January 25, 2007

Niku Jaga (^-^

I would say this is one of main home-style Japanese food; Niku Jaga(meat and potatoes).

Ingredients: 3 potato, meat(200g), 1 carrot, 1 onions, kideny beans, white konnyaku, two spoons of sake, shoyu and blown sugar.
Boil white konnyaku for at least 5 min to remove harshness. Peel potatoes and carrots.

Cook chopped meat first with salt/pepper, and add potato, carrot and white konnyaku(konnyaku should not be added if you dont have).

After add soup(sake, shoyu and sato), add chopped onions and remove harsheness.

Boil them after put smaller lid than a pot. We call this 'Otoshi-huta'("otoshi" means dropped and "huta" means lid), but this is important for boiled food. Because of this smaller lid than a pot, boiled juice dropped under the lid, and vegitables are soaked in this juice inside a pot. This one also avoid vegitables dancing during boil, and maintain the firmness. If you do not have this kid of smaller lid, you can make it by napkins or aluminum foil by hand.

After voil until soften, add kidney beans 5 min before serve.

Besides sake or dashi-soup add, this process of 'remove harshenss of food' and 'dropped lid' play a very important role. I have experience to share kitchen and cook with some friends, but never seen friends who do these two things. This delicate action is only for Japanese food? I'd like to know which or what kind of food are made in cook process.

January 13, 2007

Chirashi Sushi ^___^ v

Easy, Simple, looks gorgeous, and everyone can make this home-style CHIRASHI SUSHI! There are three kinds of Sushi such as, oval-shaped Sushi, rolled Sushi(California roll is the one of), and Chirashi(arrangement on top) Sushi. 'Chirasu' means verb to express action, 'sprinkle' in Japanese.

Ingredients: two eggs with sugar of two tbls, griled eel, two cucumbers, Japanese basil, and salmon caviar.
Rubbing cucumbers with salt and leave them half an hour.

Cut grilled eel.

Beaten eggs and mix with blown sugar of two tbls, and make fried egg and cut stripes.
Mix three cups of rice with vinegar and sugar of tbls. It will be more tasty if you put a piece of dried kelp when you cook rice, which enhance rice....
Now you make vinegared rice, then combine all of them! THAT'S ALL!!

It will be a good accent, and make party secen look gorgeous. Piece of cake! Guess this Japanese rounded easy&colorful dish might be the same as well-known French dish, quiche or Italian pizza. Make sure that rice should be always sticky for SUSHI. Non-sticky SUSHI cannot be 'SUSHI'.

January 05, 2007

SUKIYAKI (^=^)v

A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007 with SUKIYAKI !

Sukiyaki is very easy to make and good one to serve in order to celebrate something/someone. Set up one hot pan on a table, and grease oil or beef fat first, and lay long green onion.

Saute until soften, and lay beef on them. You can also lay some vegitables if you want(I added some mashrooms, tofu and Chinese cabbage), and pour Dashi-soup mix with soysauce, and then SAKE. It enhance SUKIYAKI taste very much.

Eat eat! Dip them in beaten egg! I love this harmony with tasted beef and egg. AWESOME!

Something to drink?! Beer or...beer-like "HOPPY":

Mostly my father enjoy drinking time with "Hoppy" mixed with Shochu(Japanese spirit). Beer includes high purine and high carbohydrate, however, Hoppy has low calorie, low-purine and low carbohydrate. Hence, beer-lover who cares for calorie can make low-fat beer taste alcohole with this Hoppy. You see second pic looks exactly like beer.
I assume it cannot be found except Japan...?!