helenjp

Do that thing! I have a white bean croquette recipe too (somewhere...) and it was GOOD!

Buri *and* salmon! Wow... The recipe with buri came from Oita in Kyushu, and I was surprised to see buri in a clear broth - when I livedin Kansai, ozouni in Osaka or Shikoku included grilled buri, but in a white miso soup. I think some people in Hokkaido have salmon in ozoni, but my husband's stepmother was from Akita, and used chicken in a standard Kanto ozoni. As for "toshitori-zakana", I wonder just where it is most common? In Kansai, my late first husband's wife was always disapproving when the menfolk wanted shrimp with their New Year's Eve soba, because she felt that New Year's Eve food should be "purifying" and vegetarian. I never saw those big aramaki salmon on sale before New Year until I came to the Kanto area.

Started adding in New Year recipes for reference: Kanto style ozoni soup recipe "Shichifuku" version of namasu vinegared salad

Just a heads-up...I was making my usual Christmas/New Year batch of Turkish pickles (mixed pickle version of Torshi Lift/Left). In Japan, that usually means adding a chunk of red cabbage for color, but this year there have been red-skinned smallish "salad" daikon around. Whoopee! Sliced and marinaded in the brine and vinegar mix, the skin releases color and the white flesh and brine turns a beautiful light cherry pink.

John, have you tried using a disposable paper ring mold, rather than baking in a regular cake pan? The bubble makes me think you were baking in a regular round pan?? Does seem to be an unusual recipe...almost like a cross between a hot milk sponge (milk, little flour) and a chiffon cake (oil, more flour). With so little flour, I think you probably got a souffle effect, maybe why it peaked and burned easily. Proportions for the batter look to be around: Per egg yolk - 10-20g sugar, 20-35g flour, 15-20ml each oil and water Meringue - extra white per 2 or 3 yolks, at least 10-15g sugar per white Some sample recipes: Ingredients for small 17cm chiffon cake (170degC, 35 mins) BATTER egg yolk 3 oil 40ml water - 40ml flour 60g (+ 1/2 tsp baking pdr if not using 4th egg white) sugar 20g MERINGUE egg white 4 (or 3, plus 1/2 tsp baking pdr in batter) sugar 40g salt pinch I have an older Japanese recipe that uses no liquid other than the yolks and oil, but I think the additional liquid makes the cake much more tender. Proportions from 21st century Japanese magazine, for 20cm chiffon cake pan You can use less sugar than stated - down to about 30g for batter and 70g for meringue. BATTER egg yolk 4 oil 75ml Zest of 1/2 orange, juice of 1 orange with water to make a total of 130ml (or 2 tab tea leaves, simmered with milk and water, strained and total made up to 130ml) flour 140g sugar 60g MERINGUE egg white 7 large (240ml total) sugar 100g salt pinch

Namasu Daikon Carrot Salad "Shichifuku" version for New Year Serves 4 as Appetizer. Basic namasu is daikon and carrot, salted, squuezed, and marinaded in a sweetened vinegar. It is often accented with sesame seeds or shreds of yuzu peel, with yuzu juice added to the marinade. This basic namasu is very refreshing, and many people prefer it to the fancier version given below (just make it with daikon, carrot, yuzu, and marinade ingredients from the recipe below). The basic salad can be enriched with: Seafood such as smoked salmon, crabstick kamaboko, ikura salmon roe. Instead of yuzu, lemon juice and thinly sliced sections of lemon work well with seafood. Strips of aburage. Vegetables such as parboiled mitsuba stems, strips of kelp, strips of soaked dried shiitake. Harusame noodles (cellophane noodles)instead of shirataki. Fruit such as apples, nashi, or crisp persimmon. 200 g daikon (preferably white type like Miura) 40 g carrot, preferably red Kyo-ninjin type 1 tsp coarse salt 1 cucumber 1/4 tsp coarse salt 1 kikurage (cloud ear fungus) 1/2 pkg white konnyaku noodles, optional 1/2 aburage, optional 1/2 yuzu, shredded peel 50 ml yuzu juice and vinegar, total 2 T sugar salt, if necessary * Soak cloud ear, trim unwanted parts, cut into shreds. * Cut daikon into chunks about 5-6cm long. Peel. Now get a large knife, and holding the daikon chunk in one hand, peel round and round to obtain a long, broad spiralling sheet of daikon. As it breaks off, layer on a chopping board, and cut into thin shreds. * Repeat this process for the carrot. Especially if using kyo-ninjin, cut shreds just as fine as possible. * Alternatively, shred using a hand-shredder or food processor, though not as beautiful as long handcut shreds! *Sprinkle a good pinch of salt on the carrot and rub in, repeat with rest of the teaspoon of salt and daikon. Allow to sit until the vegetables have softened and shed water. * Slice cucumber (unpeeled if Japanese type)diagonally, cut into fine shreds, salt, rub, leave as above. * Dip aburage into boiling water, remove, wipe, squeeze. Cut open and flatten out, cut into shreds. * Dip konnyaku noodles (shirataki) into boiling water, refresh in cold water, cut into short lengths. * Peel yuzu thinly, cut peel into shreds. * Make marinade. Squeeze yuzu juice, remove pips, top up with vinegar to 50ml, mix in sugar and salt to dissolve. * Squeeze out salted vegetables thoroughly but not aggressively (you want to remove bitterness and excess salt, but not all remaining flavor). * Mix ALL ingredients, mix in marinade, store in fridge. * To serve, sprinkle with extra yuzu peel, sesame seeds, as desired. Keywords: Appetizer, Salad, Hors d'oeuvre ( RG2061 )

Ozoni New Year's Soup (Kanto style) Serves 4 as Soup. This is the Eastern Japanese style ozoni - a clear broth flavored lightly with sake and soy sauce, and featuring shiitake, greens, grilled mochi, and usually chicken and fish sausage, sometimes other ingredients as well. Common additions and variations: Mitsuba - boil quickly, tie in a loop or knot - it's more decorative and easier to eat. Sato-imo - parboil small sato-imo in vinegared water, rub away all sliminess and cook again in separate quantity of broth, reheat in soup broth when ready to serve. Carrot - preboil Hakusai - preboil, cut into short lengths that can be served neatly Shrimp - clean, trim, simmer in equal quantities of sake and water with a pinch of salt Buri (yellowtail) salted, grilled or simmered in the soup (Or other types of fish, sometimes fresh, sometimes salted). Other types of kamaboko fish sausage - cut decoratively, add directly to soup bowl without precooking. 4 mochi (rectangular) 150 g chicken (momo= thigh) pieces 4 shiitake, dried or fresh 1/2 narutomaki fish sausage (pink and white spiral cross-section) 100 g komatsuna brassica greens 800 ml dashi (made with katsuo, konbu) 2 T soy sauce 3/4 tsp good salt 1 tsp soy sauce (to taste) shreds of yuzu (citrus junos) zest * Make dashi with a teabag or 20cm dried kelp and 30-40g katsuobushi, add in dried shiitake if using. Strain, reserve broth and shitake caps. * Cut off and discard stems of shiitake, cut shallow "V" lines to form a cross on top of the cap, or simply stab a cross-shaped cut so that the shiitake cook evenly. * Quickly cook greens in boiling salted water, refresh in cold water, drain and cut into short lengths. * Slice fish sausage diagonally, set aside. * Thinly peel yuzu, cut into shreds, place in small covered container and set aside. * Bring broth to boil, season broth with salt and sake (quantities above). * Chicken thigh should still have skin on. Pull out any sinews (fish tweezers are handy) and cut into bite-sized pieces. Pour boiling water over and drain. * Simmer chicken pieces in seasoned broth. Remove chicken pieces, add soy sauce to broth, and check seasoning. Up to this point, the soup may be prepared ahead, even the day before. I put all ingredients in a shallow container in the fridge, laid out so that I can quickly assemble a serving, as my family are inordinately fond of this soup and will eat many servings during the day. * When ready to serve, grill mochi (5 minutes in an oven toaster or grill), drop briefly into cold water, and place one or two in each soup bowl. * While mochi is grilling, warm ingredients in broth, assemble each serving neatly in bowls. * Finally pour warm broth over, add a sprinkle of yuzu peel, and serve. Keywords: Soup, Easy, Japanese ( RG2060 )

Shichifuku Chicken Wings Serves 4 as Main Dish. Chicken simmered in a mildly seasoned broth of shochu (distilled rice liquor)sugar, and soy sauce. 1-1/2 kg chicken wings or other parts green part of negi dividing onion skin from knob of ginger 1 c shochu rice liquor 1 c dashi, stock, or water 1 star anise 1 cinnamon stick 1 qt sansho (Szechuan pepper) 1 generous knob ginger white part of negi dividing onion 2 chili pods 2 umeboshi 3 T light brown large-crystal sugar 2 T mirin (sweet rice wine) 1/2 c soy sauce 1/4 c pine nuts, optional * Trim chicken wings, scald by pouring hot water over, drain. * Simmer chicken about 30 minutes with green negi, ginger skin, shochu, stock or water, skimming off any scum. * Remove negi and any ginger skin you can see. * Add spices. * Sprinkle sugar, soy sauce, and mirin over, a little at a time. * Simmer gently with a drop lid or small plate or greaseproof paper, till cooking liquid is almost all evaporated. * Cool a little to firm then remove to serving dish, scatter pine nuts and clusters of pine needles over dish for festive New Year accent. Keywords: Hors d'oeuvre, Easy, Chicken, Japanese ( RG2059 )

I think one reason why it seems confusing is that western supermarkets often stock the spicier hoisin sauce (more southern Chinese?), but not tenmenjian (more Beijing/northern style?), while Japanese supermarkets are just the reverse! I worked in a Chinese grocery in my misspent youth, and hardly anybody bought "tenmenjian". The two are similar enough to substitute in most cases, but not the same. They look similar, they just don't smell or taste quite the same. Discussion of hoisin vs sweet noodle sauce Hoisin in Japanese is "haisenjian", "kaisenjian", or "haishenjian"...if you can find it! "Tenmenjan" - I think it's "tianmian jiang" in standard dialect, but don't know which dialect it's best known in outside China. You could try explaining that it's "like Peking Duck sauce"??? Other sauces: Black bean sauce is "touchijian" in Japanese. Brown bean sauce (same as ground bean sauce, written like this 蘑豉, but I don't know what it's known as in Japan) is like miso, but darker and more mellow - Ground bean sauce vs miso

Ah ha! I figured it must be southern, so I simmered it with pork ribs in a not-too-intense broth I'd simmered chicken in (shochu spirits, little star anise, ginger, soy sauce). Should it have chili or dividing onion in it? I don't know how I should have done it, but it tasted wonderful - not bitter, slightly citrusy, fragrant, full of savory broth! The pith was quite soft to start with, and after 3 days soaking, it was obviously softened and ready to use. The zest and broken up fruit were soaked in honey for a few days - the fruit went on our yogurt, and the peel and honey/juice went into a light fruit cake. Nothing wasted!

Still curious! Is the use of pomelo pith to flavor braised dishes a regional thing? If so, which regions is it associated with?

So, a couple of months on, are you seeing the expected price increases? Today's newspaper in Japan announced a 20-30% increase in the government-set price of flour, in addition to a 10% rise in October. With rises in edible oil prices, retail prices for all kind of baked goods (including instant noodles) have been going up... Noticing price increases of staples such as flour and oil at retail level in your part of the world yet?

Shared one with my son for lunch this very day! Maybe if you try to think of it as quiche on a pizza base?!

I wondered if that might happen! So much for that idea!

What temperature are you baking it at? I checked a few Japanese recipes, they all have 170deg.C., 30-40 minutes for a cake with 7 egg whites and about 4 yolks. Do you actually have a bottom coil? That works fine in my oven - which is barely 30cm wide. If yours is smaller, you might just need to make a smaller recipe! You could try putting greased foil on top of the cake. Hope you work it out - chiffon cake is practically made for Japan, since butter is expensive and not always fresh. Edit: quick survey suggests that other people with small (15 liter - I think mine is probably a bit bigger) ovens have the same problems. Advice I found: 1) Don't use a chiffon pan larger than 17cm diameter in the smaller ovens, or bake in several small paper cups/pans. 2) For cakes in a single pan, set the preheat temperature 20deg.C. higher than required, put cake in, cancel temperature and reset to correct temperature, to combat the huge drop in temperature that occurs with a largish cake and small oven capacity. P.S. Just coming up to company personnel relocation season - watch out for second-hand kitchen equipment at local second-hand stores over the next 3 months.

We wish! But it is true that traditional Queensland houses are built for maximum ventilation - high ceilings, raised floors, verandahs. In NZ, the weather is often bad from mid-December - my memories are of hot weather during end-of-year exams, breaking out my new summer clothes for my birthday...and then shivering through the rest of December until New Year. Funnily, most people who eat hot dinner and heavy pudding on Christmas Day wouldn't dream of doing the same thing on Boxing Day or New Year's Day. I think one reason why people switched from roast lamb to roast chicken for Christmas was because chicken salad is a much more attractive summer left-over than a big piece of roast hogget. Thinking of desserts again, I recall that green and white was one of my favourite Christmas colour schemes, and a dessert from Jane Grigson's Fruit Book went well with it - bavarian cream and greengage plum puree layered in a glass dish. It's good with any sharp-tasting green fruit, like grapes or kiwifruit. An Australian friend told me that pomegranates are in the shops around now too (imported?) they taste sharp and the scattered seeds look both summery and Christmassy in desserts! P.S. Have a great Florida Christmas!

Talking of mince pies, does anybody have any favorite tricks for making the filling lighter and less cloying for summer? Green grapes baked in with the mincemeat filling? Japanese friends in NZ used to mostly head to the beaches for a big group BBQ, because the crowds were all home eating hot dinners. Between the beer and the home-made sushi (people only bothered making the really elaborate types for these annual events), I don't recall that sweet foods got a look in. I know that most of my Japanese friends hate fruit cake passionately, too!

It goes well with beef and salmon (unsurprisingly). Other than that, yes, it's hard not to waste it! Try it with ochazuke, or dabbed on the filling for onigiri, put some in your natto, mix a little with mayo and make a matchstick gobo salad, and try some on oden instead of mustard.

Chicken Simmered in Vinegar and Soy is a more heavily flavored version, and I'll post another similar recipe for chicken simmered in shochu and spices over the next couple of days - I often make that for New Year. Both recipes contain star anise, and while the first recipe reminds me of Filipino adobo, I wonder if the second one is Taiwanese, since star anise is so popular in Taiwanese cooking. They are not restaurant dishes, either, so when I cook them, I often wonder if they came to Japan with repatriated expats after WWII. Shichifuku Chicken Wings (with shochu) So you'll be ready to talk home-cooking when you get back from camp?!

Fresh rice noodles - I haven't seen them, but you might get lucky if you ask at a restaurant. There's a restaurant in my neighborhood that does take-out and is frequented by local Chinese, so they sell semi-prepared stuff for home cooks as well as ready-to-eat dishes. (But not fresh noodles or doughs, sadly).

I found this in the shops here in Japan - it's called a "lion yuzu" or "devil yuzu" or some other names which might be derived from Chinese or maybe from some southeast Asian source - but it isn't actually a type of C. junos or yuzu, it's a type of pomelo or maybe even grapefruit. Overall, it seems to lack bitterness and be very fragrant, so I think this may be a great candidate for Seitch's dish. They weigh a pound or two, as big as a pomelo, but very bumpy peel, and bright yellow. Anyway! The peel is very fragrant, on the lemon side of grapefruit, a little like yuzu. The pith is incredibly fluffy and soft, much more open in structure than most pomelos. I put some in water to soak, intending to try cooking it with seafood or meat. The flesh was pale yellow, acidly sweet, no bitterness, and the peel was lemony rather than bitter too. Citrus pseudogulgulphoto about halfway down the page.

No, just people I meet up with - but this year, my "people-collection" seems to have expanded. That's why I posted to eGullet, because I'm sure there's somebody who will be alone at New Year not far from each of us... There may be organizations, but home-cooked food distributed by an organization raises all kinds of issues, so I think there's still a place for trekking round the neighborhood with your tupperware! I find that discount "wholesale" supermarkets and discount office supplies places are the best places to find bulk bento packs and plastic cuplets in a variety of sizes. They come in nice, compact stacks, so I always have a container available when I want to take a meal to somebody, without my kitchen being knee-deep in plastic containers. For something like o-sechi that may last longer than one meal, I pack stuff into one of those frilled plastic cups rather than directly into the bento divisions, so that people can easily remove one item to warm in the microwave if they want. I try to add in fresh flowers and herb greens, and pop in something non-Japanese like a couple of cookies or a mini sandwich etc. The more I think about it, the more I realize I need ideas - I was looking at bento in the supermarket today, and thinking that many people living in doss-houses, or too sick, old, or disorganized to cook tend to live on bentos when they can afford them. So even though o-sechi is the King Bento, something with a little more "home-style cosiness" would be good.

That is the million dollar question, sir, and you collect the jackpot! I think that's why Chinese-style osechi is often popular. I like to include some fucha-ryouri (Chinese-inspired temple cooking) things in osechi for the same reason - they often include sesame or poppy seeds etc, so they taste rich, but are not fried, or drowned in mirin and shoyu. Line-up: two elderly man (?? one maybe alcoholic??), two elderly women (one fussy, likes only white fish), diabetic parent with hungry teenage son. (Plus one person who doesn't like Japanese food - she wants beef stew, I know!) . If it comes to storebought osechi, I'd give up serving osechi - it just doesn't taste good, no matter how expensive it is. Apart from osechi, what do you like to enjoy at New Year? Are there some dishes you never prepare at any other time of the year? I don't know why, but steak with herb butter is something we only eat at New Year. For my husband New Year = mochi, grilled or in soup, though my boys also like it with fried golden brown in butter, or grilled with cheese on top. For me, "gochisou" type okayu (congee) is always a treat, and I look forward to nanakusa-gayu.

Time to get the colored pencils out and start planning this year's o-sechi! Would anybody like to help me with my homework? I need to make a few small packs of o-sechi for local "home-alones". Ideas welcome please, for nice serving ideas as well as food that is neither boring nor scarily "unusual". Ideas for foods that are festive without being hard to chew, or too sweet or salty, or too harshly vinegary particularly welcome! Also thinking of packaging up one hot meal.

Forgot to say, "bird potato" is the kanji for "kuwai" so you would be looking for "black bird potato" or" large black bird potato" etc! Probably your best bet is to look for canned water chestnuts in some supermarket with a large Chinese food section...