torakris

Before kids I always made curry with chunks of meat, but with smal kids I found it was difficult for them so I switched to ground meats, now that my kids are a little older I actually prefer the thinly sliced meats. And it cooks a lot faster too! I have this wonderful curry book called Karee Daizenka (カレー大全科), it is a Japanese book all about curry. There are a couple recipes that actually call for curry roux but they beef it up a bit like a "Chinese" curry they makewith a packaged roux witht the addition of cloves, star anise, oyster sauce, tenmenjian and toubanjian. The rest of the recipes are made from scratch but in all different ways, there are also Indian style curries and Thai style curries as well as side dishes to go along with curries, different kinds of rice and other dishes that use either blocks of curry roux or curry powder. The beginning of the book of the book gives hints for making your own curry from scratch by giving information about various spices and other ingredients that can add tastes to the curry. For example to add sweetness they suggest adding mire poix (sp?), sauteed onions, garlic, cheese, butter, milk, fresh cream, ketchup or apple. Apples and ketchup can also add a little sourness along with tomatoes, yogurt and oyster sauce. Ingredients like cheese, butter, milk, cream, sugar, soy sauce, cashew nuts, bananas, coconut milk, choclate and red wine add depth. And so on and so on.... It probably has close to 50 recipes for curry alone and no two of the sauces are the same! The book can be found here: http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4...5507149-4630712

I was running a bunch of errands today and decided to pop into Mos for lunch. I had the rosu-katsu sandwich with the lettuce instead of the bun and it was really good. They had notices all over the store announcing their new sandwich that will debut tomorrow (5/21) the Katsuo! This is a katsuo (bonito) patty topped with bamboo shoots marinated in a shiso sauce and topped with a special tomato sauce, can be found here: http://www.mos.co.jp/spotlight/040510/katsuo.html

For tempura batter you need 1 cup flour, 1 cup ice water and 1 egg yolk mix the ice water and egg yolk together and then add the flour all at once. Stir very gently just to work some of the flour into the liquid, it should be quite lumpy and a little runny. Dip the vegetables briefly before deep frying. I like to add a little sesame oil to the flavorless oil I deep fry with..... My favorite vegetables are sweet potatoes, okra and shiso leaves.

I find it hard to believe there are no additives or preservatives of any kind, does it have a really short shelf life? I wonder if Taiwan has different laws regarding labeling....

Is coltsfoot (fuki tampopo) edible? I have never seen that before...

I have added cabbage to my curry before but I now prefer to finely shred it (like for tonkatsu) and place it in the bowl next to the rice and then pour the curry on top of it. I prefer that raw flavor and the textural contrast it gives.

Or schools, maybe? I know that it isn't used at my kids elementary school, their monthly lunch menu not only lists what is served for lunch but exactly what goes into it and in what amounts per child. So the sauce for their curry (this month was a bean curry served with naan) consists of: ginger 0.2g garlic 0.1g rice oil 1g flour 8g margarine 7g curry powder 1g salt 1g soy sauce 2 g ketchup 2g chuunou sauce 3g (this is sort of a cross between tonkatsu and worchestire sp? sauces) water 80g The gram amounts are average per child.

word for 5/20: タチウオ　　太刀魚 tachiuo (tah-chi-ooh-oh) the u and o sort of blend together In English it is referred to as Atlantic Cutlass or Largehead Hairtail This fish is quite popular in Japan, pulled in from bays and shallow oceans over pretty much all of the world it is available most of the year. It is an ugly fish with a long eel like body, silvery white skin and sharp claw like teeth, this shape is what gives it its name, a tachi is a Japanese sword with a curved blade that looks like this: http://www.karatedepot.com/wp-sw-17.html this is the fish: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~frf/htrd401w.jpg

Though harumaki are eaten in Japan it is not actually a Japanese food. If it is jsut called harumaki it is the Chinese version as is deep fried, a typical version will contain some or most of the following: pork, some kind of cabbage, shiitake, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, scallions, carrots, peppers, etc. These are all cooked together before being rolled up in the thin skins. if it is nama harumaki it is the raw Vietnamese version, these have become popular in Japan in recent years and can be filled with some of the following: pork, shrimp, chicken, sashimi style fish, harusame, lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, nira (garlic chives), bean sprouts, various herbs including the Japanese shiso.

I saw Mame Hyaku yesterday at my local supermarket (Tokyu Store), 500ml botles with nigari for only 178 yen. So before placing an order you might want to look in the supermarkets for this where it is half the price.

word for 5/18: からすみ　カラスミ karasumi karasumi is the salted and dried roe of sawara, a speciality of the Sanuki region it can be an acquired taste. karasumi: http://www.pref.kagawa.jp/eizo/vol003/en/area/tyu3/03.htm

My husband often makes a curry udon with leftovers, thinning it out with just a little dashi. I really hope any restaurant that specializes in curry makes it from scratch.... I too have seen those super industrial sized packs of curry roux and hope they are used more by the small restaurants that serve a variety of dishes, curry being just one item on the menu.

According to what some people posted on the Japanese school lunch thread, school lunches in the US, especially many of the homemade ones, leave a lot to be desired. I am a huge fan of the Japanese lunch system where everyone is served the same food (including the teachers), you have no choice, you eat what they give you. No choice of drinks either, you drink the milk and very, very occasionally do they give you juice. Like Hiroyuki said I have never seen a vending machine in an elementary school. For more on Japanese school lunches, look here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=15429

continuing on with sawara... another common preparation for this this fish is word for 5/18: さわらの塩焼き sawara no shioyaki Shioyaki simply refers to a fish that has been sprinkled with salt and grilled, most fish can be prepared in this way, from fillers to whole fish. sawara no shioyaki: http://www.danran.co.jp/gensen_171.htm

I often pick up maki-zushi at the supermarket for a quick lunch, I rarely eat it at restaurants so am unsure of the recent trends there. The most popular maki in the supermarket in my area seems to be what is called a sarada maki (salad maki), it usually has either tuna salad, ham or fake crab with cucumbers, egg and lettuce. The other popular is some type of deep fried protein, usually shrimp or pork with lettuce.

the tsukemono (Japanese pickle thread): http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=19521&st=0

Wow! You ate all of that food in only 10 days!! incredible report The sweet potatoes you talk about (thickly sliced, deep-fried and coatd with a sugar sryupy like topping) are calle daigaku-imo and when you can get them freshly made they can really blow your socks off.

word for 5/17: 西京漬 saikyouzuke (sigh-kyou-zoo-kay) This is probably one of the most common ways sawara is eaten in a Japanese home, this "marinade" can be used on many different fish but sawara is one of the most popular. The main ingredients are white miso, mirin and/or sake, the fish is "marinated" with this and then grilled. Though it can be quite simple to prepare most people seem to prefer to buy it already coated with the miso mixture and then grill it at home, myself included. sawara no saikyouzuke

Your computer probably isn't set up to read Japanese characters (that is what you should have seen) here is the post on mirin from the Daily Nihongo: word for 6/24: みりん mirin (mee-reen) this is often called sweet rice wine in English, it is essentially made from rice, distilled alcohol and sugar, it is an essential ingredient to Japanese cooking. It is used for both the sweetness and the glaze or sheen that it gives to foods. The problem with mirin is that there are many types out there, but only one that you want to be using. 本みりんhon-mirin, this is the real stuff! this is what you want to look for, this can often be located in the alcohol section because of it high (13% to 17%) alcohol content. It will cost you more then the fake stuff, but it is more then worth it. The ingredients should read rice, distilled alcohol, and sugar (and if you are really lucky there will be no sugar added). The fakes 味みりん aji-mirin, this is probably the most commonly seen, sold near the soy and vinegars 新みりん shin-mirin, haven't seen this one too much recently みりん風 mirin -fu, this seems to be the new name used on the fake ones These fakes are normally made with corn syrup and other additives, some can have as little as 1% alcohol, so check your labels carefully before buying.

Here is a picture of one kind of uchi-mame, these are green ones, I have seen them in a couple different colors..... matsutakekichigai, welcome to the Japan Forum! and I love your screen name! Helen, your posts here are fabulous!

They are poisonous??! I described eating them in the tsukemono thead: Have you ever eaten the seed inside the seed of the umeboshi? These are especially good with the larger honey umeboshi, you crack open the seed with a nut cracker and remove and eat the soft seed inside. Think amaretto, absolutely wonderful!

My MIL brought me over some takenoko (bamboo shoots) not too long ago, fresh ones still wrapped in their husks and she showed me a way of eating umeboshi that she ate frequently as a snack when she was a child. You take one of the more flexible husks from the bamboo shoot and wash it well then you place the umeboshi in the middle and fold the top over and then fold the sides in so it is triangular in shape. You then put the part with the fold into your mouth and slowly suck the umeboshi through the husk...

I loved baby food, which might not be unusual but I was 12 years old and would buy it with my paper route money..... I especially loved the Gerber's cereal , I ate it straight from the box (not mixing it with a liquid) as I loved the way it melted on my tongue. I also liked a lot of the jarred fruits... and just last month I was teaching my daughters just how wonderful clover tastes....

words for 5/15: let's look at some of the different types of sawara that are available, this link provides some grat pictures: http://www.zukan-bouz.com/saba/sawara.html in order from top to bottom サワラ　　sawara also sometimes referred to as 本サワラ (honsawara), this is the one most common in Japan and found up and down the coast, the first picture is of an 80cm sawara and the second picture is a 40cm sagochi (sagoshi) オーストラリアサワラ Australia sawara ヒラサワラ hira sawara ヨコシマサワラ yokoshima sawara カマスサワラ kamasu sawara タイワンサワラ Taiwan sawara, this one isn't pictured but is another type available in Japan

and here is an equally wonderful thread on mochi: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=16333&st=0