first biscotti out of JunAki kitchen

Its been rainin non stop these 2 days... so i was craving biscottis to go with hot chocolate...

As i was making this, i was thinking of dad, i wished he could try this straight out of the oven~!

To my surprise, it was quite easy to make, so i decided to try another variation...
Tiramisu biscotti

This was bento...

Honey balsamic roast chicken

Dinner

ホタテとベーコンのとろろグラタン

Konbu salad with sesame cream

ちくわ＋八丁みそだれ

Bento

Sesame shoyu sauteed pork, beansprouts sauteed with ham and eggs, okara.

Theme for todays dinner was TOFU~~~

Ganmodoki tofu simmered with bamboo shoot

Tuna and hijiki salad topped with crunchy chirimenjako on a bed of chilled cabbage.

Toasted aburaage with leek stuffing... YUMMY~

This was Okaasans recipe. It is so simple, you wont believe it.

Basically, just stuffed with sliced leek with shichimi spice and bonito and toasted in the oven for 7 minutes. When crispy, cut into 5 pieces and top with shoyu to enjoy. The simple taste of toasted aburaage was whooooooo............

keirou day and mid autumn

I am back~

Pardon my weekend hiatus, it was a long weekend for us because today is keirou day. Keirou means Respect for the Aged. Incidentally, Mid Autumn festival is celebrated today. So what did we do over the weekend? BBQ~!!! Went to Kawagoe with Okaasan, Otoosan, Oniisan and family. The weather was beautiful... cool autumny breeze with medium sunshine...

Anyway, this was lunch on saturday...

Neba Neba soba... Basically the toppings on the soba were all of sticky nature, Oura, grated mountain yam, nameko mushroom and natto. Neba neba is a japanese expression to express stickiness.

If you give it a good mix, this is how the soba turns out. yummy!

This was dinner for tonight

tsukimi cabbage soup

black glutunous rice bread that we bought. pretty colour isnt it?

Welcome to JunAki Bar

Bento

Its friday again~! So i felt like having bar food.

In Japan, you can have quite nice food at bars that specialise in sake.

These foods are basically grilled foods, like teppanyaki foods.

In addition, they would probably have their own special appetisers and salads.

So i thought, hmm... i can try to recreate that feeling of being in the bar, at home!

So tonight at JunAki Bar there was

Okonomiyaki!
Creamy Burdock salad
Sweet Mushroom salad

Rich Carrot walnut cake

Burdock salad

Ingredients
Burdock ½
Carrot ½
Broccoli stalk

Dressing
Mayonnaise 1tbs
Sesame paste ½ tsp
Crushed sesame seeds ½ tsp

Cut burdock and carrot into strips.
Soak Burdock in water mixed with vinegar.
Cut broccoli stem into cubes.
Wash the burdock strips in clear water, and add all the vegetables into 300ml of bouion or consommé.
Simmer for 15 minutes, then remove vegetables from stock and steep in ice water for ½ a minute.
Toss in dressing and top with more crushed sesame seeds.


Sweet Mushroom salad
Ingredients
Enoki
Shimeji
Shoyu, mirin, sake each 3tbs
Dashi 1 cup (1/2 tbs granules melted)

Boil mushrooms in all condiments.
When sauces have been absorbed, add 1 n ½ osu.
Chill.
Can b kept in fridge for 4 to 5 days.

gratin

BreakfastBento

Roast pork strips, cucumber and mixed beans salad, okara mash.

Dinner

Seafood gratin

Ingredients

(for 2 small gratin dishes)

brocolli 1floret

pumpkin 150g

scallop 4pcs

prawns 10tails

powdered white sauce

okara 100g

milk 50ml

1/2 big onion, finely chopped

Blanch the vegetables.

Fry onions in 3/4 tbs butter, add the seafood in, the vegetables, roughly stir fry. turn off heat.

Make the white sauce in another pot and pour in okara. Dish the sauteed seafood and vegetables into individual gratin dishes then pour in the white sauce.

Sprinkle pizza cheese all over top on dish, top with fried bread crumbs and parsley, then oven bake for 10 minutes.

crunchy white bait with sweet shiitake and tofu salad

Maple banana parfait

This was yesterdays dessert. Hub came home late, so i made dessert n fruit time a 2 in 1 affair.

Basically, just cut bananas in yoghurt drizzled with maple syrup and topped with chopped chocolate finger biscuits.

Breakfast

Pizza onigiri

Ingredients

1 cheese wedge, cut into 0.5cm cubes.

ketchup 1tbs

egg 1

nori

This was simple.

Whip an egg with some salt, pop into microwave for 40sec.

Scramble the eggs in the bowl and add warm rice into this bowl.

Add 1 tbs of ketchup, roughly stir in the cheese cubes and shape into onigiri!

Dinner

Miso roasted chicken, warm curry spiced cabbage salad, okara mash.

Miso roasted chicken

chicken breast (1pc)

white miso 1tbs

red miso 1/2 tbs

mirin 1tbs

Pierce chicken meat all over with fork and marinate with salt and peper.

Add the rest of the ingredients into a plastic bag, put the meat in and rub the marinate in. Place in fridge for 1 day.
Oven roast~

Warm cabbage salad

3pieces of cabbage leaves

curry powder 1/2 tsp

soba sauce 3/4 tsp

Cut cabbage into thick strips, cling wrap and microwave for 5min.

Add the spice and sauce, toss, and serve with cut cherry tomatoes.

feeling korean

Bento

Okara choco cookies

For those who havent heard of okara, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okara_(food).

I made this this afternoon using a recipe from a book, the taste was ok, but the texture a bit to chewy for my liking.

Dinner

Shiodana soup

Ingredients
Sake 1/2cup
Clams Enough for 2 persons

Shiitake 5pcs
Tofu 300g

*Hot water 3cups
*Shoyu 1tbs
*Mirin 1tbs
*Garlic finely chopped ½ tsp
*Chilli flakes 1tbs

Steam asri in sake until they open up.
Drain the sake into a bowl. Do not throw as this will be our asari stock.
Boil * and add asari stock.
Add asari and the sliced asari.
Add tofu cubes and simmer on med heat for 15 min.
Sprinkle salt.Before serving, crack and egg in, and top with spring onions.

Cucumber salad

Ingredients
Cucumber slices 2 small cucumbers
(sprinkle some salt)
rice vinegar 1tbs
Ginger juice 1tbs
Garlic finely chopped 1clove
Chilli flakes 1tbs

Mix all and serve.

Learned this from a TV program. The taste was good, the spiciness, madness.

As advised by the chef who was teaching, should have used korean chilli flakes which is sweeter and not as biting. I bought the Japanese version.

Hub n i were panting like crazy after dinner.