Tag Archives: japanese

Gyoza party with Japanese mammas

18/06/2019

When I lived in Italy years ago for my post graduate studies, I had an opportunity to visit a couple of Italian families, one in Piemonte and another one in Puglia. My Italian was very bad (and still is), and I don’t know how I even communicated with them. Fortunately however, I do remember this amazingly tasty meals they served for me. From what I understood, at both families, they didn’t prepare anything special but something they would eat on a daily basis. Still, it blew my mind and made a strong impression on me. I loved watching the Italian mammas cooking at their cozy kitchens, infused in this delicious aroma from the food in the making. They tried to explain every little detail to me, who was vigorously taking pictures and taking notes, but I probably got less than half of what they tried to convey. Nevertheless, I remember the scenes very fondly and the warmth I felt. I often use the mamma’s recipes to this date, feeling grateful how incredibly lucky I was to have an experience like that.

Fast forward to the present Tokyo, my daughter and I were visiting our dear friends’ house for a play date one Sunday afternoon. The lovely host suggested that we make Gyōza, Japanese-adapted Chinese dumplings, together for early dinner. There was another family and a newly arrived au pair from England who was kind of forced into our cooking spree. While the kids were playing and minding their own business, we began to make the dumplings, each of us spontaneously taking a different task to work in a highly efficient manner. We enthusiastically chatted and laughed as we moved about, chopping cabbage in high speed and mixing ground meat with our bare hands. The room started to get filled with the complex aroma of garlic, shiitake mushrooms and freshly cooked rice, with the kitchen counter and floor covered in white flour. All of us gave Gyōza cooking tips to the humble, seemingly overwhelmed au pair, encouraging her to join us for the Japanese cooking routine.

After nearly two decades since my encounter with the sweet & lovely Italian mammas, I seem to have become one myself too, but the Japanese version of it. At that time in Italy I never knew, that being a “mamma” is such a special thing: being surrounded by the people you love, who appreciate the food you cook.

Photos by courtesy of A.C. & M.T.

Exquisite dining

05/06/2019

My best friend was in town from Italy, and we went for lunch in one of my favorite venues in my neighborhood in Tokyo.

Sasha Kanetanaka 茶酒金田中.

They are operated by the renowned, time-honoured Japanese dining establishment called Kanetanaka. Sasha offers Kanetanaka’s quality dishes in affordable pricing, in a sophisticated contemporary cafe-style space designed by photographer/architect, Hiroshi Sugimoto. Their use of refined materials is evident as soon as you walk in, greeted by Japanese style rock & moss garden with streamlined table setting. Whenever I go there, it makes me feel as if I am dreaming of walking into a serene temple in Kyoto, gently covered by the morning sun.

Sasha

They offer seasonal Lunch course, always with this breathtaking, inspirational presentation.

It is the space I come to appreciate my Tokyo life, with their considered tableware, attention to detail, use of natural materials, focus on fresh ingredients, everything handled with great care.

For those who visit Tokyo anytime soon, here is the link to this sublime restaurant. Stop by, even for a brief tea break for an excellent, worthwhile dining experience.

https://tabelog.com/en/tokyo/A1306/A130602/13154538/

Kindergarten bento -My first attempt (Friday 28/Sep/18)

02/10/2018

For the first time, I packed mashed potato in lieu of rice for our daughter’s bento today. All the dishes in the bento are the leftover from the previous evening’s dinner, except for the boiled egg.

As Japanese, it required a bit of contemplation to do so – we simply don’t eat potato as much and are not accustomed to it. For me, potatoes are vegetables, and not staple food. But my half Dutch daughter didn’t seem to care at all, and the bento box came back empty without any complaints.

Kindergarten bento – Behind the scenes (18/Sep/18)

19/09/2018

Today’s bento: Hamburger steak, Tomato omelet, Simmered carrot, Boiled broccoli, Shirasu (baby sardine) rice, Apple for dessert.

I love my daughter’s kindergarten. It is a great school inside out, with kind and highly competent teachers, thoughtful educational philosophy focusing on Japanese culture and seasonality, and it even comes with the beautiful garden with a lot of green and soil on the ground instead of concrete (very rare for Central Tokyo). Apparently the bento is also part of their education, so that the kids would spend their important first few years of their lives, always eating healthy home-cooked meals prepared with love.

But there is no such thing as a perfect school, is there? Out of all the positive aspects of my daughter’s school, there is one characteristic that I just cannot overlook: they do not encourage women to go back to the workforce. They wouldn’t stop you from working (they can’t), but the head teacher publicly made the statement that they provide childcare, not for mothers to go back to work, but for the well-being of our children. They believe the physical participation of the parents (and in this context usually targeting mothers) is crucial during school hours, involving various events and activities organised by the Parents Association. Want to work full-time? Oh, it would be difficult if you want to send your kids to this kindergarten… etc., etc. How backward, my super liberal Dutch husband would lament. We knew this before enrolling our daughter, but both of us had this wishful thinking that this might change, or perhaps we could make a change…

What makes it difficult to do so, I came to realise, is that some fellow mothers are totally against working mothers as if to say working is a vice. Some mums voiced that “work” cannot be an excuse to miss school commitment, that there would be no special treatment, because kindergarten in general is not for people who wish to work.

In good old Japan we had a common understanding that women should protect the household and spend time with their children. Poor kids if mothers have to work. This is slowly changing but is still followed by the great part of the society. With my semi-international background I always have a slight sense of guilt for not working full-time, but now I have another layer in my guilt for working at all. Work, or not work, it surely isn’t an easy place for a person like me, and this, reflects the modern but undeveloped Japanese cultural state in my opinion.

Yet, I still love my daughter’s kindergarten. I can’t think of a better place for her to be despite the struggle. A part of me wants to make a difference and fight it, while the Japanese part in me just wants to conform or escape. I go back to my daily bento making, daydreaming that one day, some miracle happens to change people’s mindset for the better.

French New Year holiday 2017-2018

23/01/2018

In between our stay at my husband’s mother’s place in the south of the Netherlands, the three of us took a short trip to Paris for our New Year’s holiday to visit our friends & relatives. We took Thalys, the express train service that runs through Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. Two and a half hours after we left Aachen, a small German city bordering the Dutch city where my mother-in-law lives, we safely arrived at busy Gare de Nord.

This time we took a nice Airbnb in an area called Wagram, not too far from Champs-Élysées. It was our first time staying at an Airbnb, and in spite of some reservations we had about the apartment, it was a good choice with great location and ample space for the three of us.

On the New Year’s eve, my best friend and her partner invited us to their lovely home for a special dinner. As is always the case in Paris, we started a pre-celebration at 7:00PM and opened a champagne, munching on foie gras and smoked salmon, which seems to be THE things to eat on the New Year’s eve in France.

Foie gras and smoked salmon, the must haves on the New Year’s eve

For dinner, Chef F made this delicious chicken filet with foie gras sauce. And the mashed potato… mmm I can still taste this creamy, sweet mash only a French person can make… I’m pretty sure he used generous amount of butter, but maybe it’s better not to find out exactly how much… The sautéed mushroom was nutty and hearty, which was a perfect combination with the chicken and mash. Chef F served the same dish sans the foie gras sauce for their son and our daughter, on a small red kids table. Our daughter absolutely loved it, especially the mash. At the age of five she already knows the divinity of the French cooking.

Chicken filet with foie gras sauce, with amazingly creamy tasty mashed potato & fried (morel?) mushrooms

By the time we finished the dinner, the four of us finished two bottles of champagne and a magnum red bottle. Embarrassingly enough, I fell asleep before the countdown began. I managed to wake up when they started counting 10, but could hardly open my eyes and collapsed on their cozy sofa hugging their cute little doggy (she was so soft and warm). At 1:00AM we decided to call the night, and we took an Uber home.

On the New Year’s Day, without fail, our daughter jumped on to our bed at 8 o’clock. Dragging ourselves out of bed, we took a hot shower, got dressed and went out. We found out that Centre Pompidou would be open so headed that way. As soon as we got out of the nearest Metro station to the museum, it started pouring, and of course our daughter jumped in to a large puddle. Lucky us… As such we went to a crêperie close by, most likely one of the worst tourist traps you could find in the centre of Paris… We had the crêpe as our early lunch, as we were still quite full from the evening before. Later that evening, Chef F cleverly cooked us some simple pasta to give our stomach some rest.

Crêpe avec Nutella

On our last evening in Paris, to return the favour to our host, I cooked some Japanese meal with local ingredients. I loved shopping in a local supermarket and get inspired by all the unfamiliar ingredients. I could easily live in Paris and create locally adopted Japanese dishes… well, in my dreams. For the meal this time though, I stuck with the basics and made ginger pork and hamburg steak with Tokyo rice (that’s how my daughter calls the Japanese sticky rice). I realised, if I have soy sauce at hand, I can improvise many Japanese dishes even without (the very important) dashi broth. Of course it wouldn’t be perfect, but close enough. I used white wine where I needed to use Japanese sake, and honey and/or sugar for mirin. The result? Empty plates at the end of the meal.

Grocery shopping at a local supermarket. Nice trolly for little kids.

Ginger pork, Hamburg steak with my mum’s special sauce, Boiled green Moroccan beans, Fried Aubergine, Iceberg Salad, Tokyo Rice

Cooking at their kitchen made me feel at ease. All of a sudden Paris became less overpowering, as if something has planted a seed somewhere deep in my mind that one day we could possibly start our life here.

Well, that would certainly be added to my bucket list.

Kindergarten bento – Toshi-No-Se (15, 18, 19, 20, 22/Dec/17)

24/12/2017

In Japan, it is said that “toshi-no-se,” the year-end, is bound to be busy, as everyone starts acting somehow anxious to finish off things prior to the fresh start of the new year. As mentioned before, the new year is a big deal in this country, and we do everything to make sure the new year to be quiet and special.

This year was no exception for me also, and I was running around like a headless chicken without any time to stop and take a big breath… until we left for our Christmas holidays in the Netherlands to visit my husband’s family. Hesitantly we dropped unfinished errands, hurriedly packed our suitcases, left beautiful & sunny Tokyo, and arrived in the equally beautiful, but quite dark Netherlands yesterday. It is Christmas Eve here in the Netherlands, and things already seemed to have slowed down, and people are starting to relax for the festivity to begin. The sense of rush I was feeling in Japan is nowhere to be seen here. It’s an interesting realisation what a huge difference there is depending on which culture you’re in.

Looking back at the bento photos I didn’t have a chance to upload before our departure, I can vaguely remember how I managed all these bento making during my busy schedule. It’ll resume in the new year, but for now I’m relieved that I won’t have to do it for the next two weeks.

Happy Holidays!

15/Dec/17 – Grilled cod in saikyo-miso

18/Dec/17 – Simmered sword fish

19/Dec/17 – Nikudon-don

20/Dec/17 – Macaroni genovese

22/Dec/17 – Chicken soboro

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)