goya kinpira

Goya was on sale the other day for 98 yen!

I used half of it with a fourth of a red bell pepper and some jakko to make kinpira using this recipe (minus the nuts).

It was a little bitter, but I liked it.

I'm making this again.

p.s. can you believe we still have cold weather?! oh and I received this red carnation from the lady at the yakitori kiosk for buying something....hope your mother's day was a nice one.

hooked

I think I'm hooked...The other night for dinner, I tried that recipe for kinpira again. This time using carrots, eggplant, red bell pepper and almonds.

I used the jakko again and since I didn't have cashews, topped the dish with the almonds, instead of cooking it with the veggies, this kept the nuts crunchy.

And on another night, I also tried this using pine nuts.

I really like these versions because of the addition of the nuts.

Not only that, but when you eat this with chopsticks, you need to eat kinda slowly, picking up the nuts with your chopsticks as you go along.

I didn't think Satoshi would be filled up after eating this and also served some tofu topped with kim chee, and a bowl of rice topped with some furikake...perfect dinner.

Anyway, we're off on a little vacation, I'll be off the grid and will moderate comments when I get back and since I don't have anything in my drafts, this site will be rather quiet.

Hope you have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing what you've been up to on your blogs when I get back.

a different kinpira

I bought the latest issue of "Elle a Table" and as I was flipping through it, this recipe caught my eye because I like cashews...

A variation of kinpira.

I think if you search my blog for kinpira, a couple of variations will appear.

Anyway, I looked at the list of ingredients and had everything, so that is what I tried making last night.

Jakko, eggplant & nuts Kinpira
adapted from "Elle a Table Sept 2011" : for 2 servings

1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
pinch of dried sliced chili pepper

1 medium sized eggplant, cut in half then sliced thinly
2 small eringi, sliced thinly

10 grams jakko (small dried anchovy)
1/4 cup cashews, unsalted

1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon shoyu
1.5 tablspoons sake (rice wine)

In a heated pan, add the oil and chili pepper
Add the veggies and toss to coat with the oil
Cook until all veggies are cooked through
Add the jakko and cashews, toss well
Add the last three ingredients and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated

NOTES: This was good, though I think I would add the nuts at the end instead, they got a bit "soggy" with the liquid and I think I would add a little more chili too.

I'm making this again, maybe using other types of veggies like bell pepper and/or carrots.

It's Friday, have a good weekend!

a different kinpira

I had some kabocha (pumpkin) in my fridge and wanted to use it up, so I tried a new recipe.

This recipe is for kinpira using kabocha. I didn't quite have the amount of kabocha that was required for this recipe, so I threw in some zucchini, which was also leftover.

Here's the recipe if you'd like to try: adapted from "Orange Page's Yasai ga ippai toreru mainichi no okazu" : serves 2

1/4 kabocha (pumpkin), raw, cut into matchsticks
1/2 zucchini, raw, cut into matchsticks
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon sake (rice wine)
1.5 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon shoyu (soy sauce)
1 tablespoon ground sesame seed
grinds of pepper, to taste

In a heated pan, add the oil and butter.
When the butter is melted, add the kabocha & zucchini
Toss around and coat well.
Add the sake, sugar & shoyu
When liquid evaporates, add the sesame seed and pepper
Enjoy!

NOTES: When cutting your kabocha, try to cut it so that each piece will have some green on the tip (it looks nice). This kinpira tastes different from the kinpira that I usually make but shoyu and butter really work nicely together.

I served this with rice & maguro tsukudani (seasoned tuna).

dinner

The sun has been playing hide and seek lately.

The temperature is slowly making its way down and I wanted to use up the cilantro on my lanai before any kind of frost ruined it.

Over the weekend, I made some black bean dip with some of the cilantro.

We ate this with tortilla and I also froze some of it for a quick pupu (appetizer) during the winter, just heat and eat with chips.

With the rest of the cilantro, I whipped up a batch of steamed pork.

Instead of buying minced pork, I bought a slab of pork belly then used my immersion blender/food processor to mince it up.

I minced up half of the pork and froze it.

With the other half, I dumped all the ingredients in for the steamed pork and whizzed it together.

So fast and easy.

For veggies, I made some kinpira.

Added some brown rice and an umeboshi (pickled apricot).

In a couple of days, I think I'll have to start making soups.

What did you have for dinner?

tako meshi

One of the items we got at the Wajima asa-ichi (morning market) was a whole dried octopus...500 yen (about US$5)

The guy we bought it from said that you could heat it on the grill and just eat or make tako meshi (octopus rice) with it.

I thought it would be nicer to enjoy it as a rice dish, so that is how I prepared it.

I cut it in half and then into bite sized pieces. I then added it to 2 cups of washed rice, 2 cups of bonito-kelp stock, 2 tablespoons shoyu, 2 tablespoons mirin & 1/2 teaspoon of sugar.

Threw everything into the rice cooker and...voila!

I topped it with some chopped green onion.

NOTES: The hardest part was cutting this octopus into bite sized pieces. It was like cutting hardened rubber. I imagine cutting a rubber slipper with a dull knife would be similar??

The grains of rice were a bit al dente, I think it was because I had some brown rice mixed in.

The dried octopus plumped up nicely after cooking.

Flavor wise, we knew this would be good because we could smell all the flavors melding as it was cooking...it was a little salty, a little sweet, nice spicy crunch from the green onions and the octopus was really tender.

We had this with some kinpira and takuan for dinner this past Sunday.

I have the other half of the octopus and some leftover stock so I'm making this again....soon!

kinpira

Usually when Satoshi eats dinner out, I buy something because I don't want to cook for one.

Actually the recipe I used, only uses carrot peelings, but I added gobo (since I had some that needed using), the whole carrot (unpeeled) & konnyaku (jellied devil's tongue).

This dish is easy to make because I use OXO's julienne gadget. Of course when I get close to the end of the piece I am shredding, I cut it myself, which results in some uneven pieces.

Looking through my archives I noticed that I have used different recipes to make kinpira.

For dinner, I bought some chicken and heated up some leftover rice. I topped my rice with some chirimen sansho (dried anchovies with Japanese pepper) and had some rakkyo (pickled scallions). A simple yet delicious dinner.

Here's the recipe if you'd like to try making kinpira. (You can also look through my archives to see other recipes for kinpira.)

Kinpira adapted from "Soshoku no susume-Autumn" by Makuuchi Hideo.
Serves 2 (depending on your serving size)

1 gobo (burdock) about 8 inches long, scrubbed
1 carrot about 8 inches long, rinsed, unpeeled
1 package of konnyaku (100 grams)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon shoyu (soy sauce)
2 tablespoons sake (rice wine)
some sliced red chili
sesame seeds

Cut gobo and carrot to about the same length (about 3 inches long)
Julienne
Soak gobo in some water for a couple of minutes to take out bitterness, drain well
Rinse konnyaku, drain well
Heat a pan and add oil
Toss gobo, carrot, konnyaku in oil and coat
Add sugar, shoyu, sake, and chili
Cook until all liquid evaporates
Top with sesame seeds

Enjoy!

eat your veggies (and some fish)

Dinner for the past couple of days was an assortment of different fish and veggies.

On my bowl of rice was kugini (which literally means simmered nails), ikanago (Japanese sand lance) is simmered in shoyu (soy sauce), ginger, sugar, mirin (sweet rice wine), sake (rice wine) & mizuame (starch syrup, like corn syrup) until it is caramelized.

This is a famous dish in Kobe, many families have their own variation of the dish. This is usually seen in the stores during Spring. Apparently there was a large oil spill in the waters off of Kobe recently, so the ikanago is quite sparse this year and the price of kugini is said to be expensive.

With some gobo (burdock) I had sitting in the refrig, I made kinpira. The hardest and most time consuming part of this recipe was whittling the gobo.

Kinpira from Hideo Makuuchi's "Soshoku no susume": Spring recipes : Serves 2 or more depending on your serving size

1 gobo (burdock), about 40 cm long (about 15 in) whittled
1 carrot, julienned
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons sake (rice wine)
1 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice wine)
1 tablespoon shoyu (soy sauce)
sliced chili pepper
sesame seeds

Heat a pan, add oil
Add the gobo and carrots, coat well in oil
Add sake, mirin, shoyu and chili and cook until liquid evaporates.
Top with sesame seeds.

The second dish I found on Obachan's blog. She has lots of delicious adventures in Kochi, Shikoku. If you have a chance you should check her site out.

This recipe uses Spring cabbage which is in season now. Spring cabbage is different from the normal cabbage you see in the store because the leaves are tender. Her recipe uses the microwave but since I don't normally use the microwave, I made this on the stove.

Spring Cabbage Tuna Salad : Serves 2 or more depending on your serving size.
1/4 spring cabbage
1 can tuna, drained
2 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon shoyu (soy sauce)
ra-yu (chili oil), to taste
sesame seed

Cut cabbage into bite sized pieces and wash.
Add to a heated non-stick pan and cook for about 3 minutes.
During the 3 minutes, cover to steam, stir and check until cabbage starts to wilt.
Add the tuna, honey, shoyu and mix well.
Add ra-yu, I added about 7 drops.
Top with sesame seeds.

In the small dish was rakkyo. Lately we've been hooked on these bambucha (huge) rakkyo (pickled scallions) from Miyazaki prefecture.

I liked these dishes, it was a great way to get in my veggies and some fish.

It is Spring, though the temperature here feels more like Winter...what have you been eating for dinner?

recently...

The highs have been quite low...10C-12C (50F-53F), the lows have been really low 0C-4C(32F-39F), while we had some sleet, Kyoto had some snow.

Yesterday, Oahu had a major power outage, Satoshi had to work overtime since many flights were delayed going to Hawaii. He also went to work this morning to check on things.

I noticed I had some photos that I hadn't posted about, so I wanted to tell you about what I've been eating recently...I made a stir fry with sweet potato, mushrooms, carrots, green beans and kim chee...simply delicious.

Recently at Anri, I have been addicted to these french breads with beef stew in them. The bread is the size of a fist and there is beef stew and a little cheese.

Another version of this is with chunky potato salad in it...also addicting.

Recently I made a kinpira using gobo (burdock), carrot & sweet potato. I had some leftover soup from making udon, so after stir frying the veggies in some oil, I added the soup, a little sugar, some sesame oil. Since I couldn't find my chili flakes, I sprinkled some chipotle flakes....It was delicious.

Recently at Starbucks I tried their Dark Chocolate Cherry Mocha and their chocolate biscotti...meh...too much fake cherry flavor in the mocha and the biscotti was just so-so.

On another trip to Starbucks, I tried their plain biscotti with the Chocolate truffle cocoa. I liked this biscotti better, there were lots of almonds and bits of chocolate in it.

Recently, there was saikyozuke saba. Saikyozuke is when fish is soaked in Kyoto white miso. Before baking in the oven, you need to wipe some of the miso off (to prevent it from burning).

Though, even if I wiped the miso off, it still burned. At least it was only the skin of the fish that burned.

Recently, there was a muffin sized pannetone from my student, since my neighborhood German sweet shop ran out of stollen, this was the closest I got to something Christmas-y. (Thank you!)

Recently there was a Chinese bento from Daiei...mabo nasu, sweet sour pork & chinjaorosu (sorry, I don't know the english name for this dish--bell peppers with some beef or pork)...320 yen (about US$3.20)

Recently I made some fajitas using only veggies and the mexican lime olive oil....delicious.

What have you been eating recently?

new friend, new recipe, new flower

Yesterday I met a new friend. She contacted me through Flickr. Since she's travelling through Japan, she emailed me and we met for lunch and lots of sweets. (sorry no photos of the food) She gave me a mini bottle of her favorite liquer, which I hope to make ice cream or bon bons with!...thanks for a great time, Maui Luna!

The new recipe is something I tried for dinner.

Spring potato kinpira -- serves 2 from "Soshoku no susume-Spring recipes" by Hideo Makuuchi

400g new crop potatoes (about 1 pound?)
a pinch of dry chili
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 cup sake (rice wine)
2 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice wine)
2 tablespoon shoyu (soy sauce)

Wash the potatoes and keep the skins on (dig out any of the eyes--if any)
Cut the potato to about 4 or 5 mm.
Heat a pan and put in the oil
Toss the potato with chili around in oil until transparent
Add the sake, mirin and shoyu and simmer on medium until all liquid disappears.

This other recipe is adapted from a recipe I've used from Jamie Oliver. Cut an onion (preferable new crop as these are tender and sweet) into quarters but don't cut it all the way through.

Put a teaspoon of oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put into a 400F (200C) oven for about 30 minutes.

Lastly, I wanted to show you my new flowers. They are called "forget-me-not". They were really inexpensive, less than 100 yen each. I thought the little flowers were so cute.

sunomono & kinpira

When the weather is humid and hot, what do you like to eat?

I tend to favor things with vinegar in them because the sourness paired with a little sweetness is somehow refreshing to me.

This is what I made for dinner last night: Tako sunomono & kinpira

Tako sunomono (Octopus marinated in vinegar)-serves 4
150g boiled tako(octopus) legs
4 cucumber
20g wakame (kelp)
salt
wasabi(Japanese horseradish)

Marinade: 6 tablespoons vinegar
1.5 tablespoons sugar
1.5 tablespoons mirin (sweet rice wine)
1.5 tablespoons dashi (stock)--if none on hand, just water will be fine
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon shoyu (soy sauce)

Slice the cucumber thin and salt, leave for at least 3 minutes
Take hot water and pour it over the tako legs (this is to get rid of the fishy smell it may have, plus get the tako ready to soak in the marinade)
Cut tako & wakame into bite size pieces
Assemble marinade, put everything in.
When serving, you can add some wasabi on the side.

Another type of food that I like to make is something spicy. The second dish I made for dinner was kinpira. It was the first time for me to try this recipe and boy, was it good! Be sure to serve it with lots of rice.

Adapted from "Orange Page--Obaachan no aji (book 5)"
1 package pre-cleaned kinpira mix*
200g minced pork
1.5 tablespoons sesame seed oil
1/2 teaspoon tobanjan (Chinese chili paste)
1 tablespoon miso (soy bean paste)
2 tablespoons sake (rice wine)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon shoyu (soy sauce)

Rinse kinpira mix and set aside. *you can sometimes find kinpira mix in the refrigerated sections or freezer sections, it should have gobo (burdock), carrots and sometimes renkon (lotus root) in it.
Add oil to pan and coat kinpira mix well.
Add tobanjan, when you can smell the chilies, add the pork.
Cook until pork changes color, then add rest of seasonings.
Cook until most of the liquid evaporates.

Both dishes pair nicely with beer and can be served as pupus (Hawaiian for appetizers). Be sure to make the sunomono in advance so it can take in some of the marinade. If you are a working mom or dad, you could probably make the sunomono the night before, or both dishes the night before, so that when you come home you can just heat up the kinpira. You can also cut back the fat from the kinpira by making the dish in advance and scraping off the oil the next day.

Enjoy!

scone (part 2) & kinpira

Today we had sunny skies, so with the cool weather it was very nice and comfortable.

Instead of going somewhere, I decided to try the scone recipe again...This time I put oatmeal, cranberries, orange zest and chocolate chips.

The dough was really stiff, but when it baked it really spread out...I have a feeling it's the amount of butter (I think it may be too much). I'll try to cut it back some more the next time I attempt to try this again. :)

Anyway, the scone was really good with a glass of milk.

I also made some kinpira for our dinner. Kinpira is gobo (burdock root), carrots, konyaku (jelled devil's tongue--made from sweet potato) cooked in dashi (seaweed & bonito stock), shoyu (soy sauce) & mirin (sweet rice wine). I also add a little chili pepper for some kick.