in Japan is how good real maple syrup is compared to the fake kind usually served there. 

Batter: This recipe requires buttermilk which may be impossible to get in Japan.  Plain yogurt can be substituted (add milk if the consistency is too thick), however the resulting pancake may miss some of the taste complexity the buttermilk provides. This make 6 pancakes (8 inch in diameter).

I asked my wife to fill in here:

Dry ingredients: The secret to this pancake is using cake flour (2 cups) instead of regular flour. Add to the flour, sugar (1 Tbs), salt (1 tsp), baking powder (1 1/2 tsp), and baking soda (1 tsp). Mix to combine the dry ingredients. 

Liquid ingredients: 2 eggs, 2 cups buttermilk (or plain yogurt), 2 tsp. butter melted. Use a fork to scramble the eggs. Add 2 tbs of the buttermilk to the eggs and mix to temper them. Add the egg mixture and melted butter to the rest of the buttermilk. Add the buttermilk slowly to the dry ingredients whisking in a few quick strokes to make a smooth batter (don't mix too long or they will get tough) 

To cook: I usually use 4 identical 8 inch non-stick frying pans. I preheat them on low flame for 5-7 minutes so that all the batches come out at the same doness. Instead of butter, I use light olive oil. I add more than enough oil  in one pan, swirl, and dump the oil to next pan and so forth. Whatever excess is in the last pan will be poured back to a small bowl. After pouring the batter (I use a one cup ladle) into the pan, we "install" the blueberries by hand. We found that if we mix the blueberries into the batter they tend to clump together so some pancakes have too many berries and are too wet while others don't have enough. To ensure even distribution of the blueberries we throw the blueberries individually into the pancakes as the batter starts to set up (see above picture). (Requires some precision in aim to get the desired effect). Actually my wife really likes doing this. We have to move quickly to get all the berries in before the pancake is too cooked to accept them. When the edge of the pancake looks dry and small bubbles start appearing on the surface, I flip it using a spatula and a flick of my wrist. I then continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes or until done. The above recipe produced a total of 6 pancakes of a bit less than 8 inch diameter.

For us, it is really worth it to buy really good genuine maple syrup since the taste is so much better than the maple flavored sugar water that is so popular. We use the syrup sparingly. This is a very light pancake. The buttermilk gives it a uniquely pleasing taste. The manual "installation" of the blueberries means a proper distribution of sweet berry juice and cake with every bite. It is best to eat this outside on the deck when it is still nicely cool on a sunny summer morning with a cup of cappuccino (We have a decent but all-manual Italian cappuccino machine. We even roast the coffee beans ourselves).

Stewed eggplant なすびの含め煮

As you know, eggplant and oil are a good combination．Eggplant parmesan is a good example--the eggplant absorbs a good amount of olive oil while being fried. Of course, modified recipes that try to reduce the amount of oil by baking the eggplant first instead of frying it are also popular.

Even in Japan, a classic recipe for stewed eggplant uses a technique called  "age-bitashi" 揚げ浸し. The eggplant is first deep fried and then simmered in a seasoning liquid. Although this produces an excellent eggplant dish, eggplants are like a sponge and absorb a large amount of oil.  So I made some modifications to take control of the amount of oil. Japanese eggplants (many different kinds of eggplant are available in Japan), are not readily available here. I do not particularly like the long slender and light purple "Asian" or "Chinese" eggplants. So I tend to use either small Italian eggplant or Zebra eggplant for Japanese-style eggplant dishes. 

Zebra eggplant version: I saw some nice looking small Zebra eggplants at the store the other day and decided to make this dish. 

I used Zebra eggplants (two, medium sized). I removed the stem end and halved them along the long axis. I made criss-cross shallow cuts on the skin and soaked them in water for a few minutes. I removed the moisture using a paper towel by lightly squeezing them. In a skillet large enough to hold 4 halves of the eggplant comfortably, I added light olive oil (2 tbs) and dark sesame oil (1 tsp). On medium flame, I fried the eggplant halves (the cut surfaces only, I did not bother with the skin side) for several minutes until most of the oil was absorbed. In the same pan, I added dashi (300 ml). I made dashi from a Dashi pack, mirin (2 tbs), sake (2 tbs), soy sauce (3 tbs) and sugar (1 tbs). I tasted the seasoning liquid and adjusted the amount of soy sauce and mirin. I also added several thin slices of ginger and a small amount of red pepper flakes for mild heat. I put on an otoshi-buta and simmered it for 30 minutes. I let it cool down in the broth and served it at room temperature with a garnish of scallion threads (shiraga-negi 白髪葱 and very thin juliennes of ginger hari-shouga 針ショウガ (both soaked in water for 10-11 minutes to make them milder). This tasted very good and had just enough oil to make it unctuous. the red pepper gave it a mild but pleasant zing. The meat of the eggplant was very soft and absorbed the nice gentle flavors of the broth and the skin was very tender (because of the scoring before stewing). The next day, I served it cold and it was even better. The only problem was the color, the Zebra pattern was all gone and looked gray and a bit unappetizing.

Italian eggplant version: So a few days later I made the dish using small Italian eggplant in the exactly same way.

This one tasted the same and was excellent. In addition, it retained a nice color. I added baby bok choy, quartered, cooked for the last 5 minutes in the same broth as the eggplants.

You could control the amount of oil being absorbed by the eggplants this way but the tastes and texture were as good as a classic deep fried "age-bitashi" eggplant dish. This dish goes well with any drink but, again, we went for cold sake.