Seafood "Bento"

I made this a while ago, so I'm a little bit guessing on how I made it, but I know I'm really really close.  This is another one of my "bento" recipe ideas for when you have lots of rice and want to jazz it up a bit.  The crab topping was really good, although if you can't find the dried shrimp it will still taste fine without them.  I love these sweet egg crumbles, however I think they're a pain to eat with chopsticks.  Oh, and I was talking to a Japanese exchange student (who also happens to be my next-door neighbor) and he told me that my recipes remind him of home.  *blushes* 

Seafood "Bento"

Ingredients:

3/4 c. hot cooked white rice
2 imitation crab sticks
3 snow peas, trimmed
sprinkling of dried baby shrimp
3 - (1/8 in.) slices takuan (pickled daikon)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp. sugar
pinch of salt
vegetable oil
2 tofu puffs
1 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. mirin
2 umeboshi, yasai fumi furikake, & shichimi togarashi (optional, to serve)

Heat a dry frying pan over medium low heat, and add the crab sticks.  Cook until browned on each side, then remove the crab to a cutting board.  Using a fork, shred the crab into long stings, then chop in half to make them more manageable.  Set aside.

Pour 1/4 in. water in the frying pan and bring to a boil.  Add the snow peas and blanch for 1 minute.  Removed the peas from the pan and cut into strips on the diagonal.  Set aside.  Dump the water from the pan.

Heat a little oil in the pan.  Beat the sugar and salt into the egg until dissolved.  Add the egg mixture to the pan and scramble.  Using a spatula, continue to stir and cut the egg until it has fully cooked into little crumbles.  Remove from pan and set aside.

Cut the tofu puffs into 4 slices each.  Add to the hot pan and cook until warm.  Add the soy sauce and mirin.  It should start to froth.  Stirring with a spatula, cook until nearly all the liquid is absorbed.  Remove from pan.

To serve, lay the rice down as a bed on a plate.  Add the crab shreds to one side and top with the snow peas and dried shrimp.  Cut the takuan slices in half and add a row of them next to the crab.  Sprinkle the egg crumbles next to the takuan.  Place the tofu pieces in a small separate bowl.  Sprinkle the egg with yasai fumi furikake and the tofu with shichimi togarashi.  Garnish with umeboshi.

Peeling a Grapefruit--the RIGHT way!

Hi yinz!  My finals are officially over, so I can breath now!  I took some photos of my finals display, so when I get around to getting them off my camera, I'll share them with you.

In the meantime, while I haven't been able to do any real grocery shopping because I've had no time to cook, I have gotten some fruit to munch on as snacks.  I don't know what it's like where you live, but grapefruit has been the thing here in NYC.  Now, I love grapefruit, but I know many people say that they hate the taste because it is so bitter.  Actually, grapefruits aren't quite as bitter as you think they are.  I would describe them as having a pleasant sour taste, but not bitter.  If you find grapefruit bitter, I think you're peeling it wrong.  You see, the skin, pith, and section membranes are where the bitterness are.  You can get around it a little by cutting the fruit in half and scooping it out with a spoon, but that's a pain to eat and it's very messy.  Instead, I'll share with you a way of peeling grapefruit that's guaranteed to remove all those bitter parts and allow you to really enjoy the fruit part.  Yes, it takes a while to do, but trust me, it's worth it and you'll thank me in the end.  I can't take credit for this method, though.  My father showed me how to do it.  I heart Daddy!  ^_^


Peeling a Grapefruit--the RIGHT way!

Step 1:  Peeling the Skin

Start peeling off the skin of the grapefruit--you may have to slit it with a knife to get it started.

After the peel has been completely removed, the whitish pith should still remain.

Step 2:  Scrape off the Pith

Using your knife, carefully scrape off the pith so that you can start to see the fruit membrane, but don't pierce the fruit.

Peel the pith away from the membrane beneath.

After the pith is removed, it should look somewhat like this.

Step 3:  Pull the Fruit Open

Carefully pull the fruit apart in half (mine wanted to come apart into 3 sections).

Step 4:  Slit and Peel Back the Membrane

Insert the tip of your knife between the fruit and the section membrane and slit the membrane open.

Gently pull the section away from the membrane.

Step 5:  Remove the Section

Remove the section as intact as possible from the rest of the fruit.  Set aside.

Step 6:  Peel Away the Section Membrane

Pull that section's membrane from the rest of the fruit, otherwise it gets in the way when you go to slit the next piece.

 Step 7:  Repeat Steps 4-6 Until Finished

When finish, you will have a whole grapefruit minus all of the bitter stuff!  Enjoy!

Just to show you, this is all the bitter skin, pith, and membranes you got rid of.

Oh my!  I'm so sorry and apologize to anyone who has been wondering why there haven't been any more posts lately.  I promise, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth--the semester is running down to the final few weeks, and it's been very busy for me.  I have been cooking and I have been taking photos, it's just I haven't had time to post anything.  Here are some of the old posts, and I hope to get caught up with them and be up to date in the next day or so.  Sorry for all the delay!!

Pork, Tofu Puff, and Asparagus Soup with Lemongrass

I had three asparagus spears left in the freezer, so I used them up.  This was another meal I made late at night.  Generally speaking, if I make soup, I don't have a lot of time on my hands.  Soup doesn't require a lot of dishes and it's over and done with in a flash.

Pork, Tofu Puff, and Asparagus Soup with Lemongrass

Ingredients:

1 oz. pork belly
2 tofu puffs
3 spears frozen, blanched asparagus
2 leaves napa cabbage
1/2 stalk lemongrass
small bunch enoki mushrooms
1 c. veal stock (or use beef stock)
2 tsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. shaoxing rice wine
sesame seeds (optional, to serve)

Shred the lemongrass finely.  Cut the pork belly into 1/2 in. cubes.  Heat a pot over medium heat and add the pork belly pieces and the lemongrass shreds.  Cook in their own grease until the meat has cooked through and the pieces are browned.

Mix together the veal stock, soy sauce, and rice wine and add to the pot.  Bring to a boil.

Cut the tofu puffs into 1/2 in. slices and chop the cabbage into 1 in. squares.  Add both to the soup and simmer 1-2 minutes.

Cut the asparagus spears into thirds.  Add to the soup along with the enoki mushrooms.  Simmer an additional 2-3 mintues, until the asparagus is fully thawed and heated through.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

Fish Cake & Rice Cake Soup

I got the idea for this soup from a recipe for Japanese New Year's soup.  OK, now if you really look up a recipe for New Year's soup, it's not really like this at all.  I just got the inspiration from there.  I had no chicken thawed (what a surprise) and the rice cakes I have aren't really mochi, but it works.  You can really use any sort of fish cake you have if you don't have these little cubed fish cakes.

Fish Cake & Rice Cake Soup

Ingredients:

small handful of rice cake slices
2 imitation crab sticks
2 pieces fried fish cake
2 dried shiitake mushrooms, reconstituted
1/4 sheet toasted nori seaweed
1 tsp. dashi granules
1 1/2 water
2 tsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. mirin
small bunch enoki mushrooms, roots removed
4 snow peas, trimmed
1 spring onion
shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven-spice powder, optional, to serve)

Bring the measured water to a boil.  Add the dashi granules, soy sauce, and mirin.  Stir until the dashi has dissolved completely.

Add the rice cakes and boil 3-4 minutes, or until the rice cakes have softened through and turned a bright white color.

Cut the fish cakes into bite-sized pieces and slice the crab sticks in half.  Slice the shiitake mushrooms into 1/4 in. strips and separate the enoki mushrooms from one another.  Add these ingredients to the soup and simmer for another 2-3 minutes, until the fish cakes have heated all the way through.

Cut the snow peas in half on the diagonal and slice the spring onion into 1 in. pieces.  Add the green vegetables to the soup and simmer an additional 1-2 minutes.

Cut or tear the nori sheet into 1 in. squares.  Add the them one at a time to the soup to keep them from sticking to one another.  Sprinkle with shichimi togarashi and serve.

Udon & Tofu Puff Stir-fry

Another thing to do with udon noodles.  I bought a bunch of tofu puffs in Chinatown and I forgot to thaw out meat at the time, so this worked out pretty well.

Udon & Tofu Puff Stir-fry

Ingredients:

3 tofu puffs
1/2 frozen udon noodle block
1/2 in. daikon, peeled
8 snow peas, trimmed
1 small sweet pepper, seeded
vegetable oil
1 Tbsp. oyster sauce
2 tsp. water
1 tsp. soy sauce
shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven-spice powder, optional, to serve)

Put the noodle block in a bowl and cover with boiling water.  Leave to soak and "cook" on its own.

Cut the tofu puffs into 1/4 in. slices, the daikon into 1/8 in. slices, and the sweet pepper into 1/8 in. slices.  Heat a little oil in a pan and add the tofu puffs, daikon, sweet pepper, and snow peas.  Cook 2-3 minutes.

Mix together the oyster sauce, water, and soy sauce.  Add to the pan and stir to coat.  Cook an additional 1-2 minutes.

Drain the noodles, rinse, and drain again.  Add the noodle to the pan and stir to coat with sauce and heat through.  Sprinkle with shichimi togarashi and serve.

Chicken, Mushroom, and Udon Teriyaki

I was have a bad day a week or so ago, and I decided to make chicken teriyaki (again), but I decided that I wanted the whole thing teriyaki.  It was late at night and I didn't feel like doing a lot of dishes, so I tried to keep it all to one small pan.  I have to say it looks a little odd with no green vegetables, but it worked.

Chicken, Mushroom, and Udon Teriyaki

Ingredients:

1/2 frozen udon noodle block (fresh udon--not dried)
2 dried shiitake mushrooms, reconstituted
1 chicken thigh, skin on
small bunch enoki mushrooms, root removed
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. mirin
1 Tbsp. sake
1 tsp. sugar
sesame seeds, to serve

Put the noodle block in a bowl and cover with boiling water.  Leave the noodles to soak and "cook" on their own.

Using kitchen scissors, snip the chicken meat from the bone.  Cut into bite-sized pieces.  Heat a dry pan over medium heat and add the chicken pieces, skin side down.  Cook 2-3 minutes, or until browned, then turn the pieces over and cook an additional 2-3 minutes.  Make sure the chicken is cooked all the way through--no pink!

Cut the shiitake mushrooms into 1/2 in. pieces and separate the enoki mushrooms from one another.  Add the mushrooms to the pan with the chicken and cook 1-2 minutes.

Mix the soy sauce, sake, mirin, and sugar together and add to the pan.  It should come to a frothy boil.  Continue to cook until the sauce has cooked down to a sort of glaze.

Drain and rinse the udon noodles.  Add them to the pan and stir to coat with the sauce.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.