Seasoned fish "soboro" donburi 鯛のそぼろ丼

We had this as a lunch one weekend. This is a mini-"donduri" rice bowl ミニ丼 made with the last of the leftovers from the Sushi Taro osechi box. I made a similar dish before. The osechi box included a small "tai" red fish 小鯛姿焼き which is basically a symbolic dish for the new year. The fish does not have much of the meat and taste rather mild. So rather than just eat it, I removed the meat and made "soboro" そぼろ. I also used "jako" arima-ni" ジャコの有馬煮 in this donburi. I served this with a clear soup made of fish meat ball  (from mackerel) and tofu さばのつみれ汁.

To add colors and taste, I also added scrambled egg and green beans. The green beans were blanched, cut into small pieces and sautéed in butter and seasoned with salt and pepper. The scrambled egg was seasoned with sugar and salt.

The "tai" soboro is visible on the left and the Jako arima-ni on the right.

The picture below shows the mackerel fishball soup. I added snow peas, shiitake mushroom, chopped scallion and Yuzu skin.

Fish soboro 魚のそぼろ
"Soboro" is a type of Japanese dish in which finely minced meat (chicken, pork or beef) or fish is braised with seasoning (soy sauce and mirin or sake) until almost dry. The soboro is usually used as a condiment for rice or used to make donburi by putting it on top of the rice.

I just removed the meat from the small red fish and tore the meat into small pieces. I braised it with soy sauce and mirin (about 2:1ratio) until also mostly dry. I tasted it towards the end of cooking and added more soy sauce. The seasoning is totally arbitrary but, as a condiment for rice, you may want rather strong soy sauce/salty flavor. To balance with "Jako" arima-ni, I also added sansho powder 山椒 at the end.

I microwaved frozen rice (it was frozen in a special Japanese container for rice. I just opened the steam hole and microwaved it). I placed the rice in the bowl, arranged fish soboro, Jako arima-ni, scrambled egg and green beans on top.

This was quite satisfying lunch and went well with the soup.

Green Goddess dip and improved carrot miso dip 緑の女神ディップ

We made these three dips/spreads for a dinner we had with friends. We previously posted the carrot cashew spread (left) and Greek cheese with olive oil (center) recipes but the green dip (right) is new. All of these dips are great and the carrot cashew spread was a great improvement over the previous version. These are perfect with crackers and wine. We also used the green dip on a sandwich instead of mayonnaise and it was really good.

This is an improved carrot miso spread. The last time we made this, we did not have raw cashews so we used roasted cashews. This time we used raw cashews which were also cooked in chicken broth before being pureed. This resulted in a much smoother consistency. Both the miso and the natural sweetness of the carrot come through. I also roasted the sesame seeds before grinding them which really added a fresh nutty sesame taste. I am not sure if using raw cashew nuts or cooking them or both made the difference but this version is much creamier in texture.

This Greek yogurt olive oil dip is our old stand-by and favorite. Two key points to making this dip are to straining plain yogurt (not low-fat) to make your own Greek yogurt and using high quality fruity and spicy olive oil like our favorite Spanish olive oil. This time, I garnished it with Japanese Yuzu peels (frozen) which added nice fresh citrus taste.

This is a new dip. The recipe came from the Washington Post. It is called "Cashew Green Goddess Dip". The green color makes it look like an avocado dip but there is no avocado. The green color comes mostly from parsley and tarragon. Another interesting ingredient is canned anchovies.

Ingredients:
1 cup raw cashews*
1⁄2 cup water (we used chicken broth*)
1⁄2 cup chopped parsley
1⁄4 cup lemon juice
1⁄4 cup chopped fresh tarragon
2 tablespoons chopped chives
3 filets of canned anchovies, drained
1 teaspoon honey
1 clove garlic
1⁄2 teaspoon salt

*The instructs state that if you are using a high-speed blender such as Vitamix, you just puree the ingredients. (We have a good regular blender), otherwise you soak the cashews in water overnight before pureeing. We cooked the raw cashews in chicken broth for 5 minutes instead. This worked well. The broth, in which the cashews were cooked, was also used in leu of the water.

Directions:
Combine the raw cashews*, water (or chicken broth), parsley, lemon juice, tarragon, chives, anchovies, honey, garlic and salt in a blender. Puree until smooth. Chill before serving.

This is a very good and unique dip. We can really taste the tarragon and honey. The garlic and anchovies are there in the background and add "je ne sais quoi" but if we are not told, it is not easy to detect. The original recipe called for celery sticks as the dip "delivery system" but we just enjoyed it on crackers. All these three dips are excellent and different from each other and made an excellent start for the evening.

Refrigerator Potato Bread/muffin 冷蔵庫ポテトパン/マフィン

This is the second potato bread we made. This time my wife did everything herself from the beginning to the end. So, her arm is definitely improving as well as she is determined to accomplish what she wants to do. This is called "refrigerator" bread since it rises over night in the refrigerator. The recipe also came from "Beard on Bread" cookbook. Again, it is a nice rustic bread with integrity and perfect for toasting with butter for breakfast.

Ingredients:
1 pkg. yeast
1/2 cup sugar (plus 1/2 tsp additional to proof the yeast)
1/2 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk
1 1/2 sticks ( 3/4 cup butter softened)
2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 cup mashed potatoes (make link to my potato recipe) run through a food mill to eliminate any        chunks that may remain after the potatoes have been mashed.
4 cups bread flour (with more as needed)

Directions:
Day1:
1. Proof the yeast in the warm water and 1/2 tsp. sugar.  Warm the milk with the butter in it. Dissolve the sugar in the milk mixture.
2. Using a mixing paddle on the stand mixer add the warm milk butter mixture, eggs and mashed potatoes blend thoroughly. Add the proofed yeast and salt. Mix completely.
3. Switch to a dough hook and add the flour one cup at a time until the dough clings to the hook and is smooth and springy to the touch. Knead on speed 2 for 7 to 10 minutes.
4. Form into a ball and put into a bowl with a small amount of vegetable oil turning the dough to cover with a coat of the oil. Cover tightly and place in the refrigerator overnight (or as the recipe says up to 16 to 18 hours).

Day2:
1. Next morning punch down the dough. (It will extremely cold and dense). Let rest for about 5 minutes (picture below).

2. Knead vigorously until it becomes soft and pliable (about 6 minutes).
3. Shape into 2 loaves of equal size and place into 2 heavily greased loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk  (the recipe says this could take up to 4 hours. This bread rose in 2 hours).  Make shallow slashes using a bread lame (see picture below).

4. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 40 to 45 minutes until browned and sounds hollow when tapped.
5. Remove from the pans immediately when they come out of the oven. (When I removed the loaves they seemed a bit soft on the underside so I put the loafs back in the oven outside the pans directly on the oven rack for about 5 minutes. This made the crust nice and crunchy).

This bread has a very pleasing dense but fine texture. It has a slightly sweet taste and the taste of the cream cheese and chives used in the mashed potatoes came through adding a pleasant dimension.

We are glad that my wife is up to baking again. I am certainly benefitting from having good breads to enjoy.

Addendum (1-22-22): This bread can also be made into muffins as shown in the next picture. These muffins were weighed at 76 grams and produced a total of 23 muffins. They were cooked in a 400 degree over for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden. When turned out of the pan the underside was very soft and white so I turned them upside down on a cookie sheet and cooked them for another 5 to ten minutes until they formed a light brown crust. 

Dill-weed bread ディル入りパン

I helped to make this bread with my wife since she is still having problems with her arm. This bread is very unusual in that it has only one rise. Nonetheless, the texture is very delicate almost cake like. The original recipe is for one loaf. So we doubled the recipe and made two loaves. This is also from "Beard on Bread" cookbook. The original recipe indicated a choice of using dill weeds or dill seeds. We used fresh dill weed in this bread.

Ingredients (2 loaves):
2 packages yeast
4 tsp sugar (1/2 tsp. additional to proof yeast)
1/2 cup warm water
16 oz. cottage cheese
2 eggs
4 tsp grated onion
4 tbs melted butter
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups All Purpose flour
4 Tsp fresh dill weed finely chopped

Directions:
1. Proof the yeast in the 1/2 cup warm water with 1/2 tsp sugar.
2. Using a mixing paddle on the stand mixer add the cottage cheese, eggs and blend thoroughly.
3. Add the grated onion, melted butter, dill weed, salt and baking soda. Mix completely.
4. Switch to a dough hook and add the flour one cup at a time until the dough clings to the hook and is smooth and springy to the touch. Knead on speed 2 for 7 to 10 minutes.
5. Heavily butter two loaf pans. Distribute the dough into the pans (it will be very sticky and difficult to divided up).
6. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk.
7. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 35 to 40 minutes until it sound hollow when tapped.

The crust appears rather rustic but the bread has a very nice tender texture with a distinctive dill smell and flavor. (The crust came out "rustic" because the dough is very sticky and was a little difficult to get into the loaf pan.)

This is a great bread toasted with butter and perfect for breakfast. It is interesting that with only one rising, the texture of the bread is very fine and tender. It has nice dill tastes but onion flavor is very subtle.

Miso marinated cream cheese クリームチーズの味噌ずけ

Marinading cheese or tofu in miso appears to be a very common way of making snacks in Japan that  go well with drinks. I have posted similar dishes (tofu and Mozzarella cheese marinated in miso). I saw miso-marinated Philadelphia cream cheese somewhere and made this dish one day.

I used a block of regular Philadelphia cream cheese cut into square.

Miso marinade is essentially a mixture of miso and mirin but this time I also added some sugar (1tbs miso, 1/2 tbs mirin and 1/2 tbs sugar. I adjusted the mirin to make a spreadable but not runny consistency (below).

I layered the cream cheese adding thin layers of the miso mixture and another layer of the cream cheese and so on. I covered the top with plastic wrap and then closed the lid to let it marinate in the refrigerator.

We tried this after it had been marinating for one day, one week and 10 days. It got better the longer it marinated. The 10 day one was the best. It can marinate longer as far as we can tell. This is a very rich dish; a little goes a long way but it is good with either sake or wine (especially red wine).

Potato bread with caraway seeds ジャガイモ入りパン

I am stepping up to bake more than I used to; filling in the gaps left by my wife during recovery from her injury. This is one such baking projects. I did the "grunt" work under her supervision. Since we had leftover mashed potatoes from a barbecue (when we do a chicken or pork roast in our Weber grill, we often also roast potatoes) she wanted to use them to make this rustic bread (supposedly of Hungarian origin). This is also from the "Beard on Bread" cookbook. Since the original recipe asked for 8 cups of flour, we halved the recipe to make a smaller loaf as seen below. The recipe involves a starter (this starter only fermented for 30 minutes). It produced a very good rustic bread. Instead of just mashed potatoes, we used the mashed potatoes my wife makes with cream cheese (with onion and chive) which we had with the barbecued pork. We are not sure how much difference the cream cheese makes to the bread.

The black specks are caraway seeds. We are not sure if this is needed. The bread itself has nice flavors.

I slashed and sprayed with water to make "rustic" look and a good crust.

The "slashes" were supposedly to be "deep" so instead of a bread "lame", I used a kitchen knife which appeared not to cut as cleanly as it should have.

Ingredients
for starter:
1 package of dry yeast
1/2 cup of warm water with a pinch of sugar
3 tbs of flour

Additional 3/4 cup of warm water
1/2 cup  mashed potatoes (We used leftover mashed potatoes. My wife mixed in chive-and-onion cream cheese, 3/4 container for 2 large cooked russet potatoes).
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp caraway seeds
2-3 cups of bread flour

Times 2 

for starter:
2 packages of dry yeast
1 cup of warm water with a pinch of sugar
6 tbs of flour

Additional 1 1/2 cup of warm water (or warm milk) 
1 cup  mashed potatoes (Or a mixture of mashed regular and sweet potatoes)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
4  cups of bread flour

Directions
1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water with the sugar and let it proof until bubbly.
2. In a bowl, mixed the the yeast mixture and flour. Cover with plastic wrap and then towels and let it stand for 30 minutes until the starter bubbles up (starter).
3. In a stand mixer, add the starter, water, mashed potatoes, salt and mix well using a paddle. Switch to the dough hook, add the flour one cup at a time at low speed until the dough forms and cleans the side of the bowl (in the end, we estimate we added about 2 and half cups of flour). Let the mixer knead the dough for 7 to 10 minutes.
4. Place the dough on the floured board and hand knead for a few minutes to make a tight ball.
5. In a large bowl, add a small amount of olive oil, place the dough, turn over to coat all sides and cover with a plastic wrap and then with towels and let it rise until the volume doubles (about 1 hour).
6. Punch it down and fold a few times to make a free formed round loaf.
7. Coat the wooden pizza paddle with corm meal and place the formed dough on it. Slide the dough back and forth to make sure the dough moves easily.
8. Cover the dough with a plastic wrap and then a towel and let it rise for 30-40 minutes.
9. Remove the towels and plastic wrap. Using a sharp knife, cut a deep cross on the surface of the dough.
10. Using a sprayer, spray water on the surface of the dough and slide it on the baking stone.
11. Bake at 400 F for 30-25 minutes (or until done depending on the size of the loaf).

This is a really good rustic bread. It has a nice firm consistency with crust and good flavor. We are not sure we really need Caraway seeds.

The bread is great toasted.We just ate as is with butter but this could make a good sandwich. It was a success with this modified recipe.

Onion, shirataki, and pork pouch 豚肉と白滝の巾着

This is a variation of a dish called "Kin-chaku" 巾着, which is the name for a Japanese-style pouch with a string tie. When this word is used for a dish, it is referring to a deep fried tofu pouch stuffed with different items. One popular variation is mochi-kin 餅巾着 which I posted many years ago as a part of "oden" おでん  Japanese winter stew in which "mochi" rice cake was stuffed in a fried tofu pouch and simmered in seasoned broth. This time, I stuffed fried tofu pouch with seasoned onion, ground pork, and shira-taki noodles 白滝. I am not sure where I learned this variation. I imagine I got it from either an oden place I used to frequent in Sapporo or from my mother. The pouch could be stuffed with other items. Your imagination is the limit. I served this as part of an abbreviated oden dinner that included a boiled egg, fish cake with burdock root or "gobo-ten" ゴボウ天 and carrot.

I cut the egg and the pouch to show the inside. This combination is quite good and it is rather filling although not as much as the ones stuffed with "mochi" rice cake.

Ingredients:
1. Deep fried tofu, 5 full-size cut into half making 10 pouches (use as is but just cutting open one end if using the half size "Inari-age" 稲荷揚げ ) (#1). If frozen, thaw and pouring hot water over it in a colander which removes excess oil.
2. Ground pork (I used hand cut trimming from pork filets), the amount is totally arbitrary (#2).
3. Shirataki-noodle, 白滝, 1 package rinsed, parboiled, rinsed again and drained (it has a peculiar smell) (#3)
4. Onion, 1 medium, cut in half and sliced (#4).
5. Oil (vegetable oil with splash of dark sesame oil) for cooking (#5 and 6).
6. Soy sauce and mirin for seasoning, one tbs each (#7).

Directions:
1. Sauté the onion in vegetable oil, and add the shirataki-noodle (#5) and the pork (#6) for several minutes until the onion softens and the pork turns color.
2. Add the soy sauce and mirin (1 tbs each) (#7) and braise until most of the liquid evaporates.
3. When it cools, stuff the pouches and close it with tooth picks (or tie it with kanpkyo 干瓢).
4. Add the stuffed pouch in oden broth with other items and simmer.

This is a quite filling dish and certainly add to the variation in the oden items.

"Aji" fry 鯵のフライ

I found the frozen filets of "aji" (jack or horse mackerel) in the freezer. I have posted twice about several dishes I previously made with this type of fish. This time, I made "namerou" 鯵のなめろうand made fries from the remaining 6 small filets. "Aji" fry or 鯵のフライ is a popular way to prepare "aji".

I served the fillets with a wedge of lemon and some coleslaw I made (with honey mustard dressing).

This was prepared exactly the same as any other fry. I covered the fillets with a paper towel soaked in sake for 15 minutes or so to reduce any fishiness . I also removed the small bones along the mid-line using a Japanese fish bone tweezer. As with any cutlets, I dredged the mackerel pieces with flour, dipped in  egg water and then coated with panko crumbs. I deep fried it in 350F peanut oil for 1-2 minutes turning once.

We enjoyed this just as it came out of the oil and it was nicely hot and crunchy.

Bento Box お弁当

We usually make sandwiches to take to our respective work for lunch. Although we have a quite collection of Japanese bento boxes, I rarely  make bento for lunch (too much work). This was such a rare occasion. I made this for my wife since she was having surgery for her rotator cuff injury. Although this was a same day surgery, we knew she would be essentially fasting nearly 20 hours, before, during, and after surgery, by the time she was released from the hospital.  Knowing she would be hungry I made this bento box so that she could eat it either at the hospital or on the way home in the car. (She wolfed it down in the car on the way home). I chose a two-layered Bento box (for adults) which is very functional and the right size that we like best. Both the bottom of the top layer and lid have gaskets and once the elastic band is applied it makes a good seal preventing leakage.

It came with a Japanese style "Kinchaku" pouch 巾着.  Since the rabbit is my wife's Japanese/Chinese zodiac animal, this is very appropriate.

So, the night before, I packed this bento for her. This lunch box comes with a small mold which can be pressed on the rice to make small individual semi-cylinders. This makes eating the rice a bit easier and looks more elegant. I sprinkled dried red perilla salt ("Yukari" ゆかり) on one row and dried green seaweed ("Aonori"  青のり) on the other.  The small compartment next to the rice (which can be adjusted) is usually for pickled or salted vegetables ("Tsukemono" 漬物) but I put salad (my cucumber salad, skinned and sliced Campari tomato and arugula).

The upper layer can be divided into 4 compartments for side dishes. The central "H" partition can be slid to adjust the sizes of the end compartments. For protein, I used fish, pork, chicken, and egg including grilled salmon and Spanish mackerel simmered in miso (left), barbecued pork loin thinly sliced (center upper) and chicken squares with gorgonzola cheese and dried fig topped with my home-made figgy cranberry sauce (center, lower).  Of course, any Japanese bento box has to have "dahimaki" Japanese omelet (right).

Both grilled salmon and blue fish simmered in miso were leftovers and I separated  the two with slices of cucumber.

I added dried green sea weed "Aonori" to the "dashimaki" Japanese omelet . To make a snug fit for the space, I used slices of tomato.

Despite my wife's total lack of ability to use her right arm/hand, she enjoyed and finished the bento box in the car. She said the bento was very good and assured me it was not due to "Hunger being the best sauce". I thought the amount was quite large but she somehow managed to finish it. Now, she is on the mend and gradually regaining her right arm functions with physical therapy. I should make bento more often--for less serious occasions.

Lunch and dessert on New Year Day 4

We had a lunch comprised mostly of items I made for the New Year (the red and white fish cakes are store bought and I did not realize this one has the letter "Kotobuki" 寿 on every cut surface (no doubt by co-extrusion process of white and  red colored kamaboko ingredients). I rather prefer the simple red and white ones. In any case, the main dish here is from the osechi box. It is a cylindrical sushi made from sushi rice, wrapped with buri 鰤 (grown-up yellow tail) and thin slices of white radish called "Buri kabura zushi" 鰤かぶら寿司.

Here is a close up. This is a type of sushi called "Bo-zushi" 棒鮨. First sushi rice is formed in the shape of "bo" 棒 or  "rod/cylinder) and then the upper side of the cylinder is wrapped with a thin filet of vinegared fish. In this particular dish, it was wrapped with  vinegared "buri" or grown yellow tail and then thinly sliced large white radish. This appears to be a New Year dish famous in Toyama 富山. I slightly warmed it up in the microwave oven to bring the sushi rice back to its original texture. It is important to "take the chill off" of the rice but not cook the fish or radish (I used increments of 10 seconds of microwaving to control the process).

As a dessert, we had chestnut "shibukawa-ni" 栗の渋皮煮, sweet yam and chestnuts 栗きんとん and black beans in syrup 黒豆. All these are traditional new year dishes but they are rather sweet and this is the best way to enjoy, at least, for us. We had this "Fukamushi Shin cha" of the last year season from Uji Hibiki-an 深蒸し新茶、宇治　響庵.

Some time ago when we are dining at Sushi Taro Omakase, our conversation with Chef Kitayama went to North American Chestnuts. As I  posted before, surviving (after chestnuts blight of 1940s) North American chestnuts have deep crevices and it is difficult to remove inner brown skin or "sibukawa" 渋皮 without breaking the chestnut apart. We asked Chef Kitayama how he handles this problem. He said he had to peel so many chestnuts and the perfect ones were set aside for dishes which requires whole chestnuts (such as shibukawa-ni) and the rest were used for other dishes (such as kuri-kinton).

Last year we also got a few sets of new tea cups from Hibiki-An. This is out favorite among them. It has a little turtle figure climbing up one side.

This was a quite filling lunch and nice dessert with wonderful green tea. Among the few green tea (sencha 煎茶) we tried from Hibiki-An, we like this tea the best so far.

New Year's feasting , evening of day 3 正月３日目の夕

On day 3 of the New Year, we are still enjoying the osechi box. Here I show a few of the highlights or our favorites.

This is "ankimo tofu" あん肝豆腐 or "monk fish liver terrine". It has smooth creamy texture bursting with ankimo flavor.

This is new item this year; "Ebo-dai koji-zuke" えぼ鯛麹漬.  "Kabura" white radish and white fish meat (butter fish) marinated in koji 麹 (malted rice). This dish evokes a childhood memory for me of "ii-zushi or izushi" 飯寿司 of Hokkaido where I grew up. It is a dish similar in which koji-rice, vegetable and fish (in Hokkaido, herring, anchovies, and salmon were popular) fermented together. It appears that this is a type of izushi that is a New Year's dish in the Kanazawa 金沢 area called "kabura-zushi" かぶら寿司. In any case, it has a nice gentle sweetness from the koji. The subtle sourness and crunchy vegetable in contrast with the savory and soft fish meat are a great combination.

This is the last of steamed sea urchin. Although fresh raw sea urchin is the best, this is really good in its own right. It was steamed on a sheet of cedar which renders a subtle flavor/smell. Come to think of it, this is a good way to preserve the sea urchin so that it will last through New Year's cerebration.

On the left is miso-marinated (and dehydrated) egg yolk with walnuts. All of these items are perfect with cold sake. We can really get used to this.

Jan 2nd evening 正月2日の夕

Now it is the 2nd day of New Year. The first three days of New Year are called "shogatsu sanga-nichi" 正月三が日 or simply "Sanga-nichi". These days are considered official New Year holidays in Japan. So, since we observe this custom in our household, we continued indulging in the good food from the Sushi Taro osechi. I served several assorted items by placing them in a small hexagonal "juubako" 重箱 container.  Almost all except a few items are from the osechi box.

We also enjoyed head-on shrimp provided in the box. To make them fit on the plate and to make it easier to access the goodies in the head (mostly the liver), I separated the head from the tail. There is nothing delicate about this; the only way to enjoy is to pick it up and suck it out. The shrimp was large and had a nice sweet firm meat. It almost tasted like lobster. Wedges of Meyer lemon also added a bright flavor.

One of the tips to enjoying the osechi box fully is to heat up certain items before serving. Here I heated up the fish in the toaster oven and simmered vegetables in the microwave oven. Heating up these items really makes them more succulent and accentuates the flavor.

The items in the small blue bowl are hachling fish called "Jako arimani" じゃこの有馬煮. They had such a nice flavor (I like to put these on rice). The items in the center are "date maki" omelet and steamed ground white fish meat with matsutake mushroom or "Matsutake shinjo"松茸真蒸 .

This picture shows cod roe wrapped in kelp (bottom left), herring roe with butter fish underneath and white radish in koji 麹 or えぼ鯛麹漬け (top left). More about this in a later post.  On the right in a small light blue bowl are black beans in syrup or "Kuromame" 黒豆 (again, a must-have for New Year).

These were really nice starters.  At this point, we have consumed near 2/3 of the osechi goodies. We have to hurry up to finish it while it is still fresh. (Its a tough task but I think we are up to it.)