Japanese Cooking Class Part #2 : Chawan Mushi

As I promise, I will post chawan mushi after I posted Maki Sushi. Chawan mushi is egg custard and ussualy served as appetizer and better served as soon as it is cooked.

Chawanmushi (茶碗蒸し,Chawanmushi, literally "tea cup steam" or "steamed in a tea bowl") is an egg custard dish found in Japan that uses the seeds of ginkgo. Unlike many other custards, it is usually eaten as an appetizer. The custard consists of an egg mixture flavored with soy sauce, dashi, and mirin, with numerous ingredients such as shiitake mushrooms, kamaboko, and boiled shrimp placed into a tea-cup-like container. The recipe for the dish is similar to that of Chinese steamed eggs, but the toppings may often differ.
Source : Wikipedia

Here is a recipe :
Ingredients :
3 eggs
2 cups dashi
6 slices kamaboko
6 small pieces cooked chicken breast
6 shrimps
3 fresh shiitake mushroom, cut
2 tbsp soy souce
pinch of salt
little bit mitsuba

Directions :
In saucepan, boiling dashi and let it cool.

Beat eggs lightly and mix with cooled dashi, salt and soy souce.

Prepare 6 chawan with lid.

cutting a mushroom

Devide chicken, shrimps, mushroom, kamaboko and mitsuba between six chawan, pour in eggs mixture.
Fill large saucepan with 1/4 full of water and boiled.
Turn the heat into medium and place chawan with lid into saucepan.
Cook for 20 - 30 minutes or until custard sets, (you can check readiness with skewer.)

My chawan mushi made from eggs which is contain high protein, (you can read here), it goes to Sanggeth of Art of Cooking Indian Food who is hosting Eat Healthy - Protein Rich Contest.

Japanese Cooking Class Part # 1 : Maki Sushi

Last weekend, my friend and I attended Japanese cooking class. We learnt how to make maki sushi and chawan mushi. I am sure everybody know what sushi is but I am not sure if anyone know chawan mushi. The chawan mushi is egg custard dish , which is usually served as appetizer. But in this post, I show you only how to make sushi. I will write about chawan mushi in later posting.

Makizushi (巻き寿司, lit. rolled sushi). A cylindrical piece, formed with the help of a bamboo mat, called a makisu (巻き簾). Makizushi is generally wrapped in nori, but can occasionally be found wrapped in a thin omelette, sesame seeds, cucumber, or parsley.[1] Makizushi is usually cut into six or eight pieces, which constitutes a single roll order. Below are some common types of makizushi, but many other kinds exist.

sushi rice : place cooked rice in a large bowl pour in vinegar and little bit sugar, fan the rice to cool by hand.

Ingredients : Sushi rice, nori, kamaboko, tamagoyaki (eggroll), shiso leave, kampyou, lettuce, cucumber, mushroom, kani, mayonaise, denbu ( you can choose the ingredient for inside of sushi) but the primary ingredients are sushi rice and nori.

place one sheet of nori lengthways across bamboo mat. dip finger in a bowl of vinegared water. pick up rice and place across center of nori and spread the rice over nori until covered, leaving little bit space of nori.

place mushroom, eggroll, kani, shiso leave and lettuce ( or anything you want) on top of rice.

rolling the sushi forward with pressing gently but tighly

cut roll with sharp knife in half, and slice both rolls again to give eight bite size pieces.

Here are Sushis..you can make your own sushi now :P. I'm sending my sushi for Wine and Dine : Reisling and Japanese Eats hosted by Joelen of Joelen's Culinary Adventures .

Wholesome Lunchbox : Home Made Burger

My husband likes to bring bento to his work. Often he bought bento box from supermarket but he was bored of the same choices which are sold there everyday. So he asked me to make bento myself. It is cheaper of course, and also he likes home made cooking.

Because he is picky when comes to food, so he wants different and unconventional bento box everyday. Not a typical our own food, but it may come from some foreign cookings. For instance, he likes simple and fast food, like hamburger. Unlike regular hamburger which are sold in fast food counters, he likes home made burger which can be more healthy with fresh lettuce and tomato. Not only my husband, but my kids also love hamburger. They can finish one big burger for themselves.


Not just Burger, my husband bring some fruit for his lunch box, he loved apple or any kind of juicy fruit.

So here is my home made burger recipe :

Burger

Ingredients :
150 gr mince beef
1/4 onion, finely chop
30 gr bread crumb
1 large egg
pinch of salt
black pepper
butter for frying

Directions :
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.
Shape into 4 thin patties.
Put butter into pan and fry the patties until golden brown and no longer pink inside.

I'm sending my homemade burger for Wholesome Lunchbox hosted by Margot of Coffe and Vanilla.

Banana Bread

I love banana cake and banana bread or anything related to banana. One of my favourite banana bread recipe is from Simply Recipe. It is very simple, no need of mixer, but it makes a perfect banana bread.
Note : I use 3/4 cup of sugar





Banana Bread
Source : Simply Recipes

Ingredients

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour

Method

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Sapo Tahu

I have never had Sapo Tahu before. When lovely Sefa posted her delicious Sapo Tahu's recipe in her blog, I really want to try it.

I did some changes though like chinese cabbage with bokchoy, hioko mushroom with inoki , egg tofu with momeng tofu (a type of japanese tofu) and using cooking oil instead of sesame oil.

Thank you Sefa ..for sharing the recipe, it is really easy and delicious...!!


Sapo Tahu
Source : Sefa's

Ingredients:
2 packs of momeng tofu (もめん), cut dice, fried
15 black tiger shrimps, peeled, deveined, cleaned
10 leaves of chinese bokchoy
1 pack mushroom, cut, cleaned

Spices:
4 cloves of garlic, finely minced
½ medium size onion, sliced
Ginger, finely minced
Green onion, slice thinly
3 tbsp oyster sauce
350 ml chicken broth
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp cornstarch, dissolved in 4 tbsp water
3 tbsp cooking oil


Directions :
1. Heat oil in a pan. Sauté garlic, onion, ginger and green onion until fragrant.
2. Add chicken broth. Season with oyster sauce, fish sauce . Mix well and cook until boil. Remove from the heat.
3. Place fried tofu, shrimps, Chinese cabbages in the claypot. Ladle the broth into the claypot. Cook over moderate heat until set.
4. Add cornstarch mixture. Mix and cook until thicken. Turn of the heat.

Eat Healthy - Fiber Rich : Asinan Buah

Asinan buah is Bogor's favourite fruit snack. Bogor is my husband's hometown. So everytime we visited Bogor, we always brought back home a couple of asinan buah. However, since we moved out of the country, it has been a long time we never had asinan buah, so my husband asked whether I can make my own.

It is the first time I make my own asian buah. But it turned out to be very easy. Not all the fruit I can find here, but I can find the replacement. I used cucumber, pineapple, apple and american cherry, but other juicy fruit is also fine. Asinan buah is best served with ice during hot summer day. This is my entry for Eat Healthy event which takes the theme "Fiber Rich".

Here is the recipe :

Asinan Buah

Ingredients :
1/2 large pianapple, cut into cubes
2 cucumbers, slices
1 large apple, cut into cubes
American Cherry

2 clove garlic
6 red chilies
8 tbs vinegar
pinch of salt
75 gr palm sugar
25 gr caster sugar
1000 ml water

Directions :
Blender garlic and red chillies with 100 ml of water. Prepare saucepan, boiled mix garlic and red chillies and add 900 ml of water. Cook until it is boiled. Add salt, palm sugar and caster sugar, also add vinegar. Turn off the stove. Cool off then pour in the chopped fruits. Put them into fridge and wait until it gets cold to be served.

Monthly Mingle : Zenzai - Sweet Red Bean Soup with Rice Cakes

At the new year party, a Japanese friend of mine prepared a traditional dessert, called Zenzai. It is read beans soup and usually served in a small bowl with mochi or rice cakes. Actually, zenzai is pretty much similar with one of Indonesian popular dessert, mung bean porridge. The only difference is that the mung bean porridge is served with coconut milk.

From the japanese recipe book given by my host family, I then tried to prepared the zenzai by myself. It is very easy.

This traditional dessert is my entry for Monthly Mingle hosted by Mansi and Meeta in which this month theme is Appetizers & Hors'Doeuvres

Shiruko (汁粉, Shiruko^?), or oshiruko (お汁粉, oshiruko^?) with the honorific "o" (お), is a traditional Japanese dessert.^[1] It is a sweet porridge of azuki beans boiled and crushed, served in a bowl with mochi.^[1][2] There are different styles of shiruko, such as shiruko with chestnuts, or with glutinous rice flour dumplings instead of mochi.

Zenzai - Sweet Red Bean Soup with Rice Cakes
Source : Recipes of Japanese Cooking book

Ingredients (serve 4) :
11 1/6 oz chunky sweet red bean paste
1 2/3 U.S. cps azuki beans simmering liquid
Cut rice cakes

Directions :

1. Place the sweet red bean paste and the azuki beans simmering liquid in a pot (one serving : 3 1/3 oz liquid per 2 4/5 oz paste). Boil briefly
2. Cut the rice cakes into small pieces, and toast until thoroughly softened in a toaster or on a grid.
3. Place the rice cakes in a pot, and mix with the sweet red bean paste lightly. Arrange in individual bowls.

Azuki An - Sweet Read Bean Paste
Source : Recipes of Japanese Cooking book

Ingredients :
10 1/2 oz azuki beans
10 1/2 to 12 2/3 oz sugar
water

Directions :

1. Leave the azuki beans in plentey of cold water over night. Place both the beans and the water in which they were soaked in a pot, and bring to the boil over a high heat. When it comes to the boil, add some cold water. When the water starts to boil again, drain the beans on a sieve.
2. Fill a pot with plenty of water and add the azuki beans. SImmer over a low heat for about 2 hours while skimming off foam. When the beans are so soft that they can be crushed with your fingertips, remove from the heat.
3. Cover the pot partially with the lid, and pour only the simmering liquid into a bowl while holding back the beans with the lid.
4. Plasce the pot over the heat again. Add sugar, and simmer while stirring until all the liquid is gone. The quantity of the sugar to be added depends on how sweet you want the paste to be. If you intend to preserve the paste, spread it on tray after boiling and let stand until cool.

Award..

Bee dropped by my blog and left comment in my blog, as follows :

there's something for you at jugalbandi. congrats.

June 6, 2008 5:04 PM

Then when I visited her blog, I was really surprised that my photo took the second place winner for spectra categories. Of course I was really happy. In my three consecutive participations at the click event, I gained better and better position. The big 25 in March edition, then the 3rd place winner in April edition and now is the 2nd place. Hard work pays off.

I am just newbie in photography, started in January this year, when my hubby gave me a camera for my birthday present. It was not easy at first so I asked anyone who can help. Ira, my best friend. always happy to share her wisdom. She is the one who encourage me to send my photos to the click event.

At last, I want to say thank you to Jai and Bee for opportunity to participate in the click event. Also all jugdes and of course to Ira `Busy Little Bee`. I hope someday, we can meet. Thank you so much.

PS : Thanks buat Sefa... doa loe terkabul say....:D