Hiroko’s Kitchen | Blog

What a fun, easy to use and convenient piece of cookware the new Zojirushi’s Gourmet d’Expert Electric Skillet is.  I have steamed mussles (after mussles are done, I removed them and heated tomato sauce in the same skillet), fish and vegetables, and grilled wagyu beef steak (raised in America), pork chops and chicken with the very handy, easy to use and flexible applicance.  Flexibility does not usually come with Japanese way of thinking and products, so this is a big thing.  Judith Jones, my editor of The Sushi Experience, enjoyed cooking sukiyaki (thinly sliced beef and vegetables cooked together with a little sugar, sake, shoyu and water) in this skillet with me the other day, and she was in the heaven. 

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Please join us at Japanese cooking seminars at International Restaurant and Foodservice Show on March 1st and 2nd.  The details are http://www.jetro.org/index.php?option=com_events_jetro&task=view&content=detail&event_id=409&Itemid=200

Hiroko

This icho-imo yam is incredibly enormously gooey when it is grated.  Look at and compare these two photos.  Well, in fact, both may look a little weird to you.

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watch?v=dU6M-G87L9o

Taken by Dan Schumacher at American Masara.  You hear the voice of Dan, Suvir Saran and Hiroko.

I have introduced you nagaimo yam in my previous okonomiyaki blog - it is the long potato-like vegetable that becomes watery-slimy when grated.  In this photo you cann see here a very fresh, whole nagaimo yam.  Looks like a baseball bat.  The skin is thin and rough.  The cut surface shows moist, wet and somewhat bubbly appearance.

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After taking mochi cakes out of the plastic package, I left them on a plate to dry them out completely.  It took nine days.  Today I used a small mallet and crumbled them.

Instead of deep-frying them, I tossed mochi pieces with little olive oil and baked in the oven.  The result was great - crisp, golden yet light.

2 ounce mochi pieces (completely dried)

1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil or other cooking oil

Sea salt, freshly ground pepper

Place the rice cake crumbles in a bowl and toss them with the cooking oil.  Place the crumbles on a cookie sheet and bake them in a heated oven (400 degree F) until plump and golden.  Remove the rice cake crumbles from the oven and toss with the sea salt and ground pepper.

Today I unpacked rice cake from the package and prepared rice cake soup, oshiruko. 

This is Buzz showing off how gooey the mochi is.   He says he is happy to keep this ritual just once a year.

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Suvir and Charlie keep over one hundred chickens at their place, American Masala Farm up in Hebron, NY.  Brown ones, spotted ones, snow white ones, sleek black ones and one with an impressive hairdo.  They are beautiful creature.  Each variety lays eggs in different size, shape and color.  It is said that the average

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Akemashite Omedeto Gozaimasu (Happy New Year)!  As Christmas trees decorate American homes during holiday, Kagami-mochi decorate a room in Japanese house from the end of yeaer (December 28th).  It is an offering to the god who protected us during the old year (he departs and new god arrives in the New Year). 

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In Japan our people are obsessed with healthy foods in a positive way.  Kuromame’s health benefit - beneficial anthocyanin - is so tempting that some producers came up with a new product - kuromame-cha (black soybean tea).  Now this healthy beverage, which is made by steeping black beans, is as popular as other healthy infusion teas.  The beans for this tea are specially treated that they become soft in hot water in 4 to 5 minutes for a healthy snack.  You can find an online source for you to try.

Kuromame-cha for 1 serving

1 tablespoonful kuromame-cha

In your morning coffee or tea mug add 1 tablespoonful beans and pour in hot water.  Tightly cover the top of the mug with a lid or plastic wrap and steep it for 5 minutes.  Enjoy the tea and the beans as well.