kokuuma

you often see the word koku (rich) paired with the word uma (tasty) whenever people are describing a savory food

they'll say it is "kokuuma"

well, I needed eggs for our stash during the last typhoon so I "ran" to Family Mart

We are so lucky because Family Mart is only 2 minutes away (180 meters/196 yards) according to the map app that I use

These eggs are rich and tasty

Family Mart's kokuuma egg sandwiches are delicious too

I'm glad we tried their eggs, they are pricey at 358 yen (plus tax) for 10 but good to know they sell eggs 

egg poacher

After seeing this on a television show, I wanted to get it and finally found it at different location of Seria.

It is supposed to make "perfect" soft poached eggs, or what Japanese call "onsen tamago"...like the photo on the package

In Japan, you often see these types of eggs served with bento or at ryokan (Japanese inn), when you crack the egg into a bowl, the soft poached egg just slips out, the whites are really soft and the yolk is oozy and they are often eaten with a shoyu based sauce.

Put the gadget into the sink, add your eggs and fill the gadget up to the line with boiling water

I tried to measure the amount of water before doing this, but it started releasing the water as I was refilling my cup...anyway, I think it uses about 4 cups of water

As soon as you put the hot water in it starts releasing the water, so make sure to put it into the sink before starting!

There is a teeny hole at the bottom that slowly releases the hot water...it takes about 13 minutes.

After the 13 minutes, remove the eggs carefully from the gadget, it's HOT!

Crack the egg, like it was raw, and it should just slip out

I think my eggs were too small or maybe the 13 minutes was too long or maybe a combination of both because I had to use a spoon to get these out of the shell. 

The yolks were not oozy like most onsen tamago I have eaten in the past.

Will need to tweak the time with the size of the eggs, I think.

But I like that you don't need to fiddle with them over the stove to poach.

The Japanese have gadgets for everything.

ps this is Made in Japan & BPA free

I think the hole is 1/10 of a centimeter

This is the inside "filter"

It is removable so you can wash it.

The poacher can hold 745 milliliters (3.14 cups)

shakshuka

1st time making shakshuka.

I sauteed some red bell peppers with some dukkah and then added some leftover marinara sauce and a little water.

Added some eggs and let it "poach" uncovered for about 8 minutes.

Then topped it with some sliced okra.

We ate it with some naan.

Not authentic and I don't think I've actually had shakshuka before, but it is fun to say and was tasty.

I'll make this again when the weather gets cooler.

aji tama

Have you had aji tama?

Aji tama is short for ajitsuke tamago which literally means seasoned egg.

You often see it on top of ramen and I’ve been seeing people put them to fill open spaces in their bento boxes.

Stick a peeled boiled egg into a liquid and the egg will get seasoned with the liquid.

I think it is similar to pickling eggs or even making tea eggs except the result is more savory.

I made Buchi-uma chicken the other night and with the leftover sauce used it to season a 6 minute egg.

I let the egg sit in the liquid overnight.

In the morning I cut it with a piece of dental floss and we shared it for breakfast.

I'm glad I tried making this, it was delicious and a good way to use leftover sauce.

the land of cute

Japan is known for their packaging and all things "cute"...

Recently at the market they were selling these eggs...with Disney Tsum Tsum packaging.

Tsum Tsum is apparently the Japanese verb to stack (tsumu)

Each egg had a Tsum Tsum character sticker.

Cute yeah?!

tamago onigiri

Not really a recipe but this is a really easy idea from the "Kenmin Show".

On the island of Amamioshima, they make these tamago onigiri to take with them for lunch.

The original version is just rice, salt and egg.

I think the original is kind of plain because they eat these with other okazu (dishes).

I made these for breakfast so I added some okaka konbu (seasoned bonito with kelp)

For one tamago onigiri
1 egg
a little milk
a little olive oil

cooked rice about 120 grams

your favorite condiment

On medium heat, put a little olive oil into a non-stick pan
Beat one egg with a little milk
Pour the beaten egg into the pan and swirl to make a thin "crepe"
Turn heat to low and cook thoroughly
On a piece of plastic, place the cooked egg "crepe"
Put the rice onto crepe
Add your condiment
Pull up the edges of the plastic wrap and mold into a ball
NOTES: super easy and tasty...will definitely make this again

shinshun tamago

Recently these eggs at the market were on sale.

Shinshun means new year. Tamago is egg.

It was wild because they packed brown eggs which are often called "red" with white eggs for a "festive" effect...

Our eggs only come as 10s...which I think is a metric thing.

Eggs are packed in these clear plastic "boxes" that are sealed, so there is no switching out.

When I buy eggs, I just flip the box over to check that none are cracked.

Do you have brown eggs where you live? Do they come as 12 or 10?

Have a nice weekend.

life hack

Do you ever have a hard time peeling hard boiled eggs?

Me, I almost always do.

The shell sticks to the egg and my "peeled" eggs usually look all "bumpy".

I recently learned a new hack though.

Before boiling the egg, tap the "rounded" side of the egg with the back of a spoon a couple of times. (FYI: the opposite side is more "pointy")

The rounded side has an "air pocket" and when the egg is in the boiling water, the "cracks" will release the carbon dioxide that is between the egg and the shell.

(Apparently, this is also why the egg is put into the carton with the rounded side up, so it can "breathe"...)

Then when you peel it the shell should just slide off.

If you try this, I hope it will work for you.

this and that

Yesterday, I posted about Coffee Jelly, I forgot to mention that if you'd like to leave out the sugar or use a sweetener when making your gelatin, please do so.

On to today's post...The other day the weather was on the cooler side, so I made rafute.

I also made goya namashi (namashi is the Okinawan pronunciation for namasu).

Goya Namashi : based on recipe from "Chimugukuru" by Hui O Laulima

1 goya (bittermelon), cleaned & thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt

1.5 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons vinegar
1.5 tablespoons water

Clean and slice bittermelon, massage salt onto the goya and let it sit for about 20 minutes.
Rinse then squeeze out the water.
Add to vinegar mixture, mix well.
Chill and serve.

NOTES: It was my first time making namashi and will definitely make it again because it is easy and perfect for summer.

I hope to also try more recipes from this cookbook.

After making the rafute, I had quite a lot of gravy leftover.

Instead of throwing it out, I made some ajitama (literally seasoned egg) with it.

If you eat ramen, you'll often see ajitama as a topping or garnish.

Make some hanjuku tamago.

Then put your peeled eggs into the rafute sauce.

Put the eggs & sauce into the refridgerator for at least a couple of hours.

This got a thumbs up from Satoshi.

I think you could use any shoyu based gravy.

Most recipes I've seen online use the pre-made sauce used for soba/udon.

If you try this, I hope you like it.

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.

umaki

Umaki is grilled unagi (eel) that is wrapped (maku) with an omelette.

The umaki at Hitsumabushi Nagoya Bincho is so fluffy and delicious.

Satoshi wanted to go to try the unagi here after I told him about the lunch I had with V & K.

On weekends though, the lines were krazy!

We waited about 30 minutes for a table, but it was worth it.

onsen tamago

It's amazing what things you come across from the department store food floors...

I recently bought a bibimbap bento and it came with a onsen tamago (soft boiled egg).

I couldn't believe they had a special package for the egg.

Since we had our quota of egg intake for the day, I used it to top our pizza toasts instead the next morning...

It amazed me when I cracked it, it plopped out with the yolk intact.

Since it had been in the refridge overnight, I nuked the egg for about 20 seconds and it was still oozy.

By the way, onsen (hot springs) often have tamago (egg) sitting in the hot spring waters, the temperature of the hot springs are perfect for creating these eggs thus the name.

I have often said these were soft boiled but will change that since they are more like poached eggs.

koa pancake house & liliha bakery

BFF had to get a blood test done, so we went bright and early then hit Koa Pancake House afterwards for breakfast...corned beef hash, over easy eggs and a short stack (3) all for $6.95 (plus tax)...cheap eats!

Loved how crisp the corned beef hash was and the pancakes were fluffy!

We then went on a little errand in town and hit Liliha Bakery on the way home.

Went in for cocoa puffs but came out with a poi doughnut and maple bacon doughnut.

I had seen a lot of hype about these poi doughnuts online.

They are good AND not greasy!

The maple bacon doughnut was more like a brioche dough with thick maple glaze and bacon...so good!

Early morning foodie adventure...Thanks W!

expiry dates

I recently learned something new about the expiry dates on eggs...

The date that is on the carton or directly on the egg is the date that you need to eat the egg if you are going to be eating them raw.

Many people eat raw eggs here as T.K.G. (tamago kake gohan) --putting a raw egg onto hot rice. And also when eating sukiyaki, they dip their meat/veggies into a raw scrambled egg.

If you will be cooking the eggs they apparently can be used after the expiry date.

Cool, yeah?!

tkg & natto

You ever have one of those days when you needed to overcome things you feared eating, fast?!

That was the breakfast for me at Waterfront Inn Yosaso...

The photo above is what we were served....miso soup (not pictured), nori, pickles, rice, tiny dried mackerel, a raw egg and natto...

To tell you the truth, I've tried natto before. I didn't like it, it was too stinky.

I thought I could give the natto to Satoshi, but I would still need to eat the raw egg...gah! and I would definitely be hungry afterwards, I thought.

So instead of taking the easy way out, I went for it.

I mixed my natto, put a little onto my rice. And put it into my mouth.

A little sour, but other than that...not bad. Not smelly...

So what is TKG? in Japanese it is the acronym for "tamago kake gohan" (raw egg on hot rice)

If you were to eat an egg raw, I believe the only place you would be able to (without fear of getting sick) would be in Japan.

I didn't grow up eating eggs this way, so this was another food fear for me to overcome.

On the hot rice, the egg supposedly "cooks" a little, but for the most part it is still really raw.

Since it was still raining quite heavily, I quietly bargained with "someone up there"..."if I eat all of this, will you make the rain stop?".

I thought that would be a nice "reward" for overcoming the foods I feared eating.

And wouldn't you know, after breakfast, we checked out, the rain went from downpour to slight drizzle and by the time we reached Miyazu, the sun came out...

I don't know that I would choose to eat natto or TKG again, but at least now I know I could if I had to.

e.a.t.

Recently the fruit/vegetable stand I go to had beautiful avocados from Mexico. Usually at the big supermarkets we pay 100 yen or so for a teeny orb, but this time the fruit/veggie stand was selling 2 for 250 yen and they were at least 2 times bigger!

I got this idea from Rachel's blog, La Fuji Mama.

Take a piece of bread and toast it.

Mash up an avocado with some lemon juice.

Top it with an egg cooked to your liking.

Breakfast, lunch or dinner is served.

NOTES: so simple but so delicious! I mashed my avocado with some lemon juice and a little balsamic vinaigrette. I also added a little ground black pepper. I topped my toast with an over-easy egg. And the bread I used was a walnut raisin. I have to admit I added a little too much lemon juice, so it was puckery, but for breakfast, it really woke me up!

What have you been eating?

eat this

I saw this done on an episode of "Avec Eric" and have been wanting to try it.

He made a batch of ratatouille and then he added an egg to it and threw it under the broiler.

We had this for breakfast yesterday.

It was rainy and a bit dreary, so this was nice comfort food.

I should've toasted the bread "sticks"...this was still a fun way to eat ratatouille.

tofu egg

Recently, I re-vamped our egg salad...

1 hard boiled egg (medium size)
40 grams of tofu (drained on cheesecloth overnight)
some mayo
some dried dill
some ground pepper

2 slices of toast

Mix well and top toast.

Satoshi thought it was delicious. It was good, though the tofu was a little softer than the egg. Tastewise you really couldn't tell tofu was in there. I am making this again.

p.s. ooh and remember my motivator? well, I've been using it for a little over 2 years now and have hit 620 recorded miles!! whoo.

oyakodon

After making the full recipe for the agebitashi sauce, I had quite a bit of sauce leftover, so I made oyakodon with it.

Oya-ko means parent-child in this case, chicken and egg. Don is short for donburi (bowl).

I sliced some sasami (chicken breasts) and some leeks.

I put 2 ladles of the sauce, the chicken and the leeks and then heated everything until the chicken was cooked through.

Then I added some leftover veggies from the agebitashi to heat through and then added a scrambled egg.

NOTES: My ratio of sauce to "goodies" was more so it was more soupy than what you would normally find here in Japan.

Still this was good and perfect for the chilly weather we've been having.

I'd make this again.

ideas

Got this idea from Pinterest, but I ran into a couple of problems...

My bell pepper was too small and my eggs too big...

I flipped them over to make the eggs, over easy.

Still this was good with a toasted bagel.

Another idea I got from Pinterest, was for oatmeal.

I tried the peanut butter and jelly version...my peanut butter is the natural type so it isn't sweet and the jelly I used was my favorite, guava, the combo was kinda funky...I think I may stick to my original way, just adding dried fruits.