#542 Sauteed Eggplant dressed in Green Vinegar

My notes: A delightful side salad. Sprinkle with salt. 

2 Asian eggplants

2 tomatoes

2 cucumbers (small and narrow are best)

2T salad oil

Pinch of salt

2T ponzu sauce

1. Remove the eggplant stem and cut into thick diagonal slices.  

2. Remove the stems and seeds from the tomato and cut into 1.5cm squares.

3. Grate the cucumber and gently press out the excess water.

4. Heat the oil in a frying pan and saute the eggplant slices until they are brown on both sides. Sprinkle it with salt and set aside to cool.

5. Top the eggplant and tomatoes with the grated cucumber and top with ponzu sauce.  

#547 Grilled Eggplant with Meat and Miso Sauce

My notes: This dish is for mature taste buds. 

8 small Asian eggplants

100 g ground chicken 

2 T sake

A

80 g red miso paste

5 T sugar

Sake

2 T dashi broth

1 T mirin

2 T salad oil

Grated ginger

1. Quarter eggplant into wedges. Cut thin, shallow slices into the skin side.

2. Place the meat in a small pan and mix in sake. Break up chunks while cooking.

3. Heat up the A ingredients and mix until the miso paste is smooth. Add to the meat pan and mix. 

4. Heat oil in a frying pan and line up eggplant, frying both sides.

5. Place eggplant on a dish and top with the meat and miso mixture. Top with grated ginger. 

#579 Green Peas in Syrup

My notes: I liked it. My kids didn’t. 

1.5 cups frozen green peas

A 

1 cup water

6T sugar

Salt

Salt to taste

1. In a small pot, put water from A, sugar, and salt and heat over medium until dissolved. Set aside. 

2. Put frozen peas into a pot of salted boiling water. Bring back to a boil and boil no more than two minutes. Drain immediately.

3. While peas are still hot, pour in syrup from step 1. Allow to cool and for flavors to absorb. If you are using fresh peas, boil them until they are soft and then follow the same instructions.  

#585 Niku Jaga (lit. Meat and Potatoes)

My Notes: Meat and potatoes does not mean the same thing in the USA and Japan. This is a sweet and savory, wonderful dish. 

2 russet potatoes

½ round onion

200g rice noodles

200g thinly sliced beef (I used ground beef)

2 T sesame oil

A 

2 cups dashi broth

2 T sake (or chicken broth or Mirin)

3 T sugar

3 T soy sauce

1 T Mirin

1. Peel potatoes and cut into quarters. Submerge in water. 

2. Cut onion into wedges.

3. Prepare noodles, drain, and cut into desired length. Set aside.

4. Heat sesame oil in a pot and brown meat. Drain potatoes and add to meat pot.

5. Add A ingredients to the pot. Add onions to the pot. 

6. Cook all ingredients over medium heat for about 10 minutes. 

7. Add extra soy sauce and Mirin to the pot as needed. Cook another five minutes. Serve over noodles. 

#589 Potato and White Fish Pot-au-feu

My notes: Pot-au-feu is French for “pot on fire”. It’s a traditional beef stew.  I love a soup that has texture but is simple and comforting. I give this dish 4 stars for adults, but 3 stars for kids. I can’t imagine anything better on a cold winter’s day. Don’t overcook the veggies or their individuality will be compromised and it won’t look as pretty.   

4 russet potatoes

1 round onion

1 carrot

4 filets white fish

A

5 cups water

3 cubes soup stock

Salt and pepper

1 T salad oil

Green onion for garnish

1. Peel and cut potatoes in half. Submerge in water. Cut onion into 8 wedges. Cut carrots into 4-5cm long quarters. Chamfer the sharp edge.

2.  In a large pot, add potatoes, onions, carrots, and cook on medium heat until slightly softened, but firm. 

3. Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper and saute in a frying pan until browned on both sides. 

4. Add the fish to the pot and cook gently until heated through and veggies are tender. 5-6 minutes.

5. Top with sliced green onions.

#605 Potato Okonomiyaki

My notes: I was fresh out of octopus the day I made this dish. In fact, I made this dish twice, and I was out of octopus both days. So, I left it out and made it anyway. It tasted kind of like hashbrowns. I tried it with mayonnaise, Sriracha sauce, ketchup, sour cream, a variety of seasoning salts, and the only thing that was any good was a little bit of ketchup and extra salt. I added some bacon bits, but they weren’t that great. I probably wouldn’t make it again unless I really wanted fresh hashbrowns. Don’t put it too thick in the pan, or the middle will be really soggy!

4 russet potatoes

200g cabbage

1 green onion

150 g cooked octopus (tako)

2 eggs

A

4T flour

½ t salt

Dash of pepper

Katsuobushi (fish flakes)

Oil

Soy sauce

1. Peel potatoes and submerge in water. 

2. Thinly slice the cabbage. Chop the green onion and thinly slice the octopus. 

3. In a large bowl, slightly beat the eggs, add A ingredients, and the grated potatoes. Grate the potatoes separately and remove as much liquid as possible before adding. Add the cabbage, onion, octopus and 5 g of fish flakes.  Mix all together. 

4. Oil a small frying pan, heat up, and fry on medium heat about half of the mixture at a time. When it begins to brown, flip it (if needed) and cook another 5 minutes. Top with soy sauce and more fish flakes. Cook the rest the same way. 

#641 Sauteed Carrot and Daikon

My notes: A good winter comfort food. I didn’t have any chirimenjyako or little salted dried fishies, so I added a little dashi powder to the cooking liquid and then sprinkled with a dash of kosher salt. I think crushed up Korean fried nori seaweed sheets would be good too. 

Big carrots

Big daikon radish - 5 cm (300 grams)

Daikon greens, if available, or spinach

2T chirimenjyako (tiny dried fish)

1T oil

A 

1.5 T soy sauce

1T sake

2T water

1. Peel the carrots and daikon radish and cut into thin, wide matchsticks. Boil the daikon greens and cut into small pieces. Set aside.

2. Heat a frying pan and add the fish. Cook until crispy and then add oil and add carrots and daikon. 

3. Add the A ingredients to the pan. Mix and continue cooking 2-3 minutes. 

#645 Seasoned Ground Pork and Carrots

1 carrot

50g ground pork

½ spicy pepper

½ T oil

Dashi broth to taste

1T sake

Soy sauce

⅔ T sugar

1. Peel carrots and cut into wedges. Remove seeds from pepper and cut into small pieces. 

2. Heat the oil in a pan and add the meat. Once it changes color, cook until it is crumbly. Add the carrots and continue cooking. 

3. Once the carrots are covered in oil, add the dashi broth. Then add the spicy pepper, sake, soy sauce, and sugar and simmer.

4. Turn down the heat and continue simmering until the liquid has mostly evaporated, removing scum from the cooking liquid as it appears. 

#649 Simmered Daikon and Satsuma Age

My notes: The recipe calls for satsuma-age, which I thought was a type of deep-fried tofu, but I was wrong, and it is a type of fried fish cake. I made it with tofu and it was delicious. I’m sure the fish cake version is good too.

500 g daikon radish

Daikon radish greens

1 piece Satsuma-age (fish cake) or deep-fried tofu

1 T oil

1.5 c. dashi broth (prepared)

Sake or chicken bouillon

Sugar

1 T mirin

1 ¼ T soy sauce divided

1. Peel and cut daikon into bite size pieces. Cut greens into 3-4 cm pieces. 

2. In a small pot, boil the “age” to remove some of the oil and cut into 1 cm pieces strips. 

3. Heat the oil in a frying pan and stir-fry the daikon until lightly browned. Add the “age” and continue to cook. Add the dashi, sake, sugar, mirin, and 1 T soy sauce. Simmer for 10 minutes. 

4. Once the daikon is heated through, simmer another 5 minutes. Add the greens at the end. Serve hot. 

#653 Marinated Daikon Salad

My notes: Double the amount of Ponzu sauce. I let mine sit for a day to absorb the flavors. 

Daikon radish

5cm carrot

4 cabbage leaves

2 t. konbu tea (I used a 2” square of dried konbu seaweed)

3 T. ponzu sauce (I made my own)

1. Peel the daikon and slice it into thin strips. 

2. Peel and slice the carrot the same way. 

3. Slice the cabbage into 1.5cm strips. 

4. In a bowl, mix daikon, carrot, cabbage and tea and ponzu. Let sit for 30 minutes. 

5. Remove veggies from sauce and serve.