Posted August 25th, 2010 in Food | No Comments »
I got up very early today. 4 am! I didn’t have any work to do this morning, but couldn’t go back to sleep after waking up for the toilet :p I normally have no problem going back to sleep even if I wake up during the night, but this morning I felt so hungry and couldn’t sleep!
What did I eat last night…? Roasted veggies and chicken. I thought I ate a lot, but I guess my digestion system works too good. I got up the bed and started preparing early breakfast.
I had some left over in the fridge, but I decided to cook udon noodle soup. My favorite is to add egg to the soup (tamago-toji udon), but this time I just made a simple one.
With wakame seaweed, sprig onion (and naruto – fish cake). There are many kinds of udon soup in Japan, and I guess I can call this “su-udon 素うどん” = which means “simple udon”. Su-udon normally indicates udon noodle with nothing but soup and spring onion (or sometimes just soup).
Su-Udon (image from wiki)
Making the soup by yourself is very easy! Besides, you won’t need to prepare many things when making su-udon.
<Udon Soup> serves 1
- 1.5cup water
- 1 handful bonito flakes (about 10g)
- 1 tbs mirin
- 1 tbs soy sauce
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- Place water and bonito flakes in a small sauce pan. Bring to the gentle simmer, and turn down the heat to low. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Drain the bonito flake and keep the soup. Return the soup to the pan, and add mirin and soy sauce. Bring to the gentle simmer and simmer for 5 minutes.
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Pour the soup over cooked udon noodle. Enjoy with your favorite condiments!
By the way, the bonito flakes you used to make the soup: normally you just throw away, but you can make
Tsukudani (
wiki) with it. Mix with sake, sugar and soy sauce (1 tsp each) and stir-fry until the liquid is gone！
Posted July 20th, 2010 in Food | 4 Comments »
Somen Noodle + curry?? It sounds a little mismatch, but spicy tomato curry does go with simple somen noodle. Enjoy with lots of mushroom ♪
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<Somen Tomato Curry with Chicken and Mushroom> serves 4
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- 1 chicken breast fillet
- 2 baby eggplants
- 1 pack shimeji mushroom
- 2~3 button mushrooms
- 1/2 medium onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- 2 tbs curry powder
- 100ml sake (cooking wine)
- 400g tomato tin, peeled
- 100~150ml chicken stock
- 1 bay leaf
- salt, sugar and pepper to taste
- 200g somen noodle
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- Bring the large pot of water to the boil, and cook somen noodle. Drain and set aside.
- Peel a part of the skin on baby eggplants. Halve lengthwise, then cut each halves into 1 cm. Leave them in a bowl of cold water.
- Cut chicken into pieces. Chop onion and garlic. Slice cup mushrooms. Separate shimeji into small pieces.
- In a large frying pan, heat 1 tbs of olive oil and grill the chicken. When it’s coloured, add garlic, ginger and onion and saute.
- Add mushrooms, and saute for few minutes. Add curry powder, and cook for another few minutes.
- Drain the egg plants and add to the pan. Pour sake, chicken stock and tomato into the pan, and bring to the gentle boil. Reduce the heat, add a bay leaf and place the lid. Simmer for 10 minutes. Season to taste.
- Divide the somen noodle into the serving bowls, and pour the curry over. Serve while hot.
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Posted July 1st, 2010 in Food | No Comments »
Meatball pasta!! Everyone’s favorite 
Add Mozzarella cheese to the big size meatballs and enjoy the mild, melty texture on delicious juicy hamburg.
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<Camem-burg Pasta> serves 4
- 300g beef mince
- 200g pork mince
- 10g breadcrumb
- 50g onion, chopped
- 800g tomato tin, peeled
- 1 tbs tomato paste
- 50g onion
- 50g celery
- 50g carrot
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 100g mushrooms
- 1tbs margarin
- 60g Camembert cheese
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- Mix the mince, onion, breadcrumb and a pinch of salt in a bowl until well combined. Divide into 8 and shape them into balls. Stand-by in the fridge.
- Chop onion, celery and carrot. Slice mushrooms.
- Heat 1 tbs of olive oil in a medium sauce pan, and saute onion, celery, carrot and garlic until fragrant. Add tomato paste and saute, then add tomato tin. Bring to the gentle boil, then reduce the heat to simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Place margarin in a frying pan, and heat over medium-high heat. As the butter start to sizzle, add mushrooms and saute. Sprinkle a pinch of salt, and remove from the heat. Add the mushroom into the tomato sauce.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil, and cook pasta.
- Meanwhile, heat the same pan with 1 tbs of oil. Flatten the centre of the meatballs, and sear one side. Flip the meatball around, reduce the heat, and place a lid. Grill until cooked through.
- Slice Camembert cheese into 8. Remove the lid, and place the Camembert slices on each meatball. Place back the lid, and turn off the heat. leave it for 1~2 minutes.
- Arrange pasta in each serving plate. Pour tomato sauce, and top with 2 pieces of hamburgs.
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Posted June 28th, 2010 in Food | 2 Comments »
The dish Chicken Nanban was originally created in Kyushu island in Japan about 50 years ago. Since then, this item has became very popular across Japan, and now you can find the dish in family restaurants, convenience stores, fast food chains and even pizza shops.
The original Chicken Nanban was a deep-fried chicken immersed in sweet/sour sauce. Nowadays Chichen Nanban is served with tartar sauce poured over the chicken, and it is still one of the popular menu for any age group.
This is again another easy dish to cook, and it goes with both rice and noodle.
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<Chicken Nanban with Somen Noodle> serves 4
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- 2 chicken breast fillets (about 400g)
- 1 egg
- plain flour to coat
- 4 tbs soy sauce
- 6 tbs sugar
- 5 tbs vinegar (preferably rice vinegar)
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- 200g somen noodle
- 1 tbs sesame oil
- 1 clove garlic, sliced
- 1 capsicum
- roasted white sesame seeds
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- Bring the large pot of water to the boil, and cook somen noodle. Drain and set aside.
- Halve each chicken fillets into even size. You should have 4 slices. Flatten the chicken meat by using the back of the knife.
- Place soy sauce, sugar and vinegar in a sauce pan, and bring to the gentle boil to dissolve the sugar. Transfer the sauce to the wide plate or pan. (or you can use wide pan to boil the sauce). Set aside.
- Coat the chicken with flour, and shake off any excess flour. Beat the egg, and place in a shallow plate.
- Heat oil in a deep frying pan. Dip the chicken fillets in the egg wash, and deep-fry both sides until golden.
- As soon as it’s removed from the oil, shake off any excess oil and immerse in the sauce. Leave it for 30 seconds ~ few minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat sesame oil and garlic slices in a frying pan. When it’s fragrant, add somen noodle and stir-fry. Sprinkle sesame seeds, and arrange on serving plates (divide into four potions).
- In the same pan, stir-fry sliced capsicum. Remove from the heat and arrange on each bed of somen noodle on the serving plates.
- Remove the chicken from the sauce, and slice. Place on top of the noodle + capsicum. Drizzle over the sauce, and sprinkle sesame seeds. Repeat with other fillets.
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* you can use steamed vegetables instead of capsicum.
aaa
Posted April 22nd, 2010 in Food | 5 Comments »
Very simple pasta with smoked salmon and ao-nori. Ao-nori, also known as green laver, is dried and powdered green seaweed and it has distinctive flavor. You should have seen it as a topping on Okonomiyaki, Takoyaki and other Japanese dishes. This goes well with smokey salmon and mild Parmesan.
<Ao-nori Pasta with Smoked Salmon> serves 2
- 2 portion pasta
- 100 g smoked salmon
- 1/2 onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tbs (1g) Ao-nori
- 1 tbs margarin
- 1tbs olive oil
- Bring a large pot of water (salted) to the boil. Cook pasta to al dente.
- Meanwhile, chop onion and garlic.
- Heat olive oil in a frying pan, and sautee garlic and onion until fragrant.
- Add margarin, then smoked salmon, drained pasta and ao-nori. Mix through gently, and season. Turn off the heat.
- Serve on the plate and top with shaved Parmesan.
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