Ingredient in the Spotlight: Shiso (Beefsteak Plant)

Shiso are beautiful full leaves with a bright green color that reminds me of spring. They also come in a reddish purple variety that is often use to make umeboshi (pickled plums). Not only is it used to flavor the umeboshi, but the shiso give it a bright red color. It's without a doubt my favorite Japanese herb. They often make an appearance as a garnish on sushi platters in America but shiso is much much more than a garnish. It has a delicate sweet flavor that perfumes and compliments many Japanese dishes. It's like cilantro and Mexican food or basil and Thai food. I have already used it in my fancy sushi tsukemono but it will definitely continue to make an appearance in recipes to come.

Multiple shiso leaves.


Single leaf.

Daikon Miso Soup

By now, you've probably got miso soup down and you're probably asking yourself how many types of miso soup are there. I have no idea. I just wanted to post enough recipes that you'll have enough to rotate them so you don't get bored.

Here's Daikon Miso Soup! BAM 8 Done!

Ingredients:
(servings 2)
2 inches of a small daikon or just use half of a large daikon
2 Tablespoons +1 teaspoon of miso
2 cups nibandashi

1) Make nibandashi or you can use ichibandashi. As a substitute you can use 2 cups of water and 1/4 teaspoon of dashi powder.
2) Add the daikon and simmer until the daikon is tender.
3) Add the miso and put the miso in a ladle and use chop sticks or something to dissolve the miso before adding it directly to the soup.


Cut off 2 inches of a small daikon. If you have a large daikon cut off 2 inches but just use half of it.


Cut 1/8 of an inch slices.


Line them up and slice into Julienne slices.




Simmer the daikon before you add the miso.


Daikon Miso soup served.

Everybody's favorite Crispy Chicken katsu

I try to stay away from too much fried food but every now and then I have a huge craving for fried chicken and I don't mean KFC. I like 'em breaded and fried, ever heard of chicken katsu? For those of you who didn't get that, I'm sort of a movie quoter. "I like 'em dead and deep fried, ever heard of Popeyes? You gotta love Chris Rock. I digress...so back to the katsu. Tonkatsu (pork cutlet) is of course the classic fried and breaded meat but I really like chicken katsu. I find that you can't really go wrong with chicken katsu and the meat tends to stay moist.

This recipe is also a simple, no hassle and easy clean-up recipe. I don't bother dipping the meat into flour, eggs and then bread crumbs like a lot of recipes call for and this comes out crispier even after it cools down.

Ingredients
3/4 cup of water
1 teaspoon of vinegar
1/3 cup + 3 tablespoons of flour
1 (1/2) pounds of chicken thighs
2 cups of panko bread crumbs
Canola oil
salt and pepper

1) Use boneless and skinless chicken thighs. The dark meat helps keep the meat moist. Make sure you cut off all the fat. Lay them on a chopping board and lay a piece of plastic wrap over them.
2) Use a meat tenderizer or a rolling pin or the bottom of a skillet and try to make the meat an even thickness so that it can cook evenly in a frying pan.
3) Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides.
4) In a mixing bowl, add the water and vinegar. The vinegar is what makes it nice and crispy. Don't add the flour to the water first.
5) Whisk in the four until you have a nice smooth batter.
6) Dip the chicken in one at a time and then dip into panko crumbs and press lightly on both sides.
7) Heat a hot frying pan. You don't need to use a whole bottle or even a half a bottle of canola oil to get a nice crispy chicken katsu or have to deal with the mess of disposing it later. Add 1/4-1/3 a cup of canola oil to the pan and fry the chicken on both sides.
8) Fry both sides on med-low heat for 3-5 minutes on both sides until golden brown.

Serve with thinly sliced cabbage, rice and tonkatsu sauce and some sort of miso soup. I'll be making daikon miso soup tomorrow.

Use dark meat chicken and trim off all the fat.


Cover with plastic wrap.


This is what it looks like when it's tenderized.


Season with good sea salt and black pepper.


Make sure you add the vinegar to the water first.


The batter should stick to a spoon.


Set up your station so that it's dip, coat, lay down and on to the next.


Your chicken is ready to be fried.


You don't need a lot of oil. Use canola oil since it has a higher smoking point.


When you put the chicken in, lay it down away from you so that it the hot oil doesn't splash on you.

Cook until you see that the edges are golden brown and then flip.


It should be nice and golden brown.


Serve with thinly sliced cabbage and tonkatsu sauce.

Kabocha Salad

It's BAM 8 and I'm gonna roll out chicken katsu, kabocha salad, daikon miso soup and rice!

KuhBoCHa, is the mightiest of squashes. It's really great as a savory or sweet dish. This one is a mix of both, garnering the sweetness from the peas and raisins and the salty from the onions, mayo and sea salt. If you like potato salad but want to mix it up a bit, look no further.

Ingredients
3 cups of kabocha steamed, chopped and peeled. (about half of a medium kabocha)
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon of light mayo
1/4 cup of raisins
1/4 cup of thawed green peas
1/4 cup of prepared and drained onion (approx. half a small onion)
1/2 teaspoon of salt for flavoring
1/2 teaspoon of salt for onions.

1) Pull out the seeds and wash well.
2) Chop kabocha into wedges and then into cubes.
3) Chop onions paper thin or use a mandolin. Put in a bowl with a 1/2 teaspoon of salt and set aside.
4) Steam kabocha on medium heat for about 10 minutes until firm and soft but not mushy.
5) Peel the skin off the kabocha using a knife.
6) Put in bowl and add mayonnaise and salt and mash. Feel free to leave chunks if you like it slightly chunky.
7) Rinse onions and squeeze out water.
8) Mix in raisins, peas and onions.


Pull out the seeds with your fingers.


Chop in wedges and then in cubes.


Chop the onion into thin slices, add salt and massage.


Let sit for 10 minutes and the onions should look limp.


Rinse onions with cold water.


Squeeze the water out.


Steam the kabocha.


Peel the skin off using a knife. It may be hot so place it on a cutting board and carve it off.


Add salt and mayo and mash the kabocha.


Mix in raisins, peas and onions and serve.

Tofu and green onion miso soup

Ok...I know I started my first miso soup recipe by calling it "Not just tofu and green onions in my miso soup please" but I figured at one time or another I'd get someone asking why I don't have the quintessential miso soup on my blog so here it is. I also thought what better time than the grilled fish build a meal to introduce this classic miso soup recipe.

Ingredients (servings 2)
1/8 a 14 oz. (396 grams) package of tofu (cut into 8 cubes)
1 green onion
2 Tablespoons +1 teaspoon of miso
2 cups nibandashi

1) Make nibandashi or you can use ichibandashi. As a substitute you can use 2 cups of water and 1/4 teaspoon of dashi powder.
2) Add the tofu and simmer for 1 minute.
3) Add the miso and put the miso in a ladle and use chop sticks or something to dissolve the miso before adding it directly to the soup.
4) Add the green onions and serve immediately.

Put the green onions in just before serving.


Don't cut your tofu into tiny specs.

Saba no Shioyaki (Mackerel)

It's about time I posted something on grilled fish. This Build a Meal is probably the most typical Japanese meal thus far. This meal is something that could be served as breakfast, lunch or dinner. You don't necessarily have to use saba (mackerel) but I chose it because it's one of my favorite grilled fishes and there aren't as many bones as some other popular grilled fish like Sanma (Mackerel Pike/Pacific Saury)

There are a few ways you can grill your fish. The best of course would be to grill your fish on a stick over some hot coals near a river and then drizzle some soy sauce over it. Mmmmm I probably saw that on some soy sauce commercial. But realistically, you're probably only going to have a stove, oven, or toaster oven to work with. Japanese stoves usually have a nifty built in fish grilling pan that give the fish a nice charred color. If you're anywhere but Japan, you're more than likely not going to have one so I came up with a method using a toaster oven. If you don't have a toaster oven and you have a broil setting on your oven you might want to try that, but I figure it's kinda a lot of energy to waste heating up an entire oven for two little pieces of fish.

The second method I use to grill my fish is on a frying pan. Fish skin is delicate and usually tears easily so I like to use a small piece of parchment paper and line the frying pan first. If you use this method, fry the skin side down first for about 3-5 minutes on med-low heat and flip and fry for about 3 minutes on the other side.

Ingredients (Servings 2)
1-2 teaspoon(s) of salt
2 pieces of mackerel
vegetable oil
2-3 tablepoons of daikon oroshi. Also see Daikon.
Splash of soy sauce or yuzu ponzu.

1) Prepping your fish: Wash your fish with water and pat dry. Salt the fish on both sides and put back into the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. This helps to get rid of some of the fishiness since mackerel tends to be on the fishy side. If you're sensitive to the fishy smell you can also sprinkle with some sake along with the salt and let it sit longer than 30 minutes.
2) Use the crumb tray that your toaster oven comes with and fill it with water. This helps to keep the fish from drying out.
3) Lay the rack on top and coat it with vegetable oil.
4) Lay your fish diagonally on the racks with the skin side up.
5) Set your toaster oven on broil and cook on the lower rack for 7 minutes.
6) Transfer to the higher rack and cook for an additional 4-5 minutes until the skin starts to bubble and char.
7) Leave the fish on the higher rack and flip them and cook for an additional 4 minutes.
8) Serve with daikon oroshi on the side and add a splash of soy sauce or yuzu ponzu to it. Garnish with a lemon wedge or lemon slice.

Wash your saba and pat it dry. Rub salt on both sides and refrigerate for 30 minutes.


Fill the crumb tray with water and coat the rack with vegetable oil.


Lay the fish on the rack skin side up.


Start it out on the lower rack.


The fish should look like this after moving it up to the higher rack and cooking for an additional 4-5 minutes.


Flip the fish and cook for 4 more minutes.


Saba no shioyaki served!

Fancy Sushi Tsukemono

Wow it's already BAM 7! Lucky SEVEN! This is probably the most Japanese BAM so far. I'm introducing the first grilled fish, of course the most popular miso soup (tofu and green onions), a fun sushi tsukemono and rice.



Ingredients
3 large hakusai leaves (or 6 small ones)
1 small carrot
1 Japanese cucumber (you can substitute with English cucumbers but they should be peeled and seeded)
6 shiso leaves
2.5 inches of the top of a daikon (Use half of it)
(You should have about 4 cups of cut up vegetables.)
2 tsp. of salt
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of grated ginger

1) Boil some water in a large pot and add the hakusai leaves. Boil for about 3 minutes. Drain and put in a bowl of cold water.
2) Wash and cut your vegetables. Cut them into thin match sticks. Cut the carrots and cucumber in diagonal slices first. Next, line them up nicely and slice them into thin match sticks.
3) Cut the daikon into slices length wise and then cut them into match stick the same size as the carrots and the cucumber.
4) Put the vegetables in a bowl and add the salt and sugar and mix with your hands. Set aside for 5 minutes.
5) Mix the veggies again and squeeze out as much water out as you can. Mix in the grated ginger.
6) Use a sushi roller and lay a piece of plastic wrap on it.
7) Gently squeeze out the water from the hakusai and lay them on top of the sushi roller and plastic wrap. (If you have large hakusai leaves, then you'll only need one but if you only have small hakusai leaves use 2 so that they are slightly overlapping.
8) Put a third of vegetable mix on the hakusai like you're making a sushi roll.
9) Roll the hakusai and leave it wrapped in the plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour.
10) Cut in 5-6 even pieces.

How to cut your cucumbers.




Use your hand and push down on them and keep the cucumbers in place.


This is what they should look like.


Do the same thing with the carrots.




Cut the daikon like this and then cut into strips.


Add the sugar and salt the the vegetables, mix and set aside.


Simmer all of the hakusai for about three minutes.


Drain and put in a bowl of cold water.


Gently squeeze out the water from the hakusai.


Squeeze out the water from the vegetables.


Use both hands.


The vegetables should be limp.


Mix in the ginger.


Set up your sushi roller and lay a piece of plastic wrap over it.


Lay your hakusai on top and 2 shiso leaves.


Lay a third of the veggies on top.


Start rolling. Stop and squeeze tight.


Squeeze it tight.


Put on a plate and refrigerate.


Cut into 5-6 even pieces.


Serve and dip into a little bit of soy sauce and eat with a hot bowl of rice.


If you have any left over in the fridge, you may want to squeeze some of the water out before cutting.