Bibimbap

Surviving school holiday?  I put my 4-year-old to a school swim program but going to a pool everyday with a 1-year-old is starting to give me a headache :-{  My 4-year-old can’t swim yet and 1-year-old wants to dip in the water too, so I have to be in the water splashing around with 2 boys.  After a quick shower we head home and have lunch, and surprisingly they don’t sleep at all at home so it’s been full-day-with-2-boys this week.  I need some stamina to keep up…!

Bibimbap was one of the food that came to my mind.  I just wanted to mix up the meat, veggies, rice & gochujang chilli and eat all up with a glass of chilled green tea.  Sounds nice in a hot day doesn’t it.

“Bibimbap –  it’s a Korean dish where meat, assorted vegetables and fried egg are placed over steamed rice.  You mix everything up as you eat, and though it looks messy that’s how it’s supposed to be eaten.  Usually gochujang (Korean chilli paste) and/or sesame oil is added, but I serve this dish to my kid without any extra sauce.”

I wrote a recipe for bibimbap here before, and I’d say that is more standard way to eat bibimbap as it has kimuche on it.  I love kimuche, especially in summer.  I crave for spicy food in hot days!

There are so many kinds of bibimbap and you can make endless variations to this dish depending on your preference and dietary requirements.  I must say this is my favorite Korean dish and I often order one at yakiniku restaurant in Japan. 🙂  I love the one with tobiko (frying fish roe) in a hot stone bowl (ishiyaki-bibimbap) but when I make at home I make everything simple.

On this recipe I didn’t use kimuche (simply because I didn’t have it in my house) but it turned out to be a family friendly dish.  Extra gochujang chilli for adults.

Beat the heat with chilli!

<Bibimbap>  serves 1

• 1 cup of Steamed Rice
• 1/2 cup of Beef mince
• 1/2 cup of Bean-shoot & carrot, shredded
• 1/2 cup of Broccoli
• 1/4 cup of Green beans, shredded
• 1 Egg
• minced garlic, sesame oil, gochujang chilli paste, soy sauce, sake

1. Beef mince :  Heat 1/2 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan, and cook beef mince over high heat with 1 teaspoon of minced garlic.  Add 1 teaspoon of Sake and 1/2 teaspoon of soy sauce, and cook until the meat is done.  Drizzle sesame oil.
2. Bean-shoot : Blanch bean-shoot & shredded carrot.  Drain well.  Mix with 1 teaspoon of minced garlic and drizzle with sesame oil.  Season with salt.
3. Broccoli : Blanch broccoli florets.  Drain well.
4. Green beans : Blanch beans.  Drain well.  Shred.
5. Egg : Fry an egg to your liking.
6. Serve : Place steamed rice in a serving bowl.  Top with beef, bean-shoot&carrot, broccoli and beans.  Place fried egg on top.
7. <optional> Sprinkle with sesame seeds, and serve with gochujang chilli paste.

Easy Maze-Gohan with Tinned Salmon

One of the things I used to do on my free-time was standing in the kitchen alone wondering what I can cook, and making whatever came to my mind.  But these days I’m finding it’s hard to spot my “free” time and I can hardly stay in the kitchen alone with two little ones nagging for food or play.  It really stresses me out sometimes, because I want to cook something for them which is nutritious and with variety of ingredients, but on the other hand if preparation takes long then they will start drag me out from the kitchen.

Here is one of my life-saving recipe.  Maze-gohan is seasoned rice with variety of ingredients.  Different from takikomi-gohan, maze-gohan is plain steamed rice mixed with cooked ingredients (where takikomi-gohan is cooked rice with ingredients and seasonings).

Maze-gohan … plain steamed rice + cooked & seasoned ingredients
Takikomi-gohan … uncooked rice + raw ingredients + seasonings cooked together

This maze-gohan with salmon is a hit for my 1-year-old too.  The dish is done in 10 minutes. 🙂

<Maze-Gohan with Tinned Salmon>  serves 3~4 kids

• 95g Tinned Pink Salmon in springwater, drained
• 1 portion of Frozen Chopped Spinach, defrosted
• 1 Egg
• 2 bowls of Steamed Rice
• 1 teaspoon Sesame Oil
• 1 teaspoon Soy Sauce
• White Sesame Seeds to sprinkle

1. Heat a frying pan, and spray oil.
2. Cook salmon and spinach, stirring, for 1~2 minutes.
3. Beat egg in a small bowl, and pour into the frying pan.  Stir using chopsticks or wooden spatula to scramble.
4. Drizzle sesame oil, and season with soy sauce.  Sprinkle sesame seeds and turn off the heat.
5. Mix with steamed rice.

You can add small amount of oyster sauce or more soy sauce if you like.  I use leftover cooked rice from day before; warm up the rice in the microwave before mixing with salmon.  You can cook this salmon first (while your kids are taking nap or watching tv) and keep in the fridge.  When they are hungry, just mix with warm rice and done!

Takikomi Tomato Rice

Tomato rice, often used for omelet-rice (omu-rice), is usually made with cooked rice, chicken pieces, some vegetables and tomato sauce in a frying-pan, just like stir-fried rice.  We call the rice “chicken rice”, and I love it even without a thin omelet wrapper.  The problem with cooking this rice is that sometimes the rice becomes bit mashy while stir-frying, and you have to have cooked rice to make this.  so, when you feel like omelet-rice, you first need to cook rice then stir-fry with other ingredients.

I hate mashy rice.  Especially with Japanese rice (medium to short grain rice).  It’s soggy, soft and has no texture that I love about rice.

So these days I often make this “chicken rice” in a rice cooker.  You don’t need to stir-fry in a pan as a rice cooker will do all the work.  It’s easy, time saving, and less washing to do!

The basic ingredients are medium (or short) grain rice, chicken thigh pieces, onion, carrot and sauces, but this time I made it with prawn & chopped bacon instead of chicken.  Yum!!

I added spinach in this recipe.  You can modify this with any vegetables at least you add the correct amount of rice and sauces.

<Recipe>

• Rice 450g
• Tomato Sauce  4 table spoons
• Oyster Sauce 1 teaspoon
• Stock Cube 1 (vegetable or chicken) or 1 teaspoon
• Frozen Chopped Spinach 1 portion
• Chopped Carrot 1/4 cup
• Chopped Onion 1/4 cup
• Chopped Bacon 1/4 cup
• some prawns, no shell, heads and tails

1. Wash rice.  Level the rice in a rice cooker.  Add sauces and stock cube.  Add water to the level marked “3”, or you point your finger down inside the rice cooker, add water to the first line of your finger.
2. Add other ingredients.  Level the surface.
3. Turn on the cooker.

You should leave the lid of rice cooker closed for at least 10 minutes after the rice is cooked.  Mix the rice through within 30minutes after cooking to let the excess steam escape.

Serve with or without thin omelet, and enjoy!

Dry Curry Soboro – OmuRice Style

The title might have confused you….   the dish looks like this  ↑↑↑

Juicy dry pork curry over steamed rice with fluffy thin omelet.

Serve it on a large plate then people can dig in….   Great for kids party too.

Make omelet fluffy – not over-cook it.  Soft and runny egg goes well with curry 🙂

I used zucchini, but you can use broccoli, capsicum, peas, or eggplant instead.

<Dry Curry Soboro> serves 3~4 people

• Pork Mince 500g
• Onion 1/2
• Carrot 1
• Zucchini 1/4
• Ginger & Garlic, minced, 1 tsp each
• Soy Sauce 1 tsp
• Mild Indian Curry Powder 1/2 tsp  (adjust to  your liking)
• Oyster Sauce 1 tbs
• Tomato Sauce 1 tbs
• Salt & Pepper (optional)
• 3 Eggs
• Milk 1 tbs
• Steamed Rice (to serve)

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1. Chop onion, carrot and zucchini.
2. Heat a frying pan and add oil.  Saute onion, carrot, ginger and garlic for a couple of minutes.  Add pork and zucchini.  Pour soy sauce over the meat, and cook until the colour of the meat starts to change.
3. Add curry powder, oyster sauce, tomato sauce and 1 tablespoon of water.  Simmer until the liquid is almost gone and all the juice is absorbed.  Set aside.
4. Heat a wide frying pan with oil.  Beat egg lightly with milk, and pour into the pan to make soft omelet.
5. To serve :  Scoop some steamed rice (hot) on a large serving plate.  Place the omelet on top of the rice, and scatter the dry curry over.  Serve immediately while hot.

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Kayaku Gohan

As you may know, Japanese people eat lot of rice.  Nowadays they don’t eat as much as they used to, but rice is still a must-have food for most people there.

I was raised in a typical Japanese family who eat rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  My grand parents had rice fields (now my dad’s inherited them), so rice was always there in the kitchen.  Because of that, I also became a person who needs to eat rice everyday – at least once a day.  Otherwise my body doesn’t feel right.

Here in Perth, Japanese rice is so expensive.  They are available at Nippon Food and other Asian grocery shops, but I’ve only bought a discounted bag with broken packaging before.  I usually just use Sunrice medium grain rice.  It’s cheap and ok.  I sometimes mix mochi-gome (mochi rice = sticky rice) to the medium grain when cooking so that the rice becomes more like Japanese rice; sticks together. I like the mochi-mochi texture.

Kayaku-gohan is steamed rice with various ingredients and seasoning cooked together.  I must say it’s one of my favourite food.  I can go several bowls at once!

You can find abura-age (fried bean-curd) in freezer section at Asian grocery shops.  Konnyaku is usually in the fridge, or sometimes sold at room temperature on the shelves.

<Kayaku Gohan>

• Rice medium grain 3 cups
• Mochi Rice (sticky rice) 1/2 cup
• Chicken Thigh 50g
• Carrot, small 1
• Konnyaku 1/2 pack
• Abura-age 1/2 sheet
• Shiitake mushroom, dried 2 〜3
• Ginger 1 small block (about 10g)
• Soy Sauce 2 tbs
• Sake 1 tbs
• Mirin 1 tbs

1. Soak dried shiitake in 1/4 cup of water for 30 minutes.  Keep the shiitake water.
2. Slice chicken, carrot, konnyaku, abura-age, shiitake, and ginger into small pieces.
3. Place them in a sauce pan with the shiitake water, another 3/4 cup water (so 1 cup total), soy sauce, sake and mirin.   Bring to gentle simmer and cook for 10 minutes over low heat.  Leave to cool.
4. Place washed and drained rice into a rice cooker.  Level the surface. Scoop the chicken and vegetables and place on top of rice – level surface – to cover the rice.  Add the stock from “3” to the rice cooker.
5. Add more water to adjust : I always use my finger to measure the water amount when cooking rice.  Place your index finger 90° to the rice, and add water up till the first line on your index finger.
6. Turn on the rice cooker.  When rice is cooked, leave at least 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Teriyaki Spam Onigiri

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

1. Slice spam into 5mm thick squares.
2. Spray oil in a frying pan, and grill the spam both sides until coloured.  Remove excess oil with kitchen paper, if there is any.
3. Pour soy sauce & mirin into the pan.  Cook over low-medium heat until the sauce thicken and the spam is shiny.
4. 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 🙂

Beef & Tofu Donburi

This is one of my favorite donburi dish – beef and tofu.  It is just like beef donburi (gyu-don), with tofu.  Normally, firm tofu is used in cooking as it’s more likely to hold its shape than soft silken tofu, but I love the silky smooth texture of silken tofu and I used it in this recipe.

Donburi is like Japanese version of fast food.  Make it in one pot, and eat it all together with rice.

Mix them up and eat it like a man!

<Recipe> serves 2

• 200g beef, thinly sliced
• 1/4 brown onion, small
• 100g silken tofu (Japanese)
• 1/4 tsp dashi stock powder
• 1 cup water
• 1.5 tbs sake (cooking wine)
• 1 tbs sugar
• 1.5 tbs soy sauce
• red ginger, chopped spring onion, steamed rice to serve

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1. Slice onion.  Place beef, onion, water and dashi stock in a sauce pan, and bring to gentle simmer.
2. Place tofu on your left palm, and drop into the pan as you slice.  Add sake, sugar and soy sauce.  Turn the heat to low, and simmer for about 5 minutes.
3. Pour the beef mixture over steamed rice.  Garnish with red ginger and spring onion.

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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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Black Sticky Rice Porridge

This Asian style sweet porridge is one of my favourite winter sweets.

I normally eat it warm, but it can be eaten at room temperature or chilled.  It is usually eaten with dash of coconut cream.

You can cook this in a slow cooker or in a deep pan, just like making congee.  Adjust the amount of water to achieve right consistency.

It should be thick in consistency.  The chewy black sticky rice is so juicy and delicious 🙂

I added fresh persimmon to it, and the combination was lovely.  With seasonal fruit and eating it warm or chilled, this sweet pudding can be served all year round!

<Black Sticky Rice Porridge>

• 500g black sticky rice (can be found at Asian grocery shops)
• water to soak the rice
• 2L ~ water
• 3 tbs ~ palm sugar
• a pinch of salt

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1. Wash the rice thoroughly and soak in water for about 2 hours to overnight.
2. Put the rice, salt, sugar and 2 L water in a deep pot on high heat until water boils, then lower it to the lowest heat your stove can do. Stir constantly.  Simmer.
3. When the liquid is almost gone, check the rice – if it’s still too hard, add more water to it.  Keep during this until it achieve the right consistency.
4. Serve with coconut cream.

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Creamy Curry Pilaf

I made this creamy curry risotto to accompany the spicy roasted chicken which I picked up from a poultry shop.  It’s very easy to make, and delicious ♪  I think you should try this!

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<Creamy Curry Pilaf> serves 2

• 2 cups cooked rice
• 4 green beans, chopped
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 10cm spring onion stalks, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1.5 cups chicken stock
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 50ml cream

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1. Heat 1 tbs of olive oil in a large frying pan.  Saute onion, garlic, and curry powder until fragrant.
2. Add green beans, tomato, and rice.  Stir, and pour chicken stock.  Bring to gentle boil, and turn down the heat to simmer for few minutes, until the liquid is almost gone.
3. Stir in cream, and season well.  Remove from the heat, and serve on a plate.

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Quick Beef Bowl

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

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1. Slice the onions and garlic thinly.
2. Heat the sesame oil in a sauce pan.  Add garlic and onion, and stir-fry until the onions are almost transparent.
3. Add beef, and cook for 2~3 minutes.  Add sugar, sake, mirin and soy sauce.
4. Turn down the heat to low, and cook further 5 minutes.

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Enjoy with steamed rice and some vegetables!

Japanese Seasoned Steamed Rice (Takikomi Gohan)

This is what we call Takikomi Gohan, meaning that the rice is cooked in dashi broth and soy sauce along with other ingredients such as mushroom, chicken and root vegetables.  The variety is endless, and you can add any ingredients you like – seafood, beans, sweet potato, shellfish, etc.

The very standard ingredients for takikomi gohan are chicken thigh, carrot, shiiitake mushroom, konnyaku and abura-age (fried bean-curd).  I like adding roots vegetables such as burdock roots for the texture.

When cooking takikomi gohan, you will get dark-colored rice left in the bottom of the rice cooker.  This part is called “okoge” meaning “burned rice”, and is considered to be the best part to eat!

<Takikomi Gohan> serves 5~8

• 3 cups rice (short or medium grain)
• 100g chicken
• 1 tsp dashi powder
• 3~4 shiitake mushrooms (5~6 if using frozen shiitake mushrooms)
• 100g burdock roots, shredded (frozen)
• 1 carrot
• 2 sticks of chikuwa fish cake (optional)
• 3 tbs soy sauce
• 3 tbs sake (cooking wine)
• 3 cm ginger

Tomato Chicken Rice with Omelet (Omu-Rice)

Besides the traditional Japanese food, there’re Western style food created by Japanese chefs in Japan.  This cuisine is called “yo-shoku” (Japanese Style Western Food) and I had more chances to eat these yo-shoku dishes than traditional Japanese food when I was little.

This dish “omu-rice” (omelet rice) is one of the popular yo-shoku dish in Japan, especially among kids.  The rice is stir-fried with frozen mix vegetables and chicken pieces, usually flavored with tomato based sauce.  Normally the rice is wrapped with omelet completely (like you wrap something with plastic wrap), but placing omelet over the rice is much easier when making multiple omu-rice, and it tastes just as good as the wrapped one.

In some restaurants chefs make omu-rice this way – make soft omelet over high heat, and place on top of prepared rice.  Then, they insert a knife to the omelet and the omelet opens and cover the rice.  I love when the egg is soft and fluffy!  (I’m sure you’ve tasted one of these if you had been to an omu-rice restaurant)

<Omu-Rice> serves 4

• 200g chicken thigh, diced
• 1 onion, medium, chopped
• 50cc white wine
• 1/2 cup frozen mixed vegetables
• 400g cooked rice, cold
• 3 tbs tomato sauce
• 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce

• 5 eggs
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 tbs milk

Oyako Donburi

Today’s recipe is oyako-donburi. (^0^)  This dish has been one of my favorite food since I was a baby!  I just love the sweet sauce and soft egg….

I don’t use shop-bought dashi powder anymore to make dashi stock.  It may contain MSG and other things, and I thought it tastes better when I make my own dashi.  I just need bonito flakes and it’s so easy to make.  You can also use dashi-konbu (seaweed) or dried shiitake mushroom to make dashi, but I like the bonito-based dashi the best.

As you may know, “oyako” literally means “parent and child”.  Oyako-donburi is a dish which a parent and a child are in a same bowl.  So, chicken + egg is oyako, and salmon and salmon caviar can be oyako too.

Normally, chicken thigh is used for oyako-donburi in Japan.  You can use chicken breast if you can’t eat chicken thigh or prefer lighter taste.  (although I recommend using chicken thigh)

First, we make dashi stock.  Although the recipe for oyako-donburi below is for 1 portion, it’s easier to make dashi stock in bigger portion.  You can keep the reft over of dashi stock in the fridge for 1 week, and it can be used to make udon or soba later.  If you are making oyako-donburi for 4~5 people, the amount of dashi stock may be just about right.

dashi

• 3 cups (750ml) water
• 5g bonito flakes

1. Place water and bonito flakes in the sauce pan, and bring to the gentle simmer.  Turn off the heat, and leave for 5 minutes.
2. Strain the bonito flakes and keep the liquid.  You can discard the bonito flakes, or cook with soy sauce and mirin and eat with rice later!

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• 50g chicken thigh (or breast)
• 40g onion (1 x tiny onion)
• 2 eggs
• 100ml dashi stock
• 10ml soy sauce
• 5ml mirin
• 5ml sake (cooking wine)
• 5g sugar
• 150g steamed rice

1. Cut chicken into pieces.  Slice onion.
2. Place dashi stock, soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar, chicken pieces and onion in a small sauce pan or frying pan.  Bring to the gentle boil, and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Lightly beat eggs in a bowl – just one or two whisking is enough.  Turn up the heat of the simmering chicken, and pour the eggs slowly into the pan.  Turn down the heat and place a lid.  When the eggs are cooked half-way through but still remains raw part, turn off the heat and leave for 15 seconds.
4. Pour the egg sauce over steamed rice, and enjoy!

One Plate Breakfast (Wafu)

It may be because of the weather, or it’s just that I’m tired…  I’ve been feeling sick lately.  No fever yet, but you know you can feel when your body is getting sick by having some symptoms such as running nose, sneezing, muscle aches, and headache.

I had these symptoms yesterday, and I knew I would have fever if I didn’t do anything.  So, what I thought of doing were….

① Eat well, ② Take hot shower (bath would be much better…), ③ Sleep well.

As I mentioned before I’ve been eating Indonesian and Chinese food over the last couples of weeks, and my body can’t take any more oily food!  And, my body needs more vegetables.  I don’t feel good if I don’t eat vegetables.  It’s not that I feel guilty, my body really feels weak –  get tired easily, and I have to rush to the toilet many times.

So, when I’m feeling weak, the food I eat is always Japanese food!

＊ Spinach and Silver Fish Rice (あっさり☆ほうれん草と雑魚の混ぜご飯)

＊ Onion Soup (ネギ汁)

＊ Natto (納豆)

Maze-gohan (mixed rice) is such an easy dish to make, as you just need to mix the ingredients with steamed rice.  (Spring) onion is one of miracle food that ease inflammation of sore throat – that’s what we say in Japan.  There is an old saying that if you catch a cold, tie a spring onion around your neck overnight.  Next morning your fever and symptoms of the cold/flu are gone.  There is something to do with Allyl sulfide, apparently.

Before I proceed to the recipe, I just want to say that I felt much better this morning!  I ate this one plate last night too, and I don’t have muscle aches and headache anymore.  Thanks to the hot onion soup… and hot shower and a good sleep.  This was my breakfast today as well.

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<Spinach and Silver Fish Rice> serves 1

• 100g steamed rice, hot
• 15g blanched spinach
• 5g silver fish
• 1/4 tsp roasted white sesame seeds
• a drop of soy sauce

1. Spread silver fish in a frying pan (no oil).  Roast over medium heat until crunchy.  Set aside.
2. Chop spinach finely.  Sprinkle a drop of soy sauce, and leave it for 5 minutes.  Gently squeeze out excess liquid.
3. In a bowl: mix silver fish, spinach and sesame seeds with steamed rice.  Be careful not to break the rice.

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<Onion Soup> serves 2 ~ 4

• 2 small onions (100g)
• 1/2 cup chopped spring onions
• 2 tsp dried cut wakame seaweed
• 3 cups water
• 35g miso paste
• 1 tsp mirin
• 1g ginger, minced

Korean Style Nori Maki

I wanted to use up the brown rice that I had in the pantry, so I made Korean style rice rolls with nori sheet.  Korean cuisine is very similar to Japanese cuisine, but Korean nori maki doesn’t use vinegared rice – just normal steamed rice.  You can of course use white rice instead of brown rice.

What makes it Korean is also the ingredients – beef mince is a typical ingredient for Korean nori maki.  So are takuwan (yellow radish pickles), egg omelet, and burdock roots (gobo).  Normally, Korean seaweed (seasoned with salt) is used to roll the rice, but I used just normal Japanese nori sheet this time.

I seasoned the brown rice with sesame oil and salt, but you don’t need to do it if you prefer.

<Korean Nori Maki> makes 2 rolls

• 2 nori sheet
• 2 cups steamed rice
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 50g beef mince
• 1/2 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• white pepper to taste
• 1/4 takuwan (yellow radish pickles (cut in lengthwise)
• 1/4 cucumber (cut in lengthwise)
• 2 tbs shredded carrot

Bibimbap with Broccoli and Daikon

My Korean friend gave me some  hund-made kimuche!  It tastes so fresh and delicious☆  I asked her for the recipe, and it sounds very simple.  Just need more ingredients than Japanese pickles.  I may try making different kinds of kimche at home sometime. 🙂

I made bibimbap with her kimche.

“Bibim” means “mix” in Korean, and as this name indicates this dish is eaten by mixing up all the ingredients.

There are basic ingredients to make bibimbap, but you can actually use any food.  I had broccoli and daikon in my fridge, so I added them to the bibimbap.  If you have some vegetables that have been sitting in the fridge and you want to use up, you can make bibimbap!

Adding bean shoots (as a standard ingredient) to bibimbap is my favorite, but I didn’t have bean shoot in the fridge.  If you are using bean shoot, refer my bean shoot, carrot and spring onion Namul recipe.

I used the leftover of hamburg , and made it chunky for the texture.  You can jut use minced beef for the recipe.  You can also use bulkogi for the topping of bibimbap.

<Bibimbap with broccoli and daikon> serves 2

beef:

• around 200g beef mince
• 1 tbs sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tbs sugar
• 1 tsp soy sauce

• around 4 florets broccoli
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 pinch salt

• around 10cm daikon radish
• 1 tbs sesame oil
• 1 tsp soy sauce

• around 6 tbs kimche
• 2 eggs
• 400g steamed rice
• gochujang (around 2 ~ 5 tbs)

Japanese Rice Soup with Salmon (Salmon Zosui)

It’s stormy lately in Perth.  Very strong wind and cold rain.  Warm up your body with this Japanese rice soup with grilled salty salmon 🙂

Zosui is a Japanese rice soup made from pre-cooked rice and water.  There is a similar dish called okayu, but okayu is cooked from uncooked rice and to more watery consistency.

Grill the salmon first with seasonings.  The salmon looks so delicious at this point, but it will be added to the simmering rice soup.  Pre-cooked rice is simmered in dashi water with mushroom, then dried wakame, blanched spinach and chopped spring onion will be added.  Mushroom and wakame gives the flavor to the soup too.

<Salmon Zosui> serves 2

salmon:

• 200g salmon fillet (skinned and boned)
• 1 tbs mirin and 1 pinch salt for seasoning salmon

• 500ml (2 cups) water
• 5 cm konbu (dried seaweed sheet)
• 2 dried shiitake mushroom

• 200g cooked rice, cold (I used brown rice)
• 100g oyster mushroom
• 2 bunches spinach
• 1 tbs dried cut wakame
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbs sake
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1/2 ~ 1 tsp salt
• chopped spring onion to garnish

1. Sprinkle salmon with salt.  Line aluminium foil in a frying pan, and spray oil.  Heat the pan, and sear the salmon.  Brush with mirin both side while turning the salmon.
2. Meanwhile, place water, konbu and shiitake in a heat-proof bowl, and microwave for 2 minutes.  Leave it for 1 minute.
3. Remove the konbu and shiitake from dashi water.  Discard konbu.  Slice up shiitake mushroom.
4. Place the dashi water in a cooking pot along with shiitake mushroom, oyster mushroom (stemmed, and roughly separated), sake and soy sauce.  Place on the stove and bring to the gentle boil.
5. Add rice, and simmer for 3 minutes.
6. Wash spinach and cut into 3 cm width.  Beat eggs in a bowl.  Roughly break the salmon meat.
7. Add spinach, cut wakame, and salmon to the rice.  Season with salt.  Pour the egg mixture into the simmering rice soup.  Stir, and turn off the heat.
8. Sprinkle chopped spring onion and serve with chilli powder (optional).

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Rice Balls with Roasted Eels (Unagi Balls)

I made this to eat at home, but it’s also a great item for picnic.  It’s such easy to make and looks cute, like temari-sushi (small and ball-shaped sushi). You can add more colors such as red (red ginger), green (green veggie or green pickles), orange (tobikko) …

The good thing is, you don’t even need to make your hands dirty – shape it by using pieces of plastic wrap.

I used normal steamed rice (not vinegared rice) so this is not sushi.  You can use vinegared rice if you like.

Colourful Rice Balls (onigiri)

As I mentioned before, steamed rice is an essential item for Japanese cuisine.  We sometimes eat just rice and tea as a meal.  A rice ball (onigiri) is a very common snack food which can be purchased at convenience stores, super markets and kiosks at train stations.  (Normally in triangle shape)

When we make bento, we sometimes shape the rice into balls or triangles to enjoy the looks.  This colorful rice balls look cute and I sure want to use it as a bento item if I’m making one 🙂   You can also arrange the ingredients and make your own color of onigiri.

When making onigiri, the rice has to be hot.  Normally we shape the rice with bare hands, with a bowl of salted water to dip the hands before handling hot rice.  You can also shape onigiri using a plastic wrap film if you don’t want to use your hands.

<Colourful Rice Balls>  makes 1 set

Ume (pickled plum):

• 50g steamed rice
• 1 ume

Spicy Fried Rice with Kimuchi (Kimuchi Cha-han)

Cha-han means “fried rice” in Japanese.  Add kimuchi to make a sour and spicy Korean flavored fried rice.

<kimuchi Cha-han> serves 2

• 1/2 cup kimuchi (Chinese Cabbage), roughly chopped
• 2 bowls steamed rice, cold
• 1 egg
• 100g beef, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup bean sprouts
• 1/2 tsp garlic, minced
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• chopped spring onions for garnish

Quick Risotto

Risotto was a dish that my host family made for me on the first night I came to Perth.  It was a tomato risotto, and she cooked it in the oven.  I was amazed to find how easy it is to make risotto, just place risotto rice and chicken stock in an oven dish with other ingredients and bake in the oven.  It turned out delicious.  

The other day I felt like risotto, so I made chicken, mushroom and spinach risotto –  a very typical flavor.  

Personally I prefer not to use too much cream, (even though it tastes nice, I worry about its high calories) so I add cheese right after cooking and mix it through.  It gives richer flavor.

<Chicken, Mushroom and Spinach Risotto> for two

•  1/2 Chicken breast
• 4~5 mushroom
• 1/2 cup risotto rice (arborio or carnaroli)
• 1 cup chicken stock
• spinach leaves
• 1 garlic, chopped
• 1/8 medium onion, chopped
• 1 tbs white wine
• 1 tbs grated Parmesan cheese 
• 50 ml cream (optional)
• olive oil

Quick tips:  You can pre-cook risotto rice!  Cook rice with chicken stock first.  Saute onion, garlic, chicken and mushroom and stir in white wine.  Add cooked rice and pour chicken stock (water).  Simmer, then season.  Stir in cheese and cream.

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.

Grilled Beef with Japanese BBQ Sauce (Yakiniku)

• 200g thinly sliced beef
• steamed rice

• 1 clove garlic – minced
• 2.5 tbs soy sauce
• 1.5 tbs sugar
• 1 tbs sake (cooking wine)
• 1 tbs sesame oil

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.

Japanese Beef Curry

You don’t need to go out for a delicious Japanese curry.  You can simply cook it at home.

•   1 pack Japanese curry roux
• 500g casserole beef 
• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 potato
• steamed rice to serve

Fragrant Ginger Rice with Pan-fried Chicken

Asian flavored chicken with fragrant rice recipe.

The scent of ginger really whets an appetite.  Enjoy with an extra sweet chili sauce on the side.

• 2 cups rice
• 2 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 5g fresh ginger
• 300g chicken breast (skin on)
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tbs sake (cooking wine)
• 3 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• bok choy or Chinese cabbage, spring onion
• sweet chili sauce, if required

Scattered Sushi with Salmon (Chirashi Zushi)

Why don’t you try this colourful Japanese dish?  Chirashi-zushi is a kind of sushi: seasoned vegetables (carrots, shiitake mushrooms..) are mixed with sushi rice, and sometimes we decorate the top with sashimi (raw fish / fish roe / seafood), shredded thin omelet and kizami-nori (shredded nori seaweed sheet).

I made this dish with grilled salmon fillet.  No complicated job, as there is no need to roll up the rice and stuffing on nori sheet like sushi rolls.  Once you have all the ingredients you can just mix them up ♪

<Salmon Chirashi Zushi> for 2 people

• 100~150 g Salmon Fillets (no skin)
• 1 tbs sake (or white wine)
• 2 cups steamed short grain rice
• 1 egg
• kizami nori
• sushi seasoning powder/liquid, salt

Three Colored Rice (San Shoku Go-han)

The weather was great this weekend.  Fine, not too hot, lovely breeze…  Is autumn just around the corner?

In Japan we call autumn as “eating season”.  There are lots of seasonal food such as rice, grapes, kuri (chestnuts), nashi pears, sweet potatoes, and fish are taster than ever!  Migratory fish eats lots of food in Northern ocean and swim down to South along Japanese Islands around autumn, so we can enjoy juicy tasty fish in this season.  Samma (saury) is the typical autumn fish in Japan, it’s written as “秋刀魚” (autumn sword fish).

People tend to put on weight during this season as the food is so great.  I’m not the exception…  My family owns few rice fields, so we get lots of fresh rice in this season.  I can’t resist these juicy rice and tasty food!  I eat a lot, a lot, and a lot…

Today I felt like stuffing my stomach with rice.  I made this three colored rice (called San-shoku Gohan)  As the name indicates, this is a dish with three different color food on top of steamed rice.  The red (pink) is salmon, yellow is egg, and brown is chicken mince.  You can use any food to make the color contrast.

<Three Colored Rice> for one

• 1 serve of steamed rice
• 30g salmon
• 1/4 tsp sake (or white wine)
• 1/2 egg
• 1/2 tsp milk
• 30g chicken mince
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp mirin
• 1/2 tsp oyster sauce
• 1/6 grated ginger
• pinch of sugar

1. Heat a frying pan (or small sauce pan).  Place salmon, sake and pinch of salt.  Try to break the meat, and cook through.  Set aside.
2. Beat the egg with milk.  Make scrambled egg.  Set aside.
3. Place chicken mince with soy sauce, mirin and oyster sauce in a pan, and cook over medium heat.  Keep stirring.  Once the chicken is cooked, add ginger and pinch of sugar.  Cook until all the liquid is absorbed.
4. Arrange these three food on the top of steamed rice.

The key for this dish is to season well on these three food.  You can add miso paste to the chicken and make it miso flavor.  I can eat lots of rice with those!

Spicy Seafood Japanese Curry

It was another hot day…  Onece I stepped outside, I could feel that my body was getting cooked in this heat.  Japanese people tand to eat hot/spicy food in summer to overcome the heat, and today was the day for me.  I cooked spicy Japanese curry with seafood.  I chose Udon noodle to accompany the curry instead of steamed rice as I wasn’t in a mood for rice.  I prefer noodle to rice in such hot days.

It’s always easy to cook Japanese curry: you just need to buy Japanese curry roux which is available from Asian grocery shops or some supermarkets.  Then you can arrange any flavor: pork, beef, chicken, veggies and seafood.

The key for tasty curry is the cooking time.  Longer you simmer, deeper the taste develops.  I used Japanese curry mix “Hot” and added extra chili to make it really spicy!

<Spicy Seafood Curry> for 3~4 ppl

• 1/2 Japanese curry sauce mix “hot” (about 110g)
• 3 cups water
• 1 onion
• squid, prawn about 250g

1. Slice onion and squid.  Heat a sauce pan and saute onion.
2. Add squid and prawn into the pan.  Saute until lightly browned.
3. Add water and bring to boil.  Turn down the heat and add curry sauce mix.  Simmer over low heat for about 20~30 minutes.  Add chili (or chili powder) if you like.
4. Enjoy with steamed rice, noodle, whatever you like.

The standard Japanese curry uses sliced meat (pork, usually), potatoes, onions and carrots.  They are the ingredients that you can see at the back of the Japanese curry mix package “how to cook Japanese curry”.  The standard curry tastes great, but why not try more varieties??  You can add any vegetables like cabbage, eggplant, capsicums, corn, and broccoli.  Or, add boiled eggs (shells off) into curry and simmer.  The egg absorbs the flavor of curry, and you can enjoy the different texture.

By the way, I also like eating pieces of bread dipped in Japanese curry too.