Japanese Cooking at Home

[Gabriel Lewis]

In the spirit of the original dinner thread and the related threads it has spawned, I thought it might be nice to start something similar in the Japan forums. A place where members could post about Japanese food they have made recently, share ideas and techniques, and celebrate the beauty of Japanese cooking.

I recently purchaseed a copy of Shizuo Tsuji's Japanese Cooking: A simple Art, and have begun to stock my kitchen appropriately. I haven't managed to track down everything I want yet, but things are coming along. I know there a lot of people cooking Japanese food on these forums, and I know I will be cooking a lot myself in the future. I would love to see what everyone else is making!

[Gabriel Lewis]

Here are a few of the things I've made in the past few days, and some commentary on them. As my Japanese pantry is as of yet incomplete, I have tended to gravitate towards the simpler recipes.

親子丼Oyako Donburi, Chick-'n-Egg on Rice

This was very tasty; simple, homey, and delicious. I especially liked the way the eggs soaked up so much flavor. The only thing I wondered was how to improve the presentation, but perhaps this is a dish where presentation isn't so important?

牛丼 Gyudon, Beef Bowl

This was quite good as well, but I was a bit puzzled by the amount of water specified in the recipe, with the sauce seemed so heavily diluted it seemed to take far too much sauce to flavor the rice enough, and this made the rice a bit gluey.

ほうれん草ごまあえ Horenso no Goma-Ae, Spinach with sesame dressing

Tasty, but I think I failed to squeeze the spinach sufficiently, as the dressing seemed too diluted.

三度豆胡麻味訴曾あえ　Green Beans with Sesame-Miso Dressing

This one tasted a bit of alcohol and seemed a little overdressed. I'll try tweaking it next time with less dressing, and boiling my mirin longer.

[rykomatsu]

しゃぶしゃぶ - Shabu Shabu on Tuesday

Light kelp/flying fish/bonito stock

Thinly sliced beef, napa cabbage, shiitake, enoki, tofu, mizuna, gobo

Cook the veggies in the stock first, once they're ready, take the beef and just dip it into the simmering stock for a few moments. Consume with Sesame sauce or ponzu.

At the end, with the beef/seafood stock add salt, pepper, and udon to finish off. For me, I make shabu shabu for the udon at the end

湯豆腐 - Yudofu, literally hot water tofu

Tofu, napa cabbage, enoki, mizuna, gobo in similar stock to shabu shabu, but a little more intense. Stick the items that take longer to cook into the pot first, then add tofu/enoki in towards the end. It's common to add chicken or white fish in as well. I added matsutake this time so it was a slight cross between Yudofu and Dobinmushi.

I make a lot of nabe-mono (hot pot) since I'm single, it's easy to prepare, and it heats up your body on cold autumn and winter nights

[Hiroyuki]

親子丼Oyako Donburi, Chick-'n-Egg on Rice

This was very tasty; simple, homey, and delicious. I especially liked the way the eggs soaked up so much flavor. The only thing I wondered was how to improve the presentation, but perhaps this is a dish where presentation isn't so important?

←

For donburi dishes, I usually use a soy sauce, mirin, and dashi ratio of 1:1:10 to 1:1:12, as I mentioned here, and I like them soupy, as I mentioned in the donburi thread.

As for the presentation, the ingredients should cover the rice completely, as you can see here.

[smallworld]

In the spirit of the original dinner thread and the related threads it has spawned, I thought it might be nice to start something similar in the Japan forums. A place where members could post about Japanese food they have made recently, share ideas and techniques, and celebrate the beauty of Japanese cooking.

←

Great idea Gabriel! I love the dinner threads and agree that we should have one here for Japanese cooking. Anyone have any dinners to share?

Here's a recent one of mine:

Rei-shabu (a cold version of shabu-shabu) with pork on top of thinly sliced daikon, myouga and onion; kinoko no takikomi gohan (rice cooked with mixed mushrooms); miso soup with tofu, okra and negi; and goma-dare (sesame sauce) and ponzu for dipping the rei-shabu.

[Ce'nedra]

THIS THREAD IS ACE! EXCELLENT IDEA!

I'm looking forward to some more postings

[Ce'nedra]

Here are a few of the things I've made in the past few days, and some commentary on them. As my Japanese pantry is as of yet incomplete, I have tended to gravitate towards the simpler recipes.

親子丼Oyako Donburi, Chick-'n-Egg on Rice

This was very tasty; simple, homey, and delicious. I especially liked the way the eggs soaked up so much flavor. The only thing I wondered was how to improve the presentation, but perhaps this is a dish where presentation isn't so important?

←

How did you get your Oyako Donburi to get so flavoursome? I'd love to have the recipe because mine was sooooooooooo bland!!!

Here it is:

[Hiroyuki]

How did you get your Oyako Donburi to get so flavoursome? I'd love to have the recipe because mine was sooooooooooo bland!!! 

Here it is:

←

I'm not Gabriel, but what is your recipe, especially the dashi, mirin, and soy sauce ratio? As I mentioned elsewhere, the 7:5:3 ratio results in a sweet donburi. I can see from the photo that yours is much less soupy and the beaten eggs are cooked too much.

[Ce'nedra]

I'm not Gabriel, but what is your recipe, especially the dashi, mirin, and soy sauce ratio?  As I mentioned elsewhere, the 7:5:3 ratio results in a sweet donburi.  I can see from the photo that yours is much less soupy and the beaten eggs are cooked too much.

←

Hahaha well the recipe I followed was according to this blog --> http://cookingismypassion.blogspot.com/200...-katsu-don.html in fact, I dont remember using dashi

Edited September 29, 2007 by Ce'nedra (log)

[Hiroyuki]

I'm not Gabriel, but what is your recipe, especially the dashi, mirin, and soy sauce ratio?  As I mentioned elsewhere, the 7:5:3 ratio results in a sweet donburi.  I can see from the photo that yours is much less soupy and the beaten eggs are cooked too much.

←

Hahaha well the recipe I followed was according to this blog --> http://cookingismypassion.blogspot.com/200...-katsu-don.html in fact, I dont remember using dashi

←

What a recipe! It's more like chicken teriyaki donburi with beaten eggs... And, add sushi vinegar to rice!?

Do you want to make oyako don or katsu don (donburi with breaded pork cutlets and beaten eggs)?

I will post a photo of my oyako don when I make it. I can't promise when I will do it, though.

[Ce'nedra]

What a recipe!  It's more like chicken teriyaki donburi with beaten eggs...  And, add sushi vinegar to rice!?

Do you want to make oyako don or katsu don (donburi with breaded pork cutlets and beaten eggs)?

I will post a photo of my oyako don when I make it.  I can't promise when I will do it, though.

←

Oyako donburi please

Though I wouldn't mind katsu don either

Thank you!

[Hiroyuki]

OK, here it is:

Oyako-don

Ingredients for 1 serving:

100 ml broth

Combine:

60 ml dashi

20 ml mirin

20 ml soy sauce

that is, dashi, mirin, soy sauce ratio of 3:1:1

You my want to try other ratios such as 4:1:1, which is for ten tsuyu (dipping sauce for tempura), and 7:5:3, which results in a sweet broth.

100 g chicken thigh, thinly sliced

1/4 onion, thinly sliced

2 eggs

Options:

Mitsuba, cut to 3-cm lengths

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptotaenia

Sansho

Ingredients for 3 servings:

Eggs are not shown.

Sansho is in the small bottle.

You will need a special pan called oyako nabe (16 cm in diameter) and a lid:

I got mine from a 100-yen shop (100 yen each).

At a restaurant, the pan is used from start to finish for one serving at a time, but I made a short-cut by first cooking the chicken and onion for three servings with the broth in a pot for 3 min.

Ingredients for 3 servings, cooked for 3 min.:

Put 1/3 of them in the oyako nabe, and add beaten eggs.

Caution: DON'T beat the eggs thoroughly. The beaten eggs should look something like this:

Put the lid on, and cook on high heat for 30 seconds (or for up to 1 min. depending on the hardness of the eggs you want):

Put some hot rice in a donburi, and transfer the whole ingredients on top of the rice. Put some mitsuba on top.

My two children both said it was good, and I liked it, too.

Edited to add:

I found this video showing how to make oyako-don:

http://www.manma-miya.jp/recipe/2416/2416.html

To view it, click it, scroll down, and click PLAY.

Not exactly the same as what I did, but close.

Edited September 30, 2007 by Hiroyuki (log)

[Ce'nedra]

Hiroyuki: Thanks so much!

For the broth, is it chicken broth? And also, is it better to use the store bought one (stronger in flavour)? Or is home-made better?

Also, for the dashi, I think I have that in either powder or block form...so how much do I use to mix it up with water?

[Hiroyuki]

Hiroyuki: Thanks so much!

For the broth, is it chicken broth? And also, is it better to use the store bought one (stronger in flavour)? Or is home-made better?

Also, for the dashi, I think I have that in either powder or block form...so how much do I use to mix it up with water?

←

First of all, I made some additions in bold to the poorly written description above.

Almost all recipes call for dashi, i.e., Japanese bonito and kombu dashi. I did find one recipe that called for chicken broth, though. As for store-bought vs. home-made, I'd say home-made is better, but it's also time-consuming and costly. Store-bought dashi is stronger in flavour because of the SMG it contains, right?

That being said, I must admit that I almost always use instant dashi.

I'm not sure what you mean by dashi in block form. I use instant dashi in powder form, 1 tsp per 600 ml of water.

[Ce'nedra]

First of all, I made some additions in bold to the poorly written description above.

Almost all recipes call for dashi, i.e., Japanese bonito and kombu dashi.  I did find one recipe that called for chicken broth, though.  As for store-bought vs. home-made, I'd say home-made is better, but it's also time-consuming and costly.  Store-bought dashi is stronger in flavour because of the SMG it contains, right?

That being said, I must admit that I almost always use instant dashi.

I'm not sure what you mean by dashi in block form.  I use instant dashi in powder form, 1 tsp per 600 ml of water.

←

Thanks so much for all your help

Oh and I'm mistaken -you're right; it was dashi powder that I have hahaha!

[Ce'nedra]

Also, is it ok if I don't have an 'oyako nabe'? Can I juse use an ordinary pan?

Edit:

Also, I'm a bit confused here...excuse me for my stupidity but here you write:

At a restaurant, the pan is used from start to finish for one serving at a time, but I made a short-cut by first cooking the chicken and onion for three servings with the broth in a pot for 3 min.

Ingredients for 3 servings, cooked for 3 min.:

Put 1/3 of them in the oyako nabe, and add beaten eggs.

Does that mean I can add 3 servings of the chicken, onions and eggs in the pan (if I chose to follow the short cut route)? Or 1/3, as you listed at the bottom?

Edited September 30, 2007 by Ce'nedra (log)

[rykomatsu]

just a trivia tidbit, but the nabe design that Hiroyuki has is commonly used in restaurants. The handles are bent straight up so you can place multiple ones over heat at the same time. Ones commonly used at home have handles that stick out like a regular frying pan

cheers!

[Hiroyuki]

The oyako nabe is not necessary but preferred. The beauty of the oyako nabe is that it's so shallow you can transfer the ingredients to a donburi as a whole, without impairing the shape.

Sorry for having confused you again. Here's a better version:

Oyako-don for 1 serving

60 ml dashi (or water and instant dashi)

20 ml mirin

20 ml soy sauce

100 g chicken thigh, thinly sliced

1/4 onion, thinly sliced

2 eggs

Options:

Mitsuba, cut to 3-cm lengths

Sansho, to be sprinkled by each diner immediately before eating

1. Combine dashi (or water and instant dashi), mirin, and soy sauce in a shallow pan, preferably an oyako nabe, and bring to a boil.

2. Add chicken and onion and simmer for about 3 min.

3. Put rice in a donburi. Set aside.

4. Beat 2 eggs lightly in a bowl.

5. Pour the beaten eggs over the chicken and onion.

6. Put on the lid, cook on high heat for 30 seconds to 1 min. depending on the desired hardness of the eggs.

7. Transfer the whole ingredients to the donburi.

8. Dress with mitsuba.

Oyako-don for n servings

Simply multiply each ingredients by n.

1. Combine dashi (or water and instant dashi), mirin, and soy sauce in a pot, and bring to a boil.

2. Add chicken and onion and simmer for about 3 min.

3. Put rice in a donburi. Set aside.

4. Beat 2 eggs lightly in a bowl.

5. Transfer 1/n of the chicken, onion, and broth to a shallow pan.

6. Pour the beaten eggs over the chicken and onion.

7. Put on the lid, cook on high heat for 30 seconds to 1 min. depending on the desired hardness of the eggs.

8. Transfer the whole ingredients to the donburi.

9. Dress with mitsuba.

[Gabriel Lewis]

Sorry about that Ce'nedra, didn't realize you were curious about oyaku donburi. My recipe is from Japanese Cooking: A simple art, and differs a bit from Hiroyukis'. It uses sugar instead of Mirin, and the ratio is roughly 9:4.5:1.5; dashi, shoyu, sugar. It also calls for a mix of light and dark shoyu (soy sauce). I find using these ratios can be tricky scaling up though, and always taste to check. Just remember that it should taste too strong so as season the rice enough without making the dish too soupy. I found Shizuo's version a bit brothy actually, so I might try a version with next broth next time more similar to Hiroyuki's. I used Dashi but shizuo notes that chicken broth/stock is fine for this dish as the main ingredient is chicken.

It's about a simple as a dish can get. With your cooked rice ready, prepare the broth in those proportions. Bring to a simmer and simmer chicken until almost cooked (3-5) mins, add the onions and simmer for a minute more, and then add the eggs like Hiroyuki showed. Be sure not to stir the eggs initially; only stir them once they start to bubble at the edges and are almost set (they will finish cooking over the hot rice).

The recipe calls for japanese long onion (naganegi), but those are pretty hard to find here, so I just used to the suggested substitute green onions, cut into 1 inch diagonal slices. The japanese tend to be very specialized in terms of equipment, but you should be just fine with a regular saucepan; but do try to use something large enough for the eggs to lie in a single layer over the broth.

[Hiroyuki]

Sorry about that Ce'nedra, didn't realize you were curious about oyaku donburi. My recipe is from Japanese Cooking: A simple art, and differs a bit from Hiroyukis'. It uses sugar instead of Mirin, and the ratio is roughly 9:4.5:1.5; dashi, shoyu, sugar. It also calls for a mix of light and dark shoyu (soy sauce). I find using these ratios can be tricky scaling up though, and always taste to check. Just remember that it should taste too strong so as season the rice enough without making the dish too soupy. I found Shizuo's version a bit brothy actually, so I might try a version with next broth next time more similar to Hiroyuki's. I used Dashi but shizuo notes that chicken broth/stock is fine for this dish as the main ingredient is chicken.

It's about a simple as a dish can get. With your cooked rice ready, prepare the broth in those proportions. Bring to a simmer and simmer chicken until almost cooked (3-5) mins, add the onions and simmer for a minute more, and then add the eggs like Hiroyuki showed. Be sure not to stir the eggs initially; only stir them once they start to bubble at the edges and are almost set (they will finish cooking over the hot rice).

The recipe calls for japanese long onion (naganegi), but those are pretty hard to find here, so I just used to the suggested substitute green onions, cut into 1 inch diagonal slices. The japanese tend to be very specialized in terms of equipment, but you should be just fine with a regular saucepan; but do try to use something large enough for the eggs to lie in a single layer over the broth.

←

Considering the fact that sugar is twice as sweet as mirin, the ratio you mentioned translates into a dashi, soy sauce, and mirin ratio of 9:4.5:3, or 3:1.5.1, which is quite similar to mine. In Japanese cooking, sugar and mirin are often used in combination, the former providing an acute sweetness and the latter providing depth because it contains nine or more types of sugar.

As a Kanto man, I really don't think that the use of both light and dark soy sauces is necessary for making a donburi dish.

Lastly, the beaten eggs should be partially runny!

[Ce'nedra]

Gabriel Lewis and Hiroyuki: Thanks alot for all those tips, recipes, and other write ups!

*copy, paste, save*

[Hiroyuki]

I made katsu-don for lunch today!!

I never thought about making it until I found from today's flyers that tonkatsu (breaded port cutlet) was on sale at a local supermarket, 155 yen per piece. I decided to buy some and make katsu-don for supper. But, rather than waiting for my children to come home and asking if they wanted to have it as katsu-don, I decided to make katsu-don for lunch for myself first.

Tonkatsu, other ingredients, and utensils:

I decided to try the 7:5:3 ratio for my katsu-don.

Thus,

45 ml dashi

30 ml mirin

20 ml soy sauce

I decided to use green peas for a topping.

1. Combine the dashi, mirin, and soy sauce in the oyako nabe, bring to a boil, add the onion in the oyako nabe, and simmer for 3 min.

(I put the lid on.)

The aroma filled the kitchen!

2. Put some rice in a donburi.

3. Add tonkatsu (previously cut to bite sizes) to the oyako nabe, pour bean eggs, put on the lid, and cook on high heat for 30 seconds.

Again, never beat the eggs thoroughly!

4. Transfer the contents of the oyako nabe to the donburi.

5. Top it with some green peas.

Incredibly good!! It was gone 3 minutes later. A very satisfying lunch!

Edited October 2, 2007 by Hiroyuki (log)

[yunnermeier]

My best friend from when I studied in Japan e-mailed me last week and made me nostalgic so we had Oyakodonburi on Friday:

and Gyudon yesterday:

The oyakodonburi was especially good.. I should've sliced the beef a little thinner or bought better grade beef as it was not as soft as the ones from Yoshinoya. I bought beef for braising (cheap, 4.65 euro for 388 grams) and sliced the first piece thinly but was getting tired and pissed off by piece 2!

Edited October 2, 2007 by yunnermeier (log)

[Hiroyuki]

Hi, yunnermeier, it's good to see you again in the Japan Forum! But, you became nostalgic and made oyako-don, not sushi, sashimi, or sukiyaki?

Your oyako-don looks much soupier than mine and those of two other members here. Could you provide some basic data, especially the dashi/mirin (sugar)/soy source ratio?

It's good to see beni shoga on the gyu-don!

[yunnermeier]

Hahaha I think I ate donburis a lot more often than sushi when I lived with my Japanese host families! I love sukiyaki but it's hard to get really fatty beef here and I don't have a hot pot (I live in a 2-pan household ) plus these Dutch people would probably consume a kilo of beef each .

Yes the oyakodon was a little soupy because I put in too much dashi (I added one extra egg to counter this effect but still too soupy!). I liked it though.

Dashi: 1 +2/3 cup

Mirin: 4tbs

Shoyu 7tbs

Sugar 3 tbs (I think I only put 2 tbs)

I didn't see your tip until today so my eggs were beaten a lot more throughly than recommended.

Edited October 2, 2007 by yunnermeier (log)