To Cook
Combine ingredients C in a pot. Add lotus roots and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and gently cook until tender.
Put carrots in a pot and add enough water to cover the carrots. Bring to boil and continue cooking until carrots are tender. Take the carrots out, then blanch the beans.
Preheat pan with small amount of oil and pan fry the chicken until ¾ of the way cooked. Add remaining ingredients and Yakitori Simmer Sauce. Cover lid.
Gently simmer until the liquid is reduced to half.
Share the ingredients and sauce evenly into a bowl and sprinkle some sichimi pepper over the top. Serve hot.
Vegetables
Ponzu Stir-fried Pork with Vegetables
To Cook
Partially freeze pork scotch fillet. Cut pork into thin slices and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Cut garlic chives and julienne carrot to 3-4cm length. Set aside
Heat wok over high heat. Add sesame oil and stir-fry pork scotch fillet slices to almost cooked, add cut vegetables, bean sprouts and Obento Ponzu sauce. Stir-fry for 1 minute. Serve hot.
Japanese Chicken Curry from Scratch
To Cook
Season chicken with salt, pepper and S&B Curry powder.
Heat oil in a saucepan and add the grated garlic, the grated ginger and the onion stir-fry until lightly browned.
Add chicken and other vegetables into the saucepan except for tomatoes. Stir-fry for a couple of minutes, then add the green peas, tomatoes, water, soup stock cube and simmer until vegetables are tender.
To make the curry roux: Melt butter in a frying pan and pan-fry the wheat flour or corn starch over medium heat, making sure that it does not burn. Add curry powder and mix well.
Now, gradually combine the curry roux (step 4) into the saucepan (step 3). Add sugar and simmer. Remember to keep stirring to avoid curry from sticking to the bottom of the saucepan. Add more salt and pepper to taste (optional).
To serve, fill half of each individual plate with rice and scoop curry to fill the other half. Serve with hard-boiled eggs and fukijinzuke (radish pickle).
Wakame Cucumber Salad (Sunomono)
To Prep
To rehydrate wakame, soak in water for 10 mins. Drain well and transfer to a bowl.
Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise. Then, peel the cucumber by alternating 1.5cm strips lengthwise, leaving strips of the skin intact. By doing this, the cucumber slices will have decorative green accents and retain some extra crunchiness. Then, thinly slice the cucumber to about 0.3cm thickness.
Sprinkle salt over the cucumber slices and rub them. Set aside for a few minutes, and squeeze out excess water from cucumber. Then, transfer cucumber into the bowl (Step 1).
To Cook
In a small saucepan, add in all the dressing ingredients and cook over high heat until sugar is dissolved completely. Set aside to cool.
To serve, pour dressing over cucumber slices and wakame, and mix well. Spoon sunomono into individual dishes and garnish with ginger.
Hijiki Seaweed Salad (Hijiki no Nimono)
To Prep
Soak the dried hijiki in water for at least 30 mins. After the hijiki has hydrated, strain the hijiki and drain out as much water as you can.
While the hijiki re-hydrates, slice the carrot, konnyaku, and aburaage into thin, long strips of 3cm in length.
To Cook
In a frying pan, heat the oil and stir-fry the hijiki, carrot, konnyaku, and aburaage for 5 mins.
Add seasoning ingredients in to the pan and stir. When the sauce has coated the ingredients, cover the pan with a lid and continue to cook for another 10 mins.
Remove the cover and add the edamame in to the pan. Continue to cook until the liquid has almost all evaporated and then remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
To Serve
Serve warm or even cool. Store leftover in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to a week.
Scattered Sushi (Chirashizushi)
To Prep the Rice
Cook sushi rice according to instructions on rice packaging. Add ¼ cup rice vinegar, 2 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp salt to the cooked rice. Using a wooden spatula, fold the seasoning into the rice.
To Prep the Shiitake
Gently squeeze shiitake mushrooms to drain water, remove stems and slice thinly.
In a medium pan, heat 160ml water used for soaking the mushrooms. Then add shiitake, soy sauce, sugar, and mirin.
Simmer on low heat until the liquid is almost dried up. Set aside.
To Cook the Omelette
In a bowl, beat eggs and add ½ tbsp sugar. Continue mixing until the sugar dissolves.
In a medium skillet, evenly oil the surface and heat over medium heat. Pour a scoop of egg mixture into the skillet to make a thin crepe-like omelette.
Repeat until egg mixture is used up. To slice, roll up the omelettes and slice into thin strips.
To Serve
Serve sushi rice on a large plate or individual bowls. Scatter simmered shiitake, shredded crab sticks, sliced omelette, and cucumber over rice. Top with sashimi slices, ikura and sesame seeds. Serve with pickled ginger on the side.
Miso Glazed Eggplant (Nasu Dengaku)
To Prep
Preheat an oven to 200°C.
In a bowl, mix together the miso paste, mirin, sugar and sake until well combined.
Cut the eggplants in to halves and score them on the inside.
Line a baking tray with aluminium foil and set aside.
To Cook
Heat up oil in a pan over a high heat and cook the eggplant skin side down. Cook the eggplant until the skin has browned before flipping the eggplant over, covering the pan and continuing to cook for another 5 mins or until the flesh has cooked through.
Remove the eggplants from the pan and set on to the baking tray. Brush over the miso mixture until the flesh is fully coated.
Place the baking tray in the oven and broil for 5-10 mins or until the miso has lightly charred.
To Serve
Remove the eggplants from the oven and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve while hot and enjoy!
Buckwheat Porridge (Sobagome Zosui)
To Prep
Clean niboshi by removing heads and cuts. Then put the niboshi into a straining/dashi bag.
In a pot, add 4 cups of water and put niboshi bag in. Leave to soak for 10 hrs or overnight. This will be the pot of dashi.
To Cook
Rinse sobagome. In a pot, add the rinsed sobagome and enough water to immerse it. Bring to boil for 15 mins, then remove from heat and drain the water. Set sobagome aside.
In the meantime, soak dried shiitake mushrooms in water to rehydrate. Slice shiitake mushrooms, carrot, chikuwa, konnyaku, and chop the spring onions. Rub salt onto konnyaku slices and rinse to remove smell.
Cut chicken thighs into 1cm pieces and rub sake into it. Set aside.
In the dashi pot, add shiitake and bring contents to boil.
Leave to simmer for 2-3 mins before removing the niboshi bag.
Add chicken, carrots, konnyaku, and mirin into the dashi pot and simmer.
Add the cooked sobagome, garnish with spring onions, and flavour with light soy sauce.
Optional step: Add a slice of sudachi or chopped yuzu peels to add more flavour to the dish.
Chunky Vegetable Soup Niigata Style (Noppei Jiru)
To Prep
Soak dried shiitake mushrooms and scallops (optional) in 2 cups of water overnight to rehydrate and draw flavours into the water. The juices will be used as part of the soup stock.
To Cook
In a small pot, bring roughly 4 cups of water to boil and drop in konnyaku, return to boil, then drain and set aside the konnyaku.
Prepare the dashi by heating 4 cups of water in a saucepan over medium heat. Just before the water boils, remove the kelp from the saucepan.
Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Keep cooking for another 5 mins.
Lower the heat and add bonito flakes into the saucepan. When the water boils, turn heat off. Set aside to cool for at least 5 mins and let the bonito flakes sink to the bottom.
Strain the liquid through a strainer lined with a paper towel or several layers of cheesecloth. Set aside.
In the meantime, remove shiitake mushrooms and scallop (optional) from the water. Lightly squeeze to drain water and slice the shiitake mushrooms.
In a pot, add dashi, shiitake mushroom water and scallop (optional), seasoning and heat over medium-high heat.
Add in all the ingredients and bring to boil. Then, lower the heat to a simmer and keep cooking for another 20 mins, or until the taro softens.
Turn off heat and scoop into individual serving bowls. Best enjoyed hot.
Chinese Cabbage Soup
To Prep
Cut cabbage and carrot into pieces, cut corn into segments.
To Cook
Cut chicken into pieces and scald in boiling water for 3 mins, rinse and drain.
Fill a pot with 3L of water and place chicken pieces in pot, cover and cook over medium heat for 1 hr.
Add the remaining ingredients and continue cooking for 30 mins, then add seasonings. Serve hot
Fried Rice with Stir-Fried Beef
To Cook
Heat oil in frying pan and stir-fry the eggs until cooked. Remove and set aside.
Fry the nasi goreng paste in heated sesame oil until fragrant.
Add rice and stir-fry thoroughly until every grain is coated. Add carrots, peas and the eggs. Mix well and set aside on a serving plate.
Stir-fry sambal oeleck in heated sesame oil for 1 min.
Brown onion, add beef and stir-fry for 2 mins. Remove and place at the side of fried rice.
Sprinkle sesame oil. Garnish fried rice with cucumber, cherry tomato and coriander. Serve hot.
Pickled Mustard Leaves (Nozawana-zuke)
To Prep
Cut Nozawana into 4cm long pieces.
Place cut vegetable into plastic seal bag and mix with ingredients. Remove air from the seal bag by rubbing out any air pockets until plastic clings tightly to the packed vegetables. Alternatively, you can place vegetables in a glass pot/jar and put a heavy bowl on top of the greens to keep them down and immersed in the pickling ingredients.
Place plastic seal bag in a bucket. Place heavy items on bag to prevent vegetables from floating. The pickled vegetables can be served after 24 hrs. Leave to pickle up to 2 weeks for more flavour.
Always use clean, dry utensils when taking the pickles out to serve to avoid contamination. Store pickles in refrigerator after you start consuming them or after you open the jar.