Tarte au Citron

Mr. Bear is not a big dessert person. The one and only dessert that he really likes, other than ice-cream, is lemon tart. He has repeatedly requested me to make one for him, but sadly his requests are usually ignored gracefully declined because I myself is not a citrus lover. However, today is a special day and he deserves a good piece of lemon tart, simply because... today is Mr. Bear's birthday. =)

[Shinya Shokudou - Chapter 14] Buta no Shogayaki

I hope everyone had a good weekend. It's Sunday night which means it's Shinya Shokudou cooking club time again!  I was talking to my friend Miss W a couple days ago and she told me she was trying to follow the recipes I posted. (Thank you!) However, although some of the recipes are labelled "easy", the ingredients that are called for are not generally things that she would stock up in her pantry; and since she doesn't cook frequently, she's worried that the leftover ingredients are going to rot in her house if she can't finished them up all in one go.  Well, I guess this week's challenge is going to be very suitable for her.

This week's challenge is Buta no Shogayaki, 豚の生姜焼き. This pork and ginger stir-fry is a simple but delicious combination. The first time I had it was at a tiny Japanese restaurant serving mostly the locals near my old office.  Ever since I left that job, I have not been back to the restaurant (and I heard that it has moved to a less convenient location as well). Since then, I have never had Buta no Shogaki that tastes quite the same... not until a few days ago when I tried to make it at home...

Sunflower Sausages Tutorial

My friend J saw my sunflower sausages and egg instant noodle picture on Facebook and asked if I could show her how to make the sunflower sausages for her daughter.  Of course I can!  These little sunflowers are perfect for bento boxes.  Sorry it took me so long to post this tutorial.  I hope Little NatNat will like it!

[Shinya Shokudou Chapter 13] Mapo Tofu

It's Shinya Shokudou time again!  This week's challenge is Mapo Tofu (麻婆豆腐) or in Japanese, マーボー豆腐.

Mapo Tofu is one of my family's favourites and it's relatively easy to prepare so it can be thrown together quickly when I'm a little lazy to cook (hence a great Lazy Man's recipe!).  If you go to an Asian supermarket, you can even find various instant sauce packets for it, even though making it from scratch isn't all that difficult either, and it's MSG-free!

As a Chinese, it has always been known to me that Mapo Tofu is a Chinese dish from the Sichuan province.  Although I know it is very popular amongst the Japanese, just like a Japanese tourist would not go to China to eat sushi, I have never ordered Mapo Tofu in Japan, so I don't exactly know the difference between the traditional Sichuan version and the adapted Japanese version.

For this exercise, I wanted to make Mapo Tofu the Japanese way instead of the version that usually appears on our table, otherwise it would not be a challenge! When it comes to Mapo Tofu, Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi's famous recipe is the most representative in Japan. Iron Chef Chen's father is regarded as the pioneer who introduced Mapo Tofu (and Sichuan cuisine in general) to the Japanese.  Iron Chef Chen made his classic Mapo Tofu dish in the Battle Tofu episode to pay tribute to his father.  I really liked this episode and it remains to be one of the most memorable ones out of all those that I have seen.

I would have thought that, like the Japanese style curry, this recipe would be milder and sweeter than the traditional Mapo Tofu that I am used to, but it turns out it's not and I think it's at the right level of spiciness going so well with steamed rice. I love that it has a little tongue tingling sensation one expects from an authentic Sichuan dish.  This is a great recipe and I see myself making it over and over again.

Ingredients:

1 block of firm cotton tofu (木綿豆腐), cut into 1 inch cubes

1 spring onion, separate the white part and the green part, chopped finely

80g ground pork

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 garlic, chopped finely

Seasoning (A):

1 heaping tablespoon doubanjiang (Chinese chili bean sauce, 豆瓣醬) – I used Lee Kum Kee chili garlic sauce since I have that at home already and it works well

1 heaping tablespoon tianmianjiang (Chinese sweet bean sauce, 甜麵醬)

1 tablespoon fermented black beans, chopped finely

1 teaspoon garlic, chopped finely

1 teaspoon ichimi togarashi pepper

Seasoning (B):

3/4 cup chicken stock

1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Salt and white pepper to taste

Others:

1 tablespoon corn/potato starch

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon chili oil

1 teaspoon huajiaofen (Sichuan peppercorns), grounded

Method:

1. Bring salted water to a boil in a large saucepan and add the tofu and on medium high heat.  Turn off the heat when the water boils again. Drain and set aside.

2. Heat vegetable oil in a wok and add ground pork. Cook on high heat until browned and separated.

3. Add seasoning (A) to the pork quickly and stir well.

4. Add tofu to the wok and seasoning (B), the white part of the spring onion and garlic, stir-fry gently for 1-2 minutes.

5. Add starch paste (corn/potato starch + water) and turn the heat to medium. Stir slowly until sauce thickens, and then chili oil and swirl gently.

6. Add grounded Sichuan pepper before transferring to a plate and sprinkle the green part of the spring onion as garnish.  Serve with steamed white rice.

Notes:

1. Precooking tofu in water prevents tofu from breaking apart easily later.

2. I normally use silken tofu but this time I wanted to stick to the recipe and used cotton tofu instead.  Both Mr. Bear and I prefer the softer texture of the silken tofu.  If you also prefer your tofu soft and smooth, I recommend that you use silken tofu, but you have to be extremely careful when you stir-fry because silken tofu falls aparts very easily.

Let's take a look at other members' Mapo Tofu!

[Shinya Shokudou - Chapter 12] Curry Beef Udon with Slow Cooked Eggs

It’s Shinya Shokudou time again!  This week’s challenge is Curry Udon (咖哩烏龍麵), or in Japanese カレーうどん.

Apparently Curry Udon is a popular dish in Japan, but for some strange reason, I have never had it before so I don’t know how it is supposed to taste or look.  No worries, when in doubt, I can just Google it!  It looks like it’s just basically udon in a soup made of Japanese curry, but since there isn’t a standard recipe for it (at least not one that I could find), I decided to come up with one from scratch instead of adapting someone else’s recipe.  I used beef slices for the soup curry and for a nice touch, I added an onsen tamago, the Japanese for slow cooked egg (see here for recipe).  I personally think this dish is more suitable for a cold winter night, but Mr. Bear loved it so much he even slurped down all the soup till the last drop!  Woohoo!!! My very first recipe and it was a success!!!  I’m so excited I’m bouncing off the walls!!!

Serves 2

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

750ml dashi stock

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 large onion, sliced

1 small carrot, cut into small pieces

200g of sliced beef

4 slices of Japanese fish cakes

2 blocks of Japanese curry roux

2 packs of frozen Sanuki udon noodles – I like Sanuki udon for its chewiness but in fact any kind of udon will do

2 green onion, finely chopped

2 slow cooked eggs (onsen tamago)

Method:

1. Prepare two slow cooked eggs according to the instructions here.

2. Prepare dashi stock.

3. In a medium sized pot or a large frying pan, heat oil and sauté the onion and carrot until the carrot starts to turn soft and the onion turns translucent.  Add the dashi stock and curry roux and bring it to a boil.  Stir constantly to make sure the roux dissolves completely.  Heat the curry on medium low until it starts to thicken, for about 7-10 mins, stirring once in a while to make sure the curry soup does not get burnt.

4. In the meantime, cook the udon in another pot of boiling water.  Drain and place udon in a large bowl.

5. Cook the fish cakes and beef slices in the boiling water and place them on top of the cooked udon.

6. Pour the curry soup over the noodles and top with green onion and a slow cooked egg in each bowl before serving.  Enjoy!

Notes:

1. I used instant dashi powder for the stock this time.  The brand that I’ve chosen makes exactly 750ml of stock per packet so it’s really convenient.

2. I like my beef slightly on the rare side so I only cook it for about 30 seconds in the boiling water until it turns pink.  The heat from hot curry soup when poured over the meat will continue to cook the meat as well.  If you prefer your meat well done, you can also fry it with the onion just before you add the dashi stock and the curry roux.

Let's take a look at the Curry Udon from other members!

【Lazy Bear's Recipes】Onsen Tamago (Slow-Cooked Egg)

Mr. Bear always says eggs are his all time favourite food.  I love eggs too!  Eggs are most versatile - you can have them for breakfast, lunch or dinner and there are so many ways to cook them.  I am quite proud to say that I'm an expert in cooking eggs. A sunny side up egg was the first dish I ever learned to cook when I was a little kid.  Over the years, I've mastered many other ways one can cook eggs. Soft boiled, hard boiled, scrambled, poached, sunny side up, over and easy, steamed or even the 荷包蛋 the way my mom likes it, i.e. a fried egg with crispy edges, served over rice with soy sauce; you name it, I can make them for you.  My colleague roommate was always surprised how I could always make a perfectly fried egg. But unfortunately, my culinary spirit seemed to have stopped right there until I married Mr. Bear.

Recently I realized there's still one egg cooking technique I haven't conquered yet, and that's the Onsen Tamago 温泉卵. They are traditionally eggs slow-cooked in hot springs.  Of course I don't have an onsen at home, but I've seen many recipes out there employing the sous vide method to make onsen tamago.  However, unless you have one of those sous vide machines at home, making eggs using this method involves a cast iron pot, an oven, a themometer and constantly standing by the oven for 45 minutes to make sure the temperature stays at precisely 63.5 degrees Celcius, which is a ton of work and a bit too persnickety if all I want is an egg that I can put in my noodle soups or on top of my pastas.

I did a few experiments and finally figured out a quick and dirty way of making decent onsen tamago.  I admit they are not the best, but given the amount of time and effort required I'd say they are definitely good enough.  I've made my onsen tamago using this Lazy Man's way a few times since then and it has not failed me so far.  The eggs are great on their own serve in a bit of dashi stock, soy sauce and mirin or simply a couple tablespoons of bottled soba tsuyu.

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:
1 egg
600ml water

Method:
1. Bring 500ml of water to a boil in a small pot.  Make sure the water level is high enough to cover the egg.
2. Remove the pot from heat and add the remaining 100ml of water to the boiling water.  Add the egg immediately and cover with a lid for 12 minutes.
3. Put the egg in cold water to stop the cooking process.  Crack the egg into a bowl and serve!

[Shinya Shokudou - Chapter 11] Oyakodon

We have already reached the eleventh chapter of our Shinya Shokudou cooking club.  I bet many of us didn't expect we would make it this far when we started, but we are just having too much fun cooking, sharing, learning from each other and making new friends week after week!  Our member base is now over 30 people from all over the world, and next week, we are going to have our first gathering.  I can't wait to meet some of the members in person!

We have already planned the menu for the next five chapters.  I'm pretty excited because they are all dishes that I want to learn!  One thing that I've discovered over the last few weeks is that a lot of the Japanese dishes look complicated when you have them at a restaurant, but in fact, if you are willing to try, they can be quite easily replicated at home - all you need is a good recipe and an experimental spirit!

The challenge for this week is Oyakodon (親子丼). Oyako means "parent and child" and Oyakodon is essentially chicken (parent) and egg (child) over a bowl of rice. Don comes from the word Donburi which means "a large bowl".  I must have had Oyakodon (親子丼) over a hundred times at restaurants in the past but I've always had the impression that it's not easy to make especially if you have to keep the eggs light and fluffy.  It turns out that it's a very simple dish, so simple that I can add it to my Lazy Man's Recipe series.  You don't believe me?  Try it out for yourself and see!

Adpated from Cooking with a Dog's recipe

Serves 1
Difficulty: Easy 

Ingredients:
50ml dashi stock
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon sake
1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon mirin
1/2 small onion, sliced
75g boneless chicken thigh, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 eggs
1 bunch of mitsuba (Japanese three-leaf parsley), cut stems into 1 inch strips and leave the tips (the three leaves as garnish) 
200g fresh steamed rice

Method:
1. Crack the eggs in a small bowl and beat the eggs lightly.
2. Mix the dashi stock, soy sauce, sake, sugar, mirin and heat the mixture in a small pan.  Add the onion  slices to the mixture and distribute them evenly.  Cover with a lid and simmer for 2-3 minutes over medium heat.
3. Add the chicken pieces and cover again.  When the chicken is almost cooked, flip them over and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
4. When the chicken is fully cooked, pour 2/3 of the egg into the pan, cover and simmer for 10 seconds.
5. Add the remaining egg mixture and mitsuba, cover and turn off the heat immediately.  Allow to sit for 15 seconds.
6. Put hot steamed rice into a large bowl and quickly pour the chicken and egg over the rice.  Served immediately.

Let's take a look at other members' Oyakodon!