Let's go back to the basics

Hi, I am back. I had the busiest year last year and I neglected my blog entirely (excuses, excuses, excuses). I am on school holidays at the moment, so before 

I return to my busy life I decided to put up a few Japanese recipes as my friend Miss K requested.  She recently went to Japan and is so keen to learn Japanese cooking. I selected a few simple traditional Japanese meals that anyone can follow.

These are ordinary Japanese grandmother’s recipes. I heard people in Japan are not eating home cooking as much as they used to. It’s kind of sad to hear, because I found that the kind of cooking my grandmother used to do is nutritious, easy to make, as well as low in calories. What more could you want for your daily meal?

This was my father in-law’s favourite Japanese dish, it reminded him of Irish stew. He was the biggest potato fan I know. My husband calls it Mickey Jagger instead of niku jaga.

Niku Jaga (meat and potato) for two

Ingredients:

2 medium sized potatoes

80g thin sliced beef (it can be pork or mincemeat)

1 medium sized 
   brown onion

½ carrot

50g shirataki

Adequate amount of oil (canola, olive oil 

or vegetable oil)

Flavouring A:
1tbs brown sugar
1-1/2tbs Soy sauce
2tbs Mirin
300ml water
Adequate amount of water
Adequate amount of soy sauce

Method:

1. Peel potatoes and cut potatoes in rangiri (see pic1), soak them in water for about 10 minutes then drain.
2. Cut the brown onion in half then in kushigiri (see pic2). Cut carrot in rangiri.
3. Cut beef into 4cm strips. Wash and drain shirataki in a strainer and leave them aside.
4. Pour oil into a medium pot and heat up. Add potato (1), onion and carrots (2) and shirataki, then cook with high heat. Add beef slices and cook further.
5. Pour in water until all ingredients are just covered and leave on high heat. Add flavouring A.  Once it boils, turn heat to low and keep checking the pot and gently shake the pot  from time to time to reduce the liquid in the pot.
6. Once the potatoes are cooked, taste test them and if you think it needs sweetening, add a bit of brown sugar. Before serving, pour say sauce over the niku jaga for flavouring.
7. Serve in a bowl.

*You can add chopped spring onions on top to add some colour.

1. Rangiri

2. Kushigiri

Usually, we have miso soup every day, and it is simplest soup you could ever make.

Tofu and wakame miso soup (makes 4 Japanese miso bowls)

Ingredients:

115g silken tofu

  2stalks of spring onion   chopped

3tbsp white miso

1tbsp dried wakame  (sea weed)

½tsp fish stock  (hondashi)

   Tip:  
  Never boil the 
  soup once
  you add miso.




Method:

1. Put water in a small to medium pot, bring to boil.
2. Cut tofu into small cubes approx. 1 cm square (see pic2).  Wash and chop spring onions.
3. Once the water boils, add fish stock then turn the heat to low. Add miso by straining through a small strainer (see pic3). If you don’t have  a miso strainer, use a small bowl to make the miso paste thinner using the water from the pot.
4. Add chopped tofu and wakame. Put lid on for about 2-3 minutes.
5. Serve in a Japanese miso soup bowl with chopped spring onion.

*You can substitute the main ingredients in miso soup for things like :potato (cook potato until soft before you add miso), or spinach (wash spinach leaves and chop in 4cm long and add after the miso) cook further 2- 3 minutes. I sometime add an egg with spinach miso soup. Once you add spinach leaves then add an egg, cook for further 2-3 minutes (to whatever the hardness of egg you like). It will be beautifully poached if you don’t touch once you drip the egg in.

1. 

   Ingredients

   

   2. Cubed tofu

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

   

   3. Miso straine

   

   4. Ready