Seafood

Satsuma Age no Nimono 04/29/2010

Satsuma age is a fried fish cake from Kagoshima, Japan. Please try it if you’re ever here! There are many kinds of satsuma age available, so if you have a chance, try a few and pick your favorite!. My grandfather is from Kyuushu and he recently brought us a fresh batch. It was delicious!

Yield: 4 servings

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

Yaki tofu (gliled tofu) 3/4 lb (cut 3 inch cube)
Boiled bamboo 4oz (cut into bite sizes)
4 satsuma age (1 pound, cut 2-3″ pieces) You can use any kind. For this recipe I used iwashi (sardine) and shishamo

Spices

2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp sake
1 tbsp sugar
2 cups dashi soup (2 tsp dashi powder, 2 cups water)

Preparation

Put everything in a sauce pan and heat for 20 minutes on low
Add some salt if you want a richer taste

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Posted in Seafood | 1 Comment

Mentaiko Potato Salad 04/15/2010

This is another mentaiko recipe! Mentaiko is seasoned cod fish eggs. It may be hard to find where you live, but some Japanese supermarkets sell them frozen. Many izakaya (Japanese drinking establishments) serve this type of potato salad. It’s easy and delicious!

Yield: 4 servings

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

4 potatoes
1/4 sliced onion
1 Japanese cucumber (1/4 lb)
2 mentaiko

Spices

2 tbsp Japanese mayonnaise, such as Kewpie
1 tsp vinegar
dash salt and pepper

Preparation

Boil potatoes until they get soft for mashing. Remove skin and mash
Put sliced onion in cold water and leave for 5 mins then strain
Remove mentaiko from skin
After potatoes cool, sprinkle salt and pepper, then add mentaiko and mix.
Add sliced onion, thinly sliced cucumber, mayo, and vinegar

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Tempura 03/04/2010

Tempura is a very popular Japanese dish all over the world. Basically it is battered and fried seafood and vegetables. We have been eating tempura over 300 years and there are many traditional, high quality tempura restaurants in Japan. This is simple dish but it takes a bit of work, and can be dangerous, so if you are not used to cooking with oil, please be careful!

Yield: 4 servings

Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

10 shrimp
1/2 lb sweet potatoes
4 oz eggplant
4 oz king trumpet mushrooms
8 long Asian green beans
4 pieces of chikuwa
1 small sweet green pepper (shishitou)
1 shiso leaf
5 oz lotus root

Spices

5 oz ground daikon (for sauce)
1 tsp ground ginger (for sauce)
1 1/4 cups dashi sauce (1 1/4 cups water with 8g hon-dashi)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup mirin
1/4 cup sake
2 cups of tempura powder

Tempura Sauce

Mix dashi, sake, soy sauce, and mirin in a saucepan and boil. Add a little ground ginger.

Tempura

Cut vegetables into 1 or 2 inch pieces
Put 2 green beans in a chikuwa and slice in half
Mix tempura powder with water (please follow the package information)
Pour oil in a deep frying pan and heat to 375°F (190°C)
Dip ingredients into tempura butter and deep fry in oil until it browns (the Vegetables cook very fast (shiso = 10 seconds!), so watch them closely!)
Transfer fried vegetables to a dish covered with paper towels to soak up the excess oil
Serve with tempura sauce sprinkled with a bit of daikon

Modifications

You can use many vegetables and meats for tempura: chicken, fish (white meat), onion, asparagus, pumpkin, zucchini, broccoli, etc!

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Posted in Seafood, Vegetables | 3 Comments

Anko Nabe 02/27/2010

Have you had Anko Nabe? The fish in this recipe looks very strange, but it contains a lot of collagen, which is great for your skin. I had it last night and my skin looks better today! The goosefish’s meat is thick and tastes very mild. This dish is great for your health, and perfect if you are dieting!

Yield: 4 servings

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

18 oz chopped anko (goosefish)
1/4 chinese cabbage
6 shiitake mushrooms (marked with X’s on top-see picture)
5 oz thick carrots
4 oz shimeji mushrooms
4 oz maritake mushrooms
1 shronegi or two green onions (cut into 2.5″ pieces)

Spices

5 oz miso paste
1 slice of kombu
1/4 cup cooking sake

Preparation

Put 6 cups of water into a large pot or slow cooker (nabe)
Add konbu and let sit for 20 mins at room temperature
Remove kombu
Add sake and anko (goosefish) and heat on high until mixture boils
Skim the top of the soup
Reduce heat to medium, then add miso paste and mix
Add remaining ingredients, cover, and boil for 5-10 minutes (until cooked)
Sample the soup and add miso to taste

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Posted in Seafood | 3 Comments

Kaki Zōsui (Oyster Rice Soup) 02/25/2010

Kyoto is finally warming up! It feels like Spring is right around the corner. Soon the sakura (cherry blossoms) will be blooming all over Japan! I’ll be sure to post some pictures here when they do. This recipe is a Japanese rice soup made with steamed rice, and is great for a healthy diet! I posted a similar recipe a while back, Tamago Zōsui, but today I used fresh oysters! So good!

Yield: 3 servings

Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

15 oysters
2 bowls of steamed rice
3.5 oz enoki mushrooms (halved)
2 green onions (chopped)
2 eggs (beaten)
1 sheet of nori (seaweed, thinly chopped, optional)

Spices

4 cups dashi soup
3 tbsp soy sauce
dash salt

Preparation

Wash the steamed rice and strain to remove the stickiness
Put dashi and soy sauce in a saucepan and add enoki mushrooms
When the dashi mixture boils, add rice and oysters, then cook for 5 minutes on low
Add a dash of salt, beaten eggs, then green onion
Turn off the heat, cover, and let the soup stand for 3-4 minutes
Serve in a bowl with sprinkled nori if you like!

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Posted in Seafood, Soup | 2 Comments

Salmon Cream Pasta 02/21/2010

Salmon Cream Pasta is a popular item in Japanese-Italian restaurants. Not technically a Japanese dish, but it is popular in Japanese homes, so I thought I’d share it with you. Also, this tastes great with a little ikura (salmon eggs) on top.

Yield: 2 servings

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

2 salmon fillets
3/4 cup whipping cream
8 oz pasta
1/2 onion (sliced)
1 tbsp parmesean cheese
4 oz spinach
1 tsp minced parsley

Spices

1/2 oz butter
1 chicken bullion cube
salt and pepper
1/4 cup sake
1/2 tsp olive oil

Preparation

Remove salmon skin and bone
Boil pasta al dente, saving 1/2 cup hot water
Heat a pan with 1/2 tsp olive oil and butter
Add salmon, separating the meat, then mix in onion and cook for 3 minute
Add sake and stir then add spinach and a dash of salt and pepper, mixing for 2 minutes
Add cream and 1/2 cup hot water, and stir, then add bullion cube
Add parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper to taste
Add minced parsley
Mix with pasta and serve

Modifications

For a lighter pasta use half and half or cut the cream with milk.

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Posted in Noodles, Seafood | 7 Comments

Fried Oysters 11/20/2009

Kaki is the Japanese word for oyster. It is also called “umi no miruku (milk from the ocean)”, named as such because of the high nutritional value of oysters. They are in season from fall to winter, so let’s get fresh oysters and make this recipe!

Yield: 18 oysters

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

18 oysters
1 egg (beaten)
1 cup panko (or breadcrumbs)
1/4 cup flour
1/2 lemon

Spices

3 tbsp Japanese mayonnaise, such as Kewpie, or tartar sauce
1 tsp olive oil

Preparation

Blanch oysters in boiling water for 8 seconds, and remove
Cover oyster with flour, dredge in egg, and cover with panko.
Heat oil to 375 degrees and fry oysters until golden brown (2-3 mins)
Remove and serve with lemon and mayonnaise or tartar sauce
For tartar sauce, use store bought sauce or use the recipe from Shrimp Fry.

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Posted in Seafood | 1 Comment

Shrimp Fry 10/14/2009

Japanese: Ebi fry.
Ebi fry is extremely popular at home and in restaurants in Japan. It also makes for a good bento (lunch box) to take to work or school. Ebi fry falls under the category of “youshoku” (pronounced yo-shoh-koo), which is the Japanese word for western style food. Oddly enough, most youshoku recipes hardly resemble anything you can find on the menu in western countries. This is because the dishes were introduced to Japan so long ago that over the years they’ve evolved to the local tastes and become almost uniquely Japanese. Still, however, they retain the western moniker. A couple of other youshoku I’ve posted here are gyudon (beef bowl) and katsu sando (pork cutlet sandwich). Check those out too when you have a chance!

Yield: 10 shrimp

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

10 large shrimp
1 egg (beaten)
1 cup panko (or breadcrumbs)
1/4 cup flour
1 boiled egg (crushed, for tartar sauce)
2 tbsp pickle (minced, for tartar sauce)

Spices

3 tbsp Japanese mayonnaise, such as Kewpie (for tartar sauce)
1 tbsp sake
1 tbsp lemon juice
dash pepper (for tartar sauce)

Preparation

Tartar Sauce: mix mayonnaise, boiled/crushed egg, pickles, and a dash of pepper, then chill in the refrigerator
Peel shrimp and make a shallow incision on the ventral side so the shrimp retains its shape while cooking. Coat with sake and lemon juice
Cover shrimp with flour then dredge in egg and cover with panko.
Heat oil to 375 degrees and fry shrimp until golden brown (about 2-3 mins)
Remove shrimp and serve with chilled tartar sauce

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Posted in Seafood | 1 Comment

Chicken & Shrimp Stir-Fry w/ Ketchup Sauce 09/24/2009

Japanese: Toriniku to Ebi no Ketchup Itame. “Toriniku” is Japanese for chicken and “ebi” is shrimp. “Itame” means stir fry. This dish is a little sweet and a little sour. Kids like it, and you can even cook it with pineapple if you want it to be a little sweeter. I prefer savory tastes, as most Japanese do, so I’ve omitted the pineapple here.

Yield: 2 servings

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 lb thigh chicken (chopped)
1 medium onion (chopped)
1 yellow bell pepper (chopped)
10 shrimp

Spices

1 tbsp sake (for chicken)
1/2 tbsp sake (for shrimp)
Squirt of lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp ketchup
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp vinegar
1/2 tbsp chicken soup powder
1 tbsp katakuriko (for chicken)
1/2 tbsp katakuriko (for shrimp)

Preparation

Marinate chicken in sake and salt and pepper for 5 min then dredge in katakuriko
Marinate peeled and deveined shrimp in sake and lemon juice for 2-3 minutes then remove and dredge in katakuriko.
Mix sugar, ketchup, sake, vinegar and chicken soup powder and soy sauce in a small bowl
Heat 1 tbsp oil in the frying pan, grill the chicken until cooked and add shrimp for 2 minutes over medium heat and transfer to a plate.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the onion for 3 minutes then add yellow pepper, cook for 2 minutes over medium heat.
Add chicken and shrimp to the pan, add mixed sauce, and serve!

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Posted in Chicken, Seafood | 6 Comments

Ebi Mayo 09/23/2009

Ebi Mayo is a fantastic appetizer that is extremely easy to make, delicious, but strangely, very hard to find in American cities I’ve visited. Considering that, this is a great dish to show off to friends who may have never heard of it before. Please let me know if you have seen or eaten it in your city!

Yield: 2 servings

Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

12 ebi (shrimp or prawns), peeled and deveined

Spices

1/4 cup Japanese sake
5 tbsp katakuriko (or corn starch)
Cooking oil

Spices (for sauce)

3 tbsp Japanese mayonnaise, such as Kewpie
1 tbsp milk
2 tsp catsup
2 tsp honey (or sugar)

Preparation

Marinate peeled and deveined shrimp in sake for 2-3 minutes
Dredge shrimp in katakuriko and fry in pan with about 1/4″ oil until cooked and golden brown (about 2 mins per side). Remove and transfer to paper towel. Pat to remove excess oil
Mix spices for sauce together, coat shrimp with mixture and serve

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Posted in Appetizer, Seafood | 14 Comments

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