Soba noodles with Tempura (Tempura-soba)

Japanese kitchen is impossible without tempura. I was looking at this recipe for long while and was always feeling a bit afraid of trying it. Deep drying was just not my thing, I thought.
I went through some recipes, video tutorials and finally was ready for this experiment. To begin with - let me highlight some tips which were very helpful for me:
1. Oil temperature should be about 160-170 C (320-340 F) for meat of thick and large pieces; about 170-180 C (340-360 F) for meat of a small bite-size pieces. For vegetables though - 160-170 C (320-340 F) is quite enough. Best way to determine temperature of oil is candy thermometer. But there are some hint ho to without. Tip 1: drop a few drops of batter into frying pan with oil and if it sinks to the bottom of the pan and floats up to the surface quickly than temperature is around 160 C. Tip 2: drop of batter sinks halfway to the bottom, and floats up quickly - about 170 C.
2. Ingredients for deep frying should be put in order. First: pumpkin, sweet potato and carrot (all vegetables with  a little smell). Second: squid, shrimp and sillago (and other seafood or meat).
3. Do not deep fry many ingredients at once - they will overlap with each other preventing heat from distributing evenly.
4. Before tossing ingredients in batter - pat them dry and sprinkle with some flour.
5. Use really cold water, add few pieces of ice if needed.

I made tempura only with shrimps and served it over soba noodles in tasty stock. Soba can be easily substituted for udon.

Ingredients for Tempura:
8 fresh shrimps in shell
4 pieces of maitake mushrooms

Ingredients for Tempura batter:
1 egg yolk + chilled water to make 3/5 cup (5 oz or 142-150 ml)
3/5 cup of Hakurikiko flour (weak flour with gluten content 6 1/2-9 %)
Oil for deep frying (canola is mainly used, hence does not have a strong smell)

Method:
1. Wash shrimps in cold salty water. Remove the heads of the shrimps, devein and shell. Remove back vein with toothpick. Chop off the tips of the shrimp tails and gently press out moisture with a flat blade of the knife. If moisture remains in the tail - it will cause oil to sputter). To prevent shrimp from curling, make 3 incisions across the belly and open each of the cuts with hands to straighten the body. Wash and pat dry the mushrooms.
2. To prepare the batter: sift the flour. In a mixing bawl, lightly beat the egg yolk and pour in chilled water to make 2/5 cup. Add the sifted flour, and stir briefly. Do not over-mix, other wise the batter will become too sticky.
3. Dust shrimps and mushrooms with extra flour. Heat oil and start deep-frying while coating each ingredient with batter. Deep fry maitake first, than shrimps. Skim the oil surface to keep it clean. When the bubbles around the edges of each piece become small with the noise fading away - touch it with cooking chop-sticks. When the batter feels crispy, it is time to take it out of the pan. Place them on draining tray.

Ingredients for noodles:
7 oz dried soba (buckwheat noodles)
8 Tempura deep fried-shrimps (recipe above)
1 inch green onions
3-4 stalks trefoil

Ingredients for broth:
3 1/3 cups water
1 tsp granulated Dashi (Niboshi small dried sardines and bonito flakes flavor)
3 Tbsp sake
3 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp Mirin sweet cooking wine
1/2 tsp salt

Method:
1. Bring water to the boil in a large pot. Place soba noodles in the pot, boil while stirring with chop-sticks. When the water rolls up to the edges of the pot, pour in 2/5 cup of cold water. It will reduce the boiling and make noodles harder. Cook for as long as prescribed on the package - mainly 6 minutes. Drain soba on the sieve, rub and rinse in running cold water to eliminate slipperiness.
2. To prepare broth - bring water to boil with dissolved dashi. Add sake, soy sauce, miring and salt. Simmer for 1 minute.
3. Put noodles into donburi bawls and put tempura on top. Pour on hot broth and garnish with green onions and trefoil stalks cut into 5 inch lengths.

Tofu and Wakame Miso Soup

Gohan described in previous post i served with warming bawl of Miso Soup.

Ingredients (serves 2):
1/2 cake of silken tofu (i used cutlet, hence had some left from gohan)
20 g. wakame seaweed, reconstituted
2 cups Dashi stock
2-3 Tbsp red miso

Method:
1. Cut the tofu and wakame into bite-sized pieces.
2. Pour the stock into pan and bring to the boil over medium heat. Add the tofu and wakame and remove from  the heat before coming to the boil. Add the miso into the soup gradually while softening with some stock and dissolving on a ladle.
Serve in individual bawls.

Mixed Rice ("Takikomi-Gohan")

Healthy and tasty rice dish with many ingredients. Everyone will love it!

Ingredients:
1 cup japanese rice
1/2 cup pearl barely
1 packet of shimeji mushrooms (large)
2 inch long carrot
1/4 tofu cutlet

For soup:
4/5 cups dashi stock or water
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
1 Tbsp sake
1 Tbsp Mirin
1 1/2 tsp light soy sauce or 4/5 tsp dark soy sauce  
1/2 tsp salt

Method:
1. Wash rice and barely 30 min prior to cooking and drain on colander.
2. Cut carrots into julienne strips. Wash and drain mushrooms. Cut tofu into thin triangles.
3. Pour in the stock, mushroom, carrots and tofu into pot, and heat everything. When it begins to boil lightly, add sugar and sake, and continue to simmer for 1-2 minutes. Add the soy sauce and salt, continue to simmer briefly.
4. Drain all ingredients through a sieve, reserving cooking liquid. Note: let all ingredients cool completely before cooking rice, hence it might start burning in the rice cooker.
5. Place rice and barely into rice cooker, add simmering liquid. If there is not enough simmering liquid, add some water. Add solid ingredients from the sieve and mix everything lightly. Turn on heater. Note: water should be just a little bit above rice.
6. When cooking is finished, keep the cooker covered and let stand for 10 minutes (do not use function "Keep Warm"!). Open the lid and mix everything. Serve warm with some trefoil if you like.

Japanese Fried Noodles (Yakisoba)

One of the most loved japanese dishes in our house (after curry of course). You just need some vegetables, any meat you like and yakisoba sauce. The sauce is a bit tricky - books and web offers quite a variety f possible ingredient, you can buy even ready one from japanese grocery or just use concentrate which comes sometimes in dry soba packs. (I will upload a pictures later of that type). I made yakisoba with Tonkatsu sauce base (Buldog Brand). It was recommended to me by some japanese couple shopping in japanese grocery.

Ingredients:
2 portions (150 g. each) cooked soba noodles
60 g. chicken, cut into bite-size pieces
3 cabbage leaves
1/2 carrot
1/2 green bell pepper
3 stalks baby asparagus
3 baby corn
30 g. white mushrooms (keep in hot water if using dried)
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
For yakisoba "handmade" sauce:
1 Tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tsp. Japanese-style Workcestershire sauce
1 tsp. Tonkatsu sauce
2 tsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. Sake
Salt and pepper
For garnishing:
Green laver
Beni-shoga red vine-gared ginger.

Method:
1. Cut chicken, season with salt and pepper. Cut the cabbage leaves into 3/8 inch wide rectangles. Peel the carrot and cut into thin stripes. Soak dried mushrooms in hot water. Cut asparagus and baby corns diagonally in three pieces. Slice green bell pepper into thin stripes.
2. Mix all ingredients for sauce in a small bawl and set aside.
3. Start stir frying in two portions (one for each). Spread 1 Tbsp. of oil over the frying pan or wok and add chicken, mushrooms and all vegetables. Stir fry for 3 minutes. Add noodles and fry. For better taste - fry the noodles until both sides are browned first, during drying drizzle 1 tsp. of sake or mirin on them to enhance the taste even more.
4. Add sauce to yakisoba in pan and stir to coat. Arrange on one plate and cover to keep warm.
5. Prepare second portion following above instructions.
6. Sprinkle on top green laver and garnish with beni-shoga red vinegar ginger.
7. Eat with marinated cucumbers with wakame seaweed or kimchee (chinese pickles cabbage)

Marinated Cucumber and Wakame Seaweed (Kyui wakame no amazu-ae)

Quick japanese pickles dressed with sweet vinegar sauce. In original recipe in book "Recipes of Japanese cooking" one more ingredient being added - Shirasu Dried Young Sardine, but i did not have them on hands so made it just out of two ingredients: cucumber and wakame.

Ingredients:
1 cucumber
10 g. wakame seaweed (salt cured)
Pinch salt
For sweet vinegar sauce:
2 Tbsp. vinegar
2 Tbsp. sugar
pinch of salt (1/8 tsp.)
2 Tbsp Dashi stock (from powder - i used kombu and bonito flavor)

Method:
1. Prepare sweet vinegar sauce: put vinegar, sugar and salt in a bawl and stir to dissolve completely. Add the stock and cool in refrigerator.
2. Salt cucumber and roll onto a cutting board. Rinse in cold water and cut in a thin slices (edge cut technic). Soak in salted water until softened (20-30 minutes). Squeeze out to drain extra liquid.
3.  Soak wakame seaweed in cold water to soften, string an cut (if it comes in one piece - mine was already shredded). Blanch the seaweed in boiling water and soak in cold water (I just run through it with a boiling water from kettle and then soaked in cold water to cool). Wipe it dry with paper towel.
4. Let all ingredients prepared above rest in a refrigerator until immediately prior to serving. Drain the water of ingredients and mix well with the sweet vinegar sauce.

Thanks a lot for the great recipe experience to "Recipes of Japanese Cooking by Yuko Fujita"

Japanese Curry

Loving it, Loving it, Loving It! I cannot explain the taste of it - you just have to try! Authentic recipe calls to use ground beef in this recipe, but why not to experiment and tailor it to your liking? I do it vegetarian, with chicken pieces or over Katsu (breaded beef or chicken). This one is with some dried mushrooms bought from Japanese grocery!

Ingredients:
1 medium carrot
1 medium potato
1 medium onion
1/2 cup of dried mushrooms
1 cm fresh ginger
1 clove of garlic
1/2 block of "Golden Curry" Roux Medium Hot
Salt, pepper to taste
Dashi Stock or Chicken/vegetable stock
1 cup Japanese steamed rice
Pickled ginger or Kimchee for serving (not pictured)

Method:
1. Cover mushrooms with boiling water and let it stand for 30 minutes.
2. Cut onions: first cut each half of the onion into 3 wedges and dice in three parts. So the onion pieces should be pretty chunky.
3. Grind ginger and garlic.
4. Cut carrot and potatoes in medium size cubes or using Japanese technique for cutting into angles.
5. Add some canola oil into sauce pan and fry ginger and garlic for 1/2 minute.
6. Add onions, potato and carrot and stir fry for 1 minute.
7. Add mushrooms along with a water, add more water or dashi stock (you can use chicken stock from the cube).
8. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low and cover with lid. Let it simmer for 20 minutes.
9. Add "Golden Curry" Roux and let it dissolve in simmering liquid of the stock. Keep on the law heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The dish is ready when all vegetables are cooked through. Be careful and do not over boil so the potato will not lose its form.
10. Remove from the heat - let it stand for 10 minutes, during this time the sauce will settle and become thicker.
11. Serve over steamed Japanese rice and eat with pickled ginger and Kimchee.

So good!!!!!!!!!!!!

Simple asparagus and shitake stir fy

Very nicely comes as a appetizer with japanese carry.

Ingredients:

1 pkg of baby asparagus

some shiitake mushrooms, steams removed

1 Tbsp of sesame oil

Half head of garlic finely chopped

Sea salt

Balsamic vinegar

Method:

1. Cut asparagus in inch size pieces

2. Slice shiitake mushrooms

3. Chop garlic

4. Heat wok on high heat, add garlic and sesame oil. Keep stirring with two spatulas all the time.

5. After a minute, add asparagus. Stir fry for 3 minutes, add a little water (it will turn to steam right away) and cover with lid for 1 minute.

6. Add shiitake mushrooms and stir fry until mushrooms will become tender and everything will be well coated in sesame oil.

7. Transfer on the plate, drizzle with salt and balsamic vinegar to serve.

Miso Udon

Japanese week still on going. After visiting so many of japanese groceries and finally collected all needed ingredients around Dubai - just can get enough of cooking japanese dishes. Does not look on the picture as good as it tasted! This recipe is combination of many recipes i read and i think can be even more variable than this. Main thing is the tasty stock!

Ingredients:

(serves 2)

Stock:

750 ml. of water

6 shiitake mushrooms steams

1 Tbsp. of instant dashi

2 Tbsp. of red miso paste

1 Tsp. of dark soy sauce

Topping:

3 slices of slightly fried or deep-fried tofu (auberage)

1 small bunch of bok choy

6 Jambo Shrimps

6 shiitake mushrooms heads

1 bunch of enoki mushrooms

2-4 pieces of japanese fish cake

For Garnish:

2 pkg. of boiled udon noodles

dried cut laver or scallions

Method:

1. Bring water to boil with mushroom steams.

2. Add miso paste, dashi and soy sauce.

3. Stir for 3 minutes, while boiling and then remove mushroom steams.

4. Add to stock tofu, all mushrooms, bok choy and shrimps.

5. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until all ingredients are cooked through.

6. Switch off the heat and cover with a lid.

7. Udon noodles put into a boiling water for 2 min and drain well.

8. To assemble: place udon into the serving bowls. Arrange the topping, carefully picking up each piece from the stock (the most comfortable way to do it is to use chopsticks). Add stock to noodles as per your liking. Sprinkle some cut laver on top.

Japanese Chicken Hot Pot (with udon)

After our European vocation i got a felling that i am in need of asian flavored light dish. Chicken Bawl is perfect light dish from japanese home cooking. Easy and quick to cook, can be served over rice, or as is did over Udon Noodles.

Ingredients:

(serves 2 persons)

1 big skinless chicken breast

5 cups of water

1 Tbsp of kombu dashi granules

6 leaves of bok choy

4 slices of firm tofu

6 dried mushrooms (shitake, portobello are the best, but is used some white mushrooms from japanese grocery)

1 bunch of enoki mushrooms separated into small bunches

A couple of straws of scallions

Bean sprouts

2 packs of frozen udon noodles

Some soy sauce for garnish

Method:

1. Heat water in a pan with 1 Tbsp of dashi stock.

2. Carefully fry tofu slices in 2 Tbsp of canola or olive oil. Tofu is very soft, while it is raw, so try not to move it on the pan. Place it in hot oil on one side and then tern in to the other side only after making sure, that it is nicely browned.

3. Add dried mushrooms, enoki, mushrooms and tofu into the boiling stock.

4. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for few minutes, add chicken (cut into bite size pieces) and bok choy.

5. Keep simmering until all ingredients are fully cooked.

6. In meanwhile cook udon, as prescribed on the pack (for cooked frozen udon it is 3 min in boiling water).

7. Assembling the dish: put udon into serving plates. Arrange all ingredients from the pot over it, carefully picking them up from the stock with chopsticks. Pour some stock over the dish enough to your liking. Garnish on top some bean sprouts (slightly simmered in the same stock) and scallions.

Enjoy light and healthy dish! And happy dieting :-))

Daifuku

This is one my old recipes. Here in Dubai we are lacking asian groceries and products, but i am just crazy about japanese sweets and dishes. This is one my favorite sweets called Daifuku, made of adzuki bean paste and gluteus rice flour.

Ingredients for Bean Paste:

2 cups of Adzuki Beans (we can buy them in Organic Supermarket)

2 1/2 - 3 cups of water

1 cup of sugar

Method:

1. Soak the beans a lot of water over night

2. The next day, wash and drain. Cover with lot of water and boil for 5 min.

3. Remove from the heat, drain and add 2,5-3 cups of fresh water, about 3 cm. above beans.

4. Bring to boil, reduce the heat to minimum and cook under closed lid for about an hour or until you will see that beans becoming soft and can be easily mashed.

5. Open the lead, reduce remaining water, if there is some and add sugar: 1 cup for not-so sweet and more if you like it sweeter.

6. Simmer beans on very low heat mixing all the time, and mash them slightly with sugar. Add a pinch of salt.

7. Keep stirring until mass will come together and make up a glossy substance.

8. By this time of cooking, the beans should be already mostly mashed. But if you would like to have a reach paste texture - mash them in food processor.

9. To make paste even more creamy without any pieces of beans - put through the sifter.

10. Make balls from this mixture, keep in refrigerator covered, while preparing the dough.

Ingredients for the Sticky Dough (Mochi):

1 cup of water

1/2 - 1/4 cup of sugar

1 cup of Gluteus Rice Flour (i used Thai Choice Brand)

1/2 cup of Corn or Potato Starch (Mochigo) for dusting

Method 1 (using microwave):

1. Mix Rice flour with sugar and water, cover with food plastic wrap and place in microwave for 1-2 min. Take out the bowl, mix well and microwave for another 1 min.

2. Mix well with a plastic spatula (will be very very very sticky)

Method 2 (regular oven):

1. Pour water into the cooking pan and mix in sugar.

2. Bring to boil on a low heat.

3. Turn off the heat and add rice flour, mix well. Place the pan on very very law heat.

4. Heat the mixture for 3 minutes keep mixing all the time.

Continuation fro both methods:

1. Dust a flat metal dish with some corn flour and pour prepared mochi (while still hot) in to the dish.

2. Let it cool for just few seconds, not more! In other wise mochi will not be as sticky as we need it to be.

3. Dust your hands with corn flour, pour some more of it over the mochi.

4. Take part of the dough and make a thick round of it. Place an adzuki bean paste (prepared earlier) in the middle and carefully using a lot of corn flour bring it together with your fingers forming a ball.

5. After you sealed properly bean paste in mochi, give it desired shape, dust well with corn flour and place in the paper form (i used the ones fro muffins) or plastic wrappers.

You can keep daifuku in the fridge fro few days or refrigerate in the freezer for longer.