Seafood, Rice Pancake, and Egg Stir Fry

Bon Appetit's 2010 January issue had a feature on sriracha... You know, that famous spicy red sauce in the plastic squeeze container with the rooster on it? It's only $5 yet it's a staple in many a chef's pantry. I recently made the Seafood, Rice Pancake, and Egg Stir Fry recipe that was included in the article, and it was great. It tasted very much like a Thai dish thanks to the fish sauce, and it also had a nice chewy mochi-like quality thanks to the rice flour.

The one I made was slightly different from the original recipe because instead of using seafood, I used thinly sliced pork.

Click here for the full recipe

INGREDIENTS

SWEET-TART SAUCE

• 1/4 cup sriracha sauce*
• 1 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon fish sauce (such as nam pla or nuoc nam)*

PANCAKES

• 1/2 cup rice flour**
• 2 tablespoons tapioca starch***
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup water

STIR-FRY

• 1 pound mussels, scrubbed, debearded
• 1/4 cup water
• 7 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
• 4 cups bean sprouts (about 8 ounces)
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 4 green onions (dark green parts only), cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/2 pound uncooked medium shrimp, peeled, deveined, halved lengthwise, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces, divided
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce (such as nam pla or nuoc nam), divided
• 4 large eggs
• Chopped fresh cilantro

Harumi's Carrot and Tuna Salad

I've recently discovered Harumi, the Japanese version of Martha Stewart, and I've been trying out some of her easy Japanese recipes. This one is one of her most famous dishes and although the name sounds boring, it's a show stopper. Here's my version.. Click here for the original version (although the measurements are in grams).

Ingredients (serves 4):
1 cup julienned carrots, peeled
half a tin of tuna
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp oil (I use olive oil)

Dressing:
2 tbsp white wine vinegar / white vinegar (I use rice wine vinegar)
1 tbsp mustard (I use dijon although they recommend french grain mustard)
Salt and pepper to taste
Soy sauce to taste

Directions:
1. Cut the carrots into lengths of 5-6cm think juliennes.

2. Saute the carrots, onion and garlic for 2-3 minutes over medium heat. (When you’re done the carrots should still have a little bit of crunch in them.)

3. Once the carrots are lightly cooked, add the drained tuna and then the dressing and mix well.

4. Serve hot or cold.

M Cafe de Chaya, Part 3

I came here after a hike for lunch and got the requisite kale salad. I also got the roasted winter vegetables and the spicy tuna brown rice rolls. This is one of my favorite places in L.A. to have lunch.

Okonomiyaki Recipe

Version #2

I did a post recently about okonomiyaki. I finally made my own version (twice) and it came out really well!

Ingredients

• 2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cup dashi soup stock or water (you can make your own dashi stock by simmering kombu kelp and bonito flakes in water. This is what I did.)
• 4-6 eggs
• 1 - 1 1/4 lb cabbage (Napa or Chinese Cabbage is the best)
• 6 tbsps chopped green onion
• 2/3 cup tenkasu (tempura flakes) (I didn't use this)
• 12 - 18 strips of thinly sliced pork or beef
• For toppings:
• Ao-nori (shredded green seaweed)
• Okonomiyaki sauce (or tonkatsu sauce)
• Mayonnaise
• It is also customary to have some shredded red ginger as a topping

NOTE: You can buy all of these products at an Asian market.

Preparation:

Pour dashi soup stock in a bowl. Mix the flour in the soup stock. Rest the batter for an hour in the refrigerator. Chop cabbage finely. Take about 1/2 cup of the batter (to make one sheet of okonimiyaki) in another bowl. Mix chopped cabbage (about 1/4 lb), chopped green onion (about 1 tbsp), and tempura flakes (about 2 tbsps) in the batter. Make a hole in the middle of the batter and add an egg in the hole. Stir the batter. Heat an electric pan and oil slightly. Pour the batter over the pan and make a round. Fry meat or your choice of toppings on the side (I didn't do this. I placed the raw meat on the top of the pancake, flipped the pancake and cooked it like that. Either way works)

Cook 5-7 minutes and place meat (toppings) on top of the okonomiyaki. Flip the okonomiyaki and cook for 5-7 more minutes. Flip the okonomiyaki again and spread okonomiyaki sauce and mayonnaise on top. Sprinkle aonori over the sauce. Sprinkle katsuobushi (bonito flakes) and beni-shoga (red ginger) if you would like.

Makes 4-6 sheets.

The original recipe without my notes added is here:http://japanesefood.about.com/od/holidaytraditionalfood/r/okonomiyaki.htm

Version #1, Mayo on the side

Shokudo, Hawaii

It took me a second to realize that Shokudo in Hawaii is the same restaurant as Tokyo Table in Los Angeles. I guess they thought Angelenos wouldn't take to the Japanese name.

I'd eaten at Tokyo Table in L.A. a while back, and I loved their sweet honey toast. So when I was trying to find a dessert spot open late on a weekday in Hawaii, my toast cravings got kicked into full gear.

Shokudo is open till 1 or 2 am and (like Tokyo Table) has amazing honey toast. The bread is a Japanese style of bread which is softer and sweeter than American bread. They toast it then slice the inside into cubes. It's served with vanilla ice cream and your choice of other toppings (I chose sweet azuki beans). The serving is huge--definitely enough to share with others. It was a fun night with good friends.

A Homemade Japanese Dinner

I've been on a Japanese food kick the past few weeks. This dinner consisted of grilled squid, cold soba, inari sushi and pork stir fry.

Grilled Squid

Squid (I buy it whole and Brad cleans it)

Soy Sauce to taste

Salt

Pepper

Grill on a cast iron pan for about 3 minutes on medium high, turning occasionally.

Cold Soba

Buckwheat soba (buy from Asian food market)

Shredded nori

Soba Dipping Sauce

Wasabi (optional. I buy the powder version and mix it with water)

Ginger (optional)

Add uncooked soba to boiling water and boil for 4 minutes. Drain in colander and run cold water over noodles. Top with shredded nori. On the side in a bowl, put the soba dipping sauce. In another plate/bowl, put the optional wasabi and ginger. To eat, dip some of the noodles in the dipping sauce and eat. Do not pour dipping sauce over noodles. Just dip as you eat.

Soba dipping sauce

Wasabi made from powder

Inari sushi, bought from market

Pork Stir Fry

onion

thinly sliced pork

chinese or napa cabbage

soy sauce

salt and pepper

honey or sugar (optional)

Tokkuri Tei, Hawaii

Open faced ahi sandwiches

Tokkuri Tei has been on my "to go" list ever since my mom gave me the cookbook as a present. So with book in hand, I went over to Tokkuri Tei not just once, but twice during my visit to Hawaii. And to the waitress's surprise, I brought out my cookbook both times and pointed to the pictures to order. Haha.

I forgot my camera the first time, but the second time I was sure to bring it. We ordered:

-lomi salmon redefined (salmon sashimi with ponzu sauce and salmon roe and tempura flakes on top)

-ahi open faced sandwiches (tempura nori with ahi on top, drizzled with mayo and topped with fish roe

-squid pancake (on the menu it says "taste like pumpkin pie"... it sort of does, actually, but it's not very sweet, quite chewy like mochi and has bits squid in it. topped with bonito flakes)

My favorite was the ahi open faced sandwiches...so good.

On the first visit, we also tried the grilled rice skewers, chicken yakitori, mushroom pork bundles, and a couple of other dishes I can't remember. The chef/owner was there both times and he signed my book for me.

Redefined lomi salmon

Squid pancake

Mochi Soup: A New Years Tradition

I've been eating mochi soup (ozoni) on new years day for as long as I can remember. My grandmother would make it for us from scratch. This year, my dad made it. He made the broth from scratch (chicken broth this time, although I usually make it from bonito and kombu) then added shiitake mushrooms, mizuna (a Japanese green), mochi and kamaboko. Eating this soup brings back memories of childhood, and it's said to be good luck for the new year.

Here are some links to recipes for mochi soup:

http://japanesefood.about.com/od/mochi/r/zoni.htm

http://www.mitoku.com/recipes/index/mochisoup.pdf

the soup on the stove top

blanched mizuna

kamaboko

A Japanese New Years Dinner in Hawaii

One thing you gotta know about Hawaii if you've never been there: there's always tons of food. Forget weight watchers or Atkins. This isn't the place to count calories.

Take for example our New Years dinner--we had enough food to feed twice as many people as we had. My dad cooked up some steak and pork ribs while my uncle made the beef rolls, fish cakes, tempura, and Tyler Florence's ultimate roast chicken. My mom sliced up the yokan (Japanese red bean dessert) and arranged all of it on a platter. My dad also bought some sashimi, sushi and poke while I made a stop at Shirokiya and got a whole bunch of goodies... It was a feast, and we ate till we were stuffed... Then we ate again!

Japanese black beans and assorted pickled vegetables

Poke

Seaweed bundles and Japanese vegetables

Different types of sweet fish and shrimp

Japanese veggies

my uncle's beef rolls

yokan

pork ribs

steak

sweet potato and red bean cake

uncle's ultimate roast chicken

uncle's fish cakes

sweet potato and zucchini tempura

Hokulani Bakery, Hawaii

We were doing some wedding planning and came across Hokulani bakery. Hokulani is known for their cupcakes. They advertise that they only use the best local ingredients (no corn syrup, etc..). I got their chocolate cupcake with cream cheese frosting and it was heaven. The cake is really moist and buttery, and they offer a lot of interesting flavors like Kona coffee and pumpkin. Check it out in Restaurant Row.

Shirokiya, Hawaii

half of an okonomiyaki

Hawaii has this amazing Japanese market called Shirokiya that looks like it came straight out of Japan. The workers call out to you in Japanese as you pass food stand after food stand serving up everything from tako yaki to grilled musubi.

Every time I go to Hawaii, I always make at least one stop here. This time around, I got the okonomiyaki and shoyu mochi. The okonomiyaki is a savory pancake that's grilled and served with a teriyaki type of sauce. Mine consisted of cabbage, shrimp, squid and a few other additions that I don't remember.

Here's an exerpt about okonomiyaki from wikipedia:

Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き^?) is a Japanese savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients. The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki meaning "grilled" or "cooked" (cf. yakitori and yakisoba). Okonomiyaki is mainly associated with Kansai or Hiroshima areas of Japan, but is widely available throughout the country. Toppings and batters tend to vary according to region.

shoyu mochi wrapped in nori

3660 On the Rise, Hawaii

For Christmas, I was given a gift certificate to 3660 on the Rise in Hawaii. I'd been to 3660 many times before with family, but I always ordered the steak. It was time to try something new.

After eating the purple taro rolls ("In Hawaii, taro is a traditional staple, as in many tropical areas of the world, and is the base for making poi..." -wikipedia), we ordered the raw oysters, ahi katsu, clam and corn chowder, opaka with black bean sauce, and tempura cat fish. Brad loved his catfish (he's a Southern boy after all), but my favorites were the oysters and the ahi katsu (raw tuna wrapped in nori(?) and breaded just on the outside so that the tuna's still raw) . Just to give you an idea of how good the katsu was, we were using the bread rolls to sop up the sauce.

No dessert, we were so stuffed afterwards (and had leftovers for the next day!). One thing you gotta love about Hawaii fine dining; they don't skimp on the portions.

taro rolls

ahi katsu looks like a happy face

raw oysters

clam and corn chowder

opaka with black bean sauce

tempura catfish (they gave lots!)

Christmas Dinner in Hawaii

cranberry sauce and turkey

Christmas dinner is always a huge family affair in which everyone brings tons of food over, stuffs themselves, then takes home plates and plates of leftovers. It's also one of my favorite days of the year because I get to see all of my family in one place.

This Christmas, even though Brad's family couldn't come over, they were with us in spirit. To accompany the Christmas turkey, I made a cranberry sauce using the recipe that Brad's sister used for Thanksgiving. I also made his family's sweet potato casserole and a crab deviled eggs. It was nice bringing a touch of the South to Hawaii.

The dishes were a success. Everyone raved about the sweet potatoes and the cranberry sauce, and the deviled eggs disappeared in minutes. I got the recipe for the deviled eggs from epicurious. Here are the ingredients I used.. Click here for the full recipe.

Crab Deviled Eggs

• 8 large hard-boiled eggs, peeled
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
• 1 tablespoon minced shallot
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
• 8 ounces crabmeat

• Fresh tarragon sprigs (optional)

dad's macaroni salad and pork ribs

beef stew

crab deviled eggs

mochi and anpan