Tag: Japanese
Tempura Soba
Tempura Soba
Tempura soba is a hot soba noodle soup with fried tempura shrimp over the top. Making this soup is extremely easy. The dashi stock just needs heating up. Prepare the soba noodles according to the package. Ladle the stock over the noodles. Top with lots of spring onions. The only real effort is making the tempura shrimp, and that is fairly simple. If you don’t like shrimp, you can substitute tempura chicken, mushrooms, green beans, tofu, etc. Sprinkle some togarashi pepper powder over the top. It kind of gives a numbing feeling, similar to Sichuan peppercorns.
Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 4 cups dashi stock
- 3 tbsp mirin
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sake
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 portions soba noodles prepared according to package
- 3 spring onions chopped
- 12 tempura shrimp
- togarashi pepper powder to taste
Instructions
- Bring the dashi, mirin, soy sauce, sake, and salt to a boil.
- Place 1 portion of cooked soba noodles in a soup bowl.
- Ladle in 2 cups of stock. Top with spring onions. Place 6 tempura shrimp over the stop. Shake on togarashi pepper powder.
Shrimp Tempura
Tempura is one of the most famous Japanese food items outside of Japan. The batter is light and crispy without absorbing excess oil. Shrimp is one of the most popular ingredients to fry in tempura batter. Like all tempura frying ingredients, the shrimp need to be pat dry before dipping in the batter. They will only take a total of 6 minutes. Drain oil on a rack instead of paper towels to maintain the crispiness.
Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb 26/30 count shrimp tail on; peeled and deveined
- 1/2 cup cake flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup ice water
- vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- Mix together all of the dry ingredients.
- Mix in the water.
- Heat up 3” of cooking oil in a pot over medium high heat(350 degrees). Pat dry the shrimp. Dip in the tempura batter. Drop in the oil. Make sure to not over crowd.
- Fry for 3 minutes a side. Drain grease on a rack.
Okonomiyaki Omurice
Okonomiyaki Omurice
Here is a fusion of two of my favorite Japanese foods, okonomiyaki and omurice. Okonomiyaki ingredients are used to make the fried rice: pork belly, cabbage, onions, and okonomiyaki sauce. The rice is then formed into a dome on a plate. A simple omelette is made and put on top of the rice. Oh, it’s not over yet. Across the top of the omelette is drizzled okonomiyaki sauce and kewpie mayo with sprinkles of sesame seeds, bonito and nori flakes. This is why you always make extra steamed rice so the leftovers can be turned into something so magical like this.
Ingredients
Rice
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/4 medium white onion diced
- 1/4 lb pork belly skinned; diced into small cubes
- 1/2 cup cabbage shredded
- 2 cups day old steamed rice
- 1/3 cup okonomiyaki sauce
- 2 green onions chopped
Omelette
- 1/2 tbsp butter
- 3 large eggs beaten
- salt and pepper to taste
Toppings
- okonomiyaki sauce
- kewpie mayo
- bonito flakes
- nori flakes
- sesame seeds
Instructions
- Heat up 2 tbsp of cooking oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Sauté the onions and pork belly for 5 minutes.
- Add in the cabbage. Sauté for 2 minutes.
- Add in 2 more tbsp of cooking oil. Add in the day old rice. Break up all of the clumps. Fry for 3 minutes.
- Squirt in the okonomiyaki sauce. Fry for 2 more minutes, making sure that they rice is evenly coated. Turn off the heat and stir in the green onions.
- Pack some of the rice in a small bowl to mold into a dome shape. Flip upside down on a plate.
- Melt the butter in an egg pan over medium high heat. Pour in the eggs. Season with salt and pepper.
- Cook for 1 1/2-2 minutes a side.
- Put the omelette on top of the rice.
Unagi Don
Unagi Don
Unagi is a Japanese freshwater eel that is quite popular in American sushi restaurants. That is where I tried it for the first time. But in Japan, unagi is a luxurious fish and is considered a delicacy. Instead of eating a tiny piece in sushi, unagi is roasted whole and eaten on top of steamed rice. Unagi has a rich flavor with very soft delicate flesh. It might sound weird to eat an eel, but once you give it a chance you’ll realize how “normal” tasting it is. Almost all unagi is farm raised. It is extremely rare to ever see fresh unagi in a grocery store. Pretty much all unagi comes precooked in a vacuum sealed package. It takes a lot of skill to properly fillet, debone, and cook an eel. Let the experts do it. So all you have to do is heat it up on a baking pan. And that only takes 8 minutes. While the unagi is baking, you can whip up the sauce that goes with it in the same amount of time it takes to cook the unagi. The sauce adds a sweet and saltiness that compliments the unagi. Once the unagi is finished, cut it in half and put over steamed rice. Drizzle with the sauce.
Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 1 unagi fillet
- 1/2 tbsp sake
- 3 cups steamed rice
Sauce
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/6 cup mirin
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp sake
Instructions
- Simmer the sauce ingredients over medium heat for 8 minutes until thickened. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the unagi fillet on a baking pan lined in foil. Drizzle 1/2 tbsp of sake over the unagi.
- Bake the eel for 8 minutes.
- Place 1 1/2 cups of steamed rice in a bowl. Spoon over 1 tbsp of the sauce.
