Nikuman (Japanese Char Siu Pow)

Another winter food I miss is nikuman!

“Niku” means “meat”, and “man” is short word for “manju”.  It’s like a Japanese version of char siu pow, but it tastes different from those you see at yam char restaurants.

Nikuman is a popular winter fast food in Japan and you can buy them at many places during winter including convenience stores: Lawson, Seven Eleven, Family Mart, Cercle K, etc etc….  I love nikuman!  We just call nikuman, but there are several types in different flavors, including “pizza-man”, “an-man” and “curry-man”.  (sounds like character names in cartoon :p )  Different shops sell different flavors.

The good thing about buying nikuman from convenience stores is that you can buy it ANYTIME during winter, as convenience stores open 24 hours.  Whenever you feel like it, you can just grab the hot juicy nikuman and eat straight away.  And, the price is also the good part.  One nikuman costs around 100 yen ~ 150 yen.  Very cheap yet delicious snack.

I just miss the juicy nikuman…. (><)  My favorite is the standard nikuman (different shop = different taste, and some shop use different pork meat such as black pork and try to stand out from others) …

Oh, when I went to China town in Yokohama, I had the most delicious nikuman from a stall.  It was huge, and the meat was very very tender.  ”551 Horai” is also famous for its nikuman.  This shop is originally from Osaka.  (website)

Colourful Rice Balls

As I mentioned before, steamed rice is an essential item for Japanese cuisine.  We sometimes eat just rice and tea as a meal.  A rice ball (onigiri) is a very common snack food which can be purchased at convenience stores, super markets and kiosks at train stations.  (Normally in triangle shape)

When we make bento, we sometimes shape the rice into balls or triangles to enjoy the looks.  This colorful rice balls look cute and I sure want to use it as a bento item if I’m making one   You can also arrange the ingredients and make your own color of onigiri.

When making onigiri, the rice has to be hot.  Normally we shape the rice with bare hands, with a bowl of salted water to dip the hands before handling hot rice.  You can also shape onigiri using a plastic wrap film if you don’t want to use your hands.

<Colourful Rice Balls>  makes 1 set

Ume (pickled plum):

• 50g steamed rice
• 1 ume

Miso Soup

On a cold day like this, I have a craving for hearty miso soup.  Miso soup doesn’t always have to be with simply tofu or wakame.  The variety is endless and you can add any ingredients according to what you feel like drinking.

Miso is usually made from soy bean (some miso paste is made from rice, wheat, or barley) and it is a good source of protein, dietary fiber and minerals.  I know some Japanese ingredients are high in salt, including miso paste and soy sauce.  It is because Japan is an island country (salt could be obtained from the ocean easily), and also because of the Japan’s traditional diet.  

Traditional meal always consists of rice as a “main food”, and some side dishes.  To eat rice, side dishes had to be salty to accompany the bland taste of steamed rice.  Miso soup, pickles, seasoned nori sheets, grilled fish with a sprinkle of salt are the examples.  A Rice ball (onigiri) has been a popular lunch item since loong time ago in Japan for kids and husbands who work outside, and it was just a shaped steamed rice with salt back then.  Nowadays, onigiri usually contains a nori sheet, or some kind of seasonings.  

Go back to the miso soup..  I had a craving for a simple tofu miso soup last night, so I made it this morning for breakfast.  To me, the miso soup has to be super hot.  But, when you make miso soup you can’t boil it after adding the miso paste to the soup otherwise it’ll lose the flavor.  And, to me the tofu for the miso soup has to be silken one.  I love the texture.

While in Japan my favorite miso soup (other than tofu) was shijimi (tiny clam) miso soup, cabbage miso soup, and onion miso soup.  If you go to sushi bar in Japan you can enjoy lobster miso soup or fish head miso soup.  They are quite tasty too

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Nabe Night

Another winter food in Japan is….  yes, Nabe!

Nabe, or Nabemono, is a term referring to all varieties of Japanese steamboat dishes.  The pots are traditionally made of clay or thick cast iron so that the food can be kept warm for a while after being taken off the fire.  In modern Japan, nabemono are kept hot at the dining table by portable stove. The dish is frequently cooked at the table, and the diners can pick the cooked ingredients they want from the pot. It is either eaten with the broth or with a dip. Further ingredients can also be successively added to the pot.  Eating together from a shared pot is considered as an important feature of nabemono.  (wiki)

Actually, nabe simply means “pot” in Japanese, but we call the steamboat that people eat together in winter “nabe” too.  To think about it, it sounds little funny..  ”let’s eat nabe!” can mean “let’s eat the pot!”

Unfortunately I don’t have clay or cast iron pot here, so I made it with normal pot.  I added as many ingredients as possible…..  same as oden, more ingredients you add more flavorsome it becomes.

The typical ingredients for nabe in my house are Chinese cabbage, spring onion, tofu, carrot, chicken (or pork or fish) meat balls, chicken meat with bones, mushrooms, and kuzukiri - starch noodle.  Kuzukiri is one of my favorite food in nabe: it’s chewy.  You can add any ingredients you like, such as spinach, fish meat, fishcakes, udon etc etc.

It’s fun to gather friends and share a nabe on the table while watching tv.  This time, I made nabe with chicken soup.

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<Nabe in chicken soup>

1. Cut ingredients into desired size.  Place the ingredient all together in a pot.  If you are using Chinese cabbage, place them on top as if it covers the entire food.
2. Add chicken stock (depends on the size of the pot, but I used 1 L for a very large pot)
3. Bring to the boil, then simmer.  You can do this process on the portable stove on the table.
4. Eat as it cooks.  Add ponzu directly into the pot, or use ponzu as a dipping sauce.

Oden

As you may know, Oden is a typical winter food in Japan. ( wiki )  It is a kind of light, soy-flavoured dashi broth stew, consisting of several ingredients such as daikon radish, konnyaku, boiled eggs, fish cakes etc.  It’s basically stew with a mixture of whatever you want to add.  

I loooove Oden, I can just survive with this every day during winter.  It’s also nice to be eaten with warm sake/sho-chu.  

It’s so funny to know that foreign people really hate Oden.  They say that it smells like washed socks….  I don’t think so!  But, I guess Oden is a type of alien food for them. :p

When you order oden at convenience stores or Izakaya, you normally order the item one by one according to what you want to eat.  You can just order “tamago (boiled egg)” or “daikon (radish)”.  But, when you make oden at home, you add as many kinds of ingredients as possible so that the flavor is full.  Each ingredient gives the flavor to oden

Eating oden in kotatsu while watching tv… I miss it!

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