Stir fry

Recipe by no one in particular

Ingredients:

Orange pepper 1

Leek 1

Chicken breast about 230g

Baby Corn 2 packs

How to make:

1. Cut everything up into small pieces.

2. Put oil in a frying pan and heat it up. When the oil shimmers, add the meat.

3. Once the meat has changed colors, add the vegetables. (You can cook the meat and veggies separate too. I don't have space though)

4. Add whatever stir fry sauce you like at the end (I use just plain old soy sauce) Serve on rice.

Really, you can make stir fry with about anything-broccoli, onions, moyashi (bean sprouts), sugar peas, green peas, or whatever else you have! I like making mine with chicken rather than beef, since I've found that beef gets a bit tough.

Beef and Tofu

Recipe from Basic Cooking （きほんの料理）page 56

Translation:

Serves 2

Ingredients:

Momen tofu 1 block

Beef 100g (small, thin slices)

Leek 1

Shungiku （春菊）1/2 bundle

Soup:

Water (or dashi) 100mL

Sugar 2 tbsp

Soy sauce 3 tbsp

Cooking sake 2 tbsp

How to make:

1. Cut everything up into bite-size pieces.

2. Add the soup ingredients to a saucepan. When it comes to a boil, add the beef and leek. When it starts bubbling again, add the tofu and turn down the heat to low. Simmer for 6-7 minutes.

3. Add the shungiku last and let it cook for another minute or so. Done!

This recipe was really simple to make! I really like tofu, so I'm happy to find more recipes that use it. The only bad thing is that tofu doesn't reheat that well; it makes everything all watery if I take it for lunch the next day. Still tasty though!

Baked Ziti

Recipe link - Allrecipes

I used some fresh, homemade (!) mozzarella cheese for this. I omitted the tomatoes from the original recipe, but I should have added more sauce to make up for it. It turned out a little on the dry side. I could probably stand to cut the recipe in half, since it made way more than would fit into this baking dish. Good thing I had a spare! It tastes pretty good, so I don't mind having the leftovers.

Chinese stir fry

Recipe link-Cookpad

Translation:

Ingredients:

Beef 200g (cut into small pieces, yakiniku meat is good)

Bamboo shoot 1

Piman (green pepper) 1

Red pepper, yellow pepper 1/2 pepper each (I used a whole one each)

Chopped garlic 3 cloves (the kind in a tube is OK)

Meat marinade:

Soy sauce 1 tbsp

Cooking sake 1 tbsp

Sugar 1/2 tbsp

Starch 1 tbsp

Stir fry sauce:

Tobanjan (spicy red bean paste) (豆板醤) 1 tsp

Oyster sauce 1 tbs

Soy sauce 1/2 tbsp

Chinese flavoring (中華味) 2 shakes

Cooking sake 1 tbsp

How to make:

1. Mix the marinade and pour it over the meat, mixing it in. Set aside. Chop up the rest of ingredients.

2. Put 3 tbsp of oil into a frying pan. Cook the meat. When it's about half done, take it out and set aside. Put 1 tbsp of oil into the pan and add the garlic.

3. When you start smelling the garlic, add the vegetables. Stir fry them for a bit, then add the meat back in and stir fry it a little more. Add the sauce right at the end. Done!

I really like this recipe a lot! It's kind of spicy, so you could tone down the red paste stuff. Definitely will make it again!

Cooking class from October 16

Stuff we made:

Niku jaga (not pictured, it's a soup with meat, potatoes, onions, and carrots)

Onigiri (rice balls) with various fillings

Dashiyakitamago

Dango (also not pictured)

Things I learned:

Flipping eggs with chopsticks is hard.

I can't make rice go into a triangle shape.

I had a lot of fun! A friend of mine does cooking lessons like this every month. Definitely want to go again next month!

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Sticks

Recipe link - Cookpad

Translation

Ingredients:

Sasami (boneless chicken breasts) 6 (about 330-350g or so will be fine)

Starch 2 tbsp

Salt and pepper

Sauce:

Soy sauce 3 tbsp

Sugar 1 tbsp

Honey 1 tbsp

Cooking sake t tbsp

Mirin 1 tbsp

Chicken stock powder 1/2 tsp

Seven spice blend (七味）5 shakes (I'm not sure what's in the blend)

Sesame seeds 1 tbsp

How to make:

1. Cut the chicken into strips. Coat with starch, salt, and pepper.

2. Heat up some oil in a frying pan to 180 degrees. Fry the chicken. Once it's done, drain off the oil.

3. In a separate pan, mix the sauce ingredients. Heat it until it just starts to bubble.

4. Coat the chicken with the sauce. Done!

I rarely fry things. I'm actually a bit scared of the oil! But, I managed to fry the chicken without getting popped. The sauce turned out really good, but the chicken a bit on the dry side. I guess I did fairly well for my first time making fried chicken. I think I'll dry cutting the chicken into nuggets next time; that might help with the dryness.

Pork Kimchi

Recipe from "Fun Recipes for 1" (ひとり分の楽しいレシピ) pg 12

Ingredients (I made double, but here's the stuff for 1)

Pork 100g (thin slices)

Kimchi 100g

Nira grass 1/2 bundle

Bean sprouts (moyashi) 1/3 bag

Carrot 1/4

Leek 10cm (about 1/2)

Cooking sake 1 tbsp

Salt, pepper

Soy sauce (small amount)

White sesame seeds 1 tsp (I left these out)

Salad oil 2 tsp (I used olive oil, just enough to coat the pan)

How to make:

1. Cut the carrot, nira, and leek into small pieces.

2. Cook the pork in an oiled frying pan. Once the pork is cooked, add the leek and carrot.

3. Once the carrot and leek have cooked a bit, add the kimchi. Cook it for a minute and add the bean sprouts and nira.

4. Add the sake, salt, pepper, and soy sauce. Mix together. Serve and add the sesame seeds. Done!

I really like this recipe; I make it all the time. It's really quick and easy. I usually add more carrot, since I like carrots. You definitely need a big frying pan for this. Mine's almost too small for a double recipe.

Kabocha Soup

Recipe Link - Cookpad

Translation

Ingredients:

Pork Loin 500g (I left this out)

Salt 2tbsp + 1tsp (I somehow left this out and just added some for taste later)

Honey 1 tsp (left it out since it goes with the meat)

Water 800cc

Kabocha 1 whole (I bought it in sections. I bought 3, since they added up to be over a kilo, so I thought it'd be enough, but it wasn't)

Boullion cube 1

Cream Cheese 45g

Milk 1 cup

Shimeji mushrooms 2 packs/sections/things

Broccoli 1 head

Carrot 2

Cashews 170g (I left these out)

(They also recommend some other kind of nut and mochi cake, but I left those out, I added 2 small potatoes instead)

How to make:

1. Salt the meat and cover it in honey. Put in the freezer to marinate it. Once it's done boil it in a lidded pot on medium heat for 5 minutes. Take it out and put it aside. (I skipped this step {1 and 2 in the original recipe}. The recipe recommends leaving it in the freezer for up to 2 weeks! I'm not that patient)

2. Take out the seeds from the kabocha and cut it up, removing the skin. Boil it.

3. Add the milk and bouillon cube. Heat them up a bit, then use a mixer to blend it. Add the cream cheese and blend it again. (Funny story- I don't have a plug near my stovetop, so I had to put the pot on a hotpad on the floor in the other room to mix it)

4. Chop the meat, carrots, and mushrooms into small pieces. Add them to the soup. Cook over low heat until they are soft.

5. Cut the broccoli into small pieces and boil it in a separate pan. Dry it off and put it in the fridge. (I didn't do this, I just went ahead and added it to the soup. Again, not patient)

6. Just before serving, add the broccoli, nuts, mochi cake etc. Done!

As you can see, I made several changes to this recipe. I definitely didn't have enough kabocha; it doesn't taste as pumpkin-y as I'd like (Japanese language note- kabocha is often translated as "pumpkin" but it covers a whole array of squashes. The kabocha in this recipe is a medium sized, round green squash that tastes like a pumpkin). It's my first time making a soup from scratch, so I was surprised it was this easy! The hardest part was cutting up the kabocha. It has really hard skin, and it took a while.

Bonus- I got a Rilakkuma soup mug from Lawson, and I got to use it for the first time today!

Spaghetti with meat sauce

I almost hesitate to call this a recipe, since I just dressed up a jar of premade sauce.

Ingredients:

Makes 2 servings

Spaghetti noodles

Spaghetti sauce (I used Anna Mama's Tomato and Garlic. Most other Japanese sauces are really sweet!)

Leek 1

Mushrooms 2 packs, precut

Ground beef/pork mix 240g(or so)

How to make:

1. Boil the noodles. I have a plastic thing that lets me cook pasta in the microwave. Handy!

2. Brown the meat in a frying pan and chop the leek. Add the leek when the meat is browned.

3. Drain the juice from the mushrooms and add them. Let them cook a minute to let their flavor soak in the meat.

4. Turn off the heat and add the sauce. Stir and let sit for a minute. Done!

You can change portions and ingredients and it'll probably be ok. I like a lot of meat in my sauce, and I also like a lot of sauce on my spaghetti. Make it however you like it!

Mabotofu

Recipe is from the Muji Recipe Book (pg47)

You'll need a medium size silicone steamer for this

Translation:

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients:

Tofu (momen) 350g (I used a 360g pack)

Leek 1

Garlic 1 clove (I used the squeeze tube, just whatever amount looked right)

Ginger 1 clove? (Again, squeeze tube.)

Ground pork 150g

Starch 2 tsp

Water 1 tbsp

Sesame oil 2 tsp

Sauce:

Miso 1 tbsp

Oyster sauce 1 tbsp

Cooking sake 1 tbsp

Soy sauce 2 tsp

Toubanjan (豆板醤) .5 tsp (You can add more if you like spicy. Just be careful, this stuff is hot!)

How to make:

1. Cut up the tofu and leek into small pieces.

2. Mix the sauce ingredients in the steamer. Add the ground pork and leek. Put on the lid and microwave for 2 minutes, 30 seconds.

3. Stir and add the tofu. Put the lid back on and microwave for 3 minutes.

4. Mix the starch and water. Pour it on while the stuff in the steamer is still hot. Add the sesame oil and mix. Done!

I love my steamer! I really recommend getting one. Muji (No Name Brand store. I would compare it to Target in America, at least by how the stuff looks) has the medium size one for about 1000 yen (a little less than $10 American). They also sell a recipe book for it for another 1000 yen. Everything is super easy and fast. I'd recommend getting it in black though. You can't really tell in the picture, but mine's stained pretty bad in some places. Still works though!

Squidburger- total failure

Recipe Link - Cookpad

Translation provided upon request.

I know exactly what happened. I wanted to make something using the leftover squid I had from the other night. But, I picked the recipe and bought all the other ingredients, before I read how to make it. You need a food processor. I thought I might be ok if I just chopped up the stuff real small, but nope, didn't work. I thought about using my mixer, but the items I needed to chop up (squid and potato) were probably too hard for a mixer anyway. So, I tried cooking the mass of stuff I had anyway. The pan got way too hot, so I turned down the heat. I put the lid on, thinking that it'd help the potato cook, but it just made a mess. I cooked it until I thought it was done. I've tried a little of it, and the taste is really weird. I hate throwing stuff out, but this isn't going to be eaten anyway. Oh well. I've learned my lesson!

Bacon and Bamboo shoots

Recipe link- Cookpad

(sorry for the crappy pic)

Translation

Makes 5 servings (I guess this is meant to be a side. I had it as my main dinner, so it only made 2)

Ingredients:

Bamboo shoot 250g (I used the other half left over from the happosai)

Bacon 40/1 pack (they didn't have a 40g pack at the store. Mine was around 60g)

Red chili 1 pepper (they didn't have this either. I used a little powder instead)

Nam plaa/ Thai fish sauce 1 tbsp

Lemon juice 1-2 tsp (I used 1)

Benito/katsuo flakes 1 pack/3g

How to make:

1. Cut the bamboo up into small pieces.

2. Cook the bacon in a frying pan. Add the pepper and bamboo once the bacon fat is cooked

3. Mix the nam plaa in 100cc of water. Pour it in. Once all the water cooks away, turn off the heat and add the lemon juice and benito. Done!

I really liked the different flavors in this- spicy, fishy, sour, smokey (from the katsuo), bacony, bamboo-y... But, this recipe doesn't make very much. I'll probably double it next time. I was still hungry after eating half (saving half for lunch tomorrow) so I'm having a persimmon for dessert.

Happosai

Recipe link- Cookpad

Translation

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

Stuff in soup:

Hakusai/Chinese cabbage 1/4 head (they sell them pre cut at Jusco)

Chingensai/Bok choy 2 things (I left this out cause they didn't have any at the store)

Carrot 1/2 thing (I used a whole one)

Shiitake mushrooms 4 (I used 3)

Bamboo shoot 1/2 thing

quail eggs (hard boiled) 12 eggs (I used 10)

pork (small slices) 150g

squid 1/2 a squid

shrimp(smallish?) 100g

ginger (tube is ok) 1 tsp

Sesame oil

Starch

Soup:

Chinese flavoring （中華味）1 tbsp

oyster sauce 1.5 tbsp

sugar 1 tsp

cooking sake 2 tbsp

pepper 3 shakes

water 600 cc

How to make:

1. Chop up all the veggies

2. Mix the soup ingredients in a saucepan and boil. Set aside

3. Cook the pork in a frying pan. Add the ginger. Add the squid and shrimp

4. Add the veggies. My frying pan's kind of small, so I had to add them a little at a time.

5. When the veggies have shrunken down a bit, add the soup and quail eggs to the frying pan. Boil for a few minutes

6. Turn off the heat. Melt the starch in some water (however much you think you need) and pour it in. Mix. Add a little bit of sesame oil. Done!

This was really easy to make! The hardest part was juggling dishes around my tiny kitchen. I was fortunate to have a friend over to help me with washing the dishes. I took some for lunch today, but it got kind of soggy sitting in my bento all day. But, it was really good fresh! Definitely will make again!