Tsukemen (Dipping Ramen)

Tsukemen is "dipping ramen" that is popularly eaten in Japan.

The way of eating Tsukemen is, serve noodles in a plate, offering soup in another bowl,
and eat with dipping noodles in a soup as like Zaru soba (cold soba style).

Both good Tsukemen and Ramen are possible to make in the Netherlands.
You don't need special ingredients, and you can get most ingredients in Albert Heijn.

I am from Tokyo then I love to cook Tsukemen or Ramen with Tokyo style soup.
Tokyo style soup is the combination bouillon from both meat and fish.
This style of Ramen soup is called "double soup" in Japanese slang.

In Japan we have Sababushi (dried, fermented, and smoked mackerel).
This ingredient is often used for Ramen or other dishes in Japan.
Therefore in the Netherlands, I can use smoked Mackerel instead.

soup is the combination of chicken bouillon, mackerel bouillon,
and soy sauce bouillon after stewed pork.

Soy souce stewed pork. Pork meat is for eat, and soy souse bouillon is one of an element of soup.
Put boiled eggs in this bouillon to make soy souse egg.

AH fresh pasta with egg is closer taste to Japanese Ramen noodle more than other Asian noodles in here.
Many Japanese people in the Netherlands, they use this AH pasta for Ramen or Yakisoba.
Must get this brand (Spagetti that includes egg), other pasta doesn't work for ramen/yakisoba.

For more detail refer my Japanese blog.
http://ameblo.jp/utrecht/entry-10649416076.html

Homemade Japanese dinner for my guests

My friends visited our place on last week. They were looking forward to have my Japanese dinner. I cooked special Japanese dinner for them.

Around 80% of Japanese restaurants in western countries are organized by non-Japanese.
Those places are often different from native Japanese taste.
Therefore I cooked for my guest to introduce Japanese home taste as much as possible.

Detail of meals is as follows:


1. 五目寿司(Gomokuzushi)
Cooked ingredients are mixed in the body of rice in a bowl. It is commonly eaten in Japan.
My Gomokuzushi, mixed ingredients are carrots, bamboo shoots and Shiitake mushrooms. Toppings are omelet, shrimps, carrots and something green vegetable.


2. 鮭の味噌焼き(Sake no Misoyaki)
Spread Miso paste and whisked egg on Grilled salmon.


3. えのきと玉ねぎ、麩の味噌汁(Enoki to Tamanegi, Hu no Misoshiru)
Miso soup with Enoki (thin white mushroom), onion and Hu (麩)Japanese wheat gluten)


4. 肉じゃが(Nikujaga (Japanese stewed meat and potato)
Nikujaga is a common home-cooked Japanese dish. The dish contains meat, potatoes, onions, and carrots stewed in soy sauce based bouillon. It is also sometimes seen in izakaya (Japanese pub) in Japan.


5.ひじきの煮付け(Hijiki no netsuke (stewed Hijiki)
Hijiki is a seaweed and is a traditional food in Japan. This is a common home-cooked Japanese dish. Typical grand mother's meal. Stewed with soy sauce and fish stock.

6.いんげんの生姜煮(Ingen no Shougani)
This is a traditional dish within my family. My grand mother often cooked this dish.
Boil kidney beans with ginger, seasoning is soy sauce and Konbu stock.
About Konbu stock, refer to my other article as follows.
http://japaneseholland.blogspot.com/2009/01/konbu-dashi-basic-seaweed-stock.html


7. 切干大根(Kiriboshi daikon)
Kiriboshi daikon is Dried Daikon. This is one of a popular Japanese ingredient.
Seasoning of this dish is soy sauce and Konbu stock. Also this is popular Japanese grandmother's dish.

8. ほうれん草の白和え(Hourensou no Shiraae)
This is also a typical grandmother's dish in Japan. Boiled spinach mixed with smashed Tofu.


Our tableware is Japanese pottery and Japanese lacquerware. My mother gave us those valuables when we were in Japan.
Real and original Japanese lacquerware is expensive therefore most Japanese restaurants provides imitation (plastic) lacquerware nowadays. (My Japanese lacquerwares is real and original)

Dessert: 抹茶かん (The agar of Japanese green tea)
served with 餡子(Japanese Bean jam) and whip cream

One important essence of Japanese cuisine, is called "Motenashi no Kokoro (もてなしの心. the mind of warmly treatment)".
To cook Japanese foods beautifully is to show sincerity to the guest by cooking.
This kind of mindset is also used for Japanese tea ceremony.

Hello Kitty pancake

Cooked Hello Kitty pancake. How to ?



I bought this frying pan in Japan. we can get unique Hello Kitty products in there.

Sorry for eating Hello Kitty face but tasty, hehe.

Rei-Shabu (cold Shabu-shabu)

Rei-Shabu is a Japanese dish, means "cold Shabu Shabu".
Japanese often make this dish mainly on summer time.
I made this Japanese dish from standard ingredients that sold in AH.

Boil thin sliced pork or beef, then cool them down.
Served with vegetables with Rei-shabu sauce.
Sorts of Rei-shabu sauce are for example sesame taste, Miso taste and soy sauce taste.

Shabu-shabu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabu-shabu

Chirashizushi (scattered Sushi)

We have many types of Sushi in Japan. Chirashizushi, (scattered sushi) is Sushi rice spread in a bowl with some ingredients (i.e. fish, vegetables, eggs, etc...) on the top or mixed in. This is commonly eaten in Japan.

In the Netherlands, Paling or salmon is good for this Sushi. This photo is my homemade Chirashizushi topping with Paling(Dutch smoked eel), crab, egg and avocado. Better to bake Paling lightly(1 minutes more or less) to vaporize fat. Of course soy sauce (with wasabi) is a necessary item when you eat.

This Sushi is easy to make more than Maki sushi or Nigiri sushi. You don't need special ingredients for topping as you can see my photo. If you don't like fishes, you can use ham instead.

Japanese Curry

I like Japanese curry very much.


Standard JP curry is of course good.


And topping with a lot of vegetables is also nice, especially with fried eggplants.

Tenzaru (cold Japanese Soba noodle with Tempura)

We, Japanese often eat cold noodles mainly in summer time.
Because Japanese summer is hot and humid.
Cold noodles are good for our appetite in this Japanese weather.

The photo that was my dinner (of course I cooked), is one of popular Japanese noodle dish "Ten-zaru".
"Ten" means Tempura. "Zaru" means Zaru-soba.
Soba is cold but Tempra is of course warm.
How to eat, is dipping both Tempra and Soba with soba tsuyu (dipping sauce).


Many Japanese people enjoy drinking Sobayu (the water in which the noodles were cooked) after the dish.
If you went Japanese restaurant, and if they provided Sobayu after you ate Soba, this restaurant will be good sign.

Oh, remember we drink only Sobayu.
We don't drink the water in which Ramen or Udon noodles were cooked.

About the detail of Soba, you can refer wikipedia, hehe...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soba

Sauce Katsu-don (Japanese pork cutlet rice bowl served with Japanese sauce)

I introduced standard Katsudon before.
Today I introduce other type of Katsudon, called "Sauce Katsudon".

Sauce Katsudon is the one served with special sauce that is Japanese brown sauce based.
About this dish, sauce means "Japanese brown sauce" like Bull-dog sauce or Otafuku sauce.

Sauce Katsudon Recipe:

1. Prepare the rice

2. Make Tonkatsu

How to make Tonkatsu:
http://japanesefood.about.com/od/pork/r/tonkatsu.htm


You can also use schnitzel pork meat for Tonkatsu.

3. Cut the cabbage into fine strips

4. make "Sauce Katsudon" sauce

stair well following ingredients and boil 1 min.

- JP brown sauce: 3 tbsp.
- JP soya sauce: 3 tbsp.
- kechap: 2 tbsp.
- sugar: 2 tbsp.
- water: 2tpsp.
- Dashi(Japanese fish bouillon. you can also get this in Toko): 1/4 tea spoon.

5. Serve rice in bowls, pour 2 tbsp of "4" on it. then place the cabbage.

6. Cut Tonkatsu pieces, dip both sides with "4". Then place Tonkatus on "5".

------------------------------------------------------

- Japanese brown sauce.

I am not sure about other towns. About Utrecht, you can get JP brown sauce at Toko centraal (Amsterdamstraatweg).

- About Panko

If you are living in the Netherlands, you can make Panko from Dutch Bischuit.


Clash this Bischuit like this photo, you can get Japanese type Panko.
You can make Japanese fried dishes with Panko like Tonkatsu, Korokke, and Ebifurai, etc...

Katsudon (Japanese rice bowl with a pork cutlet, and egg)

I made Katsudon for our dinner last night.
Katsudon is one of a populer Japanese dish, a bowl of rice topped with a Tonkatsu, egg, and condiments.

Tonkatsu is a deep-fried pork cutlet (Japanese pork Schnitzel).
Japanese bread crumbs called "Panko", this doesn't include herbs and spice.
When you want to make Japanese bread crumbs, just grate leftover breads that are getting dry using with cheese grater.
You can also get Japanese bread crams in Japanese or Chinese shops.
But it's not practical to pay for expensive price for the product that is made from old breads.



My husband is a Dutch but he also like this dish.

lekker lekker

Katsudon - wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsudon

Hello Kitty Obentou Box

Hello Kitty Lunch Box. Bought in Japan.

With a chopstick case.


Create Obentou is part of my artwork.

Himono (Japanese stockfish)

Many Japanese love fishes very much. We have many way for cooking fishes.
Himono is one of a popular fish dish in Japan. Himono means "Stockfish" .

This photo is one of my cooking menu. The dish on the top left called "Aji no Himono", means "Stockfish of Jack mackerel(Horsmakrel)".
May be some Japanese shops or some Japanese restaurants in abroad provide "Aji no Himono", but will be expensive if we get Aji no Himono in there.
But if we made by ourselves, only costs 30 cents to 50 cents. Therefore I make "Aji no Himono" by myself.
It's easy to make. Just get fresh Jack mackerel in the fish market.
remove the insides from a fish, and wash by water gently.
Marinade this in light saltwater for 2 to 4 hours, hang it and dry in half to 1 day (depends seasons).
Grill the fish both sides well, and eat with soy　souce and daikon-oroshi(grated Japanese radish).

Lekker! Yam Yam!