Recipe: Perfect Soft-Boiled Eggs

I used to think making soft boiled eggs were so difficult - in fact, I was so bad at making soft boiled eggs, I used to go all the way to Himawari Ramen in San Mateo just to get my fix of soft boiled eggs.

This is no longer the case!

We have been enjoying perfectly cooked soft-boiled eggs for a year or so now - and it is literally perfect each time as long as we follow this very simple recipe. The key is in the timing, so a timer is definitely a necessity.

Here is how it goes:

1. Place cold eggs in a pan or pot with apx 1 cm of cold water. Yup, that's right, the eggs will not be fully immersed in the water. One cm deep of water is plenty for this method. Put the lid on the pan/pot and don't take it off until the very last step.
2. Bring water to a boil on High Heat.
3. As soon as the water boils, turn heat down to Medium.
4. Cook at Medium Heat for 4 min.
5. Immediately after these 4 min, remove from heat and let eggs sit in hot water, 3 min.
6. Quickly chill eggs in cold water briefly to cool down the eggs for easy peeling.
7. Peel and enjoy!

I swear by this recipe. As long as the timing is followed carefully, the eggs come out extremely consistently. The decadent creaminess of the soft boiled yolk is beautifully maintained while the outside white is firm enough to contain the goodness.

Needless to say, I have not had those violent urges to head over to San Mateo in a while!

***The original recipe/idea was found in Japanese here. We shortened the cooking time to modify the recipe to soft-boiled eggs from hard-boiled eggs.

Terms: Mekabu

We Japanese eat a lot of seaweed. The more standard ones that are fairly well known these days are Nori (which is used in sushi) and Wakame (which is frequently in soups and salad). The konbu I used in the Dashi post is also a commonly used seaweed. But there are many, many more exotic seaweeds in our arsenal, and today's post is about one of my favorites - Mekabu.

The characters for Mekabu literally translates to Japanese Cloth Radish, although the common understanding is that it means Budding Radish. I am not entirely certain as to what part of Mekabu resembles a radish, but Mekabu is the root of the same seaweed that Wakame is made from - hence, the Budding association comes from the Mekabu portion of the seaweed being where the seaweed buds and grows.

The defining characteristic of Mekabu is its stickiness. It is slimey in the most delicious and satisfying way to those of us who love okra, natto, and yama-imo. It dances in the mouth and slithers down the throat, while maintaining a crunch to it with firmness only possible in seaweed and other plant-like foods. There is a brine-y scent that usually begs to be toned down with some citrus or ginger as to not overpower the palate.

Mekabu is sold either in dried form waiting to be reconstituted or "fresh", packed in liquid. I usually buy mine in liquid, packed with ginger. I take extra caution to get the ones without food coloring in it, because Mekabu is notoriously dyed with food coloring to give it an unnatural (and to me, unappetizing) green color.

My most frequent use of Mekabu is to mix Mekabu with natto and yamaimo in a side dish/salad. Simply mixed with a touch of ponzu, this salad is a goo-ey lover's dream dish! I will definitely post this as I get through natto and yama-imo terms post too. Although this mixture is great alone, it is also wonderful as a dipping sauce for noodles or folded into freshly boiled spaghetti for a unique sauce.

I also like to use Mekabu in salads with avocado, cucmbers, and greens. I simply mix all the ingredients, tie it together with a dash or two of ponzu, and voila! One dish done for parties!

Mekabu works great as a warming thickner for soups too. It adds viscosity without requiring starches, and it also gives off a wonderful deep richness to broth due to its high content of "umami".

Today, I discovered a new use: Mekabu-Kimchi. I chopped kimchi into small pieces, mixed it in with Mekabu, and served it as a palate cleanser - I know, it sounds weird, but we JPs use anything with a drastically different taste from the rest of the menu as a palate cleanser for meals.

If you have a great Mekabu recipe, I'd love to hear it!

Terms: Abura-age

Abura-age: Oil-fried.

The second word is a-ge, with e as in hem, not age as in the years you have been alive...

Anyway, it is interesting that the two words that literally translate to "oil-fried" always indicates fried tofu in Japanese. It's not like we don't deep fry other things, but if it's oil-fried, it's always tofu.

I have read that it is relatively easy to make abura-age at home, although I have yet to try it. It requires pressed out water from already firm tofu, flash frying once in high heat, followed by slow frying in lower heat. It sounds easy enough, but when perfectly good abura-age is so readily available in the JP grocery stores nearby, it's hard to get deep frying going at home.

The commercially bought abura-age can be a touch stale, although it comes back to life nicely by abura-nuki (oil-removal). It has a fancy term, but all it involves is either blanching the abura-age or washing their surfaces with boiling hot water. The deep frying process creates air pockets inside the tofu and with a little extra handling, abura-age fluffs up like comforters in the hot summer sun!

Once fluffed, these pillows are extremely versatile. It can be baked in the oven or stewed in soups. They can be enjoyed alone as is as slices of smaller pieces or it can be stuffed with all sorts of ingredients. I tend to fill them rather than use them alone. Some of the many things I have stuffed them with are natto, hijiki seaweed, cabbage, mushrooms of all kinds, barley, and a combination of many of these goodies. I have even dropped a raw egg inside the abura-age pocket and cooked the eggs in its pockets inside broth. These pockets can be tied with the dried Japanese root vegetable, kanpyo (more terms!), or simply closed with a tooth pick.

I stuffed mine today with left over udon noodles from dinner last night, which is something I learned at En, the new Izakaya that opened last month which serves a nice selection of oden. It had never occurred to me before to fill abura-age with anything but vegetables, but I liked the concept very much. The problem, though, was that it was like combining something relatively plain, flavor-wise (abura-age), with something more plain (udon). So I decided to add either kimchi or nori seaweed in the pockets alongside the udon for my version. These were then added to a line up of other hot-pot trimmings like vegetables and fish cakes and simmered in the broth for a few minutes.

I have to say - the upgraded flavor punches definitely made a big difference! In comparing the two pockets, the nori one definitely had better fragrance and a more delicate combination of scent and texture, but boy, the kimchi one was the winner for sure! It packed a kick of crunch that highlighted itself very nicely against the pillowy abura-age and the flavor-injected udon noodles!

Nori vs Kimchi Battle #1: Nori 0 - 1 Kimchi

Terms: Yuzu-koshou

My second Terms post was a close call between Ponzu and Yuzu-koshou. These are the two most common condiments I use routinely. Both have a citrus backbone within the saltiness, and both are extremely versatile. I use them for many purposes that were likely never intended by the original inventors, I'm sure. Yuzu-koshou won in the end, because I was pretty sure I had explained ponzu sometime ago.

Yuzu-koshou (or kosho, depending on where in Japan you are from and what school of romanization you prefer) literally translates to Yuzu (a type of Japanese citrus) black pepper. Interestingly, however, there is no black pepper in Yuzu-koshou. Apparently, the word Koshou can also mean red pepper in the O-ita Prefecture in the Southern Island of Kyushu from where Yuzu-koshou originated.

Frequently, Yuzu-koshou looks almost identical to fresh ground wasabi... until you smell it. Potently fragrant with that intense and distinctive yuzu citrus scent, it has a tantalizing spiciness to it that is rounded out by a gentle saltiness. It combines a peppery kick with a clean citrus finish for a very appealing savory combination.

It is supposed to be easy to make Yuzu-koshou if you have a ton of yuzu, which in itself is a luxury item in the US (at least where I am). Since our yuzu tree did not quite produce enough yuzu to make Yuzu-koshou with this past year, I didn't get to try making it at home yet, but the recipe seems simple enough:

1. Pulverize yuzu skin and hot peppers together. Green hot peppers are typically used, but red peppers should be fine as well.
2. Add salt and yuzu juice to taste.
3. Bottle and keep cold to store.

That's it!

I buy mine or use the bottles my very generous mother brings me from Japan, but if our yuzu tree yields a big harvest, I am definitely going to try making it with our very own Super Hot Peppers!

Yuzu-koshou is great mixed with yogurt to make salad dressing or dissolved in soups to add a touch of refreshing heat. I eat tofu with it, and I even use to love sashimi with it instead of the traditional wasabi. Most steamed vegetables come to life with a touch of Yuzu-koshou on the side, and it's also great with grilled chicken or pork. I have used Yuzu-koshou as the guiding flavor for simple mushroom pastas, and even added a touch of it in grilled cheese sandwiches for a fusion kick to the traditional taste. It is honestly one of the most versatile condiments I have ever had in my kitchen! (Those of you advanced JP food connoisseurs, Yuzu-koshou in natto is GREAT!)

Luckily for those of us with a Japanese grocery store nearby, I have seen Yuzu-koshou sold at all of the stores in different packages. If you ask your friendly grocer, I'm sure they can point you to the jar or tube of the stuff.

Happy Eating!

Terms: Dashi

The inherent limitations in trying to translate all of the Japanese culinary terms present one of the most difficult challenges in writing this blog. Because I cook and eat predominantly Japanese or Japanese-inspired vegetarian food these days, I would love to share some of these more exotic culinary treasures from the Japanese. BUT IT IS SO HARD TO AVOID JP TERMS!

So I decided the quickest way to not feeling guilty about using these non-translatable words is to develop a log of all the terms I frequently use and have it posted here. Then, I can always just refer back to these pages during my future posts if necessary.

Nothing is more appropriate as my first Terms post than Dashi. Dashi literally means broth, and it is the heart and soul of Japanese cuisine. What a cook chooses to make dashi with defines the cook. Yes, it is that important.

Being a semi-vegetarian, I still use animal-based broth from time to time. Some dishes just require that briney depth of flavor that only bonito (katsuo in Japanese) and other dried fish can provide. I use them less and less now, as my non-meat based cooking moves away from dishes that require that extra punch, but the combination of konbu kelp and bonito flakes is the fundamental pillars of most JP broth.

Dashi is made first by soaking konbu kelp in cold water. Sometimes, I do this overnight, other times, only while I chop and prep the rest of the meal. It is best if the konbu is kept in as whole a piece as possible, or the broth can get "sticky". There is something in the konbu that makes water viscous and it leaks out more with more exposed lateral surface area. Of course, sometimes that stickiness and powerful mineral flavor is needed for the dashi - and in those case, crumpling the konbu while it is dry works best for me.

Next, I let the water with the konbu come to a boil, slowly. The traditionalists will say that the konbu must be taken out when the water reaches a boil. Letting the konbu stay is supposed to make the broth too minerally and viscous. I happen to like it slightly over-konbu'ed and I leave that piece in there until the very end.

I depart from the traditionalists in the following step too. The treasured, classical "First Dashi", the equivalent of Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, is made by dumping a lot of bonito flakes into the konbu broth after it boils until a second boil is achieved. Then, everything is strained, and voila! Perfect dashi!

I have two problems with this. One is simply that my allergies prevent me from being able to safely consume left over bonito flakes, no matter how careful I strain the broth. The second is that... I think it's a BIG WASTE OF BONITO!

There is so much more deliciousness packed in that bonito, and in fact, a second, more "unrefined" preparation called "Second Dashi" is made with the remaining bonito in classical JP cooking too. Since my home cooking tends to be less refined and more powerful, I just use a tea bag and steep the bonito flakes for a long while.

Yup. A tea bag.


I let this bonito-flake-stuffed tea bag follow the konbu all the way from start to finish. The process is simple, and the final product is potent and satisfyingly deep in flavor enough to require nothing but a pot full of vegetables to nourish and satisfy two marathon-training runners, especially after the addition of a few more shiitake mushrooms!



PS: Those balls that look like fish balls are Japanese taro potatoes called Sato Imo.

Avocado Goodness

Since going 99% vegetarian last June, my vegetarian cooking repertoire has expanded quite a bit! I tend to cook with very Japanese ingredients, thanks in part to having two JP grocery stores within 5 min of my work place, but there are a few dishes that require nothing particularly difficult to obtain that I think is worth sharing here.

One came from my exploration of the avocado. When I started training harder for the upcoming marathon, I noticed a distinct absence of stamina from time to time. It wasn't that I was under-trained or tired, because my muscles were completely fine and my heart rate was totally stable. I attributed it to the lack of freely available energy - "the bonk" was happening sooner than I expected on some runs!

I realized that perhaps my diet had become too Buddhist Monk-ish, and since I was trying to run 20+ mi instead of meditating all day long, I just didn't have enough energy in my system. I turned to the avocado for a quick solution, and voila! It totally had a positive effect on my training regime! Now, I have three avocado menus that I have made multiple occasions to add an energy boost.

Avocado Goodness #1: Oven-baked Avocado "Katsu"


Katsu is a Japanified version of Cutlet. It's usually made with pork or chicken, but I made this with avocado and I didn't deep fry it like it's typically done. This is so simple, it doesn't even require a recipe, but here it is anyway:

1. Slice avocado to bite size pieces.
2. Soak/dip avocado in beaten eggs.
3. Coat egg-covered avocado in Japanese bread crumbs (panko).
4. Bake in a 450F preheated oven until golden. Turn if necessary.

I use a convection toaster oven and it takes about 20 min.

Avocado Goodness #2: Wakame-seaweed Salad with Avocado Dressing


Photo courtesy of my cooking buddy, Mrs. Chef.

This is another one I have made with many slight modifications. I basically mash avocados up with a bunch of different vegetables and season the whole thing with ponzu. And that's really it! I always add wakame seaweed and chopped cucumbers, but the other ingredients have varied quite a bit. The "microgreens" from Trader Joe's (which is basically a mix of various sprouts) was very good, as well as canned corn and anything else with a crunch.

Avocado Goodness #3: Avocado Miso Sauce


This is another one so simple, it requires no formal recipe...


All I do is mix avocados and miso at a ratio of 1 avocado to 1 tbs miso with a dash of milk and yuzu juice in the food processor. Literally. That's it. This sauce is great on most white foods that have body or density - boiled daikon radishes, potatoes, chicken, pork, etc. The smoothness of the creamy avocado is best showcased against the backdrop of some texture but in the absence of any competing personalities.

Drop me a note if you try any of these and let me know how it went!

BACK!

In 2005, I ate Mul Naeng Myun every morning for roughly an ENTIRE year. Sometimes, I even had it for dinner! I only quit because my source dried up - Kim's delicious noodles one day ceased to exist. Since then, I had a really hard time finding an alternate product of equal quality...

But now, the search is over and the noodles are back in my life, full force!



With the familiar toppings of hot peppers...



Or sometimes in a hot pepper-dashi broth...



Oh, my sweet Mul Naeng Myun, it's so nice to have you back in my life!!

And I recently discovered a convenient way to post pictures from my JP blog here, which means... more updates are coming!

Sugar Beat Sweet And Me!

Although I had made up my mind about writing here more often, I am slacking. Well, not slacking, really - just over-committed to too many other projects! I am now the 4th-ranked Judo Blogger in the Japanese Judo blog circuit, which is a terrifying fact in itself, if not for the fact that it seems to be a rather small and uncompetitive field of blogging with less than 20 registered blogs on two of the most popular Japanese Blog Billboard Charts.

I am staying up later than I would like to by writing my second blog post (the first being the JP Judo Post), because I absolutely cannot stay quiet about my amazing run-in with the world's most delicious vegan cupcakes at the World Vegetarian Festival in San Francisco this past weekend.

As I mentioned before, I am now a semi-vegetarian, and I am always looking for new culinary inspiration as I explore this new dietary life-style - and a Vegetarian/Vegan Trade Show just seemed like a great way to get a lot of exposure in one shot.

Since my vegetarianism is strictly based on my inability to process whatever chemical moiety that resides within animal meat, I am not against dairy or eggs at all. In fact, I tend to think veganism is a bit of an extreme for me and it doesn't particularly hold any philosophical draw. But as a culinary tradition, veganism is fascinating. From the Japanese Vegan Tradition of Sho-jin Ryouri to the delicate dishes at my new favorite restaurant (post coming soon), what does impress me about veganism is the absolute creativity and detailed thought required because of the restrictions placed upon its ingredients.

It is truly an achievement of a highly skilled chef to be able to produce spectacular creations when so many stand-by ingridients are crossed off the list. In particular, baking without butter, eggs, and cream seems like a daunting task to say the least, and boy, were my socks knocked off this weekend by Sugar Beat Sweet and their vegan cupcakes!

The bakery I used to work at during graduate school offered vegan treats - and although I absolutely love Kim and her creations - I have to say, Sugar Beat Sweet was in a different league. Honestly, I could not tell that these were vegan treats. If it weren't for the enthusiastic fellow customer/fan/friend of the owner, I would not have known that they were vegan. Moist and soft as the most delicate clouds, each bite melted right into my mouth, mingling with all of the taste buds, teasing me with the "can this really be vegan?" question. There was no trace of anything strange or out of place - it was as good a cupcake as I had ever tasted. If anything, it was more airy, more delightful, and more adorable in taste than many "normal" cupcakes that rely on its substance to satisfy. This was a cupcake that was created with every care for even the most minute detail to ensure that it was the first in class, particularly because of the awareness that there was a technical challenge that had to be overcome.

The four of us devoured our cupcakes. I sampled both the PB&J and the Snickerdoodle. If anything, the cream on top was a touch too sweet for me, but then again, I am mostly an anti-sugar person. It's only recently that I have started to explore my sweeter nature, and boy, would I love to continue my exploration if it involved more treats like this one!

Root Vegetable Hamburg

In Japanese, patties used in burgers are called HAMBURG, vs the hamburgER which has the patty in between the bun. I am specifically calling this recipe the Root Vegetable Hamburg because I got the idea for it while flipping through a Japanese Macrobiotic cookbook from Rice Terrace Cafe, a Macrobiotic restaurant outside of Tokyo on its own farm.

The original recipe was for a Lotus Root Hamburg, and it only used lotus roots with various other odds-and-ends dry goods that we didn't have at home. Being new to this Macrobiotic thing, I am still in the process of updating my pantry with more Macrobiotic friendly staples. That didn't stop me from getting the idea to go ahead and make something similar, because the picture in the cookbook looked too good to not try.

I had read that root vegetables are favored in Macrobiotic cooking, so instead of limiting the main ingredient to lotus roots, I added Japanese taro (Sato-imo) and some carrots, which made the dish into a Root Vegetable Hamburg. Because both lotus root and Japanese taro are sticky, I didn't need to add any eggs or other binders, which gave me extra Macrobiotic points. (I have nothing against eggs, especially since they are one of the few animal products my body still accepts, but Macrobiotically, they are frequently kept off the list of ingredients whenever possible.)

I lose the same amount of points won by not using eggs because I continue to use fish-based broth (dashi) in my cooking, though. Again, because I am not allergic to broth of any kind, I still use bonito broth to cook almost everything, including pre-boiling the vegetables that will go into my "Macrobiotic" hmaburg. :P

I briefly considered experimenting by adding the oatmeal or the pressed barley that I got yesterday, during my Macrobioti-fication of my pantry, but since I was bringing these to a dinner party, I played it safe and used regular panko bread crumbs instead to give the patties a little bit more firmness. Next time, though, I will be more adventurous!

So here it goes:

1. Boil 1 bag (454g) of frozen lotus roots and sato-imo in dashi, seasoned with soy sauce and a touch of mirin.
2. When soft, puree, leaving some chunks.
3. Microwave and puree 6 oz carrots (optional; we made some with and some without)
4. Add a handful of panko bread crumbs to pureed root vegetables.
5. Finely chop shiso leaves (or basil) and add to the patty mixture.
6. Form patties.
7. Heat grapeseed oil in a pan.
8. Cook both sides until brown.
9. Serve with 1:1 mixture of tomato sauce and Japanese Worstershire sauce.

Seriously, these were super easy and super tasty. It can be made 100% vegetarian if the vegetables are boiled in vegetable or konbu broth.

My New Meal Plans

Wow, has it really been since February?! Had I abandoned this food blog for that long?!

Even now that I write in three different "blog"-type forums (mostly in Japanese), I still consider this my A-side blog - my home, my roots - which is why I haven't been able to delete it even as it has become grossly outdated.

I have been doing very well lately, and I have been getting back into writing in the evening again. Yes, yes, I know spending time before going to bed in front of the computer is supposed to disrupt my sleep cycle, etc. Unfortunately, it is the only time I have to read and write outside of the occasional 10 min reading I do in between working in the lab or while some mega-process is eating up my CPU cycles. Ha, don't I sound so computer-savvy these days?!

The big news that I wanted to share today is that I recently went semi-vegetarian. This was not necessarily by choice - I became allergic to something in most animal-based meats, including all land/farm animals, fish, and even jelly fish. Eggs and broth still seem to be OK, but I am affected by some types of cheese. It may sound bad, but besides not being able to partake in Korean BBQ, it's really not too bad. I never was a fan of super meaty dishes anyway, and I was a pseudo-vegetarian before in NC, where I decided I'd rather eat vegetarian than eat hormone- and antibiotic-pumped meats after reading My Year of Meats. I dropped this pledge upon coming to CA, since the Korean BBQ was just too good here to forgo. I guess my body decided to act on its behalf since my desires were overpowering my will.

As a result of my dietary requirements, I am now a big fan of the Macrobiotic cuisine. I mean, really, these recipes I see in the JP Macrobiotic cookbooks are exactly what I like to eat, even if I weren't restricted! I am learning to incorporate into my daily meals different ingredients that I went out to eat because I wasn't exactly sure how to cook them at home. I rest assured knowing that my meals are balanced with all the nutrients required and that someone has taken the time to make sure there are no missing components, as long as I work off of the ingredient list in these books.

Last night, I had my first Macrobiotic Dinner Party, and I have to say, it was a big success! Not one of the four non-vegetarians at the table missed the meat! Here's what I made:

Main:
Cabbage-egg-crustless quiche (egg is OK in the looser Macrobiotic rules in some JP books).
Hijiki-tofu scramble with crunchy mountain "jelly fish" plant pickles
Mabo eggplant-eringi-shiitake-enoki with nappa

Side:
Two-layered mekabu-yamaimo-natto salad with crunchy mountain "jelly fish" plant pickles
Sweet potato kinpira sticks

Brown rice (the heart and soul of Macrobiotic meals!)

Dessert:
Warabi mochi with green- and gold- kinako
Orange-apple agar cake

I really enjoyed the cooking process, since everything was so easy to prepare. Each dish didn't take very long to cook at all, and without meat in the kitchen, I didn't have to think about the meat juices, etc. I'll try to post recipes and pictures as I go along in my Macrobiotic adventure, but I just don't have the time to deal with photos these days. And besides, these aren't the most pretty looking without some plating effort, which is not one of my fortes...

I have also been exploring the local restaurants as a vegetarian, and I have new things to say, even about the old haunts. Gochi has been surprisingly easy to eat vegetarian, as well as Hoshi. Actually, I don't think I ever did a Hoshi post. I'll have to do both a omnivorious and vegetarian version for that!

One last thing is also that I am fasting for Ramadan this month. It is a social and spiritual experiment of some sort. I am enjoying the process very much, and I am planning on doing a summary post soon here. Fasting, being the antonym of eating, has a place in this blog, I say!

Pork Roast: Strawberry-Cranberry Version

I know, I know, how many pork roasts can I make before I start turning into Wilbur...

I find myself cooking with pork a lot because it's a tad meatier than chicken and a whole lot easier to cook correctly than beef. It is as versatile as fish and a whole lot cheaper. It also keeps in the fridge much better than seafood - all the reasons for a busy girl like me to keep cooking with it for dinner...

Today's dinner was, yes, yet ANOTHER pork dish. But this one was equally good as the ones before, and I have to say, I was quite proud of my accomplishments when the Papa Bear proudly proclaimed that he thought the meat courses at The Dining Room with Ron (which I promise to post very soon) was not that impressive because what we had at home was just as good. Now, that is some serious flattery! Well done, Papa, well done!

Anyway, here is what we had tonight:

1. Mix 1 tsp of salt, 2 tbs of strawberry jam, 1 tbs of dried rosemary and 0.5 tbs of dried thyme.
2. Wash and dry pork tenderloin strips (1 lbs, maybe?).
3. Slather strawberry jam mixture on to one side of the pork tenderloin strips.
4. Cook in a skillet at high heat, non-jam-side first. Sear on high heat, 3 min or so, until browned. Reduce heat to medium, close lid, cook ~3 min.
5. Flip over and cook ~3 min or so with the lid closed. Turn heat up to high and cook 2 min or so.
6. Add 1/8 cup of water, add 1 tbs dried cranberries, and close lid. Cook until the pork reaches about 160F.
7. Take pork out and add 1.5 tbs ketchup. Mix with pan drippings/scraping.
8. Serve sauce over pork.

I made some blanched asparagus and sauteed spinach to go with the pork. Total cooking time? 15, 20 min for a satisfyingly yummy dinner!

Pork Roast: Apple-Sauce Version

This is not really a roast. Actually, it's not a roast at all, but it's another pork recipe that can be adopted to be a roast recipe. I made it with bone-in pork chops, and it literally took me 10 minutes to have dinner on the table. It was so good that 10 min later, it was gone.

1. Cut a hole in the pork chop. This is to stuff some goods inside in the subsequent steps.
2. Mix applesauce and dried hot peppers, adding the peppers to your liking.
3. Stuff the pork chop with applesauce/pepper mixture.
4. Mix dried thyme, rosemary, and salt with mustard. I go heavy on the herbs (2 tsp per 1 tbs mustard) since mine are not very potent. I think I had about 1/2 tsp of salt.
5. Slather mustard mixture on one side of the pork.
6. Heat a skillet. When hot, put the pork in, mustard-side up. Turn down heat to med-high and cook 5 min or so. I cover my skillet here to speed up the cooking process.
7. Turn up heat back up to high and flip pork. Cook 3 more min or so.
8. Flip pork over again, add 1/2 cup of sake, close lid, turn down heat to medium and cook 5 min or so, until sake has evaporated.
9. Check that the pork has reached internal temperature of 160F or so and remove from skillet.
10. Add 2 tbs of ketchup and 1/4 cup of sake to the skillet, scrape any goodies off from the pan and blend into ketchup sauce. Serve pork with sauce.

I microwaved pre-cut broccoli and baby carrots while the pork was cooking. Since I hardly eat starches, I don't bother with rice, bread, etc, but the Papa Bear supplemented dinner with white rice.

The applesauce kept the pork very tender and the sauce complimented the sweet and spicy pork so incredibly well. I feel a tad awkward complimenting my own recipe, but this was a true winner. And the speed of it all? That's the best part!

Dinner Parties: Mexican Night

Because I have had little motivation to go out to eat lately for caloric and economical reasons, I've been hosting a number of dinner get-togethers. Luckily, my friends have not complained having to eat at Izakaya Alice (yet), but I try to limit repeating menu items as often as possible. Besides our now standard Sushi Party, I've thrown traditional roast-poultry American, Americanized-Italian and Slightly Japanese-Mexican-themed dinner parties. Well... if we get really technical, all my cooking uses the Japanese elixir, dashi, for broth, so they all are slightly Japanified. Izakaya Alice is fusion at its core...

What I learned from throwing dinner parties is that the protocol for success is very much like what I do in the laboratory at work. If the party starts at 7 PM, I go to my whiteboard in the kitchen and start with this:

t=0 7 PM

time=0 indicates when the party starts; in other words, that's when all the prep work need to be completed. Then, I fill the rest of the menu items, so now my whiteboard looks like this:

Mango salsa
Salsa
Guacamole
Ground meat
Drum sticks
Taco veggies
Mexican Rice
Beans
Set up quesadilla bar & taco shells

t=0 7 PM

Finally, I add when I will need to start to have the dish/prep work done by t=0. I also order things so that things that can be made ahead are done first, so as to serve hot foods hot when at t=0.

5:00 PM Mango salsa
5:00 PM Salsa
5:00 PM Guacamole
6:20 PM Ground meat
6:00 PM Chicken drumsticks (oven, 6:30 PM)
5:45 PM Taco veggies
5:00 PM Mexican Rice (stove, 6:30 PM)
6:00 PM Beans
6:30 PM Set up quesadilla bar & taco shells

t=0 7 PM

I then get started with each task, referring back frequently to my whiteboard to plan a few steps ahead as I prepare dishes. I even actually check off items as they are completed. This organizational tedium has helped me throw parties with minimal time commitment and pressure. In fact, with my super dishwasher with its godzillion plate-load capacity, throwing a dinner party, start-to-finish, is leaps and bounds easier than going out to dinner in San Francisco!

Here are a few winners from the Mexican Dinner Party:

Izakaya-Alice Non-refried Beans:
Sautee 1 onion and 5 cloves of garlic. Puree sauteed stuff. Add 2 can canned beans to food processor, making separate batches if needed to fit into food processor. Puree beans with the onion-garlic mixture. Add dashi to thin if pureeing is difficult. When liquefied, put bean mixture into a pot and mix dashi to achieve desirable consistency. Add salt to taste.

Izakaya-Alice Guacamole:
Sautee 1 onion and 5 cloves of garlic. (I actually made a big batch of this onion-garlic mixture and used it in several recipes during the evening. This heating step is necessary for me, because I am allergic to raw onions and garlic. It's likely not necessary for anyone else, but heating it definitely brings the sweetness out of the onions.) Puree 2 avocados, 1/2 cup fat-free cottage cheese, and onion-garlic mixture together. Chop tomatoes and add to avocado mixture. Add salt and lime juice to taste.

Photo: compliments from Jumprdude.com. I have a contributing photographer now, so you will likely start seeing more pictures on MED again!

Pork Roast: Mustard Version

I love the pork tenderloins they sell at Trader Joe's. The ones that are tubular in shape? They make great roasts that take about two seconds to prep and are great for a busy weeknight dinner. I dress the pork, throw it in the oven, go do something else for 15 min or so, come back to whip up a salad, microwave some more veggies, and voila! Dinner is served!

I have several different versions of the pork roast, but this one is what we are having for dinner tonight:

0. Turn oven on to 400F.

1. Cut pork tenderloin in the middle without slicing into two discrete pieces (just enough of a cut to allow goodies to be put in the middle).

2. Slather apricot jam/orange maramalade/or anything else like that in the middle.

3. Fold the pork closed and place in a roasting pan or Pyrex dish.

4. Mix:
1/4 cup mustard
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1.5 tbs toasted sesame seeds
1 tbs dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

5. Slather mustard mixture on top of the pork.

6. Bake, 400F, 25-30 min or until center portion reaches at least 160F.

Recycling Leftovers

One of my most useful skills is my ability to recycle left-overs. I can take left-overs and odds and ends in the fridge & cupboard and feed myself for up to 2 weeks. There was a time when I was just too busy/tired to go shopping and I managed to feed 2 adults (and 2 kids for 2+ meals) literally for 2 weeks. I haven't topped that one yet, but in general, I can create a totally satisfying meal with the most absurd ingredients.

For example, we had a hot pot dish one night. The following night, I made a risotto with the rice and soup we had left over. This second meal was relatively predictable. But then I pureed this and made a dip out of it by adding spices for a third 'serving'. The third incarnation was as far as I got this time around, but a co-worker of mine had an exceptionally wonderful fourth step to add to this: return to the soup after the puree. What great way to go full circle! Soup (hot pot) to rice dish to dip to soup! This is so Zen in the strangest sense, I love it!

The Papa Bear refuses to eat left-overs (although he claims it is unintentional), so I find myself getting creative on ways to not throw away food. One of my most creative recycling projects was a kabocha pumpkin stew (savory) turned into a pumpkin brownie/pudding (sweet). I took out the mushrooms and the konyaku (to be described in a different post), added some eggs and spices, adjusted the sweetness to taste with some maple syrup, baked it in a cookie sheet, and cut out cookie-cutter shapes. No one who ate this creation would have ever guessed that it was a recycling project! :)

The key to my recycling is to find out what is in the dish, feeling the potential of what it could be, and rebuilding flavors and scents as a new dish in my mind. It shares something very fundamental with my love for making sauces. The process of creating something new by combining all sorts of building blocks - that is the best of part of being in the kitchen!

Breakfast Treats: French Toast

Weekend breakfasts were always a treat I looked forward to in college and grad school. In fact, it was often the highlight of the weekend. Mo's Diner in Hartford, Eggs N' Things in Honolulu, and Elmo's Diner and Mama Dip's Kitchen in Chapel Hill - just seeing the names of these places bring a smile to my face. Standing in line for sometimes hours at a time, the wait was part of the fun too. Powered by the free-flowing coffee and giggles over the happenings of the night before, weekend breakfasts were really an integral ritual for me back then.

I've tried to recreate a breakfast ritual here in San Jose too, but I guess times have changed. No one calls me at 10 AM to wake me up to go to breakfast anymore - instead, I am up by 8 AM, either furiously finishing up my work from the night before or heading out for a long run or my pick-up rugby game. In place of the gossip from the night before are talks of what to make for dinner and which grocery store I need to go before the crowd gets there too. But once in a while, I crave that breakfast scent of cinnamon and nutmeg, eggs and batter, and pots after pots of coffee. And when I felt that way this weekend, I opened up the fridge to find all the necessary ingredients for one of my favorites from those days waiting in line for the perfect start of the day...

French Toast:
2 eggs
1/4 cup Vanilla Soy Milk
A healthy amount of nutmeg (fresh ground is sooo much better!)
A generous portion of cinammon

Trader Joe's Sprouted Whole Wheat Bread (this was key for the aboslutely wonderful nutty flavor and chewy texture.)

Beat eggs well and add remaining ingredients. Soak bread in batter thoroughly. Spray heated skillet with canola oil (I tried it without any oil at first and the bread lost its nice egg layer...). Cook on one side until the face-up side starts to look less wet. Flip, cook about the same amount of time (I like my French Toast mostly dry with just a touch of wetness left in the middle).

I ate my French Toast with a kiwi-mango-papaya fruit salad, which was very satisfyingly good, despite my missing the rest of breakfast ritual...

Wa-saucy!

OK, OK, so the title was a really bad play on words...

I am a big fan of making sauces of all sorts. It is actually what I love the most about cooking - mixing different ingredients to see what comes out at the end. I match different textures, flavors, and scents, while imagining what the sauce will do to the saucee - the saucee being the object of affection with which the sauce will be consumed. It is truly one of my favorite things to do in the kitchen.

It is a misconception that sauces need to be high in fat to be creamy. I used to buy into the mayonnaise-as-base fundamentals of making creamy sauces. I recently learned that Fat-Free European-style yogurt works better than mayonnaise with 1/3 of the calorie. I basically substitute yogurt for all my mayo-based sauces and dips now.

Here's one my stand-bys. This is great with steamed vegetables or other crudites.

1 tbs wasabi from a tube
1 tsp soba/udon sauce (I have this as a home-made sauce, frozen; however this can be bought in bottles at most grocery stores these days.)
3 tbs yogurt (I go fat-free, and it's plenty creamy)

Mix well.

And that's it! This is great as a dipping sauce, but it can also be used as salad dressing. As salad dressing, though, the wasabi might be ultra-potent, so I'd go a bit easy on the wasabi. This is also great with grilled scallops; it can even work with grilled chicken if you add a touch more salt to it.

It's so easy, I almost feel silly writing it. But I am hoping that this blog can help The Papa Bear gain independence in the kitchen, which means I must write down even the most simplest of recipes...

Resurrecting MED

I am coming out of retirement!

I have been wondering what to do with MED, even considering deleting it all together. I just haven't been eating out very much, which left me without anything to write about here. But recently, some of my friends and I decided to learn a new dish a month to cook at home - what perfect way to ressurect MED! I will log what we all make and associated recipes! I'll call these The Dish of the Month.

In between The Dish of the Month posts, I'll try to post what I can about my recently discovered healthful eating recipes. I have been on a judo-motivated weight loss program for the last few months and I seem to be onto something. I have managed to lose 10+ lbs since September, which is pretty good, considering that was about a 8% loss in total weight for me. :)

I'll also try to collect all the basic recipes for Japanese cooking under the Basics category... I have been requested to do this so many times, and I kept promising that I will... This time, I really will!

Izakaya Alice: Ramen

Last night, Izakaya Alice was in full swing!!

On the menu earlier was a Smoked Turkey, two Nappa Cabbage salads, and the wakame salad. We also served some Five-Grain rice. This was just an ordinary dinner menu, though. It wasn't Izakaya Alice...

...until 12 AM!

Izakaya Alice opened up shop as a Ramen Joint! I made some shoyu (soy sauce) ramen and shio (salt) ramen using the same recipe as before. Unfortunately, I only had lame-o dried ramen noodles, but the soup was creamy and rich without being oily. I was pretty happy with it!

We didn't close shop 'til close to 3 AM. Needless to say, my Sunday morning hiking plans were diverted, but I hadn't had that much fun in a LOOOOOOOOONG time! I laughed so much for the entire evening that my face muscled hurt all day today!


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By the way, I don't know if my wakame salad is the same wakame salad that Angeline asked for earlier, but mine is so super simple, I don't even know if it can be really called a recipe...

Wakame Salad:
1. Bring dried-wakame to life by soaking in water, ~5+ min.
2. Blanch pea sprouts and chill in ice water.
3. Slice cucumbers.
4. Arrange wakame, pea sprouts, and cucumbers in a nice glass bowl.
5. Mix ponzu with a touch of sesame oil and ginger; pour over salad.
6. Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds.
7. Add tomatoes if you like, and you're done!

Let me taste test this...

I know, I know - Just after I said that I was going to blog more, I disappeared...

I have a whole lot of things to write about, including all the recipes we have tested at Izakaya Alice, but I have to find a good spot to blog in my new house. I just don't have the right set-up yet, but I think the Papa Bear will finally finish cleaning the Hobby Room, where I put my big crafting table. Since this was the Low Priority Room, he put all his junk (ops, did I say 'junk'?) stuff that he hasn't touched in 4+ yrs that he insists on carrying from house-to-house-to-house for three moves. Once that junk clears, I am setting up my Digital Darkroom there and voila! Back to blogging, I promise!

I saw this in the news today and I just had to say it:

Let me eat this Octosquid and I will tell you whether it is more Octopus or more Squid. I prefer it served as sashimi, but I will take it as a nigiri. If you want to make it really challenging, you can stew it.

I can totally see this as the next food trend in Japan: mystery creatures from the deep sea. Ha!