Tempura 天麩羅

I have posted quite a few tempura dishes. But I have  not made tempura for a long time. My wife wanted to have chicken kara-age 唐揚げ and I had marinated chicken thigh for “Kara-age” but I needed  to use new oil since I discarded the old reused peanut oil the last time I made a deep fried dish. Since fresh clean oil is best for making tempura, as my wife’s suggested, I made a few tempura items before frying the kara-age. I made, shrimp, shiitake and green beans tempura.

I am a bit out of practice making tempura and I made the batter a bit too thin but it came out OK. (Although not great especially for the shrimp.) I also re-fried the shrimp heads we got as part of take-out from Tako Grill. They came out very nice and crispy (better than heating them up in the toaster oven).

I served this small assortment of tempura with green tea salt and a wedge of lemon. After this, I cooked up the chicken kara-age. For dredging, I used half-and-half mixture of rice flour (“mochi-ko” 餅粉) and potato starch (“Katakuri-ko” 片栗粉) which was really good and produced more crunchy crust as compared to my usual potato starch.

Cheese bites, two kinds チーズバイツ、2種類

 My wife is into making small cheesy and eggy appetizers or bites. These are some she made recently. The green one is made with spinach and golden one is slightly sweet with honey. (My wife was not planning on making the golden one but the recipe for the spinach bites was short of filling the pan. She didn’t want to cook a pan that was not full so without a specific recipe to go by she came up with the golden bite.) Both are eggy and cheesy with different flavors and we like these small bites with a sip of  red wine.

Ingredients:
For spinach (green) cheese bites
One bag of fresh spinach cooked and drained
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
2 eggs beaten
1 garlic clove minced
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper


For spinach (green) cheese bites (X2)
Two bags of fresh spinach cooked and drained
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
4 eggs beaten
2 garlic clove minced
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

For golden cheese bites
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 Tbs. honey
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup grated cheese (I used smoked gouda and Monterey Jack)

For golden cheese bites (X3)
1 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
3 egg
3 Tbs. honey
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 1/4 tsp. salt 
1 1/2 cup grated cheese (I used smoked gouda and Monterey Jack)

Directions:
For spinach bites: Pulse the spinach, garlic, salt, cayenne and eggs in a food processor until finely chopped and mixed. Add the spinach mixture to the combined ricotta and Parmesan cheese. Using the second smallest ice cream scoop put the mixture in mini cup cake tin lined with paper cups. As shown in the picture below I didn’t have enough spinach mixture to fill the tray so on-the-fly I came up with the golden mixture to fill the remaining cups. (As you can see the amount was perfect to complete the tray.)

For golden bites. Blend all the ingredients together and scoop into the paper lined cups.

Cook at 400 F for about 20 minutes until they are fairly firm when touched. Let rest for about 5 minutes and remove from the muffin tins.

These make very nice small bite appetizers. Both versions were very different but very flavorful and light in texture. The spinach bites were savory with a slight garlic cheesy flavor. The spinach flavor came through nicely. The yellow version was  sweeter (obviously due to the honey). The cayenne pepper in this version was much more pronounced than in the spinach version. It resulted in a sweet/hot/peppery combined taste that really made the bite. We also discovered they heat up very nicely in the toaster oven 

Lox and Ikura "donburi" bowl 燻製鮭ロックスとイクラ丼

After making Philly rolls, I used the left over lox from Vital Choice to make a donburi for lunch.  I made the lunch in the form of a Japanese meal set or "teishoku" 定食. I served the lox/ikura donburi with miso soup made with wakame ワカメ, abura-age 油揚げ and scallion as well as cucumber asazuke 胡瓜の浅漬け

I made sushi rice from the rice we cooked a night before. I microwaved the rice first. I also warmed up sushi vinegar in the microwave and mixed them together in a warmed bowl and let it stand for a few minutes covered. I placed the sushi rice in the bottom of the small bowl. Besides the lox, I topped the bowl with scrambled egg, salmon salad (in the center), cucumber and wakame with sumiso dressing ワカメと胡瓜の酢味噌あえ (leftover), "ikura" イクラ salmon roe and garnished with thin strips of nori or "Kizami-nori" 刻み海苔.

The main ingredient "lox" is mostly hidden so I dug it out for the picture (below).

So this was quite a luxurious lunch and we were good and did not succumb to having sake with it and just enjoyed this salmon "oya-ko*" donburi 鮭の親子丼.

*”Oya-ko” means parent and offspring. The classic of this type of donburi bowl is chicken meat and egg on rice. The combination of smoked salmon (lox) and salmon roe could be also considered “Oya-ko” donburi. 

Philadelphia (Philly) rolls "Hosomaki" 細巻きフィラデルフィアロール

Although I have posted  Philadelphia rolls (or Philly rolls) 6 years ago, it was a medium sized (chumaki 中巻) and the nori outside (omotemaki 表巻き). I also said in that post that this could be a thin roll with the rice outside (Hosomaki 細巻き and Uramaki 裏巻き) like California rolls. So this is exactly that version. The reason I made Philly rolls is that the type of smoked salmon we got from Vital Choice which was called "wild salmon lox" was sliced a bit too thick and did not have much of a smoked flavor so it didn’t work well with our usual smoked salmon dishes such as blini, smoked salmon and ikura dish. I made sandwiches using this lox with avocado and cucumber on croissants smeared with cream cheese one side and mayo on the other which was quite good. A few days later I made these Philly rolls for an ending "shime" 〆 dish in the evening. 

I made two rolls. The first one (upper row) came out better. For this, we made fresh rice and made the sushi rice using a Japanese cedar "hinoki" 檜 vessel  called "Hangiri" 飯切りor sushi-oke 寿司桶. We brought this so many years ago when we visited Kiso 木曽 but amazingly it still smells of Hinoki wood. In any case, this Philly roll was made exactly like California rolls but instead of crab meat and avocado, I used lox, cream cheese and cucumber. I also sprinkled the outside layer with white sesame as in California rolls. In this preparation, the lox from Vital Choice tasted great.

As a small side dish I served simmered tender octopus leg 蛸の軟らか煮 (shown below).

I also served cucumber asazuke 胡瓜の浅漬け with salt broth soaked sugar snap スナップ豌豆の塩びたし.

This was a rather large shime dish for us but it was very good and both of us managed to finish it. (Such a hardship…not!)

Jalapeño cheese curd ハラペニョペッパー自家製チーズ

We had some excess 1% milk which was approaching it’s “best-by” due date so my wife used it to make a cheese (curd). This time she tried something different for the flavoring and asked me to prepare finely chopped Jalapeño pepper. The picture below shows fresh cheese curd infused with jalapeño flavor but essentially no heat (spiciness). We like it very much. The fresh pepper taste is great. She served it slightly warmed in the toaster oven which is better that cold from the refrigerator.

She made cheese curd in usual way with heated milk and sushi vinegar. The main innovation was the use of 1% instead of 4% milk, plus the addition of the jalapeño mixed right into the cheese instead of part of an oil based marinade.

Ingredients:
1/2 gallon of 1% milk (could be basically milk of any fat content)
1/3 cup vinegar (she used sushi vinegar)
(The recipe also suggests the juice from one or two lemons, or 1/2 tsp citric acid)
1 tsp salt (or more to taste)

Directions:
Slowly heat the milk to 200 degrees F stirring constantly. After it reaches temperature remove from the heat pour in the vinegar and stir gently to combine. Leave the pot undisturbed for 10-15 minutes. It should be separated into clumps of milky white curds and watery yellow colored whey. If there is still a lot of unseparated milk add another tablespoon of the vinegar. Line a strainer with cheese cloth and set it over a bowl. Using a large spoon transfer the curds to the strainer. Let the curds drain depending on how dry you would like the ricotta to be. (If it is too dry add some of the whey reserved in the draining bowl). Gather the edges of the cheese cloth and gently squeeze the curd to further drain the whey. Then using string tie the top edges together and hang the bag from the faucet to further drain. After the most of the liquid whey has been drained off put the curd in a bowl, add the jalapeño and 1 tsp. kosher salt. Stir until everything is incorporated. Put clean cheese cloth in the cheese press. Add the curd and clamp on the lid. After one day of pressing in the refrigerator, the cheese becomes rather solid (below). 

For serving, she cuts the curd into small cubes as seen in the first picture. This cheese is a little more moist than the cheese made with 4% milk. (Wether this is due to the lower fat content of the milk or the way it was drained is subject to question). The Jalapeño adds a nice fresh green pepper taste that permeates the cheese. It is not spicy but it is very refreshing. We also like the curd slightly warmed in the toaster oven. This version of cheese curd is a nice contrast to the one with yogurt curry flavor marinade which is fried. We really like both and they go really well as an appetizer with a glass of red wine. 

Braised shishito with bonito flakes シシトウのおかかまぶし

 Japanese green pepper, (Shishi-tougarashi or shishitou 獅子唐辛子) is getting popular here. Nonetheless to my surprise, I found a bag of fresh shishitou at our regular grocery store the other day and got it. Eating Shishitou in U.S. is somewhat like a form of Russian roulette  since you can occasionally come across one that is atomically hot and you can never tell in advance which one it might be. Your first clue is when your mouth “catches on fire” as you bite into the pepper. (It seems this happens more often with U.S. raised shishitou than those raise in Japan. Legend says it has something to do with the soil.) In any case, I decided to make a shishitou dish I have not made before and added two small dishes as starters for the evening.

I thought if I de-vein and de-seed the shishitou, chances of hitting a hot one should be much less. So I de-veined and de-seeded and cut shishitou in long quarter strips. I served this with dashimaki だし巻きJapanese omelet with “aonori” 青のり dried seaweed.

Ingredients: (for two small appetizer servings)
4 shishitou, de-deined and de-seeded, cut into quarter strips lengthwise.
1 tsp x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce (or half and half of mirin and soy sauce)
1 tsp vegetable oil
3 tsp or more dried bonito flakes.

Directions:
Saute the shishitou in vegetable oil on medium heat for a few minutes.
Turn dow the flame to low and add the noodle sauce and quickly braise.
Cut the flame and mix in the bonito flakes.

I also served two small appetizer dishes. The below is chicken tenderloin (from chicken roasted in the Weber grill) dressed in sesame dressing 鳥のささみの胡麻和え.

“Hya-yakko” 冷奴 cold cube of silken tofu topped with myoga  茗荷 and perilla 大葉 (both from our garden) and grated ginger with the concentrated Japanese noodle sauce.

These three appetizers were a perfect start of the evening. By the way, we did not get any atomically hot shishito in this batch. (Maybe this was due to the luck of the draw or maybe it is indeed worthwhile to removed the vein and seeds.)

Marbled matcha milk bread 渦巻き抹茶食パン

 My wife saw this recipe on the King Arthur’s website and as part of her project to try every type of Japanese milk bread (shoku-pan 食パン) she could find (as witnessed in the number of milk bread recipes in this blog), she decided we had to make this. Who could pass up a Japanese milk bread with swirls of matcha green tea in it? The original recipe called for a single loaf made with three equal portions placed in the baking loaf pan. My wife decided to just make 2 separate loaves. Rolling the dough to make the different colored swirls was a bit tricky, and required some teamwork. But the end result, with nice concentric swirls (below), looked better than the pictures of the original 3 part loaf. Visually stunning, we can taste the green tea (quite a good amount of matcha 抹茶 green tea powder went in). 

As usual, I ask my wife to take over.

Ingredients
Tangzhong 湯種
1 cup (227g) milk, whole preferred
1/2 cup (60g) AP flour

Dough
1/2 cup (113g) milk, whole preferred; cold*
2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 tablespoons (25g) granulated sugar
1 large egg
3 1/2 cups (420g) AP Flour
2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons (57g) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing pan
2 tablespoons (12g) matcha powder
1 tablespoon (14g) water

*Cold milk will help cool down the tangzhong and bring the dough to a slightly warm temperature.

Directions:
To make the tangzhong: In a small saucepan, whisk together the milk and flour. Cook the mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly, until a thick paste forms and the whisk leaves lines on the bottom of the pan, about 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer.

To make the dough: Using a whisk or the whisk attachment of the mixer, add the milk, yeast, sugar, and egg into the tangzhong and whisk until fully combined.

Add the flour and salt to the mixing bowl and use the dough hook attachment to knead on low speed until a shaggy, cohesive dough forms, about 1 minute.

With the mixer still on low speed, add the butter about one tablespoon at a time, waiting to add the next piece until the previous one is fully incorporated, about 3 to 4 minutes total. Increase the speed to medium-high and continue to mix until a smooth, elastic, and tacky (but not sticky) dough forms and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, 7 to 10 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough in half. Knead one half briefly, form into a tight ball, place in a greased bowl, and cover.

Transfer the remaining half of the dough back to the bowl of the stand mixer and add the matcha tea and enough water to get the tea incorporated into the dough. Knead, beginning on low speed and working up to medium, until fully incorporated, about 1 to 2 minutes. (Don’t worry about any remaining small clumps of matcha; they won’t appear in the finished loaf.) Transfer the matcha dough to the lightly floured work surface, knead briefly, round into a tight ball, place in greased bowl, and cover.

Let the dough rise at a warm room temperature until doubled in volume, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

To shape the loaf: Turn the matcha dough onto a lightly floured work surface and divide it into 2 equal portions and set aside. Repeat with the plain dough (#1). Let the dough rounds rest, covered, for 15 minutes to make the dough more pliable and easier to work with.

Use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll out one portion of plain dough into an oval. Repeat with a portion of matcha dough (#2). Stack the matcha dough on top of the regular dough, then lightly press with the rolling pin to cohere. It should measure 11” X 8”. (#3). Starting on the short end, roll up the dough into a tight cylinder (#4). Cover and set aside while you repeat the process with the remaining portions of dough. You should end up with two cylinders, each made up of two kinds of dough.

Arrange one cylinder on your work surface so that the short end is facing you, then use a rolling pin to flatten it into a 12” x 8” rectangle. The plain dough will be covering the matcha dough entirely, but you will see a flattened green and white spiral at both ends (#5). Starting with the shorter end, roll up the dough into a tight log (#6). Place the log, seam side down, into a buttered 8 1/2” x 4 1/2" loaf pan. Repeat with the remaining dough and put it seam side down in the second loaf pan (#7).

Cover the pan and set it in a warm place. Let the dough rise until it looks puffy, springs back slowly when gently pressed; about 30 to 40 minutes. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the interior of the loaf registers at least 190°F when measured with a digital thermometer (#8).

Remove the loaf from the oven and turn onto a wire rack to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

This is a visually beautiful and delicious tasting bread. The green tea flavor is very mild but does come through. The texture of the bread is very soft as is typical of milk bread. It is great lightly toasted and buttered for breakfast.