Tacos de Camaron Capeado

Camaron Capeado is battered and deep-fried shrimps.  We cook shrimps by this method also in Japan (as you may know as "Tempra"), but the big difference of this Mexican version is that beer is used in the batter!   You can enjoy this delicious shrimp tacos with your favorite toppings like; home made Guacamole, chopped onion&cilantro and lime juice and they taste just like you're on vacations in Los Cabos!

Ingredients (serves 4-6)
 ...<to cook shrimps>
500g shrimp
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup corn flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup light beer (such as Corona)

8-10 tortillas
Chipotle mayonnaise
chopped cilantro&onion
Guacamole
lime

Directions
1. Clean and devein shrimps. (Defrost if you're using frozen ones.) 
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, corn flour and salt.  Gradually add beer into the flour mixture and mix well until there's no lumps.
3. Coat each shrimp slightly with flour and dip in the batter.  Deep-fry in vegetable oil (at 175°C/350°F) for 4-5 min. until golden brown. 
4. Top with your favorite toppings such as; cilantro, onion, Guacamole.  Pour some chipotle mayonnaise, squeeze lime juice over and enjoy! 

Tamago Sushi

Sushi is perfect menu for a girl's night.  It's light, looks like pieces of jewelry and easy to pick up while chatting.  Last Friday my husband was away for his business trip, so I invited a friend over and prepared sushi, both Nigiri and Futo-Maki.  I used frozen and pre-sliced Sashimi you can get in Asian store for most of Nigiri, though, I made Tamgao-yaki (sweet egg omelet) and tuna&corn Gunkan (Nigiri that is boat-shaped and wrapped with Nori) myself.  You can't miss these home made sushi classics!!  This sweet egg omelet also goes in my Futo-Maki (rolls) usually, as its sweetness harmonizes all the diverse ingredients.  It might give you an extra work but definitely upgrade your sushi if you seek for authentic taste of Japan.  So I'd like to share the basic recipe of Tamago-yaki.

Ingredients
5 eggs
3 tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tbsp. sake
3 tbsp. water
a pinch of salt

Directions
1. Beat eggs in a bowl together with sugar, sake and salt.     
2. Heat a non-sticking pan (preferably square shaped) over medium heat and spread some vegetable oil with paper towel.
3. Pour 1/3 of egg mixture just to cover the pan with a thin layer.
4. When the bottom is firm (the surface should be still liquid) after 1-2min., lift up the closer side and fold.  Keep folding the egg sheet until you come to the end.  Push the roll back to closer end of the pan.  Oil the surface of the pan with paper towel again and pour another 1/3 of egg mixture.  Lift up the roll a bit so the liquid goes under the roll too.  Then fold again from your side towards the other end.  Repeat this process again with the remaining egg mixture.
5. Place egg roll on a cutting board and cool.  Slice as desired (thick slices for Tamago0Nigiri or think strips for Maki). 

-May. 23 grocery shopping € 28.31/ € 95.59 left

Curry Doria

 Curry Doria as a spin off of my curry.  Doria is one of Japanese-western classics and traditionally has buttered rice or pilaf, white sauce, topped with cheese then baked in oven.   It was invented in 1930's by Chef Saly Weil, who was chief chef at Hotel Newgrand Yokohama, who was asked to prepare something comforting for an European guest who had a cold.  You can find many variations in Japan, such as with chicken, seafood, or tomato based meat-sauce (Bolognese) and it's absolutely fun to create your own Doria.  My version is basically rice&curry but mozzarella cheese on top changes the flavor drastically and you don't think you're eating same thing!   

Ingredients (for one)
a tsp. butter
a portion cooked rice (about a cup)
1 1/2 cup curry
50g mozzarella cheese
1 egg

Directions
1. Spread butter on the surface of your gratin/baking dish.
2. Spread rice in the bottom, then curry, and sprinkle cheese on top.  Make a crater in the middle and crack an egg in.
3.  Bake at 180°C/350°F for 20 min. until cheese is golden brown. 

Korokke Curry

 Japanese curry was never my favorite when I still used to live in Japan, maybe because I had it too much.  My father LOVES curry so it was on the table at least once a month.  Wherever you go (college cafe, restaurants in ski resorts, outdoor festivals...), there is curry, curry, curry...like you can never get away from it.  However, once you are away from home and you stop seeing it on restaurants menu at all, you start missing what you always had growing up.  That's when I make curry.  In Japan, it's often served with toppings; Tonkatsu, fried veggies, cheese, eggs...  Korokke also makes a great topping giving some mildness to your spicy curry.  

Ingredients (8-10 servings)

a package of curry sauce mix (like a package on the photo, available in Asian food store)

500g beef 

3 large potatoes

3 medium carrots

2 medium onions

5-6 cups water  

rice
Korokke for topping

Directions
1. Cook rice.  Cut beef into bite sizes.  Slice onions.  Peel and cut carrots and potatoes in to bite sizes.
2. In a large pot, heat oil and cook beef until golden brown.  Add water and cook for 1.5 hrs. until beef is tender.
3. In a skillet heat oil and fry onions.  When onions are translucent, add carrots and potatoes and cook for another 2-3 min.
4. Add veggies (step 3) to the pot of beef and cook for 30 min.
5. Add curry sauce mix and let it melt.
6. Serve on warm rice and top with Korokke (or anything you like). 

-May. 16 grocery shopping € 9.50/ € 150.18 left

Champignons & Salami Pizza

 A perfect pizza dough doesn't exist, in my opinion.  Because it all comes down to one's taste.  Some like it bread-like fluffy and other like paper thin and crispy.  I like soft inside and slightly crispy on the edge or thin and chewy Napoli style.  I've tried so many pizza doughs since I moved to Germany; pre-mixed flour from Italian whole sale store, pre-maid sheet from Penny, normal flour (type 405) with fresh yeast and whatnot...and I've come to my best so far this time!  I used simply type 550 German flour which is equivalent to all-purpose-flour, with a gluten content of 9-11%.  I had never touched other kinds of German flour with mysterious numbers (550, 1050, 1150...!!???) because I didn't understand what they mean.  Ok now I know that it has to do with gluten content after some investigation; the higher the number is, the higher its gluten content is.  Learning from this little discovery, my next mission will be to try making chewy pizza dough!!

Ingredients (makes three 28cm/11'' large pizzas)
 ...<for the dough>
500g all purpose flour
2 tsp. yeast
1 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
300cc warm water
50cc olive oil

 ...<for the sauce>
150g(about 3/4cup) tomato paste
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. pizza herb mix
3 tbsp. olive oil
2/3 tsp. salt

 ...<toppings>
mozzarella cheese
champignons (I used canned mushroom)
salami

Directions
1. Make the dough. Put all the ingredients in a large bowl and knead until well combined and smooth, for about 5 min.  Cover and let it rest in a warm place for 40min.to 1hr. (until the flour is risen to double the size).  
2. Meanwhile, combine all the ingredients for the sauce.  
3. Divide the dough into three equal portions foaming ball shapes.  
4. Dust the working surface with flour and flatten the dough to 7-8mm/1/4'' thickness using rolling pin.  
5. Slightly oil the pizza pan/baking sheet or surface and place the pizza dough.  Spread the sauce, then mozzarella cheese and mushrooms.
6. Bake at 230°C/450°F for 7-8min.
7. Take the pizza out once and top with salami, put it back in oven for 30 sec. and done!!

-May. 15 grocery shopping € 11.45/ € 159.68 left

Tortellini with Pesto Cream

 We got back from Denmark hungry last Wednesday afternoon and I figured out I didn't have anything in the fridge but half a bottle of heavy cream.  I quickly had to come up with something to fill our stomach and decided to cook tortellini with cheese inside, which my husband brought back from his business trip to Spain.  To go with tortellini, I made creamy sauce using a half a jar of Basil pesto I had thrown in the freezer a few weeks ago.  That was my "Thank God I haven't thrown it away!" -moment of the month.  I made the sauce totally by guess but it turned out to be very delicious pasta that I would make again even if it's not the only choice! 

Ingredients (serves 2)
250g tortellini
150ml/5oz heavy cream
1/4 cup Basil pesto

Directions
1. Boil tortellini as instructed in the package.
2. In a skillet or pot, combine heavy cream and pesto.  Simmer over medium frame for about 3-4 min.
3. Put drained tortellini into the sauce and stir to combine for another min.  Serve warm. 

Akari

 A review of Japanese restaurant "Akari" in Hamburg.  It's one of a few authentic restaurants owned by Japanese.  On top of that, they serve casual home cooking like Curry, Teriyaki chicken and so on, which you can't find in exclusive Japanese restaurants.  Everything tastes like in Japan here and worth the price.  They do weekday lunch at more accessible price. 

Ingen no goma-ae (boiled green beans with sweet sesame dressing) as a starter.

Tendon (prawns&veggies Tempra bowl) €18.  Perfectly crispy!!

Sushi&Sashimi plate €22.  So fresh!! 

Green tea ice cream €3 for dessert.  The size was beyond my expectation...

Japanisches Restaurant Akari

Papenhuder Str. 67
22087 Hamburg

Tel.: 040 / 220 08 03