Brown Rice

Brown Rice

If you are not Japanese but you love white rice,
or you have the custom of eating white rice like Japanese people,
I would like to recommend trying some brown rice called Genmai in Japanese.


We Japanese have the custom of eating white rice a lot,
because white rice is a food that is easier to chew than other kinds of rice.

Certainly, white rice is so delicious as it's sleek and soft,
but some nutrition has been taken away.


Rice is an essential part of a balanced diet.
But you know, when we make white rice from brown rice,
the good nutritious components are lost with the bran from the brown rice.

So, I’d like to introduce this kind of rice called Bijin Genmai.



This is a kind of brown rice which is a mixture of brown rice, black rice and soybeans.

I recommend this rice because this one contains a lot of minerals, vitamins and fiber.

Modern people tend to easily lack these kinds of nutrition in their diet.

Also, this rice includes black rice, and black rice contains polyphenol like anthocyanin,
which gives your body many health benefits.


If you are interested in this rice, please check my recipe!

Hyperlink is here Recipes

Botamochi

Spring is coming! 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

We call the equinoctial week ‘Higan’ in Japan.
During the week we go to our ancestors’ tombs for cleaning
and we make an offering of sweets called ‘botamochi’.

About one week later there are a lot of cherry blossoms in bloom.
It is the best season in Japan.

So when making ‘botamochi’ we know that spring is coming just around the corner.

Now I’m going to show you how to make it.

　　

Ingredients (for 20 balls)

Azuki beans (300g) ※ red beans
Sugar (400g)
Glutinous rice (3 cups)
Rice (1/2 cup)
Salt (1 tsp)


Recipe

　① Wash the azuki beans and cook them with water
　　　(filled to a level about 2~3cm above the azuki beans) on a middle flame.
②　Drain the hot water after boiling, then pour new water into the pan and cook them again.
　　Repeat this action twice.
③　After that, add some water to about a level 10cm above the azuki beans,
　　　and then cook them for about 2 hours, until the water is at the same level as the azuki beans.
④　During this time leave the washed rice for about 1 hour.
　⑤ Add the washed glutinous rice and cook them with 4 cups of water.
⑥　When the rice has cooked, cool it and after mix well until the rice shape has separated.
⑦　Make 20 rice balls.
⑧　Check the azuki beans have become soft.
　　　If they are soft add half the sugar and then put them on a higher flame for about 5 minutes.
⑨　Add the rest of the sugar and puddle the bottom of the pan to prevent burning.
⑩　Put the salt into the pan and mix well, then use a strong flame for removing the excessive water.
⑪　Stop the flame when the azuki beans have flopped from the ladle.
⑫　When the azuki beans have cooled, cover the rice balls with them.
⑬　Serve and enjoy!

皮から餃子

　　　春ってだけで、なんだかとってもやる気が起こる　
　　　お掃除も捗るし、わんことの散歩も歩数が増える　
　　　満開の桜がそよ風にのって、ひらひらと舞う中をお散歩していたら
　　　気分も絶好調　

　　　今日は、餃子の皮から手づくりしてしまった　

　　　　材料　

　　　強力粉　１００ｇ
　　　薄力粉　　５０ｇ
　　　水　　　　７５ｇ
　　　塩　　　　　少々

　　　材料をビニール袋に量り入れ、全体が十分混ざるように、コネコネする。
　　　生地が均一になり纏まったら、棒状にして一時間冷蔵庫へ。
　　　冷蔵庫からだし、20等分に切る。

　　　

　　　麺棒で丸く延ばす。
　
　　　

　　　餃子の具を20等分にして、包んでいく。

　　　

　　　絶妙な焼き加減になるように焼く。

　　　

　　　出来上がり～　

　　　餃子のできは別として・・・
　　　春って、いいなぁ　

Mentaiko spaghetti

　Mentaiko spaghetti　　　　　　　　　　

Japanese people love eating fish.
When we say fish, the most famous is sushi, which is raw fish,
but this time I’m going to tell you about mentaiko spaghetti,
which contains raw fish eggs.
Have you ever heard of mentaiko or karashimentaiko?
Mentaiko is the ovary from the Alaskan Pollack.
We use this ovary seasoned with hot pepper and other seasoning, and is not cooked with heat.
If we don't use hot pepper then we call it tarako. Both of them are eaten raw mostly,
and they are very popular food for Japanese.
By just dressing spaghetti with this recipe you can make a delicious dish easily.
Why don't you try it?!

Ingredients (for two servings):

Spaghetti (200g)
Mentaiko (60g) 　
Mayonnaise (2 tbsp)
Soy sauce (1 tsp)
Egg yolk (1)
Mizuna (to taste; if you don’t have it, use green leaves)
Butter (10g)
Seaweed (a little)

Recipe:

1.Pull the mentaiko’s eggs from its coat
2.Mix well the mayonnaise, yolk, soy sauce and mentaiko.
3.Wash the mizuna, and cut it into convenient slices.
4.Boil the spaghetti. After cooking, mix with the butter.
5.Dress the spaghetti with the mentaiko sauce, then put the washed mizuna on top.
6.Serve the spaghetti on a plate, and then sprinkle with the cut seaweed.
7. Enjoy!

Doll's Festival

　Sakuramochi

　　　

It is the Dolls’ Festival, which is held on the 3rd of March in Japan.
If your family includes girls, you would have a celebration with your family for the girls on this day.
In Japan, we display the 'Hina' dolls in our house, then we pray for the girls
to grow up in good health.
The most popular things for the day are eating ‘Sakuramochi’ or ‘Hina arare’, or drinking ‘Shirosake’.
This time I’m going to show you how to make 'Sakuramochi',
which is a sweet dessert especially for the Doll’s Festival in Japan.
The dessert's colour is pink and is made with cherry leaves.
'Sakura' means cherry tree in Japanese, and the pink colour comes from cherry blossom.

Ingredients (for 6 servings):

Flour 40g
Refined rice flour( called 'Shiratamako' ) 20g
Water 130ml
Sugar 2 tbsp
Food red colouring (in minute amounts)
Sweet red-bean paste ( called 'Koshian' ) 150g
Cherry leaves (pickled) 6 leaves


The picture is a refined rice flour bag, sweet red-bean paste and food red colouring.


Recipe:

①　Mix the refined rice flour and water well, then add the flour and sugar and mix all of them with a whisk gently.
②　Leave the mixture for 30 mins. After 30 mins put the food red colouring in it, then mix.
③　Roll 6 balls of the sweet red-bean paste.
④ Remove the salt from the pickled cherry leaves by soaking them in water for one hour.
⑤　Fry the dough in the frying pan on both sides, making 6 sheets.



⑥　Roll the sweet red-bean paste ball with the fried dough and then roll them with a cherry leaf.
⑦　Enjoy!


Unfortunately, I couldn't get the cherry leaves


　Refer to the page 　HYPERLINK Recipe

讃岐うどん

　　　　　

　　　かけうどん　　　　　　　　と　　　　　　　釜揚げうどん　

　　　いつの間にかオープンしていた古市場のうどん屋さん。
　　　香川県出身の讃岐うどんらしい・・・。

　　　四国に行ったとき、わざわざ讃岐うどんを食べに立ち寄ったことがあるが、
　　　初めて本場で食べたうどんは、びっくりするほど美味しかった　
　　　
　　　ピヨ吉の通勤経路の途中にオープンしたこのお店。
　　　ヤツが見逃すはずもなく、早速土曜日のお昼に食べに行ってみた　

　　　すごいよ　
　　　セルフサービススタイルのお店は、長蛇の列。。。
　　　皆さん、さすがです。情報が早いのね　

　　　私たちは、シンプルに上の二点をご注文。
　　　付け合せに天ぷらも数点付け加え、全部で千円はお安いかも　
　　　しかも、お味もばっちり　

　　　安くて、早くて、美味しくて　
　　　近くにできてくれて、嬉しいゎ～

　　　美味しいうどん屋さんはこちら　　丸亀製麺

　　　

Osechi Ryouri

Osechi Ryouri 　　

Osechi Ryouri is the traditional Japanese food prepared in advance for consumption during the first three days of the New Year and which contains various specified ingredients.
I've introduced some of these on the 5th of January on my blog, so this time I’ll show you how to make these dishes.


The first dish is called Kuri Kinton.



This Kuri Kinton dish uses chestnuts and sweet potatoes, therefore the taste is sweet. As the dish’s colour is gold, Japanese people think that it brings a lot of money. So this dish augurs well for starting a new year.

Ingredients:

Chestnuts in syrup 　　 10 chestnuts
Syrup from chestnuts 　　50cc from the bottle
Sweet potatoes　　　　　　300g
Sugar　　　　　　　　　　　700g～100g　(depending on the sweet potatoes'taste )
Salt　　　　　　　　　　　　a little
Hot water used for boiling sweet potatoes　　　　　 100cc

Recipe:
1. Peel the potatoes and cut them in round slices, then soak them in plenty of water for one hour.
2. Next, boil them until they become soft, so something like a bamboo skewer can stick into them easily.
3. Take the boiling water (100cc) from the sweet potatoes' pan.
4. Drain off the other water from the sweet potatoes, then mash them with a food processor (mixer) or pass the sweet potatoes through a sieve.
5. After then, put 4 in a pan together with the ingredients (except for the chestnuts) and cook them on a low flame.
6. Finally, put the chestnuts in the 5 pan.
7. Serve and enjoy!



The next dish is 'Kobmaki'.


'Kobu' is a kind of sea weed and the pronunciation of 'kobu' is similar to ‘yorokobu’ , meaning 'feels delight'. Japanese people like to believe in omens, so this dish is popular as a New Year’s dish as well.

Ingredients;


Salmon 　　 2
Kobu sea weed 　　　10cm×16
Kanpyo ( dried gourd strip )　　 30cm×16
A 　　Sugar 　　　2 tbsp
　　　　Sake 　　　　1 tbsp
　　　　Mirin ( Sweet sake ) 　　1 tbsp
　　　　Soy sauce 　　　4 tbsp
　　　　Soup stock　　　 1/4 tsp

Recipe;
1.　Wipe the kobu with wet towel, then soak the kobu in plenty of water.
2.　Wash the kanpyo and rub it with salt.
3.　Cut the salmon 16 cuts and put it on the kobu edge and roll it, lastly bind it by the kanpyo. See the picture below ↓.

4. Put them in a pan not ride each other, and then put water which used kobu soaking, then boil it with it’s cover for over one hour.
5. Lastly, put A ingredients and soup stock, then boil it.
6. Ready!

お節料理

　　　
　　　　　　

　　　お正月はやっぱりお節　
　　　『昆布巻き』と『栗きんとん』
　　　お気に入りの二品を手作りしてみました　
　　　作り方は次回ご紹介　

　　　I made these dishes for the new year day.
　　　I'll show you how to make them next time.
　　　See you soon

あんこう鍋

　　　Sea toad Nabe

　　　My husband named piyokichi really likes the dish called Sea toad Nabe　
　　　Then, the year before last we boght a Nabe pack for Sea toad, but piyokichi wasn't fully satisfied.
　　　So last year we went to Ibaraki prifecture to eat the sea toad nabe,
　　　where it is a speciality of them.
　　　But my husband didn't say yes for the taste, again.

　　　Well... It is the time, I do !
　　　Fortunitely we could get the good sea toad at a supermarket,
　　　As a good chef I am, I tried the dish readly.　
　　　But it was the first time I did, I saw to refer to a site for this 　あんこう鍋

　　　Recipe

　　　See the picture below if you like, please
　　　The first picture is the sea toad.
　　　You can eat everything, we don't have anything waste.
　　　The ingredient on the plate in the first one is a liver of sea toad.
　　　You can see...as if it is awful But this is very important for the dish.
　　　The second one is vegetables, you can use anything you like.
　　　I used these of this picture, which my father growed,
　　　named the Japanese radish, carrot, komatsuna is like a spinach, leeks, Japanese cabbage, mizuna.
　　　Flavoring...
　　　Soup stock 5 cups, Miso 80g, soysauce 1/4 cup, sake 1/4 cup, mirin 2tbsp.

　　　①　Wash these vegetables and cut them.
　　　②　Boil a generous quantity of water, then cook the sea toad for 30min. and then cool it in the cold water immediately.
　　　③　Beat the liver of sea toad with a back of a nife, then roast it in a pan.
　　　④　When the liver roasted, put the flavourings in the pan.
　　　⑤　Put the ingredients (the vegetables, sea toad, the flavorings) together in a Nabe, then cook.
　　　⑥　When it boiled, serve it. Enjoy!

　　　This time my husband was satisfied with this
　　　You know...I made it

　　　Sea toad includings a lot of collagen, so it makes your beautiful skin!
　　　And I think it helps your antiaging.
　　
　　　ピヨ吉は、あんこう鍋が好き　
　　　一昨年は、近くのスーパーで買った「あんこう鍋セット」を食べたが、
　　　不完全燃焼　
　　　昨年は、茨城県まで「あんこう鍋を食べるツアー」に出掛けたが、
　　　これまた辛すぎて、納得がいかなかったようだ。

　　　そこで、今回は名シェフの出番　
　　　なかなか鮮度のいいあんこうが手に入ったので、
　　　早速我が家で挑戦することに　
　　　参考にしたのは、こちらのページ　　あんこう鍋

　　　作り方

　　　材料はあんこう　
　　　ちょっとグロい感じだけど、余すとこなく全部食べられます　
　　　そして野菜類　
　　　お好きな野菜を何でもどうぞ～！
　　　我が家はヨシオ産の、白菜・小松菜・ネギ・大根・人参・水菜など　
　　　きのこ類があると、美味しさもかも。
　　　味付けの調味料は
　　　・出汁　５カップ
　　　・味噌　８０ｇ（となっていたが、これだとかなりしっかりした味になるので、
　　　　　　　　　　調節したほうが良いかも）
　　　・醤油　１/４カップ
　　　・酒　　１/４カップ
　　　・みりん　大さじ２

　　　①　野菜は洗って、食べやすい大きさにきる
　　　②　あんこうの身を、たっぷり目のお湯に３０秒ほどくぐらせ、
　　　　　すぐに冷水にとる
　　　③　あんこうの肝（写真皿）を包丁で叩き、空炒りして、そこに調味料を足す。
　　　④　なべに材料を入れ、煮る
　　　⑤　煮えたら召し上がれ～　

　　　う～ん　
　　　これはかなり美味しいぞ～　
　　　使ったあんこうが、けっこう新鮮で良質だったためか、
　　　本場茨城の某ホテル（in　日立）で食べたものよりもかなり美味しい　
　　　これには味にうるさいピヨ吉も唸っていました　
　　　どうだ～！　参ったか～！

　　　※　出来上がりの写真、食べ終わって空になってから、撮っていない！と
　　　　　気がつきました　

Yosenabe

　　　

　　　Nabe is a cooking pot or pan.
　　　We use Donabe , which is a kind of nabe, when we make nabe dishes,
　　　like in the picture above.
　　　Nabe is a collective term for stew; we use a lot of ingredients in it.
　　　Yosenabe is a one-pot dish.
　　　It is cooked at the table with a table stove,
　　　and served from the pot directly.
　　　These kinds of dishes are popular in winter in Japan.
　　　So nabe is a traditional dish for Japanese.

　　　Now, I'll tell you how to cook it.

　　　 Ingredients

　　　
　　　　 Oysters, filleted cod, crab, grilled tofu.


　　　　 Chinese cabbage, carrot, shiiteke mushroom,
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　mizuna, komatsuna.
　　　　
　　　　　Soy sauce 1 : Mirin 1 : Sake 1 : Soup stock 8

　　　 recipe


　　　　
　　　①　Wash these vegetables and cut them into an appropriate size.
　　　　　（ As in the pictures above. )
　　　②　Cut the seafood and the tofu into convenient slices.
　　　③　Mix the soy sauce, mirin, sake and soup together in the nabe then boil.
　　　④　Put the seafood, tofu and vegetables in the nabe, then cook.

　　　　

　　　If you can get Ponzu sauce, you can use it instead of the soy sauce, mirin, sake and soup stock.
　　　⑤　Serve and enjoy!

　　　　

　　　Recently, some of us use an electric one instead of an earthenware nabe,
　　　which is like the picture above.