Japanese recipe: Grilled Herb and soy sauce chicken

Add a twist to your ordinary grilled chicken and enjoy a different taste!
It's very easy to make and you don't need any other special Asian sauces but soy sauce to cook this dish.

Japanese recipe:
Grilled herb and soy sauce chicken


*2 servings


+Ingredients+

• 1 lb(2thighs) boneless skinless chicken (450g)
• 2 table spoons Soy sauce
• 2 table spoons White wine
• 1/2 table spoon brown sugar
• 1/4 tea spoon herb mix
• 1 clove Garlic (sliced)
• Salt and pepper
• 1 table spoon vegetable oil

+Directions+

1. Season the chicken with salt and pepper lightly and rub the herb mix.
2. Combine soy sauce, white wine, brown sugar, sliced garlic in a bowl and marinate the chicken from 1. for about 20mins.
3. Take the chicken out and pat the chicken with paper towels. *It's easy to burn the chicken without this process. Discard the marinated sauce.
4. Heat the pan, add oil, and grill the chicken with high heat for couple of mins each side.(untill brown)
5. Reduce the heat to low, put the lid and cook for another 15min or until it cooks through.

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Japanese recipe: Easy Curry Bread

You may have never thought, but the breads in Japan are amazingly good.
There are sooooo many kinds of breads in Japan such as Melon-pan, Cream pan(Custard Cream bread), An pan(Sweet bean bread), Kare pan(Currey bread), Yakisoba pan(Fried noodles bread), Korokke pan(croquette bread).......I can name it endlessly.


One of the Japanese favorite breads is Curry Bread(Kare-pan) which has Japanese curry paste inside and the dough is deep-fried to golden brown. It's crunchy and crispy outside but the dough inside is soft and chewy. The curry paste inside goes really well with the dough too.


Since I had leftover curry that I made on the other day, I wanted to make something different with it, but making bread dough is time consuming...


Thinking ....
     Thinking.....

                  .......。


Oh! I have pita breads!

I was not sure how this would turn out, but I filled the curry paste into a pita bread, breaded, and deep-fried.

And, this is the fried pita curry bread.
It just looks like the Curry bread I buy in Japan!

It tasted great too! It's easy, tasty, and it makes an amazing change from an ordinary curry.
If you have leftover curry, give it a try!




Japanese recipe: Fried Pita Curry Bread

*2 curry breads


+Ingredients+

• 1 Pitabread (cut in half)
• 7oz Curry (paste)(200g) *adjust the amount depending on the size and the thickness of bread
• 1/2 Egg
• 1/4 cup Milk (60ml)
• Panko(bread crumbs)
• Vegetable oil (for frying) 

 *Use a thick curry paste. If you have lots of vegetables in curry, mash them to make curry thicker. You can also add boiled and mashed potatoes or thicken curry with corn starch.


+Directions+

1. Cut a pita bread in half and open the inside.
2. Fill the curry paste in pita breads(make some room for the ends to seal) and seal it by pressing the bread together with fingers(wet with water if necessary) *Don't worry to much about sealing the bread tight. If the curry paste is not runny, it will not come out easily when frying.
3. In a shallow bowl, add milk and egg and mix well.
4. Dip the pita bread in 3. and cover with bread crumbs.
5. Wrap 4. to let bread crumbs stick to the pita breads for about 10mins.
6. Fill 1/4 inch of vegetable oil to the pan and deep-fry the pita breads both sides for total of about 7mins or until pita breads becomes golden brown.

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Japanese recipe: Onigiri

I made Onigiri(rice bowls) for my hiking lunch yesterday.

The right one is Mentaiko(seasoned cod roe) onigiri: I wrapped it with Nori(dried laver seaweed). The left one has picked plum inside and I seasoned with shio-konbu.　

Since I am the only one who eats rice regularly in my house, I usually cook rice, wrap them into single serving packages, and freeze them so that I can eat rice whenever I want to instantly. I can enjoy steaming hot rice just by sticking a pack of rice in a microwave and heat it for about 1 min.

If you don't have much experiences shaping onigiri, I recommend using plastic wrap. Your hands does not become dirty and you don't have to worry about making onigiri soggy (Normally, you have to wet your hands when you shape onigiri so that onigiri won't stick to your hands).


Japanese recipe:
Onigiri


*2 small Onigiri


+Ingredients+

• 7oz cooked rice (200g)
• salt
• 1 Ume (pickled plum)　
• 1 bite-size Mentaiko (seasoned cod roe(raw or grilled))
• Nori(dried laver seaweed)
• Shio-konbu(seasoned kelp)

+Directions+

*Mentaiko Onigiri*

1. Place a sheet of plastic wrap on a board, sprinkle a little bit of salt and spread rice on it.
2. Make a small dent in the center and add seasoned cod roe in the center. Cover the filling by bringing all 4 corner edges of wrap to the center and make a ball. Sprinkle a little bit of salt on top.
3. Place the wrapped rice ball on your left hand. Make a V shape with your right hand and press onigiri. Rotate each corner of onigiri until you make the desirable triangle shape.
4. Take the wrap off and wrap it with Nori(dried laver seaweed).

 

*Ume Onigiri*

1. Follow the same process above except seasoning rice with salt (Shio-konbu seasons the rice ball). Use pickled plum as filling instead.
2. Sprinkle shio-konbu around rice ball and serve.

Salted grilled salmon, okaka, and tuna & mayo are good for Onigiri fillings too. However, there is no rule like what you can and can't use as Onigiri fillings so just add whatever food you like to eat with rice and enjoy!

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Asian recipe: Spicy chicken and green beans stir-fry

I had a craving for spicy chicken and green beans stir-fry today. 
I ate this stir-fry dish at a Chinese fast food restaurant a while ago and wanted to make something close to the taste by myself.


Since I remembered the dish had a common "salty and sweet " Asian taste plus spiciness, I mixed these two ingredients below.

1. Korean BBQ sauce
2. Chili garlic  sauce

I wasn't sure how this would taste like, but it was a big success.
I just mixed them with 6(Korean BBQ sauce) : 1(Chili garlic sauce) ratio and poured the sauce into chicken and green beans. Of cause, you can adjust the amount of chili garlic sauce depending on how spicy you want.

Asian recipe: 
Spicy chicken and green beans stir-fry

+Ingredients+

• 2 Chicken thighs (about 2/3 lb(300g) after removing skins and bones)
• 1.5 lb(about 70strings)Green beans(700g)
• 1 teaspoon Soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon Japanese sake or white wine
• 1 teaspoon Corn starch
• 1 tablespoon Vegetable oil or chicken skin
• 3 tablespoons Korean BBQ sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon Chili garlic sauce

+Directions+

1. Boil green beans in boiling water (add a little bit of salt in a pot)for couple of mins. Drain water and set aside.
2. Remove chicken skins and bones and cut them into 1 bite-sizes. In a bowl, add chicken pieces, soy sauce, Japanese sake and corn starch and mix well. *This seasoning process make the stir-fry taste better!
3. Turn the heat to high and add vegetable oil (or chicken skin) .*If you are using chicken skin, wait until oil comes out from the skin and remove the skin from the pan.
4. Add chicken to the pan. Spread all the chicken pieces on the pan and cook for about 1 to 2mins each side. (Try not to move the chicken very much at this process to make good grill marks on chikens.
5. Add green beans and stir-fry chicken and beans together for couple of mins.
6. Add Korean BBQ sauce and Chili garlic sauce and mix well for about 1 min and serve.

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Japanese recipe: Bukkake Udon

Many people may know "Udon" but not "Bukkake udon".
The most common style of Udon is served in a clear dashi soup, however, there are many kinds of Udon such as Curry Udon, Nabeyaki Udon, Yaki Udon, Kamaage Udon, and much more. And Bukkake Udon is one of them.


Actually I ate Bukkake Udon for lunch today. It's quick to make and delicious!

Unlike normal Udon, Bukkake Udon is not in soup: rather, you pour small amount of thicker soy sauce base dashi(or just soy sauce) to Udon.

The term "Bukkake-ru" is a verb means "dash" or "throw". I think the word "Bukkake Udon" came from throwing (pouring) dashi sauce and your favorite toppings to Udon.

Japanese recipe: Bukkake Udon


*1 serving


+Ingredients+

• 1 pack of frozen Udon
• 1 pack (one handful) Bonito flakes(3g)
• 1 table spoon Soy sauce
• 1 egg(whole or just yolk depending on how runny you want)

+Recipe+

1. In a large pot, boil water and cook Udon until noodles separate. Or if its's not frozen Udon, cook it as directed on a package.
2. Drain hot water and serve noodles in a bowl. *If you like cold noodles, wash noodles with cold water.
3. Add bonito flakes and soy sauce over the noodles and put an egg on top.

Since I like the soup to be runny, I usually put a whole egg in Bukkake Udon. However, many people prefer adding only an egg yolk instead. Chopped green onions, graded ginger, tempura and graded radish are good for toppings too. Find your favorite toppings and make your own Bukkake Udon.

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Japanese recipe: Simmered konjac and bamboo shoots

These 4 items below are the main ingredients cooking Japanese food.

1. Soy sauce
2. Japanese sake
3. Mirin(sweet rice wine)
4. Dashi(Japanese broth)

If you have these ingredients, you can make anything tastes like Japanese food.
Name some Japanese dishes. You will find most Japanese food has at least 1 ingredient from above.


One of  the most common Japanese dishes that include all these 4 ingredients is called Nimono(stewed dishes).
However, Nimono is not just one dish: about any kinds of food (vegetables, meats, and fish) can be Nimono if you cook with these ingredients. *Some Nimono dishes may use sugar instead of Mirin and omit dashi.


Today, I  made Nimono with konjac, bamboo shoots, Japanese radish, and shitake mushroom.
Also, I added bonito flakes for dashi (Japanese broth) with vegetables and cooked. *Usually when you make fish broth by adding bonito flakes into a boiling water for couple of mins and remove the bonito flakes.

Japanese recipe:
Simmered konjac and bamboo shoots


*4 to 5 servings


+Ingredients+

• 10 oz Konjac (280g)
• 7 oz Bamboo shoots(boiled) (200g)
• 9 oz Japanese radish (250g)
• 4 big Shitake mushroom
• 1 tablespoon Vegetable oil
• 1 Dried Chili pepper
• 1 cup Water
• 1/2 oz Bonito flakes (15g)*
• 1 teaspoon Konbu seaweed dashi powder*
• 2.5 tablespoon Soy sauce
• 2.5 tablespoon Japanese sake (you can substitute with white wine)
• 1.25 tablespoon Mirin(sweet ricewine) (you can substitute with Sugar)

*If you don't have bonito flakes or Konbu seaweed dashi powder, use 1 teaspoon of Instant dashi powder(dashi no moto).

+Directions+

1. Cut Konjac,bamboo shoots, radish, and shitake mushrooms into 1 bite-sizes. Slice chili pepper.
2. Boil Konjac in hot water for couple of mins and drain water.
3. In a pot, add oil and chili pepper and saute lightly with Medium heat.
4. Add Konjac, bamboo shoots, radish, and shitake mushrooms to the pot and cook for about 5 mins.
5. Add all the remaining ingredients, put a lid, and cook for about 30 mins. Stir frequently while cooking.

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Japanese recipe: Pork wrapped enoki mashroom

One of my favorite food is mushroom especially enoki mushroom and eryngi mushroom(king oyster mushroom). Whenever I visit Asian supermarkets, I always buy either of these mushroom.

I think that was when I was in college. I often used to see this mushroom commercial on TV.
This commercial is done by Hokuto corporation to promote mushrooms.





After you hear the song for a few times, you remember it and the music won't stop playing in your head. Oh, It started again!

"Kinoko no ko noko genkinoko......♪"

Mushroom characters in commercials are cute too. Whoever thought this song and the characters is very smart. This commercial got me interested in trying new kinds of mushrooms and I started eating a lot more mushrooms.

Yesterday, I used enoki mushroom and wrapped them with thinly sliced pork.
My mother used to make this dish with bacon, which also tastes great.



Japanese recipe:
Pork wrapped enoki mushroom

*1 serving (makes about 5 mushroom sticks)

+Ingredients+

• 1/4 lb Pork loin(thinly sliced) (110g)
• 1/4 lb Enoki mushroom (1 small package) (110g)
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Japanese sake (you can substitute with white wine)
  
• 1 pinch of sugar
• salt and pepper
• tooth picks (same amount of sliced pork)

+Ingredients+

1. Prepare thinly-sliced pork. *It is easier to cut after freezing for about 15 mins. Place sliced pork on kitchen board, put plastic wrap on top and flatten pork by using your fist or a tool. Season pork with salt and pepper.
2. Remove the end part of enoki mushroom(about 1/4 of the length) and divide them into the amount of sliced pork.
   
3. Wrap the enoki mushroom with pork and secure with toothpicks. Try to cover most part of enoki mushroom by wrapping from top to down diagonally.
4. In a pan, add oil and cook pork with high heat for couple of mins until the pork turn brown.
5. Turn the heat down to medium, add remaining ingredients(soy sauce, Japanese sake, and vinegar), and cook for about 5 mins until the juice evaporates and thickens.
   

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