Oyakodon – Simmered Chicken, Onion, and Egg Over Rice

It’s turned chilly here since yesterday. It finally feels like November I would say. Coincidentally, yesterday was officially the first day of winter according to the Japanese calender. Despite the colder temperatures, it still doesn’t really feel like fall to me quite yet. More of a late fall feeling.

On a different note, Hisa and I decided to cancel our honeymoon trip to Thailand. If you’ve been watching the news, then you’ve probably heard about the horrible flooding that’s been going on there. It’s the worst flooding in Thailand in 50 years. It started up north, and has been gradually moving south. It finally hit Bangkok, and has pretty much gone from bad to worse, with no improvement in site.

Although the island in Thailand we were planning on spending the second half of our trip has not been effected by the flooding, we were planning on spending the first half of our trip in Bangkok. Plus, the international airport is in Bangkok, and in danger of being flooded as well.

We realized that there was a very good chance that if we went to Thailand, the airport could flood and close while we were there, consequently leaving us stuck in Thailand. We would then probably miss our flight back to the U.S., Hisa’s visa would expire, and we would have to do the whole visa process again <insert horrific blood-curdling scream here>. There is no way in heck I’m going through that visa process again, filling out all that paper work, paying all that money, making all those trips to the U.S. Embassy. Heck. No.

So, we decided it would probably be safer to cancel our trip. Instead, we’re going to be traveling in Japan. Neither of us has ever been to Kyushu (the large southern island of Japan), so we’re thinking of flying to Kyushu, and traveling back up north via bullet train, stopping at various cities along the way. It may not be as exciting as visiting a foreign country (I no longer consider Japan as a foreign country. It’s just home #2), but it’ll still be a lot of fun I think.

Oyakodon, is one of my favorite Japanese donburi dishes (donburi is basically something served on top of steamed rice).

“Oyako” translates as “parent and child,” and “don” is simply short for “donburi”. It’s called parent and child donburi, because it’s simmered chicken and egg on top of steamed rice. Get it? The parent is the chicken, and the child is the egg. … Is that kind of morbid? Maybe. But it’s still really good!

This is a very simple, but delicious and filling dish. The egg is usually added at the last minute, and the dish is served with egg only partially cooked, but if semi-raw egg grosses you out, or you don’t have access to very fresh eggs (U.S. supermarket eggs do not count), then you can cook the egg completely before serving it.

Heat a little oil in a skillet. Add one chopped onion, and one large chicken breast cut into bite-sized pieces. I like to add a little bit of carrot, cut up into matchsticks, but that’s not normally in oyakodon. I just like adding a bit more vegetable to the dish.

Cook everything over medium heat until the onion is translucent, and the chicken is almost completely cooked.

Add 2/3 c. bonito fish soup stock (Japanese dashi, or you can use veggie or chicken stock), 2 Tbsp. cooking sake, 2 Tbsp. mirin (sweet cooking sake), and 2 Tbsp. sugar. I actually added a little too much stock here, so yours will have slightly less liquid in it. Bring it to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer, and let simmer for about 5 minutes.

Add 2 1/2 Tbsp. soy sauce, and continue simmering for another 2 – 3 minutes.

Fill two deep serving bowls with white steamed rice (enough for one person in each bowl). In a small bowl, beat 2 eggs together. Slowly drizzle egg mixture over the chicken onion mixture, and turn heat to low.

Let egg cook briefly on a low heat. If you’re using very fresh eggs, turn off the heat when the eggs are not quite completely cooked, cut the mixture in half, and gently scoop one half into each bowl, on top of the rice. Spoon as much of the remaining liquid over each bowl as you want. You want some liquid to reach the rice, but you don’t want it soupy.

You can serve this with thinly sliced green onions on top, but as I don’t like raw onions (eww), I don’t.

Enjoy you’re chicken, onion, eggy, rice mixture of joy!

 

Oyakodon

(serves 2)

• 2 servings of steamed rice
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 large chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/3 c. matchstick carrots (optional)
• 2/3 c. bonito fish stock (aka dashi) (or chicken stock or vegetable stock)
• 2 Tbsp. cooking sake
• 2 Tbsp. mirin (sweet cooking sake)
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 green onion, sliced thinly for garnish (optional)

1. In a medium sized skillet, heat a little oil over medium heat. Add onion, chicken, and carrot. Saute until onion is translucent, and chicken is almost completely cooked, about 5 – 6 minutes.
2. Add bonito stock, sake, mirin, and sugar. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer. Let simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 5 – 7 minutes.
3. Add soy sauce, and simmer for about 2 – 3 more minutes.
4. Add steamed rice to two deep serving bowls.
5. Turn heat down to low, and slowly drizzle beaten egg in evenly over the chicken mixture. Let cook briefly.
6. When egg is almost completely cooked (but still partially raw*), turn off heat. Divide mixture in half, and gently scoop half into each bowl, on top of the rice. Garnish with green onion and serve immediately.

*If you do not have access to very fresh eggs, or you’re not sure if you’re eggs are fresh or not, I recommend you completely cook the egg before serving this dish. If you chose to serve the egg partially raw, you do so at your own risk. In Japan it’s quite common to eat raw egg in various dishes, but Japanese eggs are MUCH fresher than eggs in the U.S.

Japanese Curry Soup

They were showing “Star Wars – Return of the Jedi” last night on TV.

…in Japanese.

Usually when they show movies on TV in Japan, they’re bilingual. Most TVs have the option of changing the language to either the original language (for non-Japanese movies) or the dubbed Japanese version.

I have nothing against dubbing, but personally I would much rather see movies (and TV shows) in their original language with subtitles.

So you see, I’ve always been highly appreciative of the language change function on TVs, and I’ve always used that function, as seeing a lot of Hollywood movies dubbed in Japanese is just not my thing. Especially when it’s a movie I’ve seen many times and that is dear to me, it just weirds me out seeing all the characters speaking Japanese.

Unfortunately, for reasons unknown, when Japanese television switched to digital from analog this past summer, our TV mysteriously lost the ability to switch languages for foreign movies and TV shows.

Thus, Hisa and I ended up watching the second half of “Return of the Jedi” on TV last night in Japanese.

At first, I thought it was just too weird to watch, but after awhile, it began to turn amusing for me. I actually burst out laughing the first time I heard Darth Vader speak, and Luke sounded extremely girly.

The only character whom the Japanese voice over worked really well for was… you guessed it, Yoda.

Sadly, after the movie I went to bed, had weird dreams, and slept badly, again.

I blame the Japanese-speaking Darth Vader.

Japanese curry soup is a wonderful, hearty, spicy stew that’s absolutely perfect for a chilly fall night. It’s also a nice change from your thicker regular curry.

This soup is full of rich vibrant flavors, but a small warning. This soup is not something you can whip up 30 minutes or even an hour before dinner time. This soup takes time. Around three to three and a half hours to be precise.

If you want to prepare something a little special for someone, or you’re home on a cold cloudy day with time to spare, this is the recipe for you. You won’t be disappointed!

And now, one word of caution. If you use a regular blender to blend the soup in batches, be sure you let the soup cool sufficiently before you blend it! If you try to blend it while it’s still super hot, it may splatter out of the blender all over everything, including you. The first time I ever made this soup I made that mistake, and I still have the burn scars on my arm where the soup splattered on me to prove it. I recommend making this soup early in the day, and then turning the heat off and letting it cool after it’s finished simmering for two hours. When dinner time rolls around, you can just blend the soup and then re-heat it. Easy peasy.

I definitely need a bigger pot.

Serve with steamed rice or fresh nan bread.

Japanese Curry Soup

(serves 6)

• 4 onions, diced
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 1 apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
• 1 dried chili, diced
• 1 chunk dark chocolate
• 2 tsp. cumin
• 2 tsp. dried coriander
• 2 tsp. tumeric
• dash black pepper
• 1 – 2 tsp. garam masala  (depending on how spicy you want it)
• 2 tsp. curry powder
• 1 can tomatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 c. chicken stock
• 1 carrot, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• Any meat and vegetables you want (recommended: chicken, potato, carrot, bell pepper, sweet potato, squash, broccoli, etc.)

1. Heat olive oil in a very large pot over medium heat. Add onions and saute until amber brown and paste-like in texture (about 20 minutes).
2. Add ginger, garlic, and apple to pot, and continue cooking for about 5 minutes, mashing well.
3. Add spices, chocolate, chili, and cook for 5 more minutes.
4. Add tomatoes and mix. Continue cooking until thickened to a heavy paste. Add stock and increase heat to boiling.
5. Lower heat to simmering and add carrot, celery, and bay leaves.
6. Simmer for two hours, stirring occasionally.
7. Use an immersion blender to blend soup, or let cool and then blend in batches in a blender. Return to pot and re-heat.
8. Boil, fry, or roast chicken and vegetables. Add to serving bowls, and pour soup over meat and vegetables. Serve with steamed rice or nan bread.

 

 

Today’s Lunch

Have you ever had (or heard of) Japanese takikomi gohan?

The name basically means “mixed rice”, and it’s just that. The uncooked rice is seasoned, usually with some type of stock and soy sauce, and then vegetables, mushrooms, meat and/or fish are added, and it’s all cooked together. It’s a nice change from regular steamed rice every now and then.

You can add basically anything you want to it. For mine, I added carrot, shiitake mushrooms, burdock root, and small pieces of chicken.

Today’s lunch: Japanese mixed rice (takikomi gohan), griled salmon, stir-fried burdock root and carrot (kinpira gobo), and a persimmon

 

Baked Japanese Croquettes (korokke)

I had this dream last night that the Joker was after me, trying to kill me.

This wasn’t the crazy kooky, but kinda funny Joker from the Batman cartoons either. This was the psychotic evil turn your blood cold Joker ala The Dark Knight.

That’s bad enough, but this dream continued..

all..

night..

long.

I tired everything to get away, and went everywhere. A hotel, a shopping mall, a movie theater, etc. I don’t recall how I ended up at those places, but I think my subconscious mind thought crowded places would be safer. Unfortunately, they were not. No matter where I escaped to, the Joker kept finding me…

Needless to say, I’m feeling a little tired this morning.

The thing about coming from a family of really creative people, and being a creative person, is that you have a tendency to have, how shall I put it, vivid dreams. Sometimes this means really awesome dreams, but other times it means really terrifying/creepy/disturbing nightmares. At least in my experience. Who knows though, maybe it’s just my family, ha!

You know, I’d never had croquettes until I came to Japan. Of course, croquettes aren’t really a Japanese food, but they’ve been assimilated into Japanese cuisine so thoroughly that it almost seems like they are. They’re usually made with potatoes and ground beef or pork, but kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) croquettes, or korokke as they’re called here, are also common.

I decided to make the more common potato and meat korokke recently, but wanted to bake them rather than the usual deep frying, because deep frying things freaks me out (all that hot oil! Ah!) I wanted to make a healthier version.

I’m happy to say they turned out very well, and didn’t taste that different from their fried counterparts (in my opinion at least).

Korokke are often served with shredded cabbage and covered with Japanese korokke sauce. I have no idea what this sauce is made of, and in Japan, it’s simply called “sauce” (which I find very mysterious). You can probably find it in a Japanese/Asian grocery store if you look for. Korokke are also often eaten with ponzu (a sauce that’s a combination of soy sauce and citrus juice), which I think normal grocery stores in the U.S. carry nowadays. Honestly though, these are just fine without any sauce to accompany them.

Baked Japanese Croquettes (Korokke)

(makes about 8 korokke)

• 4 medium Russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1/4 lb. ground beef or pork or a mixture
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 Tbsp. butter
• 1 Tbsp. cream or milk
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 egg
• 1 c. flour (approximately)
• 1 c. panko bread crumbs (approximately)

 

1. Boil potatoes in a large pot until tender. Drain and mash. Add butter and milk, and mix well.
2. In a skillet over medium heat, brown ground beef until completely cooked. Drain off any fat, and add meat to potato mixture and mix well.
3. Add nutmeg to potato meat mixture, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Let cool.
4. Shape mixture into 8 slightly flat oval-shaped patties, and place them on a baking paper lined cooking sheet. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour (this step is optional, but I find that refrigerating the patties helps them keep their shape and not fall apart).
5. In a skillet over medium heat, toast panko bread crumbs, stirring often, until they turn brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
6. Pre-heat oven to 400° F (200° C).
7. Add bread crumbs to one bowl. Add egg to another bowl and beat well. Add flour to another bowl. Remove korokke from refrigerator. One at a time, coat korokke in flour, egg, and then bread crumbs, and place back on the lined baking sheet.
8. Bake korokke for about 25 – 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

I served my korokke with miso soup, steamed rice, shredded cabbage, and kinpira gobo (stir-fried burdock root and carrot) for dinner.

 

Niku-dofu – Japanese Simmered Beef and Tofu

I think when a lot of people think of Japanese food they think: sushi, steamed rice, ramen, pot stickers (gyoza), sake!, sushi, sushi…

While these are all popular foods in Japan (although ramen and pot stickers are actually Chinese foods), there’s so much more to Japanese food.

I think people also think of all Japanese food as being super healthy. While traditional Japanese food is very healthy, many of the modern Japanese foods are, well, not so much.

Example: tonkatsu

Tonkatsu is essentially a breaded and deep fried pork cutlet. While very good (is anything that’s been breaded and deep fried not good?) and very popular in Japan (you can find tonkatsu restaurants everywhere), it doesn’t exactly fall into the “healthy foods” category if you know what I mean.

People also tend to think of the Japanese as fish eaters, and, well, this is true. They are! But they also eat beef and pork much more than in decades past. I think the growing meat consumption of the Japanese is one of the big reasons that Japanese people are increasingly getting taller. Pork is generally cheaper than beef (pigs take up less space, and space is a commodity here), but people eat both. Generally when you buy meat, it’s cut into very thin slices. This is useful for a lot of Japanese dishes that include meat. Of course, you can also get things like steak and ground meat, but the thinly sliced meat seems to be the most common.

One Japanese dish that’s super popular (especially amongst men so they say) is niku-jaga, which translates into meat and potatoes. Yes, even the Japanese have a meat and potatoes dish! And it’s delicious! I once heard somewhere that if a woman in Japan wants to get a guy, she just needs to be able to cook niku-jaga for him, and then he’ll be hers. I guess the whole “way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” thing is pretty universal. Guys are guys, no matter the country.

While I love love niku-jaga, I also really like a similar dish, niku-dofu. It’s basically the same as niku-jaga, except instead of potatoes, it has tofu in it. Meat and tofu. It goes great with steamed rice, miso soup, and whatever other side dishes you want.

Here’s my niku-dofu recipe, based on the recipe from Recipes of Japanese Cooking

.

Niku-dofu (serves 2)

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 package firm tofu, cut into cubes
• 150 g (about 5 1/2 oz.) thinly sliced beef loin, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 1 small package of konyaku threads (you can leave this out if you can’t find it)
• 1 c. water
• 3 Tbsp cooking sake
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp mirin (sweet cooking sake)
• 4 Tbsp soy sauce

1. Drain and rinse the konyaku threads in cold water. Roughly cut into 1 – 2 inch lengths. Boil for 1 – 2 minutes, then drain and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a pot over medium heat. Add the beef and cook for one to two minutes. Add the onion and konyaku and continue cooking.
3. When the beef is completely cooked and the onion is translucent, add the tofu, water, sake, sugar, mirin, and soy sauce. Mix well.
4. Continue cooking briefly until dish is heated through, about 3 – 4 minutes. Divide into two bowls and serve.

Niku-dofu and simmered Japanese pumpkin (kabocha)

 

Niku-dofu, steamed rice, miso soup, and simmered Japanese pumpkin