73): Rain Sushi Bento

November 11, 2009 dragonlife Leave a comment

BENTO-09-11-11a

Usually I do not take a bento to with me on Wednesdays, but the weather simply gave us no choice.
With a very unusual warm Fall in Japan this year, we are bound to be assailed by typhoon-like downpours. The bus was going through sheer curtains of water along the road. I found out that we got drenched with 100mm of rain in a single hour! Mind you, it does not compare to what the Philippines had to go through recently.

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In such an emergency the Missus usually comes with some kind of sushi and plentyof vegetables.

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Today’s sushi style was te-mari zushi/手丸寿司, a style very popular in the Kyoto area.
The rice balls are small, round and prepared by wrapping them in a piece of cellophane paper and then topped with various neta/ねた (toppings).
She made two kinds:
the first one with a salad consisting of surimi, shredded lettuce, capers, sesame seeds and mayonnaise. She placed them inside lettuce leaves for easing handling and supplemetary Vitamin C (!).

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The second type which could be called Italian-style te-mari zushi as they contained cheese and were topped with Italian raw ham and Italian parsley (!).

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As for the salad side dish on a bed of cress (grown in Shizuoka) she placed boiled brocoli, sliced radishes, plum tomatoes and a dessert consisting of rainbow kiwis (grown in Shizuoka).

Very healthy! I wonder if I should welcome the rain!

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Tofu Terrine

November 10, 2009 dragonlife 6 Comments

TOFU-TERRINE

Tofu does have to be food exclusively for vegans, vegetarians and people with special priorities.
I can assure you that monivores like I are very fond of any any combination including tofu!

Here is a simple recipe that will impress your friends:
Tofu Terrine!

INGREDIENTS: For 4 servings

-Tofu (momen tofu, a bit mopre solid than kinu tofu): 300 g
-Wakame seaweed (salted preserves): 15 g
-Carrots: 30 g
-Sugar peas in their pods (or their equivalent. They are called pois gourmands in French, or kinu saya ingen in Japanese): 8
-Salt: a pinch (for boiling the veg)
-Mushrooms (white agarics): 3
-Broad beans (boiled or steamed) for decoration: 4

-Eggs: 2
-Soup stock: 2 tablespoons
-White wine: One and half tablespoons
-Salt: 1/3 teaspoon
-Pepper: to taste
-Salad oil for brushing

RECIPE:

-Break the tofu in large pieces. Boil lightly. Transfer into a large clean cloth and press as much water out as possible.

-Wash the wakame in clear cold water. Boil for a little while. Take out and press water out. Put it inside a clean cloth and press out as much water as possible.

-Chop the carrot fine. Boil a little and take water off as above.

-Take the “thread” off the sugar peas, boil in salted water. Let cool completely. Take off water and chop finely.

-Cut the mushrooms very fine (you may fry or boil them a bit if you wish to).

-Work the tofu in a suribachi (mortar and pestle) to obtain a smooth paste. Add eggs and mix with the pestle (food processing is fine, too). Add wakame seaweed, carrot, sugar peas, mushrooms, soup stock, slat and pepper, and mix.

-Coat the insides of 4 ramequins/oven cups with a very thin layer of salad oil and pour 1/4 of the mixture in each. Flatten the surface with a spatula.

-Place ramequins inside a steamer. Steam on a medium fire for 5 minutes, then 10 more minutes over a low fire.
Let cool down completely.
Wrap them in cellophane and keep in refrigerator until you serve them
Decorate with broad beans.

NOTE:

This is the basic recipe. It is open to all inds of variations!

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⑧ココット・ロンドにお湯を沸かし、スチーマーに⑦を並べて、湯気の上がったお鍋にセットする。中火で５分ほど蒸し、さらに弱火で７～１０分ほど蒸し、粗熱をとって冷蔵庫で冷やす。お好みでそらまめを飾る。

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Panda’s Vanishing Act?

November 10, 2009 dragonlife 10 Comments

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Just had some fun with another capuccino at Caffeteria Il Cuore!

CAFFETERIA IL CUORE
420-0035 Shizuoka City, Aoi Ku, Shichiken-cho, 13-20, Ishiwata Bldg. 1F
Tel. & fax: 054-2723737
Business hours: 11:30~23:00 (open every day)
Credit Cards OK

RECOMMENDED RELATED SITES:
Warren Bobrow
Bread + Butter
Elinluv Tidbit Corner
Tokyo Terrace
Comestilblog

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Traditional Japanese Cake-Dorayaki: The Basics

November 10, 2009 dragonlife 8 Comments

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Dorayaki, a traditional Japanese cake which combines many traditions and gastronomies has been a delicacy for such a long time in this country that it has expanded to the point of crossing all seas and oceans.

This posting is only a summary of common knowledge but I hope it will help many to understand the delicacy and make it themselves for the pleasure of all, adults and children alike!

I will eventually post a basic recipe for it!

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Dorayaki (どら焼き, どらやき, 銅鑼焼き, ドラ焼き) is a type of Japanese confection which consists of two small pancake-like patties made from castella wrapped around a filling of sweet red bean paste (anko/餡子).
Incidentally Castella (カステラ, Kasutera) is a popular Japanese sponge cake made of sugar, flour, eggs, and starch syrup, very common at festivals and as a street food.
Now a specialty of Nagasaki, the cake was brought by way of Portuguese merchants in the 16th century.

It originally only had one layer, and the current shape was invented in 1914 by the Ueno Usagiya.
In Japanese, dora (銅鑼) means “gong”, and because of the simililarity of the shapes, this is probably the origin of the name of the sweet.
Legend has it that the first Dorayaki were made when a samurai named Benkei forgot his gong (dora) upon leaving a farmer’s home where he was hiding and the farmer subsuquently used the gong to fry the pancakes, thus the name Dorayaki.

In Kansai area, such as Osaka or Nara, this sweet is often called mikasa（三笠）. The word originally means triple straw hat, but also an alternative name of Mount Wakakusa, a low hill with gentle slope located in Nara. Many local people picture the shape of this hill while eating a mikasa. In Nara, a larger mikasa of about 30 cm in diameter is famous.

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Probably thanks to the French Macarons vogue, modern dorayaki also come in various colours, with the bean paste, usually made of red bean paste and sometimes of white bean paste, replaced with creams of many colours.

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Here in Shizuoka Prefecture which produces half of all Japanese green tea, they make dorayaki with matcha (抹茶) tea, both in the castella and in cream combined with the anko/bean paste!

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’09/72): PC Crash Bento 3

November 9, 2009 dragonlife 4 Comments

BENTO-09-11-09a

I finally got my laptop back last Wenesday, but I was still left to deal with a big problem: a mail box overloaded with spams.
It took me hours to first download more than 100,000 spams (yes, you read right, one hundred thousand critters), 99% coming from only two single bots (spam robots)!
It took me half an hour to erase them just to sse them coming back!
I was seriously thinking of changing my mail address, a bothersome affair if there is any. Luckily I do have computer-wise (the old geezer isn’t) friends who told me to consult my provider directly. Which I did.
The company taught how to deal with a Japanese language filter box (their services are in Jpanese only), but it still took them almost half an hour to clean my mail box!
Anyway, I’m a bit wiser and cleverer now, and I can resume my blogging activities in tranquility!

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Since she also needed to be careful about her own weight, the Missus has decided to maximize the veg part and minimize the high-calories items in my bentoes from now on!

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She steamed the rice withn vegetables including mushrooms and carrots that she mixed later with small pieces of fried chicken.

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As for the garnish, on a bed of lettuce (grown in Shizuoka) she placed plenty of renkon/lotus root slices fried with black sesame, whole red radish (with their stems) and simple tamagoyaki/Jpanese omelette.

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As for the salad cum dessert, on bed of shredded veg she placed a cople of plum tomatoes, pieces of jiro kaki/squat persimmon and some walnuts. She also added some lightly seasoned potato and cucumber salad for supplemetary calories.

Very tasty and just enough to hold on until dinner!

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Vegan Rice Cupcakes

November 9, 2009 dragonlife 4 Comments

VEGAN-RICE-CUPCAKES1

Just discovered this cupcake recipe for my vegan (I’m not) friends with the extra bonus of possible variations!

Japanese style vegan rice cupaakes!

INGREDIENTS: For 1 mug cup (arrange quantities accordingly for a greater number)

-Rice powder (Ris Blanc): 4 tablespoons
-Cornstarch: 1 tablespoon
-Sugar (of your choice, honey might be feasible): 1 tablespoon
-Baking Powder: Half a teaspoon
-Olive oil: 1 tablespoon
-Soy milk: 4 tablespoons

RECIPE:

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-In an oven ramequin or mug cup first pour rice powder, cornstarch, sugar and baking powder and mix well.
Next add olive oil and soy milk and mix well.

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-Depending on the kind of rce powder and soy milk you use, you may have to increase the amount of one or both for a smoother mixture. Experiment!

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-Cook insid emicrowave for 2 minutes or more. Check by pushing a thin wooden or meddle stick. It should come out clean. The taste is light. You may add sugar.

-Have a good look at the cake while it cooks. It should not be more than 2 minutes 30 seconds.
If you use kabocha powder, you will need 1 small teaspoon plus 1 teaspoon of water.

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-The above green cupcake was made by adding 1 teaspoon of spinach powder and 1 teaspoon of soy milk!

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-Add 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder and 1 teaspoon of soy milk for a cocoa cupcake!

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-Add 1 tablespoon of carrot powder and 1 teaspoon of soy milk for a carrot cupcake.

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-Add crushed apple for the above!

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Vegan Tofu Lemon Cupcakes

November 7, 2009 dragonlife 12 Comments

VEGAN-TOFU-LEMON-CUPCAKE

This is a slightly different version of the Japanese style vegan tofu cupcake I introduced a couple of days ago. It will give you an idea of how to play on that idea!

INGREDIENTS: For about 16 cakes

-Tofu (kinu tofu): 180 g
-Sugar (of your choice): 80 g
-Soy milk: 3 tablespoons
-Lemon juice: 1 tablespoon
-Olive oil: 2 tablespoons

-Flour (use chestnut flour if you are wheat allergic): 160 g
-Baking powder: 2 teaspoons

-Grated lemon skin: 1 whole lemon
-Dried English tea leaves, finely chopped ( the contents of 1 tea bag is adequate)

RECIPE:

-Mix flour and baking powder well.
Mix soy milk and lemon juice separately and and set apart.

-In a large bowl drop in the tofu and sugar. Mix well until you obtain a smooth paste. Add the soy milk, lemon juice and olive oil. Mix the lot thoroughly with a whisker.

-Add the all flour and baking powder mixture and mix in with a spatula until floury lumps have disappeared, but don’t mix too much!

-Pour mixture into cups and sprinkle them with grated lemon skin and dried tea.

-Bake inside oven for 16 minutes at 190 degrees Celsius.
If you make mini cupcakes, 12 minutes should sufficient.
keep looking at the colour of your cupcakes!

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Matcha Tofu Muffins

November 7, 2009 dragonlife 4 Comments

MATCHA-TOFU-MUFFIN

Tofu and Matcha tea are considered for good reasons as health food here in Japan.
They can also be combinedinto a very European/American style cake: Muffins!

INGREDIENTS: For about 6 muffins

-Tofu (kinu tofu): 150 g (no need to press waterout)
-Egg: 1
-Wheat (use one of your preference): 4 tablespoons
-Cornstarch: 2 tablespoons
-Cream powder: 2 tablespoons
-Sugar: 3 tablespoons
-Matcha tea powder: one and a half tablespoons
-Butter: 15 g
-Baking powder: 1 teaspoon

RECIPE:

-Melt butter inside microwave oven.
Take out and pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius

-Drop all ingredients inside a food processor and process until you obtain a smooth mixture.

-Fill muffin cups with mixture up to nine tenths height.
(Pouring the whole lot in an oiled/buttered pound cake mold is fine, too)

-Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes (Check colour as all ovens have their own “character”)

-Let them cool completely.
If you don’t eat them at once, wrap them in cellophane paper and leave inside refrigerator or in a very dry box.

Best enjoyed with tea? LOL

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Baked Tofu Cheese Cake

November 6, 2009 dragonlife 8 Comments

BAKED-TOFU-CHEESE-CAKE

One way to lighten your cheese cake and invest into a new taste is to introduce tofu!

Here is a simple recipe that will please anyone woorying about unwanted calories:
Baked Tofu Cheese Cake!

INGREDIENTS:

-Cream Cheese (Philadelphia): 230 g
-Tofu (kinu tofu): 200g (before pressing water out)
-Sugar: 70g (of your choice)
-Eggs: 2
-Vanilla bean pod: 1 (small) (if not available use vanilla essence)
-Soy milk: a little
-Flour: 2 tablespoons (flour of any kind is fine)
-Cornstarch: 1 tablespoon
-Biscuits (crushed to form a solid base under the cheese cake/optional)

RECIPE:

-Line the bottom of a oven cake mold with a layer of crushed biscuit.
You may do without it but it will help absorb excess water from tofu.

-Soften cream cheese to room temperature (you may warm it a bit inside a microwave oven) and mix with sugar.

-Once the cheese and sugar misture has become smooth, add the tofu by crushing it between your palms, addd the whole eggs and mix well with an eletric whisker until you obtain a smooth mixture.

-Cut the vanilla bean lengthwise and extract the inside (or use vanilla essence), mix it with some soy milk and add to the mixture. Mix well.

-The last three steps may be done with a food processor, but mixing all ingredients one by one give you a “right feel”!

-Pour the mixture inside the mold over the biscuit layer and flatten the surface with a spatula.

-Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Bake for 50 minutes r until you have obtained the right colour and a raising mound in the middle.

-If the colour even then is too white, raise temperature to 200 degrees Celsius and bake for 10 more minutes.

-Let cake completely cool down.
Only then may you take it out of its mold and leave it inside the refrigerator overnight before eating it.

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’09/71): PC Crash Bento 2

November 6, 2009 dragonlife 2 Comments

BENTO-09-11-02a

As of November 2nd, the Kojima Company had not called me back yet to announce that my laptop was finally ready for me to collect. I had been without it for 11 days by then and for all the time suddenly found to write and read, I was really beginning to suffer from hi-tec retrieval!

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I had requested the Missus to prepare a musubi/rice balls bento that time.
She came up with four different balls:

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-One with Japanese-style pickled cucumber
-One with hijiki/sweet seaweed, sesame seeds and cheese
-One with pickled ginger and sesame seeds
-And the last one with umeboshi/Japanese pickled plums.

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The tamagoyaki/Japanese omelette was of the plain variety. Just sweet enough.

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As for the salad/dessert side dish she rolled wedges of jiro kaki/squat persimmon inside raw ham and place dthem over a bed of lettuce, cress, walnuts and black olives.

Very healthy!

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Vegan Tofu Cupcakes

November 5, 2009 dragonlife 8 Comments

VEGAN-TOFU-CUPCAKE-1

Cupcakes are the norm all over the world when it comes to bakery and tofu is a must for vegans.
Now, it is possible to make very simple cupcakes for vegans!
Wheat flour allergics can replace the wheat flour with chestnut flour like the Corsicans and Portguese do in their traditional food!
This is only the basic recipe to which you can add fruits and vegetables!

Vegan Tofu Cupcakes!

INGREDIENTS: For 5~6 cupcakes

-Tofu (kinu toufu): 300 g
-All-purpose flour (for substitutes, read above): 100 g
-Sugar (white, cane, or even honey): 30 g

RECIPE:

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-Get ingrediens ready and pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

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-Mix tofu and sugar. Mix well.

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-Sprinkle flour over tofu and mix roughly so as to leave a little flour on the surface.

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-Bake for 25~30 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius or until desired colour.

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-Dead simple, aren’t they?
Now your skills will reside in what you add!

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’09/70): PC Crash Bento 1

November 5, 2009 dragonlife 2 Comments

BENTO-09-10-26a

My PC (laptop) having crashed for the third time in the last four years, these bento reports are a bit late. This one was due on October 26th!
The PC being brand new at the time I purchased it and still has great speed. I’m reluctant to part from it, but I might soon be forced into a painful reconversion (Microsoft to Mac?).

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Therefore I will call this particular lunch box the “PC Crash Bento 1”!
The same bento was consumed on a heavy rainy day to compound my misery, but I must say the meal lifted my spirits somewhat!

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For all her grumpiness on that day, the Missus did not disappoint me:
After steaming the rice, she mixed it with hijiki/sweet seaweed, green peas and roasted sesame seeds.

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As for the garnish, it came in all kinds of ingredients and colours:
She deep-fried (shallow-fried would be a more precise term) pork fillets sticks she had dipped in batter and then coated with broken fried soba (the soba was purchased fried, then dried and cold in package). She placed the pork atop lettuce and shredded greens.
Hand-made pickles (carrots, ginger, pimento) were added for the vinegary part.
Fresh plum tomatoes for the Vitamin C and the decorative note.
She boiled a few “sato imo”, a kind of sweet tuber typical of Japan. After peeling them, she fried them for a while in sweet sauce and seasoned them with black sesame seeds. Finally, a slice of orange for the finishing touch.

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The dessert consisted of jiro kaki/squat persimmon wedges grown in Shizuoka and mini red-haert kiwi fruit, also grown locally.

Certainly a hearty lunch!

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Tofu & Chicken stuffed Green Peppers

November 4, 2009 dragonlife 4 Comments

TOOFU-CHICKEN-PIMAN

Tofu when mixed with other ingredients opens a door on an infinite number of easy recipes!

Here is a very simple Japanes-style snack:
Tofu & Chicken stuffed Green Peppers!

INGREDIENTS: For 4 people

-Green peppers: 6
-Kinu tofu: 400 g
-Minced chicken: 175 g
-Japanese Sake: 1 tablespoon
-Soy sauce: 2 teaspoons
-Cheese powder: 1 tablespoon
-Salt: 1/2 teaspoon
-Black or white pepper: to taste
-Cornstarch: a small amount according to preferences

RECIPE:

-Leave a weight on top of the tofu to drain water and reduce it about two thirds of its volume.
-Wash the green peppers, cut in halves and wipe off humidity.
-In a bowl drop the tofu and minced chicken. Mix well by hand until you obtain a soft smooth paste.
-Add Japanese sake, cheese powder, salt and pepper and mix well.
Sprinkle insides of peppers with cornstach and fill each pepper half with tofu/chicken mixture.
-Place on oven plate and cook at 200 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes.
Serve with a little salt or soy sauce.

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Gastronomic Destinations: New Caledonia (’09/09-3)

November 3, 2009 dragonlife 5 Comments

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Ilot des Canards/Duck-canard Islet

New Caledonia ofers many escapes within short distances.
One of mine (and the Missus’) is a small islnad only 15 minutes away by boat from Noumea called Ilot (or Ile) des canards/Ducks Islet.
if you have your own boat (a yacht wouldn’t be able to find deep enough water to stop there) wind sail board or kayak you could reach the place quickly enough.
For pedestrians, go to Colleen Excursions (Tel.: 28-33-58) in Anse Vata Bay where you can book a boat across the lagoon for 1,000 Pacific Francs (return ticket)/12 US $.

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The sland is worthe the vist (daytime only) for many reasons:
Originally copmpletely desert, a French-japanese couple obtained the license to develop it.
Not ony did they build a restarant wih seats and parasols there, they also planted trees and plants form New caledonia, thus ceating a new environment while protecting and furthering native nature.
The birds have come back and even “fight off” tourists away from their nests!

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Enjoying local beer on an empty stomach…

The restaurant offers healthy and plentiful fare in a great natuaral enironment away but still within a short distance of civilization.

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Salade de Crudites/Vegetables Salad

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Venison Grill Salad

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The staff are all recruited from the locals who are very warm and friendly.
One can rent cahairs and parasols (bring your own parasol if you don’t want to spend the money as it can be pretty hot!)

A great day off away from the crowd (that is, in the off sason!)

ILOT CANARD, PLAGE LOISIRS
Tel.: 46-92-84
(Call to check day off)
Credit cards not accepted

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Gastronomic Destinations: New Caledonia (‘09/09-2)

November 1, 2009 dragonlife 4 Comments

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Ile des canards seen from Noumea, Anse Vata Bay

new caledonia is our regular destination when when we find the the time to escape from Japan for a short vacance.
being blessed with sun, sea and great food, be it French or “ethnic” of all kinds, it also offers some of the best natural water in the Pacific Ocean!

I’m not tired of repeating it, a benediction for beer Brewers and beer lovers!

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There are three distinct microbreweries in New Caledonia:
The first one, 3 Brasseurs, is actually a branch of a great microbrewery in France, but it uses only local water and thus can be considered a true New Caledonian mkicrobrewery!
It not only offers a range of four different beers, all made from pure malt and hops, unpasteurized and unfiltered:
Blonde (lager), Ambree (red ale), Scotch (porter) and Blanche (weizen)
sampling their tasting set is simply a must!

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New Caledonia lobsters!

But they also include a restaurant upstairs where you can eat all typical Alsatian Cuisine, Southern French Cuisine, and other typical French specialties:

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