Saturday Dinner: Meat in the pouch

Tonight, we had some guests over at our apartment, so I made a tapa-style Japanese dinner. I'll just put a recipe for one of the dishes I made that can definitely be a main dish for any Asian dinner.

The "pouch" is fried tofu, called abura age. It's not like tofu though, so if you don't really like tofu, don't feel like you can't make this dish. Alternatively, if you can't find this fried tofu pouches, you can use broiled nappa cabbage leaves to stuff the meat.

Meat in the pouch (for 2-3 people - makes 12 little stuffed pouches):
Ground pork (3/4 pound) - You can also use ground chicken or turkey
Fried tofu pouches (6) - It's best to get ones that are small (like 2 by 2 inches)
Water chestnut (1/4 cup chopped) - This adds crunch
Dried shiitake mushrooms (1/4 cup soaked and chopped) - You should be able to get this at any Asian store
Soy sauce (1 tsp, 1-1/2 Tbsp)
Cooking wine (1 tsp)
Salt (1/2 tsp, 1/2 tsp)
Dashi no moto
Mirin (1-1/2 Tbsp)
Potato starch (1 tsp) - You can substitute corn starch for this
Water (2 cups)

1. Boil hot water and put it over fried tofu pouches in a strainer. This gets rid of excess oil on the pouches. You could also put tofu pouches on paper towel on a microwave-safe plate and microwave them for a minute.
2. Soak shiitake mushrooms in water for more than 5 minutes until they're tender enough to cut. Chop soaked shiitake mushrooms and water chestnut into small dices.
3. Combine, ground pork, chopped shiitake mushrooms and water chest nut, salt (1/2 tsp), cooking wine (1 tsp), soy sauce (1 tsp), and potato starch. Mix well.
4. Cut fried tofu pouches into halves and open them up so they're like pouches.
5. Stuff the pouches with the meat mixture.
6. Boil water and a dash of dashi no moto in a large pot or deep pan. Add soy sauce (1-1/2 Tbsp), salt (1/2 tsp), and mirin (1-1/2 Tbsp). Once the soup boils, put all the stuffed pouches in. Put the lid on and turn the heat down to medium low. Cook until meat is cooked all the way through.
7. Let it rest for as long as you can so the flavor gets absorbed into the pouches.

Serve it with rice and miso soup. Enjoy!

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Technorati Tags:fried tofu pouch, water chestnut, shiitake

Friday Dinner: Leek and potato gratin

Feeling like you want to forget about being healthy and treat yourself? You don't need to have restaurant food to do that. Try this gratin, which takes only a casserole and an oven. I wanted to have a dish highlighting spring leeks. I also had leftover whipping cream that I used for making cheese cake and had to get rid of. So this dish was perfect.

Leek and potato gratin (for 3-4 people):
Leek (2 white parts, about 5 inches each)
Potato (4 small to medium)
Whipping cream (1-1/2 cup)
Shredded mozzarella cheese - You can use any of your favorite white cheese
Salt
Pepper
Garlic (3-4 small cloves)

1. Preheat the oven at 375 degrees.
2. Clean leeks really well and slice them. If it's easier, you can wash them after slicing them.
3. Slice potatoes thinly about 1/4 inch thick. You don't need to peel them if you are using baby potatoes. Peel and slice garlic cloves.
4. Spread leek slices in a casserole. Place potato slices over the leek slices, try not to make them overlap too much. Put garlic slices in.
5. Fill the casserole with whipping cream. Potatoes should be half submerged (but not completely). Salt and pepper well.
6. Top it with a lot of cheese.
7. Cook in the oven for 35 minutes. If it starts to brown too much, put aluminum foil over the casserole. It's done when potatoes are nice and tender.

Leeks were really tender and sweet. Loved it! I didn't put any meat in this dish, but you can add chicken pieces or any kind of seafood like white fish, salmon, shrimp, scallop, etc. If you are worried about putting whipped cream, just make white sauce with butter, flour, and low-fat milk.

I served it with tomato salad with goat cheese and vinaigrette.

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Technorati Tags:potato gratin, leek recipe

Thursday Dinner: Simple fried rice

Fried rice is one of the quickest things you can make. It's not super easy, but you just have to be careful about few things. I made my fried rice vegetarian today by using this thing called "tempeh." It's like fermented soybean cake. It's not a Japanese ingredient but became popular after it was featured as this really healthy food on a popular TV show, so my mom used to put it in omelet when I was at home last time. I found tempeh at this organic food store and decided to try it out. It actually tasted little different than I remembered. It had a pretty strong taste of fermentation, but it wasn't so bad after I cooked it. If you're not sure about this tempeh thing or can't find it, just use chicken breast, ham, or sausage.

Simple fried rice (for 2 people):
Rice (2 cups cooked) - It's easier to make fried rice with non-sticky rice.
Onion (1/2 medium or 1/2 cup diced)
Celery (2 stalks - 1/2 cup diced)
Tempeh (1/2 cup diced) - You can substitute diced chicken, ham, or sausage
Egg (1)
Sesame oil (1 Tbsp)
Vegetable oil (1 Tbsp)
Soy sauce (1/2 Tbsp)
Salt (1 tsp)
Pepper

1. Spread warm rice on a plate and let it cool a bit while you cut the vegetables.
2. Dice the onion and celery. Dice tempeh or any meat you are using.
3. Beat an egg in a little bowl.
4. Heat pan or wok at high heat with sesame oil and vegetable oil.
5. Once the pan/wok is really hot (very important), add all the vegetables and tempeh/meat. Keep stirring so they don't burn. Try to let the stuff go up in the air. It's very important to do that because that's how you get rid of excess moisture in food.
6. When the onion is transparent (happens very quickly), put the egg in.
7. When the egg is half cooked, put the rice in. Again, keep stirring and try to let it go up in the air. Put salt and pepper in and mix well.
8. Put soy sauce on the side of the pan/wok, not directly on rice. Keep stirring. When everything is well incorporated, serve.

Once you start stir-frying, everything happens pretty quickly. It's very important to have everything ready in front of you before you begin stir-frying. Once you master this basic fried rice, you can make any fried rice. Try other vegetables like green pepper, carrot, broccoli, etc. I would avoid leaf vegetables though (diced cabbage would be fine).

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Technorati Tags:fried rice, tempeh

Wednesday Dinner: Stewed chicken with red wine

Tonight, I made a very hearty dish with chicken and leftover red wine in my brand new le creuset:) I got it as a birthday gift, and it was my first time using it. It worked very nicely. I thought it was more non-stick than my all-clad deep pan.




Stewed chicken with red wine (for 3-4 people):
Chicken thigh (4 - one piece per person) - Use skinless but leave the bone in if you can.
Carrot (1)
Celery (2 stalks)
Onion (1 medium)
Baby potato (2 medium or 4 small)
Red wine (1-1/4 cup)
Canned tomato, whole or diced (1-1/2 cup)
Chicken stock (1/4 cup)
Flour
Bay leaf (1)
Olive oil (1 Tbsp, 1/2 Tbsp)
Salt
Pepper
Fresh thyme (1 spring) - optional

1. Slice the onion. Slice the celery and peeled carrot diagonally (not too thinly). Cut potatoes into quarters.
2. Clean chicken really well (I just wash them with running water) and pat dry well. Salt and pepper both sides of each piece and put some flour on both sides. Brush off excess flour.
3. Heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a dutch oven on medium/medium-high heat.
4. Saute chicken for about two minutes each side until it is lightly brown. Take chicken pieces out.
5. Add 1/2 Tbsp of olive oil in the dutch oven. Saute onion slices until they're very tender (ideally, they should be caramelized but if they're not, it's OK because it takes time).
6. Add celery and carrot. Stir well and keep sauteing for about 2 minutes.
7. Add red wine and stir well. Once the soup boils, put the chicken pieces back. Add canned tomatoes. When it boils, add potatoes.
8. Put 1 tsp of salt, pepper, and a bay leaf. Put the lid on and cook until potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally.
9. Take the lid off. Add thyme and let the soup reduce down a bit. The flour on the chicken and potatoes thicken the soup.

One thing you could add to this stew is mushrooms. I put potatoes in, but you can not put them in and serve it over pasta.

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Technorati Tags:chicken recipe, red wine recipe, chicken stew

Arugula flowers

I just noticed today that my arugula now has white little flowers:) Both arugula and lettuce have grown a lot. I actually bought this big plastic bucket and replanted some of the lettuce there to make more room for them. It's really tempting to just eat them, but I think I should wait for at least another week or two. So far, I haven't seen any signs of disease or bugs (or squirrels) so that's really good. I also got thyme, parsley, and basil from the local market last weekend, so now I have a little collection of herbs too.

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Technorati Tags:arugula flower, grow arugula, grow vegetables

Tuesday Dinner: Easy but not so quick fish dinner

Tonight, I just baked fish and vegetables in the oven because I didn't feel like making something elaborate.




Roasted vegetables and fish (for 2 people):
Your favorite fish - steak cut (2) - I just used sea bass that I had in the freezer. You can use swordfish, tuna, salmon... anything you like.
Baby potatoes (6) - I used a mixture of red skin potatoes and purple potatoes.
Fennel (1 white part) - I tried fennel for the first time fairly recently and have been in love with it since then.
Olive oil (1 Tbsp)
Salt
Pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Take away the outer layer(s) of the fennel (1 or 2) and slice it about 1 inch thick. Cut potatoes into quarters.
3. Place fennel slices and potatoes in a casserole. Drizzle olive oil over them and sprinkle salt and pepper over them. Mix them so all sides get the oil and seasoning.
4. Bake the vegetables for about 30 minutes.
5. Wash the fish pieces and pat dry well. Put salt and pepper on the fish.
6. Take the casserole out and place the fish pieces in the casserole. Bake for about 15 minutes, being careful not to overcook the fish. Make sure the potatoes are soft and fish is cooked all the way through.

The recipe is really simple, which means you can add a lot of things to it. You can put some tomato sauce, pesto sauce, or any other sauce on the fish. I just actually put little bit of soy sauce on it tonight to make my life easy. Fish and vegetables do have taste though from salt and pepper, so don't overdo it!

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Technorati Tags:fish recipe, roasted fennel