torakris
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Posts posted by torakris
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I buy condiments to make sauces!
condiments in the house currently?
soy sauce (in cluding soy based tsuyu, ponzu,etc) about 7 or 8
miso currently only about 6 (including Korean and Chinese types)
hot sauces 5 or so (tabasco to sriracha and more inbetween)
mustards, vinegars, and olives all in the 5 range, also capers, anchovies, sundried tomatoes, and various pickled peppers
oils 5 types of EVOO alone and about 6 or 7 others inclusing duck fat and ghee and good old crisco
then of course things like ketchup. worschestire (sp?), molasses (3 types), maple syrup, mayo (Japanese and American), jams (about 4) and various Asian sauces (oyster sauce, sweet chilli sauce, etc)
I almost never buy any prepared sauces or dressing, with all this stuff in the house who needs to!
A gift basket would depend on who I was giving it to, becasue everyone's tastes are different.
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the seaweed thread reminded me of this thread and reading through it seems there is actually very little discussed about donburis.
Care to discuss donburis?
one of my non-traditonal favorites is my tomato-ginger-nori donburi (seaweed thread) absolutely wonderful!
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I was just reminded of one of my favorite donburis using nori (laver)
chop up a tomato add a little salt and some freshly grated ginger root, let sit for about 15 minutes then fill a bowl with hot Japanese rice, top it with some shredded or torn up nori and then pull the tomatoes out of their juices and place on top of the nori, eat!
wonderful!
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hijiki is probably my favorite, especially the way Akiko described it as a type of mazegohan (mixed rice) with aburage (tofu pockets?) or even in a type of gomoku-ni with aburage, konnyaku, carrots, soy beans, etc.
Korean style nori is so much better tasting then the Japanese kind (except for sushi), it is immensely popular here in Japan and can be bought everywhere, though probably not as good as the one Akiko desribes.
mekabu is another favorite, though I have no idea what it is called in English and I doubt it is available outside of Japan since it is most commonly eaten in a fresh form.
Wakame is probably one of my least favorites.
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According to Elizabeth Schneider in Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini, Chef Jean-Geogres Vongerichten says that "fiddlehead ferns taste like a walk in a moist forest, especially paired with their seasonal companions, morels."
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Forget making my own garden, I think I will just move next door to Jackal!
Can't possibly eat that much alone.
Since I have decided not to spend the summer in the States, I can actually think about what to plant now, though I am quite limited by both space and variety available in this country and the fact that the only way to water my garden is to hhok a hose up to my bath and then drag it through the rest of the house to get it outside!
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a couple of days ago I was making cinnamon toast for breakfast for myself and three kids.
toasters are pretty much unheard of in Japan and you toast your toast in your microwave/oven combo using the "toast" function. Well I decided to soften the butter a bit by putting in on top of the oven while it was toasting, just a small block still in the wrapper.
Well I went to to the computer to to check egullet (of course) and 10 minutes later went back to finish bmaking breakfast and found the butter had melted all over the top of the oven and was dripping down the sides!!
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rereading the thread, I think the reason I don't wash is that I dn't have to, mushrooms in Japan are unbelievably clean. I have never seen a speck of dirt on shiitake, shimeji, enoki, eryngii, namatake, etc. even the creminis and portobellas here are spotless, only the white button mushrooms have dirt on the bottom of the stems and it gets cut off anyway.
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Soba nice to see you cooking again!
Sounds great.
Tuesday night:
spent all day on the phone and had no time to plan dinner,
made quick pork tenderloin "satay". blanched green beans, bamboo shoots, cut up cucumbers and tomatoes put everything on a huge platter and covered it with my Thai style peanut sauce.
Japanese rice
Dessert:
ice cream
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I like a side of coleslaw preferably dressed with a mayo dressing.
Snow angel that red onion salad sounds great , am going to give it a try.
As to sauces, something heavy on the ketchup, vinegar and cloves.
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I haven't found a great variety of soy sauce here in Ontario. V-H, Kikkoman. The problem is, even the "light" brands of those are pretty salty. I'd like to find one here that is low in salt.
If you are buying import soys becareful of those that say light on the label, look specifically for low salt.
The Japanese usukuchi soy sauces are usually referred to as "light" meaning that they are lighter in color, and actually have more salt then the regular soy.
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As with olive oil, you don't need great soy sauce for everything. Kikkoman is a very good product for cooking, in my opinion, especially when the soy flavor is just one component of a full-flavored dish. But if you want the soy sauce equivalent of extra-virgin first-cold-pressing single-estate Tuscan olive oil you'll want to order some Ohara Hisakichi Shouten soy sauce from Japan via gratefulpalate.com.
I think I might go into the soy sauce import business!
I found the Ohara hisakichi shouten Japanese homepage:
http://village.infoweb.ne.jp/~fwjf1151/SEIHINN.html
the 900ml bottle being sold in the US for a price of $29.95 costs only $8.33 (1,000 yen) in Japan.
It does have a lot of recommendations based on a quick search I did and it seems to be prettty widely available in Japan (department store basements and larger supermarkets), I am going to give it a try.
Thanks!
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What types of seaweeds do you have in your house and what are some of your favorite applications?
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I never wash mushrooms, just to darn lazy and besides a little dirt never hurt anyone.
I usually just flick off large pieces of dirt with my thumb while slicing.
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Monday night:
tuna "ceviche", left the tuna to soak in a mix of orange a lemon juices for a couple hours, then removed form the juices and tossed with some nice EVOO, red onion slice, parsley and marjoram
couscous warm salad with roasted kabocha squash and blanched green beans dressed with a yogurt-honey-cumin-mint dressing ( From Donna Hay)
thinly sliced, toasted baguettes topped with a chunky hummus (heavy on the garlic), some finely chopped tomatoes and drizzled with EVOO
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These are immensely popular in Japan, one the the "spring mountain vegetables" they are often used together with the others or alone. Most often cooked together with rice or simmered in soy.
They can be purchased here all year round, water packed in the refrigerated sections, but fresh in the spring is definitely the best!
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I am a Kikkoman girl, for most cooking needs I stick with the 1.8L "special marudaizu" type.
I have other various types (not available outside Japan) for other uses.
I never but soy with alcohol added, I think it gives it a very synthetic flavor.
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Sunday had a long BBQ with friends at a local park that ended up encompassing both lunch and dinner!
My contributions:
Thai style chicken satay with peanut sauce
Asian style coleslaw, cabbage and carrots and scallions with a dressing of wasabi-ginger-sesame (both oil and black seeds)
edamame
Japanese sweet potatoes cooked to absolute perfection (even better than yaki-imo, the Japaense roasted potato)
--wrap a whole sweet potato in a damp newspaper sheet and then again in foil, place among the coals for a good hour or so, then remove wrapping and the th rock hard, blackened skin to reveal and an incredibly creamy, steaming yellow flesh. Salt and pepper not even needed. Simple perfection!
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Don't need to to anything to bean curd to make it taste good, it does taste good all on its own!
Of course living in Japan i have some wonderful tofu to choose from.
Favorites:
hiyayakko-- cold tofu topped with anything, soy-ginger-scallions, kojuchang based sauces, various types of seaweed
agedashidofu-- deep fried tofu with a soy based sauce and various condiments
mabodofu-- one the best tofu dishes
tofu is wonderful in any type of stir fry, any soup, even braised, another favorite is shira-ae, sort of like a "salad dressing"
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I did something similar a couple weeks ago, though I used napa cabage (un cooked) and thinly sliced pork belly.
I layered the two alternately adding garlic, salt and pepper and bay leaves. I drizzled with a little EVOO and baked for one hour (30 minutes covered, 30 minutes not).
Absolutely wonderful!
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What is no one cooking?
Last night I was in a rush so is scaled my menu down to:
ground beef and pork with garlic chives and enoki mushrooms mixed witha bulgoki type sauce then quickly heated in a fry pan, served with kochujang and bibb lettuce leaves for wrapping.
Japanese rice
Dessert:
I had wanted to make strawberry shortcakes, but had no desire after dinner to even whip a quick scone recipe, so i improvised and ended up with a cross with tiramisu.
I macerated some straberries with sugar, then lined lady fingers up in a casserole and poured the strawberries on top and placed in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. I then whipped up some cream with sugar and vanilla and spread it on top and topped with some cocoa (I wanted to shave some choclate but didn't have any in the house). We ate typical Yamaguchi style, sitting on the floor with 5 spoons!
Next time (and there will definitely be a next time!) I will use more strawberries!
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Friday night:
pork shogayaki (ginger sauced) with white onions and snow peas
shiitake, enoki, eryngii mushrooms cooked tsukudani style (a quick 5 minute simmer with sake, soy, mirin and ginger shreds)
minced raw tuna with blanched, sliced okra in a wasbijoyu (wasabi and soy sauce)
Japanese rice
dessert:
pineapple "carpaccio" with mint tea syrup
this was from Fine Cooking January 2003 and was good but thought the mint was too strong and could have benefited from a more equal balance with the sugar and lime.
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My daughter's best friend's mother is Okinawan and the first time I ever went to her house she made these for us.
I don't really care for deep fried foods and although good I found the andagi a little to greasy for my taste. The kids loved them though.
I have only been to Okinawa onceand spent the whole time fascinated with the food (I was surprised just how different it was from the mainland) that I didn't see any of the isalnd!
I came back with a suitcase of Okinawan soba, anyhting made from the purple potato, pineapple tea, the little grape like thing Smallworld mentioned, etc, etc.
There is an Okinawan restaurant that just opened near my house (there really aren't too many of them on the mailand) and these have Okinawan music concerts about once a month. It is really a lot of fun and the food is great!
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Never eaten Okinawan food before?
here are some pictures:
http://www.cosmos.ne.jp/~sbreeze/uchinaaE.html
My favorite?
rafuti (spelled a hundred different ways) simmered pork belly.
Have yet to come to like goya (bitter gourd)
Soy sauce
in China: Cooking & Baking
Posted
Hatsu shibori means first pressing. (hatsu=first and shibori=pressing)
According to Kikkoman Japan they have 13 products in their line-up currently, here is the site but sorry it it is only in Japanese, clicking on the name will bring you a picture:
http://www.kikkoman.co.jp/products/lineup/index.html