char siu chicken

Tried this new (to me) recipe for Char Siu Chicken from Recipes Palace which I saw on FB

Serves 4

1.5 pounds boneless chicken thighs

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon chopped green onion for garnish

In a bowl, whisk together all ingredients except green onion until smooth

Add the chicken thighs to the marinade and coat well

Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes (or up to 4 hours for deeper flavor)

Preheat oven to 400F (200C) and lightly grease a baking dish

Arrange the marinated chicken in the dish and brush extra marinade over the top

Bake for 20 minutes, then flip the chicken and brush again with marinade

Continue baking for 10-15 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked and slightly caramelized

For extra charred edges, broil for 2 to 3 minutes at the end of cooking

Remove from the oven, let rest for 5 minutes then slice

Garnish with green onions

Enjoy!

NOTES: Since I had all the ingredients for the marinade, I just bought some chicken 

I made half the recipe and left out the paprika, because it didn’t sound right (to me) to put it in the marinade

I didn’t have green onions so left it out 

I baked this on parchment for 20 minutes, I flipped the chicken over at the halfway point (10 minutes)

I didn’t have skin to crisp up so didn’t put this under the broiler 

This tastes similar to the hoisin sauce chicken that I’ve made in the past

Since I had leftover marinade I heated it on the stove and plan to use it on something soon

Not sure I would make this again but glad I tried it

FYI: Last night, I used the leftover sauce (was only a little over a tablespoon) in a stir fry with pork and some veggies, this sauce tasted better with pork 

pps leftover chicken, a couple days later tasted more like char siu than hoisin sauce chicken  

umeya

Learned about Umeya from a television show

They have been in business since 1913 

Raw chicken is sold on the left side of the shop, yakitori and fried chicken on the right side of the shop (they also have a restaurant on the back side of the building)

I purchased 2 teba gyoza & 2 tsukune

the tsukune was meaty and super flavorful

unfortunately the teba gyoza was filled to the gills but was bland...I guess I should've eaten it like gyoza with some black vinegar and chili oil

I'm glad I tried this place, I'll be back whenever I am nearby to try other things that they make

Umeya

6-3 Yoshidamachi, Naka ward

Yokohama, Kanagawa

Open daily 9:30-18:30

reconnect

We were watching an episode of “Bananaman sekkaku gourmet” and they featured kei-chan and realized it had been awhile since I made it, so I made some for dinner last night

Instead of the dashi, mirin and shoyu separately , I just used dashi shoyu

Also instead of tobanjan (chili paste) I used taberu rayu (chili crisp)

I cooked this for 4 minutes, added the miso sauce then cooked it for 4 more minutes

So good with rice!

I’m glad I reconnected with this

l & l

I think it’s been some moons since I’ve had L&L

Not sure if I told you this story…

Pre-blog, my cousin D and I helped my Grandma put her dresser together

Somehow the kit didn't have enough nails or maybe we used too many in the wrong place, probably the latter

We needed a couple of more to finish so we went to Ace Hardware

We didn’t want to buy a big amount so I asked a grandpa working there and he said, “how many you need?”

I said, “like 2”

He said, “here” as he put 2 in my hand

I said, “how much?” and he just waved me away

We thanked him and went back to finish the dresser

Small kine shoplifting, yeah?! but we were still thankful 

About a couple doors down from Grandma’s apartment was L & L

This is where D & I bought our chicken katsu for dinner.

Our favorite was from Grace’s Inn on Oahu, there used to be one in Waimalu

The sauce at L & L is their version of katsu sauce, it has a little kick

This trip home, it was nice to reconnect with this and that memory

chicken anchovy olio

Made Jalna's sister's recipe for Chicken Anchovy Olio.

We ate it with veggies instead of pasta.

I cooked the veggies first, then the chicken, made the sauce then tossed everything in it.

Was ono.

Thanks for sharing this recipe Jalna!

itchy butt

Not sure when I heard about this place but I’ve had it on my “to try” list for awhile.

The parking for this place is not the best and it can get kinda sketchy with all the homeless people around the area.

I went after lunch and luckily found on street parking.

I thought $31 plus tax for a whole chicken was expensive, but the chicken was moist and tasty because it seemed like it was fried twice

If you order the whole chicken, you can choose two sauces, I chose garlic and korean. (the other choices are shoyu and spicy)

The chicken seemed like it had a honey caramel coating, it kind of reminded me of those bbq wings at KFC, which I think helps keep the chicken moist.

The whole chicken comes with pickled daikon and two drinks.

I wished they had given more pickles.

Dunno if I’ll be back, but am glad I got to try this

It’s fun to say the name too.

Itchy Butt

1229 Keeaumoku Street

Honolulu, Hawaii

Phone: 808.942.4845

Closed Sundays

Hours: 10:00-20:00

trying a new recipe

I tried one of the recipes that came with the fukujinzuke we purchased from Shuetsu.

Toritsumire (chicken meatball) : translated from Shuetsu

200 grams minced chicken

1 gram salt

40 grams fukujinzuke, chopped

15 grams fukujinzuke "sauce"

3 or 4 leaves shiso, juilienned

10 grams oil

Mix the minced chicken with the salt

When the mixture gets a little sticky mix in the chopped fukujinzuke, "sauce" and shiso

Rub the oil onto your hands and form the meat mixture into bite sized balls.

Cook in a heated frying pan.

Enjoy!

NOTES: first off I thought this fukujinzuke was quite salty when I ate it with some instant curry, so I was kind of worried to use it in the recipes they gave.

Tsumire is apparently meatballs made with fish and usually found in a soup.  

Tsukune is apparently a meatball made from ground chicken or other meat and is grilled or cooked in a pan.

Since Shuetsu calls this a tsumire, that is what I’m calling it.

Also, I thought some of the amounts they noted on this recipe was kind of high, so I kind of ad-libbed

First off, I omitted the salt that they have in their recipe

The recipe just said minced chicken, I used a mixture of ground thigh & breast chicken meat because markets here sell them separately 

Instead of the amounts in the recipe, I only added 20 grams of fukujinzuke and 5 grams of the sauce

The shiso, I minced instead of julienning

I didn't want to rub oil onto my hands like the recipe said so instead I just drizzled a little on the pan before cooking it 

While cooking, I also covered the pan so that the meatballs would heat and cook through faster.

I also used a spatula to turn them every so often so they would brown nicely.

This was delicious! not overly salty.

The fukujinzuke stays crunchy.

I think this recipe works because the pickles are in a shoyu based sauce, not too sure it would work with other types of pickles.

I would make this again.

curried chicken salad

I needed an idea for Satoshi's lunch and someone on Instagram made Ina Garten's recipe for curried chicken salad.

It sounded so delicious that I made some.

I poached a chicken breast then shredded it and used only 1/2 of it,  freezing the other half.

(The original recipe says to cube the chicken)

The original recipe had celery, raisins and cashews in it.

I instead added some sliced onion, 1/2 sliced apple and 1/4 cup of chopped toasted mixed nuts.

In the original recipe, the dressing is a curry mayo and had some dry white wine in it.

I instead omitted the wine then mixed 2 tablespoons mayo, 1 tablespoon chutney, a dash of garam masala and a 1/2 teaspoon of curry powder.

This was so tasty.

I would definitely make this again.

salad chicken

Salad chicken, as the Japanese call it…poached chicken in English, has been trending here for awhile now as a good way to get lean protein into your diet.

You can find them pre-made in the markets and convenience stores.

I’ve even seen fish versions called salad fish…ha!

I found a recipe online and tried making it.

Adapted from the internet

250 grams chicken breast, skinless

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoon sake (rice wine)

Poke holes into the meat with a fork.

Rub in the salt, sugar and sake.

Place chicken onto a plate and cover lightly with plastic wrap.

Zap for 6 minutes in a microwave at 500 watts.

Leave covered until cooled.

After it is cooled, you can shred or cut into slices.

NOTES: super easy and the meat comes out tender and moist.

Instead of rubbing in the salt, sugar and sake onto the chicken, I mixed the salt, sugar and sake together then "swished" the chicken in the liquid and then zapped it.

(If you don’t use a microwave, you can wrap the chicken in plastic wrap then put it into an airtight bag.

Bring a pot of water to a boil, then put the airtight bag with chicken in and turn the heat off, leave in the pot until the water cools.)

I didn’t save the liquid but will the next time I make this since I read you can use the liquid like chicken broth.

I’m ready for salad weather.

CAUTION: when zapping the liquid overflows onto the turntable.

this and that

How cute are these teeny anpogaki from Fukushima prefecture?!

Where most anpogaki are gelatinous, this was more dried and firm.

Still delicious though.

On one of my trips to Shinagawa that I wrote about earlier this month, I had bought a small bag (33 grams) of these snackaballs made by Tom & Luke, a New Zealand company and had posted a picture on Instagram.

They contacted me and sent me two large bags (88 grams) of their snackaballs.

These are made from dates, cacao, almonds and coconut. 

They are gluten free and vegan, are great as snacks and I'm sure it will be nice with wine.

Thank you!

1st time making chikuzeni, which is similar to nishime.

It was pretty easy and fast to make because you cook everything in a shallow pan.

Chikuzeni adapted from "Aiba Manabu" : serves 4

100 grams gobo (burdock root)

150 grams renkon (lotus root)

1 carrot

250 grams boneless chicken thighs

150 grams konnyaku (devil's tongue jelly)

60 grams dried shiitake mushrooms

400 milliliters katsuo konbu (bonito & kelp) dashi (stock)

100 milliliters stock from reconstituted shiitake mushrooms

2 tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce)

2 tablespoons sake (rice wine)

2 tablespoons mirin (sweet rice wine)

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon oil

Cut the gobo and carrot into bite sized, rangiri style (which means random cutting), here is a link to show the rangiri cutting technique.

Cut the renkon into bite sized pieces.

With a spoon, cut the konnyaku into bite sized pieces.

Reconstitute the dried shiitake mushrooms, then cut into bite sized pieces.

Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces.

In a pan, heat the oil and then toss everything in to coat with the oil.

Add the stock, reconstituted shiitake liquid, shoyu, sake, mirin, sugar and bring to a boil.

Put an oshibuta (drop lid) on, turn the heat down to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes, longer if you want your veggies more tender.

NOTES: super easy! I didn't have dried shiitake, so I just used the shiitake stems I had in the freezer.

I didn't read the directions well and cut the konnyaku with a knife instead of using a spoon...oops!

Will definitely make this again.

Our numbers have sort of taken off, there is talk of another state of emergency “shutdown” but the main government wants to wait 3 weeks to see if our numbers can come down a little (they do not want to pay for another state of emergency)...for now Satoshi still goes into the office but on weekends and the weekdays he is off, we try to lay as low possible...take care everyone and have a safe weekend.

curry mayo chicken stir fry

Tried a new recipe the other day...the original recipe uses pork, instead I used chicken.

Curry Mayo stir-fry...for 1 serving adapted from "Masakichi's Bento no hon"

80 grams protein (chicken, pork, beef, fish, tofu)
1 teaspoon oil
1/8 small pumpkin, de-seeded and cleaned, slice thinly
1 tablespoon sake (rice wine)

sauce: 1 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice wine)
1 tablespoon mayo
1/2 teaspoon shoyu (soy sauce)

1/2 teaspoon curry powder
salt pepper to taste

In a frying pan, add the oil and saute your protein until gets a little color, then take out of pan and set aside
In the same pan, cook the pumpkin until there is color on both sides.
Add the sake and cover to steam
When the pumpkin is cooked through, return the meat to the pan.
Add the sauce to the pan and cook until the mayonnaise turns clear.
Sprinkle the curry powder and add salt and pepper to taste

NOTES: This was fast, east and tasty! Am gonna try with other proteins.

p.s. we also got word that the sale of the house finalized, appreciate everyone that reached out to us...thank you for all your advice, support and good mojo!

p.p.s. have a safe Halloween if you are celebrating!

oyakodon

The other night for dinner I made some oyakodon (literally parent-child bowl because it uses chicken and egg) to use up some rice that I had in the freezer.

I adapated a recipe from sirogohan...makes 2 servings

160 grams chicken thigh, deboned and cut into bite sized pieces.
sliced onion
4 tablespoons dashi (liquid stock)
4 tablespoons mirin (sweet rice wine)
2.5 tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce)
2 teaspoons sugar
2 eggs
milk

In a non-stick pan, put the chicken and onions
Add the liquid ingredient and sugar and turn the heat on to medium
Cover and cook for about 3 minutes
Scramble the eggs with a little milk and pour half over the chicken and onions
Cover and cook for about a minute
Then add the other half of the scrambled egg
Cover and cook for about a minute
When the egg is cooked to your liking, spoon over rice
Serve with your favorite greens.

NOTES: this was super easy and delicious.

I served this with some sugar snap peas and a salad.

It was a nice way to use up rice that I had in freezer...I'd make this again.

chicken ginger gyoza

Super easy minced chicken ginger gyoza that I made the other day.

200 grams minced chicken (thigh)
nub of ginger, peeled and minced
Chinese cabbage, 2 leaves finely chopped
2 teaspoons shoyu
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons honey
20 gyoza wrappers

After mixing everything together, I spooned a teaspoon of the mixture into each of the wrappers.
Cook to your liking.

NOTES: I froze half of the gyoza and we ate the other half in soup.
I actually had chicken mixture leftover, so I froze that too and will use it for the next time we make hot pot, or I'll make meatballs to put into soup.
Super easy and delicious...I'm making these again.

okara mochiko chicken

Yesterday, we had some flurries and then we had some rain.

Satoshi didn't need dinner.

Most times when this happens, I buy something because I don't really like cooking for one.

I was watching a program and they mentioned that if your want to fry with dried okara, you should mix it with some flour.

So that is was I did...mixed some dried okara with some mochiko (rice flour) & regular flour.

I didn't deep fry, just pan fried.

This version turned out better than when I tried it before with only the dried okara.

I have some leftovers, so I think I may turn this into onigirazu for one of our lunches this weekend...

Hope you have a nice weekend.

kashiwa-meshi

When I was learning Japanese, we learned the word for "chicken" to be "toriniku" ("tory-knee-coo"--literally bird meat).

Then while living here, I realized that it had a different name, "kashiwa". (I think even my Grandma used to call chicken, "kashiwa")

I had thought that most of Kyushu and the southern parts of Honshu called chicken, "kashiwa", but apparently, there are parts of Northern Honshu that call chicken, "kashiwa" too.

Anyway, since I had gobo and some leftover dashi in my fridge, I made some kashiwa-meshi for dinner last night.

I've made this once before and thought I posted about it, but couldn't find it on my blog...

Kashiwa-meshi adapted from "Bento no hon by Yorino Masami" makes 4 servings--more or less depending on your servings.

2 cups rice, washed
2 cups dashi (cold brewed stock)

150 grams chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
gobo (burdock root) 1 piece about 12 inches long, cleaned and whittled or peeled with peeler, soak in water after whittling/peeling for a couple of minutes
maitake (1 package), torn apart with hands

1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons mirin
1 tablespoon sake
2 tablespoons shoyu

Cook rice with dashi in rice cooker.
In a frying pan, heat sesame oil
Drain water from gobo
Add chicken and gobo, sauteeing in the oil
Add the maitake
Add the sugar, mirin, sake and shoyu, stir fry everything for about 5 minutes
When the rice is finished cooking, add the chicken mixture to the rice and mix gently without smooshing the rice.
Serve and enjoy!

NOTES: a bit tedious to make, but delicious. Plus, you can just add a salad like I did.
I actually made half the recipe of the rice (1 cup rice, 1 cup dashi) and the full recipe of the chicken mixture and am thinking to put the other half of the chicken mixture into oyakodon...

okara chicken fingers

Was craving mochiko chicken, but wanted to use the dry okara that I have, so I marinated some chicken breast in the wet ingredients for mochiko chicken, then just before frying, I coated each piece with some dry okara.

I didn't deep fry, just pan fried, so am wondering if this may be the reason the outside didn't turn out crisp.

Still, it was a nice way to cut some carbs and soothe my mochiko chicken craving.

mansaku

Saturday, after Satoshi's German class, we had lunch at Mansaku, which specializes in Miyazaki cuisine. Which if I'm not mistaken, is all things chicken.

Satoshi's not that much of a fan of chicken (unless it is fried), so he chose the Miyazaki beef bowl.

This was a nice sized serving topped with a poached egg. His meal also came with some salad and miso soup.

I chose the Tori Namban.

Fried chicken dipped into a shoyu based sauce then topped with tartar sauce.

Tartar sauce in Japan usually has hard boiled eggs in it.

This piece of chicken was huge!

I usually can't finish all the rice I'm given so I gave the rest to Satoshi.

The food was good here, and there were other items we would like to try...we'll be back.

Mansaku
Grand Front Osaka South Building 7F
Phone: 06.6485.7474
Weekdays: lunch 11:00-15:00, dinner 17:00-23:00
Weekends: 11:00-23:00
Open when Grand Front Osaka is

kujaku curry

Went to try Kujaku Curry's chicken katsu sandwich, which came out recently.

The piece of chicken katsu was huge!

Unfortunately, this was a bit dry.

The tartar sauce was too chunky for my liking and it didn't really match the sandwich.

I again ate this with a knife and fork.

I'm glad I tried this though but will stick with the tonkatsu sandwich here.

kei-chan

Kei-chan is chicken that is simmered in a spicy miso sauce. We got a chance to try this dish back in September when we visited Gujo Hachiman.

This dish reminded me of Hokkaido's chanchanyaki, except that chicken is used instead of salmon and chanchanyaki is made on a large hot plate.

Kei-chan : 4 servings :adapted from the internet
1 large chicken breast, skinless and cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cabbage, cut into bite sized pieces
1/4 red bell pepper, diced
1 tablespoon sesame oil

Sauce
2 tablespoons shoyu
2 tablespoons dashi (stock)
1 clove garlic, grated
1 nub ginger, grated
2 tablespoons miso
2 tablespoons mirin (sweet rice wine)
1 tablespoon sake (rice wine)
1/4 teaspoon tobanjan (chili paste)

Mix all ingredients for sauce and set aside.
In a heated pan add the oil, onion, cabbage, red bell pepper and chicken
Cook until chicken is cooked through.
Add sauce and let simmer until cabbage is tender.
Serve over rice.

NOTES: Actually, I added the red bell pepper to give the dish some color, you could also add some carrots or other veggies too. If the sauce is a bit thick, you can add a little water to thin it out. Also, try to use a dark miso rather than white miso. I really liked how easy this was to put together and it was great on rice. I'm making this again.

cantonese clay pot chicken

After making my first nabe dinner, reader HoiYan mentioned making clay pot chicken.

So, I looked online and found a recipe that sounded really delicious.

I planned to try it yesterday, because I thought it would be Chinese New Year over the weekend...

Disappointed that I had gotten the days wrong, I decided to try it anyway since Satoshi and I could eat dinner together.

Cantonese Claypot Chicken Rice (2-3 servings) adapted from Travelling Foodies

Ingredients
9 chicken drumsticks
2 lup cheong, chinese sausages
1 piece dried scallop, reconstituted overnight
4 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems removed
2 cups of rice, brown
3 cups of water
1 chicken consomme cube

Marinade
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp pepper
1 cloves of garlic, grated
A small knob of ginger, grated
2 tbsp of cooking sake
1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 heap tbsp cornstarch

Topping and Garnish
dark soy sauce
sliced green onion

Process
Rinse drumsticks and prepare marinade.
Soak drumsticks for a couple of hours, mixing every so often.
Rinse rice and add water and consomme cube to clay pot.
Slice mushrooms, lup cheong, green onions, scallop. Set aside.

Turn on heat, bring mixture to a fast boil and then lower flame to low, lid on and allow to simmer.
Stir the mixture once in a while to make sure that the consomme cube is well dissolved and incorporated.
After 5-7 minutes, quickly but carefully lay the chicken pieces from the marinade over the rice, followed by scallop, mushrooms and chinese sausages.
Turn to the lowest flame possible and allow it to continue to simmer.
When the steaming through the vent on the lid has somewhat subsided, remove lid and drizzle in half of the chicken wing marinade over the top. Cover with lid again. There should be some steam from adding the marinade.
When the steaming has once again subsided (about 5 minutes later), turn off flame.
Remove lid and check that the chicken pieces have just cooked through.
If not, simply cover and let the clay pot sit for another 5-7 minutes allowing the residual heat to cook everything through.
Just before serving, garnish with green onions and a generous drizzling of dark soy sauce and give everything a good toss.

NOTES: I marinated the chicken for about 6 hours or so.

And then I started the cooking about an hour before we planned to eat...following the directions as best as I could...there were parts I didn't quite understand.

According to the recipe, you are supposed to use long grained rice but since I only had brown, which is a short grain, that is what I used.

This made things a bit "mushy" rather than having a "browning" on the rice at the bottom. If you use long grained rice, cut the liquid (water) back to 2 cups.

At the end of the cooking time, there was still quite a bit of liquid, so I turned off the heat and left the pot covered on the stove until we were ready to eat.

By the time we were ready for dinner, about a half hour later, the rice had soaked up most of the liquid. I didn't drizzle soy sauce on it before serving, but did put a nice amount of green onion.

It didn't look like the original recipe, but there was lots of flavor--it was kind of sweet-salty.

We had this with brussels sprouts sautéed simply in olive oil, salt & pepper.

If I can find long grained rice, I wouldn't mind trying this again. If not, I definitely want to make the marinated chicken again.

What did you have for Sunday dinner?