Friday 27 July 2012

Saving grace

We all felt sorry for Akujiki when we saw his reaction to the unexpectedly cold tofu and veggies on his entree.  I love tofu, but cold?   However, the compassion for a fellow diner was short-lived as my own entree came up - the lightly floured pan roasted flounder served with tasty trumpet mushrooms was delicious! Crispy on the outside and tender inside, it was perfectly done.  Everything else on the plate - the slightly chewy mushrooms, the fava beans, tiny pieces of lardon, all provided contrasts in textures and tastes that helped enhance the typically plain flounder.  It is a perfect example of how to dress up a plain main.

This had been preceded by two excellent appetizers - fresh rock shrimp tempura and local artisan cured meats served with grilled bread (my low carb diet tossed out the window when I encountered this last item).  But the rock shrimp must have been the highlight for us all.   The tempura was light and really brought out the shrimp flavour.  It was also an unusually large serving for an appetizer.  I could happily have had this for an entree.  






Saturday 21 July 2012

Tofu and Squab



The other day, we had a leisure lunch with some very good friends.  One item stood out from the menu and winked at me was a “peach barbequed tofu, grilled summer squash, red onion, eggplant, sweet peppers, lemon”.  For this avid meat-eater who regularly devoured beef steaks, veal chops, pork bellies and racks of lamb, tofu was a nice change for a day.

When my tofu plate arrived, I took one look and gasped.  The two skewers of grilled tofu were topped with what looked like dull yellow miso (look for them in the photograph; they are hidden on the left side of the plate).  I could not believe that I was getting Japanese dengaku tofu (田楽豆腐) in a western restaurant.  And I did not even like dengaku tofu because of the liberally applied thick and sweet miso.  Testily I took a little bit of the deep yellow glob with my fork and tasted it.  It was sweet, it was not miso, it was peach.  Then I remembered that the menu said “peach barbequed tofu”, which I interpreted as barbequed tofu with grilled peach halves.  Now I got it, it was a clever interpretation of dengaku tofu, western style.


Each skewer of tofu turned out to be three small cubes packed together.  The top and bottom surfaces were charred, and the inside was cold.  The texture was firm and “meaty”.  The natural sweetness of the peach mush did not clog or interfere with the cold tofu.  I liked the tofu enough to want to play Oliver, “Please, sir, I want some more.”

Then I dug into the grilled vegetables and had another surprise.  They were cold too.  Okay, I knew that grilled vegetables could be served cold.  But no one had warned me, not the menu, and not our waiter.  All I got were words like “barbequed” and “grilled”, which led me to believe that it was a warm dish.  To be fair, the dish tasted fine once I got over the initial disappointment.  It also helped not to think about the fact that my six small cubes of tofu cost as much as a fish course.

At home that night, I pan roasted a squab and some green beans for dinner.  The bird and a glass of wine got me over the tofu blues.


Sunday 15 July 2012

Summer salads

The colourful tomato salad with fresh basil in Akujiki's post whetted my appetite for more.  I had a BBQ last night and created my own summer salad - it was a great hit!  I had started off thinking that I'd make the tomato salad, but when all I could find was half-dead packaged basil from Colombia on the supermarket shelves, I thought maybe I would have to try something else.  I came across a recipe for a salad using hearts of palm, avocado and tomatoes with lettuce and ended up using a combination of both recipes since I already have all the ingredients at home.  An accidental find as I was going to the check out at the local grocer's made a world of difference to the recipe - a live organic basil plant!   The fragrance from fresh basil practically made the salad.  As with Akujiki's salad, the hard part was finding tasty tomatoes - and I did that by following my nose near the tomatoes section.


The hearts of palm, avocado and tomatoes were all cut into chunks, lettuce torn into bite-sized pieces.  The dressing: 1/3 cup olive oil,  2 tbsp red wine vinegar, fresh ground pepper, 1/4 tsp of sugar, dash of salt. Toss the hearts of palm, avocado and tomatoes in the dressing and spoon onto the bed of lettuce laid out on a platter.  Spread out the basil leaves.  And you've got a refreshing summer salad with a great contrast in textures and flavours.  Bon Appetit!



Tuesday 10 July 2012

Southern Fried Chicken


I like fried chicken, a lot.  Most people would say that it is unhealthy.  I don’t think that is necessarily the case.  If the ingredients are of high quality, if excessive fat has been trimmed from the chicken, if the cooking oil is not saturated, hydrogenated or deteriorated from overheating or reusing, then it is not that bad in my book.  The key is to eat only good fried chicken and in moderation.

There are quite a few restaurants doing fried chicken right, and I eat in them.  I also make it at home, where I have more control of the ingredients and the cooking process.  The free range chicken, egg, and unbleached flour are organic.  Ritz crackers (or Hi Ho crackers) and cooking oil are not.  I cook with blended corn and canola oil simply because I have not figured out a better alternative.  

I do not deep fry.  That uses too much oil and deep fryer is hard to clean.  I prefer using a cast iron chicken fryer (basically a large skillet with tall walls) for making southern fried chicken.  It requires a relatively small amount of oil, just enough for it to be at mid-level of the chicken pieces in the pan.  

I made some southern fried chicken and a tomato corn salad the other night.  


My not-so-precise recipe:
1.       I use chicken thighs and drumsticks because I do not like eating white meat.  Leave the skin on, but trim off any loose skin and globs of fat on and embedded in the thighs.  Season the meat with a little bit of salt and black pepper.  Coat the pieces with flour that has been seasoned with salt and pepper (go easy on the salt) and let them rest.
2.       Finely grind the Ritz crackers, add to some flour and mix well.
3.       Beat an egg, and thin it with some water.
4.       Add less than an inch of oil into the cast iron chicken fryer.  Set the burner to medium. 
5.       Coat a small batch of chicken with the egg wash and then the cracker-flour mix.  When the oil is hot, fry the chicken pieces.  The oil should come up to the mid-level of the chicken pieces.  (I do not use a thermometer to check the oil or the chicken; very unscientific, I know).
6.       Turn the pieces over after ten minutes to check the color of the thin coating and to fry the other side.  Adjust the heat level if necessary.
7.       Continue to turn the pieces every ten minutes to cook both sides and to make sure that the pieces are not burnt.  Total cooking time: about forty minutes.
8.       Rest the cooked pieces on a rack to cool and to drip off excess oil.
9.       Place the pieces on paper towel to soak off remaining oil before eating.

For the salad:
Cut tomatoes into bite size chunks.  Sprinkle gently some salt over them.  Add some freshly cut raw corn kernels and basil leaves.  Dress with extra virgin olive oil.  Let it rest for a few minutes.  Some tomato juice will form a pool at the bottom of the bowl.  The juice has a nice balance of acidity, sweetness and saltiness, and the aroma of fine olive oil and basil.  The salad is a lovely manifestation of summer.  It is easy to make, the hard part is to find flavorful tomatoes and corns.


Saturday 7 July 2012

What do you do with soy sheets?



Soy and all things made with it are major ingredients in a vegetarian diet.  I'm no vegetarian, butI find myself addicted to the soy rolls wrap with mushrooms stuffing that you find at T & T Markets and other Chinese takeout places.  But there are usually only a sprinkling of mushrooms in them and lots of oil on the wrap.  What to do? 

These wraps are usually made with dried been curd sheets that are available from the market freezer.  They need to be softened in water before use and are also vey greasy.  I looked around for an alternative and to my surprise, found these fresh soy sheets in the refrigerator's soy section of some Chinese markets.  This is a large sheet that can be cut into at least 3 squares, six if you want them smaller.


I chopped up some enoki mushrooms and some cremini mushrooms that I have in the house (really, any kind of mushrooms would do, except maybe not the white mushrooms because they get watery when overcooked.  Stir fry the mushroom mixture in oil, salt and pepper to taste, maybe a touch of oyster sauce.  

 Spoon the mixture onto the sheet.  


Fold the sheet over to form a pouch or roll, with the loose side facing down.  



Now to add more flavour (and calories), it is probably good to brush the rolls with sesame oil before browning in the pan. I didn't do it this time but might do it if I'm making this for a party.

Heat up some oil in a pan, lightly brown on both sides and it’s done in no time.  It’s quite crispy and tasty.  Now I can add some green veggies, bring these in to work and just heat them up in the microwave at lunchtime knowing that I’m eating something nutritious.




The easiest way to enjoy these soy sheets though is to cut them up into strips or pieces, throw them into broth, let them soak in the flavour and just eat it with the soup.  It could be one of the ingredients of a seafood hot pot or casserole - adding texture and protein without overwhelming the flavour.   





Sunday 1 July 2012

Korean Dinner at Houba 韓菜酒家 ほうば in Osaka


Our friends invited us to a dinner party in Osaka.  We arrived at a humble Korean restaurant on a side street in Kita-ku, not far from an arcade of restaurants, bars and pachinko parlours.   Despite the lack of glamour, we anticipated an evening of great food because the host and the other guests were food experts.  

It was a family restaurant.  The young chef, in his thirties, and his mother worked in the semi-open kitchen.  A young woman worked the front.  There were only two long tables, one for six and another that seat probably ten as it extended to a tiny counter by the kitchen.  The eleven of us were comfortable in the small dining room since the host had booked the whole restaurant for the private dinner.      

The meal started with earthen crocks of makkoli, house brewed unfiltered Korean rice wine, which had gained popularity in Japan.  The first cup was the clear liquid skimmed from the top.  It tasted mildly sweet and not that alcoholic.  Subsequent cups were scooped from the bottom.  The drink was milky white with a different texture and slightly fizzy.  Both were pleasant drinks.   

Soon into the meal, the lady server brought cold oksusu cha (corn tea), a Korean tisane made from boiling roasted corn kernels in water.  It was most refreshing, with a clean mild toasty taste and a bare hint of natural sweetness.  It went very well with the dishes.  I switched from makkoli to the corn tea for the rest of the meal.  The other folks finished their makkoli and moved onto beer and Jinro (眞露), the best selling Korean soju (燒酒).

It was a ten-course dinner.  Many courses were served in communal style, with a plate of food for every four people.  The other courses were in individual portions.

The first course was an array of namul (seasoned vegetable dishes) which were usually served as banchan (side dishes).  The serving lady brought out a few small plates at a time, arranging them into a group of parallel straight lines.  All together, there were 23 small plates, each made with a different seasonal vegetable.  Some ingredients were common, such as soy bean sprouts, spinach and celery.  Most were leafy Kyo yasai (Kyoto vegetables).  One special item was thin slices of white makomotake (真菰) about the size of a mahjong tile.  I recognized it when the serving lady showed me the raw ingredient.  It was the swollen stem of a kind of wild rice grown in swamps of China and Japan (known as 茭白 in China).  The word “take” was in the name because the stem had been infected with smut fungus.  There were also three traditional kimchee.  The portion of each plate was small, with just enough for each person to have a bite.  Together, the small plates made a lovely course.  I was impressed by the fine knife work and the delicate seasoning.  The group of namul was incredibly satisfying.  I would not mind to have them as a meal.

Next was an individual serving of grilled oysters on top of yuzuchawanmushi”.  The texture of the two oysters was impeccable; they were firm and moist.  The taste was intense and delicious.  The citrus was used as a bowl for the savory steamed egg custard.


This was followed by a plate of two long golden brown omelets, each cut into four pieces.  One was filled with shirako (白子 cod milt) and the other with nanohana (菜の花) and ebi.  I liked the shirako omelet more (yes, I am a shirako fan).  The pan fried nanohana was a little hard.

Then came awabi gohan – sautéed awabi (abalone) slices on top of rice enriched with the dark green awabi kimo (abalone liver).  It was very well prepared.  The abalone slices were tender, and the rice picked up the“earthiness” of the liver.  Delicious and very Japanese.  

The fifth course was deceptively simple – a small piece of tofu in a small amount of broth, topped with finely sliced greens and a slice of Japanese lime.  The tofu was incredibly silky.  The clear broth was made with suppon (Japanese snapping turtle), a delicacy and a luxury.

At that point, the chef came out from the kitchen with a large stock pot in his hands.  He walked around the room and showed the pot to everybody.  Inside was an aromatic clear broth, a whole chicken and a whole fresh Korean ginseng the size of a baby’s arm.  He took the pot back into the kitchen after the parade.  And I expected a bowl of chicken soup anytime soon.

 Next was a light meat course – thin slices of cooked beef cheek, mizuna (水菜, a Kyoto leafy green) and mustard.  We rolled the meat around some vegetable to eat.

A vegetarian dish followed – thick harusame (春雨 cellophane noodles made from potato starch), soy bean sprouts, carrots, wood ear and some greens, gently dressed with sesame oil.

The eighth was deep fried chunks of bone-in fugu (blowfish).  I had the largest piece with the collar attached (bones made the fish tasted better).  The seasoning was slightly spicy hot, making the fish even more delicious.  Oishii!!

The ninth course was pork belly slices cooked in Korean hot bean paste on a hot plate.  It was accompanied by lettuce, something that looked like arugula, and ggaennip (Korean “sesame leaves”).    We wrapped the belly pieces with the leaves to eat.  The sesame leaves looked like oversized ooba but its aroma and flavor were different.

The chicken soup never came.  Instead the lady served us porridge in individual bowls.  The flavor of chicken and ginseng came through loud and clear.  There went the soup that I was waiting for. 

After ten courses, the dinner ended with “dessert” – a piece of dark green kusamochi (草餅) cut in halves.  Kusamochi is a rice cake made with yomogi (, 艾草, mugwort, wormwood).  The mochi was plain, not filled with red bean paste.  Its taste was mild with a hint of bitterness.  A satisfying way to end the dinner.

The restaurant was 韓菜酒家 ほうげ (Houba), the first Korean restaurant in Japan awarded a Michelin star.  In my opinion, the food deserved at least two stars.  But the location and the decor did not meet the Michelin inspector’s expectation for luxury as it was an ordinary people’s restaurant.  My dinner there was not only my best Korean meal but also one of my most memorable meals of all times.

Japan Cheap Eats


Japan boasts the highest number of Michelin 3-star restaurants in the world.  Its 2012 Tokyo Guide lists 292 one-, two- and three-starred restaurants.  But few Japanese can afford to eat in them.  According to the 2010 Tokyo Metropolitan Government statistics, an average household of 3 people spent ¥17,000 (roughly about US$170) eating out per month.  That amount is enough for one person eating a dinner at one of the less expensive Michelin restaurants. 

Fortunately, Tokyo has an incredibly large number of restaurants (160,000 in 2009 is the latest stat that I can find).  The majority are reasonably priced.  Many are downright cheap.  To steer the ordinary diners to the best inexpensive restaurant meals are two anti-Michelin guides -- Shominchelin (庶ミンシュラン  or Ordinary People’s Michelin) and the Meshiran.

There are many forms of cheap eats – soba, ramen, yakitori, horumon (grilled offal), and more.  I am listing three of my favorites below, not in any order.   They are Japanese fast food and they cannot be any cheaper, way below ¥1,000 for a meal.

I like Yoshinoya (吉野家), a chain that specializes in gyu-don 牛丼, rice bowl with topping of onion and beef cooked in the “sukiyaki” style.  I eat there regularly because I like the food and it is Japanese fast food.  The rice of the gyu-don is cooked properly, the very thinly sliced beef is not tough, the onion slivers are cooked through and sweet, the savory sauce with a hint of sweetness brings everything together.  That combination easily satisfies the hungry man inside me.  All these for an unbeatable ¥380.  Another ¥50 for a raw egg would make the meal almost luxurious.  By the way, tea is free and bottomless.  

Another cheap eat is tachigui (立食), which means literally “stand-up eating”.  Most tachigui places are in or near train and subway stations.  My favorite is a tachigui udon shop by the Akasaka-Mitsuke subway station in Tokyo.  In winter mornings, on my way to catch a train, I often stop there for breakfast.  Entering through a sliding door, I occupy a spot at the kitchen counter that is large enough for eight standing customers, and call out my order.  The owner cooks the thick white wheat noodle, put it in a bowl of broth and places it on the counter in front of me.  I slurp my noodle, pay and leave.  The whole process takes just a few minutes.  No one lingers as there is no room.  The tiny shop serves no drink, not even water.  If I am thirsty, which is usually the case because of the broth, I can buy a can of tea or coffee, either hot or cold, from a curb-side vending machine outside the shop.  I derive much satisfaction from the cheap meal (a bowl of plain udon is around ¥300).  I am full, warm, and ready for the day. 

Ramen shops are everywhere and there are plenty of good ones.  The prices are about the same no matter where you go.  Of the thousands and thousands of them, I happen to like Santouka (山頭火).  Its toro-niku ramen at ¥790 was very good.  Toro-niku means fatty choice pork, which turns out to be pork cheek; the slices are soft and tender.  The broth is warm instead of piping hot so that children and older people can eat the ramen easily.  However, that does not score points with many ramen connoisseurs.
  (Both Yoshinoya and Santouka are chains with branches outside Japan.  My comments are strictly for the Japanese shops.)