Category Archives: japanese 日本食

bento for the little one (onigiri rice balls & rolled cabbage 8/feb/16)

08/02/2016

menu: onigiri (rice balls) with shirasu (baby sardines) & spinach, rolled cabbage, carrots, green beans and cherry tomato

raspberries with yogurt & honey for dessert





onigiri is one of the most typical recipes for bento box. it is rice ball with some seasoning/garnish with nori seaweed, and its name comes from a verb “nigiru“, which means “to grasp” or “to hold”. most people must know what onigiri is, but to clarify it is a bit different from sushi from various aspects – sushi rice is prepared with rice vinegar, sugar & salt, whereas onigiri rice is with just a pinch of salt. sushi usually comes with THE most fresh ingredients, such as raw fish or shellfish, but onigiri is prepared with cooked or preserved ingredients such as grilled salmon flakes or umeboshi, pickled sour plums (by the way, i cannot eat umeboshi because of its sourness – oh dear so unjapanese of me, my mum must be so cross with me for this). shape wise, sushi has this small boat-like shape, while onigiri usually has either round or triangle form. sushi is usually bite size, while onigiri is much bigger and fills you up quite quickly (usually an onigiri is made with the portion of a small bowl of rice). we eat sushi more on special occasions, whereas onigiri is rather everyday food. sushi is luxurious and elegant, while onigiri is rustic and homey. sushi, expensive, onigiri, cheep! ….maybe that’s enough explanation 😉

for LO’s bento today, i prepared nori seaweed separately from rice ball, so that it will remain dry & crisp. but you can also put it on rice ball beforehand if you prefer nori being rather soggy. it’s totally up to you.

today’s side dish, rolled cabbage, is just some leftover from the evening before. it is pork mince pâté wrapped & rolled in a cabbage leaf, and cooked in chicken bouillon. i used sliced pancetta and thyme to give extra flavour.

i hope LO liked my another effortless bento today.

bento for the little one (lotus root curry rice 3/feb/16)

04/02/2016

menu: lotus root curry & rice, sliced veg salad, eggs & spinach salad

apple mousse & yogurt for dessert


last evening when i was about to cook i found renkon, lotus root, in our fridge that i had bought for some other dish but ended up not using. since i didn’t feel like cooking the dish i had originally planned, i made curry out of it (such a convenient and easy dish to prepare with a help of japanese-adapted curry roux). it turned out really nice, with the crunchy texture of renkon matching very well with the saucy spicy curry. i used chicken mince with it, which added roundness and depth to the flavour.

bento for the little one (udon noodles – 28 jan 16)

28/01/2016

menu:

udon noodles with chicken & tofu, spinach egg omelet, tomato & cucumber salad

organic grape jelly (bought at a shop) & fresh strawberries for dessert




today, LO is back at daycare after staying home for a week because of a flu. we say that udon (japanese noodles made of wheat flour) soup noodles are good for digestion and often eat them while being ill. i remember my mum’s udon – simple but tasty and gentle for your stomach… my comfort food. i just cannot bring myself to feeding my little one a cracker with a slice of cheese when she is ill, while it is what my husband (he’s dutch) craves when he doesn’t feel well. cheese is one of the last things to come to my mind… but i know this goes way back to your childhood and is deeply rooted to your senses… it’s funny how cultural differences can be discovered so randomly in situations like this. i wonder how our LO’s tasting pallet develops as exposed as she is to such versatile choices of food.

udon soup noodles (serving for 4)

ingredients:

– 400g udon noodles (store bought)

– 800cc – 1,000cc japanese fish broth

– 1 small (or 100g) carrot (thinly sliced, roughly into 1cm x 3cm rectangular slices)

– 100g daikon, japanese radish (thinly sliced, roughly into 1cm x 3cm rectangular slices)

– 15cm japanese negi/ spring onion, roughly sliced

– 100g chicken thigh (cut into small bite pieces)

– 1/4 of fresh tofu, diced

– 2 table spoons of japanese sake (can be omitted)

– 1 tea spoon of salt

– 2 – 3 table spoons of say sauce (start with 1, and add to your liking)

– 1 – 2 table spoons of japanese mirin (alternatively, just a pinch of sugar)

– for garnish & extra colour, chopped japanese mitsuba leaves or cooked spinach or thinly sliced leek

directions:

1. in a medium sized pan, pour the broth and put carrots, daikon & leek slices and bring them to boil.

2. lower the heat but keep it boiling, and gently remove any residue coming up to the surface

2. add chicken and boil for another 5 minutes or so. make sure to remove residue

3. once carrots & daikon are soft, add sake, salt, say sauce and mirin to taste. make sure that soup tastes to your liking here

4. add udon, brings the soup to gentle boil, lower the heat and cook for another 3 – 5 minutes or so (depending on the thickness of the udon)

5. add tofu at the very end, stir gently so that tofu gets warm

6. place the soup and noodles in a deep bowl, place the garnish at the center

bento for the little one (salmon rice – 20 jan 16)

20/01/2016

main dish of the day: one of the little one’s favorite dishes, grilled salmon mixed in rice

menu: grilled salmon flakes mixed in rice with sesame & nori seaweed seasoning, cooked pumpkin in dashi broth, cherry tomato, omelet with spinach

mikan (similar to mandarine orange) for dessert



in Japan we eat a lot of grilled fish. some everyday even for breakfast, others maybe every other day. we have a fish grill embedded in our kitchen stove, which is common here and very handy.

this morning i grilled salmon filet (marinated with salt beforehand) while preparing for breakfast, and once done, mixed its flakes into a bowl of rice and a pinch of salt to taste. it’s always nice to sprinkle some seasoning on top for presentation.
fish grill in our kitchen. look at the cute little fish sign above the dial at far right

bento for the little one (hijiki – 18 jan 16)

18/01/2016

new year’s resolution: post bento images as much as possible.

today’s menu: hijiki (cooked hijiki sea weed with chicken & carrots), tamago (omelet), cherry tomatoes, broccoli & rice with sesame seasoning

homemade apple mousse and diced banana for dessert



hijiki is full in mineral and iron. Very good for kids.

hijiki

ingredients:

dried hijiki – fistful (lightly rinse, soak in water for 15 min, drained)

1 small carrot (sliced in julienne)

100g chicen thigh (cut into small pieces)

1 tbsp oil

2 tbsp sake

2 – 5 tbsp water

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

directions:

1.in a medium sized frying pan, put oil and stir fry chicken and carrots in medium heat for 3 minutes or so

2. add sake and fry further until carrots are soft

3. add hijiki, stir fry further. add water as required so the hijiki keeps moist

4. once hijiki is tender, add soy sauce and sugar, stir a bit and turn off the heat.

temaki sushi (hand-roll sushi) party – how to make delicious sushi rice

08/11/2012

temaki sushi is a type of sushi we eat at home, usually in a special occasion when a group of people gather together. “te” means “hand” + “maki” means “roll” = hand-roll sushi – in my family we call it “temaki” for short.

all you have to do is to prepare sushi rice, a pile of seaweed (called “nori“), fresh fish (assorted sashimi) and other sushi ingredients (tamago (japanese omelet), herb, some veggies, etc.) and make your own sushi rolls at the table as you eat. it is easy & quick to prepare, entertaining & fun for your guests, and most importantly very delicious. when you eat, you place your rice on top of the nori, place the topping to your liking, roll it all together and dip it into the soy sauce – and boom! you will experience the taste of japanese culinary delights.

here are some images from the sushi party we had the other day with some friends:


the trick to make temaki-sushi taste authentic is to cook the sushi rice right. it’s not hard as long as you have the right ingredients and follow the steps properly.

sushi rice recipe: (serves 3 – 4 ppl)

– 3 cups of rice, freshly cooked with a 5cm dried kelp seaweed
(ideally use japanese rice, which is sticker and juicier than basemati/jasmin rice for example. i usually cook japanese rice in rice cooker with water filed to the designated measurement or 3 cups of water. you don’t want to make it too dry nor too wet)

– 80ml of rice vinegar
– 50g of sugar (i use brown sugar which gives a bit more depth to the taste)
– 15g of salt

* the amount of sugar seems a lot, but it is the right measurement. just stick to the numbers above, and you’ll be successful!
** this is the rice vinegar i use – it is the most typical kind in the market i think. you should be able to find it in a local japanese/asian grocery store

directions:

1. as mentioned above, cook rice with a dried kelp seaweed

2. in a small bowl, mix the vinegar, sugar, salt, and stir

3. once the rice is cooked, pour it into a big wooden bowl

4. take out the kelp, and quickly mix the rice with a spatula (mix it as if “slicing” or “cutting” the rice – don’t “knead” as it damages the rice)

5. once the rice is evenly divided in the bowl, pour in the sushi vinegar mixture while the rice is still hot, and toss the rice while waving the steam off using a fan until the mixture is well-incorporated (again, slicing/cutting it so as to avoid damaging the grains of rice)

this is it!

*** by using the fan to wave the steam off, the sushi rice becomes shiny yet not too sticky. you can serve it when it is still warm, or leave it aside until it gets a little cooler. i wouldn’t recommend it to put into the fridge, as it makes the texture of rice harder than desired for sushi.

enjoy your temaki with whatever ingredients you like!

(one of the super easy ingredients is a can of tuna mixed with mayonnaise – you can eat it with cucumber sticks in the roll. believe me, it is surprisingly yummy)

spring is nearly there – recipe for my mom’s kajiki nimono, simmered sword fish 

05/03/2012

we have been experiencing a long winter in tokyo this year. although it is already march, the temperature has not gone up at all yet. today i’m still wearing this thick winter sweater which makes me look like a cotton candy.

fortunately however, the shelves in our neighborhood supermarket have started to be filled up with spring vegetables with bright colours of green and yellow. one of my favorite vegetables, ‘nanohana (菜の花, field mustard),’ was also there, and the menu for that night was decided.

i made nanohana rice（菜の花ご飯）, which is freshly cooked rice with kelp, mixed with boiled nanohana (field mustard), shirasu (しらす, whitebait), takuan (たくあん, japanese pickles) and sesame seeds. on the side, i made mixed mushrooms in dashi broth, and my mom’s famous sword fish nimono (煮物、simmered) to go with it.

since the recipe for the nanohana rice is very simple as mentioned above, today i would like to share the recipe for my mom’s famous sword fish nimono. you will be amazed how easy it is to make, and how delicious it turns out to be with such little effort.

mom’s famous sword fish nimono

ingredients (serves 2 people)

2 filets of sword fish (1.5 – 2cm thickness, fresh!)
1 tea spoon of sake (or white wine would do, just to get rid of the fishy smell)
2 table spoons of soy sauce
3+ table spoons of mirin (if no mirin, try it with 2 table spoons of honey)

directions:

1. first, in a small sized pan, bring the liquid mix into boil in medium heat
2. in the boiling pan, place the sword fish filet very gently
3. bring it to boil again, and lower the heat (but not too low, keep it boiling)
4. gently cover the fish with a sheet of aluminum foil in order to circulate the heat evenly (this is called ‘otoshi-buta (落とし蓋）’, which literal translation is ‘dropping lid’.
5. keep simmering (boiling) it for 2 – 3 minutes
6. remove the aluminum foil, and scoop the sauce and pour it over the fish again and again for a minute or so
7. the fish should be cooked after 5 – 6 minutes. when it is cooked but the flesh still soft and moist, remove the filets from the pan and place them on plates
8. bring the rest of the sauce in the pan to boil and when it thickens a bit, pour it over to the fish filet

it is very important to first boil the liquid mix and then cook the fish.

召し上がれ (meshiagare)!

Mum’s nikudon 肉丼 (pork on rice)

14/02/2012

every now and then, i get a craving for this dish called “nikudon,” which is pan fried marinated pork slices on top of a bowl of white rice. to be precise, it should be called “buta (pork) don” instead of “niku (meat) don,” but it is just the way my mom always calls it for whatever reason.

i am not a big fan of meat dishes to be honest, but i do love this donburi dish. it has many elements of what i like in food. it provides you this tasty juice of the pork, mixed with the saltiness of soy sauce and a little sweetness from the mirin sauce and sugar, and then this meaty texture gets blended into the purity of freshly cooked rice and the crunchy, cold texture of the cabbage slices… oh heavenly.

the recipe below is how my mom prepares it. make sure to get the correct ratio in the marinade mixture!

mom’s nikudon (pork on rice)

ingredients (for 2 people):

200 – 250g pork slices (sliced just like bacon. better with some fatty part too)
2 tbsp of salad oil
1 tbsp of sugar

marinade:
1 tbsp of japanese sake (if you don’t have it, use white wine)
2 tbsp of soy sauce
3+ tbsp of mirin (if you don’t have it, use honey, but 2 tbsp only)

2 bowls of freshly cooked rice
2 – 3 leaves of fresh cabbage, thinly sliced and washed in cold water (drain the water thoroughly)

directions:

1) pour in the marinade mix into a medium sized bowl
2) place the pork slices into the marinade. leave them aside for 30 minutes or so
3) heat a medium to large sized frying pan in medium heat, pour in the oil, and place the pork slices into the pan (be careful not to put the heat too high, otherwise the oil gets splashed due to the marinade). you can put all the marinade in as well
4) cook the pork slices until the colour gets golden brown and the marinade juice thickens
5) sprinkle the sugar over the pork slices and mix one last time
6) put the rice in a bowl each
7) place the sliced cabbage on top
8) on top of 7), nicely place the pork slices

it satisfies your taste buds as well as your appetite! great food for kids too, as it’s very yummy and nutritious.

hope you’ll like it!

—————–

– if you like donburi dishes, here is a recipe for “tori-don” chicken donburi

and “oyakodon” chicken & egg donburi

– have a look at my dauaghter’s kindergarten nikudon bento

– here is another popular recipe, oshiruko (sweet red bean soup), from Small Tokyo Kitchen

 

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/smalltokyokitchen/

food for thought – my father’s birthday lunch at a unagi (freshwater eel) restaurant

19/09/2011

yesterday, my husband and i took my parents to a unagi, freshwater eel, restaurant for my father’s 65th birthday. it was a humble request from my dad to go to a unagi place, because unagi can be a bit expensive for an ordinary middle class family. my dad loves una-ju (うな重）, which is filets of char-grilled unagi marinated in special soy sauce-based sauce, placed on top of freshly cooked japanese rice, served in a beautiful lacquered-ware box. the combination of the charcoal aroma on the crispy surface of unagi filets, their texture being so soft inside, the thick, almost pasty savoury sweet sauce on top of fresh shining white rice gives an amazing joy to all of your five senses.

while indulging ourselves to the luxurious unagi meal, our conversation drifted back to our childhood.

when i was growing up, we used to frequently eat una-ju at home, which were delivered from a neighbourhood unagi restaurant. my father used to own a small pharmaceutical business back then, which was quite lucrative at that time and hence we never had to worry about money. whenever we felt like it, we simply made a phone call and the una-ju boxes were delivered at our front door in half an hour. my father, a unagi lover already back then and super busy business man, stuffed only the filets of unagi in his mouth, leaving like a wind, handing over the juicy, sauce-soaked rice to my baby sister (who happened to love the rice bit, rather than the filet bit). una-ju was part of the list of our regular menu, and i shamefully admit that i had never specifically appreciated how lucky we were at that time.

things drastically changed after the japanese bubble economy burst in the early 90’s, and my father had to fold his business completely. we literally lost everything – our home, our lifestyle, many friends, contacts with some relatives – left our suburban hometown and started all over our new life from scratch in a mega urban city.

my sister and i have moved on, finished our education with a help of some money my parents managed to secure for us, our dear aunties and some scholarship, found our own jobs and started our own family. my parents, ever since we left our hometown, have been leading a quiet and very modest life. my parents are still not retiring, at the age of 65 for my dad, and 60 for my mom, as they do not have much savings to support themselves, and their pension is still very minimal.

however, as we ate unagi yesterday, they looked so much fulfilled in life, especially compared to how they used to be 20 years go. my dad appreciated every bite of his unagi plate, not like how he used to swallow it in a rush, leaving the rest of us at the dining table to attend to some business matter elsewhere. they may not be as affluent as they used to be, but i could see that the contentment was in abundance.

the unagi yesterday pulled out our past memories, brought us smiles, and made us happy. the sad incidents have now become a memory, and now we can move on.

happy 65th birthday, papa.

mom’s goma-dare somen noodles & shabu shabu salad (ゴマだれ素麺と冷しゃぶサラダ）

18/08/2011

hah…. so hot in tokyo… i wonder what happened to the climate in this city. it just seems outrageous, with super strong sunlight and unbearable heat. walking only 5 minutes outside makes you feel dizzy, and makes it feel as if the sun just stabbed all over your exposed skin. i can’t remember any other summer being as hot as this year. the heat is absolutely unbelievable and the humidity swells up the entire body. tokyo seems to have turned into a tropical island without any oasis.

spending a day like this, it is quite natural that you crave for refreshing cold dishes, which is light and easy to digest. but on the other hand, you need to get sufficient nutrition to fight this evil weather. in order to fulfill these two requirements, i made the following dishes for our dinner the other day:

as the main course, i made “somen (素麺)” noodles, ultra fine noodles, to be eaten with “goma-dare (ゴマだれ),” sesame sauce. the sesame sauce shown here is my mom’s recipe, which i am very happy to share.

the side dish is shabu shabu salad, which is boiled pork slices (served cold) with steamed vegetables (cabbage, carrots and bean sprouts). actually, you can use many other types of vegetables for this, such as japanese radish, iceberg lettuce, broccoli, tomatoes, etc.. its name “shabu shabu” is coming from one of the japanese onomatopoeia – you pick a thin slice of meat (usually beef) with your chopsticks, stick the meat in boiled water in a big pot in front of you. gently move your chopsticks twice or so, and the meat is ready – this movement itself, apparently, sounds like “shabu shabu.”

enjoy the dishes with an ice cold beer, and you will be fueled up for yet another summer day!

goma dare sauce a ala mom

ingredients:

4 table spoons of sesame seeds, ground
400ml of bonito fish broth
1 table spoon of brown sugar
5 table spoons of miso paste
1 cucumber, cut into julienne strips
5 shiso leaves, also cut into julienne strips

1. make the broth first – in a small cooking pan, pour the water and bring it to boil
2. before putting in dried bonito flakes (a small fistful), pour in a spoonful of water in the boiled water
3. put the bonito flakes, and boil it for 1 minute or so
4. take out the bonito flakes using a ladle with holes, and turn off the heat
5. let it cool down
6. in a large bowl, pour the ground sesame seeds and the broth
7. mix in the miso paste, one spoon at a time and melt it thoroughly each time (i use a ladle and chopsticks to do so)
8. pour in the sugar, and adjust the taste as you like it (put more miso paste / sugar if you like)
9. mix the cucumber and shiso leaves
10. cook the somen noodles (in a pasta pan with boiling water, cook it for 3 minutes or so, and when it’s done, drain the water, and rinse it with cold running water, drain it again, and serve it in ice water)

—> this is the somen noodles i always use, called “ibono ito”

you eat it like this (sorry for the hairy arm!):

shabu shabu salad

ingredients:

200g thin pork slices (if possible, ask your butcher to slice it as thin as prosciutto/ham)
1/8 cabbage (cut into 3 – 4cm wide)
1/4 carrot (sliced)
1 pack of bean sprouts
(you can use any other vegetables leftover in the fridge!)

for dressing,
1 spoon of rice vinegar (if not available, use white wine vinegar)
1 spoon of say sauce
1+ spoon of salad oil
a sprinkle of green spring onion, chopped
a sprinkle of brown sugar

directions:

1. in a medium sized pan, bring water to boil
2. boil the bean sprouts first, for 3 minutes or so until they are soft but crunchy
3. take out the sprouts using a ladle with holes, rinse it with cold running water, and then drain
4. in the same pan, boil pork slices until their colour turns brownish
5. take out the pork using a ladle with holes and put them in cold water (in a bowl), and drain the water once the pork is cold
6. on the side, steam the cabbage and carrots, and let them cool down when it is done
7. for presentation, lay the cabbage and carrots on a large plate, and on top of the layer, make a mountain of bean sprouts, and lay the pork over the mountain
8. make the dressing – mix in all the ingredients – adjust the amount of sugar as you like
9. pour the dressing over the shabu shabu salad before serving

it will hopefully look like this: