After the deluge we bore yetserday, clear bright skies were welcome today. The drawback is that I had to ride of those stuffing buses to work as I had left my bicycle at work last night. Don’t worry, it’s safe and nobody wills steal it. This is Japan! I still marvel at the patience shown by the Japanese in their common transport. Not a single complaint….

The Missus was quickly back into her meat mode today. I suspect that she is planning well ahead as she has started taking regular pictures of her concoctions!
“I will start a notebook when I have one hundred of them!, she said.
It’s about time she started her own blog!

The rice was steamed together with shredded carrots on top, then mixed before being served with a sprinkle of black sesame seeds and some shredded takuan/pickled daikon.

The garnish consisted of meatballs fried coated in cornstarch first in oil then with a sweet and sour sauce of the Missus’ invention. It was complemented with half-boiled eeg, boiled na no hana/rape flower seasoned with sesame sauce, and beans (canned) and cucumber salad.

Dessert was benihoppe/red cheek strawberry like yesterday with orange wedges.

Hearty, healthy and yummy!

RECOMMENDED RELATED SITES:
Warren Bobrow, Bread + Butter, Zoy Zhang, Hungry Neko, Think Twice, Frank Fariello, Mangantayon, Hapabento, Elinluv Tidbit Corner, Tokyo Terrace, Maison de Christina, Chrys Niles,Lexi, Culinary Musings, Wheeling Gourmet

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I’ve found a whole bunch of simple and healthy recipes on taro, or sato imo/里芋 as they are called in Japan that should please my vegan and vegetarian friends!

This one is called “satoimo nakake/里芋餡かけ” or taro in sweet and sour sauce.
It wiil make for an excellent snack to go with a drink!

INGREDIENTS: for 2 people

-Taro/sato imo: 4~5 small
-Dashi (use konbu dashi/seaweed soup stock): 125 cc/ml or 1/2 cup
-Japanese sake: 1 tablespoon
-Mirin/sweet sake: 1 tablespoon
-Fresh grated ginger: １/8 teaspoon
-Cornstarh: 1 teaspoon
-Water: 1 tablespoon
-Salt: to taste
-Chopped leeks (for topping)

RECIPE:

-Soften the taro/sato imo inside a microwave oven.
Peel them and cut them in halves.

-In a pan, pour yhe dashi/soup stock, sake, mirin and grated ginger. Let simmer for a while. Add salt for taste.

-Mix the water with the cornstarch and add to soup sauce. Stir well until smooth.

-Roll taro/sato imo in cornstarch and deep-fry in 180 degrees Celsius oil until they are cooked to a saisfying colour.

-Place deep-fried taro/sato imo on a grill or kitchen paper to take off exces oil.

-Place taro/sato imo in a dish, pour the sweet and sour sauce all over it. Top with chopped leeks and serve!

RECOMMENDED RELATED SITES
Not-Just-Recipes, Bengal cuisine, Cooking Vegetarian, Frank Fariello, Gluten-free Vegan Family, Meatless MamaFrank Fariello, , Warren Bobrow, Wheeling Gourmet, Le Petit Cuisinier, Vegan Epicurean, Miss V’s Vegan Cookbook, Comestiblog

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One more dish we had yesterday at Uzu Ｉzakaya in Shizuoka City was a new creation:
Kakuni Kuro Mai Dango/角煮黒米団子 or Stewed Pork in Black Rice Balls.

It did look a straightforward, but the first bite indicated the complexity of that dish.
Stewed Pork is first made in “Kakuni-style”, which takes quite some time to achieve.
The pork is then cut into tiny pieces and wrapped inside the rice ball.
Now the rice used is black rice. This is a bit of a misnomer a Japanese black rice has nothing to do with the “black rice” (which is not rice) used in Americas and Europe.
Actually it is a dark-red rice variety.
One part of the rice is first steamed into a glutinous paste. More black rice is added to the glutinous paste and the mixture is shaped into a ball with the kakuni inside.
It is steamed again with the result of solid/firm rice grains inside the glutinous rice ball, giving it a satisfying bite enhanced by the pork inside.
The balls (as big as a child fist) are served topped with sweet and sour sauce and fresh trefoil (for taste and colour).
A very satisfying, intriguing dish.

Another treat!

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Bread + Butter, Comestilblog, Greedy Girl, Bouchon For 2, Zoy Zhang, Hungry Neko, Mangantayon, Elinluv Tidbit Corner, Maison de Christina, Chrys Niles, Lexi, Culinary Musings, Eats and Everything, Bite Me New England, Heather Sweet, Warren Bobrow, 5 Star Foodie, Frank Fariello, Oyster Culture, Ramendo, Alchemist Chef, Ochikeron, Mrs. Lavendula, The Gipsy Chef, Spirited Miu Flavor, Wheeling Gourmet

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Yield: 2 servings
Time: 15 minutes

It’s been more than two weeks since I last wrote about my bentoes!
Don’t worry, the Missus is still making them!
The reason for this prolonged silence is that we did travel a couple of times on Mondays and Tuesdays. Otherwise the Missus had prohibited me from reporting on them as she did not judge them worthwhile.

Today’s bento can be considered a classic Japanese beto with steamed rice with various garnishes.

The Missus steamed fresh rice with hijiki/sweet seaweed and beans on top, which she stirred altogether upon being cooked.

Soft-boiled eggs (meaning that the yolk is still soft) seasoned with roasted black sesame seeds.
The salad consist of boiled na no hana/rape blossoms and fried shimeji mushrooms seasoned with goma tare/sesame dressing.

As for the meat part she fried chicken tsukune/ patties.

Before frying them she made a slice of renkon/lotus root to adhere to once side for added crucnchiness.

The other side after being fried in a Japanese-style sweet and sour sauce.

The salad/dessert consisted of pieces of jiro kaki/squat persimmon, sliced radish and muscat on a bed of fresh leaf vege/herbs.

Back onto a healthy road!

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Bread + Butter
Zoy Zhang
Hungry Neko
Think Twice
Frank Fariello
Mangantayon
Hapabento
Elinluv Tidbit Corner
Tokyo Terrace
Maison de Christina
Chrys Niles
Lexi
Culinary Musings

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Pa in seo/Japanese okonomiyaki!

Annam is probably not only the only authentic Vietnamese restaurant in Shizuoka Prefecture, but is definitely in a clss of its own.
If I listened to the Missus we would visit the place every week!LOl
Antway, the other day my best friedn, who happens to be Irish, and his Jpanese wife came to visit us after a lapse of two years.
We just couldn’t find a better reason to visit our favourite South Asian restaurant!

Here is what we ordered:

The Vietnamese have brewed beer for a long time and thier 333 is as good as any!

Artistic and very light raw spring rolls with shrimps.

Healthy green papaya and shrimp salad.

Stir-fried chicken and deep-fried rice cakes.

French influence in the steamed French bread with shrimp and peanuts topping.

As the beer and the sake (from Shizauok) has disappeared quickly, we chose a honest and reliable bottle of French Cotes du Rhone from Annam’s very decent wine list.

Home-made Vietnamese ham as a complimentary dish!

Stir-fried chicken and deep-fried imperial rolls with cold rice noodles salad.

Very light stir-fried vegetables in sweet and sour sauce.

Pa in seo/Vietnamese okonomiyaki, the specialty of the restaurant.
Enormous but as light as a feather and filled with loads of beansprouts!

No we did not have dessert, but pho soup instead!

Can’t wait for the next visit!

Shizuoka City, Aoi-Ku, Tenmacho, 17-9
Tel.: 054-2502266
Fax: 054-2502323
Lunch: 11:30~14:30
Dinner: 17:00~22:00 (last orders: 21:30)
Closed on Mondays and day after National Holidays
Homepage
Credit cards OK

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Many a time, my good friend Patrick Harrington has rightly pointed out on the importance to eat “local” as much as possible. Consequently, I have endeavoured whenever possible to introduce any vegetables, dairy products, meat and fish grown, made, raised or caught in Shizuoka Prefecture (and its waters)
As for today I would like to introduce again a fairly cheap and tasty fish: houbou. Its English name is quite poetic: blue fin robin (”Chelidonichthys spinosus” for the purists). The reason is its very wide round green-blue side fins.
Some call it grotesque, others beautiful.

Most of them are found in Niigata Prefecture from Autumn to Winter (30~50 cm), but they are caught in early Spring in Suruga Bay (the Shizuoka variety is smaller, up to 20 cm). But now and thenwe find them at dfferent times of the year.

It can be prepared in many ways:

-Sashimi and sushi if just caught.

-In “nabe/鍋” (soup pot) or as “nimono/煮物” (simmered) in Japanese-style cuisine.

-Steamed and served with a sweet and sour sauce in Chinese-style food.

My preferred way is Mediterranean style (one fish per person):
Cut the side fins and scrape the scales off. discard the insides and clean under clear cold running water. Make a couple of shallow incisions over each flank.
Fill the stomach with a mixture of finely chopped vegetables and herbs (leave your imagination go free!).
Put it on a large sheet of olive oil coated cooking foil paper, sprinkle it with a little salt and pepper. Place vegetables cut in long strings on both sides (plenty is fine), and one or two thin lemon slices on top. Coat it with some (not too much) extra virgin oil. As a last touch, I add some white wine and a little anise spirit (Pernod, Ricard or Absinthe).
Loosely wrap the fish with foil paper, close both ends by twisting them around.
Place the fish in its foil paper directly on the metal plate inside the oven preheated at 180 degrees Celsius and cook for about 15 minutes (longer for large fish).
If you do not have an oven, steam it the Chinese way!

RECOMMENDED RELATED SITES:
Warren Bobrow
Bread + Butter
5 Star Foodie
Frank Fariello
Mangantayon
Elinluv Tidbit Corner

Please check the new postings at:
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