Inarizushi

I've thought of making Inarizushi (colloquially called "Oinarisan") for months and finally managed to make it last night.  Abura-age (fried Tofu Sheet) is the key ingredient for this sushi but a pack of 3 sheets costs as much as 2€ in Germany, that kept me from making this tasty porches.  Not expensive anyway?  That may be true but it costs like ¥84 (about 60ct in Euro) for 5 at Japanese supermarket; the price is six times higher.  It's just hard to pay so much more when you know its true value...or am I just a miser??

Anyway, I was very happy to finally have this sweet taste of home cooking!  Gyoza and Tempra leftovers (were in the freezer) were side dishes as we're going on a long weekend trip to Denmark from Wednesday.  I hope I can post something interesting about food in our neighbor country!  

-Feb. 25 grocery shopping € 4.00/ € 30.73 left

Ingredients (for 6 pcs.)
  ...<for sushi rice>
1 1/2 cup Sushi rice
3 tbsp. vinegar
2 tbsp. sugar
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp. roasted sesame seeds
 ...<for Tofu porch>
3 sheets of Abura-age
1 1/2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 1/3 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. Mirin
1/2 tsp. Sake
2/3 cup water

Directions
1. Cook rice.  Prepare mixture of vinegar, sugar&salt.

2. While rice is hot, pour in the vinegar mixture and mix lightly.  Combine sesame seeds too.

3. Cook Abura-age in boiling water for about 7-8 min., drain and squeeze tightly.  This is to get rid of excess oil.  

4. On a cutting board spread a sheet and roll a chopstick over it about 30 times.  This is to separate layers inside and create a pocket.  Cut in half. 

5.  In a pot, heat soy sauce, sugar and Mirin until sugar is melted.  Put Aburaage sheets in the pot and cook for 3-4 min. then cool.

6. Squeeze Abura-age porch lightly, open the porch, place a portion of sushi rice inside and form. 

Spam Musubi

I was watching Anthony Bourdain's food show "No Reservation" about Hawaiian cuisine on Sunday and already knew what Monday dinner would be; Spam Musubi!!!  I ran to supermarket to buy Spam but I only found Tulip, which is practically the same luncheon meat but I found the container tin a bit thinner and taller than Spam (I think!).  No wonder why Spam is hard to find in Germany, his rival Tulip is from Denmark, just across the border!    

My love story with Spam Musubi goes like this.  About 15 years ago I went on family vacation to Hawaii and saw that mysterious presence everywhere (at seven-eleven, ABC store, supermarket's deli, local open-air markets, even food cart at golf courses had it...).  When my dad brought one back from his morning walk to a local market, I was a bit skeptic about that brown Sushi? Onigiri?-ish food wrapped tight in plastic film but tried it anyway.  Love at first bite.  It's our family's favorite ever since.  Many of my friends from US dislike anything with Spam, maybe because it has a image of cheap, porky and unhealthy meat.  They should try Spam Musubi and it will change their life.  It's the right moment to forget about calories, nutrition blah blah.  Everyone makes it in his own way but my must-have ingredients are Usuyaki-Tamago (super-thin sweet egg crepe) and Furikake(Japanese rice topping).  Here's the recipe to change your life!!      

-Feb. 24 grocery shopping € 20.28/ € 34.73 left

Ingredients (for 8 pcs.)

3 cups Japanese sticky rice/Sushi rice 

1 tin Spam

3 tbsp. Furikake

2 Nori sheets

1tbsp. soy sauce

1tbsp. Mirin

2/3 tbsp. sugar

 ...<for Usuyaki-Tamago>

2 eggs

1 tsp. Sake

2 tsp. sugar

a pinch of salt

Directions

1. Cook rice.

<Making egg crepe> 

2. Beat eggs, sake, sugar and salt mixture.  Oil and heat a pan over low-medium heat.      

3. Pour in the mixture gently to make a thin sheet like french crepe*.  When the surface of egg mixture is almost dry, flip it over and cook for 1 min.

4. Cut egg crepe into the size of Spam slice.

<Cooking Spam>

5. Slice Spam into 8 slices.  Combine soy sauce, mirin and sugar in a small bowl.
6. Saute in a pan 3-4min. each side until slightly browned.







7. Pour in the soy sauce mixture and simmer for 1 min. to
thicken the sauce.








<Making Musubi>
8. Place rice in a mold and press hard. (As I don't have Spam Musubi maker, I used Ziploc type storage container for spaghetti which is perfect size for Spam)

9. Flip it over on a plastic film and cut into the Spam-slice width.  Form the rice ball by pressing a bit.






10. Top with Furikake, egg crepe and Spam.  Wrap with a strip of nori around.ALOHA!

ALOHA!

Nasu-miso Stir Fry

Menu on Friday; 
  Genmai (brown rice)
  Natto (fermented soybeans) with green onion
 Zucchini okaka-ae (Boiled zucchini dressed with sesame oil, soy sauce, Japanese "Dashi" broth and dried bonito shreds)
  Nasu no miso itame  (Stir fried egg plant in sweet miso sauce) 

 After quite a few nights of heavy dinner, it was time to treat myself with some low calorie meal with vegetables and grains.  I still had a eggplant and zucchini from Ratatouille night and I came up with making several "Obanzai" (home made hearty side dishes mainly with vegetables in Kyoto dialect) to go with Natto and brown rice.  Natto is super nutritious but the downside is its strong flavor and texture.  It's like gourmet cheese with really strong smell in French cuisine metaphorically and it's definitely not everyone's favorite, even for Japanese.  I'm still impressed by my husband who loves eating it because I don't know any other non-Japanese who really likes Natto!  I'm sure he was Japanese in his previous life.

"Nasu no miso itame" is an easy&quick dish you can cook without too-niche ingredients, but will still taste very authentic Japanese.  I added pork and ginger to the basic recipe but you can do without.  Here's my recipe.


-Feb. 21 grocery shopping € 8.94 / € 55.01 left

Ingredients(serves 3-4)
1 large eggplant
150g/5.3oz ground pork
3 tbsp. vegetable oil
20g/0.7oz ginger
1 tbsp. miso paste
1 1/2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. sake
1 tbsp. soy sauce

Directions 
1. Grate ginger.  Prepare a mixture of miso, sugar, sake and soy sauce in a small bowl.
2. Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a wok or frying pan add ginger, ground pork.  Cook over medium heat until meat is cooked.
3. Cut eggplant into bite sizes and add to the wok.  Add the rest of oil and cook for 2-3 min. until eggplant are soft.
4.  Stir in seasoning mixture and cook another minute.

Chicken Cacciatore

 Making  leftover Ratatouille into pasta sauce sounded a bit boring so I came up with an eccentric idea to make Chiken Cacciatore, adding celery and red wine to add some kick.  I also used up the rest of canned tomato I used for Mexican rice the other night.  Oh how happy it makes me when I manage not to waste leftovers in the fridge!  I made it one-plate dinner with green salad and brown rice to balance nutrition intake.  Here is the "Cacciatore with leftover ratatouille" recipe!    

-Feb. 20 grocery shopping € 6.57 / € 63.95 left

Ingredients (serves 2)
2 pcs. chicken thighs
2 pcs. chicken legs
1 tbsp. butter
2 cups ratatouille
salt&pepper
1 one stalk celery
1/2 canned tomato
1 tbsp. red wine

Directions
1. Clean chicken and stab with folk or fruit knife on both sides a few times.  Salt&pepper and let it sit for 10-15 min.
2. Chop celery into bite size chunks.
3. In a skillet, melt butter and saute chicken (starting from the skin side down) for about 10min. each side.
4. Take the chicken out and set aside.  
5. Cook celery in the same skillet for 3 min.  Add leftover ratatouille, canned tomato and red wine, simmer for 3-4min.
6. Put chicken back in a skillet and cook for 2 more min.

Bon Appetito!   

Tacos de Bistec

Finally I'm posting an article about Mexican dinner!  Honestly speaking I don't cook much Mexican food since all the essential ingredients like corn tortillas, Maseca, achiote, chipotle chilies are pretty pricey and many other key ingredients are just unavailable in Germany.  Taking Meseca for example, a bag of 2kg is sold at 9 euros at a special imported food store, while in Mexico it's only about 14 pesos (0,7 euros)!   Mexican can be luxury food here in Germany. 

Granting all this, I try to make a comfort food for my husband sometimes because I believe it's important to eat food our souls crave for once in a while, so we can go on with our life in a foreign country.  Last night's menu was my husband's very favorite; Tacos de Bistec (Tacos with beef steak) , Arroz a la Mexicana (Mexican rice) and Green Salad.  I can't recreate the exact taste of street tacos in Mexico but it gets pretty similar to authentic flavor by marinating beef over night.  Here is the recipe.    

-Feb. 19 grocery shopping €15.04 / € 70.52 left

Ingredients (serves 2-3)

10 corn tortillas

450g/16oz Entrecote beef (can be mix with Sirloin) 

2 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 tbsp. maggi sauce (if not available, soy sauce)

2 cloves of garlic

1 lime (juice) 

2/3 tbs. salt

1/2 tbs. pepper

1 tbsp. canola oil

1 large onion

 ...<to garnish>

1 onion

1 bunch of cilantro leaves

Directions
1. Mince garlic.  Slice beef thinly (2mm or 1/12") and in bite size. 
2. In a large Ziploc zipper bag, place meat, garlic, olive oil, maggi sauce, lime juice and salt&pepper and matinate in fridge over night.
3. Chop onion and cilantro, combine and set aside. 
4. Heat canola oil In a skillet, fry onion over medium heat for 2-3 min.  
5. Add beef together with marinade and cook until marinade is dried up.
6. Warm tortillas in a skillet/pan, 1-2min. each side.
7. Serve steak on tortillas and top with onion&cilantro.  Enjoy with accompaniments such as guacamole, frijol or avocado as you like. 

 Buen provecho:)

Ratatouille en Tartine

Inspired by the trip to France, I made a pot of Ratatouille on Monday night and had it on Tartine for Tuesday sandwich dinner.  It was actually first night to use my Le Creuset french oven, which was a wedding gift from a friend and I loved how it cooked vegetables.  The heat is spread gently and equally to every part and it's less likely to get burned with small amount of oil; just perfect for slow cooking.  I was amazed by how sweet the veggies were cooked.  

I should have made more Ratatouille because it has many uses; sauce for spaghetti and lasagna, quiche, pie or can be even curry for rice adding ground meat and spices!  For my Tartine, I had a layer of goat cheese under ratatouille to give some richness (totally ignoring my diet).  Here is my recipe for Ratatouille en Tartine.

-Feb. 17 grocery shopping €13.73 / €101.75 left
-Feb. 18 grocery shopping €16.19 / € 85.56 left

Ingredients (serves 6-8)

...<for Ratatouille>
1 large zucchini
1 large eggplant
1 yellow bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 medium onion
3 tomatoes
2 tbs. tomato puree
2-3 cloves of garlic
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. herbs of province (mixture of thyme, rosemary 
salt&pepper

...<for Tartine (for 2-3 portions)> 
2 sheets or a handful of goat cheese
1 baguette

Directions
1. Peel garlics and cut in half.  Dice all the veggies into 1.5cm/0.5inch cubes.   
2. Heat olive oil in a large stew pot or dutch oven (over medium heat) and cook garlic for about 2 min. then add onions and cook for another 3 min. until it gets transparent.
3. Add in bell peppers and cook for 2 min.  Then add zucchini and eggplant and cook for another 2 min.
4. Add diced tomato and tomato puree, season with herbs, salt& pepper, cover and simmer for about 7-8min.
5. Cut baguette in half and slice horizontally.  Toast in oven for 2-3 min. placing cheese only at the last minute so it melts a bit.
6. Serve Ratatouille on top and bon apetit! 

Chamonix

 The second day started in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, a small border village of France to both Italy and Switzerland.  We were there for skiing but also had chance to try local specialities.  As this region of Savoie have a large amount of cheese production, you find many kinds of dishes with gourmet cheese such as Raclette, Fondue, La Tartiflette and etc.   

We had dinner at a local restaurant "La Caleche", a pretty wooden lodge of Alps ambiance with great superb food.  We chose prix fixe menu again here.  Pot-au-feu Terine plate was for me and Escargo(snail) for my husband, as starter!  Pork in Pot-au-feu was tender and the bouillon was just as perfect as like of grandma's, you never know how she makes it so tasty with so simple ingredients.

Cheese Fondue was the best I had in my life.  According to our local friend, they used only Comte Cheese.  Will definitely try back in Germany!!

12 hours-braised beef cheek tasted a little too much of red wine to my taste but I loved its sauce when I had it on potatoes and carrots.  Orange peel was giving a fresh flavor and I'd like to copy this idea next time I cook braised beef stew.

Panna cotta and Tarte tatin for dessert! They were both fruity and not too sweet so were perfect after heavy main course.  

I can't forget to mention about this wonderful cake "Mont-blanc" (picture on the left).  This is my all-time favorite cake, made with sponge base, whipped cream and chestnuts puree. Unfortunately I can't find this cake in Germany so I had to have it while I was in France.  I jumped for joy when I found it at the nearby bakery on the last day because I had given myself a mission "to have Mont-blanc on the foot of Mont-blanc".  It was DELICIOUS.(+AAA)  The harmonized flavor of chestnuts and rum(of the sponge base) is to die for.  

A bientot!
                                           

Lyon

Back from the trip to France. Thinking of all the delicious food I tried, my mouth is still watering.  Of course I gained some weight but with no regret, it was totally worth it.  I'd like to share some of my gastronomic experience in my blog starting from the first day in Lyon, known as the city of gastronomy.  

After visiting some historical places, I and my husband decided to have late lunch at a Bouchon (casual restaurant that serves traditional Lyonnaise cuisine at affordable price), LE LAURENCIN.  This must be a famous place as it was packed and still had some people waiting outside.  

I ordered 3 course prix fixe Plate du jour (Menu of the day) of €15, starting with Salade Lyonnaise.  The poached egg was perfectly done and the dressing vinegar was giving the salad light taste despite of the grease of bacon.  I was astonished by the portion, that could be a complete lunch!

For the main course, I chose one of the most typical local dishes "Quenelle Lyonnaise"(dumplings of pike, flour, milk and egg mixture).  It was served broiled in lobster cream sauce, that tasted heavenly on the fluffy dumpling and rice on the side.  I loved this dish but may be too fishy for the people who don't like seafood.   

 Then the dessert, almost a main dish for me.  I ordered this without understanding what the waitress was explaining but it turned out to be a good surprise.  Tarte aux Praline served with vanilla ice cream was something I had never had, but something very familiar at the same time.  I did some research back at home and figured out that, its main ingredients "Praline Rose" is made of sugar and apricot kernel which is used also in my favorite Chinese dessert pudding "杏仁豆腐 -almond tofu"!





After lunch, we met up with a local friend and she took us to the indoor market, Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse.  They mostly have gourmet food such as every possible kind of cheese, locally produced yogurt, pates, best quality ham, cakes and macarons from famous patisserie and much much more.  It is a paradise for a food love like me.  Look at this beautiful lines of delicatessen...I could have stayed for a whole day here.

To be continued to Chamonix...

Zaru Soba with Kakiage&Vegitable Tempra

I thought it'd be nice to have some light Asian food on the night before the trip to France and cooked Soba (buckwheat noodle) and three kinds of fritters to go with.  Soba is low GI diet and also rich in vitamin B1 and essential amino acids, a kind of noodle I should be eating instead of pasta!  I like Zaru Soba style; served chilled on a flat bamboo basket/colander ("Zaru" in Japanese) with broth for dipping.    

Tempra is a perfect companion for Soba to make a complete meal.  I made these three kinds;  
- Sweet potato tampra
- Bell pepper tempra
- Kakiage (Mix-vegetable tempra)

Kakiage can be of any vegetable you have in the fridge but should have onion and carrot at least.  Also I recommend to add some crustacean like shrimp or clams because they give good flavor and will upgrade you fritter.  Here it the recipe of Kakiage.
  
-Feb. 12 grocery shopping €18.52 / €115.48 left

Ingredients (for 4 pcs.)
1 medium size onion
1 carrot
2 small stalks of spring onion
5g/0.2oz sakura shrimp (can be normal shrimp in chunk)
2/3 cup flour
2/3 cup cold water
1 tsp. salt
frying oil

Directions
1. Slice onion and carrot thinly to make thin&flat sticks.  Chop spring onion.
2. In a big bowl combine flour, water (must be very cold!), salt and mix lightly.
3. Add veggies and shrimp to the batter and deep-fry in 170-180℃/340-350°F for 3 min. flipping it over once.

Will post gourmet report from France!!

Spaghetti with Tuna&Cabbage

The menu for the second clearing-fridge day (on Tuesday) was...  

 Spaghetti with tuna&cabbage 

 Wakame green salad

This pasta is based on an Italian basic, "Aglio olio e peperoncino" and I just added what was left in the fridge.  I used up boiled cabbage left from Gyoza day and a canned tuna in olive oil, which my husband brought back from his business trip to Spain.  The cabbage gets even tastier in olive oil, was so sweet and soft.  In addition to easy prep and low cost, this can be a great diet menu because the low calorie and nutritious cabbage gives good volume!    

Feb. 11 grocery shopping €0 / €134.00 left

Ingredients (serves 2)

200g/7oz spaghetti

1 tbsp olive oil

1/6 head cabbage (boiled)

1 canned tuna in olive oil

1-2 red chilies

2 cloves of garlic

salt&pepper

Directions

1. Slice garlic very thinly and devein chilies.

2. Cook spaghetti as indicated in the package. (Prepare the ingredients while cooking spaghetti)

3. Heat olive oil in a pan for 1 min., over a medium heat.

4. Cook garlic and chilies for 2-3 min. until garlic is lightly browned.

5. Add boiled cabbage and tuna (with olive oil) and cook for 2-3 more min.

6. Add cooked spaghetti into 5, salt&pepper and lightly mix for 20-30 sec. over a high heat. 

*I like using pre-boiled cabbage because it's sweeter and gets potato-like soft texture.

**Don't cook garlic and other ingredients over a too high flame because your pasta gets bitter when they are burnt.  Just about the heat over which the flavor of garlic and chilies can ooze out into oil will be perfect. 

Buon Appetito!