Tag / Japanese cooking

by findingbackroads

Hiyashi Chuka, perfect for hot summer days

One day, I felt the rush to make Hiyashi Chuka or Japanese cold noodles with tangy sauce and a lot of toppings. Despite the very hot weather, I drove to the supermarket only to buy pork ham which is one of the ingredients I prefer, out of the blue, just like that. I blame the pregnancy hormones.

Hiyashi chuka is served in restaurants in Japan only during the summer months. It is a light, healthy, easy to put together, delicious meal anyone can make!

Ingredients:

  • egg noodles (as much as you like)
  • oil for frying egg

Toppings:

  • slices of ham
  • 2 eggs
  • cucumber
  • cherry tomatoes
  • nori seaweed
  • toasted sesame seeds
  • soy sesame dressing (pictured on the right)*

* There are lots of dressing/sauce variations. I used the ready made bottle of Red Shell Sesame Soy Dressing but if you don’t have an Asian grocery store in your area, I am guessing (because I have not tried) – Italian dressing or experiment whatever salad dressing you have in your fridge and see what suits best! Amazon sells Kewpie Brand Deep-Roasted Sesame Dressing

ANOTHER SAUCE VERSION (the sesame sauce is creamy while this is watery, light, tangy and has that distinct Japanese taste)

  • 2 Tbsp Kikkoman Soy Sauce
  • 3 1/2 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp Pure Sesame Oil
  • 1/2 tsp powdered chicken stock (or bouillon)
  • 4 Tbsp water

Mix everything together.

TOPPINGS VARIATION:

The beauty of this dish is that you can make your own version according to your taste. Toss in other topping ingredients like, cooked crab stick, wakame seaweeds, strips of cooked chicken breast, celery, etc

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in pan and pour scrambled the egg (with salt). Move the pan so the egg mixture is thin. Flip then remove from pan immediately/

2. Slice the toppings lengthwise – the cucumber, ham, fried scrambled egg (like it’s shredded) and nori seaweed. Quarter the cherry tomatoes.

3. Cook the noodles according to package instructions. When cooked, run the  noodles in tap water and dip in ice water bath to chill.

4. Drain the noodles.

5. Divide the noodles into service size bowls.

6. Arrange the toppings on top of the noodles.

7. Pour the desired sauce/dressing.

DONE! Now slurp your noodles like it’s nobody’s business!

by findingbackroads

Buta no Shogayaki

Pork shogayaki

“Buta” means pork and shogayaki comes from two words, “shoga” which means ginger and “yaki” which means “fried”. Buta no shogayaki is simply Japanese pan fried ginger-flavored pork. It’s quick, easy and delicious so naturally, it’s a popular dish in Japan and you can find lunch/dinner sets of this at most Japanese restaurants. It’s sweet with the tangy twist of ginger.

This dish works best on two conditions (nothing scary, I promise): (1) Pork must be thinly sliced, like bacon thin and (2) It is important to use Mirin as sherry and other wine won’t give that authentic shogayaki taste.

grated ginger

Ingredients:

  • 200g Pork belly (very thin slice)*
  • 1 onion
  • potatoes (optional)
  • 1 Tbsp cornstarch

For MARINATE

* Dubai residents can buy thinly sliced pork belly at Spinneys Al Ghurair City branch. There are many Japanese families residing at Al Ghurair so Spinneys caters to them with these kind of specially sliced meats.

For SAUCE:

  • 3 Tbsp Japanese rice cooking wine
  • 2 Tbsp Kikkoman Soy Sauce
  • 2 Tbsp white sugar
  • 1 tsp ginger juice (squeezed from grated ginger)

Procedure:

1. Slice the meat into bite sizes and place into a small bowl. If there is pork skin attached to the meat, remove it.

thin sliced meat concat

2. Add the ingredients for MARINATE to pork and mix well. Leave for at least 10 minutes.

marinate meat

3. Mix all the ingredients for SAUCE. Set aside.

4.  Slice onions and pre-boiled potatoes (optional).

*********************************

If using potatoes (like I did because my daughter loves shogayaki with it):

Heat a small amount of oil in a non-stick frying pan and fry the cooked potatoes. Use only a little oil so the potatoes are crisp but not greasy.  Note that I boil the potatoes and cook them first before slicing and frying them.

Add salt and a dash of pepper.

fry potatoes

Cook both sides and place on a flat plate.

potatoes in plate

The potatoes doesn’t really look beautiful around the edges because they are sliced after boiled. And I don’t really have room for beautiful in the morning. I assure you, the taste is as good as good ‘ol lightly fried potatoes.

*********************************

5. Go back to the marinated meat – Drain the marinate sauce and add 1 Tbsp cornstarch to the meat. Mix with your hand until well blended.

6.  Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan and saute sliced onions until translucent.

7. Push the onion aside and add the cornstarch coated meat into the pan. Stir constantly to avoid scorching.

onion and meat

8. When the meat is no longer pink (already cooked), stir the onions together.

9. Add the sauce and let simmer for about 3 minutes.

simmer sauce

10. Pour into the fried potatoes (or into a plate if you opt out the potatoes) and serve.

Note: You can serve it on top of rice for that one bowl meal. Other variations would include serving it with finely chopped uncooked cabbage.

by findingbackroads

Simple Teriyaki Chicken

chicken teriyaki

When I wrote that Pristine and M are bringing for lunch most of the dishes I feature every Sunday on this blog, one of my blog friend, Maribeth from Dackel Princess said “I forget that no everywhere do people pack sandwiches for their lunches. Or just salads!”

Yes, my ‘thin’ folks at home have big lunches, mostly made up of rice, a main dish, some side veggies and pieces of fruits. Today’s recipe is one of their favorites. I can’t believe I’ve featured Salmon Teriyaki and Chicken Lemon Teriyaki but not the plain and simple, basic Chicken Teriyaki, without lemons. I thought I had to do this because eventhough the lemon teriyaki version is nice, sometimes a lemon-free life is also good.

Ingredients:

  • 400 grams chicken thighs (boneless, skin on)
  • Shiitake mushrooms (as much as you like)
  • spring onions or leeks (as much as you like too)
  • 1 tsp cornstarch
  • 1 Tbsp sesame oil (or any oil  you have)

Teriyaki sauce:

* Mix together in a small bowl and set aside.

Procedure:

1. Cut the chicken pieces into squares – not into strips. You can cut them into strips after cooking.

Note: Place small cuts on thick areas so it will cook through faster.

2. Sprinkle some rice wine on the chicken.

3. Cut up vegetables: shiitake mushrooms and spring onions or leeks.

Note: Using a different kind of mushroom is ok I guess but shiitake mushrooms have that very distinct Asian taste and very appropriate for this. The spring onions/leeks adds a rich aroma.

4. Heat sesame oil in a pan and pan fry the chicken pieces, placing them one by one, skin down first.

5. When the skin has turned brown, fry the other side and move to one part of the fry pan to make way for the onions and mushroom.

6. Add the mushrooms and spring onions until mushrooms become translucent.

7. Pour 3/4 of the mixed teriyaki sauce and let it simmer.

8. Add 1 tsp of cornstarch to the remaining 1/4 teriyaki sauce mixture and mix well.

9. Pour the remaining teriyaki sauce and mix well until all the chicken are completely glazed. You can turn the chicken so the other side won’t shout, “unfair!”

10. Serve on top of rice or in separate plate, like this.

chicken teriyaki

Pristine like this so much that even if she brings some of this for lunch later at school, she would request to eat it for breakfast too, like the photo on the top of this post, along with wakame miso soup. She does have a heavy breakfast!

by findingbackroads

Buta no kakuni – Japanese braised pork belly

One of my biggest fears before our move to Dubai (from Japan) was pork – or rather the “might be” absence of it in the grocery stores. After all, the United Arab Emirates is a Muslim country and pork is banned in the Muslim diet. Luckily, Dubai/the UAE is friendly to non-Muslim expats and grocery stores have this dedicated area where they keep foods like pork meat, sausages and bacon. Pork loving expats like me can’t be more grateful.

Buta no kakuni = buta (pork/pig) + kaku (square) + ni (from the word, “niru”: meaning braised/broiled) so buta no kakuni is tenderly simmered pork squares with a rich flavorful taste. I love it, my husband loves it, my friends love me for it, YOU will love it. It is a popular menu in Japanese izakayas (drinking joints) as an accompaniment to alcohol like sake or beer.

It takes a while to cook this but it is worth the time and and effort. That, I promise you.

Ingredients:

  • 500 g pork belly
  • 1 large ginger, sliced
  • 1 cup Japanese rice cooking wine
  • 4 Tbsp Kikkoman soy sauce
  • 3 Tbsp sugar
  • 1 Tbsp Mirin

buta no kakuni - ingredients

Procedure:

1.  Cut the pork belly into your desired square sizes. I don’t want to take too much time so my pork belly squares are not too big but not too small to disintegrate during cooking.

Note: If your pork belly comes with the skin and you’re perfectly ok with that, you can by all means retain the skin. We remove it.

2. Slice the ginger. Again, no preference in the sizes. I would cry if recipes call for ginger sizes, like 1 cm thick or 10 mm thin…I don’t keep rulers in my kitchen!

3. Heat a non-stick frying pan in medium fire and braise the belly WITHOUT adding oil. Do you see those white parts of the pork belly? Those shed oil so better not add anything more.

buta no kakuni - braised

Braise all sides until they are beautifully brown but not fully cooked and have lost all their spirit. Do not fry them to a crisp!

Note: Do not throw the oil from the meat – you can always use them for later, for making fried rice or stir-fried vegetables.

4. Prepare a pot and transfer the braised pork bellies and cover with water. Add the sliced ginger. Bring to boil.

buta no kakuni - simmer

5. Remove the scum that floats while it’s boiling.

6. Pour 1 cup of Japanese rice wine and cover with a drop lid (otoshibuta). If you have none, it’s ok. You can improvise by forming a piece of aluminum foil into a circle and cutting a cross in the center.

Lower the fire to prepare to simmer this for at least two hours, constantly checking on the water level (be careful not to let it all evaporate and burn your meat!) and the tenderness of the meat. The thicker the meat, the more time it will take  to cook but you already know that.

buta no kakuni - otoshi buta

By the way, the proper Japanese otoshibuta (drop-lid) looks like this:

otoshibuta

7. When the meat is tender, this is where you trasform this seemingly heart-attack menu to a healthier one by telling the extra fats that they have no place in your arteries. Do the following steps:

  • Allow the simmered pork belly to cool down
  • Refrigerate for a few hours so the fat floats
  • Either: scoop out the fats or strain using a fine cheese cloth
  • Throw the fat, retain the liquid.

8. Bring back the meat and the fat-reduced liquid and heat in low-medium fire.

9. Add the soy sauce and simmer further.

10. Lastly, add the mirin to glaze. Serve hot with vegetable accompaniment or with boiled egg. Vegetable accompaniments can be green beans, spinach. The whole boiled eggs will taste so good after leaving them in the sauce for a day.

buta no kakuni - finished 

Warning: The oh-so tender meat will melt in your mouth.

*****

Dubai/UAE residents can buy pork at the dedicated non-Muslim sections of Spinney’s, Choithrams and Al Maya supermarkets. Japanese ingredients are available at the Japanese grocery store Dean’s Fujiya, near Lamcy Plaza in Bur Dubai. Telephone no: 04-337-0401.

by findingbackroads

Lemon Teriyaki Chicken

Today’s nom nom can’t get any easier. But just because this is “easy” by no means it isn’t delicious or won’t impress even your native Japanese guests. This is one dish that will help erase that fear of Japanese cooking. I promise.

lemon teriyaki - ingredients

See? That is all we need. Tissue on the background not included – only for wiping your lips later!

Ingredients:

  • 300 g chicken thighs with skin, cut into bite size pieces
  • 2 Tbsp cornstarch
  • 2 Tbsp Japanese cooking rice wine (not on photo)
  • salt
  • pepper
  • oil (I used olive oil)
  • 4 Tbsp Kikkoman Soy Sauce*
  • 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice * (I used 1/2 medium sized lemon)
  • 2 Tbsp sugar *

Combine ingredients marked with * in a separate small bowl.

Procedure:

1. Marinate the chicken pieces with a dash of rice wine, salt and pepper. Se aside for at least 10 minutes.

Note: Don’t add too much salt as this recipe has soy sauce which is already salty. Also, it is ok to leave the chicken marinated longer than 10 minutes. No need to fret here. I do not want to be the cause of heart attacks.

2. Coat the marinated chicken pieces with cornstarch.

Now, this is another stress occuring task but there’s a get around to it!

  • Get a plastic bag and place the cornstarch there. Drain the chicken pieces and put them in the plastic bag too. Right, where the cornstarch is.

lemon teriyaki - cornstarch in a bag

  • Close the bag and gently squeeze in the chicken pieces with your hand from outside the plastic so they are evenly coated with the cornstarch.

lemon teriyaki - coating with cornstarch undirty

3. Place oil in shallow fry pan. When it’s hot, bring the fire to medium and fry the chicken pieces.

lemon teriyaki - fry chicken

4. Continue frying until all the chicken sides have turned brown. The skin should be crisp for that added ooomph factor later.

lemon teriyaki - brown chicken

5. When the chicken has been thoroughly fried all over, remove excess oil.

6. Pour the sauce on the browned chicken and mix well. Note that there isn’t much oil left just before I pour the sauce!

lemon teriyaki - add sauce

7. Serve with lettuce, cucumber or any side vegetable you like. My husband eats them off from the frying pan.

lemon teriyaki - dekiagari

The tangy taste of lemon makes a delicious twist for this simple teriyaki recipe. It’s even a good variation for the usual fried chicken. Good served with rice, by itself, to place in lunch boxes or accompanied with beer – if you’re 21 years or older!

Dozo, meshi agare (Enjoy your meal)!

*****

UAE/Dubai residents can get various Japanese ingredients from the Japanese store, Dean’s Fujiya located near Lamcy Plaza in Bur Dubai. Telephone: 04-337-0401.

by findingbackroads

Oyakodon – Japanese chicken and egg rice bowl

I have fond memories of this simple Japanese dish. I first had it while I was working part time in 1998-1999 in a traditional Japanese restaurant near the university I went to in Kanagawa, Japan. The chef would make this for me after my work shift at 11 pm (I worked after school from 6pm to 11pm on some days) and I would sit down with him and his whole family happily chattering away the time until it’s midnight and I have to bike ride back to my school dormitory.

Those were the days when I can eat late at night and not get fat. Gone are those days.

“Oyakodon” is actually a funny name – derived from two words, “Oyako” and “don”. Don comes from “donburi” which means Japanese rice dishes, those dishes that are served with rice in one bowl. “Oyako” on the other hand is derived from two words too, “Oya” (parent) and “Ko” (child). So translating “Oyakodon” in English sounds horrific – like, straight from a murder story.

Think, parent and child with rice. What!?

But if you see the ingredients you’ll find out why it’s called that.

Oyakodon ingredients

Ingredients:

  • 200 g chicken, cut into bite size pieces (I used thighs with skin)
  • 2 eggs, beaten lightly with a fork
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 1 tsp oil (I use Kadoya brand Pure Sesame Oil)
  • 1/2 tsp dashi no moto (Hon Dashi Granules) *
  • 4 tsp Kikkoman Soy Sauce*
  • 4 tsp rice cooking wine *
  • 3 tsp Mirin*
  • 2 tsp sugar *
  • 3/4 cup water *

Mix all ingredients marked * in one small bowl.

Procedure:

1. Heat sesame oil in fry pan and fry the chiken pieces with skin down.

  fry chicken pieces

Actually, this is my improvised version. You don’t need to fry the chicken but I like the brownish chicken rather than the pale one in my donburi. I will post the original version of the traditional oyakodon next time.

2. When the skin side is already brown, turn on the other sides until they get that delicious brown color, but not fried all the way.

3. When the chicken pieces have turned brown all over, set them aside in one corner of the fry pan and add the onions and fry them until they turn translucent in color.

fry onions

4. Add the liquid ingredients (*) and simmer for about 3 minutes. Sorry I didn’t count but just enough to make the chicken tender.

Oyakodon - add sauce simmer

5. Bring the heat to medium and slowly add the beaten eggs. Let it simmer uncovered for 1 minute .

Oyakodon - add egg

6. Turn off the heat and cover the frying pan.

If you want to get the egg well done and not too runny, you can increase the cooking time in low fire. Do not let it boil or else the egg will disintegrate and will not look appetizing at all.

7. Scoop warm rice on a bowl and pour the oyakodon on top. Garnish with either mitsuba (Japanese wild parsley) or cut nori seaweeds. Serve hot!

Oyakodon - finished!

Wasn’t that easy or what? Cooking time is only about 10 minutes. If you don’t have chicken pieces, you can still use the same recipe and follow everything as is (except of course the chicken part) and you got yourself another recipe, called “Tamagodon” (tamago = egg).

Dozo, meshi agare! (Enjoy your meal!)

*****

UAE/Dubai residents can get various Japanese ingredients from the Japanese store, Dean’s Fujiya located near Lamcy Plaza in Bur Dubai. Telephone: 04-337-0401.

by findingbackroads

Cold Soba Noodles, perfect for hot summer

Like Dubai, most of Japan gets hot and humid at this time of the year and my mother in-law knows that Dubai exceeds that hot and humid thing they are experiencing there.  Summer in Japan meant eating cold dishes to fight the heat. I got a heavy package a few days back and when I opened it, it was not surprising that she sent me dried soba noodles so we can have that taste of Japan summer – even inside our temperature controlled home.

dried soba noodles

Not all soba noodles are created equal as there is a different soba noodle in terms of texture, taste and color in different prefectures (provinces) in Japan. I lived in Nagano Prefecture, popular with Shinano or Shinshu soba noodles made with 100% buckwheat flour and water and nothing else. This soba variation is too starchy for me. However, Niigata Prefecture (my husband’s hometown) being a coastal area, adds seaweed (funori) as a bonding agent for their soba noodles. Along with the rich taste of high quality buckwheat, the seaweed adds smoothness in the soba. The one in the middle of the photo is from my mother in-law.

Okay…enough of the Soba 101 lesson. Let’s get to the recipe. It’s really simple – one of those quickie Japanese meals you can do and enjoy.

 Noodles:

  • 100 g per person (most dried soba noodle packs come in 100 g bundles)

You can try the Hakubaku Organic Soba, Authentic Japanese Buckwheat Noodles sold online at Amazon.

Dipping sauce:

Combine everything in a pan, let boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Let it cool. You can do this ahead of time and store in the refrigerator.

* Making your own dashi stock

Boil water with sea kelp. Add bonito flakes, simmer more. Drain the bonito flakes, remove the sea kelp. Store for future use.

MenTsuyu

THE EASY WAY: Buy a concentrated tsuyu or mentsuyu then thin it out with water —>>>

Condiments (either one or all if you like):

  • Chopped spring onions (the white stalk part only) – for me this is a must
  • Toasted sesame seeds
  • Grated wasabi
  • Shichimi tohgarashi (7 kinds of pepper)
  • Chopped shiso leaves – if this is available 

1. Boil water in a big pot.

2. Like how you would cook pasta, add the dried soba noodles in the boiling water. But unlike cooking pasta that requires a ‘rolling boil’, reduce fire to medium so the noodles are just simmering.

3. Depending on the noodles and the cooking directions written on the package, cook the soba noodles for 7-8 minutes or test by easting a strand. It should be cooked well, not al dente like pasta or overcooked mushy.

4. When the soba noodles are cooked, drain them into a colander.

5. Fill the pot with running cold water and return the cooked soba. Yes, you rinse it with cold water to get that starchy smell and texture.

6. Gently swish the noodles with your hand and take a small amount out of the cold water. Allow water to drip off before placing in the zaru or bamboo slats (this serves as a strainer to drain excess water out).

We love our soba noodles cold so after rinsing in cold water, I immerse them in water with ice because the cold water tap in Dubai is not that cold.

soba in ice water

7. Sprinkle thin slices of nori seaweed in the soba noodles. You can buy pre-cut nori seaweed in most Japanese grocery stores. If you have the nori sheets the size of an A4 paper, you can improvise and cut it yourself (like what I did).

zaru soba

8. Place the soba mentsuyu (dipping sauce) in small bowls and serve.

cold soba

Dozo, meshi-agare (Enjoy your meal) !

*****

UAE/Dubai residents can get various Japanese ingredients from the Japanese store, Dean’s Fujiya located near Lamcy Plaza in Bur Dubai. Telephone: 04-337-0401.

by findingbackroads

Salmon Teriyaki

This week’s recipe is for my good friend Arnel, who lives in Dubai and frequently queues at Ikea’s restaurant for their famous Swedish Salmon dish. He had been wondering if there’s any other way to cook salmon and I say, there is! So, here’s the Japanese way – Salmon Teriyaki for him, and for all of you.

Teriyaki: comes from the two words, teri (glaze) + yaki (broil/fry/barbecue)

The ingredients (from left to right): Ryori shu (Japanese rice wine for cooking), Mirin (sweet fermented sauce), Soy sauce (I use Kikkoman Soy Sauce), salmon (any cut you like), spring onions, oil and a bit of sugar and flour (not pictured).

salmon teriyaki ingredients

From left to right: Japanese rice wine for cooking, Mirin, Kikkoman soy sauce then salmon slice and spring onions (the stalk part only).

When you’ve decided to cook Japanese dishes, having these three seasonings is a must, as it is staple in most Japanese cuisine.

Procedure:

1. Wash the salmon with 1 Tbsp of rice wine. This will reduce that fishy smell. Pat kitchen towel so the fish won’t be too wet.

2. In 1:1 ratio, prepare the teriyaki sauce.

For one slice of salmon, use 2 Tbsp each of rice wine, mirin and soy sauce. Add 1 tsp of sugar and mix thoroughly. You have an option of not adding sugar but my daughter loves it more if there’s a hint of sweetness in the teriyaki sauce.

3. Cut the onion, retaining only the white stalks.

4. Coat the salmon lightly with flour.

5. Heat the frying pan and add a bit of oil (I use olive oil+sesame oil because it smells good)

6. On medium heat, fry the flour coated salmon.

fry salmon

7. Using a frying laddle, take a peek the bottom side. When the other side is brown, flip the fish over and continue frying.

8. Add the spring onion stalks to the frying pan. If you’re using a bit of sesame oil, your kitchen should smell like a real Japanese kitchen now.

add spring onions

Note: Stir the onions frequently but no need to cook them completely.

9. Remember that teriyaki sauce? Now it’s their time to boogie. Add to the frying pan and let it simmer for about a minute or two. Putting the flame on high at this time will help release the alcohol out of the rice wine and put the mirin and soy sauce’s aroma in perfect mode.

teriyaki simmer

Note: I don’t flip the fish at this point but using a spoon, I glaze the top part with the simmering sauce.

10. Serve immediately.salmon teriyaki

Dozo, meshi agare (Enjoy your meal)!

*****

UAE/Dubai residents can get various Japanese ingredients from the Japanese store, Dean’s Fujiya located near Lamcy Plaza in Bur Dubai. Telephone: 04-337-0401.

by findingbackroads

Miso Soup with Wakame Seaweed

I’ve been cooking Japanese food for more than 10 years now. It’s hard to imagine that I’ll actually come to love Japanese cooking especially when I recall how I detest the taste and smell of some Japanese dishes when I first came to Japan 14 years ago.

I have friends prodding me to show them how to cook Japanese dishes and I thought I’d start this weekly feature on my blog to share with friends who can’t come visit me in my kitchen.

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First up is basic miso soup with wakame (Pristine’s favorite). Miso soup or miso-shiru is a traditional Japanese soup present in most (if not every!) Japanese meal. I’ll tell you my first encounter with miso soup 14 years ago – I was scared to touch it! To me it smelled and looked weird. When I stirred my soup bowl, it looked like I was served an aquarium with foggy water!

But because it is present in our every meal at the dormitory canteen, I came to like it. Unbelievable but true. So off with the recipe!

The ingredients: Wakame Seaweed (dried), Red Miso Paste, Hon Dashi Granules and spring onions. Simple, eh?

wakame soup ingredients

For non-Japanese speakers/readers, the miso is the one on the left (I tilted the package), the box with the blue fish is the dashi granules – dashi gives flavor to the soup and is a basic ingredient in most Japanese dishes. The green plastic on the right is the dried wakame seaweed.

1. Get a small pot and fill it with water 3/4 to the brim. Allow the water to boil.

2. For the meantime, place water in small bowl and add two pinches of dried wakame seaweed. This packed dried wakame is deceiving, you’d think it’s expensive but they’ll last long because they expand TEN FOLD!

wakame expand

3. When the water boils, add dashi granules then add the expanded wakame. Do not overcook the wakame seaweed.

4.  After about 2 minutes, add a spoonful of miso paste to the boiling soup, carefully stirring to avoid miso lumps.

putting miso paste

Note: You can avoid miso lumps by doing either: (1) Removing a small amount of soup from the boiling pot, place in a separate bowl and adding the miso paste, mixing it thoroughly or (2) Placing the miso paste in a strainer then immersing the strainer in the dashi soup while pressing the miso through the sieve at the back of the spoon.

With this first recipe feature, I confess to the world: I am a shortcut cook. Some Japanese cooking require tedious and meticulous work, those things that scare foreign people from making it. My quest is to make it more simple, easy and encouraging for other non-Japanese folks to try!

Where were we? Sorry, I talk too much.

5. Right after adding the miso paste, lower the fire and add the sliced spring onions. Do not let it boil. Remove from fire and serve.

miso soup with meal

Miso soup is the one on the left. Others on the mat are vinegared cucumber salad (also with wakame), a bowl of takikomi gohan (rice cooked with seasonings, vegetables and sometimes, meat) and a glass of mugi cha (barley tea).

Whew, I didn’t know writing about a basic miso soup recipe would require a long post! But see? it’s simple and not so scary at all!

Dozo, meshi agare! (Enjoy your meal!)

*****

UAE/Dubai residents can get various Japanese ingredients from the Japanese store, Dean’s Fujiya located near Lamcy Plaza in Bur Dubai. Telephone: 04-337-0401.