Ramen noodle ラーメン

Ramen is now popular all over the world. Although it originated from China, Japanese really developed it into their own and now, I hear that Japanese-style ramen is popularized even in China. Especially after the invention of the "instant" and "cup" ramen, it became one of the very popular late night snacks in addition to lunches in Japan as well as in the world. Many people are really into it, as you could see in the old classic movie, Junzo Itami's "Tampopo" and more recently, a Hollywood ramen movie, "Ramen Girl". I am originally from Sapporo 札幌 and ramen noodles from Sapporo have been famous in Japan for some time. In my college days, we often stopped at the original "Ramen alley" ラーメン横町 in Susukino すすきの after bar hopping and drinking. Many serious individuals as well as chain ramen restaurants have developed in Japan since then, even here in the U.S., especially in New York and Los Angeles. Many regional ramen dishes also have developed and "instant" ramens have become more sophisticated and gourmet. 

I just made this ramen noodles out of whatever was in our refrigerator and dried ramen noodles that I had (I already mentioned that I like frozen "raw" noodles from the Nishiyama seimen the best). This is not the usual way I make Ramen especially since I often make "Yakibuta" 焼豚 or Sino-Japanese pot roast of pork, separately and ahead of time. I use "Yakibuta" slices as a topping for the Ramen noodle as is often done. But I had only uncooked pork and this is how I made it this time.

I used one serving of dried noodles for two small servings. I had the trimmings of a pork tenderloin which I just sliced very thinly (whatever amount). I also used onion (1 small), "nappa" Chinese cabbage (2 leaves), fresh shiitake mushroom (3-4 small), baby spinach (1 small handful), and thinly sliced scallion for garnish (2, white part only). You could use any vegetables and proteins you may have. I minced ginger (1/4 tsp) and garlic (1 clove) and sautéed in a sauce pan in a small amount of vegetable oil (2 tsp) and a dash of roasted sesame oil for 30 seconds. I added the pork slices until the color turns white. Before garlic burns, I added mirin (1 tbs) and soy sauce (1 tbs) and braise until the meat is cooked and liquid is almost all gone. Remove the meat from the pan and set aside. In the same pan, I add vegetable oil (2 tsp) and sauteed sliced onion and thinly cut white bottom part of the nappa cabbage. Brown bits or "fond" will accumulate on the bottom and the side of the pan because of the sugar in the mirin and in the onion. After the vegetables wilt, I de-glaze with Chicken broth (I used low-fat, low-sodium Swanson chiken broth in a box), add more both (about 200ml) and 100ml of water (amount of the water depends on the saltiness of broth). I then add sliced shiitake and green part soft parts of nappa cabbage and simmer for few minutes. I add spinach which will wilt in 30 seconds. There should be enough saltiness but taste and adjust by adding soy sauce. Meanwhile I cook the noodle for 3-4 minutes to desired doneness, drain and place it in the bowls. Pour the broth in the bowls leaving the vegetables in the pan. Then I arrange the pork, vegetables, and garnish with scallion and cracked pepper. The color of broth is mostly coming from de-glazing. This is a rather healthy version of Ramen but it is not bad for a quick dish.

We usually do not like to use "seasoning packets" that come with gourmet instant ramen noodles, since it often contains a large amount of animal fat as well as salt. Fortunately you could just buy noodles either dry (not pre-deep fried) or raw "frozen".

Cucumber salad with smoked scallop and poached chicken breast with black vinegar sauce きゅうり、貝柱、鶏肉のサラダの黒酢ソース和え

This is another small dish you make from whatever you have at hand. Since at our Home Izakaya, I usually make one dish, eat that dish with some sake and then make another, sometimes, making a small dish quickly from nothing is very necessary. In any case, this night, I found leftover poached chicken breast in black vinegar sauce, fresh American mini-cucumber and the New Year care package we just received from my mother which included semi-dried lightly smoked Hokkaido scallops 貝柱の薫油漬. Of course, you could omit the scallops or substitute with finely chopped smoked ham or salami.

For two small servings, thinly slice one mini-cucumber and salt lightly, mixing well or "knead" lightly and let it stand for 5 minutes on the cutting board. Then, squeeze out excess moisture. I also skinned and cut 2 Campari tomatoes into quarters. I crumbled one semi-dry scallop into small pieces and mixed the pieces into the cucumber and tomatoes then dressed with sushi vinegar. I sliced the chicken breast paper thin, placed the slices on top of the cucumbers and drizzled the black vinegar sauce over everything.

It is interesting that the black vinegar sauce congealed to a thicker gelatinous consistency since it contains protein/collagen from the chicken skin. When I was growing up in Sapporo, even inside our old house, it got very cold in winter especially at night without any source of heat. When my mother made a simmered fish dish in soy sauce flavored broth or "nizakana" 煮魚 and the leftover was kept in a kitchen cabinet, the sauce congealed in the bottom of the plate into jello next morning. This is called "nikogori" 煮凝り. It is a natural equivalent of making a fashionable "gelée" sauce by adding gelatin into a sauce. In any case, as a child, I really liked this "nikogori" on hot rice (it melted quickly). The reduced black vinegar sauce indeed attained a similar consistency (in the refrigerator not in the room, though). This dish is definitely best with sake, since it has a vinegary taste.

Potato salad with cod roe, black olive and Cornichons タラモサラダ

Potato salad is not really Japanese or Izakaya food, yet, it is definitely very common home cooked food in Japan. Last time we were in one of our favarite Izakayas in Kyoto, "Akagakiya" 赤垣屋, the first appetizer or "Otoshi" おとうし was potato salad which was excellent. There is always something different from usual American-style potato salad in Japanese versions. Mark's book has a rather sophisticated version of potato salad (p81).  One of more common Japanese variations is called "taramo" which is a made-up word from "tara-ko" (cod roe) and "imo" (potato). I made my variation of "taramo" salad since I had "tarako" I did not use after making other dishes. I added black olive, finely sliced French Cornichons (tiny cucumbers, gherkins, pickled in a tangy marinade), and instead of using just mayonnaise, I used an equal mixture of plain yogurt and mayonnaise, which is bit better fat-wise and also add a slighly sour tangy flavor to the dish. An addition of yogurt, however, makes the salad a bit watery, so it is important to use white potatoes and cook them whole and remove the skin before mashing to make sure the potato is rather dry to begin with.

I used two large white potatoes which were boiled in salted water whole (you could microwave, also) until a skewer goes through easily. Remove skin using a towel and mash with 1 tbs of butter and a pinch of salt (be light on salt since "tarako" is also salty) and let it cool to a room temperature. Meanwhile I remove the pits from 7-8 black oil cured olives (I am not sure which kind we got here from a local gourmet grocery store) and coarsely chop. I usually use thinly sliced fresh cucumbers (salted and then vinegared) but the mini-cucumbers we got this time did not taste particularly good, so I used pickled French Cornichons finely sliced (4-5). Add 2 tbs each of mayonnaise and plain yogurt and one large sac of tarako (which was removed from the sac and mixed with 1 tsp of lemon juice and 1/2 tsp of sake). Taste and adjust the seasoning (salt and pepper). This "taramo" salad tastes better after leaving it overnight in the refrigerator (especially the textures improves).

Please note that the size of Cornichons I used for a garnish is only 1 inch in length and the tomato is cherry tomato in the above picture. I served this as an "otoshi" for our Home Izakaya à la "Akagaki-ya". Although sake will be a safe choice, It went surprisingly well with an inexpensive everyday Australian Shiraz "Red Dust" 2007.

Chicken meatball with marinara sauce チキンミートボール

This may not be strictly Izakaya food but it goes perfectly well with a glass of red wine. This is rather low fat version of Italian meat balls with a marinara sauce but it has very light texture and tastes pretty good. I am not sure where I came up with this particular recipe but I may have seen it in one of the Food Channel shows at some time and modified it.

It starts with ground chicken. I used low fat (less than 1% fat) but you could use raw Italian sausage or ground pork if you are so inclined. For one package of ground chicken (1 lb or about 500 grams), I add 1 medium onion and 4-5 fresh shiitake mushrooms chopped and sauteed in olive oil and cooled, 1/2 tsp or more of freshly ground nutmeg (this is the most important seasoning, freshly ground nutmeg has much better flavor than the pre-ground), 1 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of freshly ground black pepper, and 1/2 cup of Japanses "panko" bread crumbs, and 2 beaten eggs. You could also add ground cayenne pepper to taste (optional). Mixed them all up using your hand until the mixture comes together. You may want to reserve a portion of the beaten eggs first and adding the rest depending on the consistency but I like it rather soft with 2 eggs. Using a small ice cream scoop to make small equal sized meat balls and I place them on a cookie sheet. Put them in a 350F oven for 15 minutes or until done. You could sauté or deep fry the meat ball but baking works best for us.

For the marinara sauce, I just use 1/3 cup of light olive oil, two 8 oz cans of whole plum tomatoes (crushed by hand), and chopped garlic (3-4 gloves), 2 bay leaves, salt, black pepper, 1/2 tsp of dried oregano or marjoram, and 1/2 of dried basel, 1/2 to 1 tbs of sugar (to cut acidity). Again you could add red pepper flakes with garlic if you so prefer.

I add chiffonade of fresh basel and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese when serving with an accompaniment of toasted baguette.

Stir fried udon noodle 焼うどん

This is another "teiban" shime dish. At home, I make this usually from leftovers. The night before, I made "Tarako spaghetti" using a Japanese "Udon" noodles and I had leftover udon. I also had the last small portion of the leftover barbecued chicken (thigh meat). This is a variation of "Yakisoba" 焼きそば.

For two small servings, I sliced onion (1, small), julienned carrot (1, small) and fresh shiitake mushrooms (4, medium). I sautéed these vegetables in olive oil (1 tbs) with a dash of dark sesame oil for 2-3 minutes and added crushed, finely chopped garlic (1 clove). Seasoned with salt and pepper. I then added hand shredded cooked chicken thigh (one thigh) and the noodles. It is important to add some kind of liquid during the cooking of this kind of dish. I added chicken broth (3 tbs) and stirred until the liquid was almost all gone. You could use a bottled "yakisoba" sauce, but I just seasoned it with mirin (2 tbs), soy sauce (1 tbs) and Worcestershire sauce (2 tsp), salt and pepper. You can experiment with any combination of sauces. I stir-fried until the liquid was almost gone and the sauce became somewhat thick and clingy. For garnish, I had thinly sliced pickled ginger root (pink stuff you get at Sushi bars), chopped chives, dried "aonori"  and roasted white sesame seeds. Very familiar dish and good.

Crab cake クラブケーキ

Along the Chesapeake bay, blue crabs are famous. These are rather small crabs but the meat is very sweet. One of the ways to enjoy this crab is to go to the bay and get one bushel of boiled or steamed blue crabs. Then, sit on the dock, crack the shells and eat. Throw carcasses back into the Bay as you eat and see lots of fish come up to feed on whatever meat we missed. If you or your friend have a boat on the Chesapeake bay, this is the preferred way of enjoying Maryland blue crabs. You can also go to one of crab houses in the area. They will give you a bib, a wooded mallet and a special fork. A mound of freshly boiled crabs is dumped on the news-paper covered table, and everybody has at it with hands and mallet. It is customary, especially in Maryland, that crabs are cooked with "Old Bay" seasoning. McCormick used to have a factory in downtown Baltimore where they made this seasoning. For me, this is good but too much work and the Old Bay seasoning is too strong. Beside just eating steamed or boiled crabs, two most famous crab dishes in this area must be crab cake and deep fried soft shell crab (especially as a sandwich). Although it was a weekday night, I made crab cakes. We also love soft shell crab (particularly as tempura) and hope I can post that dish sometime later.

Crab cakes look somewhat like "crab croquette" (Mark's book p.57), but it is composed of mostly crab meat and only a small amount of binders and fillers are used. It is best to use lump or jumbo lump crab meat. I used 8oz of cooked crab meat (not canned) to yield 4 crab cakes. It comes in a sealed plastic container and is readily available in grocery stores in our areas. I finely chopped one small onion, fresh shiitake mushrooms (3-4 medium), parsley (3-4 sprigs), lemon zest from 1 lemon (as usual I used a micro-grater). Using a small amount of light olive oil (1tbs), sauteed onion first and then the chopped shiitake mushroom for 3-4 minutes, season with salt and black pepper, place it in a metal mixing bowl to cool. (If I have jalapeño pepers, I often add finely chopped, seeded and deveined jalapeno pepper as well.) When, the onion mixture is cool, add chopped parsley, lemon zest, a splash or two of Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco, 1 tbs of mayonnaise, 1 tsp of Dijon mustard, and 3-4 tbs of Japanese "panko" bread crumbs and gently fold the crab meat in. You could add a whole egg or egg yolk as a binder but I prefer not to add eggs. Make whatever size round or oval flat patties (I made four about 3 inch diameter and 1/2 thick patties). They are rather delicate and barely hold together. Melt 1-2 tbs of butter or olive oil (or combination) in a non-stick frying pan, and cook the crab cakes (3-4 minutes per side). Be careful when you turn them over, they are mostly crab meat and it is very easy to crumble.

For the accompaniment, I made a simple cucumber, nappa (Chinese) cabbage (only soft and green part), mandarin orange (peel outer and inner skins. Halve and slice) with a simple olive oil, balsamic vinegar dressing. You could serve crab cakes with a tartar sauce but we like to eat simply with a lemon.

Speaking of crabs, we really like Japanese specialized crab "kani" 蟹 restaurants (especially in Sapporo). They serve crabs in so many different ways but you do not have to work to get the crab meat. If you visit Japan especially Sapporo, try these specialized crab restaurants and their course menu.

Cod roe and mountain potato gelée 鱈子と長いものジェル寄せ

This is one of our favorite small dishes, which goes excellently with a cold sake. The original recipe was from a Japanese cookbook called something like "Secret drinking dishes of the head chefs". Many of the recipes in the book are too difficult to make but I have adapted a few. One of them is this dish. I have made (as usual) my modifications over the years.  The original may have used a spicy Chinese sesame oil or "ra-yu"  辣油 but I use tabasco and sesame oil. (If I buy "ra-yu", I do not use it often enough and I always find the remaining amount has gone rancid.) The original recipe just topped the tarako gelée with finely diced mountain yam or "nagaimo" 長芋 but I also jell this layer.

I first make a classic "ichiban dashi" 一番だし broth" using kelp and dried bonito flakes. For a large sac of cod roe or "tarako" たらこ, I used about 1/2 cup of hot (temperature) broth and dissolve 3/4 one oz package of unflavored gelatin powder (Knox powdered gelatin). If gelatin does not completely dissolve, you may want to microwave it for few seconds. Then I divide the gelatin-dashi solution into two 1/4 cup portions. One is used for the tarako (a) and the other for the yam (b).

(a) For the tarako, I add a few drops of tabasco, dark sesami oil and soy sauce in the gelatin-dashi solution  Let it cool down to the room temperature before adding to the cod roe. Remove the roe from the sac using the back of a knife and add the gelatin solution to the roe just so that the mixture becomes loose (I do not use all the gelatin solution). If you add too much gelatin solution, the upper layer will be only flavored gelatin when it sets. I lined a small square loaf pan (disposable aluminum kind) and lined it with plastic wrap. Pour the tarako-gelatin mixture into the pan (It will be about 1/2 inch thick) and place it in the refrigerator for 5 minutes until it jells.

(b) For the yam, I add 1 tsp of seasoned sushi vinegar to the gelatin-dashi solution. Cut the yam to  small dices (I use about the half to 1/3 volume of the tarako). Pour in the gelatin solution (room temperature) just enough to coat every pieces of the yam. Gently mix, paying attention not to make too many bubbles since they do not look good in the final dish. Make sure the bottom layers of tarako is set. I layer the yam-gelatin solution on the top. Place it in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes until set.

It is easy to unmold since it is lined with a plastic wrap. I cut into a small rectangle as seen in the picture. We like to squeeze a lemon over it and eat it with a bit of perilla (sometimes I put a chiffonade of perilla on the top.) The contrast of texture between tarako and yam and flavors of sesame oil, tabasco, all works wonderfully. This has to be enjoyed with sake, nothing else goes well.