Steamed Fish with Tofu and Shiitake

This recipe is rich in protein and low in calories. Recommended for cold days.
Super easy to prepare! I am serving the fish with grated daikon (no chili) and ponzu.


Steamed Fish with Tofu and Shiitake

(Adapted from Japanese Cuisine for Everyone, Yukiko Moriyama)

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

4 white fish fillets (4 to 5 oz sea bass or cod)

12 to 16 oz tofu, cut into 2 to 3” cubes

4 dried shiitake mushrooms, softened in warm water, cut into half

2 cups of Chinese cabbage cut crosswise in 1” strips

1 green onion, finely chopped

4 pieces of kombu (kelp), 2 inches each

2 tablespoons of sake

1 cup dashi stock

Condiments:

Momiji-oroshi:

Grated daikon and chili

Ponzu sauce:

¼ cup lemon or lime juice

¼ cup soy sauce

Directions:

Place kombu on bottom of 4 heat proof individual serving bowls or a big heat proof glassware. Top each bowl with ¼ of each of the following: Chinese cabbage, tofu, fish and shiitake mushrooms. Season each bowl with ½ tablespoon of sake, ¼ cup of dashi stock. Steam uncovered for 20 minutes over high heat.

Sprinkle the green onions before serving. Serve immediately with steamed short grain rice, momiji-oroshi and ponzu sauce on the side or on the fish.

Gomokuzushi (Sushi Rice with Vegetables)

Oh no! Another Japanese dish!  J

Gomokuzushi or Kansai-style sushi is a sushi dish made with cooked or uncooked ingredients mixed in the body of the rice in the bowl. “Gomoku" means five, or more than five different ingredients. It is different than Chirashizushi (called Tirashi in several Japanese restaurants) in the sense that Tirashi is sushi rice topped with sashimi and other delicacies.

I like my Japanese seasonings less sweet than most recipes ask for. The thin omelet takes 1 teaspoon of corn starch, I didn’t use it. Besides toppings A and B, I added green peas and a wonderful tea-smoked salmon, a recipe from a blogger, Miriam from Madrid. Check Miriam from Madrid’s web site here.

Gomokuzushi (Sushi Rice with Vegetables)

4 Servings

Ingredients:

Sushi Rice:

2 cups Japanese rice, cooked

2 ½ inch piece of kelp seaweed (kombu)

5 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

1 ½ teaspoons salt

Toppings A:

4 medium dry shiitake, softened by soaking in hot water, stems trimmed, cut into thin strips

1 small carrot, cut in 1 “ long, thin strips

1 small burdock root, cut in 1” long, thin strips

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon mirin

Toppings B:

thin omelet

1 sheet of nori seaweed, cut in 1” long, thin strips

1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted and slightly crushed

1 tablespoon pickled ginger, squeezed, cut into thin strips

Thin omelet:

3 eggs

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoons mirin

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon cornstarch

Toppings C, more ideas (optional):

1 cup cooked green peas

4 oz smoked salmon or salmon grilled in salt, shredded

1 English cucumber, thinly sliced, salted, squeezed

1 cup canned bamboo, lotus root or water chestnut cut into thin sticks

2 aburage, deep-fried tofu pouches, thinly sliced into strips

4 oz small squids, cooked and sliced crosswise (round sections) or

4 oz shredded crab imitation

Directions:

Rice:

Cook rice with kelp and water. Remove kelp when water boils. Put hot cooked rice into a mixing tub (wooden or glass) and spread evenly over the bottom. Mix vinegar, sugar and salt in a cup, stir well. Sprinkle vinegar mixture generously over the rice. With a large wooden spoon, mix rice with a slicing motion, very gently. You want to keep the rice grains intact. While you mix, use a hand fan. This is not to cool the sushi rice, but to puff the extra liquid away. Keep the sushi rice in the tub, covered with a damp towel.

Toppings A:

Cook burdock in a small pan in medium-low heat until almost all the liquid is absorbed. Add carrots and shiitake when burdock is almost done, mix well.

Thin omelet:

Add mirin, sugar, salt and cornstarch to beaten eggs. Grease a non-stick skillet over medium low heat. Pour in just enough beaten egg to cover the bottom of the skillet. Rotate the skillet. The omelet is ready to turn when the edges curl up and the surface becomes glossy. Turn omelet with your hands and wait about 10 seconds. Remove from pan. The omelet should be paper thin. Pile the omelets. When they are done, roll them jelly roll fashion and cut into very thin strips.

Assembly:

Add all ingredients except nori and the egg omelet to the rice and mix. Turn into a large serving platter or individual bowls and garnish with egg topped with nori.

Chawanmushi (Japanese Style Savory Egg Custard)

Here I am cooking Japanese food again!  J

This dish is delicate and delicious. It’s a side dish. You can mix any meat of fish, in byte size pieces. There are special serving dishes for chawanmushi but I don’t have them, so I use bowls covered with foil and I steam them in a pan.

Chawanmushi (Japanese Style Savory Egg Custard)

4 Servings

Ingredients:

Dashi:

2 cups water

½ oz kombu seaweed (kelp) or 3 inches strip

1/2 cup dried bonito flakes

Custard:

3 eggs

1 2/3 cup dashi 

1 tsp soy sauce

Fillings:

4 oz chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces

4 large or 12 small shrimp, shelled, tail on (optional)

4 shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced, or 1/4 enoki mushrooms, chopped

8 slices kamaboko or narutomaki fish cakes

Japanese herb leaves such as mitsuba/trefoil (optional)

Directions:

Dashi: Heat the water with kelp, uncovered, over medium heat, remove kelp right before the water boils. Add a little bit of water and add the dried bonito flakes just before the water starts boiling. When the foam starts to raise, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 seconds. Turn off the heat. Add a pinch of salt and let stand until the flakes sink to the bottom. Strain.

Lightly beat eggs in a bowl, strain the eggs, add cold dashi and salt. Marinade the chicken with the mirin and soy sauce for a couple of minutes. Place fillings in the bottom of 8 oz bowls. Stir in the egg mixture carefully. Break any bubbles on the surface. Place mitsuba leaves on top of the egg mixture. Cover the cups with foil. Preheat a steamer on high heat. Turn down the heat to low and carefully place cups in the steamer. Steam for about 15 to 20 minutes until set.

Oyako Donburi (Chicken and Egg Rice Bowl)

Hi all, it looks like I am into another Japanese dish. It's just that I am craving for Japanese foods every day, weird! But not to worry, I will come to other foods, such as Brazilian, soon.

The Japanese name for dish means “parent and child”, which I think is super cute. This dish was very common at my parents house, and everybody loved it. It’s easy and quick to make too. The picture of this dish looks very similar to the Soboro but it tastes totally different.

Some restaurants and recipes call for too much sugar. I prefer less, just a hint, like the authentic Japanese food should be.

Oyako Donburi

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon sesame or vegetable oil

1 onion, thinly sliced

12 oz chicken breast, cut in ½” cubes

4 eggs

mushrooms such as shiitake or oyster, cut into strips (optional)

4 tablespoons light soy sauce

2 tablespoons mirin

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 C water

Mitsuba as a garnish (optional)

Chrysanthemum as a garnish (optional)

Nori seaweed as a garnish (optional)

4 tablespoons green onions, chopped very thin

Directions:

Heat oil In a large skillet, add onion and stir fry until soft, about 5 minutes. Add chicken and simmer for about 2 to 3 minutes. Add water, soy sauce, mirin, sugar and mushrooms (if using) and simmer over medium heat, about 5 minutes or until the chicken is tender. Beat eggs in a bowl. Bring the soup to a boil, pour over chicken, turn the heat down to low and put on a lid. Cook until the egg is set, about one minute. Add mistuba and/or chrysanthemum to the chicken. To serve,  put about 1 cup of steamed rice in a deep bowl, then lay the chicken and egg on top of the rice. Top with green onions and nori seaweed if using.

Soboro (Meat and Egg Japanese Style)

I love this dish. It is the typical Japanese comfort food. The combination of ginger with the teriyaki in the meat and the slight sweetness in the egg is delicious. You can use any meat: beef, chicken, pork, turkey. I used organic turkey. The eggs were super fresh from the CSA box that I've got on the same day. I am assuming you know by now that everything I use is organic. Well, maybe 99%...

Soboro (Meat and Egg Japanese Style)

4 Servings

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon sesame oil

16 ounces ground chicken or turkey (or any other meat)

2 tablespoons mirin

2 teaspoons sugar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon grated ginger

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 teaspoons sugar

½ tablespoon mirin

pinch of salt

2 cups cooked short grain brown or white rice

2 tablespoons thinly chopped green onions

1 nori seaweed sheet cut in thin strips

Directions:

Heat oil in a skillet. Add the meat, mirin, sugar, ginger and in a medium to low heat, break the meat.  After the meat is cooked, about 15 minutes, add the soy sauce. If there is too much liquid, turn up the heat until the meat looks moist but there is no excess liquid.

While meat is cooking, beat eggs in a medium bowl and add sugar, mirin, and salt. Heat a skillet with vegetable oil, add the eggs, and scramble until cooked. Don’t overcook the eggs.

Serve ½ cup of short brown or white rice into four bowls. Top with soboro, then the egg, green onions and nori. You can optionally add hot green tea to this dish. Serve immediately.

Agedashi-Tofu (Fried Tofu with Grated Daikon and Ginger)

It looks like I am in a Japanese cooking mode, I think that’s because Japanese cooking uses a lot of root vegetables, so abundant during fall.

This version is a light one as I stir fry the tofu instead of deep frying it. I am also using soy sauce instead of dashi. This dish is simple but elegant. You can serve with multiple little side dishes, like I am serving today: hakusai tsukemono (Napa cabbage pickles), kinpira (burdock root teriyaki), steamed shiitake mushrooms and steamed short grain rice.

Agedashi-Tofu
(Fried Tofu with Grated Daikon and Ginger)

4 Servings

Ingredients:

1 block tofu

corn-starch

½ grated daikon radish

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

1 teaspoon vegetable oil for stir frying

2 tablespoons light soy sauce or tamari

Directions:

Remove excess water off tofu by wrapping it in paper towels. Cut tofu into 4 blocks and cut each block in ½ making 2 triangles. Coat with corn-starch, and stir fry with the vegetable oil in a skillet until it turns golden brown. Place 2 tofu triangles on each serving dish and top with daikon and ginger. Drizzle ½ tablespoon of soy sauce on each dish. 

Napa Cabbage Pickles (Hakusai Tsukemono)

Napa Cabbage Pickles - Hakusai Asazuke or Tsukemono

Ingredients:

1/4 head hakusai (Napa cabbage), washed and cut in 4 to 8 pieces, lengthwise

2 - 3 tsp salt, depending on the size of the cabbage

Directions:

Put hakusai in a large bowl. Rub it with salt. Top with a plate/dish that covers all the vegetables and put a big weight on top of it, such as a pan filled with water. Let it rest overnight or 5 to 6 hours in the refrigerator. Squeeze cabbage and cut to serve.

Tonjiru (Pork and Vegetables Miso Soup)

Tonjiru or butajiru is a soup made with pork and miso, but its taste is very different from the traditional miso soup. This is the only dish I remember I liked when I was a baby. I mean it, I was a baby. My mom would serve it in a shallow plastic dish with some short grain rice, and I was delighted.

My version has some variations from the original dish. I added ginger and sesame oil instead of vegetable oil. I do not use konnyaku just because it’s a little hard to find and not everyone likes it. I am using potato instead of baby yam because of the same reason. However, I love baby yam! For Brazilians that are interested, the baby yam is called “inhame” in Brazil. Today I also added some left over tofu.

Mi’s Tonjiru (Pork, Vegetables and Miso Soup)

4 Servings

Ingredients:

1 tsp sesame oil

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1/4 lb lean pork, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1/2 gobo (burdock root), peeled and shaved into very thin slices

(I use the vegetable peeler to shave them)

1 medium potato (or 5 baby yams), peeled and cut into bite size pieces

1/2 carrot, peeled and cut into thin quarter-rounds

1/4 daikon radish, peeled and cut into thin and small rectangles

4 cup dashi soup stock (see miso soup recipe)

2 - 3 tbsp white miso

2 green onion springs, thinly sliced

Seven-spice chili mix (optional)

 Directions:

Soak gobo strips in water for 5 minutes in plenty of water and drain.

Heat sesame oil in a stock pot and quickly saute pork and ginger over high heat. Add potato, carrot, gobo, daikon radish to the pot and stir fry for about 1 minute. Add the dashi soup stock and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to low, skim off any foam that rise to the surface, and simmer for about 10 minutes. Dissolve miso in the soup and add chopped green onions. Remove from heat just before it starts boiling. Serve immediately.

Shake Ochazuke (Salmon with Rice and Green Tea)

Ochazuke is one of my favorite Japanese dishes. It can be as simple as rice, nori, tea and some savory protein or vegetable. Since my mom is here and can direct my cooking, today I am making a more sophisticated one, with sushi grade salmon, yummmm!!!!! I am serving it with kinpira (cooked burdock root) on the side.

Shake Ochazuke (Salmon with Rice and Green Tea)

Servings 4

Ingredients

4C white or brown short grain rice, cooked

1 lb sushi grade salmon

2 tablespoons wasabi

¼ cup light soy sauce

¼ cup green onion springs, very thinly sliced

1 sheet nori cut into thin ribbons

2 tablespoons toasted white sesame seeds, slightly crushed

(In Japanese cuisine we use a sesame grinder)

Very hot, high quality green tea, prepared in a teapot

Directions

Prepare rice in a rice-cooker or boil as instructed on package.

Cut salmon sashimi style. In a medium bowl, mix soy sauce, wasabi, sesame and green onions. Pour on the fish and toss. Marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Serve 1 cup of rice in a medium bowl, top with the seasoned salmon and pour green tea to cover the salmon.

Cover and wait a couple of minutes so that the fish gets slightly cooked with the tea heat. Top with nori right before serving.

Kinpira (Burdock Root Japanese Style)

Kinpira (Burdock Root Japanese Style)

Ingredients:

½ lb gobo (burdock root)

¼ lb carrot (optional)

1 tbsp light soysauce

1 tsp sugar

1 ½ tbsp mirin

½ tbsp sake

1 tbsp white sesame seeds

½ tbsp sesame oil

½ tbsp vegetable oil
A pinch of cayenne pepper

Directions:

Lightly shave the gobo skin and shred gobo into very thin strips. Soak the gobo strips in water for a while and drain well. Peel the carrot if using and cut it into short and thin strips. Heat sesame and vegetable oils in a frying pan, and stir fry gobo strips and carrots for a couple minutes. Add all seasonings to the vegetables and stir-fry, stirring frequently, until gobo is caramelized. Sprinkle sesame seeds and cayenne.


You can find burdock root at your local Asian store.

Tofu Miso Soup

Miso soup is great comfort food in a cold day. Today is the perfect day for some miso soup at lunch time. I used to make dashi (the stock) with the granules (e.g. Hondashi) but they contain MSG, so now I make it from scratch, with is not a lot of additional work. Besides the tofu, today I added Japanese herbs (mistuba and chrysanthemum), and thinly sliced fresh shiitake mushrooms.

Tofu Miso Soup

4 Servings

Ingredients

4 cups dashi soup stock

1 piece of dashi kombu, 4x6 inches (10 to 15 cm)
•

4 cups filtered water
•

1/2 cup loosely packed bonito flakes




3-4 tablespoons miso paste

12 oz tofu

1/4 cup very thinly sliced green onion

Directions

Dashi Stock

Place kombu in a medium saucepan and add the water. Bring the water to a simmer over medium heat. When it reaches a boil, remove from heat and add the bonito flakes. Let stand until the bonito flakes sink to the bottom of the saucepan, about 15 minutes. strain the dashi through a sieve. Use the dashi within a couple of hours of making.

Miso Soup

Put dashi stock in a pan and bring to a boil. Cut tofu into small cubes and add them to the soup. Simmer the tofu for a few minutes on low heat. Scoop out some soup stock from the pan and dissolve miso in it. Gradually return the miso mixture in the soup. Stir the soup gently. Stop the heat and add chopped green onion. Remember not to boil the soup after you put miso in.

Japanese Style Chicken and Vegetable Curry

This Japanese style curry dish was made almost every week at my parent’s house. It’s because it can be very versatile. We can call it “Kitchen Sink Curry”, as we can use any protein or none, and any vegetables that looks good in a stew. Vegetable broth can be used instead of chicken broth. Cauliflower, squash, any root vegetable would be great in the dish, however, radishes, hum… not so good. The Japanese style curry is very different from the Indian or Thai one. You can buy the curry powder in most grocery stores. I like the S&B brand,  but there are many good brands and they differ somewhat in taste. For more details on Japanese curries, go to:

http://japanesefood.about.com/od/curry/a/aboutcurry.htm

Japanese Style Chicken and Vegetable Curry

6 servings

Ingredients

1 lb chicken breast, diced 3/4” cubes

2 medium potatoes, diced 3/4” cubes

2 small carrots, diced ½” pices

1 Japanese eggplant, diced 1/2” cubes

1 medium zucchini, diced 3/4” cubes

1 onion, diced or 1 cup pearl onions, peeled

3 cups warm chicken broth

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

2 - 4 tablespoons curry powder

1 teaspoon chili powder (optional)

½ cup warm milk

3 tablespoons sour cream

Kosher salt to taste

Directions

In a large pot, heat 1 tablespoon butter. Saute onion until softened. If using pearl onions, cook until they start to brown. Remove the onion from the pan with a slotted spoon, leaving as much butter as possible in the pan.

Add the chicken, sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook until seared on all sides. Add the potatoes and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the vegetables, including the onion, stir to sweat them and add the chicken broth.

Bring to a boil, and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, make a roux out of the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and the flour: heat butter in a small pan, add flour and stir, cooking until the flour is mixed. Add 2 tablespoons of curry powder. If more spicyness is desired, add more curry powder and/or chili powder to the roux.

Slowly add ½ cup of warm milk to the roux and mix until totally blended. Add the curry and milk mix back to the chicken and vegetables, stirring to dissolve. Check the salt.

Simmer the curry for an additional  15 to 20 minutes, until the sauce has thickened and the chicken and potatoes are cooked. Check the spiciness and if needed, add the remaining curry powder and mix through. There should be a lot of sauce. Add more broth if the curry is too dry.

Serve curry with white short grain rice and chopped boiled egg to garnish (optional).

Miso Glazed Salmon and Eggplant, Spinach Ohitashi

Today I am not posting recipes, just the food that I cooked, sorry! I haven’t mentioned before, but my family is of Japanese origin. At my parents house back in Brazil, we used to have Western food for lunch and Japanese food for dinner. We all have Japanese ingredients handy anytime, that’s why I decided to make this dinner tonight: we got so much spinach this week that I didn’t know what to do with it. Ohitashi is a great way to use a lot of spinach: it’s basically steamed spinach served with dry fish flakes and dashi sauce. To go with it, I used the Japanese eggplant. This is one of my dad’s favorite. Broil the eggplant, peel and serve with English dry mustard and soy sauce. I decided to use the fish miso marinade: I boiled it for a couple of minutes and brushed over the eggplant. Ah, the fish. I baked a miso glazed wild salmon!