My take on the Tsukimi (moon viewing festival) melts at Pizza Hut in Japan.
Instead of the mentaiko (cod roe) dip, I made a spicy mayo (mayo and Sriracha) dip. The inside has cheddar cheese, guacamole and a runny egg. Wrapped in a home made sourdough flour tortilla. Washed down with a mug of Sapporo Premium.
Pizzaman are pizza filling stuffed Chinese style buns found in Japanese conbini (convenience stores). The dough was made based on this recipe from Youtube though I had to increase the amount of water I used to 120 ml rather than 100 ml. The filling was spicy Italian sausage filling removed from the casing and cooked off, cooled and then combined with jarred pasta sauce and grated mozzarella cheese.
I had to do a bit of fiddling with the amount of pasta sauce I added as it was too wet to start with and my pleating needs work but otherwise, this recipe was a winner.
Sometimes convenience foods are … convenient. This handy little package of dried noodles in my pantry has been the start of many fast meals. You may use the brand you prefer.
Package and contents – For a healthier meal, only use half the seasoning packet and a splash of soy sauce to adjust the salt level.
About one cup of a bagged coleslaw mix (red and green cabbage and shredded coleslaw) sauteed and stirred into the cooked noodles.
Serving ideas – I’ve also used sliced roasted lamb and ham stirred into the noodle mixture for a one dish meal
Ssamjang chicken leg
Sauteed shrimp
Beef rissoles with shredded zucchini in the meat mixture
It’s been six seven months and I got bored so I thought I’d post a couple of pictures of things I made lately. I’ve made both dishes before and posted them on my LJ and my blog.
Japanese chicken curry using a boxed curry roux.
And some inarizushi (seasoned fried tofu pockets filled with sushi rice). One has pickled plum stirred into the rice and the other has green onion and rice seasoning in it.
PS: I also baked a Burnt Basque cheesecake a few days ago and am slowly making my way through it. This is a new dish in my cooking repertoire. I found the recipe here.
I’m cooking a lot of old favourites and a few new recipes but just haven’t had the enthusiasm to post much over the last five or six months.
Today I made a baked Japanese rice casserole called doria so I decided to share the results.
Sauteed diced chicken thighs, mushrooms and onions are seasoned with ketchup, salt and white pepper, topped with simple bechamel sauce and grated mozzarella cheese and baked until the top is browned. I used one cup ramekins and found that I had too much bechamel to fit into the ramekin. A larger container is planned for the next time.
REVIEW: It’s a great recipe. Relatively fast, easy to put together and economical. One chicken thigh (120 gm) is enough for two servings. And it tastes delicious.
PS: The new WordPress editor is still a challenge to me. To be honest, I absolutely hate it as I can’t paste from LJ without losing my picture formatting, so I’m deleting a lot of it from the final post. For a nicer looking post, you can visit there.
Sometimes you just don’t have the energy to make a comprehensive recipe post but you still want to share something you think is worth while. I made both of these dishes over the last few days.
The first dish, a smoked ham and cannellini bean soup that I’ve made in the past, is an easy, fast and filling dish, especially if you use canned cannellini beans. Or, you can be like me and soak about a pound of dried beans overnight and cook them when you finally get up on a lazy, Saturday morning.
I didn’t have any smoked ham hock but I had a chunk of smoked ham so I diced some of it up and threw it in along with the veggies at the end. If you’re cooking for a family of four, you’ll have enough for a second serving for everyone. If you’re cooking for one, it freezes very well for future meals. For my friend, spikesgirl58 on LJ, who doesn’t care for ham, I think you could use smoked turkey leg in its place.
I stocked up on some pantry items from a local international (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese) grocery store, a few days ago. One of the things that caught my eye in the fresh fruit and vegetable section was a small display of Japanese purple sweet potatoes. I was bored so I decided to try a fun purple sweet potato bread recipe I found on the Bake with Paws blog. (PS: The name made me think of the Youtube channel Cooking with Dog which I recommend for anyone interested in Japanese cooking.)
The recipe is relatively straight forward but I thought I’d throw in some pretty pictures … just because I took a LOT. The potatoes were peeled, sliced and steamed until tender and then riced to get a nice even texture.
I was pleased with the colour of the dough
Unfortunately, the post-bake colour was a lot less vibrant … sort of lavender in colour. Toasting it seemed to pep up the colour a bit. The texture was nice and fluffy and the taste was somewhat sweet due to the sweet potatoes. I wouldn’t use the bread for an egg or tuna salad sandwich but it provided a nice contrast to the salty peanut butter.
Some years ago, I made the Hungarian fried burgers/patties/balls called “fasirt”. These panko breaded and fried Japanese hamburgers, or “menchi katsu”, reminded me of them. They’re flavourful and the coating seals in the moisture making for a juicy patty.
I found the idea and basic recipe for these burgers on my favourite Japanese Youtube channel, TabiEats. I’ll post my rewritten version of the recipe at the bottom of the page.
Menchi Katsu – serves 2-3
from TabiEats
Meat patties
150 gm onion, diced, sauteed and cooled
300 gm ground beef, pork or a mixture of the two
1/3 tsp salt
1 tbsp Worchestershire sauce
1 tbsp ketchup
pinch nutmeg, reduces smell of pork
couple of pinches of black pepper
1 egg
Coating
flour
1 egg, beaten
Panko
Side dish
thinly shredded cabbage
rice
sliced tomatoes
Combine ground beef with everything, except the sauteed onion, by hand until sticky. It will be a very soft mixture. Add the onions. Mix again for 3-5 minutes. If it seems too wet, you can add a bit of bread crumb but it shouldn’t be necessary.
Shape into 4-6 evenly sized patties. If the meat mixture is very sticky, you may oil your hands lightly to prevent that. Throw the meat patty from one hand to the other to firm up the patty by eliminating excess air.
Coat with flour (be gentle so the patty doesn’t fall apart), dip into beaten egg to coat and then generously roll in the Panko bread crumbs.
Shallow fry at 350 deg F about 2 1/2 min on each side.
(Strain and reuse the oil for stir frying.)
Serve with tonkatsu sauce, as part of a complete meal or “set”, or include in a bento lunch.
Delicious with a bowl of miso soup, a side of ramen noodles and steamed broccoli.
I haven’t been a university student in a LONG time but I have been known to buy the occasional package (or six) of those instant ramen noodles for single serving soup or just to use the noodles inside for some other dish. Like these ramen burger buns or as a side (dragon noodles) for chicken patties.
In anticipation of a long period of minimizing grocery shopping outings, I decided to stock my pantry with a selection of the noodles for quick meals. I was amazed at the variety of noodles available… Japanese, Indonesian and South Korean.
You can always eat them simply as a soup or fried noodle, especially the Indonesian Mie Goreng brand, but with some imagination, and a selection of toppings, you can almost make something nutritious. I limit myself to one package a week. Eggs (ramen or plain soft boiled) are a common topping as are fresh green onions. Fried onions add a crunchy texture. Pretty carrot flowers add both colour and nutrition.
In my last post about the rice burger options, I mentioned chicken karage, or “Japanese fried chicken”. Karaage is characterized by its very light coating of potato starch, or cornstarch or even just all purpose flour, before deep frying. It differs in that way from the heavier breading in that other, classic, fried Japanese dish, the cutlet or katsu. In Japan, skin-on chicken thighs are preferred for their juiciness and taste.
Knowing how much I don’t like frying, it took a long time to get psyched up enough to make this dish. And, it was mainly driven by the fact that I had made a batch of fried donuts earlier and wanted to use up the oil for a second time before recycling it. (But that’s another story.)
After watching some Youtube videos and researching a simple recipe that I thought I could manage, I finally did it. (PS: I passed on the recipe that required frying the chicken THREE times at differing temperatures. I wonder why?) This is the recipe I came up with after combining elements from several. I ‘borrowed’ the spicy mayo dip from the site cited.
Chicken Karaage – serves 2-4
4 boneless, skin on, chicken thighs (~1 lb/450 gm)
1/2-2/3 cup of cornstarch, or half cornstarch and all purpose flour
4 cups (~1 litre) vegetable oil, for frying
For serving
lemon wedges
mayonnaise, Japanese Kewpie mayo or Hellman’s are delicious
Chicken Marinade
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sake
1 tbsp ginger juice (grate about 1-2 inches of fresh ginger and squeeze out the juice)
2-3 cloves of garlic, grated
Spicy Mayonnaise Dip/Sauce
recipe from the Just Hungry web site
1/2 cup of Kewpie Mayonnaise
3 tbsp Sriracha
3 tbsp soy sauce
Combine the dip ingredients and refrigerate.
In a large bowl, combine the marinade ingredients.
Cut up the thighs into fourths. Marinate the chicken thighs for at least 30 minutes, but less than 1 hr, as the salt in the soy sauce will draw out the moisture from the chicken and toughen it.
In a large bowl, add cornstarch. Drain each piece of chicken of marinade, one at a time, and evenly coat with the cornstarch. Shake off the excess cornstarch. Place coated chicken onto a clean dry plate and let dry for about 5 minutes before frying.
In a large container, suitable for deep frying, add the oil and preheat to 350 deg F. You want the oil level to cover the chicken by about an inch or an inch and a half.
Set up a plate with paper towels on it for draining/wicking the fat off the chicken before transferring the chicken to a wire cooling rack
When the oil is at the proper temperature, fry a few pieces of chicken at a time for 5-6 minutes total, turning after a few minutes. You want the chicken to be a golden brown colour and crunchy. Small bubbles may begin coming off the chicken as the fat in the skin begins to render out.
Remove the chicken pieces from the fat with a slotted spoon or wire scoop, shake for about 10 seconds to remove most of the oil and then place onto the paper towels for a few minutes, turning over to drain off both sides, then transfer to the wire rack.
Serve the chicken with a squeeze of lemon juice and dip into mayonnaise if desired.
I had some leftover karaage so I served it on top of leftover asparagus couscous with a drizzle of spicy mayonnaise on top.
Cooking is Fun ... Really!! 