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.

Braised daikon green with deep fried tofu 大根葉と油揚げの金平

Last time I bought daikon 大根 at the Japanese grocery store, it had a very small amount of green on the top. Although I have posted a few similar dishes using daikon greens, this is another iteration. Since Catalina had fresh Bluefin tuna (we got the chutoro and toro portion), we were having a sashimi feast. For that, I made the usual daikon garnish. When you do "katsura-muki" 桂剥き or cutting thin sheet of daikon, the center portion of the daikon cannot be cut and becomes a leftover. So I used this leftover daikon as well.

In the picture below on the left is a small portion of the daikon green which I removed. I washed and then finely chopped it. I also sliced and julienned daikon, carrot (one small, I cut it in larger match sticks instead of regular julienne to give a crunchy texture) and julienned abura-age 油揚げ or deep fried tofu pouch (one small "inari" 稲荷 kind, as usual, I poured hot water over it to defrost as well as to remove any excess oil). These ingredients are lined up on the picture below on the right.

I put peanut oil (1 tbs) and dark sesame oil (1 tsp) in a frying pan on medium flame. I first sautéed the daikon green, daikon and carrot. I sprinkled Japanese one flavor red pepper flakes or "Ichimi tougarashi" 一味唐辛子 to taste. After a minute of so when the vegetables were coated with oil and slightly softened, I added the abura-age. I then seasoned with mirin (3 tbs) and soy sauce (3 tbs) and braised it until only a very small amount of liquid remained.

The seasoning was a bit on the strong side but would have been perfect as a rice condiment. But for a drinking snack, you may want to replace half of the mirin with water or sake and also reduce the soy sauce. The daikon green and carrot remained a bit crispy. In contrast, the daikon and abura-age were soft and absorbed the seasoning, providing an interesting texture contrast.

We had this as a small drinking snack with cold sake. Since we had this cold, the seasoning was just fine and not too strong.

Sake steamed chicken breast with onion mayo sauce 酒蒸し鶏胸肉の玉ねぎメヨソース

This is continuation of “Mayoler” マヨラー theme. The sauce may be considered as a variation of tartar sauce but with a twist.

Chicken: I just sliced microwave sake steamed chicken (one half breast for two servings). After I sliced it, I coated each slice with the semi-jelled liquid in the container where the sake steamed chicken was kept. This is a mixture of sake, protein from the chicken and flavors from ginger root and scallion with a slight saltiness. Coating with this liquid makes the chicken slices much nicer with a good mouth feel.

Sauce: I finely minced Vidalia onion (half medium) and mixed in with mayonnaise (2 tbs). I also added Sriracha hot sauce (1/2 tsp) and soy sauce (1/4 tsp).

I made a bed of baby arugula on which I placed the chicken slices. I put the mayo-onion sauce on the top. To make it more interesting, I finely cubed the jelled simmering liquid from the black vinegar soy sauce mixture I used to cook chicken thighs on the top as well.

The onion is just strong enough but not too strong and Sriracha sauce gives just good level of heat. The black vinegar jell adds a salty and sour taste which bursts into you mouth as it melts. The chicken is, as usual, very moist and tender.

Hot smoked Arctic char 北極イワナの燻製焼き

As usual, finding the corresponding Japanese name for arctic char is not easy. It belongs to the salmon family (Salmonidae) and lives in cold lakes in the Canadian arctic and other places. They have to breed in pure water like any salmon; some are land locked some go back to ocean. The Japanese name appears to be “Hokkyoku Iwana” 北極イワナ.

The meat is pink in color and milder than regular salmon but more flavorful than trout. The closest I can compare it to is “Nijimasu” 虹鱒 meaning “rainbow trout” or “chippu or chip” チップ,  the name which was derived from how the native Inuit used to call it. The “Shikotsu” lake 支笏湖 near Sapporo is famous for it. the arctic char we find here is larger than what I remember of “Nijimatsu” and probably stronger tasting.

In any case, among the fresh fish displayed in the ice filled container at the local grocery store, the arctic char looked best. Other choices included, black bass, flounder, and red snapper. 
The arctic char we got was about 4 lb. I salted it a bit heavily inside. This was large enough that I need to use indirect heat. Although I should have used direct heat to make the skin crispy, the stifling heat and mosquitos made me just leave the fish in the Weber until it was done rather than frequently tending it. Again I used apple wood chips soaked in water. Using indirect heat in Weber grill with lid on, I cooked the fish for about 30 minutes. As you can see in the first picture, this fish is nicely hot smoked. The skin however, was too leathery to eat.
My wife was in charge of “dissecting” the fish. The belly parts are the best part, since it is fattiest, nicely salted and heavily smoked as you can see the picture below. The meat is somewhere between trout and salmon with pale pink color and the taste matching the color.
The first night, we enjoyed the belly part with freshly cooked rice—it was really good! The next day, I used the remaining meat in a salad similar to what I make with cooked salmon. (The fish mixed with chopped celery, scallion, grated lemon rind, chopped parsley, lemon juice, mayonnaise and Dijon mustard). I used the salad to make an open faced sandwich on ciabata bread for lunch.

The 3rd day, I served the fish as part of a cold plate appetizer. I put a cold chunk of the Char meat (carefully deboned by my wife) on a plate with some smoked salmon and sliced cucumber. I included mayonnaise, whole grain mustard and lemon wedge for condiment and dipping. This was consumed on crackers.

For this, we switched to cold sake, the new batch of Momokawa Diamond sake. Compared to a few years ago, this sake has improved a lot but, to us, it is still slightly too sweet and lacking in the crisp fruity flavors we like. The overly yeasty flavor, which we encounter often with this class of sake was not present and it was quite drinkable with this arctic char/cold smoked salmon appetizer.

Beef scallion rolls 葱巻き

This is a classic home cooked dish, especially for bento boxes, as well as an Izakaya dish. It is also a very common item you will find in American Japanese restaurants. Since I had thinly sliced frozen beef for sukiyaki (#2 in the second picture) and it would not improve with time, I decided the time had come to thaw it.

Rolling thinly sliced meat, either beef or pork, around a core of vegetables or any cylindrical edible object (even a hotdog) is a very common Japanese technique.

It so happened that we were short of any vegetables except scallion so I made this scallion roll. The amounts are for three rolls perfect for two small servings (Picture above).

Scallion: I removed the outer layer, the root ends and green part of about a dozen scallions (#1).

Beef: This was thinly sliced beef for sukiyaki (frozen). I used 2-3 slices per roll depending on the integrity and size of the beef slice and 3-4 scallions in the center and made three rolls (#3).
With the seam side down, I seared the meat using a non-stick frying pan on medium flame with a small amount of oil (I used light olive oil) (#4). I seared all four sides and then added the seasoning.

Seasoning: This could be any store bought teriyaki-style sauce. I did not want to make it sweet so I used an equal amount of sake (2 tbs) and concentrated noodle sauce or “mentusyu” from the bottle (2 tbs). You could use mirin instead of sake to make it more classic teriyaki flavor (i.e. sweet). (#5).

I put a tightly fitting lid on the pan and steam/braised it for few minutes (#5). When the sauce was reduced, I remove the lid and moved the pan back and forth to roll the beef scallion rolls in the sauce to completely coat them(#6).

I sliced one roll into 4 pieces and served (the first picture). This is a rather mundane dish but my wife really liked it. If available, I would have used “Tokyo scallion” or “Naganegi” 長葱 but multiples of regular scallions is just fine and probably much more tender.

Umeshu Highball 梅酒ハイボール

I usually make plum wine or plum liquor 梅酒 every year from the harvest of our plum tree in the backyard. Because we had to transplant our Japanese plum tree last year (which required some severe pruning), I did not make plum wine in 2011. Then I found some batches of plum wines which I started 2010 tucked away in a cabinet. They were still in the jars with the plums. There were three jars; one made with brandy, two with vodka. The plums had been submerged for 2 years instead of the usual one year. Even the ones with Vodka looked rather dark. I tasted them and they all tasted just fine and looked nice and clear. So I quickly bottled it. I used empty sake bottles with screw tops.


After filling quite few empty sake bottles, a small amount of the Vodka plum wine remained and I put it in a small carafe for immediate consumption (on the right in the picture below).


Since it has been hot and muggy, I decide to serve this as a “High ball” (or Umeshu and soda). The alcoholic content of this Vodka and Brandy umeshu is rather high (40%), this is a perfect way to enjoy it.


This is the first time I left alcohol and plums together for 2 years but it appears the oxidation was accelerated judging from the dark color. The taste is also much mellower than I would expect from just bottled umeshu. This is perfect for summer days. This is a Japanese answer to Campari and soda. Within a few days, the umeshu in the carafe was gone...it has been rather hot summer.

Cold water melon soup with wasabi sauce 冷製スイカスープの山葵クリームソース添え

This is my wife's summery cold water melon soup. When we buy a whole water melon, even a miniature variety, two of us cannot possibly finish it before it goes bad. We eat some but what we can not eat, my wife often makes into a cold soup. This is a very refreshing soup and perfect for the hot muggy dog days of summer we are having.

We added wasabi cream swirls to the soup for a Japanese touch.
This is the easiest soup you could possibly make but you have to have a sweet and ripe water melon. We used a seedless melon but you could use seeded ones but you have to remove all the seeds. I usually remove the meat of the fruit from the rind and cut it into small cubes for the sake of convenience.

My wife just put the cubes of watermelon into a large stainless steel bowl and added butter milk* (enough but the amount is arbitrary)  and blended it using an emersion blender. She also added the juice from half of a lemon. That is about it. It makes a nice pastel pink color.

*Butter milk: I am not sure you can get buttermilk in Japan. I have never seen it but I lived there a very long time ago. Traditional buttermilk is a by-product of churning butter and cream from whole milk. The whey left after churning butter from milk is let to ferment and becomes “buttermilk”. The kind we can get at the grocery store, however, is “cultured” buttermilk in which a type of lactobacillus is added to milk to make it ferment. My wife actually drinks buttermilk and says she can identify the flavor of different brands. Me, I cannot touch the stuff (too acidic and strange tasting). It tastes awful to me but I love this soup.

Wasabi cream sauce: My wife originally concocted this; it is a mixture of grated wasabi (from a  tube), crème fraise and milk. Again, I never measure the amount but I aim for a nice saucy consistency and subtle but good amount of wasabi zing.

After I put the soup in a soup dish, I drizzled the wasabi cream sauce in circular motion and garnish it with chopped chives but if you have, fresh mint that would be better.

This is a such a wonderful cold sop for hot summer. Somehow the butter milk disappears cuts the sweetness of the watermelon and just adds a depth to the soup. The wasabi cream adds a zing to the refreshing taste.

Vidalia onion salad with garlic chive and chicken skin 玉ねぎのサラダ、ニラ、雛皮入り

This is another quick dish I concocted. The main ingredient is Vidalia onion which is known for its sweetness (Vidalia onion is a particular cultivar growing in low sulfa soil in Vidalia, Georgia). I am not sure if there is something similar in Japan. In any case, raw onion salad is a regular izakaya affair, a variation of which I have posted before. This is another variation of raw onion salad using Vidalia onion with the addition of blanched garlic chives and chicken skin which is the by-product of the sake-steamed or “sakamushi” 酒蒸しchicken.

The amounts are for two good sized servings (good size for us, any way).

Onion: I first halved the onion and then sliced very thinly (my ceramic “nakiri” knife is the best for this) to make long strips (half of medium sized  Vidalia onion). Although Vidalia onion is sweet and less astringent than regular or red onion, I added some salt, kneaded, let it stand for few minutes and then soaked  in cold water for 5 minutes or so, I drained and then wrung out the excess moisture in a paper towel. If you like the strong flavor of onion, you can skip this step.

Garlic chive: These are our home grown garlic chives. The amount is arbitrary but I used a half inch diameter bundle. I blanched it in rapidly boiling salted water for 30 seconds to 1 minute, drained and spread out on a paper towel lined plate to cool down quickly. I squeezed out the excess moisture and cut it in 2 inch segment.

Chicken skin: I just used the skin of the sakamushi chicken breast (from 4 breasts) cut into thin julienne. This is optional or can be substituted with julienned cooked meat, ham, or even with grilled deep fried tofu pouch “abura-age” 油揚げ.

Dressing: I was still out of Ponzu sauce, so I made dressing from semi congealed liquid in the container in which I kept the sakamushi chicken or you can use dashi broth (3 tbs), soy sauce (3 tbs, reduced salt kind), and rice vinegar (1 tbs). For good measure, I added Yuzu koshou (1/2 tsp).
I dressed the ingredients and garnished it with slices of Campari tomato (skinned).

This is nothing spectacular but mild raw onion and blanched garlic chive are a good combination. This is a very refreshing salad or sunomono 酢の物 to start the evening.

Cold thin udon noodles with dipping sauce 冷たいうどん

We are having some very hot and humid days including a sudden big storm called a (derecho). The storm was incredibly violent. Large trees with trunks several feet in diameter were split in half by the high winds. This happened to a number of trees around us. All of the debris from the downed trees ended up in our neighbors yard but luckily they did not cause any significant structural damage. In addition we lost our power for just a short period of time. In our area, many other people were not so fortunate. Eleven people lost their lives due to the storm. In addition, many households went without electricity for almost a week in temperatures hovering around 100 F. One evening, I made a cool and easy to eat dish for the hot humid summer evening.

Initially, I thought I would like to make "soumen" 素麺  but I found out that I was totally out of it. The reason, I remembered, was that I threw away all the dried soumen I had few month ago. "Soumen"  has a coat of oil on the surface in the process of making noodles very thin without sticking together. The oil will eventually oxidize. So, soumen does not last as long as other dried noodles.  I looked around and found I had some very thin dried udon which was perfect for eating cold with dipping sauce. This one is called "Harima's thread udon" 播磨の糸うどん (see below left). I have to assume it came from Hyogo prefecture 兵庫県 area where the noodles, especially soumen, are one of their well-known local food items.

Udon noodles: I followed the package instruction and boiled the udon noodles for 8 minutes in rapidly boiling water (no salt) and then quickly rinsed in cold running water. I added ice cubes on top while it was in the colander to cool it down completely.

Condiments: This could be as Spartan as just chopped scallion to anything you like. I went for a rather deluxe (sounds dated) version and included the followings:

1. Chicken breast: This is the leftover barbecued chicken breast which was teased into thin strands.

2. Cucumber: One mini-cucumber was sliced on a slant and then julienned.

3. Golden thread omelet: "Kinshiran" 金糸卵 from one egg.

4. Scallion: Two, finely chopped.

5.  Nori: This is one package of seasoned nori cut into thin strips.

Dipping sauce: I used a bottle of concentrated noodle sauce. According to the instructions on the bottle label, I diluted it to 1 part sauce and 2 parts water. I tasted it. It was slightly less potent than I would have used for dipping sauce but I felt it was fine.

I could have placed the udon on a small serving bamboo basket which is called "zaru" ざる in Japanese (which I have and, if I did use it, this dish could have been officially called "zaru udon" ざるうどん (I did serve cold udon a few days later in a special serving dish with a bamboo mat on the bottom which qualifies this dish as "zaru udon" -see picture below- but, instead, I served these noodles in a rather cool looking square shallow glass bowl (see above picture). I topped the cold udon with slices of pickled okra and cherry*. Since I did not have perilla, I julienned fresh basil leaves and pretended it was perilla.

*Cherry: This is how my wife prepares cherry. She removes the stone or pit using a handy-dandy cherry pitter. She then cuts the pitted cherry in half to make sure no pits were left behind by the pitter (biting into an unsuspected pit is extremely unpleasant not to mention lethal to teeth). Then she marinates the cherries in a small amount of triple sac. This tends to preserve the fruit making it last longer while still retaining its fresh flavor and texture. We used this as our fruit with lunch etc.

The above picture is the "zaru udon" I served on a different day. This time, the green strip (2nd from the top) was indeed a julienne of perilla and the white strip (top) was Vidalia onion (salted, kneaded and briefly soaked in cold water) instead of scallion.  The 3rd strip was sake-steamed chicken, the 4th threads of omelet, and the last cucumber. The condiments were for two of us.

Back to the Udon dish: When I served the dish I of course, placed a bottle of  Japanese 7 flavored red pepper fakes 七味唐辛子 on the same tray to add a little kick (mostly for me). This was a perfect cold dish to finish. We liked this thin udon much better than soumen. It has a nice al dente texture and is nicely smooth as it comes into the mouth.  All the condiments made this noodle dish a full-fledged meal.

Baked chicken tenderloin with mayonnaise crust 鶏の笹身のマヨ焼き

This is another small and quick dish. Whenever I make sake steamed chicken, I use split, bone-in, skin-on, chicken breast. When I remove the meat from the bone, I also separate the tenderloins from the breast meat. So I often make a small dish from the tenderloins.

Japanese appear to like mayonnaise (so much so some call themselves “Mayoler” マヨラー or those who like mayo fanatically). Even if you are not “Mayoler”, many baked Japanese dishes call for mayo. This one is such a dish.

Tenderloin: I opened it along the long edge like a book and flattened and lightly salted both sides.

Mayonnaise sauce: There are many variations but I added a bit of soy sauce and dried “aonori” 青海苔 into store-bought mayonnaise.

I smeared the mayo sauce on one side of the chicken and baked it in a 400F toaster oven for 10-15 minutes or until the surface browned and the meat was done.

I served this with our coleslaw and potato salad. This is a curiously good dish.The mayo forms a crust. It took some time before my wife realized the crust was mayo. She thought it was some kind of melted cheese.

Fried Marinated "Kon-nyaku" こんにゃくの竜田揚げ

Kon-nyaku. 蒟蒻, some times spelled “konjac ”, and  called “Devil’s tongue” in English, is a rather peculiar food item made out of the starch extracted from a particular vegetable root. It has the consistency of hard jelly and practically no taste and no calories. Japanese traditionally use it as an oden おでん item. I have posted a few dishes using konnyaku. This is another konnyaku dish but, with the deep frying it loses its no calorie status. You do not find this type of dish anywhere but at an Izakaya.



I made two different versions which mostly provide differences in texture rather than taste. I served this dish on a funky triangular shaped plate on which a folded “tempura shikishi 天婦羅敷き紙 paper fits perfectly. I garnished it with deep fried and crispy parsley and sprinkled single flavored  Japanese red pepper flakes or “Ichimi tougarashi” 一味唐辛子.



Preparation of konnyaku: I first washed and drained one cake of konnyaku (#1 below). To make two versions, I first divided one cake into two equal portions. For one half, I halved the thickness by slicing horizontally as I pressed down using my palm flat on the surface of the konnyaku. I then applied a series of shallow cuts obliquely in one direction, turned it around and added another series of cuts perpendicular to the previous cuts (#2 below). I then turned the pieces over and did the same cuts on the other side. You need to be careful not to cut through. I then cut it into I inch wide strips (#3 below). The other half of konnyaku, I just cut into 1 x 1.5 inch rectangles and poked multiple holes using a fork (#4 below). The idea here is to change the texture of knonyaku as well as make it absorb the marinades (see below) better. After this preparation, I placed the konnyaku pieces in a pot with amplen a amount of water on medium flame. I allowed it to come to the  boil and cooked it for 2-3 minutes. I then drained and washed it in running cold water. This process removed a the peculiar (and rather unpleasant) smell characteristic of konnyaku.

Marinades: I made two marinades. Since no matter how you do it, konnyaku will not absorb marinades or any seasoning easily, I use undiluted soy sauce; one with grated ginger and one with yuzu-koshou. The amounts are again arbitrary but I used about 4 tbs soy sauce and 1/2 tsp each of grated ginger or yuzu-koshou. I marinated the cross hatched ones with the ginger and the rectangular ones with the yuzu koshou. I ended up marinating this for two days in the refrigerator for reasons beyond my control. Ordinarily just a few hours of marination would suffice. There is no worry of over marinating since the konnyak itself does not absorb, instead, the marinades are held in the holes and crevices I created in the konnyaku.

Just before frying, I took the konnyaku pieces out of the marinades and blotted the surface with a paper towel but did not squeeze out the absorbed marinades. I then dredged in potato starch or katakuriko 片栗粉.

Deep frying: I put peanut oil in a frying pan to the depth of about 1 inch on a medium flame. When the oil was 170C (325F), I deep fried the konnyaku pieces for 3 minutes or until the surface got crispy.

I served this piping hot with a sprinkling of one flavor Japanese red pepper flakes 一味唐辛子. The marinades provide enough saltiness and I did not serve this with any dipping sauce. The difference between the two marinades was very subtle but the yuzu-koshou version added more heat and a citrus note. Although it was not bad—how can anything deep fried be bad, we quickly dispatched the entire dish between two of us. Considering the rather tedious preparation and the fact this is “deep fried”, we are not sure if this dish is worth making often. We prefer a simpler dish such as spicy konnyaku stir fry I made previously.

"Saki ika" dried and seasoned squid tempura さきイカの天ぷら

As I mentioned in previous posts, Japanese have many pre-packaged drinking snacks. The variety of which far exceeds American counterparts of mixed nuts, gold fish– cracker not the real fish, beef jerky and mini-pretzels. One rather common snack is thin strands of semi-dried and seasoned squid called "Saki ika" さきイカ meaning "torn squid". This is a modern commercial product derived from an old fashioned dried squid or "Surume" スルメ.

When I was growing up, "surume"  was a rather common snack, not necessarily just a drinking snack. This was a dried whole flattened squid. To eat, you have to first grill it lightly and then tear it along the grain into thin strips (it can easily be torn into strands by hand with an occasional application of teeth). It is very chewy like old leather and you have to work on it for a while in your mouth before it’s soft enough. As you chew, more flavors will come out. In fact a Japanese saying, "The more you chew, the more flavor you get" 噛めば噛むほど味が出る equates the effort you need to extract full flavor from dried squid to the effort you need to extract meaning and joy out of life; or subtle but real goodness can only be appreciated with substantial effort. But even in Japan, vigorous use of the masseter muscle is not an exercise people like to do. So much-easier-to-eat pre-cooked, seasoned, and pre-torn dried squid in a package is more common, replacing the old-fashioned "surume".  You could just eat "saki ika" as is (there are many variations but, in general, it has a somewhat sweet seasoning). Or you could used it in a dish. This tempura or fritter version is supposedly a classic Izakaya affair.  I have not seen or eaten it before so I decided to try it.

I checked a few recipes but, in the the end, as usual, I used my common sense and altered or combined several recipes.

The picture to the left is the "saki ika" I bought from the near-by Japanese grocery store. It said "a letter from shore" and "directly sent from where it was caught" but, who knows, this may have been made from squid caught off African shores and previously frozen. In any case, this is how I made this dish.

Dried and seasoned "saki ika" squid: I am not sure how much is in one package but I used the whole thing for two good sized servings. I first soaked the squid in an equal mixture of sake and water (2Tbs each) in a bowl and let it soften for 30 minutes. I then wrung out the excess moisture and wrapped it in a paper towel.

Tempura batter: I have experimented in the past what made the best tempura batter including the use of Vodka in a mix. This time I used cake flour, club soda (carbonated water) and dried "aonori" 青海苔 seaweed. I first mixed the flour and aonori in a bowl (the amount is arbitrary, the proper consistency is what you are after, you have to adjust the amount of flour and the water, accordingly). Just before frying, I mixed in the cold club soda and quickly mixed to make a runny pancake batter consistency. I added more flour and water as I needed to make the amount of batter I needed. But do not over mix otherwise the gluten will develop.

Oil: I used peanut oil for deep frying. I heated the oil to about 170C (335F). I placed the softened squid strips in the batter to make a small bite size portion. As I placed it in the hot oil, I tried to spread it into a flat disk-shape so that the strands of squid didn’t bunch up too much. I fried for few minutes turning once. The oil may have been too hot. The edges got a bit too dark (the seasoning of the squid apparently contains sugar) but it was not burnt and did not affect the taste too much.

As you can see in the first picture, I served this with a wedge of lemon and mayo mixed with soy sauce and Japanese 7 flavor red pepper flakes 七味唐辛子.

This is an excellent drinking snack. The "saki ika" squid has just right consistency, not chewy but not too soft, with very light crispy tempura crust. I was afraid the squid may became too fishy but that was not the case. Using carbonated water in the tempura batter really worked. Among other methods I tried, this is the simplest and most effective. As much as we liked this dish very much, it is not particularly "healthy". To compensate, I served a simple refreshing "sunomono" 酢の物 salad dish following this.

This is just cucumber, wakame (did not show up well in the picture) and tomato dressed in seasoned sushi vinegar and topped with crumbled soft semi-dried scallop from Hokkaido 北海道.

Grilled fava beans 焼きそら豆

Fava beans or soramame 空豆 are in season. I found some nice fava beans in pods in a grocery store near us. Compared to our stand-by frozen fava beans, fresh ones are not as mushy and always taste much better. Only trick is when you are selecting the pods, press them between your fingers to make sure they are full. Sometimes you may come across a very large nice looking pod but inside is almost empty. When I posted fava beans before, we compared boiled and grilled (in a toaster oven) and said there was no difference but I wanted to try grilling on a charcoal fire. Since we were grilling some trout, this was a good chance to grill fava beans as an appetizer.

The first picture shows some very nice looking fava beans in pods (see below, left). I simply grilled them over the charcoal fire until the surface of the pods were charred (5-6 minutes) and then turned them over and grilled 2-3 minutes more. I had to let them cool down a bit before we could bust into the pods.

I served this with a small mound of Kosher salt on the side as a starter for the evening. Some people eat the skin of the beans but we are in the group of people who insist on removing the thin skin. Again, we did not taste the difference between "beans-removed-from-the-pods-and-boiled" vs. "beans-grilled-in-the-pods". But if you already have a charcoal fire for other reasons, this is a very simple and good way to cook fava beans. Also serving fava beans in charred pods is more spectacular than serving individual beans.

Grilled and hot smoked trout 鱒の薫塩焼き

We always use pasteurized shell eggs, especially for dishes where the yolk is not fully cooked such as poached or fried eggs. (we love runny egg yolks). They also come in handy for sauces that use undercooked or raw egg yolks such as Hollandaise sauce or mayonnaise. For some reason, one of the near-by grocery stores where we regularly got pasteurize eggs stopped carrying them. We asked around and found another store from the same grocery chain, which is slightly farther away, apparently carried them. So we drove there in one afternoon—believe it or not just to get the eggs. Although both stores belong to the same chain, there appeared to be significant differences between them. This new one was much more upscale. Among other things, the most important difference, of course, was that they carried pasteurized shell eggs. In addition, the fish were displayed better and appeared to be of better quality.We passed the fish department on the way to the dairy case to get the eggs and my wife stopped dead in her tracks. She was “on point” for some particularly good looking trout--very fresh, with clear eyes. She wasn’t budging until two were bagged in plastic with ice.

When we lived in Los Angles, trout was about the only fresh whole fish we could get and we frequently ate them. But, for some reason, we have not eaten them that much trout after we moved back East; probably because other types of fish are available.

I decided to simply grill them. Obviously the fish monger did not expect that someone would  like to eat the skin as we do and these trout were not scaled. (When my wife pointed out the two trout she wanted he asked in surprise, “you want the whole fish”?) I guess that meant scales and all. So first,  I had to scale them. I salted inside and out and let them rest in the refrigerator for several hours before grilling (#1 below). Instead of placing the fish directly on the grill, I decide to do it Japanese style. I put two long metal skewers through the fish, from the tail, slightly fanning out through the head in a wavy fashion (#2 below) to simulate a fish swimming.

I used lump hard wood charcoal and direct heat. I also sprinkled soaked apple wood chips over the hot charcoals to grill and hot smoke at the same time. To raise the fish above the grill, I just used the metal baskets I use to put hot charcoals for indirect heat (#3 above). The distance between the charcoal bed and the fish was about 15 inches. Because of the oppressive heat, humidity and mosquitoes we were having in our area, I could not attend to the fish closely. Although I initially covered the tail fins with aluminum foil (#3), it came off or the entire tail came off and the end result was tail-less trout (#4). I grilled about 5-6 minutes per side until skin is nicely blistered and browned (#4).

I simply served the grilled trout with grated daikon or daikon-oroshi daikon 大根おろし, a wedge of lemon, and soy sauce. Of course, we had to have a bowl of freshly cooked rice. My wife, as usual, added butter and soy sauce to her rice.

We really enjoyed simply grilled tout since we have not had this for some time. The skin was the best part. My wife was very proud of her chopstick dexterity and the fact that the bones of her fish were cleaner than mine (above). The only disappointment was that she could not find cheek meat since the fish head was too small.

Baked green bean salad with sliced almond ささげのオーブン焼きサラダ

This is a rather simple dish made from baked green beans. As long as the green beans are good, this is a wonderful dish. To us, it is always hit-or-miss when it comes to green beans. Some have very tough skins and no matter how long you cook them, the skin remains tough and you might as well throw them out. Other times, the green beans are very nice and just a little of cooking, either boiling, sautéing, or baking, makes them nice and sweet, slightly crunchy--no tough skin. When the green beans are good, our favorite way of cooking is to just bake them with olive oil and salt (about 30 minutes in 350F oven). Beans cooked this way are wonderful as is but we went a step further making them into a nice salad.



Dressing: This is my regular dressing. I finely chopped shallots (1 medium), Dijon mustard (2 tbs), honey (2 tbs), rice vinegar (3 tbs), salt and black pepper to taste. I drizzled in a good fruity olive oil while whisking vigorously. Because of the mustard, it will make an emulsion. I am not sure how much olive oil but I just taste every-now-and-then until it does not taste too acidic (probably 1/3 cup).
Just dress the baked green beans. My wife roasted whole almonds (4-5 minutes in a toaster oven). While they were hot, I sliced them and let if cool down. We sprinkled them on top as a garnish.

The acidity and slight sweetness of the dressing really enhances the baked green beans. The almonds add a nice crunch. Toasting them really adds to their flavor.

Chicken skin salad with yuzu-koshou 雛皮の柚子胡椒サラダ

This is a variation on the theme of chicken skin. I was going to make a simple chicken skin dish but found out I was out of Ponzu (-shouyu) sauce. So I made the sauce with soy sauce, rice vinegar and yuzu koshou 柚子胡椒. This is a perfect refreshing sunomono 酢の物 salad to start.



Dressing: I made a mixture of soy sauce (reduced salt, 2 tbs), rice vinegar (3 tbs) and the juice accumulated in the container of saka mushi or sake-steamed chicken (2 tbs).  You should taste it and if it is too salty or vinegary, you might want to dilute this with dashi broth if you did not make saka mushi chicken. This dressing is similar to  a Japanese vinegar dressing called “Nihaizu” 二杯酢. I added about 1/2 tsp of yuzu-koshou in 7 tbs of the soy sauce vinegar mixture but the amount of yuzu-koshou is up to your taste.

Chicken skin: This is again the skin from two spilt breasts I made into saka mushi chicken. As usual, after removing any fat layer I could remove I sliced it into a thin julienne and marinated in the above dressing overnight in the refrigerator.

Other items: I just used whatever was available cutting it into julienne of similar size to the chicken skin pieces. From the left, wakame seaweed (1/4 cup after hydration, hydrated and roughly cut, gold thread egg or “kinshiran” 金糸卵 (from one egg), cucumber (one mini-cucumber, sliced on a slant and julienned, and daikon radish, 2 inch segment, peeled, sliced and julienned. The cucumber and daikon were salted, kneaded, and let stand for a few minutes, with the excess moisture squeezed out.



I added the wakame, cucumber and daikon into the container in which the chicken skin marinated in the yuzu-koshou sauce and mixed. I served this in a shallow grass bowl making a small mound in the center and topped them with golden thread egg as seen in the first picture.

This was much better than I expected. The yuzu-koshou gave it a nice zing of yuzu citrus flavor. This is a very nice refreshing sunomono salad. You could easily substitute the chicken skin with ham or any cooked meat. I can also add threads of jelly fish or kurage くらげ to this for the texture. I could also add sesame oil to this but without sesame oil, this is more refreshing.

Meatloaf hash ミートローフハッシュ

I keep posting leftover dishes. This one is also made from leftover meatloaf my wife made one day. "Hash", most commonly "corned beef hash", is a very popular breakfast dish in American diners. Essentially diced potatoes, meat, and onion fried together in a skillet and often served with eggs and toast. As I said before, any hearty breakfast can be had as a late night snack after drinking to absorb the excess alcohol. Along with German omelet, any variation of hash should be served at any Izakaya in my opinion.

This is for two servings as a breakfast or late night snack.

Meat: Any precooked or cured meat such as corned beef (typically from a tin or you could make it yourself), roast beef, or even sausage (uncooked, out of the casing). Since I had leftover meatloaf that my wife made the other day, I crumbled it and used it. The amount was about two slices worth (about 2 inches thick).

Potato: I microwaved Yukon gold potatoes (2 medium) for about 6 minutes (take care not overcook.  I tested doneness using a bamboo skewer towards the end of the 6 minutes and adjusted the cooking time). While it was hot, I removed the skin (holding the hot potato using a paper towel) and diced.

Onion: I first halved the onion and then sliced it to make thin strips (one medium).

I added olive oil (2 tbs) in a non-stick frying pan (or a seasoned cast iron skillet if you have one) and sautéed the onion for 5-7 minutes on medium heat until soft and edges browned, I then added the diced and cooked potatoes and crumbled meatloaf. After sautéing for one minute or so I seasoned with salt and black pepper. I pressed the hash to the bottom of the pan (picture below) and let it brown for a few minutes and then turned it over using a spatula (in small segments) to brown the other side and make it crusty. I repeated this process several times until a nice brown crust covered most of the hash.

This was a lot of food for us. We did forgo the eggs and served this with Campari tomato (skinned and lightly salted) and pickled okra (from the jar). I garnished it with fresh basil and ketchup. My wife also added slices of smoked cheddar. Althought it did not melt well it tasted good.

Ground pork curry ひき肉カレー

I mentioned that pork gyouza stuffing is very versatile and can be used as the base for other dishes. This is another example of that kind of versatility. Of course you could make this curry dish with just simple ground meat. In any case, I had some leftover gyouza stuffing (about 9 oz or about 250 grams) and decide to use it up before it went bad.

This may have been inspired by keema curry but this version is not at all authentic. Japanese have created many Japanese variations of curry beside the classic Japanese curry which in itself is a variation based on British modification of the classic indian curry. These Japanese variations include "dry"curry and a rather modern invention in my home town, Sapporo 札幌, Hokkaido 北海道 called "soup" curry. This curry I made is sort of cross between these latter two.



I included chunky potato and served this a closing dish or "shime" 〆 or ending dish. I made this curry a day before I served it.

Meat: Leftover gyouza stuffing (9 oz or 250 grams) made of ground pork mixed garlic chive, ground ginger and ground garlic.

Vegetable: I used onion (one medium, finely chopped), celery (2 stalks, finely chopped), carrot (2 medium, peeled, finely chopped), yellow squash (half with seeds removed and finely diced, optional, I happened to have it), garlic (1 clove, finely chopped), and ginger root (1/2 tsp finely chopped). I also peeled some small white potatoes (6-7).

I added light olive oil (2 tbs) in a pot on medium flame. When the oil was hot, I first sautéed the garlic and ginger and then onion and celery. I added curry powder (2 tsp or more, this time I used S&B brand Japanese curry powder) and kept sautéing. After the curry powder became fragrant, I added flour (2 tbs) and kept stirring until well incorporated. I moved the vegetables on one side of the pot and added tomato paste (2 tbs) in the empty area of the pan. I sautéed the tomato paste until the color slightly darkened and mixed thoroughly into the remaining ingredients. I added the remaining vegetables except for the potatoes. I added chicken broth (1 cup, my usual Swanson low-salt no fat version). Using a silicon spatula, I mixed and scraped off any "fond" that developed on the bottom of the pot. I also added Garam masala (1 tsp, this particular one had a strong cumin flavor) and more chicken broth (2 cups). I put in the potatoes and let it simmer for 40 minutes. I tasted and adjusted the seasoning using salt and black pepper. It was moderately spicy. We did not eat this immediately. I heated it up few days later and served over rice with sautéed asparagus and Japanese curry condiments (rakkyou ラッキョウ and fukushinzuke 福神漬け).

The addition of tomato paste made this curry sauce a bit unique. The sauce mellowed and it was only mildly spicy but had lots of flavors. The use of all the finely cut vegetables also gave it an undertone reminiscent of a french mirapois.  As an impromptu, leftover control cuisine, this was not bad at all.

Deviled eggs デビルドエッグ

This is a very old fashioned appetizer but recently it has been making a come-back. My wife made three different flavors; the one with parsley (back) is classic mayo and mustard flavor, the one with slices of conichon pickle (middle) is curry flavored and the one with red sauce (front) is flavored with Sriracha hot sauce.

Sometime ago, our dear friend who was in her late 70s served us deviled eggs as an appetizer. We really liked them and thought about making some ourselves. A few months later, my wife found a "deviled egg serving plate" (#5 in the image below) and bought it. But the plate sat unused in the cabinet for several years. One weekend, my wife, out of the blue, suggested making deviled eggs. She must have had some train of thought leading up to the idea but, from my vantage point, her statement came completely out of the blue. Since this is a perfect drinking snack and Japanese really like eggs, I thought this could be the next new craze in Izakaya cuisine (probably not).

My only task for this dish was making perfect hard-boiled eggs. I do not like overcooked eggs—you know the kind; the ones with the green surface on the yolks (ferrous sulfide forming at the interface between the yolk and white). This is how I make hard boiled or, as I prefer to say, completely cooked boiled eggs.

I took the eggs (1 dozen) from the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking. I punched a pinhole in the air cell side (rounder end) using an egg piercer (to prevent the eggs from cracking when the air inside expands during cooking). I brought the water to a rapid boil and turned down the flame until no bubbles were coming up. I  added the eggs using a perforated spoon. In the first  few minutes, I gently stirred the eggs hoping that this would help the egg yolks center inside the shell as they cooked but I am not sure this really helps. I let them cook for 15 minutes and immediately cooled them down in cold running water. I peeled the eggs and turned the operation over to my wife.

She made three different filings; 1. classic mayo and mustard seeds (#2 in the image below), 2. curry flavor (#3 in the image below), and 3. with hot sauce ($4 in the image below).


I removed the yolks from the whites. The shells formed by the cooked eggs whites are shown in picture 1.  I gently mashed the egg yolks with a fork until they became uniformly granular. All the flavors started with the same base. I added a mixture of half mayonnaise and yogurt to the crumbled yolks. In this case I used about 3 tbs. mayonnaise and 3 tbs. yogurt. I cut the mayo with the yogurt in an effort to be health conscience…which may not make too much sense given that we are flavoring egg yolks here. Even with the addition of the yogurt, however, the overall mixture still tastes like mayonnaise. I bloomed 1 tbs. of mustard seed (bloom by putting the seeds in a dry pan and heat until the seeds start popping like popcorn). I added 1 tsp. of celery seed, 1tbs. of Dijon mustard. and 1/2 tsp of salt. I stirred the mixture until it formed a homogeneous paste. I divided the mixture into 3 equal parts.

Traditional: I added 1/4 tsp of onion salt and 1 tbs. of Worcestershire sauce.
Curry flavor: I added 2 tsp. of curry powder (I used a mild slightly sweet powder but whatever powder you prefer will do and added to your taste), I also added another tsp of Dijon mustard.
Hot sauce flavor: I added 1 tsp. of rice vinegar, 1/4 tsp. Sriracha hot sauce, 1/4 tsp. onion salt.

I mixed each flavor until the added ingredients were completely incorporated. I  lightly salted the empty egg white shells and then spooned in the flavored mixtures—one flavor per shell.  Then I turned the operation back over to my husband who immediately garnished them making them look pretty for their photo shoot.

So how decadent was this? Eating just one flavor per sitting was out of the question. All three were very good and provided interesting variety. My wife liked the curry flavor and I liked the one with hot sauce. The bloomed mustard seeds really added to the eggs by providing a pleasing texture and a little burst of flavor (they pop when you bite down on them). This dish goes with any drink. The only problem is that even with the addition of yogurt this dish is high in cholesterol.

Mini gyouza with garlic chive ニラ入りミニ餃子

Gyouza or gyoza 餃子 is a classic Sino-Japanese dish with many variations for the stuffing, skin, size, and method of cooking (boiled, fried, and steam fried). In addition, localized (i.e. specific to the locale) variations of gyouza are popular allover Japan. Although, many eateries (including national chain stores) may specialize in serving gyouza (and ramen noodles or other Chinese dishes), it is also frequently served at an Izakaya.

Some years ago, I posted pork gyouza using square wonton skins which is the only kind of gyouza skin I can get in the regular grocery store in our area. Japanese gyouza skin is a bit smaller, thinner, and round which can be bought at a Japanese grocery store frozen but I usually do not bother getting it. Some people like a more authentic (similar to original Chinese dish) thicker chewy skin (which can be home made but we never tried).



When my wife made meatloaf, we had excess ground pork (hand chopped from the butt roast). I quickly made it to gyouza stuffing using our home grown garlic chives. This is very similar to the one I made for teba gyouza 手羽餃子 except I used onion rather than scallion and I did not add cabbage.I placed the gyouza stuffing in a sealed container and kept it in the refrigerator. This mixture is very handy to have and one could make dishes other than gyouza. Since this was available, I made this mini-gyouza one weekday evening.

Stuffing: I mixed ground pork (about 12oz), garlic chives (finely chopped about 1/4 cup but whatever amount is fine), onion (half, finely chopped, scallion also works), garlic (1/4 tsp, grated from the tube), ginger (1/2 tsp, grated from the tube), soy sauce (1 tsp), dark sesame oil (2 tbs), salt and pepper.

Gyouza skin: I happened to have a “spring roll skin” 春巻きの皮 which is readily available in any regular grocery store. I used a round dough cutter (about 2 1/2 inch diameter) and made it into a round gyouza skin (I could make three from one sheet of spring roll skin). Compared to the wonton skin, this one is thinner and more delicate, more closely resembling a Japanese gyouza skin.



Assembly: I moistened the edge of the skin with water. I placed a small amount of meat mixture in the middle, folded the skin in half forming a half moon and pressed both ends while trying to remove any air pocket between the meat mixture and the skin. I then crimped the edges as you can see above on the left.

Cooking: I added vegetable oil and dark sesame oil (1 tsp each) in a non-stick frying pan on medium flame. Although the classic way is to brown on only one side, I like to brown both sides by flipping them after 1 minute or so (the above image on right). I added several tablespoonful of hot water into the pan. You must be careful, as it will boil and steam immediately. Make sure you have the lid ready, your face is out of the way and the exhaust fan is running. I then put on a tight fitting lid and let it steam for 1-2 minutes. I then removed the lid (only a thin layer of water remaining in the bottom of the pan). I let the water completely evaporate and made the bottom of the gyouza crispy again by letting them cook for 30 seconds or so after all the water evaporated. I added a splash of dark sesame oil at the end.

I served this mini gyouza with a classic dipping sauce (equal mixture of rice vinegar and soy sauce) and side of Japanese hot mustard (from the tube). As an accompaniment, I served cucumber, radish and carrot asazuke 浅漬け.

We switch to cold sake for this.

Meatloaf ミートローフ

One weekend, my wife, all of the sudden, said, "I would like to make a meatloaf",  just like that. Although it is classic American home cooking, meatloaf does not have a stellar reputation. For many Americans, this is the dish you had as a kid but would prefer not to eat again as an adult. Many remember it as an unsophisticated dry chunk of ground meat that Mom made. My wife claims the meat loaf she ate was not like that. I am not sure what prompted my wife to suggest making a meatloaf, but I didn’t object because “come to think of it, I can post this in my blog”. So, I encouraged her to go ahead with her idea. I even provided her with a recipe I saw at "No Recipes" webpage by Marc Matsumoto. Interestingly this was dubbed as “best” but not “the best” meatloaf.



We made two loaves. So, we doubled the amount from the Marc's original recipe listed below. In addition, she did not make the sauce (the last 4 ingredients) and instead, she used straight ketchup (since that was how she remembered the meatloaf from her childhood). For some crazy reason, rather than buying ground meat, I bought a 3 pound of beef shoulder roast with bone and pork butt roast (about 2 pounds) and hand chopped the meat. In retrospect, this was way too much work. We need a decent meat grinder.

• 1 pound ground beef
• 10 ounces ground pork
• 1/2 medium onion minced
• 2 cloves garlic finely minced
• 1/2 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
• 1.5 ounces Gruyere cheese grated
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon pimentón smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper to taste
• 5 sprigs fresh thyme stems removed and minced
• 6 ounces thick-cut bacon
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• My wife added 1 tbs. of horseradish (because she said that was what was always added to the meat loaf she ate as a kid).

As per the recipe, instead of using a regular loaf pan, we made a free form loaf on a cookie sheet lined with a parchment paper, banded with thick cut bacon as you see below. My wife thought that the bacon was an overkill but she followed the recipe—It was certainly not part of the meatloaves from her childhood.



After cooking for 30 minutes in preheated 350F oven, she smeared ketchup on top and continued baking another 30 minutes (left in the above image). We let it sit for 10 minutes and moved the meatloaf to the cutting board (right in the above image). As you can see a good amount of juice and fat accumulated in the bottom of the pan.

I sliced it and served it with my wife's mashed potato (cooked and mashed small red potatoes, rice vinegar, soy sauce and butter) and oven baked green beans.

The taste? Well, it is not bad at all. According to my wife, however, this is as good as what she remembered eating as a kid but not significantly better. That means either the meatloaf she ate as a kid was indeed a very good one or this one is not necessary the "best" meatloaf. Nevertheless, this was very satisfying. The loaf was not dry and the consistency is pleasantly crumbly with good favor from all the herbs and spices we put in. The all American Heinz ketchup smeared on top was just fine but did not caramelize as much as my wife thought it would. By the way, we did not eat the bacon and will not use it if we ever make meatloaf again.

To circumvent the ill effect of meatloaf and bacon drippings, we had a good young Napa Cabernet from Spring Mountain District. This is a classic Napa cab. Nice nose, good amount of ripe fruit upfront, smooth tannin, and reasonable finish. Nothing wrong about this wine, very youthful and clean. I will give 91.

P.S. We made sandwiches for weekday lunches with this meatloaf. It was very good as a sandwich too. It is also one of those dishes that gets better the next day. We also ate it for dinner as leftovers during the week. We had it one night with a catsup based sauce (mixture of catsup, Worcestershire sauce, red wine and Dijon mustard). And one night we had it with tonkatsu sauce with Japanese hot mustard which was also very good.