Blue Lotus

唐揚げ

• Tofu salad
• Kara-age (Japanese-style fried chicken)
• Miso soup with wakame seaweed, negi (long onions) and fu (wheat gluten)
• Rice
• Two kinds of salt for dipping the kara-age: yuki-shio (a finely powdered Okinawan sea salt) with black pepper, and yuki-shio with sanshou (Japanese Sichuan pepper)

This is the first time I've deep-fried anything in years, and I seem to have lost my touch. The first few pieces were either soggy or burnt, and although I'd marinated the chicken before frying in the usual blend of sake, soy sauce and ginger juice,the flavour was far too mild. It turned out to not be a big problem, thanks to the dipping salts (the sansho salt was an especially nice match), but I do like a stronger ginger and soy sauce flavour.

I think I'm going to have to find myself a new recipe. My first instinct is to marinate the chicken for longer than the usually recommended 30 minutes, but I've read in a few places that it should not be over marinated (maybe because the soy sauce would toughen up the meat). So does anyone have some tips, or a favourite no-fail kara-age recipe?

冷しゃぶ

• Rei-shabu: a cold version of shabu-shabu (a winter time hotpot of quickly cooked meat or seafood) using pork instead of the more usual beef
• Kinoko no takikomi-gohan: rice cooked with wild mushrooms
• Miso soup with tofu, okra and negi (long onions)
• Dipping sauces for the rei-shabu: goma-dare (sesame sauce) and ponzu (citrus soy sauce)

Rei-shabu is a popular summer recipe, and this particular version is based on the rei-shabu my mother-in-law fed us this summer. She piled the pork on top of paper-thin slices of sweet onions, celery and myouga (ginger buds), with cherry tomatoes as a garnish. I did pretty much the same thing, except that I topped it with kaiware-na (daikon sprouts) and substituted daikon for the celery (well soaked, as the daikon at this time of year is very hot).

Why the substitution? Celery is my husband's most despised vegetable and it had been painful to watch him pick through his meal, trying to remove every tiny piece of it. I don't quite understand it as I think celery is pretty much the most inoffensive, subtly flavoured vegetables there is. But no complaints-- celery is pricey here, and the daikon was a fine substitute.

It's funny the way parents remember their childrens' quirky likes and dislikes. This summer's visit to the in-laws featured three firsts: it was the first visit they didn't serve us beef; the first time they took us out for Indian food; and the first time they took him to a favourite Japanese restaurant that specializes in vegetables and fish (a place they'd taken me years ago). When Hideaki was younger he hated fish, most vegetables, and spicy food, and this has stuck in his parent's minds since then, despite the fact that he's been eating those foods for over a decade. So they've finally accepted his grown-up tastes, yet were completely shocked by the celery thing. Guess that will take a little while longer to sink in.

Lemon pepper chicken

As Hideaki's culinary repertoire continues to expand, his latest meal is a nice healthy one. Steamed potatoes and shimeji mushrooms with a spicy sauce, and grilled lemon pepper chicken.

Not only was it delicious, but his attention to health and nutrition (there was also a salad; he kindly gave me the option of removing the chicken skin) was impressive. His cooking is actually healthier than mine recently, and combined with the fact that he has stopped smuggling chips, cookies and other irresistible snacks into the house this can only mean he is finally supporting my efforts to lose weight.

Now that there's no one else to blame, I guess it's all up to me. Scary.

いくらの塩漬け

A sure sign that fall has arrived: the supermarkets are full of nama sujiko (raw salmon roe sacs). You can't really eat nama sujiko as is, but with a little bit of work it can be made into ikura (salmon roe). For some reason, ikura no shouyu-zuke (salmon roe preserved in soy sauce) is the recipe preferred by home cooks, perhaps because it's fairly easy and keeps well. And that's how I've been preparing it for the last few years, either with my own formula of soy sauce, sake and mirin or with the little pouch of seasoning usually sold with nama sujiko.

But this time I decided to try making ikura no shio-zuke (salted salmon roe), which is the way prepared ikura is normally sold-- the bright orange roe found atop sushi and donburi. Because it must be eaten quickly and requires a few extra steps it's rarely made at home, but after studying a few recipes online I realized it's not that much more work than ikura no shouyu-zuke.

So I gave it a shot and was well-rewarded for my efforts. Salmon roe preserved in salt has a fresher and simpler flavour than when preserved with soy sauce, and is so delicious that leftovers are not a problem-- it's likely to be eaten all up on the first day, so no worries about how long it keeps. If you can get your hands on nama sujiko then I highly recommend making ikura, as it is cheaper and fresher than any ikura you can buy in a store. The recipe is as follows (or see the step-by-step pictures of the process on my Making ikura album):

いくらの塩漬け (Ikura no shio-zuke)

You'll need one sac of nama sujiko. This is what it looks like from a Japanese supermarket: at 210 grams this one's a bit on the small side (I think the average is about 250 grams) and at 625 yen it's a good deal-- it normally costs closer to 1000 yen for a whole sac. Note the little pouch of seasoning, which is for making ikura no shouyu-zuke. If you've never prepared ikura before it's a good idea to use this seasoning, as it's fool-proof, but I normally toss the pouch as it contains too many additives for my tastes.

Begin by soaking the sujiko in a bowl of very hot water. Use the hottest water you can stand (from 45 to 60C) and let it soak for a few minutes. This is to temporarily toughen up the eggs so they won't break, as removing them from the sac requires a bit of rough treatment. While the roe toughens it will start to lighten in colour and turn opaque, but don't worry-- it will be a lovely translucent orange when you're done.

After a few minutes of soaking, use your hands to remove the roe from the thin membrane around the sac. Be gentle, as the roe is liable to pop if you're too rough. Once the roe is out of the sac there will still be pieces of membrane and veins attached to it. It's quite tricky-- and a bit grotesque-- to remove everything, and you'll likely spend at least 20 minutes on this.

The roe is heavier than the membrane, so you can rinse out the water-- along with any floaty bits of membrane-- quite easily. You might also like to give the roe a good stir with your hands and use a strainer to remove the floating pieces of membrane.   

When every last piece of membrane is removed, pour off the water and add a scant teaspoon of salt.

Mix it into the roe gently by hand. The roe's colour will start to change immediately.

Place the bowl in the fridge for half an hour to let the salt absorb. After 30 minutes the roe will be bright and translucent, but it's not quite done yet. 

Add another scant teaspoon of salt and mix it in gently.

Pour the roe into a sieve. Set the sieve into the bowl and drain the fridge for one hour, or until the roe is plump and all the liquid has drained. 

This is the finished ikura: so fat it looks ready to burst, with a beautiful bright orange colour. It is now ready to eat, or you can now pour it into a clean glass jar and keep it in the fridge for up to two days. Some say it is best eaten straight away, while others say it improves after a day, but if you're like me you won't have the patience to wait.

Taste an egg before using-- if you find it too salty, soak it briefly soak in cold water and drain in the fridge for 15 minutes.

So what to do with it? It's great in temaki (hand rolled sushi) or on chirashi-zushi (scattered sushi); in fancy hors d'oeuvres; as a garnish for both Japanese and western dishes; or with Japanese style spaghetti. In Japan two of the most common ways to eat ikura are atop daikon oroshi (grated daikon radish) to accompany sake, and in ikuradon (a bowl of rice topped with ikura). I think I'll go with the latter this time.

Again, complete pictures are in my Making ikura album on Flickr.

Planetes

I haven't splurged on a special treat for a while, but when Hideaki landed a new job (he starts next month!) I knew it was time. So I headed to our favourite local cake shop, Planetes, and picked up a few tasty items.

Above is mine (I think it was called something like poire a la lavendre). It is mousse with pear, red currant, and pistachio, flavoured with lavender. The lavender was very subtle and more of a fragrance than a flavour, and while I'm normally not a bit mousse fan I really enjoyed this.

Below is Hideaki's treat: puff pastry filled with vanilla custard, candied chesnuts and whipped cream, topped with chesnut cream.

豚キムチの焼そば

Buta-kimchi no yakisoba: fried noodles with pork and kimchi (spicy Korean pickles).

Can you tell my husband made this? Not that I'm complaining. Buta-kimchi and yakisoba are two dishes I'll never tire of, and I think combining them is pure genious.

It's also really easy to make (which I guess is why Hideaki made it): just sautee thinly sliced pork (100 to 150g per person), add triple that amount (more or less, depending on your tastes) of kimchi, then throw in some noodles. The next steps depends on the type of noodles you're using: if you use yakisoba noodles, add one package of noodles per person along with a splash each of soy sauce, sake, and water, then stir well and cover the pan and steam for a few minutes. If you're using fresh or dried Chinese noodles or spaghetti, you can skip the water and steaming: just add the freshly boiled noodles to the pork/kimchi mix with a little soy sauce and sake, cook for a few more minutes, and serve.

This dish can be doctored up a bit: bean sprouts, negi (long onion) or thinly sliced peppers are nice to add, and you can add other seasonings (like yakisoba sauce or oyster sauce). But when the point is speed and simplicity, the basic recipe is more than enough to satisfy.

手巻き寿司

What do you do when you crave sushi but can't afford it? Make temaki-zushi! Temaki-zushi, sometimes called just temaki, is hand-rolled sushi, in an easy-to-grip cone shape. It is easier for home cooks than regular maki-zushi (sushi rolls) or nigiri-zushi (bite-sized sushi): all that needs to be done is prepare the rice and the fillings, and the diners make their own rolls.

The sushi fillings above are, clockwise from left: dashi-maki tamago (thick omelet); bainiku (mashed umeboshi, or pickled plum); kaiware-na (daikon sprouts); shiso (perilla); cucumber slices; chuu-toro (medium-grade tuna belly): tai (sea bream); shake (salmon). There's also a big bowl of sushi-meshi (sushi rice, or short grained rice seasoned with vinegar, salt and sugar), sheets of yaki-nori (toasted nori seaweed, soy sauce for dipping, and iwa-nori-jiru (soup with iwa-nori seaweed and cod).

Temaki is often eaten in Japan as a party or celebration food, so our version looks a little dull. Normally you'd expect to see a bigger variety of seafood, often including ikura (salmon roe), shrimp and crab (either real or the fake kani-kama). Avocado, mayonnaise and wasabi are also popular, and you'll sometimes see inventive ingredients like thinly sliced roast beef or whole leaves of lettuce. But I think we did pretty well with our small modest selection of ingredients.

Making the rolls is easy. Place one sheet of nori horizontally on a plate or in your left hand (these instructions are for right-handers; lefties should do the opposite). Using a shamoji (Japanese rice paddle) or wooden spoon, place a small amount of rice on the left side of the of the nori and spread it out a bit. Leaving a small border of nori uncovered on the bottom and left edge will make the temaki easier to roll.

The amount of rice is up to you-- above I've used about half the regular amount (I'm on a diet and the rice is the highest-calorie part of temaki), and if you're concerned about carbs or calories you can do the same. Otherwise, use more, but don't overdo it as as an over-stuffed roll will fall apart. Don't worry too much about the amount of rice-- this is a fun, do-it-yourself type of food after all, and after a few tries you'll figure out how much is best for you.

Next, place your desired fillings on top of the rice-- here I'm using kaiware-na and chuu-toro. You'll want to put them at a slight angle as shown above, and leave a bit of space at the bottom. Again, this is a smaller amount of filling than usual-- feel free to use more, as long as you don't over-stuff.

Then roll it up into a cone shape with your hands. Start by folding the bottom left corner up to partly cover the rice, then roll it up carefully, making it tighter on the bottom. It may take a few tries to get the shape right, but it doesn't have to be perfect, and it will taste fine even if it's falling apart. Then dip it lightly in soy sauce and eat it-- with your hands of course.

With temaki-zushi, the fun is in combining different ingredients, so rather than using a single filling try mixing and matching. Here is one of my favourites: shiso, bainiku and cucumber.

This is actually a standard sushi combination, called ume-kyuu, and its sweet-sour-salty flavour is very refreshing. It's a great way to end a sushi meal or just cleanse the palate.

Here's the recipe for temaki-zushi. It's fairly easy to prepare, with the biggest work being the rice. If you've never cooked Japanese rice and/or sushi rice before, read through the instructions at about.com. Even if you're not crazy about Japanese food you can enjoy temaki: try using lettuce leaves instead of nori, and cooked seafood or roast beef instead of the sashimi. The great thing about temaki-zushi is that you can put almost anything in it. The only thing you can't fool around with is the sushi rice: short-grained Japanese rice and good Japanese rice vinegar are essential.

手巻き寿司 (Temaki-zushi)

• 2 Japanese rice cups Japanese rice
• 2 Japanese rice cups water
• 1 small piece kombu (kelp)
• 50 ml rice vinegar
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 package yaki-nori, regular or pre-cut for temaki-zushi
• Fillings: a variety that can include the following: sashimi of any kind, canned tuna mixed with mayo, cooked shrimp, crab meat, prepared anago or unagi (conger and freshwater eel), ikura or other roe, smoked salmon, cream cheese, sliced roast beef, ham, dashi-maki tamago (store-bought or home-made), cucumber, avacado, steamed asparagus, kaiware-na or other sprouts, shiso, lettuce, bainiku (store-bought or made my pitting and mashing 2 to 3 umeboshi), sesame seeds, mayonnaise, wasabi, or anything else you can think of
• uchiwa (flat Japanese fan) or other hand fan
• Pickled ginger (optional)
• Soy sauce

Wash the rice, drain, and add to pot or rice cooker with water. Top with kombu and cook as for regular Japanese rice (if your rice cooker has a sushi rice setting, use that).

Meanwhile, prepare the other ingredients. Make sushi-zu by mixing the vinegar, sugar and salt in a small pan and stirring over low heat until salt and sugar dissolve; let cool. Slice fillings to about 8cm (3") long and no more than 1cm (1/2") thick, and arrange on a platter. If using regular yaki-nori, cut in half (nori for temaki-zushi should measure 10cm by 18cm, or 4" by 7").

As soon as the rice is cooked, prepare the sushi-meshi (sushi rice). Empty the cooked rice onto a moistened sushi-oke (large wooden tub for sushi making) or a large shallow bowl. Pour about a quarter of the sushi-zu onto rice. Stir the rice with a shamoji (wooden rice paddle) or wooden spoon, using a cutting and folding motion; be gentle so as not to crush the rice. While mixing, fan the rice with the uchiwa in your other hand. When fully mixed, add another quarter of the sushi-zu, repeat until the rice is thoroughly and evenly saturated with all of the sushi-zu.

Bring the sushi-meshi to the table with the platter of fillings, yaki-nori, pickled ginger and soy sauce. The sushi-meshi should be used immediately, so get rolling!

Curry two ways

This is the curry rice I made a few nights ago: a Japanese style curry served over rice (in this case the curry is made with lamb, potatoes and mushrooms and the rice is the shirataki-gohan I've been experimenting with recently).

The next night Hideaki made curry-udon. This is a bit unorthodox, as curry udon is supposed to be a noodle soup, with the curry thinned out with dashi (Japanese stock). But we liked the curry so much we kept it as-is and just mixed it with udon noodles. It was good-- far better than it looked, and may become our standard way to serve leftover curry. Especially in the summer, when regular curry-udon is just too hot.

芋ご飯と秋刀魚の塩焼き

• Satsuma-imo gohan: rice cooked with satsuma-imo (sweet potato)
• Ingen-mame to abura-age no nimono: ingen-mame (green beans) simmered with abura-age (deep-fried tofu)
• Kyuuri no asa-zuke: quick pickled cucumbers
• Wakame seaweed, soybeans, myouga (ginger buds) and okra dressed with ponzu (citrus soy sauce)
• Sanma no shioyaki: salt-grilled sanma (Pacific saury) served with grated daikon, sudachi citrus and ponzu

Two clues that autumn is just around the corner: the stores are full of sanma, that delicious and easy to cook fish that is at its fattiest and tastiest in early autumn. And I actually feel like cooking it-- not just the sanma, but a proper meal.

After doing my best to avoid the kitchen all summer, it was nice to spend a little quality time there this evening. I'm hoping to spend a bit more time in there now that the best food season is almost upon us.

Dinner

• Edamame (fresh green soybeans)
• Nukazuke (vegetables pickled in rice bran)
• Salad of romaine lettuce, wakame seaweed, kaiware-na (daikon sprouts), cucumber and kani-kamaboko (fake crab)
• Miso soup with fu (wheat gluten), wakame and negi (long onions)
• Hiya-yakko (cold tofu) dressed with soy sauce and katsuobushi (bonito flakes)
• Rice
• Renkon no kinpira: renkon (lotus root), carrot and gobou (burdock root) braised in soy sauce, sake, dashi (Japanese stock) and mirin (sweet sake)

The nukazuke were store bought. They've never been a favourite of mine, but they had home-made looking ones selling really cheaply at the greengrocers so I thought I'd give them a try. Now I remember why they're not big favourites: they have a weird off-flavour and are unpleasantly sour and salty to boot. The rest of the meal was great though. I could eat renkon no kinpira every day...

親子丼

Today we had lunch at Naka-u, one of my favourite fast-food joints. I had my usual oyakodon, a variety of donburi (rice bowl) that literally means parent-and-child over rice. It's actually tender chunks of chicken cooked with onions, flavoured with dashi (Japanese stock), mirin (sweet sake) and soy sauce, mixed with eggs and seved over rice before the eggs set. Topped with mitsuba (trefoil) and shichimi (seven spice mix) it is both delicious and healthy. On the side I ordered a small haikara udon, which is udon noodles in cold broth with tenkasu (tempura batter), negi (long onions) and shitake mushrooms.

The oyakodon is now on sale for 450 yen (a 40 yen discount from the regular 490 yen), so together with the 200 yen haikara udon I was able to fill myself up with good food for just 650 yen. The sale is on until Tuesday the 11th.

Sri Lankan chicken curry

Another of Hideaki's classics. Amazingly simple: chicken wings (the only bone-in cut of chicken easily available here), are sauteed in a touch of butter with curry and garlic, then simmered for a few hours with onions and tomatoes. Nothing else-- not even stock or water-- is added, yet it turns into a beautiful curry, far more delicious than the short ingredient list would suggest.

The curry is rather low in calories so I went with that theme and prepared shirataki-gohan, a rice that is popular with Japanese dieters. It looks and tastes like regular rice, but one third to one half of it is actually shirataki, which are thin chewy noodles made from konnyaku, a mysterious and virtually calorie-free substance. When the shirataki is finely chopped and cooked together with rice, it is pretty hard to tell it's there at all.

The great thing about low colorie food? You get to eat twice as much-- and that's just what I did.

Dinner

• Natsu yasai to daizu no ponzu-ae: summer vegetables (cucumber, wakame seaweed, okra, and myouga, or ginger buds) and soy beans dressed with ponzu (citrus soy sauce), and shiso (perilla)
• Shake no furikake (salted salmon flakes) and canned tuna flavoured with soy sauce, shiso and shichimi (seven spice mix), to eat with rice
• Steamed rice

Not very hungry tonight, and therefore not really inspired to shop and cook. Still, it's amazing what can be whipped up with what's on hand, and I ended up wanting more.

お好み焼き

My husband, who has been quite busy in the kitchen recently, is starting to exhaust his repertoire of recipes. Not that I'm complaining-- I'm enjoying his hit parade of old favourites like yakisoba (fried noodles) for dinner and perfectly cooked fried eggs for breakfast (I have yet to master the art of egg cookery). And tonight he made something I've been waiting for for a while: okonomiyaki.

Often described as "Japanese pizza" okonomiyaki is a savory batter (made of flour, cabbage, and various flavourings) fried like a pancake on a griddle with pork, seafood, or whatever ingredients you like (okonomi means "as you like"). It is topped with a Worcester-like sauce, katsuobushi (bonito flakes), aonori (flakes of nori seaweed), and sometimes mayonnaise.

It is said to have become popular in Osaka in the years after WWII, when food was scarce and people would add whatever scraps they could scavenge to a thin batter. And Hideaki, an Osaka native, makes a good version-- pork only, with no scraps, mayonnaise, or other yucky stuff. Just how I like it.

Anniversary picnic

Today is our anniversary. Usually we go camping or take a little trip, but a picnic in the park is almost as fun. So I threw together my usual potato salad, made a muffaletta-style sandwich, and added a few totally random things on the side (edamame, string cheese, and beef jerky).

We also opened a bottle of champagne we've had in the fridge forever, waiting for a special occasion. Since neither of us have been drinking much lately, we were both drunk before the meal was over, and had to lie down for a nap. And we woke up after sunset, sore and chilly, and staggered our way home for more napping.

Not quite the romantic day I had in mind, but hey-- we're not newlyweds. Not by a long shot: this is how many years we've been married: