This dish is healthy and easy to cook!! We have many ways to cook Tofu steak in Japan. I am going to introduce Tofu steak covered in grated Chinese yam. The Chinese yam is mild flavor and delicious. Please try it.

4 serving

Ingredients:

• 1 tofu
• 400g Chinese yam
• 2 eggs
• 2 tee spoons Dashimonoto
• 3 table spoons soy sauce
• 1 green onion
• 1 sheet of seasoned dried laver

Methord:

1. Peel skin of Chinese yam and grate it with a grater. (Leave top part of skin, then easy to grate and easy to hold it)
   
2. Add dashinomoto, say sauce and egg. Mix them well.
3. Cut tofu into 16 pieces and about 1cm thick. Leave the tofu for a while on the cutting board to remove liquid.( If you want, please season with salt and pepper).
   
4. Put a steak plate over the small heat to reheat the plate. Then, place Tofu on the plate and cover mixture of the Chinese yam( over the small heat.)
   
5. When the mixture of the Chinese yam was cooked( just as though you cook pan cake) , turn the heat off. Sprinkle chopped green onions and season dried laver as topping. You can sprinkle flack bonitos on it, if you want.
   

☆　I used a steak plate in this recipe. You can use a flying pan to cook for 4 serving.

Sukiyaki is one kind of Nabe dish. Nabe means large pan in Japanese. We cook vegetables and meat in a large pan on heat. We eat  it  with friends, family or guests. Traditionally, we eat Sukiyaki on New years day and when we have guests. We think of Sukiyaki as feast. We have different styles of cooking Sukiyaki in Japan.

1) Kantoo style (Kantoo is east side of Japan)

     They cook meat in  Warishita stock. 

2) Kansai style (Kansai is west side of Japan)

   They saute meat in a pan and add sugar and soy sauce.

Seki is in the center of Japan . So, this time I am going to introduce a recipe Chubu style . : )

Ingredients: (4 servings)

• 400g thinly sliced beef (gyuu sukiyaki niku)
• 300g green onions
•  200g eringi mushrooms
• 1 pack of enoki mushrooms
• 1 bunch chrysanthemum leaves (shungiku)
• 1 pack shirataki
• 1 block broiled tofu (yaki doofu)
• wheat gluten cakes (hanafu)

Warishita stock

•   50 cc say sauce
•  50  cc mirin (sweet sake)
•   6 table spoon  sugar
•   50 cc broth( water and fish flavor)

suet (gyu aburami)

4 eggs

Method:

1.   Cut the beef into size you like.         
2.   Cut greenonions diagonally. 
3.  Cut off  2~3 cm steam of enoki mushurroms. 
4. Slice eringi. 
5.  Cut broiled tofu into 8 cubes.     
6.  Blanch shirataki.  Drain and cut into 10-cm lengths.
7. Soak weat gluten cake in water until soft. Squeeze out liquid.
8. Mix broth, soy sauce, mirin and sugar to make warichita. Cook it over the heat until hot.
9. Crease a pan with suet and heat on a portable burner on the table until suetis half melted. Saute  the beef for a seond.
10. Then pour waishita into the pan.
11. Add  broiled tofu, shirataki and eringi mushrooms and cook first. Then cook other ingredient. (Don’t put shirataki and beef next to each other. Calcium inside of shiratai makes beef tough)
12.  When cooked,  guests serve themselves. Dip the hot food into the raw egg and eat if you like. If stock becomes too strong add water or sake.

* We eat Skiuaki while we cook Sukiyaki on the heat. Please turn  heat down when food are cooked. We add more vegitables when we almost finish first food. Then we add more vegitalbe in the pan. We also add sugar and say sauce to make your tast. We can enjoy Sukiyaki with many people!!

* Other ingredients :  Shiitake mushurooms, Chinese cabbage, carrot or etc.

I wanted to try a deliciace Sukiyai at a Japanese restaurant!!   Japanese restaurant in Seki named ” Nihon Ryoori Daiei” is known as a restuarnat serve fresh fish. This time, they cooked Kantoo style Sukiyaki .  Beef was tender and Warishita was beautiful!! It was a special  night. Thank you, Daiei restaurant!!

Please click “Japanese restaurant” for a review of Daiei Restaurant.

Chawan-mushi is one dish for Japanese traditional style meal called “Kaiseki Ryori”. It looks as though it is custard pudding, but it is not sweet. You can put any ingredients in the dish and suprise your guests or family. : ) It is easy to make for everyone at home. We use a special steamer pot for it, but you can cook them without it. You can cook them in a oven too. I cook Chawan-mushi with a large pan in this recipe.

Ingredient: (4 serves)

• 4 dried shiitake mushrooms
•  1 and 3/ 4  or 2 cups dashi flavor  water  (1cup= 200cc)
• 8 slices kamaboko (cooked grated white fish)
• 4 pieces of chicken( breast meat)
•           -pinch of  salt and  a little sake
• 4  wheet gluten cakes (fu)
•           -water
•  8 stalks mitsuba (trefoil)
• 3 eggs
• dashinomoto (fish flavor)
• mirin (sweet sake)
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt

Method: (4 servings)

1. Wash dried  shiitake mushrooms and soak  them in water until soft.
2. Take out the mushrooms and put a side. Put 1 and 3/4 or 2 cups water (# 1  water) into the pan and add a little dashinomoto, a little mirin,1tsp say sauce and 1tsp salt. Cook it over heat and let cool.
3. Remove Shitake mushroom’s steams.
4. Cut chicken breast meat into bite-size slices and sprinkle  them with  a pinch of salt and a little sake.   
5. Cut Mitsuba like in the picture. 
6. Slice Kamaboko.     
7. Soak 4 fu in water until soft.
8.   Beat 3 eggs lightly with chopsticks and add #2 broth. (If the broth is still hot, egg will be cooked. So make sure it is not hot).   Pour the mixture through fine strainer to ensure a smooth custard.
9. Place the chicken, Kamaboko, fu and Shiitake mushroom in individual cups. Pour in #8 egg mixture to each cups a little by little. Take out  bubble  from surface of mixture  with a spoon to ensure a smooth surface custard when they are cooked.
10.   Place cooking paper on the bottom of the pan and cups with lids in large pan 1/3 filled with water. Cover the pan with a lid. Boil the water  over hight heat first and steam them over  law heat for 4 minutes.
11. Turn off the heat, but keep the pan with  the lid. Steam it for 20 minutes.  Insert bamboo skewer in the center of custard to test if it is done. If clear soup comes out, it’s cooked. If it is not, continue steaming. Garnish with mitsuba. Serve hot with lids on.

★　Don’t steam them over heat for too long otherwise holes appear on top.

★　You can try other ingredients : shrimp, bolide beans and etc.

★　If you don’t have lids for chawan mushi-cups, please cover a pan’s lid with dishcloth or handkerchief. (To prevent from dripping water from the lid of pan on the egg custard).

★　You can use fresh Shiitake mushrooms too. (Flavor will become only  fish flavor.)

★　When you cook chawan-mushi with an oven, cover cups with aluminum foil. Cook them like when you cook custard pudding.

Enjoy Japanese cooking!!

This dish is typical Japanese food. This is good to serve when you have guests. Very fancy!! You can make Tempura Donburi (Tempura on rice with little sauce) with plenty leftover. You can enjoy twice!!

Ingredients: ( 4 serves)

 8 large shrimp

 4 long green peppers

 2 eggplant

 200g sweat potato

Batter:

  1 egg and enough iced water to make 1 cup                    

  1 cup flower, sifted 　

　A little oil or mayonnaise

Dipping sauce for tempura ( Tentsuyu)

  1 cup water

1/2 teaspoon dashinomoto

  1/4 cup soy sauce

  1/4 cup sweat sake ( Mirin)

Condiments

  1/2 cup grated radish (Daikon Oroshi)

  (1 tablespoon grated ginger)

Oil

Method:

1.  Insert toothpick under black vein of shrimps and remove. Remove shells from the shrimps leaving the tail and last segment next to the tail. Cut off the tips of the tail and squeeze out the water. Score the underside in three or four places. (Prevent from curling up shrimp)

2.     Cut the eggplant lengthwise into 3 ～4 cm and cut into quarter. Make shallow cuts on the surface. Put the eggplant in water with a pinch of salt. Put a small lid on the eggplant.

3.     Cut sweet potato into 4 ～5 mm thick round.

4.     Remove stems from Shiitake mushrooms and make a crosswise incision on the tops.

5.     Make shallow cut on the bottom side of long green paper. If you don’t cut it, long green paper will explode when you deep fry it.

6.     Make batter. 

Beat egg lightly and add iced water. Sift flour then add egg mixture to it.　Mix lightly, leaving lumps. (If you put little oil or mayonnaise in the batter, it will be crispy when you deep fry Tempura) 

7.     Deep-fry

Fill a deep pan 2/3 full of vegetable oil. Heat to 180℃( 360°F). Test the temperature by dropping a small amount of batter into the hot oil. At the correct temperature, it will drop half way down and come back up to the surface. Holding the shrimp by the tail, dip them into the batter, and the slide them into the oil from the edge of the pan towards the center of the pan. Using chopsticks flip it sometimes and deep fry until crisp. Remove from oil and drain on kitchen paper or cooking net.   

8.      Using chopsticks, do the same with vegetables.

9.     Dipping sauce (Tentsuyu)

Put ingredients for the dipping sauce into a pan and boil it.

Wash radish (Daikon) and grate it.

10. Place the cooked foods on white paper on a plate, garnish with grated radish. (gated ginger if you want)

This dish is typical Japanese home cooking. We call this dish “Ofukuro no Aji” in Japanese meaning “your favorite homemade meal” in English. We remember a good memory from our childhood. We eat this dish often in Japan.

Ingredients

 150g sliced beef or pork

 3 medium-size potatoes

 1 onion

 1 carrot

 5 string beans

 1 bundle shirataki

 2 cups water

 2 tablespoon sugar

 2 tablespoon sake

 2 tablespoon mirin

Method:

1.  Peel potatoes and cut lengthwise then cut widthwise. ( quarter size). Soak in water for 10 minutes and drain.

2.  Cut Onion in half and cut into quarter size.

3.  Cut carrot slantwise while rolling. (In the picture, carrot- plum-flower shape)

4.  Cut string beans off of both edges. Boil plenty of water with little salt and add the string beans. Boil the beans for 1 minute, and drain. Cut them into 5cm length.

5. Cut Shirataki into 2 or 3 potions and wash them.

Boil Shirataki in plenty of water for 5 minutes and drain.

6. Cut beef (pork) into bite  sizes.                                                      

7. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a saucepan. Sauté beef until light brown, add potatoes, carrot, onion and shirataki. Continue to sauté.

8. Add 2 cups water and cook over strong heat. Skim off any scum that forms.

 9. Turn heat to medium. Add sugar, sake and mirin, and cook for 5 minutes.

10.  dd soy sauce and cook for 6 ～8 minutes. Add string beans and cook a little bit more.

 11.   Serve in a bowl.

This dish is perfect for a party or if you have guests!!  In Japan we cook Chirashi-zushi on girl’s day ( March 3^rd), festival days and when we have guests. Please try it!! 

 Ingredients:

 *Sushi rice

•  2 cups rice                                      
•  2 inches (5cm) square kombu (kelp)         

  SEASONED Vinegar:  

•  4 tablespoons vinegar
• 3 tablespoons sugar
•  1 teaspoon salt   

*Mixture vegetable 

　1/2 small lotus    root        　  　     6 dry shiitake mushrooms                            

       1 cup vinegar                                    1 cup water

       4 tablespoons sugar                       2 tablespoons sugar

       2 teaspoon salt                                            

  1/2 carrot

　1/2 dashi broth

     1 teaspoon sugar

      Pinch of salt                                                                           

      Little soy sauce 

* Topping                                                                                       

      Kinshi tamago ( egg)                                         

     2 eggs　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

     Pinch of salt

     Little sake

8 shrimp

5 snow peas

1 sheet of seaweed 

  Method: 

1. Wash rice at least 30 minutes before cooking. Cook rice with the    same   quantity of water, and Kombu. When it comes to a full rolling boil, reduce the heat and continue cooking for 15 minutes. Finally turn the heat off. Let it stand for 10 minutes. (You can cook rice with rice cooker)    

2. Move the rice into a shallow wooden tub. Mix the “Seasoned Vinegar” and pour it over the rice. Mix the rice with a wooden spatula, cutting and folding motion. You need fan rice sometimes while mixing rice.

3. Make mixture vegetable

 After cook mixture vegetable, please let them cool down and stand in the broth.                         

A) Vinegar lotus root

 1. Peel lotus root, and cut 2mm slice and cut into quarter ( Icho- Giri). Soak in water with 1tsp vinegar for 5 minutes and drain.

 2 Boil water in a pan and cook lotus root for 1 minute. Put lotus root into water and drain.

 3. Put vinegar, sugar and salt into a pan over heat. Add lotus root into the pan and cook for one minute.

B) Cooked carrot

1. Peel carrot and cut into 2mm square strips. (Shirogami –Giri )

2. Cook carrot with “the Dashi broth”, sugar, salt and soy sauc e  and cook un til the the liquid reduce.      

C) Cooked Shitake

1. Soak the shiitake in warm water until soft, and cut off the stem and slice thinly. Set the water aside.

2. Cook Shitake with the water, sugar and soy sauce until the most liquid has nearly evaporated.

4. Make topping

 D) Fine Threads Egg(Kinshi Tamago)

1. Beat eggs lightly with a pinch salt and little sake.

2. Grease skillet and heat, excess oil should be wiped off with kitchen paper. Pour half of egg mixture and spread over the bottom of the pan. Fry the egg in very thin sheet. Repeat this process. Let them cool down.

3. When cool, roll and cut the egg sheets into fine threads.

 E) Shrimp

1. Insert toothpick under black vein of shrimps and remove vein.

2. Boil the shrimps and when cool remove the shell.

 F) Star peas

1. Boil water and add a pinch of salt. Blanch star peas and cut into strips.                                                                                         

5. Mix the rice with the drained ingredients (lotus root, carrot and shitake) when the Shushi rice is still a little warm.

6. Place the rice on individual plates.

7. Sprinkle with egg decoration, and garnish with shrimps and star peas.

* You can use avocado and Kani-Kamoboko (fake crab made of steamed fish paste)   for toppings.