Sunday, September 9, 2007

Dinner - Udon in broth

As usual, I cannot remember to take photos of the food I cook other than the morning bento!

Suddenly it dawned on me that I could upload tonight's dinner even though no bento!

Since there were a few more strands of Udon and some broth, I put them into a small bowl (actually I served this in a huge bowl). Topped the Udon with kakiage.

Kakiage is a mixture of seafood and vegetables in tempura batter, deep fried.

Here, I had large onions, cabbage, french beans, carrots, daikon, potatoes and prawns. The broth is very simple, just dashi, mirin, shoyu and salt to taste. Fast and easy. Hubs complimented tonight's dinner. *Smiling* Read this: Find Your Favorite World's Noodles -Japan-
"Soba & Udon"

4 comments:

Lee said...

Hi Bento Pet, just popped over from Rita's. Wow! You sure a good cook on Japanese food, huh?
Where you got your cooking black belt? Japan?
How's your Malaysia dishes?
Send me telegram when you making a Malaysian dish. Ha ha.
Keep well, UL.

Bento Pet said...

U.lee: This story very long so please 'tahan' ha!

My Malaysian dishes all 'nine floor' lah! My mum who is eighty years old this year is a fantastic cook! She's from an old Nyonya family in Penang and you know lah -very terror wan!

When I was growing up, I was 'chased out' as soon as I stepped in because I was never up to her standard of: holding the 'wok chan' (ladle), the way I tossed the food in the 'kuali', the inconsistent cutting sizes, and the list goes on.

My mum was very happy cooking over the hot stove everyday (she worked and retired at 50 - one heck of a woman) and I was happier still that I didn't have to lift a finger to help! Hehehe! Schoolgirl that time very lazy lah!

As I grew older, my brother's girlfriend 'threatened' me that no man would want a girl who cannot cook, as a wife and I buckled under pressure.

That time, I had just finished Form five and was on holiday so I asked to help mum in the kitchen. I was given the most 'glamorous' jobs: peeling potatoes, onions, setting and decorating the table, cut, cut, cut, chop, chop and chop. I wasn't even 'qualified' to wash the dishes because mum said 'not clean enough'!

Once, I brought 'acar awa' to school and the teachers asked if mum cut the vegetables using a ruler! Every cucumber, carrot was exactly the same size, not one was longer than the other. They were so amazed.

Aiyoh! So miserable lah! Even then, I was very exposed to foreign foods i.e. Italian, Japanese, Western, etc. Those days, my dad would bring us to Coliseum and Lake Club every weekend! When Japanese food became a craze, our favorite haunt was Genji in PJ Hilton.

One day the Manager of the outlet called me and asked if I wanted to attend a Japanese cooking class by their then, Japanese Executive Chef. I jumped at the opportunity. Mum thought I was crazy! Eating Japanese food and cooking were two worlds apart as far as she was concerned!

I was a natural talent lah! Seriously! Not to brag but I had so much passion for it that after the first two lessons, I immediately started stocking up mum's kitchen much to her dismay!

Those days, it was very difficult to get Japanese supplies. It was either from Japan Club or Tsukiji Mart in Sea Park near Seaview Rest. in PJ. My parents were staying around that area and I made friends with the Japanese Chef there too.

I was his regular customer besides the Japanese who were residing there then. He gave me quite a fair bit of tips.

I don't have any black belt lah! Along the way, I went for many more classes under some Japanese housewives and semi-pros for hands on classes.

I stopped competing with mum cooking Malaysian food a long, long time ago. We respect each other's domain and now she even 'tapek' (salute) me in my Japanese cooking! Hehehe!

Now with all the foundation and experience from my Japanese cooking, mum has been calling me into the kitchen to learn to cook her specialties. Praise God! Maybe now I can start my internship in the Chinese kitchen.

Like I always share with my girls - "whether you are 4,14 or 40 you jump and respond when your mother calls you"!

Anonymous said...

Wah, looks really nice.
Just a kpc question but you don't have to answer me. Do you cook Japanese nearly every day and night?

I see you are such an expert in Japanese food.

Bento Pet said...

judy: No lah, not KPC! I don't mind the questions at all.

I cook Japanese food at least 70% of the time. The rest of the time, I cook pastas, roasts and other Italian or western dishes.

Once in a blue moon, I will cook Chinese, but only when mum is away (she's in Penang now), so you see me cooking only Japanese food full time.

Hubs and the kids enjoy Japanese food so I'm okay! No expert! Just simple homestyle Japanese food.

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