I wanted to fancy a new recipe and had this idea, but you could actually use the nori as a wrap or burrito and fill it with tofu, veggies, chicken etc
Ingredients: – nori sheet- cous cous – salt – oil – vegetables (rot kohl in this case) – ricotta or minced meat – sauce like okonomiyaki
Cook the cous cous with all the ingredients. If you want you can add also fresh vegetables. Close everything on the nori sheet.
Kujira Mochi with Mt Fuji Shape
Ingredients:
4 salmon fillets
pinch of salt & pepper
1/2 cabbage
1 onion
1 carrot
1-packed mushrooms
2 tbsp butter
*Sauce:
6+1/2 tbsp miso
4 tbsp sake
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp mirin
Steps:
1: Sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper on salmon
2: Cut vegetables and mushrooms
3: Melt butter in the pan and saute both sides of salmon until browned
4: Add vegetables and mushrooms to the pan and pour the sauce like drawing circles
5: Put the lid on the pan to steam the ingredients until cooked
6: When they are well-cooked, stir them to be served
Konnyaku is a rubbery, jiggly food with almost no calories, sugar, fat, or protein. Consisting of water (97%), pulverized konnyaku powder, and seaweed powder, it’s high in glucomannan, a dietary fiber that gives its unique bouncy texture.
But how to eat it?!?
The “itakonnyaku” comes in the form of a block of konjac or “konnyaku” 蒟蒻 that you can cut according to the recipes to be prepared: just rinsed with water, it is prepared in slices, cubes, noodles and eaten hot or cold in salads, ramen, pan-fried and is just as perfect for Japanese fondues.
From my friend Tomomi:
Konnyaku is very low calorie and healthy food. There are lots of konnyaku foods:
– konnyaku jelly or pudding
-you can make an oden konnyaku soup *
– noodle style konnyaku
– sashimi konnyaku
An idea is to eat sashimi konnyaku with mustard miso.
If you have miso, you can mix mustard with miso, vinegar and add little sugar (actually use ‘mirin’, sort of sweeten sake). First, try a little amount of each ingredient by tasting and adjust it.
Or you can also put it into Ton-jiru => tip form my friend Ryusuke
Different Types of Konnyaku
Ita-Konnyaku (板こんにゃく) is a thick grey slab of konnyaku
Ito-Konnnyaku (糸こんにゃく) or Shirataki (白滝 or しらたき) are konnyaku noodles. It can either be grey or white in color. Ito konnyaku is used in Kansai (Osaka) area and shirataki is used in Kanto (Tokyo) area.
Tama Konnyaku (玉こんにゃく) a grey or white ball shape konnyaku. It’s a local food of Yamagata (northwest Japan).
Aka Konnyaku (赤こんにゃく) is red konnyaku that’s a specialty of Shiga (central Japan).
Sashimi Konnyaku (刺身こんにゃく) are presliced konnyaku eaten like sashimi with a miso sauce or soy sauce. It’s green or yellow.
Snack konnyaku are flavored konnyaku. You can find konnyaku drinks in pouches or single-serving jelly packets.
* Oden (おでん), a classic winter dish in Japan that brings warmth to your soul. Oden is a one-pot type of dish that comes with an assortment of fish balls, fish cakes, deep-fried tofu, hard-boiled eggs, konnyaku, and some vegetables simmered in soy sauce-based dashi broth. The food has to simmer for a long time. You can even let it cook for a day.
You can often find Oden sold from food carts, even though some izakayas and several convenience store chains also serve it from October to April. Of course, there are also dedicated restaurants. Many of these restaurants keep their broth as a master stock, replenishing it as it simmers to let the flavor deepen and develop over many months and years.
To Konnyaku you can add different flavours and also use the konnyaku ginger (yellow bag) to add more taste to oden soup. The green konnyaku its for the sashimi type. The grey can be used for the soup.
Ingredients (Serves 2)
4 eggs
300 g cooked rice (hot)
100 g chicken thigh
1/4 onion
3-4 mushrooms
1 green bell pepper (stem and seeds removed)
[A]
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
A pinch of salt
A pinch of pepper
1 tbsp butter
2 tsp vegetable oil
Ketchup, as desired
Parsley, as desired
PREPARATION
1
Cut the chicken into small bite-size pieces and season with salt and pepper. Cut the onion and bell pepper into 1 cm squares. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and quarter.
2
Prepare the mixed rice. Melt 1 tbsp of butter in a frying pan placed over medium heat and stir-fry the chicken. Add the onions, followed by the bell peppers and mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper, then add the rice and stir-fry using a cutting motion.
3
Once the rice grains separate, stir in [A], and season with salt and pepper.
4
Beat two eggs in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
Advice
5
Heat 2 tsp of vegetable oil in a frying pan placed over medium heat. Pour in the eggs and stir quickly in a circular motion to form a slight mound in the center of the pan. Turn off the heat when the eggs are half cooked, and quickly lay half of the mixed rice sideways in the center before the eggs cook through. Fold the upper half of the omelet over the rice and bring the covered portion towards you. Flip the omelet onto a plate.
6
Cover the omelet with a paper towel and shape. Top with ketchup to taste, and garnish with parsley. Repeat the process to make another rice omelet.
Ohagi, also known as Botamochi, is a Japanese sweet rice ball wrapped in red bean paste. The relatively easy preparation and auspicious symbolism of red beans make Ohagi a popular treat to celebrate Ohigan (お彼岸), a Buddhist holiday that coincides with the spring and autumn equinox.
INGREDIENTS FOR OHAGI
Mochi rice – Mochi rice (もち米 – mochigome) refers glutinous short-grain rice. The extremely sticky texture is due to the fact that the starch content of mochi rice is almost 100% amylopectin. This is a branching form of starch that gives foods a stretchy texture. Glutinous rice is typically pounded into a paste to make mochi, but for Ohagi, the grains are left mostly intact. Some recipes call for a mix of regular Japanese rice and mochi rice because there used to be a time when mochi rice was quite expensive, but I prefer using 100% mochi rice for Ohagi.
Anko – Anko (あんこ) is a sweet red bean paste made from adzuki beans and sugar. Ohagi can be made with either smooth anko (こしあん – koshian) or chunky anko (粒あん – tsubuan), but it needs to be firm enough to hold its shape.
Sugar – Although there is sugar in the anko, I recommend adding a small amount of sugar to the rice as well. This helps bridge the taste of the rice and anko together.
Salt – Just as a bit of salt added to cookies or cakes adds depth to baked goods, a small amount of salt is often used in traditional Japanese sweets for contrast. For Ohagi, I like to dissolve the salt in water and use the saltwater to keep the rice and anko from sticking to my hands. This applies a subtle amount of salt to the surface of the Ohagi without making it obviously salty.
HOW TO MAKE OHAGI
To prepare the mochi rice, put it in a strainer and wash it with cold water until it runs mostly clear.
Add the rice to a medium-sized heavy-bottomed saucepan and then measure in the water and sugar. Cover the saucepan with a lid and let the rice soak for at least thirty minutes or preferably one hour. You can also soak and cook the rice in a rice cooker.
Once the rice is done soaking, turn the heat on to high and bring the water to a full boil. Reduce the heat to low and set a timer for ten minutes. Do not open the lid at any point until the rice is done steaming, or your rice will not cook properly.
After the timer goes off, turn off the heat and let the rice continue steaming for another ten minutes.
While you wait for the rice, dissolve the salt in a cup of warm water, prepare a sheet of parchment paper or plastic wrap to put your Ohagi on, and put some food-safe gloves on.
When the rice has finished steaming, transfer it to a bowl and use a spatula or rice paddle to smash it against the sides of the bowl until it forms one sticky mass, but you can still see the individual grains of rice.
To shape the Ohagi, you first want to divide the mochi rice into eight to ten balls and roll them between your hands to press out any air pockets and make them round. Keep dipping your hands in the saltwater to keep the rice from sticking.
Next, you want to wrap the rice balls with anko by scooping about 1/4 cup of red bean paste onto your hand and then using your thumbs and fingers to press it out into a disk.
Put a ball of mochi rice into the center of the anko and use the fingers of your dominant hand to gently press the rice into the anko. Cup and rotate your other hand around the Ohagi to press the anko up the sides of the rice.
Finish the Botamochi off by sealing the flaps of anko over the exposed rice on top. Then you can toss the sweet rice ball between your hands to shape it into an oval.
You often see ramen categorized into four classes: shio (salt), shoyu (soy sauce), miso (fermented bean paste), and tonkotsu (pork), which doesn’t make particular sense, as the first three are flavorings, while the fourth is the broth base.
What are the pink and white things in ramen?
Narutomaki (鳴門巻き/なると巻き) or naruto (ナルト/なると) is a type of kamaboko, or cured fish surimi popular ramen topping with a distinctive pink swirl.
For Shoyu and Miso as an example
Ingredients for Shoyu broth
for 1 person
-1 serving of Ramen noodles
-500ml of basic chicken or pork broth (also with already done one, like dado star)
-1 tablespoon of soy sauce
-1 tablespoon of dark sesame oil
-Doubanjiang sauce (spicy therefore optional)
-Ground pepper (optional)
-salt
homemade ramen noodles=> you can also use soba or udon or Sōmen (Japanese: 素麺)
From Ayuko my friend 🙂
For the broth you can also use Dashi
Use already made dashi or boil the dry fish
Add Sake and Shoyu (soja) plus bit black peppers.
Don’t forget choped Onion as decoration. Her grandma was also using carrots 🥕as dashi: Iriko and carrots.
For example another possibility for the broth from AYUKOSAN
-2 tablespoon soy sauce
-1 tablespoon sake
-1 tablespoon mirin
-a pinch of bonito flakes (katsuobushi)
-4 cup of Niboshi (iriko) dashi soup stock
-a pinch of pepper (optional)
-2 tablespoon salt
– 20 gr menma / bamboo shoots (store bought-asian shops)
-Chashu pork (store bought-asian shops), but you can also buy normal pork or beef at supermarket
– to taste: sesame oil
Ingredients for Miso broth
for 1 person
-1 serving of Ramen noodles
-500ml of basic chicken or pork broth (also with already done one, like dado star)
-1 tablespoon of miso
-1 tablespoon of dark sesame oil
-Doubanjiang sauce (spicy therefore optional)
-Ground pepper (optional)
-salt
homemade ramen noodles=> you can also use soba or udon
For the topping prepare the ones you like, but before fry them with a spoon of sesame oil in a pan:
For example
2-3 slices of pork or beef (marinated in soy sauce optional)
1 shelled hard-boiled egg (i don’t like therefore i don t put it)
1 tablespoon of chopped spring onions
1 handful of bean sprouts boiled in boiling water for 5 seconds
1 teaspoon of hydrated wakame flakes
1 handful of menma “seasoned, thinly sliced bamboo shoots)
You can add at the end nori and narutomaki
Preparation
Prepare your favorite toppings for serving; slice the meat, cut the spring onions etc.
In a saucepan, heat the broth then add the soy sauce and sesame oil. Keep warm
Heat the ramen bowl by filling it with hot water
In another pot, boil plenty of water and cook the ramen then drain them.
Add Miso just before adding the ramen in the broth. And this Miso can be also flavored by spice or garlic or ginger
Empty the bowl with hot water and put the drained ramen, then pour in the hot broth
Arrange the toppings quickly
AS A LAST MESSAGE, THE IMPORTANT IS THE BROTH! THEN REGARDING THE TOPPING PLAY REALLY WITH WHAT YOU LIKE
ITADAKIMAS!
What you can find in the supermarket
Also Kamaboko you can buy it in stores or supermarkets
Fried KAMABOKO fish meat, great recovery snack after a short training. Kamaboko, is a steamed loaf of pureed white fish. Some types of kamaboko contain vegetables or condiments for flavor or variety (onion, ginger, etc.)
Potato salad is always available in the delicatessen sections of supermarkets. It is a popular item; not only as a side dish, but as also an accompaniment to drinks.
Ingredients (Serves 4 )
Print
・3 potatoes (400g)
・1/3 carrot (40g)
・1 small, slender cucumber
・20 g onion
・1 teaspoon vinegar (preferably rice vinegar)
・1/3 teaspoon salt
・Pepper
For the dressing
・70 g mayonnaise
・1 teaspoon plain, French-style mustard
・1/2 teaspoon sugar
PREPARATION
Peel the potatoes, cut lengthwise into quarters. Then cut from the ends into fan-like slices 2 cm thick. Soak the sliced potatoes in water for a minute or two and drain. Likewise, peel and quarter the carrot, and cut into slices 5 mm thick.
Place the potato and carrot in a lidded steamer and steam for 16-20 minutes until tender. Remove from the steamer. Season the potato with 1 teaspoon of vinegar, 1/3 teaspoon of salt, and some pepper. Mash half of the steamed potato slices with a fork. Reserve the other half. Allow the potato and carrot to cool to room temperature.
Thinly slice the onion, and slice the cucumber into rounds 1 mm thick. Place the onion in a bowl, and rub with a little salt. Gently mix in the cucumber slices and allow to rest for about 5 minutes until tender. Then gently squeeze out the excess moisture.
Mix the ingredients for the dressing in a bowl. Then add the sliced onions and cucumbers. Gently mix in the potato and carrot. The salad is now ready to be served.
1- Combine the ingredients for the [Tempura dipping sauce] in a microwave-safe container, then microwave (600 W) for 1-2 minutes. Strain out the skipjack shavings by pouring the sauce through a strainer lined with a paper towel.
2- Peel the shrimp, leaving their tails attached, then devein using a bamboo skewer. Cut off the tips. Remove the stems from the shishito peppers and use a bamboo skewer to poke several holes in each. Remove the stems from the shiitake mushrooms.
Advice
3- Make the [Batter]. Place the flour in a bowl. Mix the beaten egg and water, then pour into the bowl of flour and mix together briefly.
4- Coat the shrimp, shishito peppers and shiitake mushrooms with a thin layer of flour, then dip into the [Batter]. Deep-fry in oil preheated to 170-180°C until golden and crisp. Serve garnished with grated daikon radish and grated ginger. Enjoy by dipping in the [Tempura dipping sauce].
Tasting Diary 