All posts filed under: Vegetables|Vegan

Homestyle Chinese Cuisine ‘jeeten’ | 吉田風中国家庭料理店

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Located in a tranquil posh residential area at the outskirts of Shibuya, Yoyogi-Uehara, you will find this humble atmosphered Homestyle Chinese Cuisine ‘jeeten’, owned and operated by a the chef Yoshida himself. With a counter bar seating and just few tables, at first glance may appear to be a cafe style restaurant but the Chinese cuisine is unbelievably exquisite. Secretly admired by the locals, Yoshida special style of Chinese cooking is not the traditional oily Chinese but light, healthy, with lot of vegetables. The menu offers both a 3 different type of course menu but also a la carte is offered for individual dishes. We ordered the A menu, our eyes always bigger than our stomach but to also to enjoy the seasonal recommendations by the Chef. 閑静な高級住宅地が残る「代々木上原」。昨晩は「吉田風中国家庭料理店」のjeetenで友人夫妻と夕食会。野菜中心の文字通り中華家庭料理。野菜と取り入れたメニューが多く、なぜか胃にもたれないあっさりとした料理法はシェフの秘伝の技。うま味調味料と中華出しは取らずに水と「腕、技」で旨味を出していらしい。カフェスタイルのインテリアですが落ち着いた雰囲気、家庭料理に刺激をいただいた一晩でした。お店で料理本を購入し、、日々のお料理に活用していこうかと思います。 Here is what the course looked like…. 昨晩、注文したのではシェフのおすすめのAコースメニュー。 Appetizer, Jelly fish with cucumbers. くらげの冷菜　 Bean Sprout Roll – Pencil layered rows of bean sprouts wrapped with (I believe) fried tofu skin with a slightly sweet hoisin sauce. もやしの揚げ物は食感がとても不思議。もやしを綺麗に並べ、薄いお揚げで包んだ一品。 Shrimp Rice Rolls – Steamed Rice Paper enwraps a …

Authentic Japanese Cucumbers ｜神田四葉・相模半白きゅうり

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As far as my memory goes, this year’s rainy season in Tokyo seem to go back to a norm cycle of raining since the start, early June to the present day. It has been wet, raining, drizzling, mizzle, downpour, cats and dog…name it, it has been raining a lot and still no signs of end proclamation yet from the weather bureau. So this is our view from our kitchen, most everyday. Rather grim looking, not much sunlight. 今年の東京は「ザ・梅雨」というほど長雨が続いています。梅雨宣言がされた6月の初旬から今日までここ数年でほぼ連日雨が降っています。我が家のキッチンから見える朝の風景は雨、雨、雨。通勤の方々や学生さん、びしょびしょ、びしょびしょとお疲れさまでございます。 This weekend, our family friend, who takes cares of a piece of farm land outside Tokyo has brought to us, an unusual cucumber which I personally have never seen. Cucumbers in Europe and/or the United States tend to be large in size, but Japanese cucumbers as like our nationality are dainty and small. Apparently these cucumbers are as large as ones encountered in Ireland and Los Angeles, to know it is called “Kanda Suyo Long Cucumber” and “Sagami Hanjiro Cucumber”. さて、週末に我が家の友人で埼玉の方に畑を管理している人から珍しい胡瓜をいただきました。神田四葉胡瓜 （かんだすうようきゅうり）、相模半白胡瓜 （さがみはんじろきゅうり）というそうでどちらも私には馴染みのない胡瓜でした。神田四葉胡瓜 は細長く、30cmほどの長さと存在感は外国の胡瓜を伺わせます。相模半白胡瓜はお尻のほうが黄色くなっていて、半分くらいが白いきゅうりです。どちらもイボイボがかなりゴジラ風でサラダには堪え難い力強さを感じました。 しかし、調べると「神田四葉胡瓜」は中国山東省から日本人に知られる｡なんとなく硬い感じを受けますが、歯切れ良い食感と「やわらかさ」がある品種。 「相模半白胡瓜 」江戸以前に渡来した華南系｡ どちらも一晩考えて食材として使用してみました。 “Kanda Suyo Long Cucumber“, it’s origin seems to from China’s …

Frying Pan baked Focaccia｜フライパンで焼くフォカッチャ

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Following my “Frying Pan baked English Muffin recipe“, this is a simple bread recipe using a similar method, frying pan to bake Foccacia. The focaccia can be adjusted (slightly) to the size of the frying pan and it can be a fun recipe for parties and outdoor events. Frying Pan Baked Foccacia Recipe 【Ingredients】Makes 1 large focaccia Bread Flour・・・・・・・300g Sugar ・・・・・・・・・1 Tbs Salt ・・・・・・・・・・3/4 Tsp Dry Yeast ・・・・・・・・1 Tsp Warm Water ・・・・・・・200ml Olive Oil ・・・・・・・・2 Tbs < MIX > Mix all the ingredients (except the olive oil) in a large bowl and mix until smooth. While mixing together with both you hands and weight, add the butter after 2~3 minutes of mixing. In total, mix for about 10 to 15 minutes occasionally smashing the dough into the bowl to stimulate the surface. When the dough feels like a earlobe texture, smooth and elastic, the it is ready for the next step.  < PRIMARY FERMENTATION > Lightly oil a container with a lid and ferment for approx. an hour at a normal temperature (28 ° C …

Moroccan String Beans Tempura|モロッコいんげんの天ぷら

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This is a recipe which I tried from a Japanese distinguished magazine called ‘Kateigaho’. ‘Kateigaho’ is a magazine which introduces Japanese culture to the world from an authentic yet modern Japanese perspective, high-quality contents of beautiful visual contents. The recipe is by a Japanese Italian chef, a ‘fritto’ batter, the batter with the additives of paprika powder, making the tempura slightly orange, quite easy to handle and would come in handy for any type of vegetables which you may want to fry, tempura. I used the ‘Moroccan String Beans’ but any other vegetables such as the green beans family can be of a replacement, or even eggplant, zucchini, onions, etc. etc. [Servings for two] Moroccan String Beans  Flour Deep Fried Oil Orange (for garnish) Beignet (English fritter) [Flour 50 g / Baking powder 1g / Paprika powder 1.6 g / Salt 1 g] Olive Oil 16 g Egg White (1 egg white) 24g approx. Remove the streaks and clean up the Moroccan string beans. Make the Beignet dough, by blending all the dry ingredients in …

Bamboo cooking galore 2|筍料理の備忘録 II

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Oops…spring seemed to have zapped and summer is on the way. Before I take a blink, ‘bamboo’ will be so outdated so here is my second post a continuation of bamboo cooking. BAMBOO RICE : Most popular and common menu using bamboo is the ‘Bamboo Rice’, quite simple to make! The bamboo is cut into small mouth size pieces, a pinch of salt, cooked together with rice in a rice cooker. Leftover rice can be made into a ‘onigiri (rice balls)’, to go or as a lunch pack. Tempura : Wild spring vegetables which we call, ‘sansai’, together with fresh bamboo are spring delicacies. Tempura is a common way of cooking the wild vegetable to extract ‘aku’ (bitterness and harshness). Extracting ‘aku’ is often heard in Japanese cooking, ‘aku’ sometimes being a boiling froth but interprets as the bitterness in the vegetable ingredient. Bamboos can be integrated in various way. The Chinese common menu, ‘pepper steak with bamboo and green peppers’, ‘bamboos stir-fried with doubanjiang (hot sauce) is another; but the Japanese washoku foods tend …

Bamboo cooking galore|筍料理の備忘録 I

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Just after the cherry blossoms, at the end of March, the bamboo shoots start sprouting in April; first along the southern part of Japan, slowly trailing north chasing the signs of summer. I must be honest and admit… I am a bamboo fanatic, not just zest but more in close lines to be called ‘an addict’. The blog which will follow in a couple of series will be about ‘bamboo (shoot) cooking’ which I, personally would like to preserve in my own cooking and blog records, as to also refresh my memory come very vague and fuzzy come next season, one year from now. Fresh bamboo shoots are in season from April to May in Japan. For viewers who have not prepared fresh bamboo, the most common method of when preparing fresh bamboo is : Washed and peel the coarse outer skin In a large pan, boil for approximately 40~50 minutes adding ‘nuka’ – rice bran to remove the bitterness in the vegetable Let it simmer down to cool Next day….peel the outer skin and …

Pumpkin Twist Loaf & Apple Roll Bread

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Making simple bread loafs are not quite easy when pursued perfection but ‘pre-made sheets‘ integrated into a basic bread loaf can be a quite fun and rather impressive. These ‘pre-made sheets’ can be made with many other ingredients, although my all time favorite tends to be the ‘pumpkin sheet’. Looking back at my baking archive, I’ve made this loaf with my nieces as a baking lesson, goes back already 3 years from now. Click the link to see my adoring nieces having lots of ‘baking fun’. RECIPE link to : Pumpkin Twist Loaf Pumpkin Twist Loaf Bread Recipe –  Bread Flour (100%) 175g Cake Flour (100%) 175g Salt (1.6%) 5.6g Sugar (10%) 35g Dry Yeast (0.85%) 3g Unsalted Butter (5.7%) 49g – mix in with the dough Cream (8%) 28g Egg Yolk (6%) 21g Milk (56%) 196g Pumpkin Sheet <Pumpkin Sheet> Recipe –  Cake Flour 10g Mashed Pumpkin 120g Corn Starch 5g Sugar 30g Milk    1 Tbsp Rum 1 Tsp Cinnamon Powder 1/4 Tsp Unsalted Butter 5g < Pumpkin Sheet > Mix the flour, pumpkin, …

Japanese Foods to go…

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Foods prepared to go…are not easy. Perhaps I am over-sensitive and particular as to making and serving food; but not in this case as my daughter has been suffering from severe ‘migraine headache’, since late fall-early winter. The progressive winter cold certainly does not help alleviate her headache, daily housework and mothering a 3 year old child has become quite difficult for the past few months. To help her, I’ve been catering some ‘most common washoku foods-to-go’, sustaining a healthy balance diet for a 3 year old growing child. Although the prepared foods are far from being photogenic, ready to go in microwave proof Tupperware but hope will provide some insight to our (common) daily Japanese foods. Stewed potatoes with beef and konjac (Niku Jyaga), is a very common Japanese side dish, which we call ‘osozai’. All the ingredients are simmered in soy sauce flavored dashi. Konjac is probably an typical Japanese ingredient-a rubbery noodle like food made from Konjac yam, very low calorie known to cleanse the stomach and intestines. Stewed satuma age and …

Welcome 2019

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  I often wonder why we love to organize our time into segments; minutes, hours, weeks, months and then years. Every moment of our lives must be just as precious as any but the accomplishment of completion, achievement bringing satisfaction quite often is measured by time, I the same. Year 2018 had been quite a turbulent year to our family, not as gentle as we hoped and expected it to be. My husband underwent surgery after cancer test claimed in doubt, my daughter is suffering from serious migraine attacks unfortunately with no successful remedy disabling her daily life. Unfortunately we do not live in a world of fantasies, miracles and abracadabras, nor do I have a magic wand to let troubles and worries go away. But this is the start of a brand new year 2019. Letting our worries aside, January 1st which we call ‘gantan‘ in Japan, calls for a day to celebrate with gratitude from our hearts. Although we have our own traditional ritual food for New Years Day, ‘osechi’ ; I’ve decided …

jamming season…ume works

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It’s already July, unexpected early arrival of summer (over 2~3 weeks) and departure of a short ‘rainy season’ which depicts an reflection in change climate. Temperatures are soaring to a level beyond body temperature of 36 degrees celsius (all over Japan) and the trend is an annual recurring tendency. Consequently, the harvest of fruits and my jamming works has been bumped up, at least over 2~3 weeks. Nevertheless, June and July being one of busiest jamming season, on being the use of Japanese plums, which we call ‘ume’. It is a sour plum which is used in numerous washoku dishes and no doubt ‘ume’ comprises our basis of our history, culture and Japanese nationality, our identity. Sa-Shi-Su Umeboshi ｜さしす梅干 ’Umeboshi’ is an authentic Japanese pickles which I am most certain you have encountered at Japanese restaurants or peeking out from the rice balls, ‘onigiri’, a extremely sour pickle made from the Japanese plum called the ‘ume’. The Sa-Shi-Su Umeboshi is not a traditional process but a easy short cut cooking which I’ve made this year and …