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!

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!

hawaii volunteers

Yesterday I went to help my mom and some people from her church make tsukemono.

Almost every trip home, I go to help at least once. This usually involves lots of lifting and peeling pounds and pounds of daikon for takuan and kogen (two types of tsukemono (Japanese pickles)). Sometimes it involves other veggies when they are making other types.

Yesterday they were making takuan and kogen...150 pounds of daikon for each type.

With about 20 people we were done in no time. It was interesting listening to the groups of people chatter on about topics like "what they are growing in their garden" to "Michael Jackson".

These pickles will be sold at their upcoming Bon Dance in August.

The bon dance which started in Japan is like a party for you to welcome back your ancestors during the O-bon season in August. There is usually a big taiko (drum), a singer and some other Japanese instruments like a shamisen (looks like a 3 string guitar of sorts) that play various Japanese songs perched on a high stage, while the participants (including you) dance around the high stage.

If I am not mistaken, dancing around the high stage is how you welcome your ancestors back. I do remember while growing up that we had to go at least one time around to get some shave ice. (bribery?? maybe.)

The bon dances in Hawaii have food booths and sometimes games, it may look kind of like a county fair or what we call carnivals. While Japan does not have many bon dances these days, Hawaii seems to preserve what culture our immigrant ancestors brought with them hundreds of years ago.

Satoshi and I have volunteered in the andagi (okinawan donuts) booth at my church and have not forgotten the overwhelming heat and hard work that goes into producing these tasty treats.

I think the Bon Dance season has started in Hawaii, if you have some time you should check it out, the local newspapers usually lists all the bon dance dates and times, it is a great way to get some good local food and welcome your ancestors back.

rakkyo

In Japan it is the beginning of pickling season. In the markets, you can find plums to make umeshu (plum wine) or umeboshi (pickled plum), rakkyo (shallots) and shoga (ginger) to pickle. I really like rakkyo, so I was interested in trying to make my own and was surprised at how easy it was to make. It was actually similar to making takuan (pickled daikon(long white radish)).

Buy your rakkyo. If you are lucky, you can find them already cleaned. Just rinse and drain.

Make your sauce. This is the sauce measurements that was on the bag of rakkyo.

For 1 kg. of rakkyo (the amount inside the bag):

350cc vinegar
250g sugar
60g salt
60cc mirin (sweet rice wine)
Heat these ingredients until the salt and sugar melt. Cool mixture.

Put your rakkyo in a glass or plastic jar. Pour the cooled mixture over and wait 20 days before eating.

NOTES: I put a teaspoon of chili pepper in there too to give it a little kick!

Stay tuned...I think it's going to be good!

day after christmas

It is the day after Christmas, are you at the malls? It is just another day here in Japan, in fact, a lot of people are trying to get ready to welcome the New Year--I'll post about that as we get closer to the day.

A while back, I bought a chocolate cookbook, which I posted about here. Remember I also received some dried figs? Well, since I had a bottle of red wine open, I was finally able to try this recipe.

Ganache Figue makes about 16 pieces
5 dried figs
3/4 cup red wine
1/2 cinnamon stick
3 whole black peppers
1 whole clove
125g sweet chocolate
100ml cream
cocoa powder

1. In a pot, put the wine, cinnamon, pepper & clove and bring to a boil. When it comes to a boil, turn down to simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Add the dried figs and let come to a light boil. Turn off heat and put lid on, leave contents in pot overnight.
3. The next day, take the figs out and cut into 1 cm pieces. Save the mulled wine.
4. Cut the chocolate into small pieces and put into a bowl.
5. In a pot, heat the cream on medium heat, before it comes to a boil, turn off the heat. Add the cream to the chocolate and mix with a whisk.
6. When the chocolate and cream is combined, add the figs and 3 tablespoons of the mulled wine. Let cool.
7. After cool, spoon out into 16 balls and place onto a parchment sheet.
8. Cool in refrig for 20 to 30 minutes. Using your hands re-mold it to look like a fig and cover in cocoa powder. From the mulled wine, take the cinnamon stick and cut slivers to be used as the stem of the fig.

NOTES: I ended up with about 20 pieces--I cut the figs into 4 pieces. I didn't add the 3 tablespoons of the wine, I only added 1 because I don't care too much for liquor chocolates. I also didn't read the recipe well and I cooled the chocolate in the refrig and ended up with quite a hard mess. I also didn't use the cinnamon stick slivers at the end. The figs were well soaked and it didn't taste too winey. And because I used dark chocolate, instead of sweet chocolate, it matched well with the wine taste.

The other day, I also received daikon (long white turnip) from a friend, so I tried a recipe for Japanese pickles called takuan. I got the recipe from my mom's church's cookbook. This was really easy to make.

Here's the recipe from "Wisteria Delights"
Takuwan
3 T. salt
3/4 c. Japanese vinegar (rice vinegar)
1-1/2 c. sugar
1/4 tsp yellow food coloring
3 or 4 medium white turnips

Boil the salt, vinegar and sugar until sugar is melted.
Turn off heat, then add food coloring.
Set aside until cool.
Slice turnips, place in a bowl and pour sauce over them.
Leave in bowl, turning often with a wooden spoon.
Next day, put into jars with sauce then refrigerate.
If you like it a little hot, you may add chili peppers to your taste.

NOTES: I didn't add the food coloring.

Hope you are having a great week!