Since Aomori is located by the sea, naturally their cuisine involves a ton of seafood. In my opinion, produce from the seas offers the BEST in terms of flavors. Fresh seafood like fish, clams, crabs and shrimps has a type of sweetness in its flesh that requires very little seasoning. One main reason why sashimi needs sushi-grade fish is for this reason.
One of the local specialty in Aomori is the Ichigo-ni, which literally translates to stewed strawberries. It’s nto made out of strawberries but sea urchin eggs decked ontop of a soupy delicious broth. It needs little seasoning and is eaten with a touch of Shiso. Writing this, my mouth is salivating as sea urchin eggs are my favorite. The texture and creaminess of the eggs is unbeatable and I would say, liken to the roes of Hairy Crabs roes from China.
Do you like tamagos? The sweet savory Japanese omelette is no stranger to sushi or eaten as it is. I sometimes find tamagos to be a tad too sweet for my liking but I don’t mind them in general. This video teaches you how to make them just like in the restaurants:
The very basics of Chawan Mushi is getting the eggs to set in a smooth and silky consistency. It’s not an easy task to do sometimes because the surface of the Chawan Mushi may sometimes get distorted due to moisture or air bubbles. I love eating Chawan Mushi because it’s such a comfort food. You can never go wrong with it especially if you’re feeling a little blue.
In most Japanese restaurants, Chawan Mushi is served with bento sets and it’s filling may vary from having gingko beans, to shrimps, to chicken to thinly sliced fish rolls. No matter how it’s served, it is the texture of the eggs that makes eating Chawan Mushi a very smooth and pleasant experience. It’s not exactly hard to replicate Chawan Mushi at home. In fact, many people do it. The only thing is perfecting it and practice makes perfect!
Here’s a basic Chawan Mushi base where you can add whatever toppings or fillings you want.
Method:
1. Lightly beat eggs, salt, soy sauce and dashi. Make sure you do not overbeat the eggs of you’ll have a less smooth and possibly hardened steamed chawan mushi.
2. Strain the egg mixture over a sift.
3. The egg mixture is now ready for use. To cook, put the egg mixture along with the other fillings onto a steamer and steam for approximately 20minutes. Your chawan mushi should turn opaque and jelly-like in texture.
Nigiri is another type of sushi where the rice is hand pressed instead of rolled out with a nori sheet. While it may seem like the simplest thing to do, it is actually not so simple. Correct pressure and size of the rice roll is crucial in making the perfect nigiri. And some sushi chefs takes years to perfect this skill.
If you apply not enough pressure while pressing your rice, your nigiri sushi will fall apart before you could even pick it up, but if you apply too much pressure, you’ll feel like you’re eating mochi. Either way, it just wouldn’t do.
Here’s a very useful video of making Nigiri demonstrated by some very generous people who put it up on YouTube.
I love stews and nikujaga is no exception. One thing I keep changing about this meat and potato stew is the fact that there isn’t enough vegetables in it. Oh well, just add peas or carrots or spinach if you like but the basic is really all you need to know before you can change it to your taste. It’s especially easy to make nikujaga, all you need is the basic soy sauce, sugar and onion. And the rest of the dish’s umami-ness comes from the meat and the potatoes. If you have shitake mushrooms or any kind of mushrooms at all, add it into your nikujaga. It’s a perfect blend with the meat and potatoes.
You will have to excuse me, I love dressing up my meals :D This dish would warm you up during these cold wintry days and if you want, eat it with kimchi - it’s always my favorite combo.
Anyway, the basic ingredients are these:
* 2 medium size Potatoes
* 500 g Beef or pork: thin sliced
* 1 Onion, sliced
* 1-2 tbsp Sugar
* 2 tbsp Soya sauce
* Japanese katsuo soup stock (benito) (optional)
Method:
1. Cut you potatoes into small chunks.
2. Heat pan, add oil and saute your onions. Add your meat in now and then potatoes.
3. Season with 2 tablespoons of soya sauce and 1-2 tablespoon of sugar. I would start with one first to test.
4. Saute the ingredients together and then add 2 cups of water. Flavor with bonito now, if you’re using any, and let it simmer.
5. Add vegetables of your choice or mushrooms when it starts to simmer and cover to cook for up to 1 hour so your meat will be tender and your potatoes are soft.
Check out this video as well:
She’s added more ingredients in, so just follow your tastebuds. Mirin is an exceptional choice of seasoning to give your stew a more rounded flavor.
I love chicken rice porridges. I believe rice cook into a congee is called Okayu in Japanese and it’s usually served to those who are malaise and unwell. Well, I believe that porridges are good for you - it gives your digestive system a break and it warms your body’s core, especially on cold winters day. Here’s a Chicken Porridge recipes that is so simple, you can make it every week :)
Ingredients:
1 cup of rice
10 cups of water/ broth
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
100gram of dried oysters, washed and soaked for 15 mins
2 century eggs, quartered
5-8 thin slices of ginger
Topping:
Chopped Spring Onion/Chives
Sesame oil
Pepper
Method:
1. Cook rice and water in a pot for about 30 minutes, until every grain of rice breaks down, rendering the mixture into a thick consistency.
2. Add your dried oysters and ginger slices. You can also start adding your seasoning now too; salt, pepper, oyster sauce and sesame oil.
3. Cook for another 10 minutes. Stirring constantly. It would be easier if you have a rice cooker but otherwise, you would need to lookout for your pot of congee from burning at the bottom of the pot.
4. Now, add your century eggs and let the congee cook for another 10 -15 more minutes before serving.
5. Top it off with some chopped spring onions, a splash of sesame oil and some pepper.
A warm Japanese salad made from cooked vegetable greens. You can use kale, broccoli, asparagus or even spinach - and usually Aemono uses a rather heavy dressing with sesame seed pastes but this video, shows you from start to finish, how to make Aemono in a simpler and yet delicious manner. I am glad I found Tomoko on youtube. She has other cool videos on basic Japanese cooking that all Japanese foodies should check out.
Buta No Kakuki, or Japanese braised pork belly is a delicious and heart warming dish that goes very well with rice or noodles. What is funny is that this braised dish is very similar to the Chinese braised pork belly dish and while flavors are slightly different from the ingredients used, the basic fundamentals of cooking this dish is the same - low heat, slow cook = delicious buttery braised meat.
There are many ways that the Japanese braised their Buto No Kakuki and a standard ingredient in this dish are leeks. Today my braised pork will be steamed to perfection. No hassle, just leave it on your steamer for 3 hours until the pork is tender and its natural jus surrounds the braise meat. Very delicious and very good for you. I have also added a bit of honey to give the dish a very full bodied flavor instead of just sugar and some 5 spiced powder.
Here’s what you will need:
500 grams of pork belly, cut into 4 inch lengths.
1.5 tablespoons of honey
1 tablespoons of sugar
1/4 cup of soy sauce
1 leek, chopped finely
1 teaspoon five spice powder (optional)
1/4 teaspoon of koshered salt
Method:
1. Marinade pork with ALL the ingredients overnight.
2. On a steamer plate, arrange slices of your pork around the plate and add a few teaspoons of marinate on top.
3. Steam on steamer, on medium-low, for at least 3 hours.
After 3 hours, serve with rice and your favorite vegetables. You’ll enjoy this dish especially during colder days :)
another alternative recipe would be to try adding yoghurt to tenderize the meat first - you can check that out here: Five Spiced Wonder Ribs.
The thing I would like to introduce here is the fresh Avocado Pesto, which goes perfectly with pasta and even as a sushi filling. But today, I am going to use it as a sauce for fettuccine - a type of flat Italian noodles that is like a thick soba. Feel free to replace the pasta with your favorite Japanese noodles, although I wouldn’t recommend using Ramen noodles :)
As you know, the usual pesto we all know uses fresh basil, pine nuts and olive oil. But you can make pesto out of anything in Italy. So I had some nice avocados hanging in the kitchen I thought I would make something different from them and created this basil pasta. It’s very rich, so you can just omit the pine nuts and add sundried tomatoes to balance out the flavor a lot more. Here’s how the recipe goes:
Avocado Pesto
1 ripe avocado
1 bunch of parsley
1 handful basil
a few sprigs of fresh oregano
a few sprigs of mint
4 sundried tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
juice from 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Method:
Put them all in a food processor and start blitzing! Blitz! Blitz! Blitz! Until you have a nice paste. You can stop blitzing now although you’ll be tempted to go on. It will yield enough for 4 serving. Set it aside until ready to use. (Do cover it with a plastic wrapper to avoid any oxidization of the avocado which can turn into an unappetizing brown)
Cook some pasta: Fetuccine, Spaghetti, Spiralli, Linguine, Farfalle, etc etc etc.
When it’s al dente, drain the water and add 2-3 tablespoons of your avocado pesto in. Mix well and eat! :)
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