Mini Ikebana at your dinner table

Ikebana is an art form that takes years of training. The good news is that you don’t have to be a professional or have years of classes to make a fun presentation for your dinner table.

For dinner table ikebana arrangements, I like to have short and small arrangements so that your guests can see each other across the table, and so that you have enough space for all the dishes at your table.

You will need:
1 small or medium size kenzan (stainless steel weight with needles)*
Ceramic bowl, plate, vase (the shorter and flatter the better but you can be creative here)
water
favorite flowers
foliage

1) First you want to select foliage for fillers and flowers. It’s spring time in California so the maple trees leaves are a beautiful green. The gardeners stopped by the trim the trees so I grabbed a few branches for my ikebana. The branches are going go in first since they will be the anchors for this ikebana.
2) Cut the branches at an angle so that it is easier to insert the thick branches into the kenzan. Odd numbers of branches and flowers will give this small ikebana balance.
3) Next, choose three flowers to put into your ikebana. In this case, I have three on one side and 1 cluster of flowers on the other.
4) Vary the length of the stems and arrange the flowers in a triangle pattern.In the first view, you can see that there are 3 flowers making a triangular pattern.

That’s it! You’ll be able to wow your dinner guests with a simple center piece that takes no time at all. For a more modern look, you can run a table runner under the center piece to give the table a little more flare.

*Different Kenzan sizes. You can also make one with a flat heavy magnet, piece of round wood and some nails.


Cut the stems at an angle. Cut the angle in a way that makes the slanted side is the front of the flower.


Insert the pointed end into the kenzan first and angle stem to desired angle.




Side 1


Side 2

Pork and Ginger with Cabbage-(Shogayaki)

This is the conclusion recipe for the first Build-a-Japanese Meal.

Ingredients
300 grams of thinly sliced pork (sukiyaki style*)
1 medium onion chopped
2 Tablespoons of flour
1/8 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1 Tablespoon of oil for frying

Sauce ingredients
2 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon of regular soy sauce (koikuchi)
3 Tablespoons of mirin
3 Tablespoons of dashijiru OR 3 tablespoons of Japanese cooking wine (sake)
1 garlic clove grated or pressed
1 inch of ginger grated (about the same size as the garlic)

Mix sauce ingredients and set aside.
1) Layout all of the sliced pork flat and sprinkle 1 Tablespoon of the flour and half of the nutmeg over the surface of the pork.
2) Flip the pork over and do the other side with the remaining flour and nutmeg.
3) Stir fry onions in a frying pan with the oil until it just starts to caramelize and soften. Add more oil if necessary to keep from burning.
4) Because the meat is thin, it can bunch together and stick when cooking. Therefore, quickly add the meat one slice at a time, stir and add more.
5) After adding the meat, add the sauce and cook until the meat is no longer pink. If the meat sticks together, use the sauce to loosen it up. Don’t cook for too long because the meat can get hard.

Serve with thinly chopped cabbage, rice and miso soup.

*Shabu shabu meat is a little too thin for this dish but if you can’t find sukiyaki style, shabu shabu will do. Adjust by shortening cooking time for the meat.

Grated ginger and garlic goes into the sauce.


Sukiyaki style pork comes packaged like this.


If you can’t find sukiyaki style pork, ask if your butcher can slice it thin for you.


This is an example of what not to do. If you put it in the pan like this, it will all cook into a ball like this.


Stir fry the onions first.


After adding the meat and the sauce, simmer until the meat is no longer pink. It’s ready to be served.


Served with kabocha and onion miso soup, rice, cabbage and cooked kabocha.
First Build-a-Japanese meal done!

Cooked Kabocha-Japanese Pumpkin/Squash

Kabocha no cha cha cha
Kabocha no cha cha cha
Cha cha cha kabocha no cha cha cha!

Anyone know Omocha no cha cha cha? It’s a children’s song that just popped into my head as I was thinking about kabocha. Kabocha is a cute vegetable. They’re round and bright orange on the inside. Who wouldn't like it?

Kabocha is a very versatile squash/pumpkin. I’m not really sure if it’s more pumpkin or squash but kabocha translates to both so I’m just going to call it a pumpkin from now on. It can be used in many sweet or savory dishes such as soups, salads, bread or pie. I introduced it in the first miso soup recipe but today I’m going to introduce it in the first okazu (side dish) recipe.

Hoka hoka Kabocha
Half a small kabocha chopped
Ingredients for sauce:
1/4 cup of dashijiru (1/4 teaspoon of hondashi with 1/4 cup of water)
2 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon mirin
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of koikuchi shoyu (soy sauce)*

*You can also substitute salt and koikuchi shoyu with 1 teaspoon of usukuchi shoyu. (See Different Types of Soy Sauce (Shoyu) )

1) Cut and wash kabocha. Be sure to use a sharp knife and be very careful when cutting kabocha because it is very hard and difficult to cut.
2) Mix the sauce ingredients and add to a pot.
3) Add the kabocha to the pot and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Most of the sauce should evaporate.
4) Transfer into a glass bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Microwave strengths vary so you may want to test your microwave by microwaving for 1.5 minutes first. Don’t remove the plastic but look through the plastic to see if it looks done and if not, microwave another 30 seconds to a minute.
5) Let stand in covered bowl for 2 minutes.

The kabocha should be hoka hoka and have a consistency similar to chestnuts. If you prefer your kabocha to have a wetter consistency, add more of the sauce and finish in the pot.

Combine the sauce and kabocha in the pot and simmer until most of the sauce has evaporated but be careful not to burn the sauce.


Transfer to a microwavable bowl and cover with plastic.


Ready to eat.

Building a Japanese Meal & Table Arrangement

Now that we've covered three of the basics of Japanese cooking, rice, dashi and miso soup, I wanted to talk about how to build a Japanese meal. I thought about going straight into okazu "side dish" recipes to go along with your rice and miso soup, but I thought I'd give a brief explanation of how to build a basic Japanese meal first.

Japanese meals consists of many different dishes in small portions, making them very balanced and healthy meals. Rice, as I mentioned before, is the center piece of the meal and is usually placed in the front on the left hand side. Miso soup is also an important part of the meal and is placed in the front right. There is also usually some type of protein (usually grilled/fried fish or meat) and a few side dishes called okazu, which surround the other plates. The chopstick rest is in the front on the left.

As far as dishes go, Japanese food requires many dishes in different sizes and shapes. Small little dishes are essential since they will be used for okazu and sauces. Presentation is an important aspect of Japanese food. I would go as far as to say that presentation is almost equally as important as taste. To make your dishes as authentic as possible, try to invest in the right plates and dishes to make your Japanese dining experience fun.

You don't have to spend a lot of money for small little dishes. Japanese 100 yen (dollar) stores have been exploding around the world. In the United States, Daiso has locations all over CA and Seattle Washington. They have made their products available online for residents in the United States.

Daiso

This week I'm going to build a ginger pork with cabbage meal with kabocha as an additional okazu. So far, I'm checking rice and miso soup off the list.

Cooking Perfect Japanese Rice

Japanese rice is the staple of Japanese food. It has been intertwined in the culture and is deeply connected to the Japanese people. Many songs and dances have been written about harvesting and planting rice. The government continues to heavily subsidize Japanese rice farmers (although this may change), and on and on.

I will never forget the day that I participated in an hour-long debate in my Japanese politics class about the difference between Japanese rice grown in Japan and California grown Japanese rice. It was a heated debate between two camps: those arguing that there is no difference between Japanese rice in Japan and California grown Japanese rice, and those arguing that there is a subtle but very real difference between them.

I am American, but I was somehow accused of being nationalistic (on the Japanese side) because I argued that there was a difference. If you have grown up eating a particular grade of rice with almost every meal and have been exposed to premium and lower grades of rice since childhood, you can taste a difference in different types of rice. My father’s side comes from a long line of rice farmers from Niigata prefectures, which is known for their rice and sake. My knowledge and appreciation for rice comes from my father who has never taught me to cook a single dish, but can give a long lecture on the various types of rice and the differences in flavor, texture and smell. In my experience, Japanese men seem to be more particular about their rice than women although I could be right. Maybe I think that because men seem to consider rice as the most important part of the meal.

Japanese rice can make or break the meal. After all, rice (gohan in Japanese) literally means meal. It is also sometimes referred to as meshi, which also means meal.

Good thing cooking rice isn’t hard...
I suppose it depends on who you ask. Sushi masters spend three years just trying to prefect sushi rice. I will reserve sushi rice for another day. Today, I’m going to talk about preparing Japanese rice using a rice cooker.

Electric cooker
I love my electric rice cooker. I have 2 of them. If you cook rice a lot, I recommend investing in an electric rice cooker because electric rice cooking is a no brainer and it makes wonderful rice consistently.

2 cups of Rice (I prefer Nishiki if you’re in the United States.)
Filtered Water (add until the water comes up to the 3 along with the rice in the pot that comes with the rice cooker)
Tap water used only for rinsing

1) Measure the rice and put into a colander. Add filtered water into another bowl and place colander into the water for a quick rinse. Move your hand in a circular motion and stir the rice around in the water about 5 times. Stop and allow the rice to absorb the water for about 20 seconds. It is important to use filtered water here because about 70% of the water is absorbed by the rice during this stage. If you’re not using pre-washed rice, before this step give the rice a quick rinse to get rid of impurities with tap water, drain and add filtered water.
2) Drain the water out, add tap water and start scrubbing the rice. Move your hand in a circular motion and when you come full circle, push the rice grains against each other as if you are scrubbing them but in one direction.
3) Repeat for about 10-20 times. Do this quickly.
4) Rinse the rice and start over. (2 times)
5) Some recipes will say to wash until the water runs clear but this isn’t necessary if you get the “musen” rice which is pre-washed. Just wash enough to polish the rice.
6) Drain the water by passing it through a sieve and put it back into the rice bowl.
7) Add filtered water. Good water is the best way to enhance the flavor of the rice and allows the natural sweetness of the rice to come through.
8) Soak in the water for a minimum of 15 minutes although most other people will say that it should soak for at least 30 minutes to an hour. The longer the better, as a general rule of thumb, but if you’re pressed for time then 15 minutes will do. Also, note that in the winter or in cold environments, you’ll want to soak it for longer, and in hot environments, soaking times should be monitored more closely. Don’t allow the rice to soak in humid environments overnight because the rice can go bad.
9) After soaking, put the rice in the rice cooker and hit the switch. If you have a fancier rice cooker with many functions the you can set it to regular white rice.
10) When the rice cooker is done, allow the rice to steam in the rice cooker for an additional10 minutes. Give the rice a quick stir without smashing the rice. If you have a fancy rice cooker this extra steaming time may be built into the cooking time.

In the future, I will post stove top rice directions and hopefully a simulated version of kamado (traditional earthen pot) rice. mmm...

Not just tofu and green onions in my miso soup please

If you're new to Japanese cooking then one of the fist recipes I recommend to beginners is miso soup. People often ask me how to make miso soup and I always tell them it's just miso and fish stock and anything else you want to put in it. The hardest part is making the fish stock but it's a lot easier than vegetable stock that require lots of chopping and a sachet of herbs or even chicken or beef stock.

There are many variations of miso soup. When you go to a Japanese restaurant in America 99.9% of the time you'll get tofu and green onions. Don't get me wrong, I like tofu and green onion miso soup, but if you're having it 5 days a week, it starts to get boring. Today, I'm going to introduce one of my favorite miso soups: kabocha and tamanegi miso soup (Japanese pumpkin and onion).

You can get kabocha at many grocery stores these days, including large chain supermarkets such as Safeway (Kroger) stores. Most Chinese grocery stores will also carry it, although many times you'll have to buy a whole pumpkin, and if you're not used to cooking with it, you may end up chucking it. Eventually, I will post may recipes for kabocha since it's one of my favorite squashes but for now, you if you have a Japanese grocery store nearby, I recommend getting it there since they will usually sell them cut in halves. Please note that kabocha is very hard and difficult to cut so please be careful when cutting and use a sharp knife. The irony is that the harder it is the cut, the sweeter and more flavorful it is.

Kabocha and Tamanegi Miso Soup (2 servings)
Ingredients:
1 cup Kabocha cut into large pieces
half of a small onion chopped
2 Tablespoons of miso
3 cups nibandashi*

1) Make nibandashi or you can use ichibandashi. It's just kinda a waste to use the ichibandashi for miso soup. You can save the ichibandashi for something else and use the katsuobushi and kombu and boil it for the nibandashi.
2) Add the kabocha and onions and bring to a simmer. Cook until the onions and kabocha are soft. Get rid of the aku** if there is any.
3) Add the miso and put the miso in a ladle and use chop sticks or something to break up the miso before adding it directly to the soup, otherwise you'll end up mashing up the kabocha.

Simmering Kabocha and onions and removing aku with ladle.


Miso shiru served.


* You can substitute the fish stock with water and 1/4 teaspoon of hondashi or fummatsudashi, which is fish stock in a concentrated power form. It's similar to that of beef or chicken bouillon cubes and is salty and not very appetizing by itself but adds a lot of flavor to a dish and is a quick and easy substitute. There are health concerns associated with hondashi because it contains some MSG sand many people don't like adding food additives, but I honestly don't think that it's that big of a deal if the rest of the ingredients are healthy. I think eating a greasy hamburger is a lot worse for you then a little hondashi. I think people are more afraid of MSG than they are of barbecue which often has burned pieces of meat that contain carcinogens and are cancer causing. The health debate on MSG is long and arduous so I'll stop there for now but I'm listing it as an alternative to dashijiru. I use it if I don't want to dilute the taste of the dish and want the flavor of umami to come out in the dish or if I'm crunched for time. In the case of miso soup, making your own broth is the best way to go.

**Aku is a bitter flavor that is released from fish, meats and vegetables during the boiling process.

I hope you enjoy something new in your miso soup.

Different types of Soy Sauce (Shoyu)

Have you ever been amazed by the soy sauce section at a Japanese grocery store? I wanted to talk about the variety of soy sauces out there so that if you have a Japanese grocery store in your area, you can make a more informed decision on your soy sauce choice. According to the Japanese Soy Sauce News Center (yes there is a Japanese Soy Sauce News Center-SOYIC しょうゆ情報センター), there are 5 main types of soy sauces.

1) Koikuchi Shoyu (濃口): This soy sauce is the most popular in Japan and roughly makes up approximately 82% of the soy sauce consumption. It is characterized as having a deep soy sauce flavor and a mild sweetness. It is the all-purpose and most versatile of the five soy sauces.

2) Usukuchi Shoyu (淡口): Usukuchi, which literally means "light taste" has a light reddish brown color but don't be fooled by it's name. This soy sauce has 10% more sodium than koikuchi in order to slow the fermentation process. The color and the soy flavor is lighter in order to maintain the integrity of the other ingredients in the dish.
This soy sauce makes up 15% of the entire soy sauce production and is popular in the Kansai Region.

3) Tamari Shoyu (溜まり): This soy sauce is used mostly in the Chubu region. It has a slightly thicker consistency and has a rich umami flavor. It is been called "Sashimi Tamari" because it is often used for sushi and sashimi. Tamari developes a nice red color when heated and is therefore an ideal soy sauce for teriyaki sauces, tsukudani (preserved food cooked in soy sauce) and also preserved foods such as senbei (rice crackers).

4) Saishikomi Shoyu (再しこみ): This soy sauce is a specialty soy sauce in Yamaguchi Prefecture and also used in Kyushu. The "Sai" in Saishikomi means again because the koji (fermented rice) is added back into the soy sauce for a second time, whereas most other soy sauces only add the koji once during the salt water stage. This is also a thick soy sauce and is also popular for sashimi.

5) Shiro Shoyu (白): Developed in Aichi Prefecture, this soy sauce has the lightest soy flavor and has a light amber color of all the soy sauces. It's sweetness, however makes up for the the lightness in soy flavor. This soy sauce is ideal for dishes that need to maintain it's color and flavor. Examples include: fish broth soup, pickled vegetables, chawan mushi (savory steamed egg custard), and rice crackers.


This information was roughly translated from the SOYIC website:

SOYIC Website

There are also a variety of other types of soy sauces such as low sodium soy sauce or premium selections that use high quality soy beans. Kikkoman even offers an organic soy sauce.

Next time you run out of soy sauce, consider trying a different type in addition to your regular Koikuchi shoyu.

Super Crunchety Vegetable Kakiage Tempura (vegan friendly :) )

Vegetable kakiage is one of my favorite types of tempura, and since I tempted you with a picture of it with the udon, I thought I’d include a recipe.

As I mentioned in the udon post, vegetable kakiage is a combination of vegetables cut julienne and mixed in a tempura batter and deep fried. The batter holds the vegetables together so you end up getting something that looks like a flat bird’s nest. I always put onions and carrots because they both give it a nice sweetness. Depending on what other ingredients I have on hand, I’ll put green onions, little dried fish, gobo (burdock root), shiso or sometimes podded soy beans. It’s a great way to use up bits of left over vegetables in your fridge.

Simple Vegetable Kakiage (makes 4)

1 medium carrot
1 small onion
1 green onion
100 ml flour (yes ml is a weird way of measuring it but I figured it was better than saying 0.4 cup of flour)
1/2 cup of water
1 teaspoon of vinegar
oil for frying

1) Cut the carrots, onion and green onion julienne and set aside.
2) In a medium sized bowl, add the water and vinegar. Slowly add in the flour and mix with a whisk for 30 seconds.
*Please note that for a super crunchety batter, make sure you add the vinegar before you add the flour otherwise it won’t be nearly as crunchy. Scientist people might be able to understand the chemistry behind this but for some reason the vinegar does something to the water that makes it crunchy. Don’t bother hassling with ice cold water, egg yokes or egg whites and all that mess.
3) Add the vegetables to the batter and mix well. Also be sure to mix in between adding some of the mixture to the oil because the batter isn’t that thick. Otherwise you’ll be left with lots of batter in the end.
4) Heat oil to 180 degrees Celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit). The oil temperature is important because if the temp is too low, you’ll get soggy kakiage and if it’s too hot it’ll burn quickly.
5) Add 1/4 of the mixture to the oil. Use chopsticks or tongs to poke wholes at it so that the kakiage is light and crunchy and you pull apart the vegetables.
Fry for about 1-2 minutes on each side if you’re not using a lot of oil.

Vegetables mixed in batter.


Add it to the oil. You can use a small sauce pot if you don't want to use a lot of oil. Make one at a time.


Poke with Chopsticks and pull them apart slightly so you don't get clumpy kakiage.


Ready to pull it out


Perfectly golden brown. The one on the bottom one was pulled out a little early but it was perfectly crunchy. The one of the left had a nice golden brown and was also nice and crunchy. The one on the far right is a little over cooked and the onion was little bitter.


Ready to eat! You poke the holes so you get a bird's nest type of light airy kakiage.


Eat as is with tempura sauce or put on top of udon.

Show off your dashi makings skillz with steamy udon

Udon is a noodle soup popular in Japan. It’s not a gourmet dish but you’ll find a restaurant that serves udon almost anywhere in Japan. It’s great during cold winter nights or even on hot humid days. Don’t ask me why but hot noodle dishes like ramen are very popular in the summer. I guess there’s something about eating a hot and steamy bowl of soup on a hot humid day that makes you feel a little cooler? I have no idea but according to my Japanese friend, it’s because you sweat. Even stranger...

Anyway, there are many variations of udon. It’s similar to domburi (rice bowl) in that you can choose almost any kind of topping. Today I’m going to just talk about the preparing the udon soup and noodles and I’ll slowly start to add different type of toppings. I usually like to do kakiage, which is combination of vegetables cut julienne mixed in a tempura batter to keep it all together. Of course you can put any kind of tempura you’d like. Most restaurants will serve it with shrimp tempura and maybe one or two other types of vegetable tempura, green onions and shitake mushrooms.

Let’s start with the soup.

Basic Hot Udon (serves 1)
3 cups of dashi (ichbandashi or nibandashi will do)
2 Tablespoons of Soy sauce
1.5 Tablespoons of Mirin
1/8 Teaspoon of Salt
Udon noodles (125 grams approx.)

1) After you’ve prepared the dashijiru, add the soy sauce and mirin and give it a quick stir. If you use nibandashi for this, than you can add a little hondashi (1/4 teaspoon) to add some more fish flavor.
2) Boil water and add noodles. The noodles should take about 8-12 minutes depending on the thickness of the noodles. (Follow the instructions on the package) If you get the frozen noodles then it should only take a few minutes.
3) Drain the noodles and rinse with cold water to get the starch in the noodles to firm up a bit. I like my noodles a little al dente and this helps them get a little chewier. Make sure you drain the noodles well so that the water doesn’t dilute the soup. Serve the noodles into a nice big soup bowl.
4) Bring the soup back up to a boil and add the soup to the noodles. You want to make sure the soup is hot because the cold noodles will bring the temperature down.
5) Add whatever topping you like. Examples include but are by no means limited to, tempura, half boiled egg, chopped green onion, nori (seaweed), piece of fried tofu for kitsune udon, tororo kombu (shredded kelp), tororo (grated yam) ANYTHING!

Cold udon dishes. There is also zaru udon or cold udon. I will talk more about that when it gets warmer.

In the future, I will post popular udon dishes.

In the mean time I give you udon with vegetable kakiage.

Fish/vegetarian stock for Japanese cooking (two types of dashijiru)

I've recently been inspired to share Japanese recipes and not because I was recently introduced to Japanese food but because I wanted to have more of a focus to my blog and frankly, Japanese food is what I do best. I've been cooking Japanese food since my mom started having my brother and I help in the kitchen at about 7 years old, so writing about Japanese food didn't seem new or exciting. I wanted to post recipes and dishes that I never made before. However, after much thought, I think people will get more value out of reading recipes that are time tested and good. I will also try to post inventive Japanese dishes as well.

I am going to start with a basic recipe which will serve as one of the main recipes that refer back to over and over again. By itself, it's not the most delicious dish but is a necessary component of Japanese cooking so please bare with me as I explain.

Fish/vegetarian stock in Japanese cooking is essential. I don't know how strongly I should emphasize this but it's like Korean food and red chili, Indian food and garam masala, Thai and basil or coconut. Of course you don't need it in every Japanese dish you make, but it's really the essence of Japanese food. I know of a few vegetarians living in Japan that gave up on trying to be vegetarian while living in Japan because it's used in just about every thing. Many soups, cooked vegetables, sauces, tamago (egg), use it as a base to add flavor to the dish. Even if it looks vegetarian, more than likely it's not.

My grandmother often jokes that "a man who was said to love fish more than anyone in the world, married a woman who was said to hate fish more than anyone in the world," referring to her and my grandfather. My grandmother is from Fukushima, an area that isn't know for fresh fish or even fish dishes other than migaki nishin (preserved herring). My grandfather, on the other hand, is from Hokkaido, which is said to have the best seafood in Japan.

Dreading the idea of cooking fish for every meal, it was months before my grandmother figured out the secret to satisfying my grandfather's discriminating taste buds. It was DASHI! She figured out that everything would taste "umai" (good) as long as there was dashi in it. It was also a way for her to cook with more vegetables and satisfy my fish loving grandfather. Now that I think I've beat that point to a pulp, which is that everything is yummy with dashi, I will go on to how to make it. Dashi, of course uses 2 key ingredients of umami.

I am posting two types of dashijiru: Ichibandashi and Nibandashi.
Ichiban dashi is used for clear Japanese soup which is usually served with sashimi or sushi. You can also use it as a base (think of it as any kind of stock) to flavor countless Japanese dishes. This is why I'm posting this recipe as the first of my Japanese recipes.

Nibandashi is used for dishes that could use extra flavor but isn't going to be used as the star of the dish. I usually use nibandashi in recipes such as miso soup. Miso soup has miso, which is a very salty and strong ingredient so nibandashi is perfect for miso soup.

Basic Dashijiru (ichiban dashi or first broth)

1) 5 inches dried kombu (Kelp)*
2) 3 cups not packed of katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)**
3) 3 cups water

1) Place kombu into the measured water for 20-30 minutes before cooking so that it had time to soak and release flavor into the water.
2) On low to medium heat, boil the water and take out the kombu right before it starts to boil. You want it to slowly boil so that the kombu will have time to release it's flavors but you don't want to boil it because you don't want the kombu flavor to be too strong.
3) Add the katsuobushi and turn off the stove.
4) Turn off heat and allow ingredients to remain in pot until cool.
5) Drain ingredients with a cheese cloth or clean gauze although don't squeeze out all the dashijiru from the katsuobushi. That will be used for Nibandashi (2nd broth).

Add in the katsuobushi and turn off the stove. This is important in preserving the delicate flavor of the fish.


Use a cheese cloth, cooking gauze and a sieve to drain broth. Wait until cool to allow all the katsuobushi flavors to come out into the water.


The broth should be a nice golden color.


Nibandashi

1) Put the kombu and katsuobushi back into the pot and add 3 cups of water.
2) Bring to a boil and remove any impurities or aku from the broth. Aku is a bitter flavor that is released from fish, meats and vegetables during the boiling process.
3) Reduce heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes.
4) Wait until cool and drain into a cheese cloth and drain.
5) Now you can squeeze the heck out of the cheese cloth to get as much of the flavor as you can out of it.
6) At this point I usually toss the katsuobushi and save the kombu to make tsukudani. I usually wait until I have about 10 of these left over kombu pieces before I have enough to make tsukudani. I'll post that recipe later.

Combine water and left over katsuobush and kombu and simmer for a 3-4 minutes.


Allow broth to cool in pot and drain.


Nibandashi should also have a slightly lighter but still golden color.


Oh wait! I forgot to mention that I am posting a very basic dashijiru recipe but there are variations of dashijiru which can be made with a variety of ingredients. Other ingredients you can use are:

dried scallops
dried niboshi or sardines (remove the head and black stuff because the black stuff is bitter)
little dried shrimp
large pieces of dried bonito

You can also just use the kombu and make a vegetarian dashi.

Niboshi are often hard to find and a little on the expensive side so I usually just go with katsuobushi and kombu but some people want as much flavor as possible and will add niboshi to their dashijiru. My mom never made dashijiru without niboshi and would have my grandmother send it to her on a regular basis, but oddly enough after she moved back to Japan, I hardly ever see her using niboshi in her fish stock anymore. It has a fishier flavor as sardines do, but I think when they are dried the fishy flavor is enhanced. Either way I prefer katsuobushi and I'll usually put a little extra to make up for not putting niboshi.

*A side note about kombu: Don't wash it! The flavor is in the delicious white powder on the kombu. My grandmother told me that during the war, when food was scarce and fish and other foods were difficult to come by, it was not uncommon for people to scrape off the white powder and save it in jars to use as seasoning. I guess this was their substitute for Ajinomoto but regardless, it's where the flavor is so don't scrub it down like most packages suggest.

**A side note when buying katsuobushi: Katsuobushi, although is a common ingredient in Japanese cooking, is not an ingredient that goes flying off the shelves in Japanese markets in the US. This is evident in it's shelf placement since it always seems to be on the bottom or top shelf, and because I find it difficult to find fresh katsuobushi. If you're purchasing katsuobushi overseas, then you should always look at the expiration date and if you're ghetto like me, pull the bag from the back of the shelf to see that you're getting the one with the latest expiration date. You can also tell how fresh the katsuobushi is by looking at the color. Katsuobushi is usually placed in large plastic bags where you can see the product inside. It should be brown with a slightly pink hue and should not be dark brown. As Katsuobushi gets old, it will start to get sour and will in turn make your broth sour. This is ruin your soup or whatever you're making so you're better off not using it at all if it's old.

I have can't post my pictures today but I will update this post soon with colorful pictures.

But before I redefine...

I wanted to post a picture of my first attempt at Beef Wellington. Ever since I started watching Hell's Kitchen, I wanted to try making it. I know...Hell's Kitchen is not really a cooking show but it's entertaining and I can't help it.

Here's my funny version of Beef Wellington rolled up because I did not have a nice big piece of beef fillet so I improvised, just in case you were wondering about the tiny hole in the middle. I really wanted to use the rest of my frozen brioche dough so I used that instead of puff pastry and it turned out pretty good, maybe even better than puff pastry.

I also substituted the parma ham for prosciutto. The sauce is a red wine sauce that I made by using the same pan I seared the meat in to pick up all the meaty goodness. I added to that butter, flour, red wine and S&P (salt & pepper) and let it simmer until it thickened up a little.

If you're looking for a nice Beef Wellington recipe here are two links.
The first is the recipe and the second is a video of Gordon Ramsey going through the steps.

Beef Wellington Recipe
You Tube Link with Gordon Ramsey

The result:




I served it with steamed asparagus and mashed red potatoes with fresh chopped thyme, S&P, soy milk and olive oil. It's not as hard as it looks and it was really fun.

Hopefully, tomorrow I will have my first J-food post up. :)

Redefining yet again

I've been thinking about this blog a lot lately and how I want to define it. It started out as hobby, something to get me to learn html, and it is now moving towards my favorite thing in the world which is cooking. I've been working hard in the kitchen to document my cooking and taking as many photos as I can to make this blog chock full of photos demonstrating all the steps. I have also been thinking about renaming my blog. This post will be short tonight but I'm hoping to have a lot of recipes and ideas posted soon.

Party people let me hear some noise with Brie in Brioche!

Cuz Whoomp there it is!
DC's in the house jump jump and rejoice
There's a party over here
a party over there
Wave your hands in the air
Shake the deriere
These three words mean you're gettin' busy
Whoomp there it is
whoomp there it is...

Ahhhh what a great party song. I'm afraid that true hip hop is dying but there are always the great classics to look back on. For me it's Whoomp there is it by Tag Team.

Oh yea I almost forgot I was going to talk about party food. You should always have an arsenal of party recipes ready to refer to, whether it's an easy 10 minute recipe or a real show stopper. I'm sure everyone goes to potluck parties every now and then so I thought I'd share some party food ideas.

Recently, I was invited to my friend's house for Easter dinner. The theme was Middle Eastern but I thought appetizers could be anything. I had my mind made that I was going to bake something from my bread book but I wasn't sure what. I thought it would be a cute idea to bake some sort of Easter bread but after checking out a 6 hour rising time I decided to go with something simpler. That's when I came up with Brie in Brioche. Not to pat myself on the back but it was pretty good considering I made if for the first time.

The great thing about this bread is that you can make the dough ahead of time and it can be frozen for up to two weeks so you can just defrost and use it when you need to. Also, if you bake too much and it gets a little stale, it's great for French toast. Ahhh I love brioche. It's a cross between a cake and bread with a buttery and sweet flavor. I'm sure there's a long history of brioche, I think I read somewhere that the croissant was derived from brioche but I'm not sure. Regardless, it's a rich and delicious bread reserved for all occasions. The brie in brioche is great for parties served as an hors d'oeuvre. My brother had baked brie at his wedding which was served during the cocktail hour and it was deeeelicious. I'm not sure if it was baked in brioche though.

Brioche Ingredients
4 (1/2) cups of unbleached all purpose flour
1 tablespoon of active dry yeast
1/4 cup of sugar
2 Tablespoons of salt
1/2 cup of hot water (120 F)
6 large eggs at room temp
1 cup (2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temp cut into small pieces and softened)

1 egg for the glaze (You can also use just the yoke for a more golden finish)

1)If you have a standing mixers I recommend using that unfortunately I had to do it by hand. I'll write the directions for both since not everyone has the standing mixer. In a large bowl or mixing bowl, combine 1 cup of the four, sugar and salt. In a small bowl, mix the warm water with the yeast and dissolve. It's important to make sure the water is 120 degrees because if the water is too cold it won't activate the yeast and if it's too hot it will kill the yeast. Yeast is so weird. My friend described it best when she said they are like little aliens. Anyway add the dissolved yeast and water to the dry ingredients and beat at medium speed for 2 minutes with an electric mixer or until smooth by hand. Use the paddle attachment if using a mixer.

2) Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually add 2 more cups of flour. When well blended add the butter a few pieces at a time. Beat until completely incorporated, about 30 seconds with a mixer. Gradually add the remaining 1(1/2) cups of flour at low speed. Beat until thoroughly blended and creamy in consistency, about another 30 seconds. The dough will be soft and have a batter-like consistency.

3) Using a spatula, scrape the dough into a greased bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise at a cool room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 3 hours. (At least it's half the time of the Easter Bread).

4)Gently deflate the dough with a spatula, cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate 12 hours or overnight.

5) Turn the chilled dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. You'll only need about 1/3 of the dough and the rest you can bake into small braided loaves, 2 large loaves or freeze it for another day.

6) Form the dough into a round ball using the flat part of your hand. Slowly roll out the dough as to not crack the edges and stop to reform it. If your Brie wheel is 5 inches, which I find to be the standard size, then the dough should be double the size at 10 inches and no less than 1/4 inch thick. Don't use the brie cut into wedges because the cheese will met out into a big mess. The wheel is protected by the rind and that's why this works.

7) Trim away the excess dough and reshape it to decorate the top. Place the brie wheel in the center of the dough and fold in a circle starting at one end and working your way around. Press the edges together to seal it and flip the entire thing so the fold side is down.

8) Grease or parchment-line a large baking sheet. Put the cheese on the baking sheet and brush with a beaten egg. This will give it a beautiful glaze. Poke a hole at the top so the steam can escape. Decorate with leaves or a nice grape pattern or fun design. Brush design with egg also.

9)Preheat the oven to 375 twenty minutes before baking. Let the loaf stand at room temperature for 15 minutes if refrigerated. Place the baking sheet in the center of the rack and bake for about 40 minutes or until golden and puffy.

10) Cool on a rack or serve warm.

After rolling out the dough and covering the brie wheel you should have something that looks like this:


Cooled and ready to eat!


Braided brioche treats great for tea, breakfast bread or as a snack.

The Up and Under

I decided that I am going to start reviewing restaurants that I go to. It is my friend's birthday this week so a bunch of friends and I decided to go to the Up and Under Pub and Grill in Richmond, CA not VA on Friday. There were 18 of us, including the kids, so the place had to make special accommodations for us. I didn't deal with making the reservations but my friend said they were very accommodating.

The restaurant is located in Point Richmond, a neighborhood in Richmond not well known in the San Francisco Bay Area, despite being a quaint little neighborhood by the Bay. It's not a place that's known for restaurants but two of my friends heard good things about it so we decided to check it out.

The staff was very friendly and made sure that we were taken care of by checking up on us throughout the evening. All of my friends were happy with their food, especially my friend who ordered the 3/4 lb burger. It was...well gigantic. I wanted to try as much on the menu as I could so I split two sandwiches with my friend. I tried the their vegetarian sandwich, the Winger and the Full back. The Winger has a grilled Portobello mushroom & cactus, roasted red pepper, tomato and choice of cheese with a pesto aioli on herb focaccia. This sandwich was my favorite of the two because it wasn't your usual boring vegetarian sandwich. The cactus gave the sandwich extra complexity by giving it an interesting texture that can be described as a cross between the consistency of okra and the texture of roasted bell pepper. It was also a little tangy that added another layer of flavor. The Portobello mushroom and roasted bell pepper was perfectly cooked and the pesto aioli wasn't overpowering like most pesto sauces can be. My only complaint would be that the sandwich claimed to be on an herb focaccia which is really wasn't. The bread was a nice fluffy bread but I wouldn't call it a focaccia and it definitely didn't have enough herbs to make it memorable. The Full back had grilled chicken, thick cut bacon, roasted tomatoes & peppers, jack cheese, and chipotle aioli on a herb fococcia. This sandwich was also good. The chicken was moist and seasoned well, the bacon added a smoky flavor although there were several thin pieces of bacon rather than thick cut bacon and the roasted tomatoes gave it a sweet and tangy flavor. Again, the bread was good although it wasn't really a focaccia and the chipotle aioli over powered the sandwich with the amount of heat. I would have preferred a milder sauce, since the chipotle aioli made it hard to detect the tomato and the bell peppers flavors. Each sandwich was served with house fries. I was expecting steak fries but they served some pretty nice crispy fries that didn't get soggy or hard right away. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised with my food and experience there. I'm not sure that I would make a special trip out there again since it's quite a trek from my place but I would definitely go back if I was in the area.

Last Episode of Ugly Betty

I don't know why I didn't find out until the last moment that Ugly Betty was ending on ABC. I watched the first season and after that on and off, but I recently got back into it in last September. I was a little sad that Rebecca Romijn left the show but it still maintained it's cute Betty moments so I was happy watching it as a dvr recording. Last week, as I was catching up on some recorded t.v., including Ugly Betty, and the commercial for the last show aired. "The final episode of Ugly Betty?" I'm not even sure why I was so upset since I wasn't a huge fan, but it was sort of my go-to show for corny feel good shows. I guess I can relate a little to Betty Suarez. Mostly, I can relate to her hard work ethic and always trying to do the right thing but sometimes getting taken advantage of. And of course, those dorky awkward moments that everyone has at least sometimes right?

Overall I was content how the show ended because everyone had a happy ending and most of all, Betty was able to get away from Mode and start a new life for herself at a magazine more suited for her. It only took her four years to achieve her dream of becoming an editor. Four years might seem like a long time but to start as an assistant and become a editor in 4 years seems pretty good to me.

There were a few things that I didn't like about the ending though. Daniel suddenly realizes that he doesn't want to run Mode because Betty quits but he has no other plans and follows Betty to London even though he's not sure he's in love with her? WHAT? I couldn't even say that sentence without breathing. Willamina gets what she always wanted and suddenly becomes nice? Plus, there are a few unanswered questions. What happened to Tyler? He tries to kill Claire and they are back to being a happy family or not? What was the sudden change in Marc? Why does he suddenly have a conscience? I suppose these sudden changes were the best way to wrap up the show and give everyone a happy ending. Unfortunately, I think that the show wasn't popular enough to have a movie like the Sex in the City movie so I guess I'll never have the answers to my questions.

I'm looking forward to seeing America Ferrera in something new. I like her in comedy and drama but who knows what she's up to next. After a little google seaching it seems that she wants to take a break before starting something new.

Don'tcha love saying Tabouli?

I have been on a Middle Eastern kick lately although I have always loved Middle Eastern food. I mentioned my Middle Eastern lunch yesterday so I thought I would continue on that theme instead of catching up on some of my other dishes.

According to Wikipedia Tabouli (or Tabbouleh or tabouleh) is a traditional mountain dish from the Eastern Mediterranean and is a main Lebanese dish. It has also become one of the most popular Middle Eastern salads.

It's a fresh and healthy salad loaded in vitamins that is great for picnics and BBQs since you don't have to worry about the mayo going bad. It's also a great diet food that doesn't make you feel like you're dieting or starving yourself because the bulgar wheat has tons of fiber that keeps you feeling full. It also has a lower glycemic index than white rice or couscous making it great for people with diabetes.

My mom used to make Tabouli all the time when I was a kid and it was the only way you could get me to eat large amounts of parsley or tomatoes. It's not necessarily a great dish for kids but if you're trying sneak in some veggies or get your kids used to the idea of parsley, you can tone down the amount of parsley and serve it in a pita pocket with lots of creamy hummus, feta cheese and a tasty falafel. (oooh I should make falafels)

There are many variations of Tabouli but as long as you have bulgar wheat, parsley, tomatoes, olive oil, lemon juice and little salt, you will have the classic version of a Tabouli.

Tabouli my way (4 servings)
2 ripe tomatoes diced
1/2 cup of chopped parsley (curly or flat leaf parsley)
half of a cucumber seeded and diced
1 cup of buglar wheat soaked in boiling water and drained if necessary and squeeze dry
1 cup of hot water

dressing
2 tablespoons of lemon juice or half of a large lemon
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of cumin
2(1/2) tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 small garlic clove grated or chopped fine

1) Boil the water and soak the bulgar wheat in the hot water for about 30 minutes until softened. Give it a stir to allow all of it to soak properly. Make sure that you drain any excess water before mixing with the other ingredients.
2) Add bulgar wheat to cucumbers, parsley and tomatoes.
3) Whisk dressing and add to (2)

There you have it. Tabouli to eat as is, with pita chips or in a pita sandwich.

Tabouli Pita Pocket
Tabouli
Pita bread
feta cheese
hummus

1) Cut the pita bread in half and separate it to create a pocket.
2) Spread a generous amount of hummus inside
3) Sprinkle some feta cheese
4) Add a few spoon fulls of tabouli
5) You can also add your favorite lunch meat or falafels.

Eat immediately so the pita bread doesn't get soggy and prepare napkins!
Serve it with extra tabouli on the side and extra hummus and pita chips.

Whip up some homemade creamy roasted garlic hummus!

I just fell in love with hummus all over again! This morning I wanted to whip up some hummus for my Middle Eastern lunch I had planned. I was getting frustrated with the price of hummus increasing at my local grocery store and how the packaging they are using is deceiving because the bottom of the container is raised leaving less space for hummus. To say the least, I haven't been buying it lately. I only thought to make it again so that I could play with my little food processor. I got the cutest little food processor as a gift and I've been working that little guy like no tomorrow. We'll see how long it lasts but I'm thinking of doing a 90 day review on it.

All I can say is WOW, homemade hummus is sooooo velvety, creamy and ooooo so good. I never knew how delicious it was homemade. I tried years ago to make it with a blender and it didn't go so well. It was clumpy and dry and was missing something so minus the food processor I decided that store bought was the way to go with hummus. I also think my mistake was not putting tahini and using dried garbanzo (chick peas), although I soaked them in water first.

Roasted garlic Hummus
1 15 oz. can of garbanzo beans (chick peas) drained (reserve liquid)
1/4 cup of reserved liquid from canned garbanzo beans
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
2 tablespoons of tahini*
1/2 teaspoon of cumin
1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
half of a medium clove of garlic
1 medium roasted garlic**

1) Put raw garlic in food processor and chop for about 5 seconds
2) Add all of the garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice, reserved liquid, roasted garlic clove, cumin and salt.
3) Process for about 1(1/2) to 2 minutes until smooth.
4) With the machine running, add the olive oil in a steady stream and process until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

I recommend tasting the hummus with a pita chip seasoned with sea salt and see if you need any more salt.



It was soooooo good so it's definitely not going to last long. I already devoured half of it today with a pita sandwich and chips. YUM!

*Tanhini: Tahini is a sesame seed paste available in most grocery stores. I often have roasted sesame seeds on hand and don't use tahini very much so I made it by grounding the 2 Tbs of sesame seeds in a mortar and pestle and added about a teaspoon of hot water to help it get a smoother consistency.

**Roasted garlic: I always thought that roasted garlic was a time consuming and energy wasting process. Most recipes call an entire garlic wrapped up and baked in the oven for 30-35 minutes at 400 degrees. I'm not likely to eat more than a whole roasted garlic before it goes bad so it just seemed like putting one garlic in a large oven was a waste of energy so I was never motivated to make it. Today I tried it with just the amount I needed and used a handy dandy toaster oven instead! I pulled off just what I needed 4 cloves (3 to use in something else) and left the skin on. I drizzled some olive oil over them and wrapped them up in foil and put them in the toaster oven for 13 minutes and voila! Instant roasted garlic! It smelled so good and added a lot of flavor to the hummus. Of course roasting it longer will give it a smokier taste but 13 minutes was long enough to do the trick.

New Blog, sort of and carrot salad

I haven't posted in a while but that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking or thinking constantly about food. In fact, I'm always obsessing over my meals and I'm usually thinking about my next meal. Last night I did a little memory test to see how far back I could remember every meal I had without skipping any days. I'm not sure how good 10 days is but that's the record so far. I never skip a meal so that's 30 meals.

The main reason I stopped posting is because I didn't want to write only about cooking and food, but I also wanted to write about different topics. To be honest though, I'm always thinking about food. I was talking to a friend yesterday who reminded me that I have not posted anything in a long time and well...why beat around the bush, I'll just say it, I wasn't really motivated. I mean who really reads this blog anyway, but at the same time people aren't going to read a blog that isn't updated. I guess it's the classic catch 22. Sort of? uhh anyway I am going to continue on with writing mostly about food but occasionally, if I feel inclined, I will post on other topics. In a way, I'm sort of saying that I'm redefining my blog.

Ok so on to it! I'm backed up on sharing some really cool recipes so I'll slowly start posting those. My friend has a garden at her house and we're not talking about a few herbs and tomatoes but about 15 different veggies and fruit trees. I'm not sure how seriously she was taking Michelle Obama's suggestion of growing your own garden but it's a pretty awesome garden. She was making two interesting variety of carrots: Tonda di Parigi and Scarlet Nantes. One of them was short and fat and the other one was short and skinny. She came over to drop off some of them and I wanted to make a dish that highlighted their interesting flavor and shape. Something that was visually appealing but simple enough to taste the carrot without it getting lost in a lot of other ingredients.

I decided on making a raw carrot salad by slicing the carrots in a way that you could still see their original shape. Here's what I came up with:

Tonda di Parigi Carrot Salad in Peach vinaigrette

3 Tonda di Parigi carrots, washed and sliced thin with a mandolin. (Don't peal them because that's where a lot of the vitamins are)
2 tablespoons of their leaves finely chopped
1 tablespoon of peach balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon of sugar
pinch of salt
freshly ground black pepper

Mix the dressing first and add the carrots into a bowl and marinate over night.



Tonda di Parigi and Scarlet Nantes:

* The Tonda di Parigi carrot is the petite round carrot to the right. They have a mild and sweet flavor. Although the name, Tonda di Parigi is Italian. It actually means, 'round from Paris'
* The Scarlet Nantes carrot is the carrot to the left. They are one of the most famous and classic heirloom carrots. They are medium, slender, orange-skinned carrots with the typical rich carrot flavor and a hint of red glow.