eG Foodblog: jkonick - Mild Mannered Student By Day...

[jkonick]

Hey I have that bottle on the top right there.. Is that Chinese Vinegar.. I love that stuff.. Put that on some cold lo mein, its really good.. Looking forward to reading your blog, I was very impressed with your late night entries some time back.. I am not overly familiar with cooking Japanese food so I would like a little help.. Have a good week..

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I usually use it when roasting chickens or ducks Chinese-style, or making a dip for dumplings. Sounds good with the lo-mein though, I'll have to try that out. Although I will admit a little food quirk of mine: I hate cold food (with the exception of desserts). I hate the feel of it in my mouth, and I think it takes away from a lot of the flavor not to serve it warm. In fact, I have a habit of heating things like pasta salad up because that's the only way I'll eat them.

[little ms foodie]

haha! I'm guessing you have the bottom shelf!

[Pam R]

Bottom shelf was my guess too.

I believe the Israeli mint (nana) is a spearmint. Have you tried it with lemon? I think that would be closer. I have a bottle of Prigat Lemon - I'll see if I can find some spearmint somewhere and try adding it to that.

[M. Lucia]

Ok, I'm confused by this version of limonana. The traditional Arab version looks nothing like what is pictured above, though the ingredients are the same.

Basically, take lemon juice, sugar, fresh mint, and water and blend in a blender. The mixture should be vibrant green (think green smoothie or juice) and should be served immediately.

In Syria/Lebanon/Jordan it is only done fresh because it really doesn't keep well, it settles and dulls in flavor. Maybe this helps??

[Shalmanese]

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Wow, that doesn't look like any mint I've ever seen before. This is what mint should look like. Are you sure you got the right herb?

[jkonick]

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Wow, that doesn't look like any mint I've ever seen before. This is what mint should look like. Are you sure you got the right herb?

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The mint actually did look like that, but it's been cut up and sitting in lime juice overnight so it looks got kind of "mushy."

I know it's usually made with lemon, but I had some with lime in Israel and thought it was a lot better. I never thought of the blending technique though, that's a good idea. It never looked like it had actual mint in it, so I figured they must've gotten the flavor by steeping it somehow. I think I will look for a better mint source though and try it again.

[sadistick]

Gotta keep an eye on this one. So far after our few nights of chanukah celebrations Ive showered probably 5x after coming home from various dinners/parties smelling of a fried latka.

Interested to see how you make your schwarma and what texture you go for.

[Swisskaese]

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Wow, that doesn't look like any mint I've ever seen before. This is what mint should look like. Are you sure you got the right herb?

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The mint actually did look like that, but it's been cut up and sitting in lime juice overnight so it looks got kind of "mushy."

I know it's usually made with lemon, but I had some with lime in Israel and thought it was a lot better. I never thought of the blending technique though, that's a good idea. It never looked like it had actual mint in it, so I figured they must've gotten the flavor by steeping it somehow. I think I will look for a better mint source though and try it again.

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Nana is spearmint and we do not cut it up. To make Lemonnana, you infuse lemonade with whole stalks of spearmint and you put some of the squeezed lemons in the pitcher.

I am surprised that you had it made with lime here, because lime is very hard to find in the shuk and the supermarket. Did someone make it at their home for you? If you make it at home you do not steep it overnight, you make it in small batches and serve it immediately. Otherwise, it will have a medicinal taste.

We don't blend it like they do in Lebanon, Jordan, etc.

Edited December 19, 2006 by Swisskaese (log)

[dockhl]

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Wow, that doesn't look like any mint I've ever seen before. This is what mint should look like. Are you sure you got the right herb?

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Looks like generic leaf lettuce............

[Pam R]

I know it's usually made with lemon, but I had some with lime in Israel and thought it was a lot better.

Hmm.. like a virgin mojito.. can't be a bad thing.

Were you on a Birthright trip? I've wondered what kind of food they provide on something like that - and if there were restrictions from wondering off to find the good falafel and shwarma stands.

[jkonick]

Just got back from doing some shopping in Chinatown, and I picked up all sorts of stuff.

Here's a picture of Little Saigon, with Mt. Rainier off in the distance (although you can't really see it).

Here's Viet-Wah, where I actually didn't end up buying anything, but took some pictures and scoped a few things out for some bahn mi I'm giong to make tomorrow

After Viet-Wah, I headed over to Uwajimaya, Seattle's largest Japanese grocery store, and probably one of my favorite places on earth. Fearing being scolded like hhlodesign I didn't take any pictures, but you can see some by clicking on his name.

Next stop was Wong Tung (I'm pretty sure that was the name) Seafood, for an eel. I've spent a long time searching and it seems like this is the only place to find live or fresh eels in Seattle. Viet-Wah carries frozen ones, but they are not good at all, they tasted like tuna

Here's a picture of the unlucky creature just moments before its death:

I wanted to get a picture of it when the guy killed it, but before my camera could get back to picture mode, he had already slammed it against a table quickly slit its throat and belly. The whole process took about 20 seconds. I did get a video of the bag moving, as it kept twitching for about twenty minutes after it was killed. I'll try to upload that later.

Here's the Uwajimaya bounty (SheenaGreena - note the chips, I'm pretty sure they're chicken flavored and I remember you saying before that you liked meat flavored snacks. They weren't that good though):

going counterclockwise from the bottom right, there is: oden, a kind of Japanese fish cake stew. This particular mix is my favorite, it has about 10 or 15 different kinds of fish cakes in it, chicken flavored snack, bulgogi sauce, unagi sauce, pork, Japanese eggplant, shrimp (wrapped in the paper) and a Kabocha squash in the middle, which is a kind of Japanese pumpkin.

I'm going to start on the eel and cook it two ways, one Chinese, one Japanese. Half will become unagi no kabayaki, which is the kind of eel you usually find at sushi places. The other half will be steamed with black bean sauce, Chinese style.

I also picked up some shrimp, and bought a new dim sum cookbook today, so I'm going to try my hand at making har gow, and shrimp and chive dumplings after I'm done with the eel. I may or may not also make that eggplant tonight, still not sure how I want to cook it. Is that enough food for you BryanZ?

Edited December 19, 2006 by jkonick (log)

[jkonick]

I know it's usually made with lemon, but I had some with lime in Israel and thought it was a lot better.

Hmm.. like a virgin mojito.. can't be a bad thing.

Were you on a Birthright trip? I've wondered what kind of food they provide on something like that - and if there were restrictions from wondering off to find the good falafel and shwarma stands.

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I was on a Birthright trip. We ate dinner in the hotels most nights, but during the day we were out and about and in charge of our own food. Pretty much the only thing I ate was shawarma. I probably ate at 15 different places in the ten days we were there. We didn't get to do a lot of roaming around, but when we did I ate as much food as was possible.

The lime lemonana I actually found in a grocery store. I'm pretty sure it was lime anyway. My hebrew's basically non-existant so who knows. It tasted like lime and it was green though, that I know for sure. I'm off to the grocery store now so I'll have to look for spearmint.

[jkonick]

Gotta keep an eye on this one.  So far after our few nights of chanukah celebrations Ive showered probably 5x after coming home from various dinners/parties smelling of a fried latka.

Interested to see how you make your schwarma and what texture you go for.

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I think I'm going to be making latkes tomorrow night at my parents' house, need to find some shmaltz before then...

[Shalmanese]

Next stop was Wong Tung (I'm pretty sure that was the name) Seafood, for an eel. I've spent a long time searching and it seems like this is the only place to find live or fresh eels in Seattle. Viet-Wah carries frozen ones, but they are not good at all, they tasted like tuna 

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Hrmm... since you're familiar with the area, do you know if theres any asian butchers in the ID? Looking for somewhere that carries fresh duck, fatty pork, tendon etc..

[SheenaGreena]

Just got back from doing some shopping in Chinatown, and I picked up all sorts of stuff.

Here's a picture of Little Saigon, with Mt. Rainier off in the distance (although you can't really see it).

Here's Viet-Wah, where I actually didn't end up buying anything, but took some pictures and scoped a few things out for some bahn mi I'm giong to make tomorrow

After Viet-Wah, I headed over to Uwajimaya, Seattle's largest Japanese grocery store, and probably one of my favorite places on earth. Fearing being scolded like hhlodesign I didn't take any pictures, but you can see some by clicking on his name.

Next stop was Wong Tung (I'm pretty sure that was the name) Seafood, for an eel. I've spent a long time searching and it seems like this is the only place to find live or fresh eels in Seattle. Viet-Wah carries frozen ones, but they are not good at all, they tasted like tuna 

Here's a picture of the unlucky creature just moments before its death:

I wanted to get a picture of it when the guy killed it, but before my camera could get back to picture mode, he had already slammed it against a table quickly slit its throat and belly. The whole process took about 20 seconds. I did get a video of the bag moving, as it kept twitching for about twenty minutes after it was killed. I'll try to upload that later.

Here's the Uwajimaya bounty (SheenaGreena - note the chips, I'm pretty sure they're chicken flavored and I remember you saying before that you liked meat flavored snacks. They weren't that good though):

going counterclockwise from the bottom right, there is: oden, a kind of Japanese fish cake stew. This particular mix is my favorite, it has about 10 or 15 different kinds of fish cakes in it, chicken flavored snack, bulgogi sauce, unagi sauce, pork, Japanese eggplant, shrimp (wrapped in the paper) and a Kabocha squash in the middle, which is a kind of Japanese pumpkin.

I'm going to start on the eel and cook it two ways, one Chinese, one Japanese. Half will become unagi no kabayaki, which is the kind of eel you usually find at sushi places. The other half will be steamed with black bean sauce, Chinese style.

I also picked up some shrimp, and bought a new dim sum cookbook today, so I'm going to try my hand at making har gow, and shrimp and chive dumplings after I'm done with the eel. I may or may not also make that eggplant tonight, still not sure how I want to cook it. Is that enough food for you BryanZ? 

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"I love meat flavoured snacks" god that sounds dirty Don't know if you read the okashi thread recently (japan forum), but I bought some "baked chicken" pretz and they were nasty, just a heads up.

I love oden, but I eat it korean style which is just all that rice cake, shoved on a stick, and then served in a bowl of hot stock. I think it's called o-dang which is very similar to "oden". Do you like that unagi sauce by the way? I buy the same one, because it's so cheap and it tastes yummy. It has so much sugar in it I bet you could throw it on your pancakes in the morning (if you do that, please let me know). I like to put it on my uni with tamago. So what are the japanese and chinese preparations you have planned for your eel? I bet it would be just great sprinkled with some salt and then grilled over coals. MMMMMMMMMM YUMMY!!! They do this in Korea in the summer time and it is very good.

I am so jealous of hlodesign's asian store. He has the good brand of store kimchi there. It's the one in the bags. I believe it's called "jong ga chib" kimchi

[hzrt8w]

Here's a picture of Little Saigon, with Mt. Rainier off in the distance (although you can't really see it).

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jkonick or others: what are the major cross streets of Seattle's Little Saigon please? I haven't been there and will visit in the future.

[jkonick]

Here's a picture of Little Saigon, with Mt. Rainier off in the distance (although you can't really see it).

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jkonick or others: what are the major cross streets of Seattle's Little Saigon please? I haven't been there and will visit in the future.

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12th and Jackson is the big intersection. It spreads out about three blocks either way from there, bordered by I-5, Yesler and Rainier.

[sazji]

Ah you are making me homesick, even if we couldn't really see Mt. Rainier. But it is winter; I was there for almost a month and never once saw it...

There's a little Viet place around the back of Hau Hau grocery where I get the best black sesame sticky rice cakes...went in this last trip and they had just sold out.

Can't wait to see your okonomiyaki and find out why mine..is...so....dense......

[jkonick]

Alright, project eel is officially done. For one half, I sort of used a recipe from Kaiseki. The recipe wasn't exactly for unagi no kabayaki, but I used the first part: put the eel skin side up in a strainer, cover with cloth and pour hot water over it, immediately submerge in ice water. Simmer in half cup water, half cup sake, quarter cup mirin (sweetened Japanese rice wine) and a quarter cup soy sauce until cooked all the way through. That's the Kaiseki part.

After that I basted it with the sauce, then broiled it for about five or ten minutes. Finished it off with some shichimi togarashi (a Japanese spice mix that contains peppers, herbs and orange peel, and is an essential condiment with unagi, in my opinion).

(sorry for the blurry picture)

For the Chinese style, I used Kent Wang's steamed eel recipe, although mine didn't have scallions, and I added black bean sauce. I had a similar dish at Sun Sui Wah, a restaurant in Vancouver, B.C.. This one wasn't quite as good... I'm pretty sure the skin had been removed at the restaurant, and I don't much care for the texture of the steamed skin.

Before

And after

I've been slowly working on a carton of egg nog while doing all this cooking. Screw wine, egg nog and eel is probably one of the best pairs out there.

Now time to return to my shrimp for dim sum... expect har gow and chive dumplings in the next hour or so.

[prasantrin]

After that I basted it with the sauce, then broiled it for about five or ten minutes. Finished it off with some shichimi togarashi (a Japanese spice mix that contains peppers, herbs and orange peel, and is an essential condiment with unagi, in my opinion).

No sansho? I think sansho is standard for unagi--more so than shichimi togarashi (at least at all the unaju restaurants I've been to).

I've always wanted to try Szechuan peppercorns with unagi, since sansho is more difficult to find in Canada (perhaps I should stock up while I'm still in Japan!).

[jkonick]

After that I basted it with the sauce, then broiled it for about five or ten minutes. Finished it off with some shichimi togarashi (a Japanese spice mix that contains peppers, herbs and orange peel, and is an essential condiment with unagi, in my opinion).

No sansho? I think sansho is standard for unagi--more so than shichimi togarashi (at least at all the unaju restaurants I've been to).

I've always wanted to try Szechuan peppercorns with unagi, since sansho is more difficult to find in Canada (perhaps I should stock up while I'm still in Japan!).

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I've actually never had it with sansho... I do have some sichuan peppercorns though, so I could try grinding some of those up. I bet Uwajimaya has sansho though.

[Hiroyuki]

As for me, I've never had it with shichimi.

[jkonick]

As for me, I've never had it with shichimi.

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Could be an American Japanese restaurant thing? Although I could've sworn it's come in prepackaged unagi I've bought. Hmm. Now I'm gonna need to redo this with sansho...

[Sea Urchin Ragout]

jkonick: what happens with the eel after it's killed? Do they clean it? Does it need cleaning? Any pics of its pre-preparation state?

[Pan]

Just what is "screw wine"?