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!

Hijiki Nimono

This is a very classic Japanese dish; hijiki-no-nimono (stewed hijiki with vegetables and fried bean-curd)  which is often used to fill bento box as well.  Hijiki is a type of seaweed and is good for skin and hair – very healthy!  Unfortunately hijiki is not available at stores in Perth because of Australian import laws, so you will have to bring it from Japan by yourself (import non-commercially is currently allowed).  If you have a friend who is flying to Japan then you can ask him/her 🙂

Hijiki-no-nimono can have any ingredients – but I usually cook with carrot, konnyaku, aburaage (fried bean-curd), chicken thigh and chikuwa (fish-cake).  You can also add soy beans or/and snake beans.  Since I didn’t have chikuwa in my fridge, I cooked without it.

You can find abura-age and chikuwa in freezer section at Asian grocery shop.  Konnyaku is usually in the fridge, or sometimes sold at room temperature on the shelves.

It’s a great accompaniment to steamed rice 🙂

Here is the recipe :

<Hijiki-no-Nimono>

• Dried Hijiki 17g
• Chicken Thigh 50g (no bone. with or without skin)
• Carrot 1 (medium)
• Konnyaku (black) about 90g (I used 1/2 of normal packet)
• Aburage 1/2 sheet
• Soy Sauce 1 tbs
• Sake (cooking wine) 1 tbs
• Mirin (sweet cooking wine) 1 tbs
• Dashi Powder 1 pinch

1. Soak dried hijiki in cold water for at least 30 minutes.  Drain.
2. Cut chicken into small pieces.  Slice carrot, konnyaku and abura-age.
3. Place all the ingredients in a pot.  Turn on the fire and bring to gentle boil.  Turn down the heat and simmer with lid on for about 10 minutes.
4. Serve with steamed rice 🙂

Ginger Chicken

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)

1. 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)
2. Drain chicken (keep the marinade).
3. Heat up a frying pan over high heat.  Add oil, then turn down to low.  Place chicken and grill until the bottom is coloured.
4. Flip it over.  Cook over low heat for 3 – 4 minutes.  Add 1 table spoon of water, then cook until the water is gone.
5. Remove the chicken and place on a chopping board.  (keep the frying pan)
6. Slice up the cabbage leaves.  Place the cabbage & remained marinade sauce into the frying pan, and cook until the cabbage is soft.
7. Slice the chicken.
8. Spread the cabbage on a plate, then arrange the chicken on top.  Pour the sauce (from the pan) over.  Serve with steamed rice.

Rolled Cabbage

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

1. Chop up onion, carrot and celery.
2. 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)
3. 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.
4. Place mince meat in a bowl.  Add salt, and mix well.  Add pepper, tomato sauce, and sauteed vegetables.  Mix well.
5. 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.

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 🙂

Soft & Moist Fruits Pound Cake

It’s getting very cold in the morning….!!  Waking up around 5AM and going for a walk around 6AM has been our (me & Hiro) routine for a while now.  This morning I couldn’t stand without a jacket, and my bare foot was so freezing.  It’s amazing Hiro still could manage to fell himself back to sleep in the cold air.  He fells asleep on a stroller when he hadn’t got enough sleep.

Anyway, yesterday was the last day of the term at play group, and it was mostly cleaning & eating for the whole 2 hours.  In between we did egg hunting as Easter is just around the corner.  All mums were asked to bring one dish to the centre and we shared the yummy food.

I made fruits & walnuts cake because it’s the easiest and quickest to make.  Other mums brought some gorgeous food such as salmon sashimi, takoyaki, chicken nuggets and hot cross buns.  I loved them all.

I made this cake with whatever ingredients I had. Actually I have lots of ingredients in my pantry at the moment because of my bagel business.  Thanks to that, I didn’t need to buy anything extra 🙂

The cake turned out moist and soft, just how I like it.  I added walnuts because I like the accent of crunchy texture.  This is the very basic pound cake recipe, but I want to share it with you.

<Fruits Pound Cake>  one standard pound cake mold  /  oven 180℃

• 2 eggs (at room temperature)
• 100g granulated sugar
• 100g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 100g butter (at room temperature)
• 2 tbs mixed dry fruits
• 1 tbs crushed walnuts
• 1 tbs frozen cranberries

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1. Cream the butter with a whisk to just soften up.  Butter goes soft within 1 hour outside the fridge in summer, but in winter I recommend to warm it up over warm water bath or in the microwave to speed up the process.  Butter should be very soft.
2. Add sugar, and beat until fluffy and becomes slightly white colour.
3. Beat eggs in a separate container, and add to the butter mixture gradually.  Mix well at each addition.
4. Shift the flour and baking powder into the mixture.  Drop the fruits and nuts onto the flour then shift in using a spatula.  Try not to over mix.
5. Pour the mixture into a lined pound-cake-mold, and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or it springs back when you touch the top surface.
6. Place on a wire rack to cool before slicing.

You can add vanilla extract to enhance the sweetness.  You can alternatively use other nuts instead of walnut such as pistachio or pecan nut.

Iwashi no Nitsuke

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 sardine in 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 –

1. Wash iwashi in cold water, and pat to dry with kitchen paper.  Set aside.
2. Slice ginger.
3. In a wide sauce pan, place sake.  Bring to the gentle simmer to burn off the alcohol.
4. Add sugar, soy sauce, and mirin.  Arrange iwashi into the pan, level (flat), and scatter sliced ginger around.  Turn the heat to low.
5. 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.
6. Turn off the heat, and let the iwashi cool down slightly.  The flavour will be absorbed during the cooling process.
7. Serve with steamed rice.

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Tamago Boro

Tamago Boro, egg biscuit for babies, is a very popular snack for children in Japan. It melts inside your mouth without biting, so it’s easy and safe to eat for little children.

As you cannot bring anything containing egg into Australia, I couldn’t bring packs of this tamago boro when I left Japan.  Some shops may sell this snack here in Perth, but I’m sure it won’t be a reasonable price compare to that it’s just  ¥100 for 5 packs of boro in Japan.

After coming back to Perth I made this tamago boro for my  I-want-to-eat-everything-because-I-have-a-big-appetite-and-stomach son.  It was my first prompt and it tuned out to be ok.  I think I made it little too big (store-bought one is much smaller than what I made) but it tasted and melted just the same.

<Tamago Boro>  makes around 30

• 1 egg yolk
• 80g cornstarch
• 30g icing sugar
• 1.5 tsp milk (either cow milk or formula)

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1. Mix the yolk and sugar in a mixing bowl.  Add cornstarch and mix will using a spatula.
2. Add milk, and mix well.  Add less or more milk to make into shapable consistency.
3. Shape the mixture into little balls.
4. Line the balls on a baking paper, and bake in the oven 160℃ for about 15 ~ 20 minutes.

Actually I don’t like tamago boro.  Haha, it sounds funny ; I don’t like it but I’m making it for my son.  I don’t really like the texture (that melts on the tongue) but I’m sure Hiro enjoyed it.

And he loves bagel, actually.  Bagels are hard so it does the same job as rusk.

He saw me eating a plain bagel, and when I gave it to him just to joke he grabbed it and didn’t want to let it go.  He actually eats the bagel just like the photo, and I had to take it away from him as he was eating so much.  The crust may be too hard for him so now I cut the crust off before giving to him.

Tori-Kawa (Chicken Skin)

Stir-fried chicken skin with sweet ans salty sauce.  If you like tori-kawa (chicken skin), it’s a great dish at very cheap cost 🙂

Some people like soft texture of skin, but I like it crispy.  So I grilled the skin until golden before adding the seasoning sauce.  It goes with steamed rice, and also can be great accompaniment to alcohol drinks.

<Recipe> serves 3~4

• 2 cups chicken skin
• 2 cups beanshoots
• few leaves cabbage
• 3 tbs soy sauce
• 2 tbs sugar
• 1 tbs mirin

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1. Cut chicken skin into pieces.  Cut cabbage.
2. Place chicken skin in a frying pan with no oil, and turn on the heat. When the skin starts to sizzle, turn the heat down and grill until golden and crispy.  Wipe away the excess fat with kitchen paper.  It makes the dish light and healthy.
3. Add beanshoots and cabbage.  Stir-fry for 2 minutes, then add sugar, soy sauce and mirin.  Cook until the liquid is almost gone and the skin is caramelised.

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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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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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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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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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Oroshi Steak

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

1. Cut steak into cubes.  Slice garlic.  Grate daikon radish, and chill in the fridge.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.

Serve immediately!

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Cinnamon Sticks

In a cold afternoon, drinking hot milk tea and feeling something to snack on….. Could it be only me?  Or, you just don’t want to throw away the bread crust – the left over from making sandwiches the other day?  Now here is the way to make delicious snack out of it.

This golden crisp cinnamon stick is a great accompaniment to your morning or afternoon tea (of coffee!).  And, is very simple to make too.

<Cinnamon Sticks>

• 8 pieces bread crust (from 2 slices of bread)
• cinnamon sugar
• oil to deep-fry

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1. Heat oil in a pan.
2. Deep-fry the bread crust until golden.
3. Drain the oil well, then coat with cinnamon sugar.

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You can also make it without deep-frying.  Toast in the oven, or in a frying pan (without oil) until golden crispy.  Keep them  in an air-tight container after cooled down.a

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Cauliflower Karaage

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

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1. Cut cauliflower into small florets.
2. Beat the egg in a mixing bowl.  Add sauces and flour, then mix together.
3. Heat oil in a deep pan.
4. Coat cauliflower florets in the batter, then deep-fry until golden.

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Chocolate Bagel with Cocoa Cheese Cream

If you feel like something sweet, this chocolaty snack could be an option. 🙂

Toasted chocolate bagel with cocoa cream cheese topping….  The combination of a bagel and cream cheese is still the best for me.

Adding whipped cream to the cream cheese adds milder texture and taste.  If you are not a big fun of cream cheese, more cream can be added –

I don’t add sugar to the mixture because I wanted to enjoy the taste of cream cheese and bitterness of cocoa.  You can add sugar if you are after sweet stuff.  Few drops of choc bits give a crunchy sweet contrast.

<Chocolate bagel with cocoa cheese cream>

• 1 chocolate bagel
• 2 tbs cream cheese (room temperature)
• 1 tbs whipped cream
• 1/4 tsp cocoa
• few drops of choc bits

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1. Halve the bagel and toast.
2. Place the soft cream cheese and cocoa in a mixing bowl.  Add whipped cream, and mix together.
3. Spread the cream mixture on top of each slice of bagel, and sprinkle choco bits.

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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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Chocolate Cake Ball Pops

This bite-sized chocolate cake looks so cute, and is a great finger dessert for a party or a lunch box.

I got this recipe idea from Coles magazine years ago.  The recipe used Coles mud cake, but I baked my own and used it for the recipe.  I didn’t coat the cake with chocolate entirely as the cake is already rich and sweet.  Sprinkled with hundreds and thousands, they turned into fun pops for kids.

What attaches the sticks to the cake is the melted white chocolate.  I got these sticks from Spotlight (sold as “craft sticks”).

The inside is rich, moist chocolate cake.  This is one of the cake I’m asked to bake when friends coming over to my house. 🙂

You should serve this chilled.

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<Chocolate Cake>  makes around 40 pops

21cm Φ cake tin

• 5 eggs (room temperature)
• 150g granulated sugar
• 45g cocoa powder
• 45g corn flour
• 200g dark cooking chocolate
• 200ml cream
• cooking white chocolate
• hundreds and thousands
• 40 craft sticks

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1. Separate egg whites and yolks.
2. Add sugar to egg whites, and whip until thick and fluffy.  Shift cocoa powder and corn flour into the bowl, and fold in.
3. Pour the mixture into lined cake tin, and bake in the oven at 180℃ until just cooked (around 20 minutes).  Let it cool.
4. Heat cream in a sauce pan to just before boiling.  Turn off the heat, and add chocolate.  Stir until all chocolate is melted, and let it cool until spreadable consistency.
5. Slice the chocolate sponge, and spread the ganache.

<into pops>

1. Chop up the chocolate cake, and shape into balls using hands.
2. Melt white chocolate in warm water bath.
3. Insert a stick to a chocolate cake ball, and spoon melted chocolate around the stick’s root area.  Repeat with remaining.
4. Sprinkle with hundreds and thousands.

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HCT French Toast

I had some stale bread in the fridge. I was first thinking to make just standard French toast, then I looked inside the fridge again and found that there’re some ingredients for sandwiches too. Like the Croque Monsieur I made with spam, this time I decided to make one with ham, cheese, and tomatoes.

It’s a savory French toast. With cheese and tomato, it became a nutritious snack for kids too.

<HCT French Toast> makes 1

• 2 slices bread
• 2~3 slices ham
• 1/2 tomato, sliced
• 1 slice cheese
• 1 egg
• 2 tbs milk
• 1 tbs butter

1. Arrange ham, sliced tomato and cheese on a slice of bread, and top with another slice of bread. This is one portion. If you are making for 3 people, make 3 batches.
2. Beat egg in a bowl and mix with milk. Place the egg mixture into a wide, flat plate, and immerse the sandwich in this mixture. Make sure you flip the sandwich around so the another side also absorb egg mixture.
3. Melt butter in a frying pan. Over low heat, grill the sandwich until golden colored on both sides. Flip around several time to achieve the delicious colour.

Fruity Cinnamon Rolls

D and I have been having a craving for sweet rolls these days…   It’s great to wake up in the morning with freshly baked bread with a cup of coffee, isn’t it?? 🙂

I made some with lots of dried fruits and a hint of cinnamon.

It’s was a pretty cold day, but it took only 2 hours to make these.

The texture is like between bread and … ummm scone?  muffin?  It turned out to be more like cake-type bread.

<Fruity Cinnamon Rolls>

a:

• 4 cups plain flour
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 10g dry yeast
• 300ml milk, warm
• 100g unsalted butter, melted
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp salt

b:

• 2 cups mixed dried fruits
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2.5 tsp cinnamona

c:

• apricot jam

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1. Place all the ingredients from “a” in a bowl.  Using a dough hook, turn on the machine to mix the dough for 5 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic.  You can knead by hands, too.
2. Place dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and set aside in a warm place for 30 mins to prove, or until doubled in size.
3. Punch down dough, remove from bowl and knead lightly.  Roll dough to rectangle .
4. Sprinkle “b” all over dough.
5. Roll up dough to enclose filling.  Cut into 2cm slices.  Place in a deep baking pan lined with baking sheet.  Prove another 30 mins.
6. Preheat oven to 180℃. Bake for 20~30 mins, or until cooked.
7. Place apricot jam in a heat proof cup and microwave until smooth.  While the rolls are hot, brush jam over top to glaze.

Serve warm or at room temperature. 🙂

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Grilled Salmon Balls

Looking for an easy, healthy snack?  Make these salmon balls with no hassle!

This is another recipe that makes a healthy snack in a flash.  It is grilled, not deep-fried, and all the ingredients are cooked prior to being shaped into balls so it won’t take too long to grill.  You just need to grill both sides to give delicious color and crunchy texture.

If you have left-over mashed potato, this is the snack you can make on next day 🙂

<Salmon Balls>

• 1 tin (around 450g) salmon
• 1 cup mashed potatoes
• 1 tbs chopped herb (I used basil, but coriander will be a great one too)
• 1 egg
• 2~3 tbs bread crumbles

1. Drain the salmon.
2. Mix everything in a mixing bowl.  Season.
3. Shape into balls.  Flatten the centre.
4. Heat a non-stick fry pan, and lightly spray with oil.  Grill the salmon balls until coloured and crispy.

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Miso Yakitori

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

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1. Soak the skewers in water for 30 minutes.
2. Cut the chicken into cubes.  Chop onion and cucumber into 2cm.
3. Skewer the chicken and spring onion/cucumber alternatively.
4. Mix the miso, sake, mirin and sugar.
5. Heat a grill pan and spray oil.  Place the chicken skewers and grill one side, then flip it around.
6. 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.
7. Serve with steamed rice ♪ or a glass or beer.

Ozoni – mochi soup –

Ozoni, or mochi soup, is a Japanese holiday meal traditionally prepared on New Year’s Day.  The type of ozoni is different in different area in Japan – some area use round mochi while other use square mochi, some people bake mochi before adding to the soup while other people simply soften the mochi in hot water, and the soup is just seasoned with soy sauce and salt in some area while some people in different area add miso to the soup.

In my house, we normally add miso to the soup.  The mochi is sometimes baked before adding to the soup, but not always.  I’m not sure adding miso to the ozoni is Shiga thing, but I remember eating ozoni in miso soup at my brother’s karate party when we were kids. The party was at Biwa Lake bank in winter, after kangeiko (mid-winter training).  All kids in karate uniform went inside the lake and do some work-out in the freezing water.  Watching it made me wonder how they could survive in the water in such a cold day.  Karate uniform is not water proof!  After a hour of training, we all ate ozoni near the fire.  It was so delicious!

I  used mochi I bought from an Asian grocery shop.  This mochi is cut into portions and individually wrapped.

You can add any ingredients to the soup – more you add it develops more flavour.  This time I only used simple ingredients : burdock roots, carrots and spring onions.  I didn’t bother baking mochi, but it will give delicious nutty flavour if you do.

<ozoni> serves 4

• 4 mochi cakes
• 1 cup frozen burdock roots, shredded
• 1/2 carrot, jullienne
• 2 tbs chopped spring onions
• 4 cups water
• 1 tsp dashi stock powder
• 2.5 ~ 3 tbs miso paste
• 1 tbs mirin
• 1 tsp roasted white sesame seeds

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1. Place water into a pot, and bring to the boil.  Add dashi stock to dissolve.
2. Add burdock roots and carrot to the pot.  Simmer for 3 minutes.
3. Turn off the heat, and add miso paste.  Mix well.  Add spring onions.
4. Turn on the heat to low, and gently simmer for another few minutes.  Add mirin, and then turn off the heat.
5. Add  mochi to the soup to warm up, or bake in an oven toaster.
6. Place one mochi in a serving bowl, and pour the soup.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

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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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Teriyaki Squid

This grilled squid in sweet soy sauce-based sauce is great item to accompany beer or a bowl of steamed rice.  You can also chop it up and add to fried rice/noodles, or simply as a topping for salads.

It’s best to grill the squid in open flame to give delicious flavour, but cooking in a frying pan will just do the job.

<Teriyaki Squid>

• 6 baby squid
• 1/2 tsp minced ginger
• 2 tbs soy sauce
• 2 tbs mirin
• 2 tbs sugar

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1. Turn on a pan over high heat, and lightly spray oil.  Grill squid until coloured.
2. Add the remaining ingredients to the pan, and cook until the liquid is reduced and caramelized.

White Chicken Soup 2

It sure has been great Autumn days Lately. Some people don’t like cold weather and have winter-blue, but I love the quiet atmosphere and cold air outside.

On days like this, a plate of hearty soup shows up on my dining table at least once a week. I made white chicken soup again, but this time I made the soup little thick. Adding rice flour to the soup is a quick and healthy way to thicken the soup, compared with making butter roux. Today I had 2 bowls for lunch, and my body is warm and nourished 🙂

• 2 fillets chicken thigh
• 3 celery stalks
• 2 baby carrots
• 2 spring onion stalks
• 1 potato
• 1/2 broccoli (florets)
• 2 cups chicken stocks
• 2 cups milk
• 3 tbs rice flour

1. Cut vegetables and chicken thigh into cubes. For broccoli florets, cut into small pieces.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a deep sauce pan, and add cerely, carrots and onions. Sauté for a minutes, then add chicken. Sprinkle salt & pepper to the chicken, and cook for 3~4 minutes over low/medium heat.
3. Add chicken stock, potatoes and broccoli. Bring to the boil, and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Mix rice flour into milk, and blend well. Add to the soup, and cook until the soup is thickened. Season to taste.

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Salty Caramel Popcorn

D has been craving for this sweet and salty popcorn.  Personally, I don’t really like too-sugary food, but I remember the popcorn sister-in-law brought us long time ago (post) and I decided to make some at home.

I have many machines and tools for the kitchen, but this popcorn machine has been one of the best-buy.  (post) It makes popcorns using hot air (no oil), and they are my favourite healthy snack.  I don’t add salt or butter to it.  D, however, doesn’t seem to enjoy the plain non-flavour popcorn :p   I’m the only one who uses this machine in this house now.  It’s a shame, this machine looks so cute and works very well.

The caramel is sweet and sticky. I would probably get sick of it if it’s just sweet caramel popcorn, but because of the slight saltiness it became addictive delicious snack.  It’s a great way to use up old popcorns (plain) too.

I tried the recipe from Best Recipes , and added salt once the caramel is cool.

Here is the recipe:

• 1/2 cups corn kernel –  air popped
• 60g unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 tsp honey
• salt

1. Place the butter, sugar and honey in a small sauce pan, and bring to the boil.  Cook until it turns to caramel colour without stirring.
2. Pour the caramel into a bowl of popcorns, and mix through quickly using a spatula.
3. Transfer the popcorns into baking sheet to cool down.
4. Break up the popcorn, and sprinkle salt.  Mix through.

When handling caramel, be careful not to burn yourself as the caramel is very very hot.  To wash the sauce pan, simply fill with water and bring it to boil.  Caramel is very difficult to wash when it’s cold.

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Basil Meatball Pasta

The basil we sow about few months ago is growing big now!

I had a pack of beef mince in the freezer, so I decided to make meatballs using the basil leaves.

I chopped up the leaves finely and added to the meatballs along with onions.  Although I like meatballs with half pork half beef, this time it’s 100% beef.  It was still good, the delicious sizzling smell hit my nose as soon as I started grilling the meatballs.

Fresh basil is so great for tomato based sauce.

I added about 15 leaves to the mince, but I could add more, actually. I was bit stingy!

<Basil Meatballs>

• 300g beef mince
• 15 (or more) basil leaves
• 1 onion (large)
• 1/2 celery stalk
• 1 tbs tomato paste
• 450g chopped tomato (tin)
• 3 garlic cloves

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1. Chop up the onion and celery finely.  Place half of the onion into a mixing bowl with beef mince.
2. Chop up basil leaves.  Add to the bowl.  Season with salt and pepper, and mix well.
3. Slice garlic thinly.  Heat 1 table spoon of olive oil in a sauce pan, and fry garlic until fragrant.  Add the rest of the onion and the celery to the pan, and saute for about 3 minutes.
4. Add tomato paste, and fry for few minutes, then add chopped tomatoes.  Simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, heat 1 table spoon of olive oil in a frying pan.  Shape the mince mixture into little balls, and place onto the frying pan.  Grill over medium-high heat until the bottom is coloured, then flip it around.  Turn down the heat and cook further 3 minutes.
6. Pour the tomato sauce into the frying pan over the meatballs.  Simmer for few minutes.
7. Enjoy with pasta or bread!