Ginger chicken – I used chicken thigh and marinated in teriyaki-style ginger sauce before grilling.
What you need to be careful when grilling marinated meat is that it burns easily. And especially for chicken, you don’t want the meat burnt and black but the inside remains uncooked. I heat up the frying-pan then turn down just before cooking the chicken. Cook over low heat – because the pan was hot, the bottom of the meat should have nice-looking colour. Then flip it over. Cook over low heat again for few minutes, then add little amount of water. By adding water, the chicken will be surely cooked through. The full recipe is below ↓
The meat is soft and juicy! This dish isn’t a saucy one, but because it’s been marinated the flavour is inside the meat.
The bed of cabbage laying beneath the chicken is also cooked in the teriyaki-style sauce, so you pick a piece of chicken with little amount of flavour-soaked cabbage, then enjoy all together.
Here is the recipe;
<Ginger Chicken>
Chicken Thigh 2 fillets
Cabbage Leaves 2 leaves
Soy Sauce 1 tbs
Sake (cooking wine) 1 tbs
Crushed Ginger 1 tsp
sesame seeds to sprinkle (optional)
Place chicken fillets in a container or a plastic bag. Add soy sauce, sake and ginger to it, and rub gently. Leave in the fridge for 2 hours or so (or you can leave it overnight – it’s ok)
Drain chicken (keep the marinade).
Heat up a frying pan over high heat. Add oil, then turn down to low. Place chicken and grill until the bottom is coloured.
Flip it over. Cook over low heat for 3 – 4 minutes. Add 1 table spoon of water, then cook until the water is gone.
Remove the chicken and place on a chopping board. (keep the frying pan)
Slice up the cabbage leaves. Place the cabbage & remained marinade sauce into the frying pan, and cook until the cabbage is soft.
Slice the chicken.
Spread the cabbage on a plate, then arrange the chicken on top. Pour the sauce (from the pan) over. Serve with steamed rice.
It’s sometimes hard to cook what I want to eat everyday. D is such a nice husband and likes to help me cooking dinner, but his choice of food is quite different from what I want,,, most of the time :-p He’s been into hash brown wrap with bacon and egg, and we had that for lunch today. Since I had time to cook today as Hiro had 2 naps during the day, I made some Japanese food for dinner. 😀
The mail dish is this ginger chicken (recipe) – I used chicken thigh and marinated in the sauce before grilling. It’s served on a bed of simmered cabbage which is also cooked in the teriyaki-style sauce.
This is one of my favourite dish – simmered hijiki seaweed with chicken and vegetables (recipe). It’s shame that you can’t get hijiki from shops in Perth as it’s not permitted to import commercially 🙁 You need to import by yourself from Japan! I still have 2 more packets which I brought from Japan in Feb this year.
It’s a typical nimono (simmered dish), but hijiki is great for your skin and hair and is very healthy. I made it with chicken, carrot, konnyaku and abura-age (deep-fried bean curd), but you can also add soy beans and/or snake beans.
This is pickled cabbage. It’s one of the dish my grandma used to make at home. It’s made with just cabbage and salt, but is a great companion to steamed rice 🙂
Near the entrance of Hulme Court, just off Mc’Coy street, there is a new Korean grocery shop in Myaree. This CN Mart (Corean N oriental grocer) is owned by the same owner as Hanaro Mart (just few minutese drive from CN Mart), and they have wide range of food, drinks and household items.
Most items are Korean, of course, but they carry lots of Japanese food as well. I used to go to Hanaro Mart often to buy a tin of boiled azuki bean. Korean one is much cheaper than Japanese one, and it taste the same. My friends also go there to get some cosmetics and massage items.
Why they have 2 shops in the same suburb? It’s because owner wanted to separate the items each shop carries. CN Mart carries grocery items, and the original Hanaro Mart (address below) carries only liquor, including Japanese sake and shochu.
I wanted to buy kinako (soy bean powder) but I couldn’t find anywhere. Nippon Food in Subiaco always didn’t have it in stock. So I called CN Mart and they said they have the Korean version. They actually got 2 types, roasted and non-roasted. I didn’t know the difference as we only have one type of “kinako” in Japan, but the staff said the roasted one is more common and is for mochi etc. That’s what I was after! So I bought it.
I also bought Korean sake (cooking wine). Just wanted to try if there is any difference between Korean and Japanese.
The owner is super friendly and kind. I’m sure I will be using this shop very often.
Japanese calle it “roll cabbage”, but this dish is basically a ball of hamburg wrapped with cabbage leaves. This is usually cooked in soup until the cabbage is really soft and almost melts. Sometimes served with variety of sauces such as tomato sauce, teriyaki sauce, and savoury bechamel sauce.
One of the reason I don’t cook this roll-cabbage too often is that it’s bit troublesome to make. First you need to sautee vegetables then mix with meat. Cabbage leaves need to be blanched in boiling water first so that it doesn’t rip when wrapping the meat mixture inside. After all the preparation you will need to then cook the rolled-cabbage in a pot for 2 hours. (or you can use slow-cooker instead)
But I made them anyway. I felt like eating rolled cabbage, and I thought Hiro could also eat one. It takes time, so if you want to make this chose the day you have time to spend in the kitchen.
<Rolled Cabbage> makes around 20
cabbage 1 whole
pork & beef mixed mince (or you can use just pork/beef mince) 400g
onion 1, medium
carrot 1/2, medium
celery stalk 1/3
unsalted butter 2 tbs
tomato sauce 1 tbs
salt 2/3 tsp
pepper to taste
Chop up onion, carrot and celery.
Melt butter in a frying pan, and sautee the vegetables with a pinch of salt for 5 minutes over low-medium heat. Remove from the pan and spread on a flat plate. Let it cool. (or you can keep them in the fridge until you are ready to cook rolled-cabbage)
Remove the core from a whole cabbage. Boil water in a large, deep pan. Add a pinch of salt into the water, and place a cabbage. Cook until the cabbage is well-cooked and soft. Cabbage leaves should be easily come off. Place the cabbage leaves into a bowl of iced water. Repeat with the remaining leaves. Pat it dry.
Place mince meat in a bowl. Add salt, and mix well. Add pepper, tomato sauce, and sauteed vegetables. Mix well.
Place a cabbage leaf on a kitchen bench or on a chopping board. Place 1 tablespoon of meat mixture on the cabbage leaf. Roll up tightly. You can push the one end towards inside to close up.
Chose a pot that is wide. Place rolled-cabbage into the pan, ensuring that all of them are nicely and tightly fit inside the pan. (photo above) Make sure the end of cabbage leaves are facing bottom. Pour water to just cover the rolls, and place a lid. Cook over high-medium heat.
Once it starts to boil, turn down the heat, and simmer for 2 hours over low heat.
*Add more water if needed.
Enjoy while it’s hot! The cabbage leaves melt and meat should be juicy 🙂
Iku Sushi opened just few months ago and is conveniently located just few steps away from Perth under ground train station. I don’t usually go to city anymore, but recently I had a chance to try their food.
The place is not huge, but I liked the theme they are doing – ninja! All staff wear ninja-like uniform, and they say their service is as fast as ninja.
Interior of the shop is lovely. Cute old-Japan-style wall paper, and Japanese snacks and zakka toys on the counter.
“Iku” means “to go” in Japanese. They use eco-feindly packaging for some food items, and the variety of menu is wonderful.
They set a huge fridge for drinks and cold dishes (such as sushi) for busy people to just grab and go. I like the idea. People who want to get hot food (such as teriyaki) proceed to the counter and place an order.
D & I ordered chicken karaage bento (L) and unagi bento (L) to take home. Plus 2 large miso soup.
Miso soup came in this cup.
D was really curious about cheeseburger sushi, but maybe next time.
You can chose the size of bento box menu, and our large bento box came with 2 kinds of salads, 2 mini spring rolls, 2 sushi rolls, and big portion of rice and meat/fish. Very volumy and I could only manage to eat half of it.
Little onigiri (rice balls) with teriyaki spam. I made them in nigiri-sushi style.
To be honest, spam is not my favorite meat. But considering that it is a long-life food and can be always available at the pantry, I’d say it’s very easy snack to prepare anytime you want to eat.
Using spam is cheap too. I’m saying this because it is actually nicer to use ham steak instead of spam. Ham’s got better texture and juiciness (to me). But, ham steak is more expensive than a tin of spam, and again, spam can be available in the pantry anytime. So here is teriyaki spam onigiri. If you like spam then this is a perfect snack for you (?!).
The key is the teriyaki sauce. Caramelize the sauce until spam is shiny!
<Teriyaki Spam Onigiri> makes around 10 – 12
Spam 340g tin x 1/2
Soy sauce 1 tbs
Mirin 1 tbs
Steamed rice (cooked & warm) 1.5 ~ 2 cups
Nori sheet to decorate
Slice spam into 5mm thick squares.
Spray oil in a frying pan, and grill the spam both sides until coloured. Remove excess oil with kitchen paper, if there is any.
Pour soy sauce & mirin into the pan. Cook over low-medium heat until the sauce thicken and the spam is shiny.
Divide steamed rice into 10 – 12, and shape into flat balls. Place spam on top of rice, then decorate with nori sheet.
Now they are ready to serve!
Onigiri always goes with Japanese tea. I accompanied my spam onigiri with hot barley tea.
I served spam onigiri with seafood yakisoba. D & I love yakisoba! It’s not as oily as Chinese fried noodle (people say it’s rather dry though 😐 ) and sprinkle of bonito flake (katsuo-bushi) and ao-nori powder gives the final touch 🙂
Every time I go to Sundays Everyday in Myaree I get amazed by their menu :)) They don’t only serve boring Japanese menu such as teriyaki and tempura. They regularly create new menu so customers don’t get bored!
Last week I went there to get sushi rolls and sandwiches to takeaway, and saw interesting menu on the board that I may want to try out next time.
Chicken Ramen … I don’t know if they mean ramen noodle soup with chicken, or that “chicken ramen” we have in Japan… but I assume what they have is ramen noodle soup with chicken in it, because that “chicken ramen” we have in Japan is an instant noodle and I believe it’s impossible to import that noodle to Australia. Hmmm I want to know whether I’m right or wrong.
Beef Mince Croquette Bento, Oyster Fry Bento, A Lunch, B Lunch, etc etc… They all sound yummy. Their food is volumy and I think their target marketing is men who works around Myaree area. Or people who have huge appetite. To me, I think they have lots of meat and deep-fried items in their menu, so I thought that’s who they are trying to sell their food to.
Okonomiyaki Bar sounds very interesting. How they make it? According to their illustration, it looks like a candy bar that you can hold and eat. Haha, very unique.
Yesterday early evening I took my family to Yuki Japanese restaurant to have dinner. It was a rainy day and I felt something hearty Japanese food. I thought I might have unagi because a Japanese cartoon I was watching with Hiro was an episode of unagi donburi.
It was Sunday night but I assumed the restaurant wouldn’t be so packed. I was wrong… We arrived there around 6:30pm, and the place was already nearly full. The waitress said they’re fully booked but they can offer us a table if we’d be able to finish dining before 7:30pm. I’m pretty sure, I replied, because I knew Hiro wouldn’t be able to be here quiet and well-behaved for longer than 30 minutes.
D wanted chicken teriyaki, but teriyaki dish doesn’t come with rice and miso soup unless you pay extra for them. I think it’s ridiculous – who would eat teriyaki without rice? Is it Australian way?
Bento box comes with rice, miso soup, salad and sushi rolls, and the price is not much different with teriyaki dish if you add the extra fee for rice+miso soup, so we all ordered bento box.
I had Chicken Karaage bento box, D had Teriyaki Chicken bento box, and in-law had Fish Teriyaki bento box. I didn’t see unagi on their menu. Even if I did I probably wouldn’t order unagi because I know it’ll be expensive!
Karaage was quite small pieces. I guess that’s how they do as smaller pieces are quicker they cook. I loved the combination of dark sauce and Japanese mayonnaise. I don’t know what the dark sauce was, but I think it’s something like teriyaki sauce…. The sushi rolls that came with bento box were three pieces, and they’re nice too.
I tasted D’s teriyaki, and I know now that they actually make the teriyaki sauce by themselves. Some restaurants here use “teriyaki sauce” they buy from their supplier – they don’t make from scratch.
By the time we finished our meal, the restaurant was full and very busy. It was just before 7:30pm so we could leave there in time. I thought the price was bit expensive considering the food what’s in the bento box, but I guess it’s how they charge Japanese food in Perth.
We got these plastic onigiri shaper from Japan, and made some onigiri (rice balls) last week.
They are very simple to use – just fill steamed rice and filling, then dress up the rice balls with nori sheet, sesame seeds, furikake (seasoning powder for rice) or thinly cooked omelet.
When making onigiri by hand the rice sticks to fingers and it gets messy, but using a mold makes all process easier 🙂
First, you need to season the steamed rice with salt. Just a pinch.
Fill the steamed rice to the mold, and make a tiny hole.
Fill the filling, (I used tuna+Japanese mayonnaise … yum!)
and press it with the lid.
Wrap with nori sheet…
remove the plastic mold, and it’s done!
Another one…
You can do this way too.
Or use small cut nori sheet.
Or just sprinkle black sesame 🙂
I remember Nippon Food in Subiaco sells onigiri and sushi molds, if you are interested ↓↓
NIPPON FOOD SUBIACO
Shop 26, 180 Rokeby Rd, Subiaco
Mon – Fri 10am – 6pm / Sat 9am – 5pm
Sun 11am – 5pm
Closed on Public Holidays
(08) 9380 6783
While I was in Japan, my dad bought iwashi (sardine) from a local seafood shop. Iwashi is miracle fish – it can be eaten in many ways. Grilled, deep-fried, poached, simmered in sauce, and even raw as sashimi. I love young sardine (shirasu/jako) too. I often ate young sardinein Japan by just sprinkling on steamed rice. I just love it!
You may find it not easy to eat iwashi due to its small bones. But actually you can eat the bones too if you cook the fish very well. The iwashi my dad bought had been trimmed already (gutted and head had been chopped off), so I didn’t need to do anything but placing into simmering sauce to make nitsuke. (a dish used simmering technique)
Almost any fish can be cooked as nitsuke. I think the common fish used for nitsuke are saba (Mackerel), sardine and salmon. Sauce for nitsuke is usually soy sauce-based, but miso-based one is also often used. For both sauces, ginger and sake (cooking wine) are used to kill the smell of fish.
The iwashi I used for this iwashi-no-nitsuke was pretty small and got lots of bones, but I could just eat them. Serve with steamed rice, miso soup and pickles, and now you have a set of beautiful Japanese food. 🙂
<Iwashi-no-Nitsuke> serves 3~4
10 iwashi (sardine), gutted and head removed
1 cup sake (cooking wine)
1 tbs sugar
2 tbs mirin
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 clove ginger (about 3cm)
– recipe –
Wash iwashi in cold water, and pat to dry with kitchen paper. Set aside.
Slice ginger.
In a wide sauce pan, place sake. Bring to the gentle simmer to burn off the alcohol.
Add sugar, soy sauce, and mirin. Arrange iwashi into the pan, level (flat), and scatter sliced ginger around. Turn the heat to low.
Cut baking paper or aluminium foil into about same size as the pan. Crumple the paper, and place on top of iwashi to cover. Place a lid, and simmer until the liquid is almost gone and becomes sticky.
Turn off the heat, and let the iwashi cool down slightly. The flavour will be absorbed during the cooling process.
Suntory, one of Japan’s leading beverage companies, is selling something that some people were looking for….. All Free! This All Free is a drink with no calorie, no sugar, and no alcohol. Yap, all free.
Some may ask what’s the reason of drinking this… Why don’t you drink water or herval tea instead? Well, this All Free is actually a non-alcohol beer. It tastes like beer, but has no alcohol, sugar, or calorie. This is selling well in this busy drinking season…
Georgia, a popular brand of coffee-flavored beverages sold by The Coca-Cola Company in Japan, sells this unique can of coffee. It’s a mixture of “coffee” x “green tea”. It’s not green tea latte. It still has color of coffee, brown, and contains matcha powder from Uji in Kyoto.
Pepsi in Japan sells these unique flavour drinks. Azuki, Cucumber and Shiso! I’ve never tried these, but I think shiso may taste better than others. It’s just my guess…
I love that cute little tirol chocolate – love the cute little square shape, and their variety of flavours. But I didn’t know that this popular chocolate snack “tirol chocolate” has its drink version! Tirol chocolate drink tastes like its original chocolate. It should taste very rich?
Finally….. I’m eating Japanese sausage! I was having craving for Japanese sausages since I was pregnant. Japanese sausage is processed food (smoked), and has crispy skin.
Normall sausages outside Japan are usually raw meat. I was surprised to see them in Perth the first time, because the sausages I knew was like the photo above.
Because they are processed, you can eat Japanese sausages as they are. But people usually grill them to add flavour and texture. I, on the other had, love boiling them. It’s healthier, and makes the skin crispy.
When I broke the sausage, you can almost hear the sound of breaking the skin. Although I boiled them for 3 minutes or more, the meat inside was still juicy thanks to the skin.
Sometimes I just boil sausages and eat with seed mustard. Ummmm… yum yum. Goes with beer, chu-hi, and even hot Japanese tea! ♨
Few days ago my dad bought few kinds of pickles from a pickles shop. He knows I like pickles. I remember eating whole takuwan (yellow, pickled daikon radish) by myself when I was a teenager. The combination of takuwan and hot Japanese tea was addictive, and I couldn’t stop eating takuwan once I started. Pickles got lots of salt (sodium), and it’s not a good diet…. besides, one whole takuwan is about 30cm. I don’t know how my body survived….
People make pickles so that they can keep the food edible longer. The salty pickles goes with steamed rice, and Japanese people (in old era) used to eat just rice, pickles and miso soup. To think about it, Japanese food contains lots of salt. Miso is also salty, and so is soy sauce.
Back to the subject…. Here is pickled cucumber. You can also buy it in Perth.
Rakkyo – pickled onions. People eat it with Japanese curry rice.
Takuwan – pickled daikon. You see it often in a bento box from Japanese restaurants in Perth, too.
Nasu-no-asazuke (lightly pickled egg plant). Looks bit weird, but I love this. One of popular item at izakaya.
Gobo (burdock roots) and aka-kabu (red radish). I never seen pickled gobo before! It’s new….
It has vinegar-like taste, and not salty. I love the texture.
There’re many more kinds of pickles in Japan, including cabbage, Chinese cabbage, mushroom, etc etc …… Kyoto and Nara are famous for pickles. If you love Japanese pickles and enjoy soshoku, try some unique one there 🙂
We are going out for big lunch today, but I will write about it later. I bought him birthday cake from this cute cake shop.
The shop’s decoration is all Christmas! So cute… This shop has been popular around this area ever since I can remember.
I picked individually cut cake, not a whole cake. I thought it’s easier to eat as there is no need to cut by ourselves. I could pick few different flavours too.
I chose sponge and cream cake with fruits (everyone’s favorite!), monburan (cake of marrons – chestnuts–), chocolate cake, fruits tart, and cheese cake. They all look yummy!!! Pumpkin tart looked nice too, but maybe next time…
Hmmmmm… a whole decorated cake looks also nice and delicious… Japanese cakes are so cute. And, the decoration is amazingly beautiful.
Over the long weekend we had sister-in-law’s baby shower, and it was such fun. I ended up staying there for 5 hours. I enjoyed the games and talking with other guests. The cake was so cute – a shape of pregnant belly. It was actually a velvet cake, and everyone seemed to be shocked when they saw the very red sponge inside :p Looked like bleeding… too realistic.
Sister prepared a small baby bottle filled with roc candies as “thank you” present for the guests, and the roc candies reminded me of kamaboko (fish cake) I used to eat while I was a kid.
There are many kinds, including Hello Kitty, Pokemon, Disney characters etc. They are great item to decorate bento box!
It’s been a month a so since this small shop called “ULARA” took over the business from Super Fuji in Victoria Park. It is located in the same address where Super Fuji used to be, at the end of Albany hwy.
The new shop ULARA has a big sign board at the front, and the logo on the windows outside looks good. But once you step inside, the place is more like a deli, I thought. Super Fuji was like this as well (plain white wall, small space). Urara continues the rental service for Japanese books and DVDs at the premise.
This place also sells Japanese foods, but not so many. The owner told me that he just sell what customers request. So, what is the main business of this shop? DVD rental service? Retail of Japanese groceries? Well, it’s actually takeaway of Japanese foods.
“It’s been just a preparation period to setup the kitchen and a whole process of takeaway business”, the owner says. Urara starts selling Japanese takeaway food from today (24, Oct). The owner’s previous business, Banzai Sushi & Noodle Bar in Leederville was such success and he had many fans. He sold the business to Matsu Sushi last year, and since then he’d been hunting for a new place to start new business. I’m not sure what Urara has on its takeaway menu, but I’m sure they will all taste good considering the foods he was serving at Banzai. ULARA has few tables and chairs inside for dine-in too. They are plastic ones, so it’s more like a place for busy working people who want quick lunch rather than for couples who seek for romantic dining experiences.
ULARA
245 Albany Hwy, Victoria Park 6100
Mon – Sat 9:00 ~ 18:00
08 9355 0882
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)
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. 🙂
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
Cook rice according to pack instructions. (with just water) Stand it for about 10 minutes.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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
Cut steak into cubes. Slice garlic. Grate daikon radish, and chill in the fridge.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Rice is something I need to eat at least 6 times a week. It’s just because I’m Japanese and rice is the source of everyday power… My grand parents and parents used to tell me “if you don’t eat rice, you have no energy to do anything.” Because I was raised with rice (2~3 times a day for 365 days), my body really became like that – I get no energy if I don’t eat rice for 2 days.
The typical breakfast at my house was rice and miso soup. When I woke up, rice was always in a rice cooker – freshly cooked each morning. Although my dad enjoys eating toast and coffee in the morning at cafe these days, he used to only eat rice while I was a teenager and that’s why my mum cooked this “Japanese style breakfast” everyday. Leftover from last night’s dinner was usual side dishes, plus some pickles and seasoned nori (seaweed) or furikake (rice seasoning).
I was surprised to know how expensive rice was in Perth since I came here. I mean, short grain rice. I’d never paid money for rice as my family own rice fields and grow rice by ourselves – so rice was always in our kitchen. Lots of them. Here, I need to “buy” rice from stores and I felt it’s bit strange at first.
I had never eaten long grain rice while I was in Japan, but I like it pretty much now. I like the little dryness of long grain rice when eating with something soupy such as curry. They are cheaper than short grain rice (or Sushi rice) too. But, when making sushi, onigiri or zosui, I need short grain (or medium grain) rice. The stickiness is very important when making those Japanese food.
Some of the short grain or medium grain rice sold here are from USA, Taiwan, Korean and elsewhere. As long as the rice was grown in water like Japanese rice, they taste pretty alike. In some countries, rice is grown in soil and it tastes different.
Rice imported from Japan is always expensive, but the price of rice (short/medium) from USA and other countries had suddenly increased few years ago because of drought. Now, the price had dropped little bit, but I still feel they are expensive… I found Korean rice is cheaper and is very good quality. Japanese rice, such as Akitakomachi, Akitaotome, and Koshihikari, are very expensive – even in Japan. They are like brand. Omi-mai is the rice my family grows, and they are very good too. Oooo I just miss eating it. I think my dad should consider exporting his rice to Australia.
When buying rice here, you should be careful that some rice is more than few years old…. Rice should be eaten within one year after harvest. At my house, we replace old rice with new rice after harvest season each year. New rice (shin-mai) tastes so juicy and fresh. You need less water to cook as they are so soft and fresh. When preparing some rice sold here, if you think they are pretty old, soak them in water for at least 30 minutes before cooking (or add more water when cooking) so they become softer.
Ummmm I feel like having wafu breakfast for a change. I need to be away from peanut butter toast!
There are many winter vegetables available in the supermarkets – and cauliflower is one of them! Foods in season are very cheap to buy, and also are flavourful and nutritious. (Seasonal Food Guide)
When you have cauliflower in the fridge, what do you want to cook with it? Cauliflower cheese? Cauliflower soup? Or add to usual stir-fry dish? Ummmm all of them sound so yummy…. but how about making karaage with it? It sounds very different – because karaage usually use chicken thigh. But, this dish is really flavoursome and rally easy to make.
The batter is seasoned so you may not need any sauce to eat with it, but you can also enjoy it with ponzu or Japanese mayonnaise.
Eat while hot and crunchy!
<Cauliflower Karaage>
1/4 cauliflower
1 egg
1 tbs soy sauce
2 tsp oyster sause
3 tbs corn flour
a
Cut cauliflower into small florets.
Beat the egg in a mixing bowl. Add sauces and flour, then mix together.
Heat oil in a deep pan.
Coat cauliflower florets in the batter, then deep-fry until golden.
There is a small Japanese take-away food shop on Royal street in East Perth. I happened to go there the other day just past 12PM, and I was very surprised…. Not only to see that so many people keep coming in and making a long queue to grab take-away sushi and typical Japanese meals, but also the speed of their service.
I stayed there for about 15 minutes – until Hiro started crying loud and realising eating at home would be better for us and also other diners. While the 15 minutes, the line of people didn’t break.
Most of the customers must be office workers around this area, wanting to grab fast and easy food to take-out during their limited lunch time. These people must be this shop’s target as well – considering the opening hours of 11:00 to 16:30, Monday to Friday.
There are lots of drinks to chose from the fridge.
There is a counter full of packed sushi to go. You can also order meals such as teriyaki, katsu, donburi, curry, udon and soba noodle, agedashi, burgers, etc. The owner must be Indonesian or Malaysian because there is “beef rendang” on the menu :p
I was curious to try their teriyaki burger ($7.50), but decided to order Fish Katsu-Don ($10.50).D ordered Teriyaki Chicken ($10.50).
I was assuming that it would take at least 5 minutes to make our foods, but it showed up within 2 minutes. Very very fast. That’s why there’re not many people waiting for their food besides the number of people queueing. They get their ordered meal in a flash. This must be one of the reason why this shop is so busy.
The katsu was not like Japanese katsu – it was more like Western-style (like those for parmigiana). The meat of teriyaki chicken was chopped, and it was chicken breast (no skin). I guess these “katsu” and “teriyaki chicken” are prepared for burgers and sushi rolls too. That’s why they are in funny shape.
The quality of the food is very average, but I am, again, very impressed by their fast service. The staff are very friendly and kind too. When I asked them if I could take-home our half-eaten food (because of Hiro) they quickly brought me plastic lids and a carry bag with a smile. I was surprised to see the speed of the staff’s movement as well.
Monday to Friday during lunch time only, serving variety of food, very fast service. I like their concept. Very good business.
Yakitori, grilled skewered-chicken dish, is usually seasoned with either salt (shio) or soy sauce-based sauce (tare), but here is another option. Brush the chicken with sweet miso paste while grilling – it gives the shine and great sweet miso taste to the chicken 🙂
<Miso Yakitori> serves 4
4 fillets chicken thigh
spring onion stalks / cucumber
3 tbs red miso paste
1.5 tbs sake (cooking wine)
1.5 tbs mirin (sweet cooking wine)
1.5 tbs sugar
a
Soak the skewers in water for 30 minutes.
Cut the chicken into cubes. Chop onion and cucumber into 2cm.
Skewer the chicken and spring onion/cucumber alternatively.
Mix the miso, sake, mirin and sugar.
Heat a grill pan and spray oil. Place the chicken skewers and grill one side, then flip it around.
Start brushing the miso mixture to the chicken. (miso gets burned easily) Brush one side, then flip it around, brush another side, … continue until the chicken is cooked.
Mos Burger’s new Spicy Fruity Miso Chicken Burger seems to be a big hit since its released day May 26 🙂
With the concepts of “burger with flavour of Japan”, “burger which catches Japanese people’s hearts”, and “burger: nothing like others”, this new chicken burger is only available for limited time only!
It consists of flame-grilled teriyaki chicken, fruity spicy miso sauce, onion slices, tomato, lettuce, and spicy mayonnaise.
The chicken thigh is marinated with wafu (Japanese flavour) based stock, then flame grilled. The signature miso sauce is made with 3 kinds of miso : Sakura miso, Kome (rice) miso, and Haccho miso. It also contains grape juice, raisin, blueberry, roasted soy sauce, red ginger, chilli powder, sweet sake, etc etc…. total 45 ingredients! The balance of sweetness, spiciness, and sourness is just right – according to the people who tried this burger.
Sounds and looks so delicious!! Ummmm I wish I was there 🙁
Taiyaki, fish-shaped baked Japanese sweet, is one of my favourite snack. This is a kind of stall-food you buy at festivals or shrine on New Year’s Day, but now you can also buy from the food courts in shopping centres or some convenience stores across Japan. The original filling is azuki an – red bean paste, but there are more varieties such as custard cream and chocolate.
At the shop they use this type of big grill to make taiyaki, but there’s a small version of this to use at home.
The weather like today makes me miss taiyaki. It should be eaten warm, and is kind of a winter sweet. I don’t have a taiyaki maker at home, so I bought a pack of frozen taiyaki from an Asian grocery shop.
I warmed it up in the microwave, then toasted in a toaster oven to make it crunchy outside. Eating it with vanilla ice cream gives you the contrast of hot and cold, and the texture of crunchiness of the skin and melty ice cream.
I just realised that it’s May already…! It’s the middle of Golden Week (long weekend with public holidays) in Japan. Sakura should be all gone by now (in the main island / south), and it should be getting warmer and warmer soon over there. I haven’t heard from my family (dad and bro side) for a while so I emailed my bro to see what they are up to. I thought bro would be enjoying this long weekend, but he said he and dad have been working all-day at their rice fields. It’s that season already.
I haven’t been back to Japan during summer for almost 6 years now (because I don’t like hot & humid climate), but I remember I helped working in the rice fields a lot while I was there during my homecoming in 2005. I helped weeding (using a machine), bringing lunch to them, harvesting the rice, and bringing all the crops to the mill. The job is hard, but it’s very interesting. I like doing that type of physical work. Sometimes I took Mimi (our dog) to the rice field, and watched dad and bro working from the side of the rice field with her.
Ah, I miss eating our rice!
Back to Perth : It’s very cold at night and morning, but the temperature goes up to mid-20’s (or close to 30℃) during the day. I need to dress Hiro twice.
One of D’s sister has been visiting here from Jakarta, and yesterday was her last day here. She comes here quite often so we didn’t do anything special – besides she likes watching tv all the time at home. But yesterday I had to buy some stuff from Fremantle so we all went out for a quick drive.
We picked up some sushi from Oceans in the Woolstores on the way back. It was actually my first time to try their food. I go to Fremantle quite often, but I’ve never had a chance to buy anything from there. I believe the owner is Japanese (my friend used to work there before), and the location is good – close to the train station and car parks. We bought some mixed sushi rolls which were already packed for take-away. The sushi was not bad and I enjoyed it. Much better than Sushi Sushi …
Onsen-tamago is like poached egg, but the egg is slowly cooked in hot water of about 65 – 75 ℃ until the egg white and yolk just set. The name “onsen” means hot spring in Japanese, and as the name indicates, onsen-tamago is traditionally cooked in the hot spring.
Onsen-tamago is a typical breakfast menu in Japan. When you stay at ryokan with hot spring, they usually serve this in the morning with rice, miso soup and other foods. It’s eaten with sweet sauce made of dashi, soy sauce and mirin. The egg white is not hard but cooked, and the yolk is paste-like. You can also buy it from supermarkets and convenience stores. It’s sold shell attached (looks just like a boiled egg), and comes with a sachet of sauce.
Why I’m writing about onsen-tamago is just because I have a craving for this. 🙂 I used the recipe for onsen-tamago (without onsen) from http://onsentamago.hoge2.info
Boil 1 L of water in a pot.
Once it comes to boil, turn off the heat. Add 200ml of cold water and then eggs (eggs should be completely immersed in the water). Place a lid, and wait for 15 minutes.
Ummm… it looks more like soft boiled egg :p I think I left the egg in the water too long. The yolk was just perfect to my liking though.
Just like poached egg, you can add it into salad, pasta, curry, udon, donburi … etc.
Beef donburi, gyu-don, is one of Japanese popular donburi dish. I’m sure you sometimes order this at Japanese restaurants (if you like beef).
Normally, gyu-don is simmered beef and onion dish in sweet soy sauce flavoured dashi broth. This recipe, however, doesn’t require dashi broth and simmering process. It’s more like a stir-fried dish (with plenty of sauce/broth/juice from the beef and onions). It’s a quick meal, and taste great 🙂
<Quick Beef Bowl> serves 4~8
500g beef, thinly sliced
2 onions (medium size)
4 cloves garlic
1 tbs sesame oil
2 tbs sugar
1 tbs sake (cooking wine)
2 tbs mirin
2 tbs soy sauce
a
Slice the onions and garlic thinly.
Heat the sesame oil in a sauce pan. Add garlic and onion, and stir-fry until the onions are almost transparent.
Add beef, and cook for 2~3 minutes. Add sugar, sake, mirin and soy sauce.
Turn down the heat to low, and cook further 5 minutes.
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