corn karaage

Have been wanting to try to make corn karaage ever since we tried it at Shake Chazuke.

Found an easy recipe online and decided to give it a try since corn is in season now.

From ESSE 6.2023

1 corn

1 tablespoon cornstarch

oil to fry

Sauce: 

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons mirin

2 tablespoons shoyu

2 tablespoons sake

Bring the sauce ingredients to a boil then set aside to cool

Clean the corn and then lay the corn on the cutting board and cut into thirds and then stand each piece up and cut into fourths

Shake the corn in the cornstarch

Fry

Put the fried corn into the sauce after frying

NOTES: I first cut the corn into thirds then instead of fourths, I cut it into six wedges. 

Be careful when cutting the corn!

Look for corn cobs that aren’t too thick, so it won’t be too hard to cut

I put the cornstarch into a plastic bag and shook the corn in it to coat

I didn’t want to deep fry so I heated about 3 tablespoons of oil and fried each side of the corn (about 1 minute on each side)

Instead of making the sauce I saw something online where someone used a shoyu butter sauce for their corn karaage, so I tried that instead, but it was too oily...blah!

Next time, I would probably sprinkle the elote spice blend I have, everything but the bagel spice blend or some other type of spice blend instead.

Still this was delicious when eaten right after it had been fried.

Not the best thing to make when it is already broiling in our apartment, but since corn is in season, it was the best time to try.

I hope to try this again.

ps Luckily Typhoon Dora ran out of gas, and we were okay after Typhoon Lan, though I hope areas in Tottori and Kyoto will be able to get back on their feet soon.

corn season

It's corn season here, which means I make these two recipes...

Corn Rice and Spicy Pork Miso Butter Sauce.

I don't always make the corn rice into musubi.

In fact, the other day, I made fried rice with it and seasoned it with some butter and shoyu.

I also added some edamame and salmon flakes.

I don't make these recipes often, just once or twice during the season.

Most times, we just eat the corn steamed.

What are you enjoying these days?

millefeuille corn

Came across a new variety (to us) called Millefeuille Corn.

Super sweet and different gradations of yellow.

I'm glad we tried this and will get it again if I see it at the market.

kabayaki corn

Last week, I made nasu kabayaki, and even though I made half the recipe, it still left me with some kabayaki sauce.

Since I was grilling some veggies on my grill pan, I tried grilling some corn drizzling it with some of kabayaki sauce.

Nope.

The sauce didn't stick to the corn and burned before the corn was actually grilled.

So the next day, I mixed some sauce with butter and put it into the microwave oven for a couple of seconds.

Then after steaming the corn, I put the corn into the fish grill/broiler.

On high, I turned the corn after 1 minute.

Then, I used my "pastry brush" (which is actually a paint brush that I use as a pastry brush) and brushed on some of the butter/sauce mixture.

Closed the drawer and waited 30 seconds.

I did this about 4 times.

Voila!

Grilled corn.

This version was delicious!

I hope to make this again.

elote fries

Tried the Elote Fries at La Tour Cafe recently.

Elote is a Mexican Street Corn...grilled corn slathered with a creamy sauce, topped with cotija cheese, garlic, cilantro & chili.

Having never tried elote, I was curious about this version.

La Tour Cafe's version is crispy pomme frites (french fries), cotija (mexican feta) & sour cream sauce, charred corn & jalapeno, red onions, cilantro, elote seasoning and crispy garlic (there was also a grilled lime to squeeze over everything).

This was spicy, garlicky goodness.

I'm glad I tried this and would definitely eat this again.

shoyu butter corn yakionigiri

I am always influenced by what I see on tv, especially when it comes to food.

Satoshi and I watch a show called "Sarameshi" which is short for "salarymen (businessmen) meshi (food)".

Anyway, the show airs at 11-ish at night and boy, do they make us hungry!

On a recent episode they featured this...shoyu butter corn yakionigiri.

Corn cooked in shoyu and butter is a well-known winner in Japan, but to add it to rice...brilliant!

We had to try this.

After cleaning your corn, remove the kernels carefully from the cob with a knife.

Then add the corn kernels and cob to the rice and cook.

All the corn "goodness" will come out from the cob and flavor the rice.

Remove the cob from the pot and mix the rice.

Carefully make your onigiri.

Then take some butter and some shoyu and fry. Flip once or twice carefully with a spatula.

You'll get some burnt areas, but that's the best parts!

No real recipe for this...I used 2 cups of rice and 2 cups of water. 1 corn on the cob.

A nub of butter and 1 teaspoon of shoyu.

NOTES: The fresh corn is cooked perfectly with the rice and is still quite crisp after it cooks. The sweetness from the corn matches perfectly with the saltiness of the butter and shoyu. I'll have to make this again next summer when corn is in season.

Have a nice weekend!

summer

For the past week or so, we've had high temps mixed with humidity.

A bit early, but now that it is June, I guess it is par for the course.

Have been seeing summer veggies in the markets...this corn from Nagasaki was really sweet!

I also got some okra and vine-ripened cherry tomatoes from a tiny vegetable shop in Ikeda.

I am looking forward to eating peaches and more watermelon...

What are you looking forward to eating this summer?

pink

The other night I made corn chowder, I added more veggies even some chard and guess what? ...it turned pink!

It was still delicious though...

"canned" corn

The other day I found this "canned" corn.

Dunno which is better for the environment, canned or this type of "canned".

At 98 yen for 380 grams, I think this version is nice on the pocket.

I've seen beans in these boxes, but this was the first time seeing corn.

Are "canned" items cheaper where you live?

random eats (drinks)

Some things I've been eating (and drinking) since I returned to Japan...Drinks...this Tropicana boxed juice.

Last year, I tried a similar item. It had mango, pineapple, grapefruit & papaya, which I wrote about here.

This year the blend is pineapple, lychee, apple, grapefruit, lemon...I like that the lychee flavor is really prominent.

The other day Satoshi had a dentist appointment so while I waited for him, I had this...a Chocopresso at St. Marc Cafe...370 yen (about US$3.70)

Espresso topped with steamed chocolate milk and a dollop of whipped cream, this was good but I wish this place had wi-fi, I could see myself spending more time here.

A strawberry smoothie made by a popular young woman's magazine, "Hanako" and Ohayo, a beverage company.

This was good, lots of strawberry bits in there and not too sweet.

Eats...For dinner, we've been having some spicy foods. The daytime is still rather hot, but surprisingly (and I'll probably jinx myself by saying this) the nights are rather cool and comfortable.

The other night we had goma-iridofu (soy bean curd with sesame seeds) topped with okra (splash of shoyu), and veggies (eringi, corn, red bell pepper, eggplant) with a miso butter sauce.

The original recipe calls for minced pork, but whenever I want to cook it without meat, I just saute the veggies in a little oil then used the measurements for the sauce.

You can find the original recipe here.

Another spicy dish was curry. I usually don't use the roux that comes in a box because most have lard or shortening in them.

I found half a box in my pantry so I wanted to use it up.

This one was really spicy! Made by House Foods, it is called Spicy Blend and the spice level is 5, which is the hottest...talk about mouth on fire.

This photo is of the curry when we had it as leftovers, I put it over spaghetti noodles...mouth still on fire.

Corn from Hokkaido...so sweet.

Butterfinger Snackerz...whenever I go to Hawaii, I always pick up different candies, stuff I can't get in Japan.

This was good, little butterfinger pillows. Nice and crispy.

I also tried Island Princess' Choco Mochi, a chocolate covered arare made in Hawaii...these were bloomed because of the heat but still just as good.

Not only do I bring back candy but snacks too... Island Princess' Royal Crunch...caramel corn, chocolate covered caramel corn and mac nuts...sweet but yummy!

Island Princess' Mochi-Pop...caramel corn with arare (rice crackers)...sweet salty delish!

Lunch at Chabuton because Satoshi just watched the movie "Tampopo" for the first time and needed to soothe a craving for ramen.

It was quite hot this day, so I ordered their Wafu hiyashi torisoba which didn't look like the picture on their menu but tasted oh so good.

Chicken steamed tender, cold noodles, cucumber, sliced radish, grated daikon and myoga (a type of ginger) with a shoyu-based sauce.

Dinner at Chaina...seafood and chingensai (bok choy) sauteed in XO sauce (a spicy seafood sauce)...800 yen (about US$8)

This neighborhood place always serves food that is good, only thing is that the chef cooks alone, so the food does take some time.

Satoshi's at work today, what have you been eating?!

damasareta

Usually I buy "brand name" veggies...corn, potatoes from Hokkaido, red bell peppers from Kochi prefecture, onions from Awaji Island, fuji apples from Aomori.

I usually stay clear of onions from Hyogo (too much bite) and soy beans from Osaka (no flavor).

So, when I saw these corn from Nagano prefecture, I was kinda leery.

The corn was only 78 yen (about US$.78) an ear, thinking I could steam it and halve it between Satoshi, I bought one for dinner...wrong.

The nice side was the side exposed...but after peeling it...my fears were confirmed...I was damasareta (fooled/tricked/psyched).

I looked at the unexposed side and saw this...a whole section all dried up! (from the tip to almost half way of the ear!)

To take it back to the store would have been the right thing to do, but to go back out into the heat and humidity was a pain.

So, I ad-libbed on one of my favorite summer recipes...this one.

I added eggplant, okra, and some tofu in place of the green beans and minced pork. I also excluded the garlic since I was too lazy to defrost some.

Had I known about the corn earlier, instead of finding out just before cooking, I would have had some time to drain the tofu of its water.

So, the dish came out a little more soupy than usual, but it was still spicy and still tasted great over rice.

Will I buy corn from Nagano prefecture again? Probably not.

odds & ends

It is the last day of November, so let me clear out some photos.

It is soup season. My vegetable soup is always with whatever veggies are in my refrig or whatever I find at the market. I add a can of diced tomatoes and the seasonings are usually a consomme cube, several shakes of Italian seasoning, salt and pepper, sometimes a dash or two of Tabasco. For this version, I put in some kabocha (pumpkin), sweet potato, shimeji (type of mushroom), carrot, eggplant and onion. I also added some leftover rice...it was a nice way to warm-up for dinner.

I am addicted to these. On a recent trip to the 100 yen store, I found these Tohato Caramel corn in a chocolate spice version...the original version is pretty addicting, so this version takes it up to another level.

The sweet-salty caramel puffed corn is coated in chocolate then dusted with black pepper, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, clove & all-spice....the scary part is that they are only 100 yen (about US$1) a bag and I can eat the whole bag in one sitting.

On Foodbuzz, I've had this recipe for taco seasoning bookmarked and finally got the spices together. It is a nice blend and it went nicely in my taco rice, beats the package taco mix.

Recently I bought eggs....check these out...they have expiry date stickers on each egg...talk about wasting trees. You may also be able to see a piece of paper in the background, they also have the expiry date on them.

We're heading to the last month of the year....so fast, yeah??

odds & ends

Do you have a disposal? Consider yourself lucky if you do because in most homes in Japan we don't. Most of us have these buckets/baskets in the corner of our sinks. I buy these fine net bags from the 100 yen store to put into the bucket/basket so that it is easy to dispose of. I guess you could also use old pantyhose too. Every so often I scrub down the bucket/basket as well as the metal basket which catches all the other stuff in the sink's drain--there is a slimy black film that forms from the food, oils, and moisture...eww.

Actually this basket reminds me of the times when I visited my grandma & grandpa in Hilo, since they didn't have a disposal nor garbage pick up, we would take the raw garbage and throw it out back onto the plants/veggies and we would burn the burnable garbage. As kids, we weren't allowed to play with or touch matches, so it was a kind of "honor" to be "the one" to light the match to burn the garbage.

Do you have dry heels? Are they scratchy and rough? (I do)

Microplane it! I couldn't believe this product when I saw it on QVC or some television shopping channel.

I bought this at a local shop for 3360 yen (about US$33). This price, I found out is double the amount that Microplane is selling it for in the U.S.

It works. (too gross to show you what comes out of the microplane, though.)

Let's end this post on a happy note...The summer corn is so sweet! It was like eating sugar.

kim chee corn fritters

I had never had a corn fritter, have you? But when I saw them here, here & here, I knew I should try making some.

The issue of Donna Hay that I have just so happened to have the recipe for corn fritters.

It was weird, the image I had of making them wasn't at all like the recipe.

In fact, I didn't have some of the ingredients. (insert pouty face) I hate when that happens. So, I ad-libbed.

Makes 10 fritters or so : adapted from Donna Hay magazine issue 29
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon oil (I used rice)
1/2 cup water
1 egg
2 tablespoons canned corn
50 grams kim chee
1/2 bell pepper, chopped (1/4 if you have the big bell peppers)
1/4 onion, chopped
rice oil to fry

Mix the flour, baking powder, oil, water and egg together.
Add the corn, kim chee, bell pepper and onion to the mixture.
Mix well.
Heat a non-stick pan on low and put some oil in to lightly fry (about 1 tablespoon)
Using a serving spoon drop a spoonful of batter onto the pan and cook like pancakes.
Take off heat and put onto paper towel to drain oil.

Serve with salad and some bi bim kook soo sauce.

NOTES: This was good, but the next time I buy milk and some butter, I'm trying this recipe again.

corn chowder

Well, I made it to the supermarket before the rain got too hard and picked up some food items to last us at least until Sunday. They say that the typhoon will pass over Osaka around Sunday or so.

I don't know what it is, but there is something about rainy days that make me want soup. Sure, outside the humidity is still awful with the rain, but being indoors, I just wanted to curl up with a book and make some soup for dinner.

It has been awhile since I've made this soup, but since I still had some luncheon meat from making goya champuru, I decided to make a soup that we used to eat growing up....corn chowder. This dish is really easy to make and doesn't take too much time either.

1 slice of bacon, cut into strips
1/2 luncheon meat/spam, cut into cubes
1 potato, cut into cubes
1/2 onion, diced
corn kernels taken off 1 cob, rinsed and separated
2 cups skim milk
salt and pepper to taste

1. Prep the bacon, luncheon meat, potato, onion and corn.
2. In a pot, heat some oil and add the onions, cook until transparent.
3. Add the meats, potato, corn and milk.
4. Cook until the milk begins to bubble, then turn down the heat to simmer until the potatoes are cooked.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with rice.

NOTES: This was the first time that I used fresh corn, it was great because the kernels stayed quite crisp even after cooking it. If you cannot find fresh corn, you can use canned corn just drain it well. Also, I know a lot of people do not eat luncheon meat/spam, but it is something that I grew up eating and most people from Hawaii love it. If you do not eat luncheon meat/spam, don't use it, but don't cut out the bacon from this recipe, it really gives this soup flavor. Instead of rice, you could also eat this with crackers or bread too.

Enjoy!

dinners & breakfast

As you'll probably notice I've been hooked on "the carrot salad"--it is so simple to make and I love the refreshing flavor...

Friday's dinner was gyo-burg (gyoza burgers) with carrot salad and steamed green beans with a lemon oregano vinaigrette, rice and kurumi tsukudani.

Saturday's breakfast was egg salad sandwiches made with Best Foods mayo which I got from Nate (HwnPakeOkinawa). Growing up with Best Foods, there really is no other mayo. (Thanks Nate!) We also had carrot salad and steamed green beans, plus white peach.

Sunday's dinner buta kimchee (pork with kimchee) omlette, more carrot salad, the last of the kurumi tsukudani and rice.

Last night's dinner minced pork with corn in a miso butter sauce over rice with carrot salad.

This recipe comes from a cookbook I have called "Natsu ni oishii kondate" by Orange Page.
Serves 2
1/2 tablespoon oil
1 clove garlic
150g minced pork
1 corn on the cob
100g green beans

400g cooked rice

Sauce:
1 teaspoon tobanjan (chili paste)
1/2 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons miso (soy bean paste)
2 tablespoons mirin (sweet rice wine)
2 tablespoons sake (rice wine)
2 tablespoons water

ground white sesame seeds
1 tablespoon butter

Preparation:
cut the kernels off of the cob and rinse.
cut the beans into 1 cm pieces, rinse.

1. Heat the oil on low and add the garlic
2. When you can smell the garlic, add the pork, turn heat up to high and stir
3. When the pork has turned color, add the corn and beans and stir
4. Coat everything with the oil and add the sauce ingredients.
5. Turn heat down to medium and coat everything in the sauce.
6. When everything starts to turn thick add the butter to finish.
7. Serve over rice and top with a sprinkle of sesame seeds.

NOTES: You could use canned corn, but I'm not too sure on the portions. When you add the sauce ingredients, make sure that the miso is completely "melted" and the sauce is smooth. I didn't have white sesame seeds, so I used black ones. Also, if you are watching your calories you could probably omit the butter at the end.

Enjoy!