ume no mi hijiki

Tried this hijiki that is mixed with karikari (crunchy) ume

Made by Etoya which is from Dazaifu, Fukuoka
 

They have other variations but I was interested in trying this one

It was good mixed in rice

And on eggs

I'm glad we got to try this and I would get it again if I see it at the market

yamagata no 3 jam

I should have tried the apricot before turning it into jam

But, after seeing the recipe that was tucked in the package of apricots I took it as a sign that they were tart…

Here’s the recipe

500 grams of apricots

300 grams of sugar

After pitting the apricots I only had 450 grams (before pitting it was 480 grams), so I cut the sugar back by 50 grams (250 grams)

Since I had 1/2 a lemon, I squeezed it and added it to the fruit and sugar, even if the recipe didn’t call for it

The recipe had said to let it macerate overnight, but I have something to do today, so since I had started macerating the fruit early Friday morning, I made the jam in the afternoon.

I brought the mixture to a boil then turned it down to a simmer, and scraped the scum off 

I simmered the mixture for about 30 minutes.

And was left with about 300 milliliters of jam

We look forward to trying this soon.

I hope it will be tasty.

adapted

Since I had most of the ingredients, I tried Jalna's sister, Dd's Ume Sesame Seed Dressing.

Dd's Ume Sesame Seed Dressing

1-2 Tablespoons umeboshi paste, 4 umeboshi seeds, removed** and chopped into a paste

1 Tablespoon water**

6 tablespoons white sesame seeds

6 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon agave nectar

2 teaspoons sesame seed oil

2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated

1.5 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Remove umeboshi from seeds, chop into a paste. Set aside. 

Place umeboshi seeds in a small mixing bowl along with water. 

Rub seeds in water to remove any excess paste. Reserve.

In a small skillet over low heat toast sesame seeds. 

When seeds begin to pop, immediately remove from heat. 

Grind toasted sesame seeds with a mortar and pestle until a fine powder forms. 

Transfer to a mixing bowl.

Remove umeboshi seeds from water. 

Add that water and remaining ingredients into bowl and whisk vigorously to bring to desired consistency.

Optional to combine all ingredients into a food processor and puree to desired consistency

Makes approximately 1.5 cups

NOTES: been trying to use the ume that I have in my freezer from when I made umeshu

Since my ume isn't salty and probably not as sour as umeboshi, I added a pinch of salt and also used ume vinegar instead of rice wine vinegar

Instead of agave, I used honey

We enjoyed this on poached chicken salad...it was more sesame than ume but there is a little tangy-ness every so often...it might be because I didn't use umeboshi...

I'll try the other ume dressing recipe Jalna posted and re-try this one using umeboshi after we finish this batch.

Thanks for sharing Jalna!

sasacho brewing

Finally got to try Sasacho's mentsuyu

They have been in business since 1906 in the Hanamaki area of Iwate.

 

We tried it with cold somen...

The tsuyu is a katsuo (bonito) shoyu base and has mirin and sugar in it too

For one serving, I used 1 tablespoon of tsuyu and diluted it with 1/4 cup water

Look forward to using this with soba too.

A little pricey but I like that they use ingredients from Iwate prefecture and other ingredients from Japan

Would definitely get this again

some of my favorites

Thought I'd share some of my favorite condiments...

Chidori su (vinegar), learned about this one from MIL, it is made in Kyoto (left)

Sanshu Mikawa mirin (sweet rice wine), also learned about this one from MIL, this one is made in Aichi prefecture (right)

Ichibiki shoyu (soy sauce), also learned about this brand from MIL, she used to send us their takikomi gohan packs.

When I looked online for the takikomi gohan packs, I learned about their shoyu

kurozu (black vinegar) by Sakamoto, made in Kagoshima

I learned about this one from an online food writer
 

Kuki sesame oil from Mie prefecture & Kamada dashi shoyu from Kagawa

I also learned about these two from the same online food writer.

And for miso, I like this one from Marukome.

The summer heat is coming, so I'll need to put the oils into the refridge.

I think this year I might put the vinegars and mirin in the refridge too...(if I can find space)

kouign amann spread

V gave us this kouign amann spread from Kaldi

She said she saw it on social media and thought it might be fun to try.

It looked interesting, just spread it onto bread and toast

It is supposed have that brulee top like a kouign amann should have

Lots of cautions : it might catch fire, don’t spread too much, you might burn yourself…in other words, don’t spread too much..ha!

We tried it with a baguette type of bread

And on yakiimo (roasted sweet potato)

I think I like putting it on yakiimo the best

V, Thanks for giving this to us to try

kurata pepper

Been wanting to try Kurata Pepper after seeing it on a show

Apparently Cambodian black pepper used to be the world’s best

After a war in the 1970’s the production decreased severely, and in 1997, a Japanese, Kurata, has been growing pepper in Cambodia.

I wanted to get the sampler pack but it was sold out so I bought some cashews & ripened pepper…3036 yen (tax included)

The cashews are coated with a rice powder, kind of similar to iso peanuts. 

Super flavorful, not “hot”.

Can’t wait to try the ripened pepper.

shh

Not wanting to start a frenzy, I didn't upload this to IG.

Apparently Sriracha Japan (SJ) makes their sriracha in the same factory as Huy Fong, except SJ says their version has no preservatives or food coloring.

I recently found out that there was a vending machine nearby, so I went to check it out.

700 yen (no tax) because it is a vending machine.

It comes in this plastic container and it is refrigerated…230 grams

I plan to give this one away.

I've hopefully attached the map where all the vending machines are located around Japan, hope you can see it (hoping it is in English) and you can find one close to you.

finally

Finally trying Don Quijote's (Donki's) taberu ra-yu (what everyone else calls chili crisp)

It isn't too spicy, even though it looks super spicy

Was kind of leery since the bottle is so big

We tried it on cold tofu.

Love!

Want to try it on gyoza next.

yakishisomaki

Been wanting to recreate this ever since coming across this at the market

I see them in the markets frequently so I've never tried the recipe I had bookmarked 

Yakishisomaki is a dish found in Tohoku, they eat it as pupu (appetizer), have it with Japanese tea, add it to their bento.

Each family has their own recipe so there are different ones all around the internet.

I made up this based on different recipes for the ingredients I had and for the amount I wanted to make.

Please adjust the recipe to your dietary needs and if you want to make more than the amount I made.

If you do use white miso, you might need to adjust the sugar since I feel white miso tends to be a little sweeter than other types.

Kat’s yakishisomaki : makes 2 skewers

6 shiso leaves, washed, dried, stems cut off

5 grams nuts, weighed then chopped medium fine

10 grams miso

7 grams sugar, I used brown

shichimi (seven spice mixture)

2 toothpicks

1 tablespoon of oil

Mix the miso with the sugar then add the nuts and shichimi

It will come to a thick paste

Portion the mixture into 6

Face the dull side of the leaf upward and put the point of the leaf pointing towards you

Put the miso mixture near the point then roll the point tightly upwards 

Skewer the roll with the toothpick

Repeat until you have 3 rolls on 1 toothpick

Heat the oil in a pan on medium and fry for about 30 seconds on each side

Drain on a paper towel

Enjoy!

NOTES: this was delicious and easy to make

Tohoku produces walnuts, so that is the nut that I used, but you can use whatever nuts you have on hand.

If you are allergic to nuts, you may want to use ground sesame seeds instead.

Also, if you want to freeze them, fry them first then put them into the freezer.

I’m not sure if there is a symbolic reason why 3 rolls are on a 1 skewer other than it just might be easier to fry many rolls at once.

I'll make this again.

making marinated “feta"

I wanted to make watermelon feta salad but didn't want to pay the price for the marinated feta that I usually use for this salad 

So instead, I soaked some tofu in olive oil and spices, to make my own "feta".

Adapted from the Sateto website, makes 1 cup

150 grams momen tofu (firm)

50 milliliters olive oil (1/4 cup)

1/2 teaspoon salt

dry herbs/spices

1.5 teaspoons lemon juice

Take the tofu out of the container and put a weight on it for about 30 minutes to take out some of the water (the longer you keep the weight on the tofu the more crumbly it will get)

Cut up the tofu into squares and put into a bottle.

Mix the olive oil, spices and lemon juice, put into the bottle.

Let soak for at least two days.

NOTES: The original recipe said to add some lemon juice, to make it more "cheese" like, but since I didn't have that on hand, I left it out.

Since I was using tofu, I also used shiso in place of the basil.

(Plus, shiso was cheaper than basil)

Both the tofu and shiso were delicious in this salad.

I'm glad I tried it this way.

The recipe also suggested that you could use different spices and oils like sesame oil or chili oil, I want to try these variations in the future.

trying more recipes

I saw this online and wanted to try.

The online version used hoshigaki (dried persimmon), but I only had ichidagaki which is a harder type of dried persimmon.

What you do is split it down the center, take out the seeds then put in a schmear of cream cheese.

The version I saw online, cuts the kaki with the cream cheese into rounds.

This was good as pupu, but I'll look for softer dried persimmons so that I can try this again. 

On the recipe sheet from Shuetsu there was also a recipe for tartar sauce.

Which reminded me of this recipe.

Again, I ad-libbed because the portions seemed a lot.

Tartar sauce : translated from Shuetsu

1 boiled egg, mashed

30 grams fukujinzuke, minced

8 grams fukujinzuke "sauce"

35 grams mayo

8 grams vinegar

parsley

salt to taste

Mix well and add salt to taste

NOTES: I used a 7 minute boiled egg, 15 grams of fukujinzuke, 1 gram fukujinzuke "sauce", 1/2 teaspoon vinegar 

I didn't measure how much mayo I used but didn't use too much 

I didn't have parsley but think this will add some color and more texture to the tartar sauce

I omitted the salt and added some pepper instead

We had this with beef rolls, which is what the Japanese tartar sauce I noted above is eaten with and it was delicious.

I'm glad I tried this recipe and look forward to trying a couple more on the sheet.

90%

Last year, my friend Junko, sent me a care package filled with all of her favorite foods. (Thank you!)

One item was this ra-yu (chili oil).

It is called Sendai ra-yu and 90% of the "gu" (ingredients) is Sendai gyu-tan (beef tongue).

This particular ra-yu wasn't spicy, though there is a spicy version, it was so good on omelettes and stir fried veggies. 

The beef tongue seemed to be simmered until tender in a sweet salty sauce. Then packed into the bottle and filled with chili oil.

I will keep an eye out for it and hope to purchase more from the Miyagi Antenna Shop in Tokyo.

pepper rice

I have been seeing this all over the internet recently and had to try.

Jenny tried it and her version is called  yakiniku fried rice.

After looking online I think Pepper Lunch came up with this idea first, they have all sorts of variations on their menu.

The components are pretty simple...beef, rice, garlic, green onions, corn, butter and yakiniku sauce.

For the yakiniku sauce, I used the recipe for Mio's sauce.

Since most people were staying at home in Japan (not eating out), most people were making this on their hot plates.

Here is how I made mine...(serves 2)

olive oil

1 clove garlic, sliced thin

1 cup rice, cooked

125 grams thinly sliced beef

4 stalks green onion, sliced

1 package corn (100 grams), rinsed 

nub of butter (about 1 tablespoon)

2 tablespoons yakiniku sauce

grinds of pepper

wedges of lemon

Heat the oil on medium and add the garlic

When the garlic is fragrant, add the rice and turn off the heat

Arrange the meat around the rice

Top the rice with green onions, corn and butter

Turn the heat back on to medium, cook the meat for a couple of minutes (depends on the thickness of your meat and to your liking)

Break up the rice gently with a wooden spoon 

Add the sauce and fold in gently

Cover for a minute, grind pepper and serve

Satoshi loved this.

You can add more garlic and more sauce, but this amount was perfect for us.

You could even use different veggies and meats.

NOTES: I served this with wedges of lemon and I think  it helped to cut the richness of this dish.

I will probably make this again during the summer when I don’t feel like cooking.

On a side note, have you tried this chuhai? it is called zeitaku shibori and is made by Asahi. I bought the lychee flavored one and it tasted like you were actually eating lychee.

Hope to find more of these...

yuzu & daikon

Apparently this year root and leafy veggies are plentiful and super cheap.

I was able to get a nice sized daikon and yuzu for 98 yen each!

(BUT, I was saddened to see on the news that the farmers here are having to throw out tons of produce! apparently due to the lack of food operators not operating at full speed..um can't the produce be frozen or given away to countries that don't have enough food?!)

Anyway, with part of the daikon I made some yuzu daikon pickles.

Found on the internet: 2 servings

500 grams daikon, peeled and sliced into sticks

1 yuzu, juiced and thinly slice the peel

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons sugar 

2 tablespoons vinegar

some dried chili pepper

In a bowl put the daikon and salt and massage, leave for 5 minutes.

After the 5 minutes, squeeze out the water from the daikon.

In a ziploc bag, put the daikon, yuzu peel, sugar, vinegar and chili.

Massage gently then store in refrige.

Enjoy after a couple of hours.

NOTES: The whole recipe was for 2 servings, and since I didn’t know how it would taste I only made half the recipe.

It was so easy and tasty, I’d definitely make this again.

I froze the rest of the yuzu peel to bake with and or to add to osuimono (clear soup).

Saturday night, with about 1/3 of the daikon, I peeled and grated it to put into mizore nabe.

Grated daikon is called oroshi but it is also called mizore because it looks like sleet.

After the ingredients of the nabe (hot pot) were cooked I added the grated daikon and waited for for the liquid to come up to a boil before serving.

With the leftover yuzu juice, I made some ponzu (1 tablespoon of yuzu juice & 1 teaspoon shoyu per person) for us to use while eating our nabe.

I still have the top part of the daikon which I plan to use in the coming days.

bukkake nori

Have you tried this type of nori?

It is bits of Korean style nori that you can put onto rice or into soups.

Well, someone had given me a bag of this type of nori before we moved to Tokyo.

I had packed it into the moving box and put it onto my metal rack pantry when we arrived in Tokyo.

When I was going to open the bag, I noticed it was all sticky, oily and gross.

Then I found a teeny hole in the bag.

Since my pantry is a metal rack, I also noticed that the oil from the bag had dripped onto everything that was under the bag...

Well, the other day, I was looking through a basket I have with some li hing items in and noticed that I had missed some of that oil that had dripped...

It was hard and sticky...what a mess.

purple cabbage namul

Tried a new recipe using purple cabbage.

The recipe said it was namul, but the ingredients are rather different from what I've used to make namul in the past.

Adapted Purple Cabbage Namul by Lee Eirin
150 grams purple cabbage, julienned/shredded
4.5 grams salt
2 teaspoons vinegar
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons grainy mustard
2 teaspoons honey

Add the salt and 2 teaspoons vinegar to the purple cabbage and set aside for 15 minutes.
Squeeze out the water after the 15 minutes
Mix the white wine vinegar, oil, mustard and honey.
Add the squeezed cabbage to the "dressing"
Enjoy!

NOTES: so easy, not authentic asian flavors, but delicious!

We ate some of this with our bi bim bap.

I'm always on the look out for new recipes to try with purple cabbage, I'm glad I tried this and would make this again!

hana musubi

Every since I started making bento for Satoshi back in January, condiments to add to rice catch my eye whenever I am shopping.

I've seen this at Kaldi and finally bought some to try.

It's called go-shoku hana musubi (literally 5 color flower rice ball).

There are 5 different "colors"...carrot, green shiso (perilla), akakabu (red turnip), shibazuke (a purple pickle), aona (a type of green veg),

For one cup of cooked rice you mix in one of the 8 packets.

(When I tried this, I actually mixed in 1 packet for 1.5 cups of cooked rice)

After mixing in the packet, let it steam in the rice cooker for at least 10 minutes.

So pretty, easy and delicious! You can't really taste all the different items separately, but it is a nice way to "jazz" up your rice.

egypt shio

I had bought this book in Osaka and wanted to find the Egypt Shio (literally Egypt salt) to try the recipes in the book.

I finally found it the other day and after looking around online, I realized this was actually dukkah.

Almonds, salt, pistachios, white sesame seeds, cumin and coriander.

I love the salty, flavorful and nutty taste of this.

One of the recipes in the book is for this toast...

Toast...butter, an oozy egg and some of this dukkah.

Delicious.

Now that I have the dukkah, can't wait to try more recipes from this book.

Have you tried dukkah and if so, what do you put it on?

inspired

Inspired by Reader Barbara H's comment, "We are lucky to have a blood orange tree here in California. We enjoy blood orange slices with roasted beets, pecans, blue cheese & a citrus vinaigrette."

I adlibbed and made a blood orange vinaigrette.

juice of one blood orange
1 teaspoon grainy mustard
drizzle of olive oil
several grinds of black pepper

And put a tablespoon of the dressing onto some wilted swiss chard...topped it with some pieces of Italian gorgonzola and Trader Joe's sweet & spicy pecans that V gave us.

After re-reading the comment, I realized that I still have one roasted beet in the freezer, so I will definitely try this combo again.

Thanks again for the inspiration Barbara H!