salmon takuan rice

The weather has gone from cool to broiling hot!

Over the weekend, the temps were said to be July/August levels...gah!

Anyway, I wanted to share this easy recipe.

We stumbled upon this combination when we bought a couple of musubi from a sozai (pre-made food) shop.

For 1 cup of cooked rice mix in 30 grams of flaked salmon (I used a bottled type) and 30 grams of thinly sliced takuan.

Add a sprinkle of sesame seeds.

Serve in chawan (rice bowl) or make into musubi.

NOTES: For this version, I don't wrap the musubi in nori.

We just eat as is.

So delicious, we love the sweet crunch from the takuan and salty from the salmon.

I've already made this twice and it is quickly becoming a favorite of ours.

Hydrate everyone, summer is here!

easy

One of my Twitter friends tweeted this recipe that was on Pinterest.

Coincidentally, I was planning to make a salmon dish for dinner that night.

So, I decided to try out the new recipe instead and it was totally easy.

Pecan crusted Salmon adapted from The Girl who ate Everything : serves 2

1 piece of salmon (161 grams), sashimi grade, cut in half

1 tablespoon agave nectar
1/2 shoyu (soy sauce)
1 handful pecan, chopped
several grinds of pepper

Bake in 425F (220C) oven for 15 minutes

NOTES: First off, according to the author this recipe is from Weight-Watchers, which surprised me.

I used sashimi grade salmon because I'm lazy and didn't want to run into any bones while eating.

The original recipe used honey, but I wanted to try using agave nectar. From what I read on the internet, to substitute honey with agave nectar is an even exchange, so you don't need to re-calculate anything...woot!

Also, the original recipe was for 4 salmon filets, but since my pieces were smaller, I cut back the amount of "sauce"/marinade.

The author notes that she marinates the fish overnight, I think I'll do this the next time (without the nuts). Then just before baking, I'll sprinkle the nuts.

My topping got a bit burnt because my oven element was kind of low (it moves).

I served this with some rice and also some sauteed spinach and brown mushrooms. The salmon gets a little sweet-salty, with a nice crunch from the pecans.

I'd definitely make this one again.

It's Friday the 13th (eep!) hope you have a great weekend.

trying new recipes

After all that feasting the other day...Sunday's dinner was simple...salmon with sweet and spicy rub. To go along with the salmon, I tried Ellie's oven baked onion ring recipe.

This recipe was easy to put together. I didn't have baked potato chips, so I didn't put the cooking spray on the rings before baking like the recipe says to do.

If you make these, you have to eat them straight out of the oven. They are crisp, delicious and you won't miss that they aren't deep fried.

We had this with some leftover spiced mixed nuts, a salad and Monteith's Hearty Black Beer, a smoky, smooth dark beer from New Zealand. 330 mililiters, 5.2% alcohol, 430 yen (about US$4.30).

It was a great way to end the weekend.

comfort foods

The weather for the past week has been...well, crappy, I think it rained almost every day.

I was craving some comfort food and decided I wanted kimbap, or as my friends in Hawaii call it, korean sushi.

In order to make the kimbap I had in mind, I needed to first make a batch of bulgogi...so I did.

The only nori (seaweed sheet) that I have is pre-cut and only about 2 or 3 inches wide and maybe 8 inches or so long, perfect for making musubi, but not necessarily for sushi.

Since I hadn't made sushi for several years, I had forgotten how much rice to put in it. (sorry Grandma, she would totally be disappointed to hear this...)

The results, my filling was off center and I had a LOT of nori to spare.

What did I put into the kimbap? Bulgogi, some kim chee, several slices of cucumber and some takuan (pickled white radish). Even though it didn't look good, the kimbap hit the spot.

With some of the bulgogi I made bi bim bap for dinner another night....fried egg, kim chee, bulgogi and rice...mmm.

And yet another dinner was bi bim kook soo. I usually use somen for this dish, but didn't have any, so I used some udon. It was delicious.

On yet a different night, we had the salmon with the sweet and spicy rub as a salad. Actually as I was grilling it on my grill pan, one side REALLY got burnt, I mean black! there was no burning smell to let me know it and when I went to turn it over...blackness! I made the lemon and dill dressing from her chopped salad in "The Food You Crave" and it went nicely with the salad.

I was reading a copy of Saveur that my mom had packed into our Christmas box and they were talking about the Egg McMuffin, so of course, I had to make my own for breakfast one morning. The egg had to be a little firmer...but it was still delicious.

And then Kathy gave me an idea for another dinner, in her comment she said, "Mmm I bet the asparagus dish would be awesome with a sunny side up egg over the top"...I did a fried one, but it was.

With the gloom that comes with winter, what comfort foods have you been eating?

more recipes from ellie

For dinners, I've been cooking more recipes from "The Foods You Crave" book. One night was the "salmon with sweet and spicy rub". I used sashimi grade salmon, mainly because I was lazy and didn't want to bother with picking/pulling out bones. The salmon came out really moist, tender and delicious.

I served this with "asparagus with lemon and tarragon". She suggests nuking the asparagus, but I steamed mine.

This was a good match since fish is usually served with lemon.

Another recipe I tried was "salmon cakes with ginger-sesame sauce". Since I only had a can of smoked halibut, that is what I used. The halibut was firmer and smoky in flavor, (because it was smoked) so the cakes were a bit dry. Still, it was an easy recipe. Also, I didn't make the ginger-sesame sauce and instead made her "smarter tartar sauce" since I didn't think the ginger sesame sauce would match with the smokiness of the cakes.

I served this with steamed broccoli and the lemon and tarragon dressing, the same dressing as the asparagus. I think this dressing would work with steamed beans or actually any warm vegetable.

Since I only made half the recipe of the salmon cakes, I had one egg left in my carton. As I flipped through the book, I noticed that her recipes for muffins makes 12 with 2 eggs, so I cut the recipe in half and made 6 muffins with my last egg.

The muffin recipe I tried was the "apple-pecan muffin". The recipe calls for applesauce and buttermilk. I didn't have applesauce and wasn't going to buy (or look for it at the store) or make it, so I instead subbed some yogurt in place for both the applesauce and buttermilk.

I also didn't have wheat flour, so I added some ground flax. The muffins had just a touch of sweetness from the apples and topping. It was perfect for breakfast.

I hope to try even more recipes from this book. You can find most of these recipes on the Food Network site.

kasu-jiru

Kasu-jiru is a soup made with sake lees.

I don't like this soup because the sake smell is strong. Satoshi on the other hand, loves this soup.

My MIL served this to us the other time we visited her last month. I picked at it and eventually gave my serving to Satoshi, when it came time for us to leave, my MIL gave me some extra kasu to make some kasu-jiru for Satoshi, as she knows it is his favorite.

Satoshi comes home late every night, but for the past couple of weeks, Satoshi has been working extra late. His company will be changing to a new computer system soon, so they are trying to prepare for the switch over.

Since he usually comes home so late, I don't serve him a proper dinner because eating a full meal at midnight or 1 am wouldn't give him enough time to digest it all before going to bed.

So, in the morning, I send him to work with a musubi and some tea, this is for him to eat at about 7 or 8 in the evening. Then when he comes home, I usually serve him salads or soups like this or even this so that he won't have to go to bed feeling hungry. Then the next morning, I try to feed him a hearty breakfast. (When we first moved to Japan, I would feed him a full meal late at night and in the morning, he wouldn't be hungry and want to skip breakfast.)

Anyway, here is how I made the soup.

Salmon kasu-jiru : serves 2
40 grams sake kasu (sake lees)
1/2 a stick of gobo (about 8-inches long), whittled
1/2 a carrot, sliced
1/2 a sweet potato, cubed
1 piece of salmon, take bones off, cut into bite sized pieces

Add 3 cups of water, put veggies in and bring to a boil
After 10 minutes, check to see if sweet potato is soft
Turn down heat to low and add salmon,cook for 5 minutes.
Add kasu and mix well. (It should "melt" into the soup)
After kasu is well mixed into the soup add some salt and shoyu to taste.
Serve.

NOTES: Most times daikon is used in this soup, but I would suggest using whatever veggies you have on hand. Also, if you don't have salmon, just leave it out. My MIL served her soup with just veggies.

easy gravlax

Do you like gravlax? I do.

I recently saw this post on Deb's blog.

The recipe is super easy and fast, which is why I wanted to try it. I think if you make traditional gravlax it takes several days.

I roasted a red pepper, some kabocha (pumpkin), an onion, and some sweet potato to make a warm salad. I also added some lettuce on the bottom.

After the salmon was marinated, I added some dried dill, dried tarragon and fresh parsley. Deb uses fresh herbs, but I only had fresh parsley.

For the dressing, I used the vanilla vinaigrette.

It was a great combination and I loved the flavors.

So far this week we've had this for dinner two times, once with the veggies mentioned above and the second time with different roasted veggies (eggplant, red pepper, sweet potato and carrot). Thanks for sharing a great recipe Deb, if I could get my hands on some guava puree, I would try those bellinis too!

salmon flake

After seeing Nate's post, I was about to buy some bottled salmon. The bottled salmon is also known as salmon flake or hogushizake.

Then, my mother-in-law gave me two pieces of masu (trout) which is in the salmon family. (Thank you!)

I googled around for a recipe and found a really easy one and adapted it from Cookpad.

250 grams of masu/salmon
1 tablespoon sake (rice wine)
1 teaspoon mirin (sweet rice wine)
1 teaspoon shoyu (soy sauce)
1 teaspoon ground sesame seed

If there is skin on the fish, take that off and discard it.

In a non-stick pan, on low heat, heat up the fish.
(As the fish heats up, it will be easier to take out any bones.)
Use a wooden spoon to break up the fish.
Turn the heat up to medium and add the sake and mirin.
When the liquid disappears, add the shoyu.
When that liquid disappears, taste and add shoyu as needed.
Top with ground sesame seed.

NOTES: the flavor was a bit light, so I added a total of 2 teaspoons of shoyu and 2 teaspoons of mirin.

This is great for musubi or add it to your tamagoyaki (rolled egg) for your bento or just sprinkle some onto your rice.

Enjoy!

sudachi

It is sudachi (similar to limes) season here. When I buy sudachi, they only come with two or three in a bag. But what would you do when you receive a bag of 15 or more? Here are the ways that I used them...

You can usually find them with grilled sanma (saury). I saw some sanma in the market the other day, but it was a bit too scary looking--it had the head on and everything still inside. I don't know how to grill it or clean them, so I went with what I know...salmon. I served it with daikon oroshi (grated long white radish) and a splash of shoyu.

I drizzled some onto my yakitori (chicken skewers)...very refreshing.

And then one day I was craving for Mexican food, which isn't readily available here. I looked in "Barbecue Bible" by Steven Raichlen. And found a great recipe for fajita rub. I cut the recipe down and "marinated" sasami (chicken breasts) for about 3 hours. Then in a pan with some oil, I pan fried them.

Fajita rub adapted from "Barbecue Bible"
1 tablespoon paprika
2.25 teaspoon coarse salt
1.5 teaspoon dried chipotle
12 grinds fresh pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

But what has fajitas got to do with sudachi? Well, awhile back, Tea, introduced me to chirmol. (Thank you!) She called it chimol, but the recipe I found, also in "Barbecue Bible" called it chirmol. Anyway, since the recipe called for limes, it was a perfect opportunity for me to try chirmol and to use some sudachi. I was a bit bummed because the jalapenos I had in my fridge had gone slimey and moldy...eww. And I didn't have much cilantro. Check out Tea's photo of chirmol, it looks way more appetizing.

Chirmol adapted from "Barbecue Bible"
12 cherry tomatoes, cut into fourths
1/4 onion, diced
handful of cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon vinegar
2 sudachi (squeezed)
several shakes of salt
5 grinds of pepper

Still, on my chicken fajitas, the bursts of lime mixed with the bite from the onions, the heat from the chicken cooled by the ripe tomatoes really satisfied my craving for something Mexican.

And then I made ponzu. Ponzu is citrus flavored soy sauce condiment. The recipe that came with the sudachi mentioned soaking the sudachi with konbu (kelp), katsuo bushi (bonito flakes), shoyu (soy sauce), vinegar and mirin (sweet rice wine) for 2 weeks then straining everything and using the liquid. I found another recipe on the net in which you just boil everything and then strain it into jars and use right away. So, that is what I did. Instead of the 5 sudachi that the recipe called for, I used all 10 that were left. Talk about pucker your mouth sour! But I think it will be good on fish or tofu (soy bean curd) or on steak with daikon oroshi (grated white radish)--just a little ponzu will do.

Here's the recipe if you have some limes on hand and would like to try this. If your limes are big, you might want to put the juice of half a lime in first and add more. It should taste refreshing and not very salty.

250 cc koikuchi shoyu (dark shoyu) (about 1.5 cups)
250 cc usukuchi shoyu (light shoyu) (about 1.5 cups)
350 cc komesu rice vinegar (about 1.75 cups)
1 to 2 sheets of dashi konbu (thick pieces of kelp to make stock) each about 15 cm long.
1 small bag of katsuo bushi (bonito flakes)
5 sudachi (limes), juiced
100 cc mirin (sweet rice wine) (about .5 cups)

Bring everything to a boil and then turn off the heat. When cooled, strain and transfer to glass jars and store in refrig. Use on fish, chicken, meats, tofu (soy bean curd), actually anything that you would use regular shoyu (soy sauce) on. You can even mix it with some sesame oil or use it as is for a nice Asian dressing.

NOTE: I didn't have the two kinds of shoyu so I used what I had on hand, usukuchi shoyu. I also didn't use the sheets of konbu, I had the powdered version, so I used 1 stick of that.

Enjoy!

comforts of home

With the rainy season here in Japan, two things I miss after it stops raining are the rainbows that you can usually see in Hawaii and the air cooling, in Japan after the rains you are just left with humidity....ugh! For some reason, I've never seen a rainbow around mainland Japan. I think there may be too many buildings here or something. (this photo was taken while home in January from the H-1 freeway)

Anyway, yesterday started off nice and sunny and then turned gloomy, humid and drizzly!

To cheer myself up, I wanted to make something to remind me of home, but it had to be easy--I decided to try Rainbow Drive Inn's recipe for shoyu chicken--I got the recipe from Nate at Hwn Pake in Okinawa. (Thanks for the recipe, Nate!)

This recipe didn't take too much time to cook. Make sure to pour some of the thickened gravy onto your rice, it is ono! (Hawaiian for delicious)

Yesterday, I received some fresh salmon from my friend, Kazumi. (Thank you!) She had suggested grilling it or cooking it meuniere style (baked with butter and herbs), but I had a really ripe tomato, half an onion and some green onion in my fridge, so I decided to make lomi lomi salmon instead. (I think it is called lomi lomi salmon because you are supposed to "massage" (lomi lomi) all the ingredients together.)You are supposed to use salted salmon, but since this salmon was fresh, I added some Hawaiian salt.

I hope the sun comes out soon, but until then I have my comforts of home to keep me company. Hope you are staying dry and cool where you are.

UPDATE: Since Nate passed away and his blog is no longer public, I'm posting the recipe for the chicken here:
12 pounds chicken
2.5 cups sugar
3.25 cups shoyu
3/4 cup to 1 cup vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
6 dashes worcestershire sauce
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
3-inch to 5-inch pice of ginger, crushed

1. Wash, drain chicken
2. Combine sauce
3. Bring to boil, cook until chicken is cooked (about 30-40 minutes)
4. Skim oil, thicken sauce with cornstarch.

grilled salmon with tarragon sauce

When we were growing up, May 5 was remembered as Boy's Day. In many Japanese American families, koinobori or colorful decorated fish made from cloth were flown on a tall poles, one for every male in the family. This day is now called Children's Day in Japan.

Satoshi has been off since Wednesday for Golden Week. Today we had breakfast at our favorite cafe. It had been awhile since we had been there and the walk was nice. The weather is getting hotter, but at least it isn't humid...yet....
Tonight's dinner was Grilled Salmon with Tarragon Sauce. I found the recipe for the sauce on the internet and it came out really good, if I do say so myself. If you are trying to cut back mayonnaise in your diet, this sauce is a great substitute. :)
I didn't have shallots so I used onions. I didn't have fresh parsley, so I used dried. And we don't have nonfat yogurt here, so I just used plain yogurt with no sugar in it. The creaminess of the yogurt really matched with the onions, tomato, tarragon and parsley.

Tarragon Sauce
2 shallots, minced
2 tablespoons (8 g) chopped fresh tarragon or 2 teaspoons (10 ml) crushed dried
1 cup (228 g) plain nonfat yogurt
1 medium plum tomato, 3 ounce (90 g), seeded and finely minced
1 tablespoon (9 g) minced flat-leaf parsley

Enjoy!

Satoshi will be off to Ayers Rock for the next week, so, I'll have to find something to keep myself busy...I think it might end up being his dirty laundry...

a "local" favorite & salmon

It snowed last night (yeah!!). Not as much as Tokyo got over the weekend and not even enough to stay frozen--but a couple of centimeters.

I walked through the flurries to a neighboorhood bread shop called Little Mermaid to buy my lunch...they also have a Japanese version of malasadas.

Malasadas are a fried donut without a hole that is covered with sugar. It originated in Portugal(some areas of Portugal also call them "filhos").

In 1878, when the Portuguese immigrants came to Hawaii, one of the things they brought with them was their family recipes for malasadas. Malasadas were made on Shrove Tuesday (sometimes called Fat Tuesday in other areas)--the day before Ash Wednesday, which is the beginning of Lent. They were your "last" indulgence before Lent when you were supposed to give up things for 40 days. Portuguese cooks used up the eggs, butter and lard that they had in their pantry, since Lent also meant abstinence from animal products.

In 1952, Leonard’s Bakery was founded--this was the first business to sell malasadas in Hawaii. Since its founding, malasadas have become a local favorite. Go to any carnival or fair on the island and you’ll find a malasadas booth--and if they are good, a very long line.

In recent years, another version of the malasadas has emerged in Hawaii--the puff-a-sada. It is a combination of cream puff and malasadas, it is the same fried donut without a hole covered with sugar, but inside is a custard pudding fillings such as vanilla, chocolate and haupia. Haupia is a hawaiian-style coconut pudding.(by the way, the combination of chocolate and haupia is also out of this world!!)

My favorite malasadas in Hawaii is from Champion Malasadas. The baker worked at Leonard’s then left to start his own business. I think Champion Malasadas is better than Leonard’s because it stays fluffy, even when it gets cold. Leonard’s tends to get really flat. If you're in Honolulu, here's the address:

Champion Malasadas
1926 S. Beretania Street
(808)947-8778
Open Tuesdays to Saturdays: 6:00-19:00
Sundays: 6:30-19:00
Closed on Mondays

Getting back to Japan's version of the malasadas called "An Donut", this version has what else, but "an" or "anko" in it. "An" is made with adzuki (red bean) and is cooked until very soft, then sugar and more water is added and the mixture is cooked until it becomes paste-like. This sweet bean paste is then put into the center of little balls of dough and fried until it puffs, then it is coated with sugar. I really like this "an donut" made by Little Mermaid because it reminds me of Champion Malasadas back home.

For tonight's dinner, I made Grilled Salmon with Mustard Sauce (sorry the picture is a bit dark...). I got the recipe from "The Healthy Kitchen" by Andrew Weil, M.D. & Rosie Daley. I pared the recipe down a bit since I only made enough for 2. I also added the sauce in the last 5 minutes of broiling.

The original recipe below serves 4.

Ingredients:
4 salmon filets
1 lemon, cut in half
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Sauce:
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill OR 1 tablespoon dried dill
1 handful chopped fresh basil

Rinse filets under cold water and pat them dry. Squeeze the juice from 1/2 the lemon over the filets and season with salt and pepper.

Pre-heat grill or broiler.

Prepare sauce: Whisk together mustard, olive oil and dill in a small bowl. Add the basil and the juice of the other 1/2 of lemon, mix well.

Grill the fish on high heat or broil until desired doneness, do not overcook!

Spoon the sauce over the fish and serve immediately.

The fresh herbs in combination with the Dijon mustard and lemon were great!!
Enjoy!

salmon patties

Recently, I received some salmon from a friend which I posted entitled: lox & bread. I decided to use the canned salmon to make salmon patties. I found the recipe on the internet.
I kind of didn't do a few things...I didn't use the liquid from the can, didn't use the butter that the recipe called for and didn't put bread crumbs on the outside of the patties before frying.

INGREDIENTS:
1 can (16 ounces) salmon
1 small onion, finely grated
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
ground black pepper, to taste
2 large eggs, well beaten
1 to 1 1/2 cups fine dry bread crumbs
3 tablespoons butter

PREPARATION:Turn salmon and liquid into a medium mixing bowl. Flake with a fork, removing OR mashing any bones (they are edible). Mix in grated onion, parsley and pepper. Mix beaten eggs with salmon. Add enough bread crumbs, about 1/2 to 3/4 cup, to make thick enough to shape into 12 small patties.
Roll patties in 1/2 cup bread crumbs. In a large heavy skillet over low heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter; add patties. Fry patties slowly on one side; add remaining butter, turn patties and fry until brown on the other side. Serves 6.

This is how they came out from the pan.

I served them on a mizuna (potherb mustard) salad and put some vinagrette on them. It was a great dinner.
Have a great weekend!!