Gratan is originally comes from French cuisine and is very popular food in Japan. Most common gratan is baked macaroni, chicken and vegetables in a white sauce with cheese, but there are many kinds and sometimes we make original Japanese styles like tofu gratin!

Yield: 2 servings
Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 0.35lb macaroni
• 1/4 lb chicken (chopped)
• 2 eggs (boiled and sliced)
• 4 mushrooms (sliced)
• 1/2 onion (sliced)
• 1-2 oz pizza cheese
• 3 cups of milk

Spices

• 2 pads of butter
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 cube (4g) consommé
• 4 tbsp flour

Preparation

1. Heat butter in a frying pan and add flour when the butter melts
2. Add milk little by little, stirring continuously, to make white sauce, then add consommé cube and mix
3. Boil macaroni
4. Heat oil in a frying pan and grill onion, chicken and mushrooms
5. Turn off the stove and add macaroni and white sauce in a pan and mix
6. Put a pad of butter on each plate, add macaroni, then boiled eggs and cheese
7. Cook in the oven on 450 degrees for 8 minutes
8. Serve and enjoy!

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Chawanmushi is a Japanese traditional steamed egg and dashi custard dish with mushroom, kamaboko, shrimp, and chicken. Chawan means tea cup and mushi is steam, so this is literally called “tea cup steam”. If you can not find some of the ingredients you may omit them and the dish will still be delicious!

Yield: 3 servings
Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1/10 lb chicken (chopped)
• 3 shrimp
• 3 dried shitake (sliced thick)
• 1/2 lily bulb, boiled for 1 minute in salt water
• 8 thinly sliced kamaboko
• 6 ginnan (ginkgo nut)
• some mitsuba
• 2 beaten eggs

Spices

• 1 tsp dashi powder
• 1/4tsp salt
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1tsp mirin

Preparation

1. Mix dashi powder with 1 1/2 cups cold water
2. Mix egg, dashi, soy sauce, mirin and salt then strain and save the soup
3. Prepare 3 bowls and add ingredients (shrimp, chicken, shiitake, lily bulb, kamaboko, ginnan, mitsuba)
4. Add egg soup to each bowl and cover with plastic wrap
5. Steam bowls for 15 minutes on medium heat

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Omurice is rice dish covered in egg and ketcup. The name came from “omelette rice’. You can write letters or hearts on the egg for fun! There are omurice restaurants in Japan that have many different kinds of omurice.

Yield: 2 servings
Time: 20 minutes

• Two balls of rice
• 1/4 medium onion (chopped)
• 5 mushrooms (chopped)
• 1/4 lb chicken (diced)
• 4 beaten eggs

Spices 

• 5 tbs ketchup
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• salt/pepper
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp mayonnaise
• ketchup (topping)

Preparation

1. Sprinkle salt and pepper on chicken
2. Mix spices (ketchup, sugar and soy sauce)
3. Heat oil in a frying pan and cook onion for 3 minutes, add mushrooms, then cook for 2 minutes over medium heat
4. Add rice and mixed spices then mix and remove from heat
5. Mix egg, milk, and mayonnaise
6. Heat oil in a frying pan over high heat then add eggs and scramble
7. When the eggs are half cooked, put them on the rice then put some ketchup on the top and serve

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We call curry “kare rice” and it is a very popular home cooked meal. Usually we use curry roux to make this dish, but I saw vinegar curry on a Japanese TV show called “Omoikkiri Don”. They said curry spice improves brain function and eases menopause in older women. The regular way to make curry is to boil it for a long time after adding the roux. This is good, but I recommend that you try this way occasionally—the vinegar re-energizes you and improves your metabolism as well!

Yield: 2 servings
Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb chicken thigh (chopped)
• 1 lb eggplant (sliced thin, about 2.5″ x 0.5″ each)
• 1 medium onion (sliced)
• 1 red bell pepper (chopped)
• 1 carrot (chopped)
• 2 bowls of steamed rice

Spices

• 2 tbs curry powder
• 4 tbs vinegar
• 1 tsp salt (for vegetables)
• 1/2 tsp sugar (for mayonnaise chicken)
• 1/2 tsp salt (for mayonnaise chicken)

Preparation

1. Mix sugar, salt and1 tsp water in a small bowl, then mix with chicken, and cool for 10 min in refrigerator
2. Put all the vegetables in a large bowl, add salt, and stir
3. Heat the oil in a frying pan then grill chicken for 2 minutes
4. Add vegetables, vinegar, and 1/2 cup of water, cover, and cook for 30 min on low, stirring occasionally. Add a little extra water if mixture dries up.
5. Add curry powder and mix
6. Serve on steamed rice

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