Disco's Kitchen

Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Bisque

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 08:59:00 +0000

I wasn't planning on blogging this recipe, but it was so delicious and so easy, I just had to share it. If you can get pre-roasted red peppers, you can knock it out in about 15 minutes. If you can't, it's really easy to roast your own, and it only adds 10 minutes or so. Also, even if you eat dairy, I really recommend trying it this way at least once. Soy milk + ground cashews may seem a poor substitute for heavy cream, but you'd be surprised how much creaminess the combination adds to this soup.

Ingredients:
2 large red bell peppers
1 T olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced
5 cloves garlic, sliced
2 cans tomatoes
2 cups soy milk
1/2 to 3/4 cup ground cashews
1 t dried basil
salt & ground black pepper to taste

Let's Go!
1. The easiest way to roast peppers is over fire. I have electric burners on my range, so I use a nabe burner. You can get a small wire grill cover from the 100 yen shop, but I just pull the rack out of my little fish broiler drawer and set it directly on the burner.

Put the peppers over the burner and turn the flame up medium high. They will almost instantly start to blister and turn black (and smell really, really good). Use tongs or chopsticks to turn the peppers every minute or so--don't pierce the flesh. Depending on your peppers and your set up, this will take about 5-10 minutes. When the outside is all black, they're done! Take them off the flame. The inside will keep cooking for a bit--some people wrap them in a paper bag or foil for 5 minutes, but the peppers in Japan are pretty thin, so I just let them cool on the counter for a few.

Under cold running water, gently rub the charred skin away from the flesh. Don't stress if you have some little black spots left. Just get most of the burnt part. The pepper will be tender, and you can pull away the stem, spines, and seeds from the inside very easily. Be careful when you open the pepper--the inside might still be steamy. That's it--easy!

2. Saute onions & garlic in a large skillet until tender.

3. Add roasted red peppers and canned tomatoes. Mix together.

4. Scoop the tomato mixture into a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth.

5. Heat pureed mixture in a stock pot over medium heat.

6. Stir in soy milk and ground cashews.

7. Stir in basil, salt, and pepper. Adjust to taste.

Enjoy!

My soup was just part of a day of cooking things to eat with the rye bagels I baked. I made a yummy mushroom-pumpkin seed pate, modified from the second recipe on this page. This sweet potato spread was pretty tasty, too. And I eat this herbed tofu all the time.

Pinto Beans

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:37:00 +0000

I've heard people complain about soaking dried beans, but I think that's silly. Dried beans really just take the tiniest bit of forethought, and I can give you 5 reasons right now why dried beans are better than canned: (1) seriously lower in sodium than canned beans (2) way easier to get your hands on in Japan (3) make your whole house smell earthy & yummy when they're cooking (4) taste better (5) cheaper. So, dried beans--don't be scared.

Anyway, beans in general are pretty awesome (tasty & super healthy), and i really wanted to finish off this bag of pintos. You could use black or whatever--just not adzuki. This recipe is seriously simple and just goes to show that you don't need a bunch of fancy ingredients to make something taste really really good.

Ingredients

6 cups water (or water + vegetable broth)
2 cups dried pinto beans
1 onion, diced
2 medium green bell peppers, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp tomato paste (1)
salt & pepper to taste

(1) トマトペースト

The pinto beans are from Corocao Do Brasil in Takaoka. The onion and peppers are from the yasaiya near Kosugi Station. Everything else is from Albis in Kosugi.

I listened to Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd-Jazz Samba while cooking this.

Let's Go!
1. Soaking your beans not only reduces cooking time and facilitates even cooking, it also reduces the amount of the indigestible sugars that cause gas. So soak your beans (2:1 water to bean ratio). All you have to do is put them in water the night before (if you're cooking in the morning) or before you go to work in the morning (for dinner time). Make sure you dump the soaking water (it's full of dirt & the aforementioned indigestible sugars) and give the beans a quick rinse when you're ready to cook. Before & after shot:

2. Bring your water (or vegetable broth + water) to a boil. Add beans, onion, pepper, celery, & garlic. Do not add salt, tomato, or anything acidy at this point. Your beans won't cook right. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.

3. Chill out, prepare the rest of your meal, have a glass of wine. You can check to make sure your pan isn't dry from time to time, but if you are cooking on low heat, you should have enough water to finish. The beans should take 1-1 1/2 hours to cook.

4. When the beans are tender (not mushy), add tomato paste, salt, and pepper.

5. Now, this is the part that will give your beans that authentic southern style texture. Take a fork and smash some of the beans against the side of the pan. Give everything a stir, and now they're nice and thick. If you aren't sure how much to smash, you can scoop out about a cup of beans, mash them in a separate bowl, and then stir them back in. Remember, things will thicken up even more once you take the pan off the burner.

Enjoy!

Perhaps the best way to eat these beans is with rice, but I go through serious rice hate from time to time in this country, so I just ate them with a bunch of vegetables, cornbread, and homemade vegan andouille. Perfect!

Jalapeño Cornbread

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 05:03:00 +0000

Where to get cornmeal in Japan? You might be able to get tiny bags of it in the baking section of your local supermarket. Also, I know you can order it online here, or, if your mom is awesome like mine, she can send you a big tub from America. I've gone through more cornmeal this summer than my entire time in Japan, mostly because I've been working on a little project. It involves inviting unsuspecting non-southerners over to my house and serving them a huge meal that includes a plate of fried okra. Almost every time it's about 20 times more delicious than they thought it would be. It's nice to see people smile like that. But seriously, talking to them really helps me to understand the kind of deprivation that people experience in other parts of the world.

Max: Yeah, I've never even seen fried okra before.
Me: Oh yeah? How do you eat okra in California?
Max: We don't.
Me: o_O

Anyway, I'm about fried okra-ed out, so when I made up a mess of beans for dinner, I didn't mind using most of my cornmeal to put in this lovely cornbread. My recipe is heavily based on this one, but I tweaked it a bit, mostly to make it sweeter & fluffier. It's still the densest cornbread I've ever eaten, but I really liked it. A little jalapeño powder gives it a nice kick.

Ingredients

2 cups soy milk (1)
2 tsp apple cider vinegar (2)
2 cups cornmeal (3)
1 cup flour (4)
3 tsp baking powder (5)
1 1/4 tsp jalapeño powder (6)
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup salad oil (canola, soybean, etc.) (7)
3 tbsp maple syrup

(1) 豆乳 (2) リンゴ酢 (3) コーンミール (4) 粉 (5) ベーキングパウダー (6) ハラペーニョペッパー (7)カノーラ油 ,大豆油

The flour is from Alishan. The cornmeal is from my mom. Everything else is from Albis in Kosugi.

I listened to the Fever Ray album while making this.

Let's Go!
1. Pour the apple cider vinegar into the soy milk and set aside.

2. Sift cornmeal, flour, baking powder, jalapeño powder, & salt into a big bowl.

3. Whisk oil and maple syrup into the milk & vinegar for a couple of minutes. It should be nice & bubbly.

4. Mix wet ingredients into dry.

5. You probably don't have a cast iron skillet, which would be ideal. I used a deep round cake pan. It worked just ok, but i would recommend something shallower. You can even use a muffin tin. Anyway, lightly oil whatever pan you use to keep your bread from sticking.

6. Bake at 180C for 35-40 minutes. You can do a toothpick test to make sure it's done.

Enjoy!
Cornbread is definitely best hot. Beans are my favorite accompaniment for cornbread, but it goes well with soups or anything drippy that needs sopping up.

One of the best things to do with cornbread is dip it in a bit of molasses. I highly recommend you try this at some point, but make sure you're sitting down first.

Comfort Food

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 04:15:00 +0000

Everyone has their comfort foods--foods from childhood, foods from home, foods that remind us of our favorite people and places and times. The thing about growing up in Kentucky and the Carolinas is that my comfort foods are not always the best for me. My sweet dirty dirty. The gravy, the butter, the sugary smoky sauces. Fried pork chops, fried apples, and the completely seriously named chicken fried steak. The pie crusts are made with lard and the biscuits are made with buttermilk. There is no part of an animal that can't be fried or pickled, and there is no vegetable that can't be improved by boiling it for hours with something cut out of a pig. The church picnics and family reunions with their deviled eggs, buckets of fried chicken, and mayonnaise soaked salads topped off with sticky cobblers and cakes so rich and sweet your teeth hurt. Chicken and dumplings. Pimento cheese. Bacon.

Obviously, I haven't been eating like this in Japan; that would be next to impossible. I think food like this is the very reason I hear Japanese people talk about smuggling in suitcases full of dashi and miso when they travel to the states. But that doesn't mean I wasn't trying. One of my biggest fears about going to a more plant based diet was losing my comfort foods, especially while I'm living abroad. Some days food is the thing you miss the most, and--judging by he laments of Brits without baked beans, Brazilians in stage 4 beef withdrawal, and Aussies setting up underground Vegemite-based economies--it's not just a southern thing

But I've been realizing that my comfort foods aren't all bad for me. I mean, after you take the pig (ok the mayonnaise, too) out of the equation, the foods I ate growing up were quite healthy. I took another look at the tables of my mother and grandmother's houses, the picnics, the barbecues, and I saw corn on the cob, black eyed peas, vinegared cucumbers & onions, beans and rice, and a huge watermelon staying cool in the creek. All the fresh raw fruits and vegetables we ate without even thinking about it. My time in the Carolinas was the first time I'd ever had seafood straight from the ocean, all steamed in a big pot with potatoes, carrots, and onions. Then there was all the stuff that was around when I was a kid that I wouldn't eat because I was a little weirdo--turnips and tomatoes and greens and beets--but my mom just kept serving them up.

Living in Japan and traveling in Asia has been awesome for my cooking. I make stuff I would have never dreamed of trying just a few years ago. But I always come back home. I'm trying hard to stay out of the mindset of eating the same but minus the meat, and I'm doing pretty good most of the time I think. In the end, though, you can take the girl out of the south, but, well, just ask me about the piggy-dawg some time. It sometimes feels like I could never make even my favorite non-meat foods without meat flavoring, but I'm finding that's not true. It's amazing how just a little touch of vinegar, molasses, hot sauce, cornmeal, or liquid smoke takes me back home. How much biting into still warm summer vegetables is just as satisfying when they're from my Kosugi yasaiya.

For some reason, summer makes me miss home more than any other season in Japan. Here's what I've been doing to keep myself sane.

My 4th of July Dinner. (1) Cole slaw. Red cabbage, carrots, & onion tossed in apple cider vinegar, honey, mustard seeds, and a soy milk-sunflower oil emulsification. (2) Baked beans. Pinto beans, onion, garlic, tomato paste, soy sauce, liquid smoke, molasses, mustard seed, & chili pepper, but there might have been one or two other things. (3) Shredded BBQ seitan. I can't remember exactly how I made the sauce, but mostly ketchup, sweet chili sauce, apple cider vinegar, liquid smoke, and chili pepper. (4) And of course, corn on the cob with a bit of S&P. Yummers!

The "I'm Homesick" Dinner I made for Max. (1) Okra soaked in soy milk, then dredged in a cornmeal mix and fried in sunflower oil. (2) Tomatoes are so good right now. (3) Sliced cucumbers and onion soaked in apple cider vinegar and honey. (4) Potatoes, green peppers, and onions pan fried in a bit of olive oil, then sprinkled with salt & pepper. (5) Tofu scramble.

One of my best food memories ever was going down to Rough River with my mom and Dave. We went out on the boat--a long, hot, fun day. Just as I was starting to feel peckish, my mom started pulling individually wrapped muffuletta sandwiches out of a cooler. It was the best thing I had ever eaten. Seriously. Just last week, when I replaced the stacks of salami and ham with roasted eggplant, mushrooms, and bell peppers, I realized that it wasn't the meat, but the olive relish that took me back to that day.

In a real-life example of how (not) to Southernize something, my mom used to love to eat a half an avocado with a spoon of mayo in the little bowl (surprisingly, she stayed quite slim). I thought it was gross at the time. These days I love avocados, though i like to fill mine with lime juice, chili pepper, & powdered garlic.

The History Of A Breakfast

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:43:00 +0000

This morning's breakfast was beast: tofu mushroom scramble, cucumber-tahini-miso dip, cucumber tomato couscous with sweet pomegranate vinaigrette, all scooped up into lettuce wraps and washed down with with a hot cup of yerba mate.

Even though I’m just now getting it together with my nutrition for the rest of the day, my breakfast game has been on point for some time now. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day--that’s what they say, right? And even though I know in my head that it’s true, it’s hard to feel that way when I am stumbling around my kitchen in a state that could in no way be described as lucid. I have never in my life been a morning person. Whether I go to bed at 9PM or 1AM, whether I work 1st shift or 3rd shift, whether I exercise regularly or binge drink regularly, that first hour after I wake up, no matter the time, is one filled with feelings ranging from anger to confusion to near catatonia.

That’s why I like to keep quick, easy breakfast foods around, things I can throw together while waiting for my teapot to boil. I’ve found a good mix of fiber & protein is best for getting me through the bike ride to work, waking me up in time for first period, and keeping me going all the way through to lunch. I generally mix and match from 3 groups—granola/bran flakes/oatmeal/rice + yogurt/soy milk/eggs + banana/apple/orange/berries. I throw in little treats like coconut milk, honey, Sriracha, nuts, sesame paste, dried fruit, spices, shredded coconut, etc, and I really don’t get bored. Anyway, this is my least picky eating time of the day.

You might have noticed eggs in that second group. Well, I’m off eggs now. I didn’t really eat eggs that often, so it’s not a huge deal, but I do like them. I’ve been reading about tofu scrambles for a while now, and this one looked promising especially, but still I’ve been incredibly wary. I just kept thinking that the sadness of biting into a disappointing animal product analogue first thing in the morning might be too much to bear. Plus the whole production is about 5 more steps than I’d like to take for breakfast. But last night I realized I had all the ingredients, and I decided I’d go for it in the morning.

OK I’m getting ahead of myself. This breakfast didn’t start with a scramble. It started with cucumbers—a Sunday morning craving brought on by one wild Saturday night (a night that quite weirdly yielded me 2 big limes, but that’s something else). By some serendipitous turn, Monday happened to be cucumber harvest day in the garden at my visiting school, and a 100 yen coin in the jar in the teacher’s room bought me 5 huge (for japan) ones. All I wanted was to combine these cucumbers with 3 things--green cardamom pods, pomegranate juice, and whole wheat couscous (due to an online shopping spree last pay day, every space in my kitchen is packed with ingredients exotic by southern United States standards and unheard of in rural Japan), but I couldn’t find a good recipe. So 1 lime, 2 cucumbers, 3 green cardamom pods, and a whole bunch of experimenting later, I had an enormous bowl of cool, sweet, tart, crunchy, yummy couscous. I’ll blog the recipe eventually, but I’m not exactly sure what I did, so I need to do a complete remake.

Tuesday night, I shredded the rest of my cucumbers and added them to this tahini miso dip. Normally I don’t like to use my blender after 9PM since I live in an apartment made of paper, but after listening to my upstairs neighbor’s kid switch between practicing judo and working on his best banshee scream while I was trying to watch Weeds, I didn’t feel so bad. This dip was supposed to be for the Toyama Book Club Meeting on Wednesday night (my choice this month—Geek Love—best book ever, but don’t read it while eating this, or anything), but I had to give it a little testaroo at breakfast.

So, back to breakfast. I had one serving of couscous left--I eat leftovers for breakfast sometimes, too—and a huge bowl of cucumber-tahini-miso dip, so no hassle there. But the scramble, well actually it was quite easy. The night before, I left the tofu with a plate on top to press out the moisture, cut up my onions & mushrooms and a little wedge of lime for the juice, and pulled all the spices I’d need and sat them next to the stove. And the result was….amazing! So good, no kidding. The texture was great—I use eringi mushrooms, which are kind of fibrous and chewy, and the drier, meatier yaki tofu was a good choice for this recipe, I think. The turmeric and paprika gave the scramble a beautiful color. And the flavor was just ridiculous—thyme, cumin & lime—never would have thought of it, but it totally worked. The nutritional yeast gave it the bit of umami it needed. But the real star, and really the whole reason I wrote about this breakfast, was black salt.

Yeah, I didn’t know what it was, either. During my online spendorama, I was feeling adventurous, so I ordered a bunch of mystery ingredients from indojin. Turns out black salt comes from volcanic rock and smells like sulfur, which, you know all too well if you’ve ever been to a sulfur bath, smells like eggs. I read it’s sometimes used to give egg flavor to a vegan dish, but come on, not really, right? I added a bit to this recipe out of curiosity, and BLACK SALT ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? It’s magic egg rock. I’m not playing. Don’t wait another day--make this recipe, add some black salt, and blow your mouth’s mind.

So yeah, that was breakfast.

carrotface

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:29:00 +0000

things have been happening in my kitchen lately that have kept me from posting. the short story is that i've been slowly moving away from an animal-centric diet, and things sped up quite a bit in the last month or so. but don't worry, i definitely will keep posting super yum recipes. and for now, i have some awesome pics of what i've been up to. but first, a bit of an explanation.

that other time

i gave up meat from 8th grade until my freshman year in university. i can't remember what reason i gave people at the time, but it wasn't really about changing the way i ate. i was more obsessed with the deprivation aspect--it's a long story. whatever my family & friends ate, i ate, but without the animal flesh. burger king whoppers with no burger, beef & broccoli, hold the beef, tunaless tuna salad. and not that there's anything that wrong with what was leftover, really, but the point is that my diet after giving up meat was almost unchanged from my diet before, except that there was less joy in eating. it wasn't super healthy, it wasn't very fun, and what i'm doing now is nothing like that experience.

so i'm done with meat

and milk, butter, cheese, sugar, processed foods, out of season strawberries that have to be shipped in from chile--kind of. i'm not saying i'll never meat again. as a matter of fact, i'm saying i will definitely eat meat again. the point is that i want these kinds of things to be a pleasure, not a staple. in my mind, i've taken them out of the box where rice and onion and tomatoes live and put them in with birthday cake and root beer floats. or at least i'm working on it.

so, yeah, not vegetarian, not vegan. i think it would be a tragedy to live in japan and never eat seafood. it's so, so good and good for you. i don't see myself giving up yogurt any time soon, either, though i am making my own now. ooh ooh bacteria parties!

it's about smart choices, too. if i'm leaving work, and i want cucumbers, should i go to the big supermarket and get cucumbers grown who knows where and wrapped in 3 different kinds of plastic, or should i head to the stand down the street, and get the toyama-grown stuff from the adorable obachan? can i use olive oil instead of butter or honey instead of sugar in that recipe? if a fly wouldn't touch that prepackaged snacky thing, does it have any business in my mouth?

i'm not really thinking in terms of what i am and am not allowed to eat. it's more of a paradigm shift--a thoughtful, conscious way of meal planning that has at its center fresh vegetables, fruits, & grains.

if this all seems kind of unfocused and rambling, it may well be because it's not a dogma for me. there's no rules, just a different way of thinking. a day to day learning process. a dedicated effort to inject more joy in my life.

i do have my reasons

first, it's just healthier. there's so much research that finds positive correlations between diets low in animal products & processed food and high in fresh fruits, veggies, & grains and decreased risk of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. i've been thinking about this lately--my parents & grandparents have all had brushes with one or more of these diseases, i've been a drinking, smoking, partying wild thing for the last 10 years, i've put on a lot of weight in the last 3 years, and now i'm officially in my 30s. i want to live. and on an even more basic level, when i eat healthy food, i just feel better.

the second reason started with a seed that was planted back when i was in university, when a combination of lectures, readings, films, and one really amazing nun forced me consider the relationship between what i consume and a whole host of ecological, economic, and social problems. when i think about what a deep, soulful experience that cooking and eating can be for me, it just seems appropriate to bring my consumption more in line with my values.

also, i'm so bored with my own cooking. i feel like i basically know how to make three things. i make them quite well, but still, i'm over it. i'm ready to take it to the next level, and i think this is the kind of challenge i need to get excited about cooking again.

lastly, would be remiss if i didn't admit the influence of my peers. for some reason, vegetarians always irritated me. i guess it's hard to cook in a restaurant and not feel this way from time to time. i don't know if i've changed, or if i've just met some less irritating vegetarians, but it really started to get in my head about a year ago. there's been a bit of a health craze sweeping through my friend base, perhaps inspired by warm weather and winter bellies. it's all i've been hearing about lately--kind of like when someone first joins a new church or aa, and, with the best intentions, they completely overestimate your interest in the subject. luckily, one friend was actually able to inspire me, quite unintentionally i think. she doesn't talk a whole lot about not eating meat. what she does talk about is her experiments with new ingredients, new techniques, new ways of planning meals. she's doing crazy things, making mistakes, making miracles, and making it all seem totally doable. the food she brings to social gatherings is inventive and incredibly yummy. so, yeah, i want that.

i don't really have any recipes ready to go.

first, i don't exactly know what i'm doing. and what i am doing...there's just not a lot of me in there yet. i've been relying pretty heavily on other people's recipes. i got two new cook books to help me along. veganomicon is by the creators of post punk kitchen, a site that has been getting me really excited, and helping me along the way. the other is called the enlightened kitchen, inspired by the amazing tradition of vegetarian food served in buddhist temples in japan. it's nice to have a cookbook with ingredients i can get anywhere in my town. and when i discovered vegan crunk, i almost cried with joy at the realization that the flavors of my beloved southern cuisine didn't have to be lost to me.

second, the whole point of this blog was to give recipes that could easily be made by people in my position. that meant food that could be bought in the middle of nowhere in japan. but i've been cooking with a lot of food from tengu.com, an organic food distributor, and indojin.com, an indian food distributor. both of these companies do everything in online, in english, ship c.o.d., deliver in a day or two, and are quite reasonably priced, so i guess it could be said that foods from these places still hold to the original spirit. i haven't decided yet, but i think the blog might have to evolve along with me.

an lastly, this is all taking a lot of work right now. but i'm finding ways to be more efficient, developing new habits, and coming up with strategies to make this a practical lifestyle change. i'm really excited about what i've been doing. i think you're really gonna like it, too, so i'm gonna get some recipes up as soon as possible. but for now, here's some pictures, with some links to online recipes.

carrot, shitake, & soymilk soup

pepper seitan & basmati rice

pan-fried yakifu & sesame green beans

homemade tortillas, vegan chili con queso, & spicy soya meat

red lentil kofte & cucumber tomato salad with pomegranate vinaigrette

making vegetable stock from scraps

homemade stuff: stocks (vegetable, konbu, & shitake), ginger syrup, yogurt

jalapeño dill lotus chips with spicy honey yogurt

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Sun, 24 May 2009 03:42:00 +0000

i bought some fresh dill the other day with no idea of what i would do with it. all i could think about was grippo's hot dill pickle chips, an admittedly lesser but still under appreciated member of the grippo's family. i don't know how it works in the rest of the country, but if anyone in louisville, ky (that's america btw) asks you to pick up some bbq potato chips on your way over, you better show up with grippo's. i think about them way too much. yummmm. anyway, hot dill chips--i had some lotus root hanging around, so why not? i whipped up a little yogurt dipping sauce, and it turned out to be a lovely snack.

ingredients for chips
20 cm lotus root, sliced (1)
6 sprigs fresh dill, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp jalapeño powder
salt

ingredients for sauce
2 tbsp plain sweet yogurt
1 tsp sriracha chili sauce
1/2 tsp honey

(1) 蓮根, れんこん

i got the sriracha at yamaya in takaoka. everything else is from e-town in kosugi.

i made this while listening to this american life

let's go!
1. mix olive oil, dill, jalapeño powder, paprika, and garlic powder together in a bowl.

2. i used pre-sliced lotus root, but if you buy it fresh, follow the steps 1 & 2 in this recipe to prepare it. pat it dry with a paper towel.

3. add lotus root to olive oil mixture. toss until fully coated.

4. place lotus root in a single layer on a baking sheet.

5. broil in your fish drawer on high until golden, about 4 or 5 minutes.

6. place on paper towels to absorb excess oil. sprinkle with salt and extra jalapeño powder as needed.

7. for the dipping sauce, strain yogurt (as described in step 1 of this recipe). mix sriracha and honey into yogurt.

enjoy!

glass noodle salad with lotus root, burdock, & black sesame

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:08:00 +0000

burdock root is one of those items in the produce department that took me forever to use, mostly because it looks decidedly undelicious, all hairy & dirty brown, but also because I wasn't sure how I was going to fit a meter of root into my tiny refrigerator. i'm so glad i came around. scrape that scary outside layer off, and you are left with a taste and texture like no other--earthy and sweet, soft and crunchy at the same time. i won't even get started on how healthy it is; a quick google search will blow your mind. it's basically medicine.

so of course it had to go in this yummy salad. i'm such a texture fiend sometimes, and this mix--crisp veggies, chewy cellophane noodles and tofu, and crunchy sesame seeds--really did it for me. and pretty too! i love it when food is such a total experience. anyway, check it out. ingredients
100 g cellophane noodles (1)
80 g fried tofu (2), sliced
1 small carrot, julienned
20 cm burdock root (3), julienned
5 cm lotus root (4), thinly sliced
large handful green beans, in 5 cm pieces
1 tbsp black sesame seeds (5)
juice from 1/8 lime
30 mL (adjust according to taste) soy ginger marinade

(1) 春雨, はるさめ (2) 油揚げ, あぶらあげ (3) 牛蒡, ごぼう (4) 蓮根, れんこん (5) いりごま黒

i got the lime from a.l. plaza in kosugi. everything else is from e-town in kosugi.

i was listening to thievery corporation--abductions and reconstructions while cooking this.

let's go!
1. for both the burdock and lotus root, you have two choices: fresh or pre-cleaned and cut in a little bag. if you buy them fresh, you'll need to take a couple extra steps. for the burdock root, rinse well under cold running water while scraping a knife along the surface to remove the dirt and fibers. don't go nuts here--the peel has a lot of flavor, so leave some on. for the lotus root, remove the peel with a paring knife. for both, cut and immediately soak in 2 cups of cold water & 1 tbsp vinegar for about 5 minutes. then blanch (i'll explain this in the next step). obviously, it's easier to buy the prepared roots, but sometimes you just want to spend a little quality time with your vegetables before you eat them.2. blanch your green beans (and burdock & lotus root if necessary). the purpose of blanching is to make your veggies more tender and enhance their flavor. first, boil water (add 1 tsp salt for every 3 cups water). get a big serious rolling boil going--you don't want the boil to stop when you add your cold vegetables. throw in the green beans and let them cook for about 3 minutes (about 1 minute for burdock and lotus root). drain in a colander and immediately plunge into an ice bath. this is important. if you don't do this, your veggies will keep cooking and you will have a soggy, not as flavorful salad. keep them in the ice water for 5 minutes. 3. cook your noodles according to the package and cool down in cold running water.

4. toss everything together in a big bowl.

enjoy!

blood orange tahini salmon

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:07:00 +0000

like most of my dinners, this one started with a random purchase. i was wandering aimlessly through the produce section, past the 5000 yen melon gift sets and on into the "exotic" section, when i was hit with the smell of a blood orange. i love blood oranges, how strong they smell, their beautiful color, their subtle hint of berries. it's a fruit that's fun to just tear into, smearing and dripping the red juice on my hands and face and whatever i'm wearing. there were only two on the shelf, both sporting a half-off sticker, meaning they were super ripe and going home with me. the first i ate in the manner described above, the second i juiced for a salmon glaze.

i know, i know. i did salmon last time. it's just so yummy and cheap, i can eat it every day. i promise i'll cook a different kind of fish for the next recipe. this is good, though. you won't be sorry.

ingredients
3 salmon fillets
50 mL blood orange juice
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp grated ginger
lime juice
rock salt
oil

the olive oil is from yamaya in takaoka. the lime is from a.l. plaza in kosugi. the tahini is from peace street kitchen in toyama (you can also find white and black sesame paste at the supermarket. it'll be next to the beans and seeds, usually in the seaweed/salt/wheat gluten aisle, in a jar or tube that says ねりごま or ごまペースト, 白 or 黒. it will be more bitter than tahini, and you might need more honey).everything else is from e-town in kosugi.

let's go!
1. rub the salmon fillets with lime juice and salt. set aside.

2. warm the blood orange juice, tahini, honey, and ginger in a small saute pan, stirring until smooth. set aside.

3. place the salmon on an oiled pan. broil in your fish drawer for 3 minutes. remove, turn over and brush with the glaze. return to the broiler for 2 minutes, or until flaky.

enjoy!

soy ginger marinade

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:32:00 +0000

i should have added this long ago. we used something like this in a restaurant where i used to work, and i just started putting it on everything. well, not everything, but i know it's good on seafood, tofu, potatoes, and all kinds of veggies. ingredients
200 mL soy sauce
100 mL salad oil (like canola)
50 mL sesame oil
1 tbsp course grain mustard
2 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp garlic paste
1/2 tsp salt

let's go!
put everything into a squeeze bottle and shake well. it'll separate, so you'll need to shake it before using it each time. i like things pretty salty, so i toned it down a bit, but you still might want to play with the recipe. these proportions will give you a pretty strong mix; you can dilute it with a little salad oil if you use it for a green salad.

enjoy!

spicy roasted salmon & cucumber mint raita

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:57:00 +0000

it's been awhile since i posted a recipe, so i thought i'd better make it a good one. this is an incredibly simple, healthy, and inexpensive dish to make. silver salmon is definitely my most frequently cooked fish. you can get little fillets year-round for super cheap. i made an india inspired spice rub to coat the fish, and then cooled it down with raita.

ingredients for raita
500 g plain unsweetened yogurt
2 cucumbers, grated
1 bag fresh mint, chopped
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp powdered garlic (or 1 clove fresh garlic, minced)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

ingredients for salmon
4 salmon fillets
30 mL lime juice
1 tsp cayenne (red chili) pepper
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp cinnamon
3 tsp cumin
3 tsp salt
4 tsp powdered ginger
4 tsp ground coriander seeds

i bought the cumin at coração do brasil and the turmeric at yamaya in takaoka. i bought everything else at e-town in kosugi.

for added deliciousness, listen to fleet foxes.

let's go!

making the raita
1. strain the yogurt. you can use cheesecloth, but i just put a damp paper towel in a metal strainer in a big bowl. it worked great. i really recommend not skipping this step --it doesn't really affect the flavor, but it does wonders for the both the texture and the visual appeal. you know that little bit of yellowish juice at the top of the yogurt container? well, there's loads more--in about 20 minutes i strained off about 125 mL, and was left with lovely thick yogurt.

2. while you're waiting on your yogurt, combine the rest of the ingredients. if you don't have a grater, you can just finely chop the cucumbers. either way, make sure you leave the skin on. raita is also good with coriander leaves (cilantro) if you can find it or a bit of minced onion.

3. mix all all the ingredients into the yogurt, cover, and refrigerate. for best results, start the raita a couple hours before you want to eat, or even the night before. it will taste better if you allow some time for the flavors to blend.

making the salmon
1. mix all the spices together. these proportions will make a medium spicy mix. adjust the cayenne (red chili) pepper to your tastes.

2. coat the fillets first in lime juice, and then the dry spice rub.

3. put fillets in the broiler on an oiled baking sheet, skin side down. cook for about 6 minutes on medium high heat, until flaky.

enjoy!
i served the raita over the salmon with onion chutney i made from this easy recipe and rice mixed with cashews, raisins, and a briyani spice packet from yamaya. it was awesome!

new posts coming in the new year

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 02:06:00 +0000

no, i didn't stop cooking, but my camera was destroyed last march, and i didn't get another one until this week. i'm off to vietnam, cambodia, and thailand, and will surely come back inspired to make all kinds of yummies. i won't be posting again until the new year, but i'll leave you with some words of wisdom from the nyt's mark bittman:

...when it comes to kitchens, size and equipment don’t count nearly as much as devotion, passion, common sense and, of course, experience. to pretend otherwise — to spend tens of thousands of dollars or more on a kitchen before learning how to cook, as is sadly common — is to fall into the same kind of silly consumerism that leads people to believe that an expensive gym membership will get them into shape or the right bed will improve their sex life. as runners run and writers write, cooks cook, under pretty much any circumstance.

tandoori tofu

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:24:00 +0000

i've been doing a lot of experimenting with tofu lately. it's not something i'm familiar with, so i have failed pretty hard more than once. but i'm getting better, and i'm discovering that patience is really key. wait for the tofu to drain, wait for it to marinate, wait for it to cook. it really pays off in the end, and if i plan ahead, it's no problem.

this meal was really, really good. it takes a lot of spices you may not have lying around, but if you like indian food, they're a good investment. the marinade recipe is a bit large--i had some leftover, but it can be reused, and will keep for as long as the yogurt is good. also, as i discovered while waiting for everything to marinate, it makes a great carrot dip.

ingredients
1 pack prebaked tofu (1)
250 mL yogurt
30 mL lemon juice
1/2 onion, fine dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp grated ginger (2)
2 tsp turmeric (3)
1 tsp curry or garam masala (4)
1 tsp cayenne pepper (5)
1 tsp paprika (6)
1/2 tsp ground coriander seeds (7)
1/2 tsp cumin (8)
1/2 tsp nutmeg (9)

(1)焼とうふ, やきとうふ (2)しょうが (3)ターメリック (4) カーレ、ガラムマサラ (5)チリーペッパー (6)パプリカ (7)コリアンダー (8)クミン (9)ナツメグ

i got everything from e-town in kosugi

i listened to fresh air while making this.

let's go!
1. first of all, you will really help yourself out if you get the prebaked tofu. it will have little brown marks on the top, and the packaging will have やき or 焼 written on it. if you can't remember the yaki kanji, just look for the fire (火) radical on the left side. anyway, the prebaked tofu is a lot firmer and will really suck up your marinade.

2. take it out of the package, put it on a plate, and put another plate on top of it for about an hour.

3. while your tofu is draining, you can make the yogurt masala. this part is really easy--just mix everything together. about the spices--garam masala and curry are both spice mixes, and one is not necessarily like the other. so my measurements work for what i have, but you should definitely taste, and adjust accordingly. also, note that cayenne pepper is sometimes labeles chili pepper. you you'll notice that it's not the red color that you may associate with tandoori food. if you really need to, you can add a few drops of red food coloring, but i think the natural color is very pretty.

4. pour off the tofu juice. cut the tofu into strips about 1.5 cm thick. cover with the marinade and let it sit for a couple of hours. overnight is best.
5. cook in your fish broiler on the med-hi setting until the tofu starts to brown. this only took about 4 minutes on each side, but i've heard that my broiler cooks a lot faster than most. just keep checking on it. look at the picture below, for another "learning from disco's mistakes" moment.

i left a lot of marinade on the tofu while i broiled it. this caused one side to stay kind of mushy. the other side had a little marinade on it, and browned really nicely. i would suggest brushing some of that off before broiling--you can always spoon some of the sauce on later. after it browns on both sides, you can spread a little more on the top and throw it back under the broiler for a minute.

enjoy!
this was really spicy, so i ate it with some lettuce and yogurt. perfect. also, i reheated the rest in the microwave at school the next day--still delicious.

saag paneer

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:23:00 +0000

saag paneer is my fallback indian restaurant order. it's different at every restaurant, and finding a definitive recipe is almost impossible. i pulled this together from several different recipes. i also wanted to make it without ghee, buttermilk, half&half, or any of the other fatty things that make it really creamy (and delicious). i was actually pretty amazed at how yummy this turned out to be.

2 warnings: (1)this is a pretty time consuming dish--i will definitely make this again, but never again in such a small quantity. (2)you will need to watch the pan. this is not the kind of thing where you can walk out of the room, check your email, have a smoke, and come back to check on things. keep things stirring, and adjust your heat if need be.

ingredients
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 bunches fresh spinach (1)
1 onion, diced
2 cm. ginger, grated (2)
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp ground coriander seeds (3)
2 tsp cumin (4)
1 tsp cayenne pepper (5)
1/2 tsp turmeric (6)
1/2 tsp garam masala (7)
250 mL plain yogurt
100 g paneer

(1)ほうれんそう (2)しょうが (3)コリアンダー (4)クミン (5)チリーペッパー (6)ターメリック (7)ガラムマサラ

i got everything from e-town in kosugi.

i listened to car talk while making this.

let's go!
1. make the paneer. i have read that crumbled tofu or ricotta cheese can be used instead, but i'm skeptical. paneer has a really mild taste, but it still has a taste. i think you'd really be missing that with the tofu. ricotta is not the same thing, but it might work. if you can find it in toyama, let me know. cut the paneer into little pieces and toss in a bit of oil & turmeric. set aside.

2. now, the spinach--baby spinach is too delicate for this dish, so make sure you use grown-up spinach. separate the leaves from the stems and wash them. spinach is notoriously gritty, so do this well. blanch the spinach--bring water to a boil, turn off the heat, and throw in the spinach for about 30 seconds. the spinach will turn a pretty green color. put the spinach in ice cold water. drain. squeeze as much water as possible out of the spinach and set aside for later. the spinach below is pre-squeeze--if yours still looks like this, there's too much water in it. squeeze!!!

3. saute the onion and garlic in vegetable oil until your onions start to caramelize (turn brown).

4. add the lemon juice, spinach, ginger, and all the spices except for the garam masala. stir over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

5. process the spinach in a food processor or blender. don't puree--pulse to make sure it's still a bit chunky. if you don't have a blender, don't worry about this part. really, don't worry. calm down.

6. mix in the yogurt and garam masala stir over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

7. add the paneer. stir (but not too hard) over medium heat for 3 or 4 minutes.

enjoy!
this meal made me moan out loud. truth.

paneer

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:15:00 +0000

i was so excited to make this. there's a lot of science in cooking, but i think you have to really know your stuff to make cheese. this is a good starter, i think--nothing really complicated. but it does take some time. i was kind of in a hurry when i did this, so i skipped the last step. still, the texture and flavor were great, and it totally worked. next time i'll do it like this person so i can actually cut it into cubes.

i made this to use in saag paneer, but hopefully i'll be using it in the future to make more indian food. just so you know, this is a really mild cheese that doesn't melt.

ingredients
1 liter whole milk
juice of one lime

i got everything at e-town in kosugi

let's go!
1. bring your milk to a boil. do this slowly, and stir frequently. this is important because you want to avoid two things: 1) forming a skin at the top, and 2) scorching. the proteins will stick to the bottom if the pan, and the sugars will burn. your milk will taste gross, and you will never get that pan clean. just be patient, and it will pay off.

2. when your milk comes to a boil, turn the heat down a little and let it bubble for a couple of minutes. take it off the heat, and immediately stir in the lime juice. wow, science! the milk will separate into white chunks and a clear liquid with a greenish tinge. remember little miss muffett? this is curds and whey.

3. now pour everything into cheesecloth. i was really excited about this part--i've never used cheesecloth to make actual cheese. i doubled up the cloth so i wouldn't squeeze the curds through the holes.

4. now rinse the curds really well in cold water. squeeze the liquid out, but not so hard that the cheese starts squirting through the cheesecloth.

5. hang the cheese up for a couple of hours.

enjoy!

cheeseball!

mixed mushroom soup

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 13:05:00 +0000

i really can't get enough of the all the mushrooms here--there's so many different kinds, and they're so inexpensive. the last time i was at the grocery, i grabbed a pack each of eringi, buna-shimeji, and maitake in a fit of mushroom love. then i forgot about them, and was kind of forced to throw something together rather quickly on a sunday night before they went bad. it turned out really good, and was amazing in my bento the next day after everything had mingled.

ingredients
10 mL olive oil
500 g mushrooms (1)
1 leek
2 cloves garlic, crushed
500 mL chicken broth
20 mL soy sauce
10 mL mirin (2)
2 tsp fresh shredded ginger
12 sprigs mitsuba (3)
salt to taste

(1) エリンギ、ブナシメジ、マイタケ (2) 本みりん (3)みつば

i got everything from e-town in kosugi.

i listened to yoav-charmed & strange while making this.

let's go!
1. cut the leeks into decent size chunks. to prepare the other mushrooms: for the eringi, cut the tough part off at the base (about 1.5 cm), and cut into cubes. for the shimeji and maitake, cut the spongy base part off and just kind of separate the individual mushrooms. this is a little weird for the maitake; just do your best. but no need to cut into tiny pieces.

2. soften the leeks, garlic, and mushrooms in the olive oil. don't brown them, just cook until they get soft. you can do this in the same pot you'll cook the soup in, but it might be easier to do in a saute pan. just slide everything into your soup pot, and that includes the juice that comes out of the mushrooms. you have to wash the dishes, so it's up to you.

3. now add your chicken broth and bring to a boil. reduce heat. add the soy sauce, mirin, and ginger. simmer for 2 minutes.

4. now add the mitsuba. it took me about a year to use mitsuba in anything, i think out of spite. when i first arrived, i kept mistaking it for cilantro from across the produce section. if you've never used it before, it's a kind of parsley--it has a kind of nutty flavor, a lot like watercress. tear the bottom part of the stem away from the more tender part of the stem with the leaves attached. you can chop that up, but it's not necessary. throw it in right at the end, or you'll lose the flavor.

enjoy!

i ate the soup over some noodles, topped with carrot and dried red pepper rings.

if you're not a big fan of mushrooms, you should reduce the amount because i used a lot in proportion to the amount of broth. i think this would be awesome with some spinach or with chicken. it definitely benefited from the red pepper rings--i think a bit of hot sauce would be good, too.

napa cabbage & bacon

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 12:56:00 +0000

i hated cabbage when i was a kid, but now i really like it. and it's a good thing, too--this stuff is everywhere in japan: served raw at yakitori joints, shredded under fried pork cutlets, swimming in your yakisoba.

i had some leftover from a nabe dinner and needed to get rid of it. this took about 5 minutes and was quite tasty. also, i didn't actually use bacon with this one--just bacon bouillon, so this is a pretty healthy dish.

ingredients
1/4 head napa cabbage (1)
1 bacon bouillon cube
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 cup water

(1) はくさい

the bacon bouillon is from coroção do brasil in takaoka. everything else is from e-town in kosugi.

i listened to temple of sound & rizwan-muazzam qawwali while making this.

let's go!
1. you're probably not going to find bacon bouillon at the supa. i got my bacon bouillon at the brazilian grocery--i highly recommend this place for all things meat and beans. if you don't have bouillon, you can use real bacon--just chop it up and cook it before adding the water.

2. in a large skillet, dissolve the bouillon in boiling water.

3. add the cabbage, cover, and cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, or until the yellow leafy parts have wilted, and the hard white parts have softened a little bit (they will still be really crunchy).

4. remove from heat and mix in the soy sauce.

enjoy!
linda seemed to really like this dish--"it's like eating stew without going to the trouble of making stew." well said, linda.

part of this balanced dinner.

carrot & daikon salad

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:40:00 +0000

mmm...carrots. one of my favorite jams. if i could, i would walk around gnawing on a carrot all the time, like bugs bunny. instead, i have picked up a more socially acceptable smoking habit.

after a nabe party, i had some leftover carrot and daikon, so i decided to make this super-easy, super-tasty salad. it's perfect for a bento, or even just a snack.

ingredients
2 medium carrots
15 cm daikon
35 mL sushi vinegar (1)
20 mL mirin (2)
15 mL soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame seeds

(1) すし酢, (2)本みりん

everything is from e-town in kosugi.

i listened to burial--untrue while making this.

let's go!
1. julienne the carrot and daikon. shredding is ok, too. peel that daikon first, btw.

2. toss the carrot and daikon in a bowl with some salt. let that sit for about 20 minutes.

3. to make the dressing, mix all three liquids together. i used the premixed sushi vinegar because i just happen to have some around, but if you don't, you can make your own. just mix 20 mL of rice vinegar (米須), 10 mL of caster (very fine) sugar, and 5 mL of salt. you could probably even go a little less on that sugar because of the sweetness of the carrot and mirin. you just want to cut that vinegar taste a bit.

4. toast the sesame seeds. you might be thinking about skipping this part, but really it just takes a minute. does bread taste like toast? no. your carrots and daikon need to sit for a little bit longer, anyway. here's how. let a small pan get hot over a high flame. throw in your sesame seeds, and keep them moving. once you hear them start to pop, remove from heat. seriously, less than a minute--don't be lazy.

5. rinse the carrot and daikon well. add the dressing and let it all sit for a couple of hours, or even better, overnight.

6. when you're ready to eat, mix in the sesame seeds.

enjoy!
oh, how did this get here? this is actually a picture of desert from the night i made this salad. why yes, those are reese's peanut butter cups. from america. oh yeah.

chili

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 06:57:00 +0000

i had my new kosugi neighbor, linda, over for dinner tuesday, so i made a big pot of chili on monday. i hope you're not thinking, "nice, laura, way to serve your guest leftovers," because it's no secret that chili tastes better the next day. this is a fairly good size recipe, maybe 6-8 servings. chili keeps really well (in the freezer, too), and i can eat it for four days without getting sick of it, so i always make a big pot. and for as unjapanese as this dish is, the ingredients are really easy to find and fairly inexpensive. chili is just really fun to make, and pretty foolproof. the reason why there are no how-to pictures is that there is really nothing complicated about the process. it's all about the spices; you should just keep tasting and adding things until it's exactly how you like it.

ingredients
250 g dry pinto beans (or 2 cans) (1)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
5 small green peppers, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp paprika (2)
2 tbsp cumin (3)
3 tbsp chili powder (4)
350 g ground beef
2 cans tomatoes (5)
1 bottle tomato sauce (6)
1 tsp salt
dash pepper
hot sauce to taste

(1)うずら豆, (2)パプリカ, (3)クミン, (4)チリパウダー, (5)ホールトマト, (6)トマトピュレー

i got the chili powder and hot sauce at yamaya in takaoka. everything else is from e-town in kosugi.

i listened to shaolin soul, volumes 1 & 2 while making my chili.

let's go!

1. a. buying beans--i've only ever found canned beans at foreign food groceries, and those were kind of expensive. kidney beans or even black beans would work, too. if you buy dried beans at the grocery, be careful not to buy azuki beans (小豆); the big ones kind of look like kidney beans. they're sweet and delicious, but not what you want for chili--pinto beans are tan with little dark dots. if in doubt, you can always hold up the bag and ask the checker if they are sweet. that's what i finally did :-/

b. cooking beans--if you bought canned beans, skip this part. for dried beans, rinse them and check to make sure there are no pebbles or weird freaky beans. soak for 4-6 hours in a bowl with a 1:3 bean to water ratio. then boil beans with a tsp of salt for about two hours, until tender. when they are finished, drain the water and gently rinse. set aside for the moment.

2. heat oil in a stock pot and add garlic, red pepper, green pepper, and onion. sweat until veggies begin to get tender (3-5 minutes)

3. add paprika, cumin, and chili powder. make sure keep stirring things around so that your spices don't burn on the bottom of your pan.

4. add the ground beef. some people freak out about the raw meat touching the vegetables, and it may well be wrong, but i do it all the time--no one has ever gotten botulised at one of my dinners. you'll be cooking it well done anyway, but if it bothers you, you can cook the meat in a separate pan and add it to the veggies.

5. when the meat is done, add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, beans, salt, pepper, and hot sauce. let everything get hot, and then turn the heat down to low.

6. now, this is the most important part. at this point you should stir everything up and taste. now is the time to add more cumin, chili powder, salt, hot sauce, or whatever you need. if you don't know what you're doing, just add a little at a time. also, if it is too thick, add a little water . if it is too thin, add tomato paste (トマトペースト). just keep in mind that it will thicken up overnight.

7. when it's just right, put it in the refrigerator. eat it tomorrow.

enjoy!

this is just how i make chili. it's really basic, and sometimes i add different stuff just for fun. salsa, beer, mustard, oregano, celery, worcestershire, and sausage are some things you could play with that would work. if you are not a cumin fan, you might want to hold back a little, because i love it, and i always put a lot in. anyway, linda seemed to like it. we ate this on rice when she was over, but where i'm from we eat it on spaghetti. it's also good on a salad with sour cream or over eggs.

toro and tofu salad

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 01:43:00 +0000

last month, i was hanging out at max's house after our marine day weekend camping trip got rained out. i was feeling pretty miserable, sunburned and a little ill after an uozu banger done quite right. but then takashi saved the day with this amazingly delicious salad that, along with a bucket of bloody marys, perked me right up. it was tasty, yet simple and healthy, so i had to make it myself. it makes a great bento, too.

ingredients
1 head leaf lettuce
1 block tofu
1 pack pounded tuna belly (1)
2 tbsp soy sauce (2)
1 tbsp sesame oil (3)

(1) ねぎとろ or まぐろたたき (2) しょうゆ (3) ごま油 or ごまあぶら

i got the sesame oil at marushin in takaoka. everything else is from e-town in kosugi.

i listened to nujabes--metaphorical music while preparing this.

let's go!
1. cut lettuce into thin strips and place first on the plate.

2. put tofu on top of lettuce. i cut my tofu into little blocks, but you could just as well leave it whole.

3. now, the tuna. toro is the fatty part of the tuna, and is definitely the most delicious. if you can't find it, go to the sashimi counter in the seafood section and ask for it. it should already be pounded up, so all you have to do is sprinkle it on the tofu.

4. pour the soy sauce and sesame oil on top. you should be able to get sesame oil in a regular grocery store--just ask for goma abura if you can't find it. if you are a tall blonde, the grocey girl may freak out when you try to talk to her, but you must resist the urge to backhand her. that solves nothing. talk to someone else who isn't a total hivemind basketcase.

enjoy!
this was just as good the second time. i sprinkled some sesame seeds on top when i had it for lunch the next day, and that gave it a nice texture--i recommend. takashi served a bowl of this with natto at max's house. not my jam, but he says it's great, so if you like natto, rock on. thanks for the recipe, takashi!

tomato, cucumber, and onion salad

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 00:21:00 +0000

it's been unbearably hot and humid for the last two weeks, so i thought i'd make something simple and summery. the cool, crisp taste of veggies and vinegar make this a wonderful summer snack. we all have food that reminds us of childhood, and this is one of mine. my mom used to make this all the time when i was growing up, and eating it reminds me of corn on the cob, fried chicken, ham and beans, cornbread, and fried okra. you know, the kind of stuff your mom probably made if you were lucky enough to be born in the south ;)

ingredients
1 tomato, wedged
1 cucumber, sliced
1/2 onion, julienned
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
dash pepper

i bought the red wine vinegar at marushin in takaoka. everything else is from e-town in kosugi.

i listened to freakwater--old paint while making this.

let's go!
1. cut your vegetables. some people don't like skin on their cucumbers, but i do. however, japanese cucumbers have a bigger skin to flesh ratio than the cucumbers i'm used to, so i just cut half of the skin off in stripes down the length of the cucumber before slicing. also, i would prefer to use a red onion, but my grocery doesn't always have those. yellow works just fine. i put the onion on the bottom to make sure it gets thoroughly soaked in vinegar.

2. mix the vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper together. you can adjust if there's too much/not enough sour/sweet/salty (i like things really sour and salty). also, if you don't have red wine vinegar, you can always find rice vinegar (in the aisle with all the sushi stuff). you'll probably have to adjust the proportions--rice vinegar is sweeter, and some rice vinegar has already been seasoned with salt and sugar.

3. cover and let sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. overnight is even better.

enjoy!
i had some of this for a late night snack and finished it off in the morning at breakfast. also, if you chopped everything into little pieces and maybe added some dill, this would make an nice little relish to put on fish.

omurice with béchamel sauce

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 12:52:00 +0000

i only started liking omurice yesterday. i think my aversion to omurice was due to the fact that it's full of ketchup. i've never been a huge fan of ketchup--it just seems to overpower everything. so i never even thought of making it at my house until joshie was telling me about how delicious his omurice turned out. i made a white sauce instead of using ketchup, and i think it turned out quite nicely. i only made enough for one serving because reheated eggs are not tasty. actually, there was a little too much filling and sauce, but i just ate it over rice in the morning, and that was a pretty good breakfast.

ingredients for the béchamel sauce
25 g butter
25 g flour (1)
200 mL milk
pinch salt
pinch nutmeg

ingredients for omirice
2 large eggs, beaten
1/4 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 small yellow onion, chopped
130 g chicken
clove garlic, minced
pinch salt
pinch dried red pepper
rice
vegetable oil

(1)フラワー

the nutmeg was here when i moved in. i got the dried red pepper at daiso. everything else is from e-town in kosugi.

i listened to gang starr--daily operation while cooking this dish.

let's go!

making the white sauce
1. béchamel sauce is really important because you can use it to make lots of other sauces. it's basically scalded milk thickened with roux. traditionally, an onion studded with cloves is used to flavor the milk, but i don't know where cloves are, so i wasn't too worried about it.

2. first, the roux. melt butter in a sauce pan. when it gets bubbly and frothy, add the flour.

3. mix the flour in with a wooden spoon. the goal is smooth and very thick with no flour chunks. keep stirring over heat for a couple of minutes, and then set aside.

4. bring the milk almost to a boil. add it to the roux while whisking vigorously. if your sauce gets too thick, you can add a little hot liquid (if you don't have any more milk, you can use a bullion cube dissolved in some hot water). add the salt and nutmeg.

making the omurice
1. cut up the chicken into small pieces. marinate it in oil, salt, garlic, and dried red pepper. i love the dried red pepper rings, and this time i followed seth's advice and used kitchen shears to cut them up.

2. sauté the chicken, onion, and bell pepper in a pan or wok over high heat.

3. turn the heat down a little. mix in the rice. ok, i really have tried to go metric here, as i am now living in the rest of the world, but how do i measure cooked rice? anyway, i used enough rice to fill up one of those ridiculously tiny beer glasses you get at enkais.

4. mix in about 50 mL of béchamel sauce until it all kind of sticks together.

5. in a separate pan, heat up enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. pour in the eggs. spread the egg around, and make a thin omelet. put a couple ladles of filling in the middle, and fold over. carefully slide on a plate . it was all a little fast to take pictures, but i pretty much did what this guy did, except for the part where his comes out perfectly.

6. spoon some sauce over the omurice.

enjoy!
the sauce worked well with the omurice. my omelet wasn't as pretty as i hoped, but it was my first time, so hopefully i'll get better. it was really delicious though. i think it would have been good with some spinach, mushrooms, or tomatoes inside, too. i definitely want to experiment with different kinds of fillings in the future.

bubble & squeak with mushroom cheese sauce

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 08:43:00 +0000

i've had niko staying with me for a few days already, and i invited max to stay over friday night for dinner and a movie. i'm not a huge breakfast person, but i thought having two hungry boys at my house in the morning would be the perfect time to make some bubble & squeak. when i worked at the pub, i used to eat it with cheese on top, which was super yummy. i had some mushrooms, so i thought i'd make some mushroom cheese sauce to put on top, too.

ingredients for bubbles
6 potatoes
40g butter
100 mL milk
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper
2 green bell pepper
1 medium yellow onion

ingredients for sauce
2 eringii mushrooms (1)
10 grams butter
250 mL milk
200 g shredded or grated cheese (not mozzarella)
pinch of salt
dash of pepper

(1) エリニギ

i bought all these ingredients at the jusco in takaoka.

for added deliciousness, listen to morcheeba--big calm while cooking.

let's go!
bubble & squeak
1. after doing some googling, i'm fairly certain this is not the traditional way of making bubble & squeak, but this is how i learned to do it, and also it's delicious so let's not argue about it. when we made bubble & squeak at the pub, we used mashed potatoes from the night before. unless you usually have mashed potatoes lying around at breakfast time, you're going to have to think ahead and make some up the night before.

2. peel and quarter the potatoes. boil for about 45 minutes. when the potatoes are done, you should be able to easily crush them with tongs.

3. drain and mash the potatoes. if you don't have a masher, you can use a fork, a whisk, or one of the beaters from an electric mixer. add the milk, butter, salt, pepper and garlic. you can tweak the amounts on these ingredients according to your tastes; however, i would advise you to hold back on the milk and butter as too much of these things will make your bubbles fall apart.

4. chop the bell peppers and the onion. sauté in butter until tender--the onion will start to become translucent.

5. you should let the mashed potatoes and the onion-pepper mixture cool overnight. in the morning, mix these together. use your hands--it feels funny.

6. use the mixture to make patties about 2 or 3 cm thick. i made 6 big ones out of my mixture, but in retrospect, i think i should have made 8 or 9 medium sized patties. you probably don't want the diameter to be bigger than the width of your spatula.

7. it's probably a good idea to go ahead and make your sauce now and then come back to finish up the bubbles.

8. melt about 20g of butter in a heavy skillet. brown bubbles on both sides. ok, so that sounds really easy, but here's the deal--the bubbles are going to stick to your pan. you will have a lot easier time if your bubbles are small enough to fit on the spatula. also a plastic spatula doesn't seem to cut it--use metal. if you have a second spatula, big wooden spoon, a okonomiyaki spatula, or a rice paddle, use that to kind of hold the bubble in place while you scrape from underneath. hopefully, they will stay in one piece with nice brown circles on both sides, but check out this picture.

9. yikes! i mean, the one on the top left isn't too bad, but what happened to the poor little guy on the bottom? yeah, i messed up. i think it was one of these things: i forgot about the butter in the veggie mixture and put too much in my mashed potatoes, i made my patties too big, and i tried to use a plastic spatula. anyway, if your bubbles look like this, don't worry. you'll be covering them with sauce, and the boys both agreed they were very delicious anyway. so, speaking of sauce...

mushroom cheese sauce
1. chop the mushrooms and sauté until tender. turn off the heat.

2. add the milk slowly while stirring quickly. heat up to just before a boil, and then turn off the heat.

3. stir in the cheese. i used a cheddar type mix that had a picture of omurice on the package and a little leftover summer comté, shredded. you could also use parmesan or shred those little baby cheese squares. whatever you do, don't use the ubiquitous pizza cheese. it will clump up and you will be left with hot milk with a ball of gooey cheese.

4. add salt and pepper.

enjoy!
i served the bubbles with scrambled eggs, wilted spinach, and pan fried tomatoes. i just poured the sauce over the whole thing. it was pretty delicious--we ate everything and then laid around in a dazed food coma.

huevos rancheros

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 19:11:00 +0000

i've had a vegetarian at my house for the last week, so i haven't really been eating a lot of meat. but he cooks pretty well, so i haven't really been missing it. it's been ungodly hot around here, and i really didn't feel like going to the grocery one afternoon. niko rummaged around the cupboard, and this is what he came up with. yummy!

ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 clove garlic
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 can black beans
3/4 can corn
3/4 can stewed tomatoes, chopped
4 eggs
cilantro (1)

(1) コリアンダー

the chili powder, olive oil, and black beans are from yamaya in takaoka. the cilantro is from himi vicki's garden (but i've also found it in jusco in tak). everything else is from jusco in takaoka.

for added deliciousness, listen to manu chao--clandestino while cooking.

let's go!
1. sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil until tender. the onions will look kind of translucent.

2. add the chili powder, cumin, paprika, pepper, and salt. mix in, and let the flavors cook into the onion for a few minutes.

3. turn the heat down. add the beans, corn and tomatoes. black beans can be a little hard to find sometimes (and expensive), but you can usually find pinto or at least kidney, and i think either of those would taste just fine. niko wants me to tell you you can use fresh tomatoes, but make sure not to throw out the larval looking stuff on the inside.

4. stir everything together, but don't stir like this unless you're trying to be silly.

5. let everything cook over low heat for awhile, until everything cooks down kind of thick and out-of-focus like this.

6.now that the beans are done, you can make the eggs. mine were over medium, but you can make them however you want. silly faces are not necessary, but encouraged.

7. slide the eggs on top of a plate of rice.

8. spoon some bean mixture on top.

9. sprinkle some cilantro on top. now, cilantro can be hard to find sometimes, so when i see some, i just grab it and make something. if you're going to go searching, note that cilantro in japanese is not shirantoro, but korianda, because cilantro is the leaf of the coriander plant. but if you don't have cilantro, don't worry about it. this dish is still very yummy without it. i usually pull the leaves from the stems and then chop, but you can skip the first step, which is much faster.

enjoy!
we ate this with a spoonful of salsa. we lamented our lack of cheese or sour cream, which we both agreed would have set things off quite nicely. it was still very delicious. a couple days later, we had some leftovers with a dollop of guacamole, and that was really good, too.

yakisoba

noreply@blogger.com (disco) — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 01:20:00 +0000

yakisoba is amazing camping food for many reasons. the ingredients are simple and cheap. it can be made in huge batches. it's almost impossible to mess up. it's delicious! at the leavers weekend, i made yakisoba for 70 people. well, me and a small army; it's not really a task you want to tackle alone.

ingredients
4.5 kg pork, sliced thin
8 cabbages
18 carrots
12 yellow onions
10 eggplants
6 packs bean sprouts
20 3-packs yakisoba noodles
6 bottles yakisoba sauce
1 bottle vegetable yakisoba sauce
1 liter canola oil

everything on this list is from jusco in the aeon in takaoka. if you order a few days ahead of the time, they will have it all boxed up and ready to go the day you need it.

let's go!

1. you will need to bring along a guy who hits the gym a lot to help you carry this stuff, like your fellow social rep.

2. when you arrive at the campground, recruit a small group to cut the vegetables. remind them to keep the pieces small and to keep the eggplant separate, but other than that, leave them alone. you have to start some fires.

3. you will need to get four fires going. get adam to stack the coal in just the right way. let him squirt the firestarting gel, because that is the fun part.

4. bunni will also really get into starting the fires, so grab her, too. don't let her hurt josh when he suggests that she should twist the paper, and not crumple it. she hasn't seen "the great outdoors", and thinks he is just being an asshole.

5. the coals are hot, and the veggies are cut. let's get going. put a griddle over each stack of coals and let it get hot.

6. you will need to make the no meat batch first. otherwise, the griddles will get porkified, and the vegetarians will riot. hand the bag of eggplant and the vegetable sauce to the herbivores, and let them make their own stuff. they might start doing yoga and other weird hippie stuff, but just ignore it. you have work to do.

7. you should make sure there's a person at each griddle. you need to pour about 30 mL of oil on the griddle and spread it around. your griddle person might say, "wow! that's a lot of oil." it is a lot of oil, but it's a big griddle. hopefully they will eventually appreciate the ease with which they move the food around.

8. throw about 500 g of pork on the griddle. then add big handfuls of onion, carrot, cabbage, and bean sprouts. let that cook awhile. people may make comments about your apron, but that's ok. you will get the last laugh when you make it through 12 batches of yakisoba with nary a stain (ahem, niko).
9. make sure your people know to fan the coals if things start to get cool. the cardboard from a six-pack is a great tool for this job.

10. when the vegetables start getting soft, squeeze out a big bunch of yakisoba sauce. then add three-five packs of noodles. don't forget, plastic wrappers in the blue garbage bags!

11. when all that is warm and mixed together, remove from the griddle onto a serving pan. it is true what they say--canadians are very nice people. one will probably volunteer to do this job without being asked.

12. put serving trays on benches. you may have to call for people to eat a few times, but they will come--all at once.

13. people will serve themselves directly off the griddle. this is fine--they can keep an eye on the yakisoba--maybe.

14. if you are asked by a japanese person if you are making japanese yakisoba, gently remind them that yakisoba is japanese, so yes. if they persist in nagging you about "the japanese way," put them to work, and tell them to make sure it's done right.

15. make sure you bring enough plates. if you run out, people go crazy and will try to eat off of any smooth surface.

16. enjoy!