Dinner Post

One of those random days when I cooked a really quick dinner in a great hurry. I had a large pot of water boiling the spaghetti.



And then I had another pot sauteing the onions and mushrooms before I added the cream and Swiss meatballs from IKEA. I peppered the cream sauce and added salt and chopped basil for more flavor.


I also made Chirashi Sushi in a separate casserole from leftovers.


Yummilicious!

Steam Boat dinner

Last night was one of those rare evenings we could have a long dinner together and not rush off for some appointment or other. I made some fish cake (the longish looking ones), the other two fish balls and mushrooms came from Jusco.


There was fresh squids, prawns and fish in the menu.


Delicious home made pork balls mixed with chopped prawns, more mushrooms and straw mushrooms.




Simply dunk into a hot pot of delicious stock.

Cha Soba

Friday classes at college for #2 is only an hour and a half. Breakfast is a healthy rolled oats so there is no bento required.

Tonight's dinner below:


Cold Cha Soba! Yums!

"One pot rice"

LOL!! I think I've become quite an expert in 'producing' one pot rice! I do this at least once a week due to the laziness which I succumb myself to. In the early days of experimenting, I'd either turn out with 'burnt rice' at the bottom or too soggy rice which was really difficult to eat.

I work on some basics, i.e. One cup of rice to one and a quarter cup of water. Depending on what meats I want to cook, I use the same formula and top up with another quarter to half cup of water, again depending on the time used for simmering the meats.

This pot of waxed meats was simple.

Recipe:

1 1/2 cups rice
2 cups of water
1 waxed duck drumstick
1 lup cheong
1 oyster lup cheong

Method:
1. Boil the waxed duck in hot water for 5 minutes or more (to remove saltiness), and remove the fat and excess skin. Steam together in a metal plate with the 3 lup cheong for 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, wash rice and place in a clay pot or casserole.
3. Add 2 cups of water and bring to boil.
4. When the water boils, turn fire to low and cook covered for 8 minutes. Set timer, do not open cover.
5. Remove the steam plate of wax duck and lup cheong from the steamer and pour out the oil into a bowl. Add shoyu and thick black sauce. Meanwhile, slice the duck and lup cheong.
6. Once the timer rings, open the cover for the rice and drizzle the oil, shoyu and thick black sauce. Top with sliced wax duck and lup cheong.
7. Continue to cook for another 1-2 minutes over low flame. Switch off fire and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.


Hubs was supposed to have dinner with some friends but couldn't resist 'cleaning the pot' because this "one pot rice" tasted so good!

My own version of "Chirashi Sushi"

I made sushi for dinner last night. More often than not, the kids would be waiting impatiently for their dad to return home for dinner and as soon as he walks in, they'd all be ready at the dinner table to feast on home made sushi!

It was past 7.00p.m. and because 'dad' wasn't home yet, I decided to make a dish of Chirashi Sushi so that everyone could 'dig in' instead of waiting for me to roll the futomakis.

This was a quick and simple version of chopping the same ingredients which I use for rolling the futomakis and hand rolls.

Clockwise: Tamagoyaki, carrots, Teriyaki chicken, Crabsticks, simmered mushrooms, Kyuri all alternate with Sakura Denbu and kewpie mayo.

Delicious combination which resulted in many happy and contented stomachs!

Saba no Teriyaki - Broiled Mackerel

You know, I never learn! I almost always forget to take pictures!! I haven't reached the stage where I plan what pictures I should be taking under what light or background. I just do what I have to do and suddenly... I remember I have to take pictures to keep my blog alive. The result? Half baked pictures!! Look at this one below. I only remembered that I had to take pictures after I started grilling the other three pieces of Saba fish! *Sigh* Luckily there was one piece left because the pan couldn't accommodate all four pieces.

I love, love Saba fish because it is so delicious when grilled properly. It is juicy and the mackerel literally melts in the mouth. Mmmmm......

Very often in the Japanese restaurants, they serve Saba Shioyaki (salt grilled Mackerel). I love this very much too, especially when grilled to perfection and dipped in wasabi, shoyu and served with hot Japanese rice.

I like a variation sometimes, and Saba no Teriyaki is delicious. It is very easy, here's the recipe:
1 whole mackerel - filleted to four pieces
Marinate:
1/4 Cup soy sauce
1/4 Cup mirin
1 T sugar
1/2 T grated fresh ginger root, pounded and juice squeezed out
Method:
Wash and pat dry Mackerel with paper towel and soak in marinate.
Leave to marinate for at least one hour (I leave it in the fridge for half a day)
Broil over stove or oven and baste occasionally while broiling.
Serve with Lemon and grated daikon.
You can use Salmon, Yellowtail or Tuna for more variation.

The picture below shows you the three pieces of Mackerel being broiled!



Ahemm....yours truly was in such a hurry to serve dinner to the family that the final picture was completely FORGOTTEN!!!
Anyway it was delicious and it looked exactly like a juicy piece of grilled fish.....lol!!

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"

Quick fix - Sushi for dinner

Tonight's dinner was a quick fix because Friday nights we are always in a hurry. We go for activities in Church and always have to rush through dinner.

We had Inari Sushi, Futomaki and Natto loaded maki for dinner. Finished almost all the 6 cups of sushi rice, left a small container only.

I posted the Inari sushi tofu pockets recipe in an earlier post if you want to try it.


Futomaki on the right. Filled with tamagoyaki, kyuri, blanched carrots, simmered shitake mushrooms, simmered kampyo and sakura denbu.


Futomaki on the left loaded with kyuri, tamagoyaki, sakura denbu and a whole box of NATTO!!
I declared at the dinner table that the Natto was excellent and 'first class food', daughter #1 declared back and said that she's doing just fine with her 'second class' futomaki and that daughter #2 and I could go on enjoying our 'first class' food! Hubs added that we were welcome to FINISH the NATTO and not leave any for him and daughter #1. Sigh.... but he was nice enough to take the picture of the Natto maki for me. He even reminded to put the green grass divider. Lol! Looks better than the top two pictures which I took. Real sweetheart!!

[natto]
[inari sushi]

Japanese spring rolls

Fried about thirty of these for dinner. They were a hit!

I just cut carrots, cucumber, crab stick and added a blob of kewpie mayo and some sesame seeds.

Rolled them up in these 'popiah' wraps and deep fried them. The original recipe also has bell peppers but my kids don't like so I don't put.

[spring rolls]

Dinner

Kids were out for their activities. Dinner was only hubs, myself and Daughter number 3.

Clockwise from top: Hijiki, Oden, Takuan, Natto and white rice.




Dinner was delicious!



On the right is Natto, another of my favourites!

Left: Larger picture of the Hijiki & Aburaage-Ni.

First time @ this

I found a 'treasure' in A Daily Obsession (check out my link). She posts most interesting recipes which look very, very easy to do.

I'm lousy at cooking Chinese. I admit that!! That's mum's territory. Ha! But now that I've found A Daily Obsession, On a Bento frenzy is trying out Chinese cooking.

I tried out her recipe for soy sauce chicken today. Admittedly, I didn't have all the ingredients, didn't understand that Sichuan peppercorns were Sichuan peppercorns and CANNOT use Sabah peppercorns! Okay, okay and I thought dark soy sauce was thick black sauce. So....I varied a little, ermm...maybe improvised a little by leaving out the tangerine peel...Oops!

Well, the 'mutilated chicken' looked okay for a first timer right? He! He! He! The final product was delicious. Everyone enjoyed the chicken including daughter number 3. She's a very, very fussy eater and hates anything 'different' from her regular meal of soup, fish or pork and rice. She ate the whole drumstick! Awesome!

Thank you Terri! If this variation tastes so good the original recipe with all the ingredients I missed out must be out of this world! Mmmmm....so good.

Tamagoyaki, Teriyaki Sake (Salmon), Enoki and Miso soup

This was tonight's dinner. Yum, Yum!

Tamagoyaki



That's how you 'roll' the Tamago

On the left - frying the Salmon.

Right - cooking the teriyaki sauce.








Left - Soaking dried Wakame for Miso soup

Next to the bowl is the Silken Tofu.

Right - Wakame "expanded".

Left - mixing the Miso into some Dashi stock .

Right - the final product,
Miso soup!!

Fried Enoki (straw mushrooms) with strips of carrot.
Sauteed with garlic and oyster sauce.
Class one!!