Tori hamu

"Chicken ham", or how to transform a plain chicken breast into fantastic ham, japanese style.




1 chicken breast, skin removed
3 teasp salt
2 teasp sugar
1 teasp pepper
1 clove mashed garlic (optional)


Place the chicken breast, salt, pepper, sugar, garlic in a sealed plastic bag and mix to rub all the meat evenly.
Let it rest in the fridge overnight.
Next day, rub off the salt and soak the chicken in 1.5% salted water for 1 hour.
Boil for 3 min in a large saucepan with water, turn off the heat, and let it cool down until it reaches room temperature.
Enjoy in a summer salad, or in any way you would use ham. It can also be easily frozen and kept for further occasions.

Shumai

My favorite chinese dumplings, very oishiiii!






Makes about 35 pieces (2-3 pers)

300g minced pork
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 shitake mushrooms, finely chopped
a small tin of scallops, about 50g, and a bit of their juice
1 clove garlic, mashed
1 teasp salt
2 teasp sugar
1/2 teasp black pepper
1 teasp ginger paste
1 egg, beaten
1 tablesp soy sauce
1/2 teasp corn starch

shumai wrappers


Thoroughly mix all ingredients, and fill the shumai wrappers as presented on the photo.
Steam them for 5-7min and eat right away, dipped in a touch of mustard.

Ankimo

It might be very hard to cook Ankimo if you don't live in Japan, but as we plan to have it again because is was sooooo good, here is our recipe. Ankimo is basically steamed anglerfish liver, and it tastes very much like a delicate foie gras, to be enjoyed with grated daikon and sake or white wine.


Serves 4-6 as an appetizer

1 fresh anglerfish liver
about 100ml soy sauce
about 100ml white wine


Rinse the liver in cold water, you can soak it for a few minutes. Gently remove the blood vessels without tearing the liver apart.
Put it in a clean plastic bag (a transparent freezing bag is fine), pour some soy sauce, mix gently and leave it for 1 minute.
Remove from the bag, pat the liver dry with kitchen towels, and put it in a second bag with white wine. Rinse gently with the whine, remove from the bag, and pat the liver dry with kitchen paper.
Lay it on aluminum foil and wrap it the longitudinal way. The liver can be slightly folded inside the aluminum foil, to form a regular cylinder. The foil should be rather tight. Seal it well and steam for 30 minutes.
Take the roll out from the steamer and let it cool down at room temperature. When it has cooled down, put it in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Remove from the fridge about 15 minutes before serving. Cut slices about 1 inch thick, and serve with grated daikon and lemon dipping sauce.

Kani Kuriimu Korokke

In other words, Creamy Crab Croquettes, a Japanese favorite. It's hard not to dig in this luscious treat, but since it is fried bechamel after all, it has to be enjoyed with moderation. Look who's talking...
:-))





Serves 3-4 as a dinner:

- For the croquettes:
50g flour
50g butter
400ml milk
salt, pepper, grated nutmeg
1/2 onion, finely chopped
4 shitake mushrooms or similar, finely chopped
olive oil
2 tablesp white wine
2 hard-boiled eggs, finely chopped
1 can of crab meat (draw any water)
1 egg, beaten
bread crumbs
oil for frying

- For the tomato sauce:
2 tablesp olive oil
1 tomato can
1 clove garlic
a good pinch of salt
a good pinch of sugar
pepper
1 bay leaf


Make a bechamel sauce with 50gr flour, 50g butter and 400ml milk. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and let it cool down.

Sauté the onion and mushrooms in a bit of olive oil over low heat, add a bit of white wine. Stir until soft and brown (10min), season with salt and pepper, reserve and let cool down.

When all the ingredients are cold enough, mix the bechamel, onions, mushrooms, hard-boiled eggs, crab meat.
Let this mix set and harden in the fridge for at least one hour.

Meanwhile, prepare the tomato sauce. In a saucepan, heat up the olive oil, add the tomato can, garlic, salt, pepper, sugar, bay leaf, and cook for 10 minutes. Reserve.

Take the dough out of the fridge and form the croquettes with the help of a spoon, about 10X5X2cm. It is a very soft dough but no worries. Dip them in beaten egg and coat them with bread crumbs. Fry the croquettes in about 180degree oil until golden (about 3min) and serve right away, with a side of green salad and drizzles of the lukewarm tomato sauce.

Ebi No Chiri Sosu (Chili Sauce Prawns)

I requested this dish for my birthday dinner, as Monsieur H cooked for me. It is a Japanese recipe that is now adapted by many chinese restaurants.
It contains several ingredients that you can find at Asian markets.
The recipe might seem a bit complex, but it's totally worth it!





Serves 2
- 12 big prawns
- salt (1/2 teasp + 1/2 teasp)
- starch (1 tablesp + 1/2 teasp + 2-2.5 tablesp)
- 1 tablesp water
- 2 tablesp sake
- 1/4 egg white
- vegetable oil
- 150ml chinese broth
- 2 tablesp ketchup
- 1/2 tablesp hot miso paste (tohbanjan)
- 1 tablesp sugar
- 1 tablesp chinese liquor (shohkohshu)
- pepper
- 2.5 tablesp finely chopped spring onion (half and half)
- 1 clove garlic, mashed
- 2 teasp grated ginger
- 1/2 tablespoon vinegar


Peel and de-vein the prawns and put them in a bowl. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and mix with your hand as if gently massaging, until it becomes gluey (make sure your hands are clean).
Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon starch and 1 tablespoon water, and mix again in the same way.
Rinse the prawns under cold water. Any bad smell should be gone by now.

Pat the prawns dry with kitchen paper, and put them in a bowl. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper, 2 tablespoons sake, and mix with your hand until the prawns have absorbed the liquid.
Add 1/4 of an egg white and mix until it gets bubbly.
Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon starch, mix and leave it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Bring the prawns back to room temperature.
Heat up a fair amount of oil in a wok pan (enough to deep fry the prawns). If you can monitor the temperature of the oil, heat it up to 120 degrees celsius, and add prawns one by one. Fry them until they are red and start rolling up. This should take only a couple of minutes.

Remove the prawns from the pan and discard the oil. If the pan is dirty, wash it, and add another 2 tablespoons of oil.
Add tohbanjan over low heat, and when sizzling, add ketchup. When it gets bubbly add garlic, ginger, half of the spring onion, and wok everything.
Pour the broth evenly from the side of the wok pan. Turn up the heat, add sugar, salt, pepper, chinese liquor.
When boiling, add back the prawns. After this step you have to be quick otherwise they will become hard and overcooked.
It will settle and start boiling again. At that point you can add the other half of the spring onion, and 2-2.5 tablespoons of starch diluted in an equal amount of water.
When the sauce is binded, add 1 tablespoon oil, and when it appears at the surface turn off the heat. Add 1/2 tablespoon vinegar and it is ready to be served, with rice and vegetables of your choice.

Buri no Teriyaki *

I know it is quite difficult to prepare this dish if you are not living in Japan.
Buri (Japanese yellowtail or amberjack, from the family of the jacks, jack mackerels and scads) is native to the northwest Pacific, from Japan to Hawaii.
This fish is a seasonal favourite in the colder months when the meat has higher fat content.

Teriyaki ("Teri" for "shiny" and "Yaki" for "grilled") sauce is another highlight of Japanese cuisine. It is not only used for fish, so if you can't find any "Buri" it also works very well with chicken.


Serves 2-3

- 4 fillets Buri
- salt
- 1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil

For the marinade
- 40ml soy sauce
- 40ml sake (or white wine)

For the Teriyaki sauce
- 40ml soy sauce
- 40ml mirin (a rice wine similar to sake, but with a lower alcohol content)
- 1/2 tablespoon honey
- a pinch of pepper
- 1 teaspoon ginger paste or grated ginger (optional)



Buri can have a very strong fishy taste, which doesn't fit the Japanese likings.
To get rid of the disturbing "fishiness", sprinkle both sides of the fillets with salt and leave them for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, put about one litter of water to boil.
Pour the boiling water over the salted fish (it will sart cooking a bit, this is normal), then rinse the fillets under tap water.


Prepare a marinade with equal amounts of soy sauce and sake (or white wine if you don't have any sake) and soak the Buri in this marinade for about 15 minutes.
After this, remove the fish from the marinade and pat them dry with kitchen paper.
Heat up a little bit of oil in a frying pan and fry the fillets until brown (about 2 minutes on each side).
Mix all the ingredients for the Teriyaki sauce (soy sauce, mirin, honey, pepper, ginger) and pour it over the fish. Let it simmer until the sauce has reduced and thickened (not more than 5 minutes otherwise the fish will become dry).
Serve with rice and slices of boiled daikon (a type of white radish).


-----


Je n'ai pas trouvé l'équivalent Francais de ce poisson, le "Buri". Selon la nomenclature latine il est Seriola quinqueradiata, ou pour traduire littéralement de l'anglais, "queue jaune".
Ce plat est très apprécié par ici, surtout en période hivernale. La sauce Teriyaki (Teri pour "brillant" et Yaki pour "grillé")
est souvent utilisée en cuisine Japonaise, et très bonne également avec du poulet.


Pour 2-3 personnes

- 4 fillets de Buri
- du sel
- un peu d'huile

Pour la marinade
- 40ml de sauce de soja
- 40ml de saké (à defaut, du vin blanc)

Pour la sauce Teriyaki
- 40ml de sauce de soja
- 40ml de mirin (un genre de saké à moindre teneur en alcohol)
- quelques tours de poivre
- 1 c. café de gingembre en tube ou rapé (pas essentiel mais c'est meilleur)


Pour se débarasser du goût "poissoneux" très prononcé du Buri, saupoudrer les deux côtés des fillets de sel, et les laisser pendant 10 minutes. Pendant ce temps, faire bouillir de l'eau (environ 1 littre).
Verser l'eau bouillante sur les fillets, qui vont légèrement cuire. Les rincer ensuite sous l'eau du robinet.
Mélanger saké (ou vin blanc) et sauce soja en quantités égales et laisser reposer le poisson dans cette marinade pendant un quart d'heure.
Au bout de ce temps, enlever les fillets de leur marinade et les sécher en les tapotant avec du papier de cuisine.
Chauffer un peu d'huile dans une poêle et faire rissoler les Buri jusqu'a ce qu'ils aient une belle couleur dorée (environ 2 minutes de chaque côté).
Mélanger tous les ingrédients de la sauce Teriyaki (sauce soja, mirin, miel, poivre, gingembre) et la verser sur le poisson.
Continuer la cuisson jusqu'à ce que la sauce ait reduit et soit assez épaisse (pas plus de 5 minutes).
Servir avec du riz et des tranches de daikon bouillies.

Ebi-gyoza

Gyoza is a popular dumpling in Japanese cuisine. It can be cooked in various ways: deep-fried, boiled, steamed, or pan-fried. Different kinds of fillings can be used: minced meat, cabbage, nira chives, shrimps...
This time we tried the steamed shrimp gyoza version.


For 24 gyoza:

- 24 gyoza wrappers
- 6 big shrimps, chopped into 1/2cm chunks
- 10cm negi or white part of a leek, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons bamboo shoots, finely chopped
- 1 egg white
- 1 clove garlic, mashed
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon white wine
- salt, pepper


Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Place a teaspoon of filling in a gyoza wrapper and put water along the edge of the wrapper with your fingers. Make a semicircle, gathering the front side of the wrapper and tightly sealing the top.
Steam for 8 minutes or boil for 5 minutes.
Dip in soy sauce.

Japanese taste salmon skewers

This is a very simple and tasty recipe, with a strong sweet/salty accent. The bacon wrapping gives a smokey flavor to the salmon, nicely complementing the soy-honey marinade.

You need:

- 500gr salmon filet, cut into 2-3cm chunks
- about 10 strips of thin bacon
- white part of a leek, cut into 2cm chunks (optional)
- small wooden skewers

For the marinade:
- 50ml soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon of freshly grated ginger
- 2 cloves of garlic, mashed
- 1 big tablespoon of honey
- pepper

Combine the ingredients for the fish marinade. Stir well and add the salmon chunks. Cover and marinate for at least one hour, and if you think about it give it a mix from time to time.
Skewer the salmon, leek and bacon, so that the strips are nicely wrapped around the fish. Fat from the bacon will keep the salmon juicy and tasty.
Ideally, this recipe is done is summertime for a barbecue. If it is winter though, you can cook the skewers in a 200degC oven for 15 minutes, or better, put them under the grill for 5 minutes and turn them from time to time.
While they are cooking you can make a quick sauce out of the marinade that is left. Just add 1 tablespoon of white whine and let it simmer for a couple of minutes over medium heat. To thicken it, add 1 teaspoon of potato starch diluted in a bit of water. Goes well with rice.

Omuraisu

Omuraisu (omelette-rice) is a very popular dish in Japan. It is a sort of Japanese adaptation of western-style food, if you will. Basically an omelette stuffed with fried rice and topped with ketchup. The fun part is that everyone can do his own Omuraisu and compete for the most successful one. The outcome looks sometimes pathetic because the last steps are somewhat tricky. But fun, trust me....
A vos casseroles.

For 2 Omuraisu:

- vegetable oil, 1-2 tablespoon
- 1/2 onion, finely chopped
- 5 eggs
- pinch of salt, pinch of sugar
- 50-100g chicken thighs, or sausage, or bacon, or a mix of it, any meat you want to put in the fried rice, really. Chopped into 1cm cubes.
- 3-6 mushrooms, or any vegetable you want to put in the fried rice. Chopped.
- about 120g steamed rice, cooked the day before works best.
- white wine, about 2 tablespoons
- oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon (optional)
- ketchup, about 4 tablespoons
- salt, pepper

Heat up 1tbsp of oil in a hot frying pan or a wok. Saute' the onions until transparent, then add the chicken (or other meat), and when it is browned throw in the mushrooms (or other vegies). Add white whine, salt, pepper, oyster sauce, ketchup. Incorporate the cooked rice little by little and mix well. Check the seasoning, and set aside.
Slightly beat the eggs in a bowl with a pinch of salt and sugar.
Warm up another tbsp of oil in a new frying pan (not a wok this time!) over medium heat. Pour in half of the egg mixture (for one person). Spread the egg quickly while moving the frying pan back and forth. When it is half cooked, place the rice mixture in, offset to one side.
And now comes the difficult part:
Take the pan off the heat and fold the chicken rice mixture free side of the Omuraisu almost all the way over the chicken rice mixture.
Roll the Omuraisu in the pan by raising one side and tapping the handle so as to gradually wrap the rice inside the omelette.
Keep rolling slowly until the edges of the Ouraisu are again facing up, and then roll once more onto the plate it is to be served upon.

The Omuraisu should have it's edges facing down in the final position, so as to appear to be a regular omelette. Top with ketchup.
As you can see on the photos, M. wins the competition with a quite professional Omuraisu, while H's Omuraisu looks a bit more sad. No, actually it was the other way around, as you probably guessed.
Talent requires practice....

Kakiage

Kakiage is a sort of tempura (don't pronounce it ten-pyu-ra, that sounds silly). Instead of frying a piece of shrimp or vegetables of the season one by one, chop up everything and mix all the stuff together. A bit like fish cake in this sense, except that you do not mash them up. This is a nice way to deal with not-so-great shrimps or squids from your local supermarket since it will blend in with the other bits.

The ingredients we tried the other day:(Serves 3-4)

1. Shrimps (100g)
2. Squid legs (they usually have 10 legs)
3. mitsuba (or parsley): gives colour and freshness.
4. Onion (half): gives body and sweetness.
5. 1 carrot:gives colour and sweetness










----tenpura mix
6. flour (100ml)
7. potato starch (1 table spoon)
8. ice cold water (100ml)
9. 1 egg

Chop ingredients 1-3, Finely chop the onion and carrots. Put the flour and potato starch into the mixture of cold water and egg, mix them roughly using a pair of chopsticks or a fork. add the chopped up ingredients and mix it again.

Heat the frying oil (vegetable oil, not olive or sesame) in the pan to about 180C. Scoop a table spoon of the mix and gently slide it in to the heated oil. Do not touch it before it has firmly stuck together. Turn it once to cook both sides.



Serve it with a good rock salt or tempura dip (a mix of sake (50cc), mirin (50cc), soy sauce (50cc) water (200cc) with a dried konbu, heated in a pan and cooled down)



The tenpura mix should work for regular tenpura as well. We tried sweet potatoes and mushrooms and they came out great. Fish might be tricky for the kakiage since it tends to crumble while mixing.