Kia ora cooking mates! Do you know the original true season of the spinach? Yes, it just came. Both of the taste and nutritive value are high in the winter spinach.
I introduce "Ohitashi" today, which is a basic of the basics of Japanese home cooking. Just follow the recipe to get the basic tip, use your imagination to arrange it, and add it as one of your side dish recipe.
350g～400g bunches of spinach 1 t salt 2 t soy sauce
favorite toppings like : toasted sesame seeds / dried bonito flakes / etc.
favorite sauce and/or oil like : dashi-soy sauce*/ ponzu citrus sauce / sesame oil / olive oil / etc.
1. WASH : Wash spinach well especially to clean the stem and root parts. ( I usually soak them in water in the sink for a while, then shake them to wash.)
2. COOK : Boil water in deep pot, add 1t salt.
Hold all spinach roots (pink parts) together, let those part down and stand on the boiling water. Cook for 30sec, then put all leaf parts in, cook further 30sec.
3. DRAIN :
Drain in a strainer, put on a tray and cool down (fan can be used). I don't recommend to use running water to cool down, because Vitamin-C of spinach flows out with the water.
4. SQUEEZE twice :
一度水気をしぼったあと、少量の醤油を馴染ませてからもう一度しぼります。 これで全体にうっすらと下味がつきます。 Hold the spinach pink parts together, squeeze the excess water out. Return them back on the tray, now sprinkle 2t of soy sauce over, then do 2nd squeeze. **The purpose of this step (soy sauce & squeeze again) is to add preliminary seasoning to maximize the Umami of spinach.
5. CUT & SERVE : Cut into 4cm length.
The pink parts are edible and have sweet taste.
(A) Traditional serving way: Put the cut spinach into a small bowl neatly, pour dashi-soy sauce* over, top with dried bonito flakes, then serve. *Dashi-soy sauce : 120ml water + ¼ t of dashi stock powder + 1t soy sauce + 1t mirin
*Handy way instead of making Dashi-soy sauce : Thin Kombu tsuyu with water. Kombu tsuyu : water = 1 : 4
Kombu tsuyu is available at LuLu Mart (Asian market in Wanaka)
(B) Serving of variational assortment: Divide cut spinach into some parts on the plate. Decorate with favorite toppings and sauce.
Marinated red onion & mayonnaise
Salt & sesame oil, Drops of soy sauce & toasted sesame seeds grated parmesan cheese
Kia ora cooking mates! Brussels sprouts became in the market. Do you know it's delicious to eat as Tempura? We can enjoy the feature of this vegetable of comfortable bittersweetness. The taste similar to the Tempura of "Fukinoto" （edible wild plant) which is precious in the limited season in Japan.
You might not do Tempura cooking at home, you may like to eat it at the restaurant though. As you know, there are some tips in the Tempura cooking, to get the successful result of light texture and crispy finish. We must handle the batter made from wheat flour carefully so that gluten doesn't appear. As a simple method that doesn't need to worry about this part, I'm introducing another Tempura batter using mix of rice flour and buckwheat flour instead. So just try it!
1) Preparation of vegetables : *Cut Brussels sprouts lengthwise in half. Make slit (cut) each at the middle. *Cut and slice other vegetables to appropriate size and thickness for deep-fry.
Mix seasonings ( water / dried dashi / soy sauce / mirin ) in a small pan and simmer for 1～2 min. Set aside.
Here is a delicious handy products as the replacement : お手軽にこれを利用しても。（お湯で希釈） KOMBU TSUYU (concentrated seasoning stock) which is available at LuLu Mart (Asian supermart on Ardmore street). Just thin this with double amount of hot water. Kombu Tsuyu : hot water = 1 : 2
Mix egg and water well in a bowl, then add rice flour and buckwheat flour, mix well.
*Batter made from only rice flour has not much tenacity to attach to each veges, so add buckwheat flour. It helps well to get enough tenacity. Although the finishing color becomes a bit grayish from the buckwheat, it is the charm of the home cooking!
4) Heat up cooking oil (for deep fry) in a medium pan.
********************************************************************************************** 5) Deep fry : (170～180C)
Dust flour (any flour) to coat vegetable lightly 打ち粉, then apply the batter, deep fry in the hot oil .
*Don’t put many in oil at once, otherwise the oil temperature falls suddenly and it makes Tempura heavy finish. Keep the temperature consistently.
Cook for 2-min for thin sliced vegetables, 3-min for Brussels sprouts and thicker sliced vegetables. Don't touch for the first 1-min, then flip over occasionally. Drain the excess oil on the kitchen paper.
The photo from the spring season last year. Vegetable Tempura with Sakura-cherry blossom salt. I will cook it again in early spring this year, and enjoy with this blossom salt.
But, let's fully enjoy these long autumnal night at the moment! 今は秋の夜長をたっぷり満喫しましょう！ Ka pai ki tenei po ngahuru roa!
Kia ora cooking mates! Do you have Miso at home? If you have, why don't you try to cook SalmonChanchan-yaki? It's a simple cooking but is super delicious combined with salmon, vegetables, and Miso+Mayo sauce cooked in a foil parcel. As my ordered salmon has delivered from Twizel today, Yay, I cook it tonight.
Salmon from the Salmon farm High Country Salmon in Twizel. It was beautiful fillet!! I usually use salmon from supermarket, but it's good to try other salmon sometimes.
Preparation of vegetables
Making sauce
Miso Mayonnaise Mirin
Assemble on the foil sheet Plenty vegetables cover the salmon fillet with miso sauce
***************************************************************************************** Salmon Chanchan-yaki ～ style of steam-cooking in foil parcel ～
Originally this used to be a dish cooked by local fishermen in Hokkaido (North Island in Japan). They cooked a whole (or half) of salmon and vegetables dynamically on a large “Teppan” hot plate on their boat. It spread out nationwide and became the popular home- cooked meal. I introduce it with foil parcel style which is cooked in oven. Other fish can be used as the substitute, which is delicious too.
The following recipe is for one percel (= 1 serve), so multiply the amount according to the number of people, and make the number of parcels.
下記レシピは一人分（ひと包み分）のレシピです。 ***************************************************************************************** (for 1 parcel / 1 serve) Measurement 1T = 1 Table spoon (15ml) 1t = 1 tea spoon (5ml) 100～120g salmon (fillet or steak) 80g cabbage or Chinese cabbage MISO SAUCE 40g carrot 1T miso 40g courgette or green beans 2T mayonnaise 2～3pcs mushroom 1t mirin 50g onion (*option) ¼ t dashi stock powder
1) Pinches of salt over both sides of salmon. (leave for 15 min or more.)
2) Combine all seasoning and mix well to make smooth miso sauce.
3) Prep of vegetables: To be easy to make layers, slice veges thinly with large surface. cabbage / or Chinese cabbage --- Cut into small pieces. Hard parts must be sliced thinly. carrot --- slice thinly (1～2mm) diagonally courgette --- slice thinly (5mm) diagonally mushroom --- slice onion --- slice thinly (5mm)
4) Prepare a foil sheet (30x45cm). On a half side, spread cabbage pieces as a bed. Place salmon on it, spread some-little Miso sauce on, lay vegetables and remaining sauce alternately on top. Cover with the other side of the foil, fold the edge to seal them well while letting extra air out. ( be careful not to make a hole on the parcel!).
5) Cook in the pre-heated oven (Bake: 180C or Fan Bake: 170C) for 15min. Then turn off and leave it in the oven for another 10 min, or longer until ready to serve.
< To SERVE > ** If you use a pair of chopsticks to eat this dish, serve it as the wrapped foil on a plate. It’s good to keep the dish warm, also you can enjoy the beautiful scent when you open the foil at the table. (Break the centre of the foil to open!)
** If you use knife & fork, it may be better to serve without foil wrapping. Because it might make the dish tasteless when the cutleries attach to the foil to cut food.
6） Enjoy with fluffy rice beside. I love to add a little amount of the rice into the remaining juice in the parcel to eat up the juice, too. It's super delicious extract from salmon and veges, so don't throw away!
I enjoyed a part of the salmon fillet as Sashimi as well which was wonderful taste. Also I got packs of fresh fins and smoked cheeks, too, so will enjoy those during this Easter weekend.
Kia ora cooking mates! I hope you are all well and safe at home.
Japanese cooking in autumn ～ This time of last year, we cooked "Chan-chan-yaki of salmon" and "Kenchin-jiru" in the cooking classes. One of the recipe is here, so review it and cook it again.
Hearty simmered soup dish with chunk of tofu and vegetables. I introduced an unique food Konnyaku in the class, but I omitted it here and made the recipe simple.
150g Tofu 100g carrot --- cut & slice 5mm thick 100g daikon --- peel, cut & slice 8mm thick --- can be substituted with swede. 5～6 mushroom (or 3～4 dried Shiitake mushroom: soaked in water) ½ ～ 1 can (10～15 pcs) water chestnuts --- slice the pieces thinly (*option) 3 pcs of “Inari” or “Tofu puff” --- cut thinly 2 stalks spring onion (thick slice diagonally) or 1/3 leek (cut/slice)
sesame oil & cooking oil (half & half) for stir-fly
stock & seasoning 3C (750ml) stock (or 3C water + 2t “dashi” bonito stock powder) 2T soy sauce 2T mirin ¼ t salt (adjust by the saltiness of the stock you used) 1T potato starch (or corn starch) mixed with a small amount of water
****************************************************************** Prep of tofu : Drain. If you use soft type of tofu: Wrap tofu with paper towel, then put a weight on it (let stand for 10min) to remove excess moisture.
1) Cut/slice vegetables (carrot/daikon/mushroom/water-chestnuts) Put sesame oil & cooking oil in a pan, add vegetables, cook briefly.
2) Add stock (or, water + stock powder). Heat to boil, then simmer for 10-15min. When the vegetables were cooked soft, add Inari (or Tofu puff) and spring onion (or leek).
3) Add seasonings (soy sauce/mirin/salt), and adjust the taste with additional amount of the seasoning, if it's needed. Add potato starch mixture, stir quickly to make the soup a little thicker texture.
4) Scatter the tofu breaking by hand, simmer another 1~2min, then off the heat.
5) Serve hot in individual bowl. Top with chopped spring onion. Cracked pepper and drops of sesame oil will be nice finishing touch, too!
********************************************************************************* I got a packet of tofu from LuLu mart (local Asian mart in Wanaka), and used the half (150g).
There wasn't mushrooms at home, so I didn't use it this time. As there was a leftover of taro, I used it.
A can of water chestnuts, （レンコンの代わり） which has "saku-saku" crispy texture. Slice each pieces and cook with other veges.
I bought "Tofu Puff" at LuLu mart. (They have some stock in fridge or freezer) （油揚げの代わり） **************************************************************************************
As Kenchin-jiru is Buddihist cuisine (vegetable dish) of the temple, meat was not used originally. But it can be added for preference at home. If you would like to add meat, try to use chicken thigh (cut into small pieces). Delicious taste flows from chicken, which makes the soup taste deepens.
I introduce "Ohitashi" today, 
（for 4～6 small serving)
Divide cut spinach into some parts on the plate. 
マーケットに
水を入れたボウルに卵を割り入れて混ぜ、
Preparation of vegetables
Making sauce
Originally this used to be a dish cooked by 
There wasn't mushrooms at home, 
As Kenchin-jiru is Buddihist cuisine