Indonesian Foods

It’s gado gado season again. Sunny and hot weather makes me want to eat lots of salad.

Gado gado gives a different taste and texture to other salads which are just green leaves and cold summer vegetables. D eats it with steamed rice and prawn crackers, but I just enjoy it with the rich peanut sauce and crunchy fried shallots.

Parents-in-laws are here, and I’ve been eating lots of Indonesian foods.  They always bring lots of foods from Jakarta and pile them up in the kitchen.  Seeing these foods, including Krispy Kreme donuts and Roti Boy bread, reminds me that they are here.

I love Indonesian foods….  ahhh I miss the food in Jakarta!  Lots of peanuts, chilli and deep-fried foods though. (it might be because of D’s family)  And, delicious Chinese food.  And, Japanese food.  There are so many nice restaurants and fast food places, with inexpensive prices.

I can’t believe we will be in Japan in few weeks, enjoying the cool Autumn weather.  Here in Perth, we’ve been playing with water in the garden.  Soon we will be playing with snow outside my house in Japan.   Well, Japan is my favourite destination, of course, and I will be enjoying lots of Japanese foods over there too!

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Yaki Somen (stir-fried somen noodles)

Somen noodles are usually eaten cold with dipping sauce, or warm in soy sauce based soup.  Cold somen with dipping sauce and condiments is a popular dish in summer, and nagashi somen (I wrote about it here) is one of popular activity at summer festivals.

The first time I ate stir-fried somen was in Okinawa, when I stayed there for one week to get scuba diving licence.  I was 17 years old.  Okinawa has unique foods and drinks compared to other parts of Japan (I wrote about it here) due to its history.  Stir-fried somen is called “somen champul (= stir-fried somen)” in Okinawan language.  I ate it at an izakaya along with other unique Okinawan dishes, and they were all delicious!!

I made this with seafoods, but you can use meat such as pork, beef and chicken instead.  This recipe is not like the one I ate in Okinawa (they use pork), and it doesn’t taste like typical Japanese food.  I guess it’s because of oyster sauce and fish sauce I added.

The key to make this dish is to wash the somen noodles very well then drain before adding to the frying pan.

<Yaki Somen>  serves 2

• 50g dry somen noodles
• 6 prawns
• 3 squids, small
• 1 crab stick
• 2~3 leaves cabbage
• 1 carrot, small
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 tsp minced ginger
• 1 tbs chopped spring onion
• 2 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs sake (cooking wine)
• 1 tbs oyster sauce
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp fish sauce

1. Boil water in a deep pan, and cook somen noodle to al dente.
2. meanwhile, cut the ingredients: cut cabbage into 3cm cubes, cut carrot into 4cm-long thin batons.  Chop garlic. Slice prawns into half.  Slice crab sticks and squids.
3. Once the somen noodles are cooked, place into a strainer to drain.  Wash the noodle by rubbing them with hands under running cold water until the slimy gluten is gone.  Drain well.
4. Place garlic and 1 tbs of oil in a frying pan, and turn on the heat.  Once aromatic, add ginger, prawn and squid. Stir-fry for 1 minutes.  Then, add carrot, cabbage and crab stick.  Stir-fry for 1 minutes, and pour soy sauce, sake and oyster sauce.
5. Add somen noodle to the pan, and stir quickly.  Drizzle sesame oil and fish sauce over, and scatter spring onions.  Turn off the heat.  Serve immediately.

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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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McDonald’s Birthday Celebration

Along with Play I SPy, McFlurry, McFeast, Shaker Fries and $1 cheese burger, McDonald’s is celebrating its 40th birthday in Australia with this brekkie muffin – Birthday Muffin.

This muffin consistes of cheese, sausage patty, a rasher of bacon, egg, hash brown potatoes (Macca calls it potato rosti) and tasty sauce.  I love having breakfast at McDonald’s.  It recalls my memory of schooldays in Japan as I used to go to McDonald’s to get breakfast muffin and coffee before going to school.  They didn’t have this muffin in Japan though, of course, as it’s a special menu to celebrate McDonald’s birthday in Australia, so my usual order was bacon and egg muffin.  And, this birthday muffin…. yeah, it tastes delicious!

I know it’s not really a healthy choice, but I enjoyed it.  It made me full with these extras – hash brown and sausage patty.

I think this item is only for a limited time only.  I may grab it at least one more time before they stop selling this

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Steamed Tuna Miso Salad

It’s not quite a salad, actually.  It has thick salty miso taste, and it made me want to eat this dish with steamed rice.

Very cheap, easy, and fast to make.  What you need are plastic wrap and microwave.  I made up this dish because I didn’t have any meat in the fridge, and have been trying to save on grocery bills (post) so just wanted to create a dish with cheap ingredients.  Since I started to record my expenses on groceries I’ve been more careful what to buy and able to save some money!  Now our grocery expense (for 3 of us, sometimes includes diapers and toilet paper) is less than $400.00 a month.

The salty miso goes with steamed rice!  I was actually thinking to make this with thinly sliced pork (I think it would taste much better) but tuna was also ok.  You can simply substitute chicken too!  If you use port or chicken instead of tuna, make sure you cook through the meat.

<Steamed Tuna Salad> serves 2

• 1 cup cabbage, roughly chopped
• 100g tined tuna
• 2 tbs miso paste
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tbs sake (cooking wine)
• 1 tbs sugar (I use raw sugar)
• 1 tbs water
• 1 tbs spring onion, chopped
• 1 tsp sesame oil

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1. Mix miso, sake, soy sauce, water, sugar and spring onion.  Drain tuna well.
2. On a microwave-safe plate, arrange cabbage then top with tuna.  Spread miso mixture on top.
3. Wrap the plate with plastic wrap, and microwave for about 2 minutes.
4. Drizzle sesame oil over.  Serve with steamed rice.

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