Saturday, April 6, 2024
Kabocha salad カボチャのサラダ
This is just a note for myself.
Ingredients:
Kabocha squash, seeds removed, skin shaved off (optional), cut into half inch cubes
Raisins
For the dressing
Greek yogurt
Mayonnaise
Curry powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Boil the kabocha in salted water for 5-7 minutes until cooked but not too mushy
Mix the ingredients for the dressing (about the same amount of mayo and yogurt, the amount of curry powder is to your liking)
For an impromptu salad, this was much better than I expected. The natural sweetness of the kabocha was complemented by the curry flavor. The mixture of the yogurt, mayo and kabocha made a nice creamy texture with some tartness. I will make this again.
P.S. Hawk joins us for Hanami 花見!
This year was a bit unusual for the cherry blossoms. The trees bloomed early and the blooms lasted for a long time. Since we have three trees with different bloom timing, we had a very long time to enjoy cherry blossoms or “Hanami”. One afternoon, a hawk joined us for Hanami! We looked out the window and there he was in all his magnificence sitting not ten feet from the window on the railing of the deck. We marveled at the image of such an awesome creature juxtaposed to the delicate loveliness of the cherry blossoms.
Friday, November 24, 2023
Kabocha Squash Cookies
Ingredients
1/2 cup flesh from cooked/roasted winter squash* (may substitute yam, sugar pumpkin or sweet potato. We substituted kabocha squash)
1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups almond meal/flour, or more as needed
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
Pine nuts, for coating (optional)
Shredded coconut, for coating (sweetened or unsweetened; optional)
1/4 cup sugar plus 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, for coating (optional)
*We used kabocha squash, cooked in a microwave oven and mashed. We further use a ricer to make it smooth.
Ingredients (X2)
1 cup flesh from cooked/roasted winter squash* (may substitute yam, sugar pumpkin or sweet potato. We substituted kabocha squash)
2 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
3 cups almond meal/flour, or more as needed
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Finely grated zest of 2 lemon
Pine nuts, for coating (optional)
Shredded coconut, for coating (sweetened or unsweetened; optional)
1/4 cup sugar plus 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, for coating (optional)
Sesame seeds for coating (optional).
Directions:
Combine the squash, egg yolk, almond meal/flour, sugar, vanilla extract and lemon zest in a mixing bowl, stirring to form a smooth, very soft dough. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 1 day. If the dough seems too pasty and wet, add a little more almond meal/flour, keeping in mind that the dough will firm up further as it chills.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
Divide the dough into 24 equal portions (about 2 teaspoons), rolling each one into a ball. Before spacing them on the baking sheets at least 1 inch apart, roll some of them in one or more of the coating options listed below. Bake (middle rack) for 15 to 20 minutes, during which time the cookies should not spread much.
Cool completely on the baking sheets before serving or storing.
All three version were very good. The cookie itself is moist and soft with a mild slightly sweet squash/pumpkin flavor. Not quite a typical cookie but very good. And three different coating worked excellently. We really like this cookie.
Wednesday, September 20, 2023
Tsukune with Lotus Root and Perilla 蓮根大葉つくね
I served this with “kinpira” braised lotus root 金平蓮根 I made to finish up the last of the renkon. I also served simmered “kabocha” かぼちゃの煮物 Japanese pumpkin.
Ingredients:
8 slices of lotus root, skin peeled and sliced into (4-5mm) thick plus two or three slices chopped up (to mix into the tuskune itself)
8 perilla leaves (if too large cut in half to make 8 pieces)
4 oz (114 gram) of ground chicken (this was low-fat breast meat ground chicken)
1/2 tsp ground ginger root
1/2 tsp ground garlic
1 tsp mayonnaise (optional, to compensate low-fat ground meat)
1 tsp miso
1 tbs “katakuri-ko” potato starch
1 tbs vegetable or olive oil
Directions:
In a bowl, mix the chicken, ginger, garlic, mayonnaise, miso and chopped up lotus root. Mix well by hand until the mixture is elastic and binding together (if too loose, you could add potato starch, if too stiff, you could add a beaten egg)
Coat the slices of lotus root with the potato starch thinly (to improve the adhesion of the meat mixture)
Place 1/8 of the chicken mixture onto the lotus root on the cutting board and press lightly so that the mixture will go into the holes of the lotus root.
Place the perilla leaf on and press lightly so that it adheres to the meat mixture (see below)
Add the oil to a non-stick frying pan on medium heat, and start cooking the lotus root side down first (see below) and cook a few minutes or until the lotus root browns a bit
Gently turn it over and turn down the heat to low and cook a few more minutes with the lid on for the last 2 minutes to make sure the meat mixture is cooked through.
Optionally you could add a mixture of mirin and soy sauce at the end but I did not.
Drain excess oil on a paper towel.
This tsukune is seasoned enough for us but you could add “Yakitori sauce (equal mixture of mirin and soy sauce) ” as mentioned before. This re-heats nicely in a toaster oven. It is a nice contrast in textures and taste. The chicken portion is almost fluffy in texture which is a nice contrast to the crunch of the renkon on the bottom layer and distributed through out the meat. The perilla adds a nice fresh minty spiciness.
Tuesday, December 20, 2022
Nattou ball 納豆つくね
This recipe also came from a YouTube episode by the original Japanese Iron chef Rokusaburo Michiba 道場六三郎. He made two dishes from nattou 納豆, the infamous sticky and smelly Japanese dish of fermented soybeans, which often appears as part of breakfast. Nattou is most commonly eaten over rice for breakfast. Another less common but popular way is in miso soup for a dish which is called “Nattou-jiru” 納豆汁. Even among the Japanese, some (especially from “Kansai” 関西 west part of Japan) do not eat it and some love it. (I belong to the latter category).
For many years my wife referred to nattou as the one Japanese food she just could not eat—the smell, the sliminess, the fermented taste. (Every culture seems to have a dish like this; an acquired taste developed in childhood. Think ripe French cheese or Australian vegemite. And for me, believe it or not, cooked oatmeal). Then my mother learned that the natto-nastiness could be alleviated by stirring it. She recommended several hundred turns would do the trick. The stirring apparently enters air into the natou that helps remove the smell and stringy sliminess. All of a sudden natto was on my wife’s menu.
I have made quite a few dishes with nattou, many of which are focused on reducing the stickiness and the smell. In any case, Michiba made a miso soup but, instead of mixing nattou into the soup, he made nattou into balls which he called “nattou-tsukume*” and then put it into miso soup. I made it as a small appetizer one evening. I put a small amount of miso soup (made it a bit stronger) as a sauce and topped it with Japanese mustard (see picture below)
* “Tsukune”, “Tsukuneru” which means “knead” or “mix”, and is usually made from ground chicken and a most common item in “Yakitori” 焼き鳥.
Ingredients (4 tsukune balls):
1 stalk of chopped scallion
1 tbs katakuriko potato starch
2 cups of Japanese dashi broth
1-2 tbs miso
Japanese hot mustard (from tube) slightly diluted with water for topping
Directions:
Prepare the natou by adding the sauce, mustard and the scallion. Mix well (stir over 100 time if you have the time), add the potato starch and mix.
Using two spoons, moistened, I made four quenelles (or moisten your hands and make small balls) and drop them in the simmering broth.
Cook it for several minutes (see below).
You could dissolve the miso and serve this as “miso soup”. I wasn’t ready to serve the dish so I separated the nattou balls and the broth and placed them in a sealed containers and in the refrigerator.
Before serving, I warmed up the nattou balls in the preserved broth. I took out a small amount of broth and dissolved the miso to taste.
I served the miso broth in a small dish, with the nattou ball and topped with the mustard
This is a very interesting dish. The hot Japanese mustard made this dish. Although the nattou balls tasted like nattou to me, the texture and smell is quite acceptable (especially for my wife’s palate). “Mikey liked it!”
Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Uni shutou with salmon roe 雲丹酒盗いくら入り
Monday, February 15, 2021
One spoonful appetizers a.k.a baby food for adults 一口スプーンの前菜第二弾
Ingredients:
Broccoli stem, hard bottom removed and hard skin removed (I used stems of two broccoli heads), cut into small cubes.
One medium onion, finely diced
One parsnip (or maybe a potato), skinned, cut into small cubes.
1/2 cup of chicken broth or more depending on the consistency of the puree (I used Swanson's no fat reduced salt)
1 tsp unsalted butter and 2 tbs olive oil
Salt to taste
Two bay leaves (optional)
Directions:
Add the olive oil and butter to the pan on medium flame and sauté the onion until cooked (2-3 minutes).
Add the broccoli stem and parsnip and coat with butter/oil and add the chicken both to cover.
Remove the bay leaves and puree using an immersion blender until smooth (add more chicken broth for desired consistency).
Season with salt
These appetizers are nice. The spoonful is just the right amount for a satisfying gulp. They provide a nice range of flavors although the consistency seems, well consistent. It is lovely and smooth but I can’t help but think of it as sophisticated “baby food for adults”. I’ll have to come up with something different.
Saturday, December 19, 2020
Appetizers 4 kinds お通し4種類
Ingredients:
3 Japanese eggplant
2 tbs neutral vegetable oil
two small pieces of ginger, crushed with the side of the knife.
250ml Japanese dashi broth (I made this with my usual bonito and kelp dashi pack)
3 tbs soy sauce
3 tbs mirin
(Instead of soy sauce, I am using "shirodashi" 白だしand light colored soy sauce).
Directions:
Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise. Shallowly cut the skin in crosshatching pattern and then cut lengthwise again to make 1/4 eggplant.
Add the oil to a frying pan on medium flame and add the ginger for a few minutes until fragrant.
Add the eggplants skin-side down and fry for 3-4 minutes and turn over to fry both of the fresh sides for 2-3 minutes each,
Add the seasonings and broth (below), put on the lid and simmer for 3-4 minutes.
This is good eaten hot right after it is cooked but it can also be stored in the broth in a sealable container in the refrigerator. The stored eggplant can be eaten cold or heated up in the microwave.
This is usual salmon nanban. This one was really good since the quality of the salmon (from Whole foods) was good and I did not over cook it. I served this with sugar snap in salt broth スナップ豌豆の塩びたし.
Mr. and Mrs. Segawa of Tako Grill kindly gave us "kazunoko" herring roe 数の子. I prepared it as I described in my New Year dish tab. The half serving shown below was soaked in dashi broth with soy sauce and mirin seasoning. I marinated the other half serving in sake-lee and miso mixture or "kasu-miso" 粕味噌. Since this preparation will last longer than the one soaked in dashi broth we will eat it closer to the holidays.
I also served Spanish mackerel in miso sauce 鯖の味噌煮. (The red dots surrounding the mackerel are part to the decoration of the bowel not part of the preparation.)
This was a quite a good starter line up for the evening.
Friday, October 16, 2020
Kabocha ginger rolls かぼちゃ生姜ロール
I got a whole Japanese "kabocha" squash the other day from Hmart via the Instacart. I made my usual simmered kabocha かぼちゃの煮物 and pottage かぼちゃのポタージュ. That left half a kabocha. I could have made other kabocha dishes but my wife wanted to make Kabocha ginger rolls/muffins and I gladly donated the remaining kabocha. This is a variation of pumpkin ginger rolls she made before. Instead of canned pumpkin puree, she baked the kabocha in the oven and removed the meat (actually I did most of this part). Using this, she made the roll as well as stuffing for the rolls.
Ingredients:
For bread
4 1/2 cups bread flour
2 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs yeast
420 grams (or 15 oz.) of mashed Kobocha (all of this goes into the bread. If more is available that goes into the filling)
2 large eggs
4 Tbs. butter melted
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
For the stuffing:
Note: See below, for 20 muffins I used about 360 gm. combined weight of kobach and ricotta
remaining amount of mashed kobacha (this is in addition to the 420 that goes into the bread)
ricotta cheese
Finely diced candied ginger to taste (optional)
amounts discussed below
Directions:
For the cooked pumpkin (kabocha)
Cut the Kabocha in half, remove seeds and guts. Place cut side down on a cookie sheet. Cook in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes until it becomes soft. Remove the skin and mash to a puree.
For the pumpkin bread:
Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowel. Turn the dough so it gets coated with the oil.
Cover and let rise until it doubles. Punch dough down and turn out onto a floured cutting board.
This gets a bit complicated. When making stuffed muffins I got tired of eye-balling the amount of filling I needed only to have it run out before I had filled all the rolls or have some left over, so I came up with a system to measure out the right amount. I do this by first measuring the total weight of the dough. In this case the dough weighed 1420 grams. I knew a muffin weighing about 71 grams is a good size so I calculated how many muffins I would get out of the dough; 1420/71 = 20 muffins. Next I calculated how much filling I would need. I knew from experimentation that an 18 gram ball would make a good ratio of filling to bread so I calculated the total amount of filling I would need; 18 x 20 = 360 grams. I took the leftover kabocha and supplemented it with ricotta cheese and about 1/2 cup of finely chopped candied ginger until the total equaled 360 grams. With this method the ratio of kabocha to other ingredients in the filling can vary but the total should be enough filling for all the muffins. The actual weights will vary each time the muffins are made depending on the combined ingredients. Only the method would be consistent.
I started by making each of the filling balls for the muffins and setting them aside. This makes assembly more efficient. Then I cut the dough into pieces, weighed them and stuffed them with the pre-measured stuffing balls. (The stuffing was just enough to fill each muffin!) I put the muffins into a heavily greased baking pan. Covered and let rise again (about 1/2 hour). Meanwhile, I preheated the oven to 375 degrees. I cooked the rolls for 20 minutes. Remove from the pan immediately after they come out of the oven.
These are great rolls. The crystalized ginger in the stuffing really makes this roll. It provides a nice burst of sharp but sweet flavor. The creamy texture of the filling really went well with the surrounding dough and the raisins added an additional burst of tender sweetness. Compared to canned pumpkin puree, kabocha really tasted better.
Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Special take-out Kaiseki box from Sushi Taro 寿司太郎のテイクアウト特製会席弁当
Prior to COVID the omakase counter at Sushi Taro was our special-occasion-go-to place. As a matter of fact, we had a reservation in March this year but because of COVID, that got canceled. I knew for some time that, although the restaurant was closed, Sushi Taro has been doing take-out. But getting there either from home or work for the pick-up was impractical. Since I started thinking about the NewYear “Osechi” 御節 from Sushi Taro, I contacted them. I was delighted to find out that they are going to do Osechi for the next New Year and I quickly placed an order. During that interaction, I learned that they do special omakase kaiseki boxes-to-go and that they can deliver. I quickly placed an order. Delivery was scheduled for Friday at 5pm. We were like little kids in anticipation. I even "just happened" to come home from work a bit early for the delivery. It arrived in two, two-tiered (bento or modified jubako?) boxes. (a total of four boxes with three compartments each). We initially thought we got two identical sets but when we opened the second box, surprise! We were totally blown away. All compartments contained many wonderful different dishes. The first one had some cooked dishes, two different kinds of sushi. The cooked dishes in the top tier were still warm.
Saturday, October 10, 2020
Grilled mackerel salad with “Yuzu” mayonnaise 柚子マヨあえ焼き鯖のサラダ
This is a small salad made of leftover salted and grilled mackerel 鯖の塩焼き. I just came up with this and did not have any recipe.
Monday, October 21, 2019
Capelin "nanban" シシャモの南蛮漬け
Along with this dish, I served store-bought "satsuma-age" fish cake 薩摩揚げ, "dashimaki" omelet だし巻き卵, sugar snap スナップ豌豆の塩びたし, simmered kabocha かぼちゃの煮物(center square plate) and boiled octopus leg with rapini. This was quite a big starter.
Ingredients:
One package (10) "shishamo" capelin thawed
2-3 Tbs potato starch "katakuriko" 片栗粉 for dredging
One sweet onion, halved and cut into thin strips
One medium carrot, peeled and cut into small julienne
Few dried Japanese "nanban" togarashi 南蛮唐辛子 red pepper, cut into small rings
One cup sweet vinegar (one cut rice vinegar, 1/2 cup sugar and 1tsp Kosher salt, boiled to dissolve)
1/2 vegetable or peanut oil for "shallow" frying
Direction:
Dredge shishamo with the potato starch (#1)
Add the onion and carrot in a sealable container and pour the hot sweet vinegar and let it cool to the room temperature (#2)
Shallow fry (or deep fry if you so prefer) in 1/4 inch deep oil (#3) for a few minutes and then turn over and cook another minute or two (#4)
Remove half of the vegetables from #2 and add the fried shishamo (#5)
Add back the vegetables to cover the fish (#6)
Put the lid on and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.
As a rescue dish for old frozen shishamo, this was quite good. Frying and marinating in sweet vinegar really made it more than edible. Because of the preservative nature of the marinade, we kept enjoying this dish for a week (one small fish at a time). This dish is perfect for cold sake but not great with red wine because of the acidity.
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Miso soup made with previously frozen Maitake and tobanjan 舞茸のピリ辛味噌汁
The bowls I used were much larger than regular miso soup bowls. The picture doesn't show the ingredients in the soup very well. The unique thing about this recipe, and the thing that caught my attention, was that it called for freezing the maitake (to enhance its flavor) and the addition of tobanjan 豆板醤. This, I just had to try because if it was possible to freeze the mushroom resulting in improved flavor that technique could come in handy for other recipes. I had to make some variations to the recipe, for example, since I did not have Japanese "Kabu" turnip which was suggested in the original recipe, I used daikon, carrot, wakame seaweed, and scallion.
The picture below shows the kabocha and broccolini. To make a typical "teishoku" 定食 i.e. dinner or a lunch set, we would have needed stukemono 漬物 or pickled/salted vegetables which we did not have.
Ingredients:
One package of maitake (1/4 lb), hand torn into bit sized pieces, quickly rinsed in water with the moisture removed using a salad spinner. Place mushrooms in a Ziploc bag and freeze overnight. (the recipe indicates that this process enhances the flavor of the maitake).
Daikon, peeled and sliced in 1/4 inch thick rounds and cut in half (amount arbitrary)
Carrot, peeled and sliced in 1/4 inch thick diagonally (amount arbitrary)
Salt preserved (or dry) "wakame" seaweed, salt washed and hydrated, cut into bite sized pieces (amount arbitrary)
Scallion, finely chopped
2 cups dashi broth (I used a dashi pack which included small dried fish called "iriko", which is more appropriate for miso soup)
1 tbs of miso
1/2 tsp of tobanjan (or more if you like it spicy)
Directions:
I added the broth, maitake (not thawed), daikon and carrot into a pan. I simmered it until the vegetables were cooked (for 10-15 minutes).
I added the wakame and dissolved the miso and tobanjan. I tasted and add more miso or tobanjan.
Add the scallion and when it comes back to a boil, shut off the flame and serve.
Although I added just a small amount of tobanjan, the soup was still rather spicy. It was ok with me but my wife thought it was too hot. She added yogurt to the soup. She said it calmed it down and tasted good. We are not sure freezing made any difference. I was afraid ice crystals would form in the maitake and make it spongy when it was frozen but that did not happen. It maintained a nice firm texture. This is a good soup and the freezing technique will be useful for making the maitake last longer. However, my wife said maitake is best if it was cooked with some oil.