Dinner on 21/12/07

Menu: chicken & vegetable nabe, udon and rice

It's been very cold here in England, so we decided to have a nabe dish for dinner. I used chicken thighs and lots of vegetables such as carrots, leek, Chinese cabbage, nira (kow choi in Chinese) and daikon. We haven't got a proper nabe pot and normally use a regular pot with a camping stove to cook on the table. However, the gas has run out, so I cooked it on the hob.
First of all, I boiled the chicken for a couple of minutes and rinsed it. Then I cooked the chicken with some water, cooking sake and ginger with the vegetables. My husband ate it dipping in *Ajipon, and I made a dipping sauce for myself using soy sauce, rice vinegar and sesame oil. It was delicious and warmed up our bodies. I love nabe dishes as I can eat lots of vegetables.

*Mitsukan - Ajipon (Citrus Seasoned Soy Sauce) 12 Oz.

Hungarian-Style Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

I've got a Hungarian friend who likes Japanese cooking, and we used to exchange our recipes. I learned how to cook Hungarian-style chicken with tomato & paprika from her, and I used to cook it once a week or so. One day, I felt like making meatballs and decided to cook them with tomatoes. As I was cooking them, I wondered how it would be like to add paprika. It was a spontaneous decision, but I used paprika for this dish. It turned out to be really nice! I like changing recipes and being creative.

Stir-fry with Ginger & Pork

Serves 4

200g thin sliced pork, sliced in 1cm strips
2 green peppers, thinly sliced
100g bamboo shoot, thinly sliced
5g fresh root ginger, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 tsp potato starch (or corn flour)
2 tsp vegetable oil

Marinade
2 tsp cooking sake(or dry sherry), soy sauce,
a pinch of black pepper

Sauce
4 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp water
1/2 tsp powder dashi stock
2 tsp oyster sauce, cooking sake, potato starch, sesame oil
a pinch of salt

1. Combine the marinade sauce, and marinate the pork in the mixture for about 10 minutes. Coat the pork with the potato starch.
2. Heat the oil in a wok (or a large frying pan), and fry the bamboo shoots and green peppers. Cook until they are slightly soft. Take them out and put aside.
3. Heat the oil in the same wok, and fry the garlic and ginger on a low heat. Add the pork and stir fry on a medium heat until it changes colour.
4. Add the partly cooked vegetables and the sauce in the wok. Stir fry altogether for a short time as everything is already cooked.

Dinner on 03/12/07

Menu: miso soup with vegetables, rice with umeboshi puree, hijiki, kabocha, haddock(oven baked in a foil)

As I wrote before, I like cooking fish simply. On that day, I cooked haddock in the oven wrapped in foil. I sprinkled some cooking sake, sesame oil, ginger, leek, salt and pepper on the fish. I made a simple sauce with some fish juices, vinegar and sesame oil, but it turned out to be a failier. I cooked breast chicken the same way, except that I steamed the chicken, and I wanted to try the same recipe with white fish. Well, it's always good to try new things, but it didn't work out this time. The sauce overpowered the fish, and we couldn't taste it.

Hijiki is a type of seaweed and is commonly eaten in Japan. I love it. I added carrots and sprinkled spring onions on top. Kabocha is a type of pumpkin and is the orange dish at the top of the photo. I simply boiled it and added a drop of soy sauce. You could add some sugar as well.

I love simple food like these.

Videos of Okinawa by James Knott

James Knott has made nice videos of Okinawa. Check them out!

Okinawa, Japan 1: Intro


Okinawa, Japan 2: Heading North


Okinawa, Japan 3: Hedo Misaki


Okinawa, Japan 4: Hiking Route 58


Okinawa, Japan 5: Hentona to Ogimi

Beef Stew

Beef stew with demi-glace sauce is one of the popular dishes in Japan, and I wanted to make it for my husband.

As I was a vegetarian for almost 10 years, I had never made beef stew from scratch. I looked for a recipe for demi-glace sauce to start with, and I kind of created my own recipe.

I soaked some beef in red wine for a few days and cooked the meat with other vegetables. The beef was so tender and melted in my mouth. It was like a restaurant dish!

My husband was very impressed with it and enjoyed it thoroughly :-)

I will try to write a recipe for it some time.

If you don't know what demi-glace is, click here for information.

Ikasumijiru Teishoku （イカ墨汁定食）

This was my lunch when we went to Ohjima. You must be thinking,
"What's that in the big bowl?"
Have a guess. Yes, it's Squid ink soup.
It is one of the Okinawan dishes and is very good for your health.

If you would like to know more about the soup, click here for information.

Actually, I rarely eat this soup. It was the second time for me to try it. The taste was very nice, and my husband tried it :-) He wasn't too keen on it though.

As I was eating the soup, I found that my husband was giggling. I looked at myself in the mirror and burst into laughter. I had black teeth and lips!!! I looked scary. It's not recommended to try it on a first date.


By the way, this is southern mainland Okinawa. It's very close to Ohjima (Oh island). Isn't it beautiful? It was taken towards the end of October. As Okinawa is subtropical, the climate is very mild all year round. It gets cold around February, but rarely does it fall as low as 12 degrees centigrade or so. If you are used to living there, you feel really cold in that temperature. Everybody in Okinawa wears coats and scarfs saying "It's cold!" It's not a joke.