Smoked Salmon Chirashizushi

Tuesday Dinner

- Smoked Salmon & Cabbage Chirashizushi

- Osuimono Soup

Low Carb Okonomiyaki

Tuesday Dinner

- Low Carb Okonomiyaki

- Leftover Chicken

Okonomiyaki, sometimes called as Japanese savoury pancake is a popular Japanese dish in Australia.  I made a low carb version using soy pulp (Okara) and tin tuna.  It was light and fluffy but I will make it with bacon next time.  Sweet and savoury sauce is always a winner for hubby.


Low Carb Okonomiyaki (Japanese savoury pancake) Recipe (Serves 4)

Ingredients

• 200g Okara
• 100g water or Dashi
• 2tsp psyllium husk
• 4 eggs
• 200g tin tuna
• 1Tbsp mayonnaise
• 200g cauliflower leaves or cabbage, finely chopped
• 1tsp fish(bonito) powder
• 1/2~1tsp salt
• 1/2tsp baking powder (can be omitted)

Method

1. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together
2. Heat a frypan with a small amount of oil, pour the mixture in and spread evenly
3. Once the edges are browned, transfer it to an oven
4. Cook in the 180˚C oven until browned and cooked through for about 20mins
5. Serve with bonito flakes, Aonori seaweed, Okonomi sauce* and red ginger.

*Okonomi sauce is a thick sweet and savoury sauce for Okonomiyaki or Takoyaki.  It can be made by mixing oyster sauce, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and honey.

Tsumire Nabe (Fish Balls Hot Pot)

Wednesday Dinner

-Saury Tsumire Nabe (Fish Balls Hot Pot)

It's been raining and cold all this week in Sydney and I knew Nabe season is finally here.  (Nabe is a hot pot, Tsumire is fish balls in Japanese).  Although Nabe requires minimum amount of effort to prepare, it is not an ordinary dish.  I believe Nabe has social and cultural importance among Japanese people.  The dish signals the arrival of winter and in some ways, Nabe is a celebration of life.  Family, friends, even strangers gather around one pot and share a meal in a cold winter night, it brings people closer.

Wednesday was the first Nabe of the season, I wanted it to be special so I made fish balls using Pacific Saury (Sanma).  I filleted two pacific saury and minced the flesh with ginger in Vitamix.  To the fish paste, I added finely chopped 2 spring onions and 3 Shiso leaves infused in soy sauce.  Tsumire is traditionally made with fresh sardines but Sanma fish balls were as good.

Nabe can be made with pretty much any flavours you could think of, such as soy sauce, Miso, salt, soy milk, Kimchi, tomato, curry, chilli etc.  This time I made a simple clear soup with a Dashi Pack.  Bring water to boil with a Dashi pack, and the vegetables that takes longer to cook such as Daikon, carrot, celery, onion, leek, white part of Chinese cabbege.  Once the water is boiling, drop fish cake mixture into the soup using two spoons.  Add other ingredients that cooks quickly such as leaves of Chinese cabbage, kale, glass noodles, tofu.  Put a lid on.  Cook on low heat for about 5mins.

Serve with Ponzu and Kanzuri chilli paste.

Saury Fish Balls Recipe (Serves 2~3)

Ingredients

• 2 pacific saury, filleted
• 2 spring onions, finely chopped
• 3 Shiso leaves infused in soy sauce, finely sliced

Method

1. Process filleted sauries in a blender to a smooth paste, transfer to a bowl
2. Add spring onions and shiso leaves
3. Drop the mixture in boiling water/soup using two spoons
4. Cook till firm

Homemade Japanese BBQ Sauce

Wednesday Dinner

- Takikomi Gohan (Japanese Seasoned Rice)

- Stir-fried Lamb Strips with Eggplant and Red Capsicum

- Miso Soup (Turnip, Lettuce, Wakame)

My "Sick of Meat Syndrome" is ongoing so a Japanese dinner last night.  Soy sauce based Takikomi gohan is cooked with bonito flakes, wild mushrooms and carrot.  There were still a lot of meat on the leftover leg of lamb, so I made a stir-fry.  Fry chopped eggplant with lamb fat with a lid on until tender then add chopped red capsicum, leftover roast lamb strips and 1Tbsp of Homemade Japanese BBQ Sauce.  Served with rice and miso soup.  My Japanese BBQ sauce is naturally sweet without added sweetener.  It goes well with any protein but beef and lamb are my recommendation.

Homemade Japanese BBQ Sauce Recipe

Ingredients

• 200g soy sauce
• 30g miso
• 40g vinegar
• 60g white wine
• 20g garlic
• 10g ginger
• 5-6 tsp Korean chilli powder
• 20g sesame oil
• 1/2 onion
• 1 apple
• 10g sesame seeds

Method

1. Blend all the ingredients except sesame seeds in a blender until smooth
2. Add sesame seeds and store in a clean jar in the fridge

Grilled Saury with Lemon

Wednesday Dinner

- Grilled Saury with Lemon

- Germinated Brown Rice (GBR)

- Osuimono Soup with Tofu and Wakame

- Pickled Cucumber

My husband and I went camping over the Easter long weekend.  We love to go camping on long weekends as much as possible to get away from the City.  There are just too many people and too many cars in Sydney.  I grew up in Tokyo but I am not a city-girl.

After 15 years on no-meat diet, I have started eating meat last year.  For past 12 months, I have eaten so much of it that I am bit sick of it now and thinking about ditching low-carb diet and just eat whatever my heart desires.  I think low-carb, paleo or keto diet are really great for losing weight but I am underweight and do not wish to lose or gain weight at the moment so I am not sure if there is any reasons for me to be on low-carb diet. 

Well, I know the importance of protein in diet from my vegan phase, and fish was the obvious substitute to meat.  I keep frozen saury in freezer so I gutted, cleaned 3 whole fish and seasoned with salt and pepper.  Filled the belly with onion, lemon slices, dill, mushrooms then grilled in 180˚C oven for 20mins.  Served with GBR and a clear soup.  The fish had crispy skin and moist fatty flesh.  I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

I made pickled cucumber by simmering sliced cucumber with 4Tbsp soy sauce, 2Tbsp apple cider vinegar, 1tsp Korean chilli powder and 10g ginger until almost all the liquid is reduced.  It is a good condiment to go with plain rice.

RS Takikomi Gohan

Tuesday Dinner

- RS Takikomi Gohan
- Braised Veggies (leftover)
- Carrot Salad (leftover)
- Braised Kale and Fried Tofu (leftover)
- Sauerkraut

Have you heard of Resistant Starch (RS)?  I read an article about how to cook rice to reduce its calories (source below).  Well, I don't care about calories but I do like how this method of cooking rice can reduce up to 60% of starch that body absorbs.

The method is easy.  Cook rice with 1tsp of coconut oil then store in a fridge for 12 hrs.   This changes starch and makes it harder to be absorbed in a small intestine which results in reducing a blood sugar rise.  This got to be good and the effects is not reversed when the rice is reheated.  So I cooked the rice this way.

All I did was to cook Takikomi Gohan (Japanese flavoured rice) using the leftover sauce from braised pork with some veggies.  The leftover sauce contained pork fat so I thought that would do what coconut oil do.

I can't tell you if my small intestine absorbed 60% less starch or not, but the rice turned out fluffy, not sticky and tasted pretty good.  I will try cooking rice this way when I do from now on.  Well, I already freeze my germinated brown rice so i hope freezing does the same as refrigerating.

Source:
http://www.popsci.com.au/gadgets/fitness/cook-rice-differently-to-reduce-its-calories,402093

Negi-shio Chicken Drumsticks

Wednesday Dinner

- Negi-shio Chicken Drumsticks

- Tofu Salad

Chicken drumsticks are staple at my house.  It is cheap, versatile and juicier and tastes much better than more expensive breast.

I usually buy 2kg and cook half of it straight away and marinate and freeze the other half.  It is another "go-to" meal when I don't wanna cook or don't have time (which are most of the time).  Just throw in the 200˚C oven for 20~40mins depending on the size of your drumsticks.

Negi-shio is a Japanese sauce made with spring onion, salt, garlic and sesame oil (recipe below).  It will go with any protein but commonly matched with chicken, ox tongue or pork.

Since the sauce was chunky, I stuffed negi-shio sauce in between the skin and the flesh of drumsticks and this made the chicken really moist and flavourful.  It really worked well and I will be doing the same for any marinade for drumsticks from now on.


Negi-shio Sauce Recipe

2 Spring onions (white and green parts), finely chopped
1 Garlic, grated
1tsp Salt
1Tbsp Sesame oil
Juice of 1 Lemon
1Tbsp White sesame seed, toasted
a pinch of Pepper

GBR Sushi Rolls

Tuesday Dinner

- Sushi rolls (tuna, spam)

- Osuimono soup (lettuce, okra)

- Homemade Tofu with red sauce

Carb dinner last night, ran out of meat.  I only make sushi rolls once or twice a year.  I should make more often since I'm a proud Japanese but it is such a hassle, definitely don't wanna make it for a large group of guests.  There are so many elements to making sushi rolls (see below).  I guess it could shortcut if I used smoked salmon or flavoured tin tuna.

1. Cook rice
2. Make Japanese omelet
3. Cook tuna with soy and ginger 
4. Fry Bacon or Spam
5. Cut cucumber
6. Make sushi vinegar
7. Make sushi rice
8. Roll
9. Cut
10. Eat

Germinated Brown Rice (GBR) is the only brown rice I eat these days.  It's super easy to prepare.  Simply rinse and soak brown rice in plenty of water and leave it in room temperature until germinates, usually takes 1~3days.  Change water once or twice a day.

Once germinated, I rinse it again and leave 5mm of water above rice then cook in a pressure cooker for 25mins (start counting when you turn the heat on).  

GBR is easier to digest and stays moist when refrigerated like white rice.  I won't make sushi with normal brown rice.  It will be too dry and hard to eat without microwaving it the next day.  If I don't have GBR prepared, I will just use white rice.

Osuimono soup is a clear Dashi broth.  I just use Dashi pack and add whatever odd vegetables or protein I have in hand.

I made red sauce for Tofu by mixing soy sauce, garlic paste, Korean chilli powder, spring onion, roasted white sesame seeds and sesame oil.

I cooked too much again, didn't need Tofu.  Forgot how Sushi is so filling, 8 pieces per person will be plenty.

Garlic Chicken and Umami Rice

Sunday Dinner

- Garlic Chicken

- Squid Ink Umami Rice

- Salad

Garlic Chicken is something I make when I don't wanna cook.  It is so easy and simple but tastes amazing.  Use chicken thigh cutlet with skin on for this.  Season well with salt and pepper on skin side only.  Cook with garlic slices either on fry pan or in the oven skin side down first.

I also made a Japanese rice dish, "Takikomi gohan".  I don't believe the use of squid ink is traditional for this dish.  I only used it because I had it in hand and also it would make it look interesting. 

Anyway, Takikomi gohan is such a versatile dish, can be made with seafood, meat and/or veggies.  Lots of flavour unlike a bowl of steamed white rice.  Google if you wanna know more about the history of this dish.  I am just going to leave my recipe here.

Squid Ink Umami Rice (Takikomi gohan) Recipe (Serves 4)

Ingredients

• 200g short-grain white rice
• 6g squid ink paste
• 1/2 carrot, cubed
• 2 pieces deep-fried tofu
• 1 Dashi pack*
• 1tsp soy sauce

Method

1. Rinse rice 4 times
2. Leave water about 1cm above rice and soak for 15mins 
3. Add all the ingredients in a pot* except carrot and deep-fried tofu
4. Stir well then add carrot and tofu on top
5. Cook for 15mins (Once boiled, turn the heat right down)
6. Rest for 10mins before serving

*Dashi pack is like a tea bag for Japanese soup stock.  Tear it open and use the granules inside.  You could also use Dashi powder instead.

*I use a clay pot but whatever pots, pans or rice cooker you have is fine

Tofu Salad with Tahini Dressing

Wednesday Dinner

- Tofu Salad
- BBQ

I made Tofu salad to take to a BBQ last night.  The salad is made with leafy green salad mix, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, shredded carrot and Tofu.  Tofu and sesame seeds go well together so I made Tahini dressing by whisking together tahini, Mentsuyu, honey and vinegar.

Mentsuyu is a soy sauce based condiment with tons of umami and this flavour is what makes Japanese food.  It is very common in home cooking and can be used for a noodle soup base, a dipping sauce for tempura, braising fish, meat or veggies, salad dressings etc.  You can find Mentsuyu at any asian grocers or supermarket but I make it because it is so easy to make and tastes better.

Mentsuyu (Makes 650ml)

Ingredients

• 40g Dried Bonito flakes
• 15g Dried Shiitake mushrooms, torn to small pieces by hand
• 10cm square piece Kombu seaweed, torn to small pieces by hand
• 472g Soy sauce
• 400g White wine

Method

1. Add all the ingredients in a pot and stir 
2. Cover and leave for 12~24hrs
3. Simmer until the alcohol is burnt off for about 5mins
4. Strain with a mesh strainer
5. Strain again with a fine mesh tea strainer (optional)
6. Pour through a funnel into a sterilised bottle
7. Store in fridge