Chicken Katsu

Katsu is a Japanese dish of deep-fried food with breadcrumb.  It’s usually pork when you say “katsu”, but it also can be chicken, fish and prawn.  (pork = ton-katsu, prawn = ebi-katsu)  There is a popular dish called kushi-katsu too, which is skewered, breadcrumbed, deep-fried foods.  Kushi-katsu can be made with variety of foods.  Nowadays I can find very unique ones in Japan such as fresh fruits and ice-cream.

The standard katsu (ton-katsu) usually uses thick meat, and is served sliced with shredded cabbage.  In Nagoya in Japan is famous for miso katsu as it’s Nagoya’s speciality food.  If you have chance going there, try one of those!

I used chicken to make katsu this time, and I sliced the meat pretty thin.  I did it so that it cooks faster and makes it crispier.

This accompanied sauce is not miso based.  Few different sauces are blended.  You can buy ton-katsu sauce at Asian grocery shops too.

<Chicken Katsu>  serves 2

• 1 fillet chicken thigh *(you may use chicken breast if you prefer)
• plain flour, egg, breadcrumb to coat
• 1 cup cabbage, shredded

sauce

• 1 tbs tomato sauce
• 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tbs grated onion
• 1 tsp iri-goma (coarsley ground roasted white sesame seeds) ← optional

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1. Slice chicken fillet into two thin pieces.  Duct with flour, then dip in egg wash, and coat evenly with breadcrumb.
2. Deep-fry the chicken until golden.  Set aside.
3. Mix all the ingredients from “sauce”.
4. Shred cabbage.
5. Slice katsu, and arrange on a plate.  Serve with cabbage and sauce.

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Japanese Mayonnaise

Japanese mayonnaise has different taste from Western style mayonnaise.  It’s thicker in texture, and has rich flavour.  Some people love this Japanese mayonnaise, and some don’t.

When I came to Perth I tried Western style mayonnaise the first time, and I hated it.  I thought it taste like cooking oil (well, all mayonnaise contain oil, but it tasted more oily to me somehow), and didn’t have the creaminess that Japanese mayonnaise has. I’m used to it now and enjoy it occasionally though.

I wasn’t actually a mayonnaise-lover in Japan either. My mum and brother love (Japanese) mayonnaise and add it to any food such as braised vegetables, pickles, grilled fish and meatballs. Some super-mayonnaise-lovers in Japn eat mayonnaise with just steamed rice!!!! (yuck…)

I, however, need mayonnaise when I eat some certain foods.  They include okonomiyaki, takoyaki, and salad with tinned tuna. They are meant to be eaten with mayonnaise!!

It wasn’t my intension but I made tuna sushi and okonomiyaki 2 days in a row. I need Japanese mayonnaise for both of them. Mayonnaise tastes so good on okonomiyaki…. yum! I ate lots of mayonnaise in these two days, but I guess it’s fine.

Oh, one more food that need mayonnaise.  Teriyaki chicken burger!  Mayonnaise and teriyaki sauce match so well.

Onigiri Breakfast

Since my friend told me that her kids eat either toast or onigiri (rice balls) for breakfast, I’ve been having a craving for onigiri!  Why not eat onigiri in the morning?  I ask myself.  Sometimes I wake up with empty stomach and onigiri may be a good food to eat for breakfast to fill me up.

There are many many fillings and flavors for onigiri you can find in Japan.  The typical ones include umeboshi (pickled plum), katsuo (seasoned bonito flakes), konbu (seasoned seaweed), and sha-ke (cooked and seasoned salmon), and unique ones include pork katsu, raw fish roe, sweet azuki bean paste, cheese, yakisoba, kimuchi, and natto.  I like these onigiri with fillings in the centre, but also love origiri which the ingredients mixed with rice (mazekomi-onigiri).  My favorite mazekomi-onigiri is shake-wakame (cooked & seasoned salmon and wakame seaweed).  Yummmmm!  Onigiri is usually triangle shape so that you can get to the filling in the centre on each bite from any angle.

People make onigiri in different ways : some use hands, and other use plastic wrap.  I use my hands because that’s how my mum used to make onigiri for me  It may get messy, but is the original way to make onigiri.  You will need a bowl of water to dip your palms each time you make each onigiri otherwise the rice sticks to your palms.  Here is a short video of how to make triangle onigiri by hands:

This time I made onigiri with katsuo filling in the centre, and wakame & goma (roasted sesame seeds) mazekomi-onigiri.  I’ve also posted few onigiri recipes here and here.

<Onigiri  > makes 6

• 1.5 cup short or medium grain rice
• salt

katsuo onigiri :

• 5g bonito flakes
• 1tsp soy sauce
• seasoned nori sheet (you can use non-seasened one, if you like)

mazekomi onigiri:  (for about 1 cups cooked rice)

• 1 tsp dry wakame
• 1 tsp roasted white sesame seeds
• 1/4 tsp salt

1. Cook rice according to pack instructions. (with just water) Stand it for about 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, mix bonito flakes with soy sauce, and set aside. In another bowl, soak wakame in little amount of water (about 1.5 tbs). When the wakame absorbs the water and becomes soft, drain and chop up. Mix with sesame seeds and salt, and set aside.
3. Prepare a bowl of clean water, a bottle of salt (e.g. table salt), shamoji (a flat rice paddle), seasoned bonito flakes, wakame, and seasoned nori sheets next to steamed rice. (hot)
4. Wet your hands and sprinkle salt over the palms. Scoop about 1cup of rice and place on a palm. Quickly make a hole in the centre, and place the filling (seasoned bonito flake) inside. Shape the rice into triangle, and decorate with nori sheets. Make two more.
5. Mix the leftover rice with wakame mixture. Wet your hands, and scoop 1/3 f the rice into a palm. Shap the rice into triangle. Repeat to make two more.

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* You can use plastic wrap to shape onigiri instead of using your hands. The rice is pretty hot, so it may burn your hands if you do the shaping too slow.

If you are using plastic wrap:

Place about 20cm x20cm plastic wrap on the kitchen bench.

Spray water on the surface of wrap, and sprinkle salt. Place about 1 cup of rice and make a hole in the centre.

Place the filling inside the hole, and close the 4 edges of the wrap together and shape the rice into triangle over plastic wrap.

* Onigiri doesn’t have to be in triangle shape. Make them in ball or square too.

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Oroshi Steak

When I go grocery shopping in winter and find a good daikon radish, this is one of the dishes it comes to my head – steak with daikon oroshi (grated daikon radish).  I love daikon – normally I cook it in soup or stew, but also love when it’s grated and accompanied with something such as karaage, tempura or steak.  The freshness, coldness and a bit of hotness milds the oily dishes.

When I cook steak with daikon oroshi I normally eat it with steamed rice, so I cut the steak into cubes because it’s easy to pick with chopsticks.

This is best when eaten freshly made – fresh grilled steak with cold daikon oroshi and crispy garlic chips – you can go lots of rice with it.

<Recipe>  serves 2

• 2 fillets beef (steak cut)
• 10cm daikon radish
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tbs sake (cooking wine)
• 2 tbs soy sauce
• 1/2 lemon
• olive oil to cook a

1. Cut steak into cubes.  Slice garlic.  Grate daikon radish, and chill in the fridge.
2. Place 1 tbs of olive oil in a frying pan.  Turn on the heat, and cook garlic chips until golden and crispy.  Take them out from the pan and set aside.
3. Sear the steaks in the pan.  Pour soy sauce and sake over the steak and sizzle.  Squeeze lemon juice into the sauce, and turn off the heat.
4. Arrange steak cubes on a serving plate.  Take out daikon oroshi from the fridge, and drain the liquid.  Scatter over the steak.  Top with garlic chips then drizzle sauce over the dish.

Serve immediately!

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Winter Warmer

When I wake up in early morning and can’t go back to sleep, I sometimes spend time in the kitchen – cooking.  It’s just because I can’t do cooking during daytime while Hiro is awake, and also I like the quiet environment.  I do some daydreaming while peeling carrots and stirring the stew.

The other day I made quite a large amount of oden.  The kitchen smelled like Japanese convenience stores in winter. :p  I cooked it for a long time – so all the flavour was in each food and it was very delicious.  I kept eating it day and night for few days.  Some people can’t stand the smell of oden, I heard, but the smell actually tempt me to eat them!

I simmered daikon radish and potatoes first, because they take longer to go tender and absorb the broth than soft food like tofu.  I like all the flavour from the broth to be absorbed in each food.  Next, konnyaku and boiled eggs are added, then nerimono (Japanese fishcakes).  It’s best to have gyu-suji (beef shank/ beef gristle / fibrous beef), but I couldn’t bother going to buy them.

Another night I made warm somen noodle soup with teriyaki squid. (recipe is here)  Warm somen noodle soup is easy to digest, and is one of my favourite midnight snack in winter.  Sweet and salty teriyaki squid matches with this.

Umm I think I eat quite a lot these days.  Especially at night.  It’s not good….  but I look for food when I’m awake, and try to eat something before Hiro wakes up.  I’m sometimes not hungry, but eat full portion of meal.  The weather is getting better, so I think I will do some exercise outside.  Walking with Hiro, probably.

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