shiitake butter & sauce

Thought I posted a recipe about this but can't find one here, so will write this post

I learned about this from an “eating the rainbow” cookbook in Japanese that I have

Take off the stems of the shiitake, then clean

in a heated non stick pan, put the shiitake in and cook on medium/low, turning every so often, until moisture starts to come out from the mushrooms

Then to each, add some butter, and a drizzle of your favorite worchestershire based sauce...like tonkatsu, okonomiyaki, yakisoba or takoyaki sauce

I am not sure how it will taste if you use straight worchestershire because the sauces I mentioned above are a little sweet

Anyway, not really a recipe, but it is easy 

You can also use it with other types of mushrooms

If you try this, I hope you like it

enjoy!

pink

Found these pink kabu (turnips) at the market

Love that they still have the tops on them.

We've been eating them in soups.
 

the culprit

Thought this ladybug was the one

who did this...
 

but it turned out it was this guy...AND he was still alive!

eek.

the butternut squash

One butternut squash...

made into 4 bowls of soup

Roasted then tossed with onion, chorizo and maitake then topped with some cheese sauce.

Roasted then served with salad and hamburger topped with cheese sauce...

Cooked with pasta, chicken, lotus root, onions, spinach, garlic,  squeeze of lemon.

And the last of it put into won ton soup.

The temps have dropped considerably over the past couple of days...what have you been enjoying?!

araiimo

The other day I went to Benny to buy kabocha which they had advertised in their ad.

The ad said it was from Hokkaido but the label said from Mexico…boo!

So instead I picked up a bag of araiimo. 

In Japan it is called satoimo, but growing up my family called it araiimo, a type of dasheen.

Surprisingly, it was my first time cooking with it.

Luckily the internet had info on how to peel it.

The site recommended different ways but the easiest was to peel it then soak it in water.

Since it can get slippery, I used a dish cloth to hold it and a vegetable peeler to peel it.

Try not to get the orb wet or the “slime” will start.

After peeling, I rinsed it and put it in some water as I prepared the other veggies.

While boiling the stalks of the hakusai and araiimo, in another pan, I sautéed onion, chicken with some garam masala & curry powder.

I added the boiled hakusai and araiimo with the liquid to the sautéed chicken…added some diced canned tomato and some consommé

I added the leaves of the hakusai and let it wilt down.

Dinner is served...chicken soup curry.

I think the hardest part was peeling the araiimo, I'm glad I tried cooking with it and will use it more often.

Have you cooked with araiimo, what is your favorite way to cook it?

malabar spinach miso walnut-ae

  Tried a new (to me) recipe.

It is kind of like goma-ae (veggies coated with sesame), instead the sauce used is a miso walnut.

Adapted from Sangmi Yojo Gohan : serves 2

1 package malabar spinach : about 100 grams

50 grams walnuts

10 grams miso (about 1 teaspoon)

1 tablespoon mirin

Clean malabar spinach and cook

Rinse, squeeze out liquid

Cut into bite sized pieces

Toast nuts in dry pan for about 3 minutes

Whizz 30 grams of walnuts in food processor

With rest of walnuts grind in mortar and pestle with miso and mirin

Mix sauce with spinach and food processed nuts

NOTES: this was easy and tasty

I usually just wilt my green veggies in a non-stick pan so that is how I prepared my spinach.

And to make the sauce I just whizzed the nuts, miso and mirin and didn’t use the mortar and pestle.

I think you could use different types of nuts and greens.

I’m definitely making this again.

shishito

1st time cooking with shishito peppers...where have I been?!

On Saturday, I wanted to make skewers and needed another veggie.

When I walked into the market, this packet of shishito was staring at me.

On top of that the price was nice...100 yen!

These peppers were on the small side but easy to use.

The other skewers were tomato with pork belly and ume shiso pork belly rolls.

On Sunday I served this with some grilled lamb.

I still have a little left so will use them for our dinner tonight.

It is a holiday today, Umi no hi (Ocean Day)...5 days until the Olympics and boy! are there all sorts of problems arising.

Have a nice week.

oxymoron's caponata style curry

Tried a new (to me) recipe from the Oxymoron's curry book...Caponata style curry

For some reason I couldn't get any zucchini at the two markets I went to, so I just used eggplant, okra, onions and canned tomatoes.

I also had frozen part of a large red bell pepper, so I added it in.

This recipe uses quite a large amount of spices and oil.

Adapted from Oxymoron Curry Book : serves about 2 or 3 

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon cumin seed

1 clove garlic, slice thin

1/2 onion, sliced

2 small eggplants, rinsed cut into rough large bite sized pieces

1/2 red bell pepper, cut roughly into large bite sized pieces

4 okra, cut into half

1 tablespoon coriander powder

1 tablespoon curry powder

1/2 tablespoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 can of diced tomatoes (about 400 grams)

1 teaspoon shoyu

salt, pepper to taste

garam masala to taste

Heat the oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds

When you hear the seeds start to sizzle, add the garlic

When the garlic starts to get fragrant add the onions, eggplant, okra, red bell pepper

Coat everything well with the spices and oil

Add the canned tomatoes and dry spices

Bring everything to a boil then turn the heat down to simmer

Cover and cook for about 10 minutes

After the 10 minutes, remove the cover and let some of the liquid evaporate

Add the garam masala, salt and pepper to taste

Serve with rice or baguette

NOTES: caponata which is similar to ratatouille (I think) meets curry…

this was pretty easy to put together, very tasty and meatless.

We had this with rice and another time with baguette and both ways were delicious.

It was also good served warm & served cold.

The original recipe calls for whole cayenne peppers but I didn’t have any on hand, so I left it out. I guess I could have added powdered cayenne pepper, but didn't.

This was delicious and if I find zucchini, I'll try this again.

labels

I previously wrote about the amazing labels that our fruits and veggies have, here.

Well, when I bought a melon recently called "El Sol" I noticed that the label on it was even more amazing....

If you scan the QR code, you can tell what sweetness the melon is...WT?!

After scanning the QR code, it will bring you to this screen...the sweetness is 14.5, which is relatively sweet.

(16 is super sweet)

The screen will also tell you who grew the melon and what else the farmer grows.

 

I wondered how the heck do they tell how sweet the melon is without actually opening it up?

So, I looked around online and if I understood this correctly, they use a UV light to see how heavy and how sweet the fruit is...amazing yeah?!
 

fruitica

Came upon these tomatoes at Benny called Fruitica (I should've taken a photo of them when I first bought them)..I think there were 8 of them in the package.

So sweet!

They are about the size of golf balls and grown in Karatsu, Saga in Kyushu.

 Love how they also add the photo of the person who grew this.

I'm glad we tried this variety...looking forward to trying different tomatoes in the coming weeks.

kyo kurenai & sun celeb

During this time of year you can find Kintoki Ninjin, a variety of carrot used for Osechi and other New Year foods.

Most of the veggies that are used for New Years foods are pricey at this time of year.

Luckily, I came across this Kyo Kurenai, which is similar to the Kintoki, at the market.

One of the markets I go to has a corner for "homegrown" veggies, so they are cheaper and their shapes are "not perfect".

I like the deep orange color of these carrots.

I didn't think they tasted any different from the other variety of carrots, but it was nice to try.

Another item we tried is Sun Celeb oranges from Oita prefecture.

These boast the texture to be similar to gelatin.

These oranges were sweet, some had seeds, they were easy to peel and super juicy.

I'm glad we got to try these too.

Satoshi is back to work today (Sunday)...hope everyone is enjoying the start of the New Year.

Our governor is talking to the main branch of government to put us (Tokyo) into a state of emergency...since the main branch hasn't done this sooner....

Have a good week.

this and that

How cute are these teeny anpogaki from Fukushima prefecture?!

Where most anpogaki are gelatinous, this was more dried and firm.

Still delicious though.

On one of my trips to Shinagawa that I wrote about earlier this month, I had bought a small bag (33 grams) of these snackaballs made by Tom & Luke, a New Zealand company and had posted a picture on Instagram.

They contacted me and sent me two large bags (88 grams) of their snackaballs.

These are made from dates, cacao, almonds and coconut. 

They are gluten free and vegan, are great as snacks and I'm sure it will be nice with wine.

Thank you!

1st time making chikuzeni, which is similar to nishime.

It was pretty easy and fast to make because you cook everything in a shallow pan.

Chikuzeni adapted from "Aiba Manabu" : serves 4

100 grams gobo (burdock root)

150 grams renkon (lotus root)

1 carrot

250 grams boneless chicken thighs

150 grams konnyaku (devil's tongue jelly)

60 grams dried shiitake mushrooms

400 milliliters katsuo konbu (bonito & kelp) dashi (stock)

100 milliliters stock from reconstituted shiitake mushrooms

2 tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce)

2 tablespoons sake (rice wine)

2 tablespoons mirin (sweet rice wine)

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon oil

Cut the gobo and carrot into bite sized, rangiri style (which means random cutting), here is a link to show the rangiri cutting technique.

Cut the renkon into bite sized pieces.

With a spoon, cut the konnyaku into bite sized pieces.

Reconstitute the dried shiitake mushrooms, then cut into bite sized pieces.

Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces.

In a pan, heat the oil and then toss everything in to coat with the oil.

Add the stock, reconstituted shiitake liquid, shoyu, sake, mirin, sugar and bring to a boil.

Put an oshibuta (drop lid) on, turn the heat down to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes, longer if you want your veggies more tender.

NOTES: super easy! I didn't have dried shiitake, so I just used the shiitake stems I had in the freezer.

I didn't read the directions well and cut the konnyaku with a knife instead of using a spoon...oops!

Will definitely make this again.

Our numbers have sort of taken off, there is talk of another state of emergency “shutdown” but the main government wants to wait 3 weeks to see if our numbers can come down a little (they do not want to pay for another state of emergency)...for now Satoshi still goes into the office but on weekends and the weekdays he is off, we try to lay as low possible...take care everyone and have a safe weekend.

shiofuki piman

Super easy recipe that I saw on a television commercial.

It uses piman (bell pepper) and shiokonbu (seaweed that is seasoned then dried).

The bell peppers in Japan are very small like 4 inches long and 3 inches wide.

Shiofuki piman : adapted from Fujikko website : serves 2

3 piman (bell peppers), cleaned then sliced thin lengthwise

1 tablespoon shiofuki konbu

1 tablespoon sesame oil

sesame seeds

Heat the oil in a pan then add the bell peppers

When everything is coated with the oil, cook the bell pepper to your liking

Add the konbu and cook until the konbu's seasoning turn from white to black.

Sprinkle some sesame seed and serve.

NOTES: super easy, great for a side dish, for bento, for pupu (appetizer)/beer chaser.

The recipe actually uses a combination of red and green bell peppers, but I only had green on hand so that is what I used.

Since the bell pepper in the US are bigger you could probably use just 1 for the amount of shiofuki konbu I have written above.

You can alter the amount of konbu and bell peppers to your tastes.

I'll definitely make this again.

granola, oatmeal, this and that

After not being able to find oatmeal and having to buy some granola, I found a different brand of granola, this one only had a few ingredients in it, looking forward to tasting this one.

I notice that some brands of granola ingredients seem like the fruit is freeze dried?!  not really into this texture.

Hopefully this one will be different.
 

A couple of days later, I found oatmeal!

At my favorite market, I happened to go when the store opened and was able to get one of the three bags on the shelf!
 

Saturday, our first meal out was hotcakes at Civitas!

It was nice to have their hotcakes with ham, salad and fruits.

Our timing was nice because it was just before lunch time, also the shop monitored how many were seated to prevent crowding and after diners had finished, they wiped down the table and chairs with alcohol santizer.

(One thing I would do the next time we eat out would be to keep my mask on when ordering and keep it on until after we receive our food, taking the mask off just before eating only).

And then we got on the train for the first time in months and went to Okachimachi to shop at Takeya.

(While I was looking at the website of the company that makes the oatmeal I like to buy, I noticed that they also made this dark chocolate granola which I found at Takeya...they also made the granola that I bought the other week).

Looking forward to trying this one as well.

It's peach season!

This variety is called hanayome (literally flower bride)

This was a little green but very floral, the peel came off easily and was very juicy.

I found this beet at the store and it was huge!

I roasted it with this very unripe avocado...hoping both will be delicious.

The avocado turned out to be spongy after roasting, meh! but at least we didn’t waste it.

Have a good week!

suzunari farm

I ordered another veggie box from Tabechoku.

This time from Suzunari Farm, which is located on the Miura Penninsula in Kanagawa Prefecture.

It came with colorful carrots, leek, turnip, potatoes.

A beet, onion, red daikon, purple daikon, and basil.

I made some watermelon salad with part of the basil. 

Since I couldn't get feta cheese, I used mozzarella. 

I think I prefer feta for the salty bites.

For dinner I made some reishabu, which you blanch thin slices of pork in hot water then stop the cooking by putting it into cold water. 

The farm suggested that you make a leek sauce with their leeks. 

Instead of soaking the leeks in the sauce, I made the sauce and then topped the pork with the leeks and drizzled some of the sauce.

Here is the recipe for the leek sauce from Suzunari Farm.

120 cc vinegar

100 cc shoyu (soy sauce)

60 grams sugar

1 tablespoon sesame oil

2 tablespoons white sesame seeds

leeks, cleaned and thinly sliced

Mix sauce and add leeks.

Use over reishabu,  karaage (fried chicken) or even cold tofu.

NOTES: I didn't add the leeks to the sauce, but just drizzled the sauce and threw on some leeks onto the reishabu.

I think this sauce could be used as a dressing for somen salad or any salad for that matter.

Since I knew we wouldn't be able to eat everything in a timely manner, I blanched and froze half of the purple daikon and red daikon.

I'll use it to make cold soups during the summer.

I made some pickles using the beet, turnip, red daikon and purple daikon with the recipe came with the veggies.

This pickle recipe doesn't have salt in it, so we'll need to eat these up quickly.

Here is the recipe for the pickles.

Veggies, cleaned and sliced

120 cc water

180cc vinegar

3 or 4 tablespoons sugar

Bring pickling liquid ingredients to a boil and make sure the sugar melts.

Cool the pickling liquid.

Pour over veggies.

NOTES: these pickles do not last long, so don't be like me and make a lot at once.  

For the amounts I made (1 beet, 1 turnip, half the red daikon and half the purple daikon), I used 2 times the pickling liquid recipe.

I only put 3 tablespoons sugar and liked how puckery this was.

With part of a leek I made an omelette for breakfast and topped it with a little okonomiyaki sauce.

I made each pickles of the root veggies separately to keep the colors from bleeding into each other....love the different pinks!

For dinner Thursday night, I  baked potato with the kitaakari (a type of potato) in the fish grill drawer.

Wash the potato well, and cut into 4 without cutting all the way through.

Wrap in foil and put into the fish grill drawer on high for 10 minutes.

Turn the heat down to low and cook for 20 minutes.

Turn off the heat and let sit in the fish grill drawer for 15 minutes.

I drizzled some shoyu (soy sauce) and put a dollop of butter.

It took some time but this was so good!

It's been ages since I've had baked potato.

I washed part of the carrot greens and froze them to make pesto with it at a later date.

I also washed and froze the beet greens to use at a later date.

I grilled the white part of the leeks in the fish grill drawer and with ate this with some Murray River pink salt flakes.

I bought some fried squid and drizzled more leek sauce and topped with leeks.

We ate the colorful carrots as is...so crunchy and sweet!

It was fun to see so much color over the past couple of days.

The humidity is up and weather kind of wonky.

Not sure when our rainy season will start, but we've been laying low.

Satoshi's first week was rather short because he had his birthday and Friday off.

He said the trains are rather packed for parts of his commute.

Since he works in travel, he is hoping business will pick up, though realistically he knows that it will take some time.

Have a nice week.

beet hummus

I made beet hummus for the first time with a roasted beet I had in the freezer.

The deep pink/magenta color was perfect for the overcast weather.

1 roasted beet (about the size of a fist), peeled & sliced
1 can of garbanzo beans (380 grams), rinsed
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon sesame oil
4 tablespoons olive oil

In a food processor, whiz everything together to the consistency of your choice.

NOTES: I didn't have sesame paste (tahini) so I used sesame oil instead. My hummus didn't get creamy or a light pink, which I think was due to not using tahini.

Still, I'm glad I tried this.

I froze half and we enjoyed the rest for several dinners over the weekend.

Yesterday, we had snow! for most of the morning.

I think this helped everyone stay at home.

Japan does not have any laws that allow the government to mandate everyone to stay at home.

Because of this, they can only "ask" us to do so.

Many of the surrounding prefectures also "asked" their citizens to stay at home.

Most parks for hanami (cherry blossom viewing) are off limits so no one gathers, benches blocked off as well as park entrances.

Hoping we can cut our numbers this week, though we need the cooperation of everyone.

Have a good week.

hoshi yasai

Over the past couple of days, there has been talk of Tokyo being on lockdown.

Apparently the numbers we have been seeing on the news are actually 2 weeks or so old because of the virus incubation period.

Wednesday, I went to the market to pick a few more items so that if they did lock us down, we would be ready.

I picked up some hoshi yasai which is literally dried veggies.

I bought some kiriboshi daikon, daikon leaves and spinach.

I also got a kinpira gobo mix and hijiki mix.

Unfortunately, over the past couple of days many people have been out in crowds because the sakura (cherry blossoms) are in bloom and also because it is technically Spring Break.

I have lived in Japan for 19 years now and feel social distancing is something Japan does not do well.

Wednesday night, the governor of Tokyo asked everyone to stay home this weekend to see if we can get our numbers down (right now Tokyo has the most infected in Japan).

Soon after that announcement and early Thursday morning you should have seen the krazy lines at the markets and drugstores.

Hopefully everyone will get the message and stay home this weekend because if they don't, we will be on lockdown...

Take care everyone.