Beans

When cooking beans, it's important to know how high up you are.
If you're way above sea level, you'll probably want and need to cook them in a Pressure cooker. Especially if the beans are a year old or older. Otherwise, you may even cook them for 3 days, and they'll never soften up!

Pressure cooking cooks things quicker, but it's also good to simmer items the regular way after softening/cooking, to blend in the flavors.

Japanese Curry

In an attempt to make Curry from a box healthier...alternative...

First, I need to take out those potatoes!
The curry already has rice/bread with it, and there's starch in the curry cubes.
Don't need any MORE carbohydrates, do we!

Other alternative healthier additions may include:
Carrots
Onions
Corn
Asparagus
Mushrooms
Boiled egg
Can of Lentils (fiber!) - Kids love this one too!

...I have/had a long list somewhere.
Croquettes are good too, but high carbohydrate.
Pork Cutlets are good too.

Hiyashi Chuuka

Parboil ramen noodles, and top with :
chicken slices
cucumber slices
egg slices
parboiled bean sprouts
minced tomato on the top , middle.
Grated sesame to garnish.
Other topings might include:
sliver cut carrots ,
okra slices,
whole sesame garnish.
**Note: One person portion is generally 235 grams of noodles. **
This is important to keep the balance of toppings/noodles.

Soy Sauce Dressing: (serves 4)
Soy sauce 120ml
Japanese vinegar 150ml
sugar 3 TBS
Salt pinch
Sesame oil 2 TBS
Source: Meg.

Tomato Type Dressing: (serves 4)
Ground Sesame 2 tsp
Vinegar 4 TBS
Soy sauce 3 TBS
Sugar 2 TBS
Ketchup 2 tsp

Edit to add my favorite dressing:

Sesame Type Dressing: (serves 4)
Tori gara Soup 1/2 tsp (Japanese/Chinese mild Chicken soup stock)
Hot water 1 TBS
Water 1/3 cup
White ground sesame 5 TBS
2 TBS each: Soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, sugar.
Minced onion 5 cm
Salt and pepper to taste.

- Mix soup stock with hot water, then add water, and remaining ingredients.
Source: Meg. and Orange Page 2002. Aug. 2nd issue.
58 kcal, salt 2.9g

Beer - Raj (Test #4)

Ahhh, a taste of India!

Kind of reminds me of ... mustard, and pepper, just a little.
Deffinately good for a curry. Would still be able to taste the beer.

Just a little more bitter, on the sides of the tongue though, than Guiness.

The slower I drink, the more it reminds me of a bit of 'sweat'. Ewwww!
A little Sweenet Todd Elixer perhaps? lol...

Rating: 6.5/10
I think I'd rather have a Pale Ale, or better yet a Dead Frog Ale.

Beer - Krusovice (#2 testing)

Krusovice Imperial Premium Lager

Pretty good!
Light color, good taste.
I liked this one better than the one in my last post.
A good 'stable' beer, me thinks.

Not as fancy in tast as the first one I had, which was much darker and tasted like chocolate.

Admitedly, I can't find my notes on this one, I might come back and edit this post.

Originally what I was looking for in a beer. Between a Guiness and a Pale Ale. Good!

Rank: 8/10

Beer - Klumbacher (#3 tasting)

Klumbacher, Export : Mild ~
~hmmm.... kind of reminds me of a typical American beer, with a little more 'soda' taste, and a bit of a bitter aftertaste.
Light in color.

Rating: 7/10, simply, because if I have to buy a beer, I'd might as well buy some local brew instead of this. However, if I'm overseas, then maybe this one will make me feel as if I'm 'back home'.

Seafood Consomme

Similar to Happousai.
Stir fry vegetables over rice/fried egg noodles.

TOPPING: (serves 1):
Scallops (edible raw) 2, sliced
Squid 50g, sliced, cross hatched
Prawns 50g, ready to fry
Green bokchoy (or hakusai) 1 bunch/fist full
Shiitake mushrooms 2 (sliced or halfed, soaked)

SAUCE:
Stock 200ml - light flavor Chicken (Tori gara soup)
salt 1/2 tsp
pepper dash
sugar dash
oyster sauce 1/2 tsp
cornflour starch 2 TBS

Directions:
Boil seafood in 2 cups water, 1 TBS oil, 1TBS salt.
Add bok choy to parboil, and drain all.
Boil stock in pan, add bok choy, mushroom, salt pepper and sugar.
In sauce bowl, add starch to a little water, mix.
Add seafood to stock.
Pour starch over, and mix to thicken.
Place over noodles or rice.

----------------------
Noodles:
1 package fresh egg noodles.
Boil lots of water, 1 TBS oil, add noodles,
disentange noodles while cooking.
boil for 10 - 15 seconds.
put under running water, drain.
Add 1 TBS of oil and mix well.
Heat 3 TBS ol in a wok, add noodles.
Cook unitl both sides turn brown and serve on plate.
Top with above seafood mixture.

440 kcal/serving
Source: Chinese cooking - Japanese style-

Happousai

Eight item Chinese stirfry.(Happou-sai)
I'm looking for my recipe on this.
We ended up purchasing the Cook-Do sauce mix instead.

Base Ingredients included:
(expensive items have been set aside by Cook-Do)
Sliced pork 100 g
Squid slices 100g
Chinese Hakusai cabbage 250g
carrot 1 small
green pepper 1/2

Also available are canned quail eggs.
(Did you know that production of Quali eggs is banned in India?)
So now I debate placing them into our dinner.

Ingredients for sauce on the Cook-Do package include:
Soy oil
Sesame oil
Ginger
Garlic
Sugar
Denbu powder (starch 1TBS)
salt
soy sauce
vinegar
oyster sauce
black powdered pepper
pork/chicken essence

Summer Vegetables

Summer vegetables for cooking seasonally and cheaply are:
(June to September)

Cucumber
tomato
mushrooms
green beans
zucchini
pumpkin squashes
eggplant
green pepper
niniku no me (garlic stems)
pumpkin
nira (garlic chives)
shishito - orka like green peppers
okra
potato

FRUITS:
Nashi - pear
peach
strawberries (~until May)
melons ( from May)

Udon

UDON SOUP BASE:

5 cups water
2 1/2 inches Konbu (thick seaweed kelp)
1 1/2 cups bonito tuna flakes
** ((OR 1 litre water + 8g stick konbu seaweed dashi))
2 TBS mirin
1 TBS sugar
1/2 cup light color soy sauce (don't put in too much)

Makes 2-3 servings

-----------------------
A simple Udon topping can be any 2-3 of the following items:
- carrots julienne cut strips
- spinach - parboiled
- egg - whole boiled and cut in half
- green onions - cutat angle
- shiitake mushroom - softened and cut in half, cut off stem.
- ( chicken breast, cooked and sliced)
- ( satsumaage - fish paste burger slices)


------------------------
recipes to follow.

Gomae for Spinach

Spinach- parboiled, cooled and squeeze water out using sushi roll bamboo mat.

GOMAE-
Use a mortar and pestle, or food processor to blend together:
Sesame - 4 TBS
Sugar - about 1/2 tsp
Salt - about 1/4 tsp or less
Katsuo - tuna fish shavings
Once blended, add a little soy sauce over the top.

Daikon leaves

If you can find daikon with leaves, you can easily make this as a topping for rice.

Cut the leaves off the stem, very close to where the leaves attach to the daikon.
Try to use 100g of daikon leaves.
CUt into 5mm pieces to make small cubes.
Throw out the stem.
Cut 200g of daikon (1/2 fist worth) for use. Mince into small cubes.

Place Daikon into fry pan with
3 TBS Soysauce
2 TBS sake
1 TBS sesame oil
Fry until cooked. Done.
You can keep this in the refrigerator for a few days.

Oden

ODEN SOUP STOCK:

8 cups seaweed soup stock (or 4 tsp Dashi with 8 cups water)
4 TBS soy sauce
3 TBS cooking sake
2 TBS mirin
1 tsp salt
*If you have it, some MUSUBI KONBU (thick, tied seaweed strip), would add alot of flavor also.
*If you just have KONBU (kelp? thick seaweed) then let it simmer for a while, in the soup stock, then take it out before adding other ingredients.

PICK ANY INGREDIENTS:
Daikon - peeled 1/4 rings 1 finger thick
Carrot - peeled and horizontal thick slices
Tofu - large bite size
Shiitake Mushrooms - 2 per person
Egg - pre-boiled and peeled
Pea Pods - for color
Chikuwa - fish paste tubes
Satsuma-age - fish paste 'burgers'
Fish paste balls
Omochi pouches - age tofu with mochi inside
Karashi - spicy mustard
Toothpicks - for mochi pouches
Udon noodles - flour base thick white noodles
potato - peeled and halfed
Mushroom - golden round
Suji - grey fish paste (can be homemade)
Mini - cabbage rolls with toothpick to tie shut.
Ginko Nuts - peeled and cooked, 3 per skewer

Making Fried Tofu pouches with Mochi -
1) To prepare pouches, pour boiling hot water over them to get rid of excess oil. Let cool and squeeze out remaining water.
2)Cut one edge of Age Tofu, being sure not to cut too much tofu. Separate open edge gently to make a pouch. Place a small square piece of Omochi in it, and the cut strip of tofu, then sew the opening shut with a toothpick. These need about 10-15 minutes of simmering in the Oden soup to soften before eating.

Udon - pre-boiled noodles after other ingredients have been eaten.
Serve with a blob of spicy mustard on the side of each bowl.
Eat with a side of rice.

Flavored Egg

You can use this inside Ramen

4 large eggs
STOCK:
400 cc dashi or chicken stock
40cc soy sauce
60cc sugar or black sugar

DIRECTIONS:
In boiling water, add eggs. Cook only 6 minutes.
Immediately rince in cold water and let cool. Peel.

POINT* use room temperature eggs for boiling.
POINT* If you poke the egg with a needle before it gets hard, and if you stir the eggs at the beginning, the yolk will be in the center of the egg when cooked. (I just stir the eggs.)

Mix the ingredients in a bowl.
heat, and let cool. Once the Stock is cool, put in the peeled eggs, and cool in refrigerator 12 hours. take out of stock, and cut in half to serve on Ramen, or it is also good whole in a lunch.

*I usually am lazy, and just put the eggs into the hot stock and into the refrigerator. It works a bit faster this way.
*It's probably a good idea to eat these within 24 hours.

Greens and beef on Ramen

INGREDIENTS:
Soysauce flavored ramen package.
1/2 TBS oil
200g komatsuna greens (or spinach)
2 TBS water
1/2 tsp oil
150g beef thinly sliced (3mm)
1 TBS sake
1 tsp sugar
1 TBS soy sauce

DIRECTIONS:
Boil water for Ramen.

In frypan:
add 1/2 TBS oil,
fry 200g komatsuna green leaf vegetables (spinach substitute)
add 2T water, steam with lid on for 2 minutes. Drain.

Fry together in clean frypan:
1/2 tsp oil
thin sliced beef 150g
1 TBS sake
1 tsp sugar
1 TBS soy sauce
Mix.
Add cooked Komatsuna, mix.

Cook ramen noodles, prepare in bowl with soup stock.
Top with meat/greens topping.
place a spoon of tobanjan for topping.

Serves 2, 552 cal/serving
Source: Orange page

Chinese Cold Tofu Hiyayako

This is one of my favorite summer dishes!



INGREDIENTS:
2 pack hard momen tofu
200 g Garlic stems(round,long green garlic stems)
140g ground pork
1 tomato
2 tsp sesame oil

TOPPING:
4 TBS sake
2 TBS oyster sauce
2 TBS soy sauce
1 tsp tobanjan

DIRECTIONS:
cut garlic stems into short 5mm lengths (makes cubes),
deseed tomato and cut to 1cm cubes.
cut tofu into 8 pieces.

Mix together Topping ingredients into a small bowl,set aside.

In a fry pan, add some sesame oil, on high, add garlic stems and minced pork, cooking into small pieces. When the meat changes color, add the topping mixture.
and cook untill the topping liquid evaporate.

Place tofu onto 4 plates (2 pieces each). Top with meat sauce and tomatoes.

*Note: Garlic stems can be frozen.
Serves 4, 291cal/serving
From Orange Page , summer 1994, Isogashii hito no kantan okazu.

Chicken miso topping w/variations

INGREDIENTS:300 g ground chicken
1/2 cup sake
100g sugar
200 g miso

DIRECTIONS:
In a pot, on medium, add chicken and sake, cook well, mixing.
When color changes, add sugar and miso.
On low heat, mix to thicken 7-8 minutes.
Keeps in refrigerator 5-6 days.

OTHER USES:
1) As a vegetable dip:
Use 4 TBS with some white mild powder pepper to accent.

2) Soboro Topping for stewed pumpkin and green beans:To serve 4, Into pot, take
5-6 TBS chicken miso, and
1/2 cup water, add
200g microwaved kabocha pumpkin and
100g string beans.
Add 1/2 tsp soy sauce, and
stew on medium until sauce thickens.

3) Over Tofu steak:
In a pot, add
2 tsp sesame oil,
1/2 tsp TOBANJAN,
1 tsp minced ginger,
1 TBS minced onion,
chicken miso 5-6 TBS, cook. Add
1 tomato cut into 2cm pieces, mix, done.
Serve over top tofu fried on both sides with sesame oil.

Fried spicy miso tofu

1 pack Momen hard tofu, large square flat pieces
150g ground pork
1 green pepper cut into 6, (or 6 shishito peppers,deseeded)

SAUCE:
2 1/2 TBS Sugar
1 1/2 TBS Soy sauce
1 TBS Miso
1 tsp Tobanjan
pepper

corn starch, salad oil, sesame oil.


DIRECTIONS:
Drain the tofu well for 20 minutes.
Cut tofu in half horizontally (2 flat slabs),
then make 16 pieces total (large bite sizes).
Prepare sauce in small bowl.
In separate small bowl, mix 1/2 TBS starch and 1 TBS water, set aside.

In a fry pan, add 1/2 TBS salad oil on medium heat.
cook ground pork into small pieces, add green peppers cook.
Add the sauce mixture, mix well.
Add the tofu and then the water/starch mixture. Mix again to thicken.
sprinkle with sesame oil.

Taken from Orange Page 1998 August 17 issue.
Time: 15 minutes
181 cal/serving
Serves 4.

Spicy stewed Konyaku

INGREDIENTS:
2 konyaku packs,
1/2 round onion, minced
1 piece ginger, minced
1 tsp tobanjan

BROTH:
1 1/2 cups dashi soup stock
1 TBS sugar
2 TBS soy sauce

DIRECTIONS:
Prepare bite size spoon size pieces of konyaku, with a spoon.
Cover with water in pot, bring to a boil, then drain.
(To take out impurities).
In a pot add broth, onion and ginger, bring to a boil.
Add konyaku, bring to another boil.
Low heat. Add tobanjan, simmer until liquids evaporate.

Serves 4
21 kal per serving
cooking time : 15 minutes.
From: Orange Page Table No.5, Obaachan no Aji

Soy, Miso notes

The difference between Miso with and without Dashi:
If you want the NON dashi Miso to taste good, the point is to cook the soup normally, then at the end, parch? the soup by pouring it into a sizzling hot pot just before serving. This scortches the miso to flavor it more.
(Taken from Osen TV drama, Spring 2008)...

Cloudy vs. Clear Miso soup:
If you bring the soup to a boil, then the soup and stock will separate.
The point is to not boil the soup, so it will be consistently cloudy.

How much miso for soup?
Typically one tablespoon, flattened of miso per bowl of soup.

Usu.kuchi Soy Sauce:
Means light in COLOR, not light in salt.

Mixed Egg Soup

1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 cups Soup stock (dashi)
1 tsp. mirin
1/2 tsp. light color soy sauce (use less regular)
1/3 tsp. salt
1/2 TBS starch
green or sesame for garnish.

DIRECTIONS:
mix starch with 1 TBS water, set aside.
Medium. Boil soup stock, add mirin, soy sauce and salt.
Remove from heat, mix in the starch/water mixture, return to heat.
Cook to thicken.
Slowly add the beaten egg by drizzling it from chopsticks, mixing slowly.
Low heat to cook egg through.
Garnish.

Serves: 2
56 calories
From: Orange Page, Oryouri 1 nensei, Winter 1991

Daikon Salad

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 daikon, thick strips
1 carrot, strips
1/2 seedless cucumber
*Optional - a little canned corn.
*Optional - sliced sandwich meat.

DRESSING:
Mayonnaise
dabble of soy sauce
white sesame seeds

DIRECTIONS:
Salt and knead the daikon for 10 minutes, then squeeze out the excess water.
Rinse and pat dry. Add remaining ingredients and mix with the dressing.

From: I think it's from, Light and Easy, Salads with Style.
I've lost this cookbook. I think I left it in India.

Beer - Lobcowicz Baron (#1 testing)

Beer, me? Unlikely, or so I thought. Any woman might tell you that their taste buds change after giving birth. Since I had my boys' I've been able to drink just a little beer. I've worked my way up to a 500ml pint. I consider this quite a large accomplishment because now, if I am asked to go out to a pub with a group of beer drinkers, I can at least participate. So for Mother's Day, my mom handed me quite a few different beers, because I was simply having a difficult time at the liquor store trying to decide which ONE bottle to purchase. My taste has quickly gone to the darker Pale Ale's and even Dark German beers, which I find have a bit too much bitter bite to them, but they are good for a slow leisurely drink and talk.

So here I am, sitting with Lobkowicz Baron 500ml bottle in front of me. I had it in the refrigerator, but it doesn't seem COLD to me, which may be a good thing. Poured out of the bottle, it has a nice tan colored 'foam' like head on it, kind of looks like a Mr.Clean magic eraser sponge with no large bubbles popping, and little carbonation. It looks dark brown, cherry wood color with no amber type of color. Kind of 'dirt' if dirt were a beer! It actually looks like a dark rootbeer! When I taste it, it tastes kind of like...chocolate? Not really bitter. Kind of watery texture to it. I would have expected it to be alot more difficult to drink, if you base drinks on their look. Creamy taste, milk tea maybe? Malt.

So I have enjoyed my first "Bohemian" beer from Vysoky Chlumec, Czech Republic.
Can't leave without a visualization of the town it's made in. Here are some photos of the area:
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=megaup&va=vysoky+chlumec&sz=all
I think the village looks old woodsy, but light hearted people. Nice match to the beer.

I think I'll go eat some Walnuts to accompany this beer, or maybe find a Beer FESTIVAL! Yeah. That's what this beer is made for!

Thumbs up. :-)
Happy factor: 85%-90%
Local similar taste: Dead Frog , Nut Brown, - chocolate, espresso flavor.



Another profile of this beer if you would like more information:
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/167/442/

Pancakes : Kids say the Darnest things !

A dear friend of mine once said, "Pancake mixes are the biggest scam going." (You know who you are.) And I've been thinking of that comment for quite a while...off and on. So after a couple years of searching, I've come up with a recipe that my kids enjoy, request, and is from scratch. I *think* it's from the Wooden Spoon Cookbook. What prompted me to post this recipe?
Well, they slept over at a freind's house on the weekend, because mommy needed a break. ((THANK YOU!!)) In the morning, said dear friend pulls out her box of pancake mix. Great. ... and THEN one or more of my kids said the darndest thing: "My mom makes her pancakes from scratch, and they don't come out of a box, and they taste REALLY good!" True enough, this is one thing all three of my kids request, but it's not what I imagined them saying to a friend who's doing me a favor! So here's the recipe:

Fluffy Flapjacks
Sift together dry ingredients, set aside:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
----
Make buttermilk (sour milk) Wet ingredients, set aside:
1 1/2 cups milk
a good squeeze of lemon juice
----
In a second bowl (yolk mixture):
Beat 3 egg YOLKS,
blend in 1 tablespoon sugar,
and 1/4 cup melted butter.
----
To the second bowl (yolk mixture) add:
1/3 dry mix
3/4 cup buttermilk mix
alternate to mix all.
----
Beat and FOLD into the second bowl:
3 egg whites

Makes 12-13 1/3 cup size flapjacks.

Corn Cream Soup

Cream Corn can (235g)
Milk 1 cup
Vegetable soup stock 1/2 tsp.
Salt
Pepper
Parsley for garnish.

Serves: 2
134 calories per serving
Adapted from : Orange Page, Oryouri 1 NenSei, Winter 1991

Mabo Tofu

INGREDIENTS:
1 pack (350g) Hard Momen Tofu
100g ground pork
1 clove garlic
1 clove thin sliced ginger
5 cm round onion
1 TBS salad oil
1 TBS cooking sake
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dobanjan (Chinese red chili sauce)
1 1/2 TBS soy sauce
2 tsp corn starch
1/2 TBS sesame oil
2 stems green onion to garnish

DIRECTIONS:

PREPARE: (10 minutes)
Cut tofu through horizontally, and vertically to make small cubes.
Let sit in a collander to drain.
Crush and mince garlic
Mince ginger
Dice onion
Place cornstarch in cup with 1 TBS water


COOK: (10 minutes)
High heat to make a hot frypan, add oil.
Medium heat, add salad oil and onions. Mix.
Add garlic, ginger and onions, cook 30 seconds.
High heat, add pork, mix and cook.
Add dobanjan and cook well.
**Note: The longer the dobanjan cooks the spicier the dish will become.
Cook unill moisture is gone.
Add cooking sake, 1/2 cup water on high. Mix.
Add sugar, and soy sauce.
Fold in tofu, cook 1-2 minutes, mixing.
Add the cornstarch mixed with water. Stir gently.
Sprinkle with sesame oil, garnish with green onions.




Serve with: Rice
389 calories per serving
From: Orange Page, Oryouri 1 nen sei, 1991 Winter.
Total cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves: 2

Pantry Ingredients

Here's a list of my basic pantry ingredients:
I'll keep adding to the list as ingredients come to mind.

PANTRY:
Mirin -
Japanese soy sauce -
Cooking Sake -
Sesame Oil -
Japanese rice vinegar -
Dashi - Japanese fish stock-
Many dry spices, mostly indian-

REFRIGERATOR:
Dou.ban.jan 豆板醤- Chinese chili bean sauce. - Mabo Dofu, Mabo nasu, Spicy Konyaku.
Ko.chu.jang - Korean spicy miso paste. - Chichimi, ...
Ten.men.jan 甜麵醬- Chinese sweet miso paste. - Tantan Ramen, Mabo nasu, Hoikourou meat nabe, jyajyamen.
Dark Japanese miso - out of necessity.
Light Japanese 'country' miso with pieces of soy in it - for me.
Box of staples: carrots, onions, potatoes. Always available.

Semi-vegetarian - dashi (fish) stock, or chicken used.

Guu Stuff

I've decided to start listing some of my recipes here.

Mostly because:
1) I have alot of recipes that get 'lost' among the maybe 100 cookbooks,
2) I'm getting tired of looking at the Japanese,
3) It would be alot easier to have my own photo with English instructions,
4) My cookbooks are getting old and tattered, and need preserving somehow.
5) Someone might find this page interesting and helpful.

These days we are light on the meat (100g of meat per person), and more vegetarian type meals. Also, no, I am not a chef, but often resort to cooking for my family as a form of stress releif.

I cook mostly the following types of foods:
Japanese,
Asian fusion,
Some Indian food,
Some Japanese-Chinese,
Some Korean food,
Dabble in Thai but don't like Cilantro.