Shio-koji marinated chicken tender 鶏のささ身の塩麴焼き

After I made shio-koji 塩麴 and shio-koji pickled vegetables, I tried chicken tenderloin. Since everybody seems to be raving about the shio-koji marinated food, our expectations were high.

I put just enough shio-koji (10% weight is recommended) to thinly cover the surface of the tenderloins in a Ziploc bag, I massaged it, removed the air as much as I could and let it marinade over night in the refrigerator.


Next day, I took the chicken tenderloin out of the bag and cooked it using a small amount of light olive oil on a medium-low flame (see below). I did not remove the shio-koji from the surface. Because shio-koji contains starch and sugar, the surface browned much more quickly than without shio-koji. I cooked both sides for several minutes each until it was done.


I served this with the previously made shio-koji pickled vegetable and Campari tomato (The first picture). How was the chicken? To be honest, we were disappointed. It was OK and the meat was moist but attained a strange “doughy” consistency. It felt like the meat was cooked before it was cooked (it must have been cured in shio-koji). Perhaps, marinating overnight was too much or, perhaps, the benefits of shio-koji are overhyped. Before we give up, we will try several more iterations.

Goat cheese drop biscuit 山羊乳チーズビスケット

This was a classic Southern breakfast which my wife made based on Chef Art Smith of Ophra Winphrey fame. But, this is also a good starch dish to end your evening.

Biscuit ビスケット can mean two totally different things whether the term is used in England (Commonwealth) or in North America. In the former, it is  a type of cookie or short bread  (which is also what Japanese think of “ビスケット”) and the latter, a type of quick bread somewhat similar to scones.Digression alert!: The category of “bread” called “quick” bread, in which biscuit certainly belongs, usually use chemical leavening agents (instead of organic and living  agents such as yeast). These are baking powder and baking soda. Baking soda is rather straight forward. It is “sodium bicarbonate” which requires an external acid to do its job which is to release carbon dioxide gas that causes the bread to rise.

On the other hand, baking powder is more complex. It contains its own source of activating acid in addition to the basic baking soda and is differently formulated depending on the brand.  I am not going into details but “double action” baking powders can contain “aluminum” compounds (heat activated or slow-action part). My wife is very sensitive to the taste of baking powder which contains aluminum compounds (I cannot taste it). She can tell immediately if something has been baked using baking powder with aluminum compounds. For any recipe which calls for baking powder, she uses the brand which does not contain aluminum salts (the brand she uses contains bisodium pyrophosphate).

In addition to the fact that some people are sensitive to the metallic taste of aluminum compounds, aluminum is not a metal I would like to consume. Certain neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or better know as Lou Gehrig disease in North America) or even Alzheimer may be linked to aluminum (disclaimer; no scientific proof has been established). Japanese often use another “aluminum” salt called “myouban” 明礬 in cooking especially to preserve the bright purple color of eggplant when it is picked (salted). I do believe that we should avoid eating aluminum, although its ill effects are not proven. I’d prefer to eat brown discolored eggplant “tuskemono” 漬物 to avoid the risk of aluminum; proven or not.
I have to ask my wife for the recipe.

This is the recipe doubled—no sense in making small quantities because they go so fast!

4 cups AP flour, 1 Tsp baking soda, 4 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp salt, 8Tbs (4 oz) butter, 8 Tbs. goat cheese, 2 cups buttermilk, chives chopped.
Heat oven to 425, and put cast iron skillet in the oven while it is preheating. (I used one 8 inch, and one 5 inch pan. Place flour, baking soda, powder and salt in a bowl and whisk to evenly distribute ingredients. Cut in the cold butter and goat cheese until they are about the size of small peas. Add the chives and coat with the flour to distribute evenly. Pour in the buttermilk and stir until just moistened.

The next part is a bit intimidating. Take the hot pan out of the oven (be careful because it will be really hot). Drop in a Tbs. of butter or whatever amount is necessary to coat the bottom of the pan. Scoop the batter into the pan in spoonful, (hence the name drop biscuits). I use a large ice cream scoop. Leave room around the biscuits so that they can form a nice crunchy crust. Pop back into the oven and cook for 14-16 minutes until brown. Since the dough is “dropped” into a hot iron skillet (see above left), the bottom of the biscuit became brown and extra  crispy (see above right)—this is without a doubt the best part! The goat cheese flavor with chives in this crunchy fluffy and hot biscuit is good eatin’ any time.

Ground Okra and Tuna sashimi cubes 鮪のオクラトロロ山かけ

This is by far the most slimy (in a peculiarly good way) dish I ever made and ever encountered. I decide to make this after I saw this recipe on line. This is like tuna "Yamakake" やまかけ but instead of grated "nagaimo" 長いもor "yamaimo", this green slime was made of okra.

Okra: This is one pack of okra (about 12 okra). I first rubbed the surface with kosher salt to remove the "fuzz" and washed away the salt. I blanched for 30 seconds to 1 minute in salted rapidly boiling water (or until the okra’s green color becomes bright). I then drained and dunked the okra into ice water to keep the green color (picture below). I removee the ends and roughly chopped them up. I used an emersion blender and the plastic container that came with the blender. I added an equal mixture of concentrated dipping sauce (menstuyu 麺つゆ) and water and I blended to get a nice consistency.

Tuna: I used the "akami" 赤身 portion of Bluefin tuna I got from Catalina. I just cut it into a bite size cubes and marinated in a mixture of soy sauce and sake (1:1) overnight in a refrigerator.

I assembled it exactly like "Yamakake". I poured the grated okra into the bottom of a small bowl, placed the marinated tuna cubes on top and garnished it with strips of nori and perilla.

The taste?? This is very interesting. This is slime on steroids. It is even more viscous than nagaimo (I could have put more liquid to make it looser) but it has the refreshing green taste of fresh okra. Certainly, this is very unique way of using okra. I may try a different variation in the future but we prefer nagaimo for yamakake dish. Amazingly, I was more resistant to the idea of this green slime than my wife was—she is definitely not a fan of okra but she seemed to like this.

Indian-style spinach with fresh cheese curd (Saag Paneer) ほうれん草とチーズカードのカレー

This was entirely made by my wife. It is good but the amount of work involved, especially making the cheese curds, require a bit more energy than we would like to expend. I will let my wife blog this.

This recipe comes from American Test kitchen. I was intrigued by the prospect of making my own cheese—it looked so easy in the recipe. 

For the cheese I used: 2 quarts of 2 percent milk, 2 cups buttermilk and 1/3 Tsp salt. I heated the milk to boiling, took it off the heat and stirred in the buttermilk and salt. I like it stand for about 1 minute (picture above #1). I then poured the contents of the pot into a colander lined with cheese cloth (picture above # 2, 3 & 4). When it cooled down to the point where I could handle it I squeezed the curd as hard as I could to remove more liquid. I then put the still wrapped curd between two plates weighted down with some cans (I used cans of beans). I found that I had to continue draining the curd overnight until it became firm enough to handle and cut into 1 inch size pieces (see picture below).

 

For the spinach sauce I used:One large bag of spinach (12 oz.), The leaves from one bunch of rapini (or broccoli rabe, actual recipe calls for mustard green), 3 tbs butter, 1 tsp. cumin seeds, 1tsp. ground coriander, 1tsp. paprika, 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom, 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 onion finely chopped, 2 garlic cloves, 1 tbs grated fresh ginger, 1 jalapeno pepper (seeded, deveined and chopped), 1 can of whole tomato (14.5oz), drained and chopped coarsely, 1/2 cup roasted chopped cashews (toasted in the toaster oven) and enough buttermilk to thin the sauce if it gets too thick. I wilted the spinach and rapini in a wok and squeezed out the liquid. I then chopped the leaves and set aside about 1/3 cup of the chopped leaves.

Then I put the butter in a skillet over medium heat and added the cumin, coriander, paprika, cardamom and cinnamon and cooked the spices until they were fragrant. Then I added the onion and salt and cooked until wilted. Next came the garlic, ginger and chili which I cooked until lightly browned and most of the moisture had evaporated from the pan (picture above left). Then I added the tomatoes and continued cooking until the moisture was gone (picture above right). I removed about half the onion mixture and set aside. The rest of the onion mixture as well as the 2/3 of the spinach mixture and 1/2 of the toasted cashews went into a blended and were pureed. I then added the pureed mixture back into the skillet and added the onion mixture and spinach mixture I had set aside. We added some additional hot sauce (Sriracha) to bring up the heat a bit. 

To serve: I cut the cheese curd into inch size pieces and gently folded into the sauce added a little buttermilk and gently heated it. I served it with rice and the remaining cashews sprinkled on top.

The sauce for this dish is fabulous. All of the flavors meld together and the addition of the hot sauce made the flavors sing with a pleasant heat. We ate the sauce and curd with rice. Then, we had the sauce for breakfast on toasted bread with a poached egg on top. We served it as an appetizer on crackers with smoked cheese. It is extremely versatile. I would make the sauce again but I would probably use a commercial product for the curd in the future. I would also try other types of cheese such as feta. It would probably work with tofu as well…my husband will probably say I am getting “too creative” again at the last suggestion.

Salt "koji" pickles 塩麹の浅漬け

I was told that “Shio-koji” 塩麹 is “all the rage” in Japan. Although preserving or marinating vegetables and fish in salt and “koji” is a very old technique, it appears to have made a big come back. I resisted jumping onto the band wagon, until I succumbed at the first sighting of a package of dried koji at the local Japanese grocery store.

Digression alert: Before fermentation can happen, complex carbohydrates or starch have to be converted to fermentable sugars. All cultures somehow figured this out to make alcohol. The most primitive form is to chew cooked grains and spit the masticated starch out into a vessel. Diastase in saliva will convert starch into sugar and fermentation can produce a primitive “jungle” beer.  For true beer making, enzymes formed during sprouting of barley (malting) is used to convert starch in the barley and other grains to sugar (“mash). The Japanese/Chinese figured out that certain mold (yes, “mold” called Aspergillus oryzae, which produce several enzymes including amylase) can convert the starch of cooked rice into fermentable sugar. Many Japanese food items are based on “Koji” to produce; sake 酒, chochu 焼酎, miso 味噌, and shouyu 醤油 (soy sauce).  But koji or cooked rice inoculated with this mold by itself can be used in different dishes. If this was used in pickling or “tsukemono” the vegetables, sugar will mostly ferment into acid (lactic acid by lactobacillus) rather than alcohol. Thus, it imparts sweet (sugar), sour (from lactic acid) and salty (from added slat) and additional “je ne sais quoi”  components from whatever develops during fermentation.When I was growing up in Hokkaido, there was a fermented and preserved condiment/side dish called “Nishin-zuke” 鰊漬け or Herring pickles (picture below) and my mother used to make it. Essentially, vegetable and filets of dried herrings were mixed with “koji” and salt and left to ferment for several months in a cold place (there were many “cold” places in winter in Hokkaido houses).

In recent years, “koji” is making a big come back especially as “shio-koji” in Japan as a magical marinade and meat tenderizer. Since I found dried “koji” in the near-by Japanese grocery store, I decided to prepare “shio koji”. After making “shio koji”, this is the first dish I made.

I used daikon cut into quarter circle (1/4 inch thick), cucumber (1/2 inch thick), radish (a kind called “French breakfast” which is small, elongated and a bit sweeter than regular radish with red and white color, cut into thin slices). The amount was totally arbitrary but I weighed the entire amount of the vegetables, and it was about 500 grams. The reason I weighed the vegetables was because the recipe calls for 10% of shiokoji to the weight of the vegetables. I just wanted to get the feel for what constituted 10%  of the weight. I mixed and kneaded the vegetable and shiokoji. The recipe said just massage the vegetables with shiokoji in a Ziploc bag and leave it in a refrigerator for half a day but I decided to use a “Tsukemono” pot with a plunger to apply pressure and left it overnight in the refrigerator until ‘water” came out and submerged the vegetables (or “mizu ga agaru” 水が上がる meaning the water is up).

You could see the fragments of rice kernels from the shiokoji attached to the pieces of vegetables. This is good but we did not think it was all that different from simply salted asazuke 浅漬け. This version adds a slight sweetness and some complexity to the taste. The addition of thinly cut kelp, red pepper, ginger to the simple salted version also can give a different kind of complex flavors to the asazuke. If you already prepared shiokoji, this is a good use for it but I would not make this dish with shiokoji just for the sake of making it.

Shiokoji preparation: I bought pre-made and dried koji and simply followed the instructions that came with the product. As I said you could get the koji mold ( from a home brewing place) and make koji from scratch. In Japan, I was told that a ready made shiokoji is readily available in a jar but I have not seen it sold here in our area. Here, I bought premade and dried koji (#1). I added the amount of water and salt as per the instruction which came with this (#2).

After a few hours, the dried koji absorbed the water and swelled up (#3). I left this container with a lid lightly sealed (with some gap to let the gas escape) on the kitchen counter (room temperature) for 9 days mixing it once a day (#4). It developed some viscosity with a faint slightly sweet smell and the rice kernels got soft and could be crumbled between finger tips easily (#4). I pronounced this “done”, put the lid on tightly and moved it to the refrigerator. According to the instruction sheet, this final product will last at least 6 months in the refrigerator. I suspect you will be seeing this in future preparations.

Stewed Cornish game hen 若鶏の黒酢煮

This is based on my wife's suggestion. This is a variation on the theme of "Kurosu-ni" 黒酢煮. Some time ago, I decided to preserve the simmering liquid by removing the congealed fat and straining it after each use. I adjust the seasoning by adding more black vinegar, soy sauce and mirin. Sometimes I also add water to compensate for evaporation. The simmering liquid became rich in taste and collagen and it congeals like jelly in the refrigerator. Since the simmering liquid has become a rather large amount, at my wife’s suggestion, I cooked a whole Cornish game hen stuffed with very small Yukon gold potatoes (or “potatolets”).


When I simmer various chicken parts in this mixture of black vinegar, mirin and soy sauce, I often cook root vegetable such as potato, nagaimo, and daikon. Potato can be a problem since a part of it can dissolve into the simmering liquid making it more difficult to strain. Since we found  small potatolets (the second picture below in the left), I decided to use them with the skin-on which prevents the potatoes from breaking up and dissolving.

I first stuffed the cavity of the bird with the potatolets and trussed the chicken in my usual way (leaving string long so that I can fish it out later more easily. This was not needed however--in the picture below left). I poured in the simmering liquid. Although the depth of the liquid was enough to completely submerge the chicken, the chicken floated up (in the picture below on the right). I used a silicon “otoshibuta” to keep it submerged and simmered it for 1 hours then let it cool down in the liquid. We did not eat this immediately. I put it in the refrigerator. The next day, I skimmed off the congealed fat that had formed on the surface but not much fat was present. I warmed it up on simmer for another hour.



I removed the chicken and trusses as well as the potatolets (in the picture above on the right).

The Cornish game hen was tender and the meat fell off the bones. The potetolets kept their shape but were soft and could easily be mashed to soak up the simmering liquid. The skin was also soft. This is a interesting way to cook and serve whole Cornish game hen.

Beef stroganoff with bamboo shoot 竹の子入りビーフストロガノフ

This is a hybrid Western-Japanese dish that I concocted one evening. I had frozen Sukiyaki beef in our freezer which I decided to use before it got any more freezer burned than it already was. Instead of regular Sukiyaki すき焼き, I used about 1/3 for beef negimaki ねぎ巻き or beef scallion rolls. I suggested several dishes to my wife which were essentially Sukiyaki-like dishes to use up  the remainder of the beef. She challenged me to think outside the box and come up with something different. I also found a package of vacuum packed boiled bamboo shoots in the refrigerator which I bought few month ago.  This is what I came up with.

I was thinking of some kind of stir fried dish. This dish had morphed during the cooking since I changed my mind midway through but the end result was something akin to beef stroganoff.

Beef: This was what left of the sukiyaki meat. It was thinly sliced and previously frozen. I thawed it completely in the refrigerator over night (about 300 grams or about 10 oz). I seasoned it with soy sauce (1 tbs), mirin (1 tbs), and sake (1 tbs) I also mixed in potato starch or katakuriko 片栗粉.

Bamboo shoot: I quartered the bamboo shoot along the length and washed away the white chalky substance from the inside of the bamboo shoot. I then thinly sliced crosswise.

Onion: I had leftover onion (small, half) which I sliced into thin strips.

I added light olive oil to a frying pan on medium flame and sautéed the onion until soft. I then added the seasoned beef and cooked until the color changed. Next I added the bamboo shoot and sautéed for one more minute. Then I thought the seasoning was too close to Sukiyaki. I added Worchester sauce (2 tsp), chicken broth (3-4 tbs) and added florets of broccoli. I stirred and put on a tight fitting lid and let it braise/steam for 2-3 minutes. When I removed the lid, because of the potato starch, the sauce/liquid was slightly thickened. I added cream (3-4 tbs) and reduced it further to make a relatively thick sauce. I tasted it and adjusted the seasoning with salt and black pepper.

Since I did not have cooked rice or noodles, I just served this as is as a small drinking snack. Although it tasted OK, unfortunately, the broccoli was too crunchy for my wife’s taste. I get some points, however, for comeing up with this unique dish. The texture contrast of the beef and bamboo shoot and an interesting hybrid taste of the sauce were OK, however, I think, I will not make this dish again. I like a more traditional Japanese style seasoning (sweet and salty or “ama-kara” 甘辛) for thinly sliced beef.