Baked marinated tofu 豆腐のピリ辛オーブン焼き

One weekend, my wife found this tofu recipe in the Washington Post and suggested I make it. I made slight modifications and served it as a drinking snack.

The below is the ingredients list from the original recipe.

Ingredients:
14 ounces (1 block) extra-firm tofu
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine, sake or dry sherry
1 tablespoon rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1 medium clove garlic, pressed or finely chopped
1-inch piece peeled ginger root, grated
4 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon hot chili paste

Since I did not have a chili paste, I used a Chinese garlic chili paste but otherwise followed the recipe. They suggest freezing and thawing the tofu before using it in this recipe. This is an interesting suggestion since one of the Japanese tofu products is called "Shimidoufu" 凍み豆腐 ("shim" means "frozen") or "Kouyadoufu" 高野豆腐. In the "old days", this was produced by hanging a thin block of tofu outside in the cold winter. This essentially freeze dries the tofu. I am sure, now, this type of tofu is produced in a factory freeze-drying machine. The end product is hard and dried squares which will last a long time. You simply hydrate and simmer it in a seasoning broth. The texture is completely different from the original tofu and firmer and spongier. I often make this for New Year (If you follow the link, on the left and front,  the triangular white item is simmered "kouyadofu"). I will certainly try this freezing and thawing tofu method for this dish, which is different from freeze-dried tofu, in the near future.

This time, I just drained the excess moisture from tofu. I cut the drained tofu into 1 inch cubes and mixed with the marinade (left in the image below). I placed it without a lid in a 350F convection oven. I baked it for 45 minutes mixing and turning several time until the marinade was almost all gone and just started scorching around the edge (right in the image below). I made a slight modification and added finely chopped scallion (2 stalks) just 5 minutes before I took the tofu out of the oven.

I served it with chiffonade of perilla as a garnish. The taste profile is similar to "Mapo tofu" but much drier and the tofu has a much firmer texture. It is nicely hot (both spice and temperature) with garlicky (this one is more garlicky than it should have been since the chili paste I used also included garlic and I used grated garlic instead of chopped garlic) and ginger tastes. Perilla and scallion also added to the flavor. We really like this dish.

Squid stir fry with celery, tomato, and cucumber イカ、胡瓜、セロリの炒め物

When I made fried squid tentacles one evening, and I had the bodies of squid left (or may be the other-way-around) from a pound of squid I bought. From this, I made this dish. This is a sort of variation of sautéed squid and celery. But the taste and texture are different.

Squid: I started out with one pound of squid including the bodies and tentacles. After cleaning and using the tentacles for kara-age dish, I cut the remaining squid bodies into rings (about 1/2 inch wide).

Vegetables: I cut celery obliquely into half inch wide and 2-3 inch long pieces (2 stalks) and American mini-cucumber in similar manner after removing the seeds and soft part around the seeds (1 mini-cucu). I made a wide julienne of tomato after I skinned and removed the seeds (1 medium).

I added olive oil (1/2 tbs) and butter (1 tsp) to a frying pan on medium low heat and sautéed slices of garlic (1 fat clove) and red pepper flakes (1/5 tsp or to your taste). When the garlic was fragrant, I added the celery first and sautéed for 1-2 minutes and then added the cucumber followed by the tomato. After 1 minute or so, I increased the heat to medium and added the squid rings (patted dry with a paper towel to remove any moisture) and quickly sautéed for 30 seconds or until the squid became just opaque and done. I seasoned it with salt and black pepper.

This is a very nice dish albeit it was a bit too spicy for my wife. I may have overdone the red pepper flakes and black pepper but it created a nice gentle buzzing in my mouth. The freshness and quality of the squid were quite good. Butter and garlic flavors combined with the still crunchy refreshing celery and cucumber all go well together. Squid has not been overcooked has a nice texture and taste and the tomato almost melted adding richness to the sauce and some acidity. We kept enjoying cold sake with which we started this evening. 

"Kara-age" fried Squid tentacles ゲソの唐揚げ

While doing the regular weekly grocery shopping, I found some pretty good looking squid at our regular supermarket. This was a bit unusual since fish is not their forte. In addition, it appeared to be fresh and not previously frozen. I decided to get a pound of it. I have posted a few squid dishes in the past. I pondered what to make this time and decided on a quintessential Izakaya food called "Geso-no-kara-age" ゲソの唐揚げ. The origin of the word "geso" is "gesoku" 下足 which means footwear for outside (remember that Japanese don different shoes designated as inside or outside the house). In sushi bars' and Izakaya's parlance, "geso" means tentacles of squid--outside footwear for squid.

Squid: For this dish, I used all the tentacles and the "wings" or "enpera" えんぺら parts of the one pound of squid, which yielded small servings for two as you can see in the picture below. I cut off the "beaks" and any innards attached to the tentacles. Since this was a small squid, I did not divide the tentacles further. I marinated them in a mixture of soy sauce and sake (about 1:1) with small amount of grated garlic and ginger (1/4 tsp each) for 15 -20 minutes.

Flour: I removed the squid from the marinade and dried with a paper towel. I made a mixture of AP flour, potato starch or "Katakuri-ko", and rice flour (about 1:1:1 ratio) or you could use just potato flour. This was my effort to try and maximize the crunchiness of the crust.

I shallow fried them in 170-180C oil (about half inch deep) turning often for 1-2 minutes. Because the oil tends to splatter, I erected a foldable metal wall around the pan. If I am not mistaken, this one was imported from Japan (even painted with a nice floral pattern, which is rather useless since the heat from the flame scorched the bottom black). We bought it at the hardware store specialized in Japanese items called "Soko hardware" 桑港金物店 in San Francisco Japan town many years ago. Sometimes, this works better than a Western-style splatter guard or screen. In any case, it may splatter a bit, so be careful. After I drained the excess oil on a paper towel, I served it with wedges of lemon while it was hot.

The crust came out nice and crunchy. The marinade imparted good flavor and saltiness from the soy sauce. We did not need anything else but lemon to enjoy this. It is a really good Izakaya fair but it may not look that appetizing to some since it looks somewhat like "worms".

We had this with cold sake and it was a perfect starter dish. I made something else from the body of the squid.

Lamb and zucchini stir fry with Ketchup flavor 子羊肉とズッキニのケッチャプ風味

This is another quick dish from leftovers. I just came up with this since we had a leftover rack of lamb which was baked to medium rare. This was meant to go with the red wine we were drinking.

This may really date me but some of the ideas of this dish came from Galloping Gourmet (after he moderated his life style and cooking methods); one of which was using ketchup as the base of the sauce. While this may sound pretty unappetizing there is a secret which transforms it into something much better. If the ketchup is sauteed on high heat until it turns dark brown (called Maillard reaction) it becomes a completely different animal. It becomes much more complex and adds dimension to the sauce. I find I use this secret fairly frequently with very good results.  

In any case, I had a 4 rib-width of rack of lamb left. I removed the meat from the bone and thinly sliced it. I had one zucchini left over from making Minestrone soup. I just cut it into small rounds. I first sauteed onion (one small, halved and thinly sliced) until soft in a light olive oil in a frying pan. Then I added garlic (one cove, finely chopped) and the zucchini rounds. I browned the zucchini on both sides for few minutes. I then added tomatoes (Campari tomato, two, skinned and  quartered). At this point, I added the slices of the cooked lamb. I pushed the ingredients to the side to make a space and added ketchup (2-3 tbs). I browned it while mixing with a silicon spatula until the color became dark brown. This definitely add additional depth to the taste. I stirred all the ingredients together and added some salt, chopped parsley and red wine (a few tbs, I used whatever we were drinking) to finish. I garnished with more chopped parsley. This is a very simple preparation but went perfectly with the wine we were drinking

Napa Cab, Diamond Ridge Vineyards, Cabernet Sauvignon Special Select Reserve 2008 is a classic Napa Cab loaded with vanilla and upfront fruit. While some definitely despise this type of wine we enjoy it from time to time. This was a style everybody favored a few years ago. Recently, however, more and more California reds are going to the opposite extreme; more Bordeaux-like (but without the funky nose). I have to admit, though, the very first time you drink this, the amount of vanilla almost makes this wine taste "sweet" even though no residual sugar is present. It may be a bit overdoing the vanilla.

Potato croquette 芋コロッケ

I am not sure how and when "croquette" or korokke コロッケ was introduced to Japan but according to Wikipedia Jpn, the potato croquette recipe was first published in 1872 although the name "korokke" was not used then. This was, amazingly, a mere 4 years after Japan opened to the West! It was assumed that the original croquette was a French dish based on Béchamel sauce rather than mashed potato. (This type of croquette is referred as "cream" croquette クリームコロッケ in Japan). Dishes made from the combination of ground meat and a starch appear in so many cultures with "cottage" or "shepard's" pie being best known in the United States.

Potato croquettes have been a part of Japanese food culture for a long time. Actually, it is considered a very cheap and lowly side dish. As such, there is a famous song called "song of croquette" コロッケの唄 which was reportedly popular around 1917. Obviously that was way before I was even born but when I lived in Japan, I knew about the song and even heard it sung.  The lyrics go something like "Glad to have gotten married but my wife serves croquettes today and croquettes tomorrow and croquettes all year long". Potato croquettes are generally not made from scratch at home. Instead it is usually bought either at "side dish" stores or "zousai-ya" 惣菜屋 or at the basement gourmet food floor of Japanese department stores ("depachika" デパ地下). It can also be bought frozen at any supermarket and then just fried at home. It is almost never served in regular restaurants but is a common item in a very low-key eatery called "Taishu shokudou" 大衆食堂 or "commoner's eatery" and Izakaya. I meant to make this for some time but finally, got around to it. 

The ingredients below made about ten 3x2 inch flat patties.

Meat: Any ground meat will do but I happened to have trimmings from pork tenderloins. I hand chopped it, which turned out to be a bit over 300 grams. I first sautéed finely chopped onion (1 medium) in olive oil. I then added the ground pork and cooked until the meat was done. I seasoned it with salt and pepper.

Potate: I skinned and quartered white potatoes (5-6, small to medium) and microwaved it in a silicon microwave steamer for 5-6 minutes or until done.

I mashed the potatoes while they were hot. I divided the mashed potato and the meat mixture into two bowls. In one bowl, I added curry powder (an American variety since I was out of my regular Japanese curry powder) to taste (about 1 tsp) and salt. I seasoned the second bowl of pork and potatoes with salt and black pepper. I mixed both well and adjusted the seasoning (more curry powder and salt). Using a medium-sized ice cream scoop, I apportioned the two mixtures and put them on separate plates. Using wet hands to keep the mixture from sticking, I made the curry flavored ones into oval flat shapes (Right in #1 image below). This shape is called "koban" 小判 since it resembles one of the gold coins in Edo era. I made the salt and pepper flavored ones into flat round disks (left in #1 image below). The different shapes are just so I could distinguish the curry flavored ones from the other kind.  Since I was not planning to deep fry this (I shallow fried), it is important to make it into a thin disk rather than a cylinder shape. You could add cooked small cubes of carrot, green peas etc in this if you wish.

I let them cool a bit so that they could harden and be easier to handle. I then dredged in flour, egg water and panko Japanese bread crumbs (#2 above). Instead of deep frying, I shallow fried using light olive oil of about half inch deep (#3). My wife asked why I used olive oil. I do not have any reason. Vegetable or peanut oil will also do. Since the ingredients are all cooked, I fried rather briefly; until it became golden brown and a nice crust formed, turning once (1-2 minutes each side). 

Accompaniment: Traditional Japanese accompaniment is, as usual for any fried food, shredded raw cabbage but I made a sort of Japanese style coleslaw with thinly julienned carrot, cucumber and raisins (#4). I simply dressed it with a mixture of Dijon whole grain mustard and mayonnaise (1:3 ratio) and seasoned it with salt and pepper.

Here are the cut surfaces of the two kinds of croquettes. The upper one is curry flavored and the lower one is seasoned with salt and pepper.

Both are very good. You cannot go wrong with a combination of mashed potato, ground meat, and onion which are fried! I served this with Japanese semi-thick Tonkatus sauce と んかつソースwhich is also very common way to serve potato croquettes in Japan. I remember that the croquettes I liked as a kid were curry flavored. As an adult, I like the curry flavored one as well. Although my wife does not have such a memory, she also liked the curry flavored. Although the curry flavored potato/meat mixture tasted rather spicy before I cooked it, once it was fried, it was just pleasantly spicy and actually turned out to be rather mild.

For drinks, anything goes. Beer, sake (cold) even wine either red or white are just fine with this.

Skirt steak and quick "asazuke" vegetable スカートステーキと即席浅漬

Again, this is a nothing dish from leftovers. I usually try to make "asazuke" vegetables on the weekend so that we can eat them during the following week. I did not manage to do that last weekend so I quickly made instant "asazuke". I had a small amount of skirt steak leftover from when I made fajitas. Hence this instant drinking snack.

Instant "azsazuke": I cut a mini-cucumber into small chunks ("rangiri") (one) and daikon into thin, quarter rounds (1 inch segment of medium sized daikon).  I salted, mixed and let stand on the cutting board for 10 minutes or until the excess liquid came out. I squeezed even more excess liquid out using a paper towel.  I put the vegetables into a small Ziploc bag, poured in ponzu-shouyu sauce (from the bottle) and Japanese 7 favored red pepper. I massaged the cucumber from the outside of the bag and let it sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before serving.

Skirt steak: I sliced the steak thinly across the grain and mixed with leftover onion and chopped jalapeno pepper (again from the fajitas), grated garlic (from the tube), and soy sauce.

I made skinned Campari tomato cut into flower petal shapes and used it as a center piece with a sprinkling of salt. This is a nothing dish but served as a good starter.

Sake steamed chicken breast with scallion sauce over rice porridge サムゲタンもどきのお粥

I am not sure how I came up with this "shime" 〆 dish one evening. Rice porridge, always reminds of me when I was sick as a kid since it was the food served in such situations in Japan. But as an adult, especially after excessive imbibing, rice porridge was a nice comforting ending dish. This evening, I had leftover sake-steamed chicken breast and made this rice porridge which has a very superficial resemblance to a famous Korean porridge/soup dish called "Samgyetang" which  is now very popular in Japan. The only resemblance here, however, is that it has chicken in it and is a rice porridge. (I also hasten to add that this was made due the availability of ingredients not excessive imbibing).

Porridge: I used frozen cooked rice I had in the freezer. I microwaved it for 30-40 seconds until it was just barely thawed. I put the rice in the Japanese ceramic pot for porridge called "yukihira" and poured chicken broth (Swanson non-fat and reduced salt kind as usual). After 20 minutes of simmering I added a small amount of the congieled simmering liquid made of black vinegar, mirin and soy sauce.

Chicken breast: This time, I made this with a shortcut method of microwaving it. I used a silicon steaming container for microwaving. I salted the surface of the chicken breast (two split breasts with skin on but bone out). I poured in sake (4-5 tbs). With a tight fitting lid, I microwaved it 5-6 minutes and let it rest with lid on for 10 minutes or until cooled enough to handle. I sliced and placed on the porridge.

Scallion sauce: This is my usual scallion sauce with a slight modification. I just mixed scallion (3, finely chopped), ponzu shouyu sauce (3 tbs, from the bottle), Tabasco (to taste), sesame oil (1/2 tsp) and grated garlic and ginger (to taste) and poured over the chicken slices and porridge.

I garnished it with blanched broccolini and, for good measure, sprinkled Wasabi flavored furikake.

Somehow, this hit a spot--the perfect ending to the evening.