Japanese Recipes for Healthy Living

Have you seen this kind of fruit bouquet?

I was always curious about it, and wanted to buy one. But when I checked the price online, I was surprised. It’s not cheap. So I decided to make one by myself at home. The picture above and below is my work!

It’s pretty easy to make it.

There is a whole iceberg lettuce in the container. I used a cookie cutter and a hammer to cut pineapple. It was so much fun making this thing.

This garlic chive pancake is originally Korean dish, but it’s very popular in Japan. It’s very easy to cook and contains a lot of vegetables. This recipe is my version, and it might be different from the Korean one, but it’s very tasty.

Korean Pancake, Chidimi

<Ingredients>

8 oz garlic chive, cut into 2 inches
1 carrot, julienned
2 tbsp pickled cut ginger (see below)
8 medium shrimps, peeled and cut into 3 or 4 pieces
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cup water
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp fish powder (option, see below)
vegetable oil

(For the dipping sauce— mix up all the ingredients below)
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tbsp honey
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp chili garlic sauce

Chili Garlic Sauce

<How to cook>

1. Mix flour, water, salt and fish powder in a big bowl.
2. Put garlic chive, carrot, pickled ginger and shrimp in the bowl, and mix them up.
3. Heat vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Ladle 1 cup batter into skillet to make an 5-inch pancake. Cook about 3-4 minutes , then turn over and cook until other side is golden, 3-4 minutes more.
4. Serve warm with dipping sauce.

ASIAN INGREDIENTS

garlic chive, nira

Garlic Chive——I’ve never seen this vegetable in American grocery stores. You can find it in Korean stores, Japanese stores and Chinese stores. According to about.com, “Garlic chives pack a major nutritional punch for a mere 30 calories per 100 grams. Low in fat and high in dietary fiber and protein, they contain high amounts of Vitamin C and carotene, and are a good source of calcium. They also contain Vitamin B1 and B2. In Chinese medicine, garlic chives are considered to be a yin or warming food.”

pickled ginger

Pickled ginger——– You can find this at Asian grocery stores and some  American grocery stores. There is also pink ginger that usually is served at sushi restaurants. For this recipe, red one is suitable.

kezuriko

Fish powder (kezuriko)———– This can be found only at Japanese grocery stores as long as I know. It is powder form of dried, fermented and smoked skipjack tuna(bonito). This powder doesn’t have any chemical, which means no MSG.

chick pea, cucumber, corn and red bell pepper salad / lentil salad

I know… this is not Japanese cuisine, but the color was beautiful (and it was delicious), so I just wanted to take a picture. I used Japanese cucumber for this chick pea salad. I think Japanese and Persian cucumbers are very similar, and they are much smaller than the regular cucumber (the big one). The taste is a little different too. I prefer using Japanese or Persian cucumber for any salad. The combination of cucumber, corn, chick pea, red bell pepper and cilantro was so good. I mixed 1 tbsp of Dijon Mustard, 2 tbsp of white balsamic vinegar and 4 tbsp of extra virgin olive for the dressing.  I mixed up all the ingredients, with salt and pepper.

The lentil salad’s recipe was from the book “Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook“. I am not a vegan or vegetarian, but I just love their recipes. It’s so easy to cook and a lot of healthy recipes. You can see the lentil salad’s recipe here online. Since I am not a vegan, I used chicken stock instead of vegetable stock.

With some sourdough bread, hmmm, yummy.

Who doesn’t love this dish? This may not look like a typical Japanese food, but this dish is one of the most popular Japanese food, and there are so many restaurants that spcialize in Tonkatsu (Pork Cutlet) in Japan.

Tonkatsu consists of a breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet one centimeter(0.4 inch) thick. Either a pork fillet or pork loin cut may be used. The meat is usually salted, peppered and dipped in flour, beaten egg then panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) before being deep fried. If you don’t like pork, you can also use chicken breast or chicken tenderloin ( in that case, it’s called “Chicken Katsu”). My version of Tonkatsu is pretty much a typical tonkatsu recipe, but when I season the meat with salt and pepper, I also sprinkle some garlic powder. I believe that makes a difference for the better.

<Ingredients>
Pork tenderloin 1lb

1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
2/3 cup panko bread crumbs
olive oil for frying

<How to Prepare>
1. Cut the pork tenderloin 1/2 to 1/3 inch think, then pound it with the back of the knife. (don’t pound too much…)
2. Sprinkle salt and pepper and garlic powder on both sides of the meat.
3. Dredge it into flour lightly, then dip it in beaten egg, then put panko on the pork and pat them well.

4. Heat a skillet and add about 1/8 inch deep olive oil. Fry the pork in 330F oil for 2 to 3 minutes, then flip the pork and cook another 2 to 3 minutes.

5. Take out the pork and put them on a paper towel to drain the oil.
6. Serve it with Tonkatsu sauce (you can find it at Asian grocery stores). If you don’t have it, mix worcester sauce and kechup. You may like it with A1 sauce.

The green stuff in the picture on top is sauteed spinach. Heat a thin layer of olive oil, add sliced garlic and fry it, then add spinach. Season with salt and pepper, and done!

For Japanese food, fish has to be very fresh; specially for sashimi.  Of course, Japanese grocery stores have good sashimi fish and some American grocery stores have decent fish. I live in Los Angeles, California and the Gelson’s Market near my place carries really good Ahi tuna. I recently bought about half a pound of Ahi tuna which is big enough to feed 2 people. You can cut  it about 1/8 inch thick. For salad, cut Daikon radish into 3-inch-long julienne strips , and slice some cucumber and radish, and serve them in a plate. Next, dip it in a soy sauce and put some wasabi, and eat them with rice and miso soup. The cost will be just about $10 for 2 people.

When you buy fish for sashimi, you have to ask the person who is in charge of seafood if it’s fresh enough to be served as sashimi. If the person says “What’s sashimi?”, you had better pass it. When I asked the question at my Gelson’s market, the guy answered “Oh yeah, it’s so fresh and good for sashimi or sushi.” confidently. In the picture below, you can see the ahi tuna is packed individually. I think, since we eat raw, they are extra cautious on how they handle ahi tuna. If it’s not packed right, it may get some kind of bacteria from other fish.

The Ahi tuna was so good. I may go back there again tomorrow.

<how to prepare>

I know, you feel like slicing tuna first, right? But tuna has to be very fresh. So cutting tuna is going to be the last. Let’s prepare other side dishes first.

Daikon radish looks like this.

It’s pretty big. You will need a tiny bit for this dish.  So try to buy a smallest one. Peel it and slice it with a peeler, then julienne it.

Then cut other vegetable. This time, I didn’t have avocado. But avocado goes well with tuna too.

Now, let’s slice the tuna.

Just put it on a plate, and serve it with soy sauce. Don’t forget wasabi! If you’re buying sashimi fish from Japanese grocery stores, usually wasabi comes with it. But if it doesn’t come with it, you can buy it in a tube or in a tin like the picture below. I usually buy powderd one. You probably need just 1 tea spoon of  powder wasabi, and mix it with 1 tea spoon of  cold water. Done!

There are so many little things needed for Japanese cuisine. We use so many little plates and bowls too. By the way, I will show you how to make miso soup soon. It’s so simple.

* A couple of people pointed out that I put the rice bowl on the wrong position in the picture above. Yes… in Japan, there is this rule: Rice bowl on the left and miso soup bowl on the right.  So if you’re serving this to Japanese people, you might as well follow the rule. My picture’s position is wrong according to the Japanese rule.

Usually grocery stores sell family sized ground beef.. I mean… it’s too big for me. I usually use about half a pound or 1/3 a pound. If you have a spouse and 3 kids, you can finish the whole package, but I think there are many people out there who live by themselves or with  one more person. So for those people, this method may be useful.

1. Put the meat in a ziploc bag and flatten it. In this way, you can defrost it easily.

2. If you’re not sure you can use it all at once, divide it with the back of the knife so that you can break it and use  just the amount you need next time.

preserving ground meat in a freezer

3. Place it in a freezer and preserve it. (It will taste okay at for at least 2 weeks.)

Sorry, it’s not about food, but I just wanted to show off my new camera, Nikon D90.

Nikon D90

This is my first DSLR, and I’m so excited.

Here are some test pictures.

The manual is so thick, and there are a lot to learn. It will take a while to master this camera. But so far I love it, I love it, and I love it!!!

This is a very common Japanese food. Potato and ground pork are cooked with soy sauce and sugar. You can use any kind of ground meat. This can be a good side dish, and you can cook it a few hours before the main course.

POTATO SOBORO NI

• 2 large russet potato, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inches thick, and quartered (as you see on the picture below)
• 1/4 pound ground pork
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp. chili bean sauce (Toban Dian) <optional>
• 3 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 2 tbsp. sake
• 3/4 c. water (to cook potato)
• Olive oil
• 1 tbsp. cornstarch
• 2 tbsp. water (to mix with cornstarch)

1. In a big pan, heat a thin layer of olive oil. Cook ground pork until it’s browned. Then add onion, garlic, ginger and stir them. Then add potato and fry it so that all potato are coated with oil (about 3 minutes).
2. Add chili bean sauce, sake, sugar and 3/4 cup of water. Stir it lightly. Then put a lid on and cook it about 10 minutes.
3. Poke the potato with a toothpick or fork. If it’s soft enough, add soy sauce and cook 5 more minutes.
4. While the potato is cooking, mix cornstarch and 2 tbsp of water in a small bowl. Then add it to the pan, and stir it slowly.

I recommend you check the taste before adding cornstarch. If you like it saltier, you can add more soy sauce or salt. You may want to add more sugar. Most Japanese people prefer it sweeter.

For some reason, this kind of dish tastes much better 2 or 3 hours after cooking. Actually if you make a lot and keep it in a fridge, you can pop it in the microwave  anytime and eat it.  My mom used to say, it tastes better after a few hours because all the flavors get absorbed when the food is  cooling down.

Once in a while, you have to check what’s in your fridge, and use up everything before the next trip to the grocery store. This menu is perfect for that.

Clean-Up-Fridge Fried Rice

You can put whatever you can find in your fridge, and just fry them and season it with salt and pepper and soy sauce, and if you like it spicy,  put some chili garlic sauce. I thought about writing a recipe about this dish, but there is no point to write the recipe since you can use different kinds of vegetables every time you make this.
But there are some ingredients you can’t make without.

• Cooked rice- Left over rice is fine. But if it’s frozen or in a fridge, warm it up by a microwave before cooking.
• Oil
• Onion
• Garlic
• Salt and pepper

This time, I used broccoli (green part and chopped core), sliced lotus root, red bell pepper and thin sliced pork. Start frying with onion, then put something that takes longer time to be cooked first. This time I started with onion, then chopped pork, broccoli core, lotus root and red bell pepper, then garlic, then green part of broccoli. Finally, I put some warm rice and seasoned it with salt and pepper, soy sauce and chili garlic sauce
. It was tasty, and my fridge was cleaned up! So satisfying.

Ponzu is a very useful sauce. It goes well with sushi, dumpling, fish,  shabu shabu and etc…

Ponzu is made by boiling mirin, rice vinegar, bonito flakes, and kombu over medium heat. Then yuzu, sudachi, daidai,  kabosu or lemon is added. Yuzu, sudachi, daidai and kabosu are Japanese citrus fruits. They’re very similar to lime or lemon. So go ahead and use lemon or lime.

Although I know how to make this, I hardly make it at home. In Japan, we sometimes have a shabu shabu party at home. Everybody eats from one huge pot (called nabe). I don’t know how many times I joined this kind of party, but I’ve never seen anyone  actually making ponzu from scratch, because you can get a really good ponzu at the grocery store.

The best brand is Mizkan.

MIZKAN PONZU, AJIPON

As Japanese food got more popular, I guess the demand for ponzu increased. I started seeing ponzu at American grocery stores like Ralph’s. If they have Mizkan Ajipon, get that. There are some crappy ponzu brands out there. I recommend Mizkan Ajipon.

You can add grated ginger or garlic to ponzu depends on the menu.  For example, I love adding both ginger and garlic to it for seared albacore tuna, and only ginger for fried mackerel (saba). One more good thing about ponzu is it doesn’t contain any oil, so it’s good for a weight-watcher!