Hanami continues; Japanese pancake with sakura ebi dried shrimp 桜海老、にら入り葱やき

This was an ending "shime" 〆 dish for our impromptu Hanami 花見. Because the weather has been quite warm, in our herb garden, garlic chives started poking out. With a short ceremony we conducted the first harvest of the year. Since I had these fresh home grown garlic chives or "nira" ニラ, I decided to make this "starchy" pancake as an ending dish. This is a sort of Japanese style savory pancake or Johnny cake.

This is also considered as a type of "okonomiyaki" お好み焼き and anything goes but this was what I made.

Batter: I used a mixture of AP (all purpose) flour (3 tbs) and finely milled rice flour or "jou-shinko" 上新粉* (2 tbs).

*Rice flour can be rather coarsely ground (which I use for a dredging to deep fry or "karaage" 唐揚げ to make the crust crisper) or finely milled like this one called "Joushinko". This finely milled rice flour is usually used to make Japanese sweets as you can see on the pictures of this package on the left. Adding the rice flour to the batter will give the end product a more elastic texture or "mochi-mochi" mouth feel as Japanese would say. This is optional and you could use only wheat flour for this dish or if you are in gluten avoidance mode, use 100% rice flour.

I mixed in a beaten egg (one large), and chicken stock (or water or dashi) (about 4 tbs) to make a batter similar in consistency of regular pancake batter. 

Vegetables: I cut the garlic chives into 1 inch segments (about 1/4 cup or whatever amount I harvested) and scallions (3, sliced on slant including the green parts).

Dried shrimp: I could have used chopped up shrimp or other forms of protein but I decided to use dried (and frozen) "Sakura-ebi" 桜海老 or cherry blossom shrimp (about 4 tbs). For one thing, I used them without thawing  which was much easier than thawing regular shrimp and cutthing them up.  These shrimp are also appropriate for cherry blossom gazing.

I mixed them all together and seasoned with soy sauce (about 1 tsp) and mirin (2-3 tsp).

I added dark sesame oil (1 tbs) in a non-stick frying pan on medium-low heat and spooned  enough of the batter mixture to make several oval pancakes a few inches wide . After one side was set and browned (1 minute or so) , I flipped it over and cooked the other side (one more minute). I flipped it again and brushed on soy sauce. I flipped it several more times until both sides were coated with soy sauce and the soy sauce became fragrant. Obviously I overcooked it and my pancakes got a bit too dark.

Our garlic chives, first harvest, were nicely tender. With rather strong tasting sakura-ebi, the combination of garlic chives and scallion went well. For most people, this dish may not have been enough but we were quite full at this point. By the time we finished this dish, it was getting dark and cold. We retreated indoors, turned on the outside flood lights and kept admiring the cherry blossoms.

Hanami drinking snacks 花見のつまみ

For this year's hanami, we started with this fusion dish of tuna tartar.

This was followed by small assortment of "chinmi"  珍味 or rare tastes (not really rare). I just used pre-made frozen items. The front on the right is "tobiko" トビコ or flying fish roe and the next is salmon roe or ikura いくら; both are placed on a cup of cucumber. I garnish tobiko with a sliver of cucumber and the ikura slice of jalapeño pepper.

In a small, "plum petal" patterned cup is squid marinated in soy sauce and mirin or "okizuke" 沖漬け. In a small blue flower-shaped cup is a "Yukke" of "engawa" 縁側 or meat just under the dorsal fin of flat fish or hirame ヒラメ. The engawa literally means a Japanese porch/open corridor in front of a Japanese room usually facing the garden.  The appearance of the meat just under the dorsal fin of hirame is composed of lines of individual muscles resembling the way wood is laid out on the floor of an "engawa". This "cut" of fish happens to be  my favorite sashimi item. This one is marinated in sweet and hot red pepper sauce in Korean style. Both came frozen in a small pouch or container. I just thawed them and served. Both are OK but a bit sweet. The engawa lost the firm texture I cherish. The tobiko roe were also seasoned too sweetly and too brightly colored (obviously includes an artificial red coloring).

As a warm comforting dish, I served chicken thigh simmered in a black vinegar and soy sauce with taro or "sato-imo"  里芋 simmered in the same sauce with garish of brocoli.

I used to be able to get fresh "sato-imo" or taro root but I have not seen them either in the Japanse grocery store or a regular market for some time. This one was pre-cooked and frozen. I first parboiled as is while frozen removing the scum which floated on the surface. I washed them in running cold water and then cooked in the same simmering liquid. These tasted the same as fresh ones cooked from scratch with a good texture and much less work.

The cherry blossoms are going quickly. This year it is going to be a race against time not only because of the warm weather but because, for some reason, the birds have learned to eat the blossoms. It started some years ago with the house finches and the cardinals learned it from them. They grab the flower, nibble something from its base and drop the remaining almost intact flower to the ground. They are stripping the tree even as we speak and while we watch. As a result we have a somewhat premature "hana-fubuki" or "flower blizzard" consisting of full flowers instead of just petals. Our back yard is the only place I have seen this phenomenon--it clearly isn't an issue at the tidal basin or there would have been a "national" outcry. Thanks to the daylight savings time, however, we still had some light outside even after finishing the three dishes.

"Hanami" Cherry blossom gazing 花見

The cherry blossoms are in full swing in Washington, DC. This is much earlier than usual years.  Even in our back yard, the cherry blossoms are in 80% in bloom. The trees in our back yard are usually 2 weeks behind the district but this year our trees are in sync with the tidal basin. The cherry blossoms aren't the only things blooming--the forsythia, the magnolia, the plum, the bradford pears and even the dogwoods are all clamoring for center stage. Usually it is a multi-act show with each plant having its own solo but because of the unusually warm weather all the acts combined into one grand display.  

We had to transplant the smallest cherry tree this year. We had planted two trees next to each other on the same day twenty some years ago. One thrived and grew to almost 3 stories high (big brother)(shown in the picture above) while the other remained about the same size as when we planted it (little brother). Last fall we discovered why. The poor thing had spent its life planted in a shallow layer of soil above a highway "jersey wall" and other trash that had been used as land fill when the house was built.  We cleaned out the trash filled void and refilled it with soil.  We also transplanted little brother to a new site on the property. Despite it's diminutive size little brother did bloom valiantly next to big brother and as a result of his transfer to better soil, the display seems a bit sparse this year. Nonetheless we hope little brother thrives in his new location and admire his will to survive under such, unbeknownst to us, adverse conditions.  

I could not get decent sashimi items to have with Hanami, so I had to rely on frozen items. Beside in this nice weather, it is difficult to leave the deck and go inside to cook. I was planning to have a bit more elaborate array of dishes but that did not happen.  This is an opening drinking snack which is another variation of "Namerou" なめろう made of frozen saku (block) of sashimi-grade yellow fin tuna. This time I added several new twists and made it a Japanese-Mexican fusion dish. This is a hybrid between "ceviche" and "namerou". 

For two servings, I used 1/2 of tuna block or "saku". Other ingredients included scallion (3 including some green parts finely chopped), Jalapeño pepper (1/2 medium, seeded and veined, finely chopped), lime zest (one, grated using a micro-grater), juice of one lime (add in increments), fresh cilantro leaves (1 tbs, finely chopped), miso (1 tsp to start and added more as I tasted).

I started with all the herbs finely chopped and mixed in cut strips of tuna sashimi and miso as seen in the left. Using a sharp knife, I started "hitting" or "tataku" たたくthem changing directions and gathering, mixing and turning over so than all the ingredients were well mixed and chopped. I added the lime juice and miso in several increments as I tasted it until I was satisfied with the texture and taste. 

I just decided to make it this way on a whim but this turned out to be an excellent Japanese-Mexican fusion tuna tartar. Some people may not like the cilantro flavor but we love it. The jalapeño pepper was not hot but gave a nice fresh peppery taste since I removed the seeds and veins. Just as a reminder and for whomever needs an extra kick I topped this fusion namerou with a slice of Jalapeño pepper with some veins (white stuff) remaining and a wedge of lime. Other dishes to follow.

We have a total of 4 cherry trees in our yard. Two were on the property when we moved in and may be between 30 and 50 years old. In addition to these we planted two--big brother and little brother. We planted them so we could enjoy hanami on our deck. Of the previously existing trees, the largest is a native American choke cherry tree. It blooms in late May and produces small sour cherries that the native indians are said to have harvested--now it is the favorite of only the birds. The other is an ornamental cherry that is a cultivar different from the kind we planted and blooms later than they do. The following picture is of big brother. 

The cherry trees all went from bud to full bloom in about 2 days. We hope the flower will last for several more days or hopefully until next weekend. Unfortunately spring and cherry blossoms come only once a year.

P.S. This is little brother...he seems happy in his new home

Chikuwa fish cake with cucumber and cheese, avocado sashimi 竹輪の射込みとアボカド刺身

This is another padding post. One weekend, I did not have much available for making drinking snacks and this was what I came up with. Besides, as you can see, from the light of the setting sun in the image it was a beautiful early spring day perfect for eating al fresco. 

I just used leftover chikuwa 竹輪 fishcake and stuffed it with cheese (I used smoked cheddar this time) and cucumber which I posted before.

I thought we needed one more item. So I just sliced avocado and served it sashimi style.

I served this with real wasabi and soy sauce. As I mentioned before, the problem with real wasabi is that, towards the end of the tube, only the liquid comes out and the solids remain in the tube. I cut the tube open and removed the somewhat dry appearing wasabi and add back a bit of filtered water to make it whole again. Although this one is at least one month old after thawing, it still had a nice fresh somewhat pungent smell of fresh wasabi. I cannot help but think that avocado and wasabi soy sauce is the wonderful combination. The smoked cheddar was also good with this fish cake. 

Actually, this was an unusually warm March weekend and we enjoyed this outside with sake while waiting for barbecue chickens being cooked in the Weber grill. The smell of cooking chicken mixed with hickory smoke added to the enjoyment.

P.S. Spring has sprung with a vengeance in Washington. All the flowers and trees are tripping over each other to bloom first. The cherry blossom buds are plump and ready to go. This is just a preview of upcoming blogs...Hanami (Cherry blossom gazing)!

German omelet ジャーマンオムレツ

As I said before, any good breakfast could be a good drinking or mid-night snack. I made this German omelet as a breakfast one weekend but this is also perfect for a late night or drinking snack. I used to make similar omelets often on weekends when we were young, reckless and unconcerned with things like cholesterol but I have not made this for quite some time. This is essentially an open (as opposed to stuffed) omelet made out of potato, onion, and bacon.

This is a two-egg omelet for two of us but, for most people, this will serve one.

Eggs: I beat eggs (two large, brown) and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Bacon: I cut the bacon into small 1 inch pieces (one strip)

Potatoes: Baby Yukon potatoes (5 small) which my wife baked with onions and carrot for another dish--but for some reason only the potatoes were leftover. I cut these into small chunks. You could used any precooked (either boiled, steamed or microwaved) potatoes.

Onion: I halved and sliced yellow onion (one medium).

Tomatoes: I used Campari tomatoes (5)

I first fried the bacon in a small non-stick frying pan on low flame turning several times until the the fat rendered and the bacon became crispy. I set it aside on a paper towel lined plate. Using the bacon dripping left in the pan, I sautéed the onion, seasoned with salt and pepper, for 4-5 minutes until soft and browned. I then added the potatoes. I washed and scored a cross on the stem end of the Campari tometo and also added to the pan*. I put a tight fitting lid on and let it cook for 5 minutes. I removed the tomatoes from the pan and removed the skin (removing the skin is optional but we do not like tomato skin, be careful it is hot) and cut it in half. I poured in the beaten egg to make sure it was well distributed throughout the bottom of the pan. I put back the skinned and cut tomatoes on the top and covered with the lid. I let it cook for another 4-5 minutes on the lowest flame. When the eggs were just cooked, I garnish it with the bacon.

* I could have blanched the tomatoes to remove the skin but I was taking a shortcut here.

I slid the omelet on to the cutting board and cut it into quarters. I served it with some greens and a side of ketchup. This is a combination which cannot go wrong.

Fried Marinated tofu "tatsuta-age" with sesame crust 豆腐のすりごま竜田揚げ

Tofu is a versatile item to make a drinking snack--this dish is an example of its versatility. I am basing this dish on a recipe I read in a Japanese vegetarian cookbook (in English) that I have had for a long time. I previously posted the mock eel dish from this same cookbook.

The name "Tatsuta-age" 竜田揚げ is usually applied to marinated and fried chicken, which is a teiban 定番 or regular dish in Izakaya. I have mentioned the origin of the name previously when I posted chicken tatsuta-age. In any case, this dish is similar in that the tofu is first marinated, then fried. 

Tofu: I used half a block of silken tofu which was left over from making red wine-marinated tofu. I cut it into 4 rectangular blocks.
Marinade: I made it simply with soy sauce and mirin (1:1). I marinated the tofu overnight in the refrigerator.

Dredging: This is a mixture of sesame seeds and potato starch or katakuri-ko 片栗粉. I first dry roasted white sesame seeds (2 tbs) using a dry frying pan. I then ground them coarsely using a Japanese mortar and pestle (suibachi すり鉢). I mixed the ground sesame seeds with about the same amount of potato starch.

After blotting the excess marinade from the tofu using a paper towel, I dredged the tofu in the above dredging mixture and shallow fried in peanut oil on medium low flame for 2 minutes on both sides or until nice brown crusts formed. Meanwhile, I reduced the marinade until a syrupy consistnecy was obtained.

As a side, I microwaved asparagus tips and dressed them with a sesame mayonnaise (mixture of white sesame paste or nerigoma 白練り胡麻 and mayonaise - about 1:2 ratio, with a small amount of soy sauce. I added water to adjust the consistency) garnished with sesame seeds. Just before eating, I added the reduced marinade on the tofu and severed extra sauce on the side in a small bowl.

The crust really made this dish, It had a nice crunch with a good sesame flavor. Tofu was nicely seasoned but the addition of the reduced marinade was also perfect. The only thing is that this has to be eaten immediately while it is piping hot otherwise the moisture from the tofu wilts the lovely crunch of the crust. 

Cold tofu marinated in red wine 赤ワイン漬け冷奴

This dish was prompted by our opening a bottle of Bordeaux. Although the label said it got a "Gold Medal" in Paris, this one did not even reach our Wednesday night wine quality guideline (which is the lowest we will go). It sat on the kitchen counter for a few days. I thought about making the ususal stews with this wine but I somehow remembered seeing the recipe for red wine marinated tofu. I could not find the recipe but I decide to just wing it as I often do.

Marinade: Here is the bottle of Bordeaux (the identity was concealed to prevent any negative percussions from Francophil wine drinkers) which I used. 

Tofu: I just cut a half of silken tofu into four cubes.

I poured the wine into a sealable container and marinated it overnight in the refrigerator. I did not add anything else.

I was quite impressed with the looks of this tofu dish when it came out of the marinade! It attained a beautifully stunning Burgundy (or Bordeaux in this case) color. So, the next question I faced was how to garnish and season this tofu. I decided to go with a bit of a Western twist while keeping Japanese seasoning.

Toppings: I finely chopped green picholine olives (to keep with the French theme, 5-6 finely chopped), black walnuts* (2 tsp, roasted and finely chopped), and chives (2 tsp, finely chopped).

*My wife baked bread earlier in the day and this happened to be  leftover from that.

I placed the tofu on a bed of baby arugula sprinkled with a dressing of soy sauce and olive oil. I also added wasabi and soy sauce on the side.

Despite the stunning color, the red wine did not penetrate much deeper than the surface of the tofu and did not impart a strong flavor (which may be a factor of its less than sterling basic quality). Nonetheless, there was something I could not quite put my finger on--a "je ne sais quoi" quality to this tofu. Savoring this subtle flavor as well as the enhancements from the salty olives and crunch of the walnuts, we added soy sauce and wasabi and cleaned the plate. (There is something quite intriguing about the crunch and taste of walnuts with tofu which is worth trying in other venues).  I will make this dish at least once again with more variations in the seasonings and toppings next time we have a wine which does not pass our minimal criteria for drinkability.

Pork Cutlet curry with rice カツカレー

This is another Japanese invention of "Yoshoku" 洋食 or Japanese-style Western (not cowboy Western) dish. Japanese like anything "curry" and put curry sauce even on noodles such as udon. This dish,"Katsu curry" is Japanese-style curry with rice which is topped with a cutlet of pork chop or "tonkatsu" トンカツ. This is a rather high-fat and high-calorie dish. I decided to make this dish one weekday evening since I had leftover curry sauce I made on the prior weekend and frozen pork chops in our freezer which, I deemed, were "aged" enough.

Curry: I made the curry sauce in a similar maner as I posted before using S&B brand mild curry roux. the only difference was that the amount of sauce I need to prepare (we had guests) was more than one package of the roux could handle. I supplemented the packaged amount with my own brown roux (olive oil and flour, onion, and Japanese curry powder). The vegetables included potatoes (small red new potatoes), carrots, and onion. It originally contained chicken thighs.

Pork cutlet: (This was made from pork chops I had sliced from the whole loin of pork and froze immediately some time ago). After I seasoned the pork chops with salt and black pepper, I dredged with flour, coated with egg water and Japanese panko crumbs. This time, instead of deep frying I shallow fried (half inch of peanut oil) (left in the image below). I cooked them on medium-low heat for 5-6 minutes on each side or until done. According to a French cook, Madeline, if you freeze pork for 21 days or longer, there is no more danger of contracting cysticercosis or pork tape worm even from undercooked pork. Althouhg my pork chops were safe by the Madeline's criteria, I was not taking a chance here and made sure the pork was fully cooked.

There are many different ways to serve the pork cutlet in this dish (on the top of curry and rice, additional curry sauce on the top, with shredded cabbage underneath, etc) but I just put the rice with side of regular Japanese condiments of pickled cocktail onion or "rakkyo" ラッキョウ and mixed pickled vegetable, "fukushinzuke" 福神漬け as you see above and then placed the cutlet of pork chops (pre sliced) on the side (the first picture).

My wife did not see the point of combining curry and rice with pork cutlet. She prefered eating the cutlet separately. So, I added Japanese hot mustard and "Tokatsu" sauce on the rim of the plate as well.

We had this with a very unususal and good Italian red from Umbria called Sportoletti Rosso Villa Fidelia 2008. This is a Bordeaux blend (Merlot and Cab Saub) of Italian wine. This one had lots of fruit upfront and was remarkably good. It tasted like a Bordeaux blend from Napa (coming from us, this is a compliment). This one also got 93 from Wine Advocate. I wonder, though, whether this is meant for export (especially to the U.S.) rather than for domestic consumption in Italy.

Mixed mushroom stir fry with "shiokara" squid しめじとエリンギの炒め物塩辛いり

This is another example of making something out of whatever is available. I made a stir fry of three mushrooms and added squid "shiokara" 塩辛 or "squid and guts" to add interest. I had a combo package of three mushrooms which included white and brown clamshell (shimeji しめじ) and royal trumpet (simialr to eryngii エリンギ) as seen in the bottom picture (#1). I bought this at least one week ago and needed to use it quickly. Although these mushrooms, especially royal trumpet, will last a long time, aging does not improve the flavor. In addtion, I found a small pouch of "shiokara" or fermented squid and guts leftover in the refrigerator, which was thawed sometime ago. I checked it and it was still Ok but moving past its prime. So, the combination of these two ingredients culminated in this quick dish.

Mushrooms: I separated the white and brown clamshell mushrooms at the root end (left half in #1). I cut into the end of the royal trumpet and tore it into two or four pieces depending on the size the mushroom. (#2).

I first sautéed a shallot (one medium, thinly sliced) in olive oil and dark sesame oil (1 tbs) on medium high flame for s few minutes until soft and slightly browned. I then added the mushrooms. After an additional few minutes of sautéing, I added garlic (one small clove, finely chopped). When the garlic became fragrant I added sake (1 tbs) mirin (1 tbs), and soy sauce (1/2 tbs) and put on a tight-fitting lid and turned down the flame to let it steam for several minutes.

After the liquid was almost all gone (#3), I added "shiokara" squid and guts (2 tsp) and quickly mixed in then cut the flame (#3). After cooking, the volume of the mushrooms reduced quite a bit and the amount was just perfect for two small servings (#4).

I further garnished it with chopped chives and sprinkles of Japanese 7 favored red pepper powder or Shichi-mi tougarashi 七味唐辛子. This was a good dish for cold sake but, to me, it was too sweet (from the mirin and sautéed shallot). The addition of shiokara gave some saltiness and subtle and interesting sea food (or "fishy" if you prefer) flavor. I am not sure adding shiokara was particularly successful. Next time, I may stick to more simple butter and soy sauce with sake to make this dish.

Chicken cutlet 鶏のカツレツ

This is not blogworthy but I needed a padding post. When I made tsukune, I reserved the nicest solid pieces of meat from the chicken thighs with all the fat and small muscle removed (skin off) after using the rest to make hand chopped ground chicken. I just placed them in a small Ziploc bag smothered in sake for later use. We found that marinading the chicken (or other meat for that matter) with sake makes it last longer and tenderizes it. I made this dish one evening.

I seasoned the chicken thigh meat with salt and pepper. Dredged with flour, egg water and panko bread crumbs.  Instead of deep frying, I shallow fried with not more than 3 tbs of oilve oil in a small (8 inch) frying pan. I fried it in medium-low flame for few minutes on each side until just done. I served this with tonkatsu sauce with Japanese hot mustard, my wife's baked cauliflower, olive and chick peas, mushed baked butternut squash (with butter and honey added). These are just a simple good combination. 

We had this with a very unusual Spanish wine made of 100% cabernet frank, Bodegas Los Aljibes Castilla Leon Cabernet Franc 2007. This one got 93 from Wine Advocate. I am not a big fan of Cab frank especially 100% cab frank. I am not sure I would give 93 for this wine. For me it is 89-90. Nevertheless, this food and wine combination was certainly nice enough for a weekday.

Braised "kinpira" lotus root 蓮根の金平

When I made chicken "tsukune" つくね patties with chopped lotus root or renkon 蓮根, I made this dish from whatever lotus root was leftover. I usually slice lotus root across so that it looks like a round with multiple concetric holes. I decided to cut it differently this time to make it really crunchy and made "kinpira" 金平 or braised lotus root. 

Lotus root or renkon: Since it is nearly impossible to get fresh renkon, I usually get cleaned and boiled lotus root which is vacuum packed. Actually, it is much easier to prepare and the texture remains quite good and crunchy. I first cut the lotus root across in 2 inch or so segments. Then cut the segments into thick (1/2 inch) pieces along the long axis. I then cut, again, along the long axis to make thick battons like you see above. I used about 3/4 of the one package of renkon which yielded 2 servings.

Kinpira reparation is the same as before. I first sautéed the rekon for few minutes in a vegetable oil (1/2 tbs) with a splash of sesame oil. I sprinkled on Japanese 7 flavored red pepper powder 七味唐辛子．I then braised it by adding sake (1 tbs), mirin (1 tbs) and soy sauce (1-2 tbs) until the liquid was almost all gone. I garnished it with roasted white sesame seeds. 

Compared to the more classic burdock root kinpira, this has a better nice crunchy texture but burdock root has a more nutty earthy flavor. This was served with tsukune with chopped renkon. 

Chicken "tsukune" with lotus root; two ways 蓮根入り鶏のつくね、２種類

I posted two versions of chicken patties or "tsukune" before. There are many variations to the recipe. Some put egg, grated nagaimo or yamaimo, chopped up chicken cartilage, shiitake mushroom etc. We do not particulary like having bits of cartilage in the meat. Instead, to add an interesting texture contrast, I added finely chopped lotus root or renkon 蓮根. The renkon bits do give some crunch but not like cartilage or bone bits.

Tsukune mixture: I hand chopped to make ground chicken from thighs (2 large) but of course you could just buy ground chicken or use a food processor. I like to use thigh meat with a bit of fat. I mixed in finely chopped onion (1/2 small), ground ginger (1/4 tsp), sliced and chopped lotus root (1/4 of vacuum packed pre-boiled), yuzu-kosho (1/2 tbs or more). As I mentioned, one could add more ingredients such as ground nagaimo or yamaimo, tofu, beaten egg etc. Using the same mixture I cooked it in two ways.

In the first version, I spread the meat mixture on the square (1/4 of full nori sheet) of nori and fried it--meat side first and then nori-side. Dishes with nori involved often include a word "seashore" or "Isobe" 磯辺. So this is "Isobe" grilled chicken patty. I made an equal mixture of mirin and soy sauce and added it to the pan towards the end of cooking and coated the chicken patties. After removing the patties from the pan, I further reduced the sauce until it was rather thick and put back the patties to coat. I sprinkled Japanese "sansho" 山椒 powder. I served this with "kinpira" or braised lotus root (This was made from the remaining lotus root, a subject for another post). I should have taken pictures with this dish turned over to show the piece of nori.

 The next day using the same mixture, I made the tuskune in the regular way (pan fried and then braised in mirin and soy sauce) and served it with celery salad with powdered kelp or "kobucha" 昆布茶 and olive oil.

The Addition of lotus root and yuzu-kosho made this tsukune pretty good. I like grilled yakitori style tsukue best but when you cannot grill, pan frying like this is also excellent.

Chicken skin simmered in miso 雛皮の味噌煮

I made Nagaimo pancake or "Tororo-yaki" after reading the izakaya blog by Mr. Hamada, who is a semi-professional Izakaya goer. Although he has a day job, several Izakaya books (either authored or edited) are under his belt and he appears in Japanese magazines occasionally discussing Izakaya.  He goes to Izakaya almost every night (of course more than one Izakaya or bar on a given night) in Kure 呉, near Hiroshima 広島市 and Tokyo. I get vicarious enjoyment reading his blog. This is another dish I saw in his blog. I just surmised how it was made from his description of chicken skin in miso but I have no idea if what I made is even close. In any case, this was the first small dish I made for dinner on the weekend.  My wife and I thought this was great (An appropriate Japanese expression for this will be "Jiga Jisan" 自画自賛  meaning "praising your own painting").

Another reason I made this was that I had 4 chicken thighs. I hand chopped the meat and made a portion of the chopped meat into a Japanese style chicken patty dish called tsukune (left upper in the image below). I made the other portion into chicken cutlets (both will be posted). Since I had the skin left over, rather than throwing it out, I decided to make it into this dish. It is a very lowly dish since chicken skin is almost free but requires some preparation. I first boiled the skins in water with a bit of sake for 10 minutes. I then washed them in cold running water. Using a sharp knife, I scraped off any stubbles of feathers and excess fat from the skin. I then cut the skin into a inch wide strips and skewered them as seen in the right upper of the image below).

I put the skewers of chicken skin in a frying pan with fresh water and a splash of sake, slices of ginger and scallion as seen in the left lower of the iamge above and simmered it for 20 minutes or so with the lid on. I removed the scallion and ginger. At this point, the liquid is less than 1/4 cup. I disolved miso (1 tsp), sugar (1/2 tsp), sprinkled Japanese 7-flavored red pepper 七味唐辛子 and simmered for another 20 minutes (right lower in the image above) with the lid on. When the miso broth got thick I removed the skewers and lid and reduced it a bit further until it formed a thick sauce.

This required a lot of prep work but the end result was quite satisfying. The pepper really made the dish by providing a zing that cut through the richness of the skin and sauce. I am not sure how this compares with the original but it is a nice dish to start. It is quite a contrast to grilled chicken skin which is also very common yakitori 焼き鳥 affair.

Baked green bean and carrot with tofu dressing インゲンと人参の白和え

This is another quick dish. When I made steamed tofu stuffed with shrimp and shiitake mushroom, I was left with 5-6 tea spoonfuls of tofu from the area I scooped out to make space for the shrimp stuffing. Using this extra portion of tofu, I made "shira-ae" dressing. "Shira-ae" 白和え means "white dressing". It is usually made with tofu, sesame, soy sauce and sugar, I made this with tofu, miso and mirin.

For the vegetable, I used baked green beans and carrots which my wife made over the weekend. She just coated the vegetables with olive oil, spreaded them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet seasoned with salt and baked in a 350F oven for 30 minutes. Baking vegetables makes them much sweeter than steaming or boiling them. 

Shira-ae dressing: I just mixed tofu (5-6 tsp), miso (1 tsp), and mirin (few tsp or add until the consistency is just right).

It took only a few minutes to whip up this dish. If I used a pestle and mortar like a Japanese surikogi 擂り粉木 and suribachi すり鉢, the tofu dressing would have been smoother but I was too lazy at this point. This is healthy and nice dish.

Steamed tofu stuffed with shrimp and shiitake 海老と椎茸の蒸し豆腐

I tried to make something special for Valentine's day but it was a weekday evening and we did not have much time after we came home. We popped open a bottle of Champagne (blanc de blanc 2004 vintage but I cannot remember which one this was. Very fruity with no yeasty note and we really liked it). After enjoying the Champagne with a snack of nuts, cheese and crackers, I decided to make this dish since I bought the silken tofu from a Japanese grocery store the previous weekend. This is a rather healthy and simple dish which will go well with any drink including Champagne.

The ingredients are; silken tofu (one cut into four), shrimp (6 medium sized frozen, thawed and shell removed and chopped into small pieces), fresh shiitake mushroom (1 large, thinly sliced and chopped) and scallion (one finely chopped).

I mixed all the ingredients in a bowl and added salt (1/4 tsp), egg white (one medium egg), potato starch (about 1 tsp) and mixed well.

I scooped out the center of the tofu cubes with a spoon, making craters just large and deep enough to accommodate stuffing without making a hole through the bottom of the cube. I then sprinkled a small amount of potato starch using a tea strainer on the craters I had just created in the tofu. This helps the stuffing adhere to the tofu.

I gently stuffed the crater and mounded up the shrimp mixture as you see in the picture below. I placed the dish with four squares of stuffed tofu in a steamer (I used an electric wok with continuous steam) for 15 to 20 minutes.

For sauce, I mixed ponzu shouyu (from the bottle), sesame oil (just a dash) and Japanese one-flavor red pepper or ichimi tougrashi 一味唐辛子 and poured it over the steamed stuffed tofu. This is a very gentle nice dish. The flavor of the mushrooms really came through with a pleasant earthiness permeating the tofu. The next day, I microwaved the 2 leftover cubes to warm them up. The dish tasted even better the second day. It also had a better texture for some reason.

Deep fried tofu pouch stuffed with chicken and bean sprouts 鶏笹身ともやしの巾着

We were having some very cold and windy days with a bit of snow (just a dusting with some wind-blown snow accumulation). We also had two small abura-age 油揚げ or deep fried tofu pouches left after making inarisuzhi いなり寿司. I decide to make a simplified version of Japanese winter stew or oden おでん. Please see more information in my previosu post for oden. Instead of the usual mochi-kin 餅巾 or mochi rice case in abura-age, I thought I would make pouches stuffed with pork, onion and bean sprouts. Especially since I had leftover blanched bean sprouts from making cellophane noodle salad. Whenever you stuff the abura-age pouch, the dish is caled "kinchaku" 巾着 which is the name for a traditional Japanese pouch. After I started the preparation, I realized I did not have any pork but I had two bone-in skin-on split chicken breasts which needed to be dispatched soon--before they went bad. I removed the breasts and two tenderloins. I made the breasts into microwave "sakamushi" 酒蒸し chicken. I made the stuffing for the tofu pouches from the chicken tenderloins adding shiitake and bean sprouts. The remaining breast bones were used to make the broth for the oden.

Here is a serving of oden; the stuffed pouch is in the foreground accompanied by diakon, potato, carrot, quail eggs, freeze-dried tofu or shimi-dufu, chikuwa and hanpenn. I admit this does not look particularly photogenic.

Revealing the content of the pouch.

Broth: I took a shortcut and used a dashi pack with dried fish, bonito flakes, kelp. I also added the bones from the chicken breasts as well (which was not the usual way of making broth for oden). In a pot, I added about 4 cups of water and a dashi pack. After simmering for 5 minutes, I added the chicken bones and simmered for another 20-30 minutes. I skimmed off any scum that appeared on the surface from the chicken bones. After I removed the bones and dashi pack, I strained the broth. I returned the broth to a donabe earthenware pot. I seasoned it with sake (3 tbp), mirin (3 tbs), soy sauce (2 tbs) and usukuchi 薄口 or light colored soy sauce (2 tbs). Later I adjusted the seasoning by adding a bit more light colored soy sauce.

Stuffed "kinchaku" pouch: The amounts of the ingredients are not accurate since I did not measure. I made just enough to stuff the two rectangular pouches seen below. I sautéed strips of chicken tenderloin (two), fresh mushrooms (5 small, cut into thin strips), blanched bean sprouts (one handful, probably 1/2 cup) in olive oil with a dash of sesame oil. I also added finely chopped ginger (1/8 tsp) and Japanese red pepper flakes. After few minutes of sautéing, I seasoned it with sake (2 tbs) and soy sauce (1 tbs). I braised it until the liquid was also most all gone.

After the stuffing cooled enough to handle, I stuffed the pouches and closed them with a tooth pick (left on the image above). I simmered them in the oden broth with the other items (probably for about one hour. The broth should not boil or even simmer during this process).

Despite the change of plan the midway through, this was not too bad. Although I probably prefer my original intent of bean sprouts, onion, and ground pork, this kinchaku was not bad at all.

Cellophane noodle, chicken skin and cucumber salad 春雨と雛皮の和え物

This was a small starter dish one evening. Again, I used what I had at hand to make this simple but tasty dish. The only item I cooked specifically for this dish was the cellophane noodle or "harusame" 春雨. This means "spring rain" which is a poetic name for Japanese-style cellophane noodles. Although this noodle is originally Chinese, the Japanese version is made from potatoes and corn starch (instead of mung bean startch). The other ingredient in the salad was the microwave "sakamushi" chicken which I made the day before.  The blanched bean sprout was leftover from making the "kinchaku" oden dish.

The amounts are all arbitrary but we had about 4 servings of the salad by the time I finished it (small servings as seen above).

Noodle: On the left is a package of "harusame" noodle. It is dried and comes as brittle white straight noodles but once it is cooked, it becomes semi-transparent noodle with a unique texture--somewhat slippery, soft yet al dente. (The package touts "mochi mochi" mouthfeel). This noodle can be used in soup, nabe, or braised or stir-fried dish. The initial cooking needs to be adjusted depending on how you use it. In my case, I used it in a salad. So, I cooked it fully (about 7 minutes) in boiling water. I drained and washed the noodles immediately in cold running water. I cut the noodles into three segments for the ease of eating. The amount of noodle is totally arbitrary but I used 1/4 of the package. When cooked, the volume of the noodle increases about 4-5 fold.

The sakamushi or sake-steamed chicken: I removed the skin of one breast and thinly sliced. I also sliced the meat (3 slices per serving).

Cucumber: I washed, salt-rubbed, washed again one American mini-cucumber and sliced it on a slant thinly first. I then julienned it. I salted, kneaded and squeezed out the excess moisture.

Bean sprout: Mung bean sprouts blanched which was leftover from making "kinchaku" oden item. I had about 1/2 cup.

Golden thread egg: This is an extra but I decided to make "kinshiran" 金糸卵. I used one egg beaten and seasoned with salt. I made a very thin omelet by cooking it on a very low flame using a non-stick frying pan coated with a small amount of vegetable oil and with the lid on. After it finished cooking, I cut it into 4 strips and then julienned.

Dressing: This is an instant dressing made of ponzu souyu ポン酢醤油 (from the bottle, about 3 tbs), dark sesame oil (about 1 tsp), and tabasco (to taste).

I dressed everything except for the golden thread egg. I put the cucumber and chicken slices in a shallow bowl and served the salad in the middle and garnished it with the golden thread egg.

This is a perfect small Izakaya dish to start. You could used chile oil instead of tabasco and sesame oil but this combination is one I always use in leu of chile oil. The combination of the noodle and bean sprout created very good textures and the chicken skin added favor. For instant dressing, the subtle heat from Tabasco and sesame flavor are excellent.

Sushi in deep fried tofu pouch いなり寿司

When I made chirashi-zushi ちらし寿司, we had leftovers even after I packed lunch boxes for the next day. I made this quick inarizushi いなり寿司 on a subsequent weekday night. This is another type of sushi in which shushi rice is stuffed into deep fried tofu pouchs or abura-age  油揚げ. I posted why dishes using deep fried tofu or abura-age is called "Inari" as in this dish "inari-zushi" or "kitsune" as in "kitsune-soba" きつねそば before. To briefly reiterate, it was said that messengers of the Diety enshrined in Inari-jinja 稲荷神社 are a pair of foxes or kitstune 狐 and somehow it was believed that deep fried tofu was their favorite food.

In any case, I defrosted 4 small rectangular abura-age called "Inari-age" 稲荷揚げ by pouring hot water over them in a colander. This will defrosts them as well as washes away some of the oiliness which is called "abura-nuki" 油抜き. I pressed the pieces between the paper towels to remove the moisture. 

I placed these in a small sauce pan and added water (100ml), mirin (2 tbs) and soy sauce (1 tbs) and simmered for 10-15 minutes turning the inari-age several times until the seasoning liquid was almost all gone. I let it cool down and again pressed the pieces between paper towels to remove the excess moisture. I then cut one end off the pouch and opened it up. Just for decorative purposes, I turned one of the halves in-side-out (left one in the image below)

You could stuff the pouch with plain sushi rice. This time,  I had left over flavored sushi, I microwave it and added a bit more sushi vinegar and let it cool down to room temperature and stuffed the seasoned tofu pouches. You could buy pre-seasoned tofu pouches in a Japanese grocery store (I think they are frozen) but I never used them myself. I served it with my cucumber, diakon and carrot asazuke 浅漬け and "gari" ginger.

The above picture is just to show this was stuffed with seasoned chirashizushi with hijiki, shiitake mushroom, gobou and carrot. Although we sometimes bought inarizushi from the Japanese grocery store, I seldom made it. 

My wife thouhgt this was great. Stuffing it with seasoned chirashizushi made this dish much more savory than the simple white sushi rice version. She even thought the two tasted different but, as I mentioned, the only difference was that one pouch had been turned inside out. Even after making the inarizushi, we still had some flavored sushi rice left.

Natto, avocado and tofu on Belgian endive チコリの納豆、豆腐とアボカドの乗せ

Sometimes, what we have dictates what I can make. I bought 4 avocados last weekend but all of them were now quite ripe. If I missed this moment of avocado perfection, they would become mushy, start developing blemishes in a hurry and guacamole would be inevitable. Of course, just nanoseconds before this moment, they were rock hard. In fact, two of them had passed into guacamole land. Another graced a sandwich for the next day's lunch. I made this dish from the last avocado. I came up with this dish since I happened to have a small container of Otokomae tofu and frozen natto in the freezer. In addition, my wife, after many years of abstention, has now come around to eating natto.

This is a simple spur-of-the-moment quick dish. Did I tell you I also had Belgian endive? (which is called "Chikori" or chicory in Japan. Chicory in the U.S. usually means a root of this plant which is used as a coffee substitute or additives).

In any case, this is not a recipe. I just prepared nattou as usual using the seasoning liquid and mustard packets that came with the natto. I just added chopped scallion and mixed it using my nattou mixing contraption well. I removed the stone, skin and cubed the avocado and dressed it with lemon juice and placed the pieces on the endive leaves. I added a few small scoops of soft otokomae tofu and placed a dab of real wasabi on top. Just before eating, we sprinkled on soy sauce and mixed with a small spoon. We ate this with our fingers; picking up the endive leaves. (A word of advice: Start eating from the soft tip of the leaves, otherwise, the leaves will not hold the contents. You do not want to spill nattou on your shirt).

This is not bad at all. The combination of avocado, silken tofu, and nattou is remarkably good. With nattou, sake is the recommended libation.

Black vinegar soy sauce simmered chicken 鶏もも肉の黒酢煮

This is just a variation on what I posted before. This time, I added potatoes, carrot and broccoli and served it like "nitsuke" 煮付け or a Japanese traditional stewed dish.

As I have mentioned before, I simmered/steamed chicken breast in a mixture of black vinegar (Japanese not Chinese variety), mirin and soy sauce which was called Kurosuni 黒酢煮. I expanded this to include chicken wings and then chicken thigh in the same sauce. I was initially discarding the leftover broth after the chicken meat was consumed. Then, instead of discarding the broth every time, I added water (to compensate for any evaporation during cooking) and added more soy sauce, black vinegar and mirin (1:1:1 ratio) and reused the broth. I strained the broth between uses and also started adding slices of ginger root (fresh ginger root for every batch discarding the old spent ones). I also changed the way I cook the chicken. instead of cooking it and eating it the same day, I now cook it but eat it later. For example, on the first day, I cook the chicken parts in the broth, then let it cool down and put it in the refrigerator. The next day or few days later, I reheat it. This multi-day process provides a few benefits. One of them is that the chicken becomes much more flavorful and tender as a result of it's extended bath in the liquid. The other is that I can skim off the excess chicken fat.

The above picture on the left is after an over night in the refrigerator. I remove the chicken fat using a large spoon (of course, if you are so inclined, you could save it and use it as "schmalz".) After removing the fat (on the right), the broth is completely jelled because of the collagen and protein leached into the broth from the chicken--many batches of which were cooked in the broth. This gellee could be used as a dressing by cutting it into small cubes.

To make a complete dish, I have added nagaimo (the sliminess disappears leaving a very nice texture), daikon (I precooked and then finished cooking in the broth), potatoes (I also precooked), and carrot; all worked well.

Today, I microwaved small red potatoes and placed them in the black vinegar sauce with carrot and simmered them for 20 minutes with chicken thighs. I also added steamed broccoli. I served all these with Japanese hot mustard. So, I have been using the simmering broth for at least several months. The flavor is getting better and better. This time I did not remove the bone from the thigh but we could eat this chicken using chop sticks. The meat was succulent, flavorful and fell right off the bone. 

Since the black vinegar is very mild, this dish will go with wine, especially sturdy reds. We had a very reasonably priced (read "cheap") Tempranillo Bodegas Ondarre Reserva Rioja 2004. This is a sort of everyday wine but went well with this dish.