Chicken & Tomato Curry

Is it only Japanese culture to eat hot food in summer?  In hot days we cook steaming udon noodle soup, hot and spicy curry, and grill yakitoki (skewered chicken dish) etc.  We, of course, eat cold food too such as cold soba noodle, so-men noodle, and cold pasta dishes, but you get to see tv ad of curry a lot during summer in Japan, and it’s one of the thing that tells you “hey, summer is just around the corner”.

Therefore I like eating curry in summer.  I add lots of summer vegetables and make it as “summer curry”.  In winter, I would add some winter vegetables such as lotus roots, sweet potatoes and pumpkin. 

Try this refreshing tomato curry at home!  It’s not that heavy thanks to this red summer fruit.

<Chicken & Tomato Curry>

• 400g chicken mince
• 1 medium onion
• 400g tomato tin - chopped
• 100g Japanese curry roux
• 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 bunch spinach
• 1 bay leaf

1. Wash spinach well, and drain. Chop roughly. Slice onion thinly.
2. Season chicken mince with curry powder. Heat olive oil in a sauce pan and stir-fry mince.
3. Add sliced onion. Cook over medium heat until onion is transparent.
4. Pour chopped tomato into the pan. Fill up 1/2 the tin with water, and add to the pan. Add bay leaf. Turn up the heat to high to bring to boil.
5. Once it starts to boil, turn down the heat to low and add curry roux. Stir through until the roux melts.
6. Simmer for 5~10 minutes. Stir in spinach and turn off the heat.
7. Serve with steamed rice.

Thai Style Grilled Chicken

• 2 fillets chicken breast
• 1/2 cup sweet chili sauce
• 1 tbs fish sauce
• 2 tbs lime juice
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• chopped coriander leaves

Spicy & Juicy Deep-fried Chicken (Kara-Age)

I made kara-age with chicken breast the other day, and it turned out beautiful.  Normally Japanese use chicken thigh meat for kara-age.  Not only for Kara-age, actually;  Japanese eat thigh meat very often.  Yakitoki (grilled chicken on skewers), stir-fry, steam board, yakiniku etc.. thigh meat is mainly used for all of them.  On the other hand people prefer breast meat in Australia.  My in-laws don’t even eat chicken thigh, they only eat breast meat.

The reason why Japanese prefer thigh is that it’s juicier and tastier.  When you cook same dish with thigh and breast, the one with breast has less taste and is more dry.  Although thigh meat contains higher calorie and cholesterol,  Japanese still prefer it.

So, when I cook something for in-laws I have to use breast meat.  (otherwise they can’t eat)   With this recipe, the meat stays juicy and is very tasty.  The key is to marinade just 30 mins ~ 1 hour before cooking.

<Spicy & Juicy Kara-Age>

• 300 g (1 fillet) chicken breast
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs sake (cooking wine)
• 1/2 tsp cajun spice
• plain flour to dust

White Stew with Chicken (Cream Stew)

Who doesn’t like hearty creamy soup in winter?  This is my favorite winter food in Japan: white cream stew.  The name says “cream” but there is no cream as ingredient.  We can make this dish with a ready-to-make packet which you can buy from oriental grocery shops.

You can add any vegetables, but basic ingredients are:

• chicken pieces
• potatoes
• onion
• carrot
• cream stew packet (usually House brand or S&B brand)

1. Slice ingredients.
2. Place all ingredients in a pan with water.
3. Bring to boil, and turn down the heat and simmer for 10~20 minutes.
4. Turn off the heat.  Add “cream stew mix”, and stir until the mix roux (or powder) melts into the water.
5. Turn on the heat again and simmer over low heat for 10~15 minuets.

You can also enjoy the following cooking as well, with simmiler ingredients.

- Japanese Style Beef Stew (mostly with beef)

- Japanese Style Curry (Seafood, Meat, Tofu, just vegetables…up to you!)

- Japanese Hayashi Rice (mostly with beef)

Just get the packet of mix, and now you have a lot of variety for nice winter meal

Grilled Chicken on Rice (Chicken Donburi)

This is not really teriyaki, but taste similar.  The chicken is actually like yakitori, just without skewers.

I just dropped a soft poached yolk on the top so that it breaks once you mix with chopsticks and it actually become a kind of “sauce” to this donburi.  Japanese chili powder (ichimi, Shichimi) goes well with this.

• 1 fillet chicken thigh wih skin
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs sake (cooking wine)
• 1/4 tsp grated ginger
• 1/4 small onion
• spring onion (white part)
• 1 egg yolk

1. Cut chicken into cubes.  Mix soy sauce, sake and ginger.  Marinate chicken in the sauce overnight.
2. Slice onion, and cut spring onion into 5cm length.
3. Heat little amount of oil in a pan, and grill spring onion.  Remove from the pan and set aside.
4. In the same pan, grill chicken pieces over medium high heat.  When the bottom of the meat starts to get colored, turn it over and add onion in the pan.
5. Once meat is cooked through remove from the pan.  (onions still stay in the pan)
6. Add 1 tbs of water into the pan, and simmer for few minutes.
7. Arrange chicken and spring onion on steamed rice.  Pour onion and sauce over.  Top with poached egg yolk.

You can arrange it as Oyako Donburi ↓↓↓

At stage 5, leave chicken in the pan and add 2 tbs of water.  Simmer.  Break 1 egg into a small bowl and beat.  Pour egg mixture into simmering water.