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 .

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.

Cumi Teriyaki : Ide lain Memasak Cumi

Cumi salah satu hasil laut yang banyak penggemarnya. Biasanya disini dijual dalam packing plastik beralaskan styrofoam. Harganya lumayan mahal, mungkin karena sudah dikemas rapi dan memang masih segar. Jenisnya macam-macam, ada yang kecil, besar juga berbentuk fillet.

Yang berbentuk fillet bisa dibuat untuk topping sushi atau dibuat sashimi, warnanya lebih putih dan bersih. Yang besar dan utuh biasanya berwarna gelap keunguan. Ada juga jenis cumi yang sudah dikeringkan atau diasinkan. Di Jepang cumi juga bisa dibuat Shiokara, yaitu Ika Shiokara.

Shiokara (塩辛, Shiokara^?) is a food in Japanese cuisine made from various marine animals that consists of small pieces of the animal's meat in a brown viscous paste of the animal's heavily salted, fermented viscera. The raw viscera are mixed with about 10% salt, 30% malted rice, packed in a closed container, and fermented for up to a month. Shiokara is sold in glass or plastic containers.

The flavor is quite strong and is considered something of an acquired taste even for the native Japanese palate. The taste of shiokara lingers in the mouth. One method of enjoying it is to consume the serving at one gulp and to follow it with a shot of straight whisky. Some bars in Japan specialize in shiokara.

Sumber : Wikipedia

Berkali-kali masak cumi pasti hanya di buat calamari, cumi goreng tepung atau cumi kecap. Bosen juga dengan menu cumi yang biasa itu. Browsing kesana kesini akhirnya dapet resep cumi yang beda dari biasa. Yang ini cumi dengan bumbu teriyaki. Resepnya dari dapurnya Eva .Jadi inget masakannya Mindy , Salmon Teriyaki :D

Cara membuat sausnya ternyata hampir sama, hanya disini penggunaan mirin saya hilangkan. Juga saya pakai cumi yang berukuran besar berwarna gelap keunguan. Dipotong kotak dan diberi guratan sama persis dengan Eva. Saya juga tidak menggunakan maizena sebagai pengentalnya, jadi cuminya agak sedikit berair.

Bahan :
500 gram pineapple cut squid
1 bh paprika ijo potong tipis
1 bawang bombay , iris tipis
1 sdm maizena campur dengan sedikit air
2 sdm minyak untuk menumis


Bahan Saus:
8 sdm saus teriyaki ( atau campur 5 sdm mirin dan 6 sdm kecap kikkoman)
3 sdt gula pasir
1/2 sdt jahe halus
1 sdt bawang putih halus


Cara Membuat :
1. Karena aku pake pineapple cut squid jadi tinggal dicuci bersih aja terus dipotong kecil-kecil. Kalo yang pake cumi fillet, belah dulu cuminya kemudian gurat bagian dalam cumi tapi jangan sampai putus, baru dipotong2 ukuran 2x3 cm.
2. Campur bahan untuk saus semuanya lalu aduk sampai rata.
3. Rendam potongan cumi tadi dengan saus. Sisihkan kurleb 15 menitan.
4. Panaskan minyak, tumis bawang bombay dan parika sampai harum dan layu, kemudian masukkan cumi yang sudah dimarinade tadi beserta sausnya. Masak cukup sampai cuminya meringkel, menurut Ci Ine kurleb 2-3 menitan aja supaya cuminya tidak liat.
5. Kentalkan dengan larutan maizena. Angkat.
Sumber : Eva

Rasa cumi teriyaki ini memang beda dari cumi yang biasa dibuat. Rasanya khas Jepang, mungkin karena penambahan syouyu atau kecap jepang yang dominan. Juga rasa jahe yang segarnya khas. Paprika hijau sebagai sayuran juga menambah kesegaran masakan cumi ini. Thanks buat Eva :D

Fried Soba / Yaki Soba

Soba makanan populer di Jepang. Bisa ditemui di hampir semua toko atau sepermarket juga pasar tradisional. Ada yang kering ada juga yang basah. Warnanya abu-abu gelap, kadang juga ada yang hijau tergantung campuran yang dipakai sebagai bahan pembuatnya. Yang hijau biasanya dicampur dengan teh hijau yang lainnya kebanyakan berwarna abu-abu.

Soba juga disajikan sebagai menu spesial di tahun baru. Dimakan pada malam tahun baru sebagai tanda keberuntungan dan kesehatan ditahun depan.

Soba (そば or 蕎麦, Soba^?) is a type of thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat flour. It is served either chilled with a dipping sauce, or in hot broth as a noodle soup. Moreover, it is not uncommon in Japan to refer to any thin noodle as soba in contrast to udon which are thick noodles made from wheat.
Sumber : Wikipedia

By ingredients

• Tororo soba or Jinenjo soba – flavored with wild yam flour
• Cha soba – flavored with green tea powder
• Mugi soba – flavored with mugwort
• Hegi soba – flavored with seaweed
• Ni-hachi soba – soba containing 20% wheat and 80% buckwheat
• Towari soba or Juwari soba – 100% buckwheat soba

Sumber : Wikipedia

Salah satu makanan yang paling populer dari bahan soba ini adalah Yaki Soba atau Soba Goreng. Bahan utamanya soba dan ditambah dengan sayuran. Sayuran yang dominan adalah kol. Ada juga penambahan paprika merah, memang rada aneh. Jahe pun dimasukan sebagai bumbunya.

Untuk membuat soba goreng ini saya menggunakan soba basah, yang sudah dikemas dalam kemasan plastik sengan berat sekitar 130 gr. Saya pilih soba yang berwarba abu-abu gelap, karena belum pernah mencoba soba jenis ini.

Ingredient :

250 gr dried Soba
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
300 gr mince pork ( I replace with mince chicken)
1 medium brown onion, but into eight wedges
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
10 cups (500 gr) finely shredded cabbage
1 medium red capsicum (200 gr), sliced finely
2 tablespoons pickled ginger (beni shoga)
2 teaspoons shredded dried seaweed (ao nori)

Sauce :
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup (6 ml) mirin (I omit this)
2 tablespoons sake (I omit this)
1/2 cup (60 ml) japanese soy souce

How to Cook :

1. Cook noodles in large saucepan of boiling water, uncovered, untui just tender, drain.
2. Heat sesame oil and 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil in a wok or large frying pan, stir-fry pork (i use chicken) over medium heat until browned lightly. Remove from wok, cover to keep warm.
3. In same wok, heat remaining vegetable oil, stir-fry onion, gralic and fresh ginger until onion softens. Add cabbage and capsicum, cook until tender. Add pickled ginger, pork (chicken), noodles and sause, toss to combine and reheat. Serve springklend with seaweed

SAUCE :
Heat combined ingredients in a small saucepan, stiring, until sugar dissolves

SERVES : 4
SOURCE : The Australian Women's Weekly - Cooking Class Japanese step by step to Perfect Result

Yang paling suka adalah ketika kita makan capsicum-nya, terasa banget ada sensasi lain. Seger..

Capsicum is a genus of plants from the nightshade family (Solanaceae) native to the Americas, where it was cultivated for thousands of years by the people of the tropical Americas, and is now cultivated worldwide. Some of the members of Capsicum are used as spices, vegetables, and medicines. The fruit of Capsicum plants have a variety of names depending on place and type. They are commonly called chili pepper, capsicum, red or green pepper, or sweet pepper in Britain. Capsicum in Australian English and Indian English. The large mild form is called bell pepper in the US. They are called paprika in some other countries (although paprika can also refer to the powdered spice made from various capsicum fruit).
Sumber : Wikipedia