Hiroyuki

Just wanted to post this chicken breast kara-age photo: 1:1:1 mixture of soy sauce, mirin, and sake for marinade liquid, as usual. I simmered the liquid in a pan for 30 seconds or so. Nice dipping sauce for the kara-age. I also used the bottled sudachi juice (right) and yuzu kosho (left). I used them separately, not all of them at once.

I like to use a really fine mesh strainer or a paper coffee filter. I'd never use oil I've fried fish in for any other purpose. An old trick from a Chinese cook book states that the next time you heat up used oil, put a half a scallion and a 1" piece of ginger in there while the oil is coming up to temperature. That will absorb any odors present in the oil from previous frying. Also, once oil has been used 3, maybe 4 times, time to throw it out, I believe. ← The Japanese use a special type of filter called abura koshi gami (lit. oil-filtering paper), like this: (Photo previously posted in my foodblog) I try not to throw out used oil by using it for stir-frying and other purposes.

Photos, please, even if they are taken with your cell-phone!

They sure look delicious! A bit of sansho may make them even more delicious. You mean you are in Japan?

Thank you for cutting the carrots into flowers especially for me, they are beautiful to look at, but I myself have never cut carrots that way. I usually cut them into "icho giri" (quarter circle) shapes. Icho literally means gingko or gingko leaf. Also popular are "han getsu" (lit. half moon) or semi-circular shapes and "ran giri" shapes. For ran giri, cut a carrot diagonally, turn it so that the cut end faces upward, cut it again, and repeat the cutting and turning. The results are like these. Be sure to make a pork version nextt time!

Thank you for sharing your busy week with us, and I hope you keep make contributions to the Japan Forum!

I watched yesterday's edition of Hanamaru Market with great anticipation because it featured oyako-don, hoping to learn some good tips on making oyako-don, but I was disappointed. http://www.tbs.co.jp/hanamaru/tokumaru/index-j.html The recipe is like this: Ingredients for 4 servings 300 g chicken (thigh or breast) 6 eggs 1/2 onion 3 bunches (stalks?) of mitsuba 4 bowls of rice 300 cc dashi 4 tbsp soy sauce 2 tbsp sugar 2 tbsp mirin The recipe called for a frying pan (not an oyako nabe), and is for making oyako-don for 4 servings at once. The eggs were kind of thoroughly beaten, and 2/3 of it was poured, the ingredients were stirred lightly by moving a pair of chopsticks in a circle first and then moving it vertically and horizontally, and then the remaining 1/3 of the beaten eggs was poured. The pan was moved about to heat the ingredients evenly. Then, the heat was turned off, mitsuba was added, and a lid was placed for 3 minutes. Far below my expectations!! If you ever want to have restaurant-level oyako-don, get an oyako nabe ready, refrain from beating the eggs thoroughly, and once you pour the eggs, turn the heat high, put on the lid, and count 30 seconds. Quickly transfer the content to a donburi with rice in it. Et vola! You will get perfect oyako-don. For more, click Japanese Cooking at Home thread.

I can't give you a definitive answer. I tried to find out the glucose content of instant dashi, but in vain. A manufacturer (Shimaya) does give this information on its website: This product is salted, so adjust the salt depending on the dish. Suppose that instant dashi contains 3% glucose, I think that the increase in sweetness due to the instant dashi is negligible. Besides, I have no idea how much glucose real dashi contains. As for the mirin vs. mirin-fu question, I have used a hon-mirin (14% alcochol content), a newer type of mirin-fu (8% content), and an older type (less than 1%) so far, but I really cannot tell the difference among them! As for your other questions, I will respond when I have more time!

Helen, first of all, did you check out post #2 in this thread? Here is a list of some of my favorite ratios: Soy sauce and mirin ratio = 1:1 Dipping sauce for nori Kinpira Dashi, soy sauce, and mirin ratio = 1:1:1 Teriyaki (chicken, yellowtail, etc.) Chicken karaage Pork shoga yaki 4:1:1 Dipping sauce for soba, udon, etc. Dipping sauce for tempura 8:1:1 This ratio results in happou dashi (versatile dashi). Good for all simmered dishes. Niku jaga, satoimo no nikkorogashi (simmered taro) 10:1:1 Hijiki, kiriboshi daikon, okara, komatsuna no nibitashi 12:1:1 Soup for hot soba, udon, etc. 15:1:1 Oden Miscellaneous Soy sauce, mirin, and citrus juice ratio = 1:1:1 Dressing Soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil = 3:3:1 Dressing Soy sauce, mirin, ground sesame seed ratio = 1:1:1 Goma ae

I've never seem a sanma presented like a circle. I must say that's very innovative. Besides, this doesn't require a long, sanma plate. nakji, pouring tonkatsu sauce (and other types of sauce like chuunou) over curry is not unusual in Japan. Some Japanese even do it without tasting the curry first!

No. Once is enough for such an expensive foodstuff! My son is of the same opinion. You can buy it anytime online. Why not try it yourself?

A chart? Do you need one? OK, I'll make one for you later. Sorry, I'm drunk now.

We had it for supper. Put all the six of them on a sheet of aluminum foil, add some sake, place another sheet of foil on top, and cook in the toaster oven for 10 min. We had it with no seasoning first, and then with sudachi juice and soy sauce. We were not so much fascinated by the flavor, but were satisfied with having been able to have what was called a phantom mushroom.

I DID IT AT LONG LAST!! I GOT HON SHIMEJI TODAY!! Today, I participated in this event, hosted by Yukiguni Maitake (mushroom manufacturer). At one of the stalls at the site of the event, I spotted hon shimeji!! 1000 yen a pack. The people at the small said it usually cost twice as much. Inside: Can't wait to try it!

Tonight's supper Nameko mushroom and tofu miso soup Yellowtail teriyaki Sauce: 1:1:1 mixture of soy sauce, mirin, and sake (60 ml each) Potato salad Chrysanthemum flower (called kakinomoto or mottenohoka here in the Uonuma region) ohitashi Sauce: 100 ml dashi 3 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp sugar

Thanks for a reply. It's not that I hate ramen, and now that I have found real good ramen noodles, I hope I can come up with a nice, MSG-free ramen recipe some day. As I mentioned elsewhere, I like Tokyo ramen because that's what I grew up with - clear, chicken-flavored, dark soy sauce-based broth, with medium thick noodles topped with some traditional ingredients like naruto, shinachiku, and spinach. Images of Tokyo ramen can be found here. But I also like Kyo-fu ramen at Akasatana. It's simple and elegant. No wonder because the ramen shop is targeted at females.

Thank you! That was my first time making ramen Oh how can you not take ramen seriously? It's one my favourite foods of all time hahha! I love Japanese curry but I guess it's not for everyone hehe. ← I'm more of an udon and soba person. Besides, I feel some inexplicable aversion to newer, more expensive, "the more ingredients the better" concept ramen.

What?? Ara jiru is a type of soup that you make using what's left of a fish after you fillet it. We even have a thread on arajiru here. You are probably referring to shime saba.

Your ramen looks good, much better than mine. Japanese curry ramen? I've never heard of it. Ramen is huge over here. There are a lot of serious ramen lovers here in Japan, but I myself cannot take ramen seriously, and don't have any recipes to share. Ramen is just what you might call a comfort food to me. Edited to add: OK, I was wrong. There are such things as curry ramen. I like curry udon and curry soba, but I find curry ramen not so appetizing.

Sorry, andiesneji, my post was not directed at you.

As for miso soup ideas, here is a thread on miso soup in the Japan Forum: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...ndpost&p=899943 where I posted a photo of asari (a type of clam) miso soup. As for your "I'm missing something" question, I'd like to see a complete meal. I think you know the phrase ichiju sansai (one soup and three side dishes), the very fundamental structure of a Japanese meal.

The initial question is, "What is a healthy oil?", not "What are some of your favoriate oils?". I tend to believe that vegetable oils are healthy while animal oils are not, but probably I'm wrong. Well, I just wanted to say that fish oil is important, too! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_oil

I often make ramen for lunch for a couple of months. This is because I found nice, thin ramen noodles, shown on the right. Initially, I bought a pack to try them for the Cold Noodle cook-off in the Cooking Forum, but they are so good I keep buying them. My recipe is quite simple. Put a 1/2 teaspoon chicken dashi powder in a bowl, add 150 ml water from the thermos, and some soy sause (dashi to soy sauce ratio = approx. 12:1). Bring water to a boil in a frying pan, add one serving of noodles, boil for 1 min. I measure the time because I don't want to overcook it. I wish I had some naruto and spinach, which will make a perfect bowl of ramen for me.

Unfortunately, I don't have a ceramic one... I think I'll buy a deba first, and then a sashimi slicer (yanagi? ro something). I have already bought one pair of tweezers, but I had difficulty pulling bones with it yesterday. Yuugao (pronounced you-goh here in the Uonuma region) is very popular here. My sister-in-law gave some to me the other day.

Top: Saba (mackerel) Middle: Inada (young yellowtail) Bottom: Blobal santoku Thus, yesterday's supper Ara jiru,made with saba and inada trimmings and yuugao (a type of gourd). Inada sashimi Saba no miso ni (mackeral simmered with ginger, miso, mirin (and/or sugar), water, and sake) I need to get a good deba and learn to fillet and cut fish more beautifully.