messing with perfection

[easternsun]

Ochazuke (お茶漬け) basically, it is a bowl of rice with green tea poured over it. toppings include wasabi, soy, pickled vegetables, fish (raw or cooked), sesame seeds, furikake, and/or nori (seaweed).

in our home, we eat sake (salmon) ochazuke. we love it as a snack. it is quick and easy. BUT i add cheese.

everyone tells me it is disgusting BEFORE they try it. i have won over many with my version of ochazuke. it was never my intention to ruin this dish - which is already perfect in its simplicity - I JUST LOVE CHEESE!

so my question is: what japanese dish do you "westernize"? and how do you do it?

[Hiroyuki]

Have you read this thread:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=57978

Sukiyaki made by Jason

All I can think of at the moment is

1. Yakimochi plus cheese

and

2. Pizza mochi.

1. Grill mochi in the toaster oven, coat it with soy sauce, place a slice of processed cheese on top, and wrap it in nori.

2. Just put pizza sauce in a dish and add grilled mochi.

[Culinista]

I'll stifle my "Yuck!" impulse long enough to ask what kind of cheese.

[Kiem Hwa]

1.  Yakimochi plus cheese

1.  Grill mochi in the toaster oven, coat it with soy sauce, place a slice of processed cheese on top, and wrap it in nori.

←

This sounds like a dish I had in Osaka, at a Teppenyaki bar. The chef grilled mochi, flattened it, coated it with a mixture of the small-red-orange roe & mayonaise, then topped that with cheese (mozarella, I think), covered it with a lid with a spoonful of water to steam it melted, then fired it with a burner to brown the top of the cheese, and topped it with nori.....oishikatta (it was delicious)!!!

I like cheese on/in curry too, which seems to be popular?

[Hiroyuki]

I like cheese on/in curry too, which seems to be popular?

←

If I remember right, there were no such things as cheese curry when I lived in Tokyo, although I remember diced cheese was served as a garnish free of charge at a curry restaurant called 'Curry no Oosama' along with other garnishes such as rakkyo and fukujinzuke.

But today, I did a google search and found that there are now such things as cheese curry. Things have changed!

Cheese curry recipe:

http://www.qbb.co.jp/special/recipe/ca_2.html

Cheese curry served at a restaurant:

http://www.ichibanya.co.jp/menu/detail.htm...10404&fg=0&fc=4

Retort-packed cheese curry:

http://www.rakuten.co.jp/e-sbfoods/151385/150692/

(All in Japanese only)

[Akiko]

All I can think of at the moment is

1. Yakimochi plus cheese

and

2. Pizza mochi.

1. Grill mochi in the toaster oven, coat it with soy sauce, place a slice of processed cheese on top, and wrap it in nori.

2. Just put pizza sauce in a dish and add grilled mochi.

That sounds really good!

[torakris]

I still have problems with cheese in Japanese dishes....

The Dairy Products in Japan thread

[gus_tatory]

...there were no such things as cheese curry when I lived in Tokyo...

cheese and curry.

two great tastes that--for me, anyhow--don't go together at all.

[Hiroyuki]

It's not a dish, but I like Mike's butter-and-soy-sauce-flavored pop corn the best.

http://www.rakuten.co.jp/s-morita/530552/392822/

[gus_tatory]

so my question is:  what japanese dish do you "westernize"?  and how do you do it?

easternsun--

interesting question.

seeing that i can get some but not all necessary Japanese ingredients in my Western metropolis (Montreal), i have to answer your question in reverse.

in other words, and perhaps i should start another thread, i find myself adding Japanese ingredients to Western food.

examples (please do not cringe, as i take great liberties with traditional ingredients):

--if i make a genoise or sponge cake, i'll add a tblsp of matcha (green tea) powder and black sesame seed, and i love this cake. as a "jelly roll" with chunky an (sweet azuki bean) paste, it's nice, and also visually interesting.

--i have added a square of konbu (stock seaweed) and katsuobushi (smoked shaved bonito) to chicken stock.

--i'll sprinkle furikake on a grilled steak at the table.

--i routinely make salad dressings with part sesame oil, part rice wine vinegar.

--i have a fruit salad in my fridge now that i put about 1/2 cup of sake on to macerate.

i know this isn't the exact question you were asking, but maybe it'll encourage people to post here and/or try new things.

edit: OMG it's hard to spell "katsuobushi".

Edited February 17, 2005 by gus_tatory (log)

[easternsun]

I'll stifle my "Yuck!" impulse long enough to ask what kind of cheese.

←

anything that melts quickly! usually i have brie or swiss cheese in the fridge.

everyone says yuck until they try it!

[easternsun]

so my question is:  what japanese dish do you "westernize"?  and how do you do it?

easternsun--

interesting question.

seeing that i can get some but not all necessary Japanese ingredients in my Western metropolis (Montreal), i have to answer your question in reverse.

in other words, and perhaps i should start another thread, i find myself adding Japanese ingredients to Western food.

examples (please do not cringe, as i take great liberties with traditional ingredients):

--if i make a genoise or sponge cake, i'll add a tblsp of matcha (green tea) powder and black sesame seed, and i love this cake. as a "jelly roll" with chunky an (sweet azuki bean) paste, it's nice, and also visually interesting.

--i have added a square of konbu (stock seaweed) and katsuobushi (smoked shaved bonito) to chicken stock.

--i'll sprinkle furikake on a grilled steak at the table.

--i routinely make salad dressings with part sesame oil, part rice wine vinegar.

--i have a fruit salad in my fridge now that i put about 1/2 cup of sake on to macerate.

i know this isn't the exact question you were asking, but maybe it'll encourage people to post here and/or try new things.

edit: OMG it's hard to spell "katsuobushi".

←

hi gus,

i have always experimented like this! matcha is delicious in cakes! i put it in banana smoothies too. i think the japanese are highly evolved when it comes to re-creating western dishes to suit the japanese palate.

look at any dominoes or pizza hut menu in japan and you will know what i mean!

[easternsun]

It's not a dish, but I like Mike's butter-and-soy-sauce-flavored pop corn the best.

http://www.rakuten.co.jp/s-morita/530552/392822/

←

i must try that! looks yummy!

when i first came to japan, i was craving tortilla chips and salsa. i finally tracked down a bag of doritos, when i got home and tucked into the bag, i couldnt figure out what the flavour was - it turned out to be butter flavour!!

that was the day i decided to learn to read katakana!

[Akiko]

It's not a dish, but I like Mike's butter-and-soy-sauce-flavored pop corn the best.

http://www.rakuten.co.jp/s-morita/530552/392822/

Butter and shoyu is such a good combination for all kinds of things - mochi, rice (I especially like butter-garlic-shoyu fried rice), mushrooms, etc.

I also like the hawaiian way of popcorn with okaki and furikake.

[SuzySushi]

Okay, this is going to sound heretical, but I make my goma-ae (for spinach or green beans) with tahini! I then sprinkle in a few toasted sesame seeds -- or not, as I feel like. Faster than using a suribachi and delicious!

And I use cilantro leaves in Japanese noodle dishes -- it's hard to get mitsuba here, and I don't like it that much, anyway.

(edited for typos -- the pull-out keyboard shelf of my computer collapsed!)

Edited February 22, 2005 by SuzySushi (log)

[sanrensho]

Natto mixed with a bit of lemon juice, dash of shoyu, and green onions.

Although I grew up in a Japanese family (here in Canada), we never ate natto. Hence, I find that a dash of lemon juice makes natto much more palatable.

My wife (Japanese to the core) is not impressed when I do this.

[torakris]

Natto mixed with a bit of lemon juice, dash of shoyu, and green onions.

Although I grew up in a Japanese family (here in Canada), we never ate natto. Hence, I find that a dash of lemon juice makes natto much more palatable.

My wife (Japanese to the core) is not impressed when I do this.

←

sanrensho, welcome to eGullet!

lemon juice in natto? interesting I may have to try that one.....

I have been wanting to post in this thread, I know that I do some odd things with Japanese foods sometimes but for the life of me I just can't think of any.....

[sanrensho]

sanrensho, welcome to eGullet!

lemon juice in natto? interesting I may have to try that one.....

←

Thank you. I've actually been lurking on and off for two years or so, but finally decided to take the plunge.

Let me know what you think about the (small) squeeze of lemon in natto. It doesn't seem to adversely affect the stickiness of the natto when mixed.

None of Easternsun's examples sound odd to me, but I do draw the line at furikake on steak!

[torakris]

I made a kinpira with celery last night.....

though that is more of a western food with a Japanese technique, it tastes great though!

[torakris]

well here is something you won't see in most Japanese homes

katsuo tataki served salad style (with baby spinach, yellow peppers, red onions, tomato and a balsamic and EVOO dressing.

katsuo and balsamic vinegar go together beautifully....

I took 3 pictures and they all came out blurry.....