Kimchi Puree

Thanks to my friend, Sophie, I got to know this amazing idea of "Kimchi Puree".
I'm not sure what how she makes it though, I decided to make my own.

Mama's Kimchi,
Mirin,
Sake,
Soy Sauce,
Sesame Oil,
Dashi (Fish Stock) Soup

1)
Grill Mackerel with skin side on the top first (about 7-10 mins), flip over and place Kimchi puree over the fish.

Grill them for 5 mins.

2)
Layer Sesme Seeds the put them back into the grill for 1 mins.






Also made Japanese omelette, and sweet egg plants with new onions for my obento.

잘먹겠습니다!

(Bon appetit in Korean)

Obento!...so that I will look forward to tomorrow.

<Tomorrow's Lunch Menu>

Grilled Mackerel with Kimchi Puree,

Sweet and Spicy Egg plant with New onion,

Japanese Omelette,

Boiled fresh Edamame,

Cherry Tomatoes,

Pan Fried Takana (leaf mustard)

15 grain rice

My favourite meal of the day

 is breakfast.

Sato-chan (my friend)'s Fuki (butterbur),
Kikurage Tsukudani,
Natto (Japanese Fermented Soybeans),
My mother's cucumber Kimchi,
Fried Egg, Sliced Avocado, Ham and cherry tomatoes,
16 Grain Rice,

Golden Kiwi Fruit x Banana Salad,

Yogurt.

Have a fantastic day!

x

Quick Meal -Natto Avocado Tuna Don-

My favourite combination on rice:

• Nattō (Japanese fermented soy beans)
• Tuna Sashimi
• Avocado

1/ Dice up Tuna and marinate them with Mirin (Japanese sweet cooking rice wine) and Sake (both pre-boiled), grated ginger and garlic, soy sauce and sesame oil.
2/ Mix a pack Nattō with attached sauce and an egg yolk.
3/ Dice up an avocado.
4/ Mix 1, 2 and 3 lightly with wasabi paste.
5/ Garnish with sesame seeds and sea weed.

Miso Soup: Tofu, Wakame and left over egg white from 2/.

Cooking Time: 20 mins (excluding time to cook rice).

Meshi- Agare (bon appetit) !

Lyon Higashiyama @ Ikejiri Ohashi

This is a place to enjoy cold meat.

They make their own ham, pate, sausages etc. and the pricing is very reasonable.

This plate, assorted meat platter had chicken liver pate, pate de campagne, pork ham and smoked lamb and only JPY1,380 and they all are of course home made and taste beautiful. You can feel and appreciate the difference of each meet by the texture and flavour.

Had this with Louis Latour Valmoissine 2007 (JPY 5,800) which has distinct bouquet with very apparent tannin but offers smooth finish. Just enough character to enjoy the cold meet with but not too much to disturb.

Also, the salad we had was amazing. sliced turnips and grilled panchetta (homemade) salad (around JPY 800). The fat of panchetta became the perfect dressing of this salad by adding its saltiness and richness to it.

We also ordered trippa cooked in red wine (JPY 750) however, it wasn't my favourite as I felt it was too rich and perhaps trippa goes together much better with tomato sauce. 

I forgot to take a photo of it but blue cheese omelette (around JPY 900) was also perfectly cooked and had natural sweetness which matched very well with the flavour of blue cheese.

The confi de Duck that we had at the end was for me quite disappointing as this is one of my fouvourite dishes and it wasn't salted evenly and some parts were too salty. 

I'm sure we loved the second bottle (was from cote de rhone) but forgot to take the photo and guess too much talking were involved among 3 girls....

Despite of some negative points, it is definitely worth while going there as it is really cheap comparison to some other french restaurants where you feel like you are paying more to the interior designers and their furniture than to the chefs, and quality of their cold meet is promising. The atmosphere inside the restaurant is cozy and just like casual bistro in Paris. What I also like about this restaurant is their service as they keep just enough distance away from their customers but not more to make you feel you are not looked after. 

Average: JPY 4,000~ 5,000 p/p

Opening Hours: 11:00~ 23:00

Fixed Holiday: None

Phone: 03-5724-4522

Address: 3-14-1 Higashiyama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo

1 min walk from Ikejiri-Ohashi East exit.

Website (only in Japanese):  http://blog.goo.ne.jp/lyon-higashiyama

summer curry

I still had my glorious courgette sent over from  my mother, I  had to come up with a dish to cook in.
It's still May in Japan but it was already 25 degree today. So thought it might be nice to cook spicy curry with grilled courgettes and egg plants, just to feel summer ahead.

Spice;

Cinnamon,Curry Powder 

Nutmeg,

Cumin Seeds,

Turmeric,

Coriander,

Cardamom,

Garam Masala,

Red Chili Powder,

Fennel.

Pan fried finely chopped onions after frying finely chopped garlic and ginger then add chopped carrots, mushroom. (it is very important to cook onions till they get browned.) After them being lightly cooked, add pork and beef mince then cook till the colour turns all brown. Add red wine and get the alcohol boiled away, add yogurt and the spices mentioned above.  Cook them for a little while to avoid your curry to be boring and powdery, then add a crushed canned whole tomato.

Add salt, soy sauce for saltiness, add honey or apples (crushed or baked) for sweetness.

Just before your rice is ready, grill your courgettes and egg plants (on the pan or in the oven) without any oil and serve them on your curry.

As I had some cucumbers that have been sitting in my fridge for a while now, made a quick salad to have some freshness with this meal.

Slice up your cucumbers, mix with a canned tuna, sesame oil, rice vinegar, white sugar, soy sauce and sesame seeds.

Ita-daki-masu !

Spring Supply

After the most unhealthy Golden Week (long holiday in Japan), the best thing you could do to compensate to your body is to cook nice and healthy food.

With a phone call from my mother just before the G.W ends, I received beautiful spring supply from my hometown Kumamoto. She knows that there should be a lot of alcohol involved in my holiday as the first thing she said on the phone was "you must be hangover today.". Yes, she knows me too well.
With her special various Kimchis, there are fresh green peas, bamboo shoot and beautiful courgettes.
It is kind of hard to find fresh green peas in Tokyo and the frozen ones just taste nothing.
It's just amazing how happy these pretty vegetables can make me.

So what I decided to make with them is Green Pea Rice. It's damn simple but as long as you use right amount of seasoning, it turns out to be one of the most unforgettable rice of your life.




Ingredients;
for 2 cups of white rice and water (Japanese rice: water= 1:1.2)
2/3 big spoon of sake
2/3 small spoon of salt
dried kelp
2/3 cup of green peas

Add everything to rice a part from green pea and mix.  Then add green peas just before switching your rice cooker on the top of rice and turn it on.

There are actually two ways to do this;
the other one is to boil the peas separately, used the water to boil peas (cooled down) for cooking the rice and add the peas just after rice is ready.
With this way, peas are greener and beautiful but I think that it looses its taste and when you cook them together with rice, the rice observes its flavor and I much prefer this way.

With using the other vegetables, I made simple vegetable soup with chicken wing. The soup that comes out of chicken skin and the bones are full of nutrition and collagen. it is a perfect ingredient for your hangover recovery.

Dice up the vegetable (I used bamboo shoot, new onions, spring onions, carrots, courgettes and radish this time but can be anything you like) and slice up ginger.
Grill chicken wings in a pan separately just to get the golden color and throw them and the vegetables into a boiled water.
Add a bit of salt and sake then let it boil for about 30 mins.
Adjust the taste with salt and pepper and it is ready to eat.

Itadakimasu!