Thursday Dinner: Japanese dinner

So, I call this "Japanese dinner" for several reasons. Well, the main dish, chicken and beans have a sweet-soy-sauce-based taste, which I think is a very typical Japanese taste. Also, there is the miso soup and rice. Miso soup is really really simple to make. You should definitely try it.


Chicken and beans (for 2 people):
Soy beans (1 cup cooked) - They take about 1 to 1.5 hours to cook if you have dried ones. Soak them overnight before you start cooking. I've never seen canned soy beans, but you can get dried ones at any Asian store.
Chicken drum (4)
Brown sugar (1 Tbs) - very important for carmelization
Cooking wine (1 Tbs)
Soy sauce (3 Tbs)
Water (1 cup)
Sesame oil (2 Tbs)

1. Heat sesame oil on high heat in a pot.
2. Grill chicken until sides are brown.
3. Throw in beans and mix them well, making sure nothing burns.
4. Put water in.
5. Put sugar and cooking wine in.
6. Put soy sauce in.
7. Turn the heat down to medium low and cook until there is almost no soup left (with no lid on). It'll take about 15 min. Stir it half way to make sure all sides get cooked in the soup.

It'll actually taste better if you let it rest. You can put it in the fridge overnight if you have time.

Miso soup (spinach and seaweed) for 2 people:
Spinach (1 cup)
Seaweed (2 Tbs dried)
Miso (2-3 Tbs)
Dashi no moto
Water (2 cups)

1. In a pot, boil water with a sprinkle of dashi no moto.
2. Chop up spinach.
3. Chop up seaweed if not already cut.
4. When water boils, put spinach in and let it cook for few minutes.
5. Take miso on a small whisk and whisk it into the soup. The amount of miso really depends on what kind of miso you have. Some are saltier than others. So start small and taste to make sure that it's not too salty. Also, it gets saltier after you boil, so keep that in mind.
6. Put seaweed in. You don't want to cook seaweed for too long.
7. Right before the soup comes to boil, stop the heat. It's best to serve it right away, but if you can't don't worry, just heat it up before serving.

It's best not to cook miso for too long because it loses nice flavor. You can really put so many other things in miso soup.
Here are some variations:
onion slices and potatoes
daikon radish slices
tofu and seaweed
fried tofu (aburaage) and cabbage

If you've never bought miso before, you should get "medium." Miso ranges from aka (red) to shiro (white), and aka is salty and shiro is sweet. So, it's best to get something in between. You can usually tell by the color.

Well, so a simple Japanese meal is not complicated at all right? I mean, it's not like making sushi or tempura!

---

Technorati Tags:chicken, soy beans, miso soup