Hiroko’s Kitchen | Blog

Recently I was having difficulties to post my blogs.  Save Draft does not save my drafts and there was no way to post them.  Here you are the promised recipes.  Enjoy them over cold sake or rose wine. 

1) Beef Tataki

1 1/2 pounds beef fillet
Salt, pepper and grated garlic
Canola oil
1 cup shoyu (soy sauce)
1/2 cup red wine
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 onion, sliced
1 thumb size ginger, grated
1 clove garlic, grated
1/2 lemon, sliced

1. Remove the beef from the refrigerator and let it stand fro 20 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 400 °F.  Salt and pepper the beef.  Rub the beef with the grated garlic.

2. Apply little oil in the heated skillet.  Add the beef and brown the surface.  Transfer the beef to the oven and cook for 15 to 20 minutes.

3. While cooking the beef add the soy sauce, red wine, lemon juice, sliced onion, grated ginger and garlic and lemon slices in a Zip-lock type sealable bag.  After removing the beef from the oven, place it in the sealable and cool.  The beef should stay in the sauce for 3 hours and can remain in the sauce for up to one day.  When serving, remove the fillet from the bag and place it thinly sliced on a platter.
2) Katsuo (skipjack tuna) Tataki:

1 skipjack tuna, headed and cleaned; cut into 2 fillets
1 onion, sliced thin
4 myoga ginger bud, julienned [ADD SUBSTITUTE]
20 leaves shiso (beef steak leaf), julienned
5 inch daikon radish, julienned
1 cup ponzu (yuzu citrus juice flavored sauce with soy sauce base)
1 tablespoon mirin (sweet cooking wine)
2 tablespoons grated daikon radish
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon ginger juice

1.  Have a large bowl of cold water with ice cubes at hand.  Salt the skipjack fillets.  In a heated skillet (no oil) add the fish, skin-side down, and cook until it is lightly golden.  Turn the fish and cook the fish on all side.  Quickly transfer the fish to the bowl of ice cold water and cool.  Remove the fish from the water and wipe with paper towel.

3. In a bowl with a whisk mix the ponzu, mirin, grated daikon radish, sesame oil and ginger juice.

2. Cut the skipjack tuna fillet into sashimi slices.   Spread the sliced onion on a large platter.  Sprinkle julienned daikon, shiso and myoga over the onion.  Place the sliced fish over the vegetables.  Just before serving pour the ponzu sauce over the sliced fish.

Today is Mother’s Day both in the US and Japan. My mother, now in her mid-80s in Tokyo, has always been my inspiration for my cooking and my career.  She remains among the most knowledgeable of all of my professional acquaintances in matters of Japanese cuisine and its preparation. In her honor and on the occasion of Mother’s Day, I’d like to publish a delicious recipe – based on my mother’s dish somewhat modified by me – for braised beef tongue. This is a dish with Western origins, of course, but prepared by her in a Japanese way to achieve wonderful flavor, texture and beautiful visual appeal. Unfortunately before taking photo of the final dish, it quickly disappeared into the stomachs of my family, and friends including my visiting son-in-law from London. Gregory was, at first, very skeptical about eating tongue – not his favorite he said – but in the end he consumed it with relish. You will be delighted with this dish, I am sure. 

1 beef tongue (I purchased it at Costco)
1 medium quartered onion
1 medium roughly cut carrot cubes
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon sea salt
12 peeled Cipolino onions
7 ounces collard greens
3 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup shoyu (soy sauce)

1. Clean the beef tongue under cold tap water.  Transfer the tong to a large pot and add enough water to cover it.  Bring the water to a boil and cook the tongue for 20 minutes.  Remove the tongue from the water and cool it under cold tap water so that it is easy to handle.  With a sharp knife peel the skin. 

2. Heat an oven to 350 °F. In a pot in which the tongue comfortably first add water brought to a simmer.  Add the tongue (tongue should be barely covered with water), carrot, onion wedges, bay leaf and salt, and cook for 1 1/2 hours.  In a saucepan of cold water add the Cipolino onions and bring it to a simmer.  Turn the heat to medium-low and cook the onions for 8 minutes.  Drain the onions.  Cut the collard greens crosswise into julienne strips.  In a pot of salt added hot water add the collard greens and cook for 2 minutes.  Drain the collard greens.

3.  Remove the pot from the oven.  In a skillet melt the butter and add the flour and cook, over medium-low heat, until lightly brown.  Scoop and add one ladle of the cooking liquid from the pot to the skillet.  Continue add additional ladles until the flour mixture is loose and runny.  Add the loosened flour sauce to the pot along with the tomato paste, honey, Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce.  Cook the tongue for an additional 30 minutes to one hour over stove top.  Remove the tongue from the cooking liquid and keep it on a platter.  Fish out the onion wedges and carrots with a slotted spoon and puree in a food processor.  Transfer the pureed vegetables back to the sauce and cook for 5 minutes or so, if it is necessary to reduce the sauce.  Cut the cooled beef tongue into 2-inch thick slices.  Add the sliced beef tongue, Cipolino onions and collard greens to the sauce and cook for 10 minutes.  Divide and serve the beef tongue, Cipolino onions and Collard greens on four to five dinner platters.

Happy New Year!!!  Here is New Year’s Feast, Osechi-ryori,which was prepared by my sister, Keiko Arakawa in Tokyo.  Keiko, unlike her two sisters, diligently prepares traditional elaborate New Year’s meals for her family every year.  Keiko shared with us her favorites recipes and here are some of them.  Thank you, Keiko.

Recipes by Keiko Arakawa;

Tazukuri (candied baby sardine): the name of the recipe sounds a bit scary, but this is a “must” dish, which in the past promised a good harvest of rice…today it leads to to prosperity.   Tazukuri  is a dish in which baby sardines are toasted until crisp, then, cooked with sugar, shoyu, mirin and sake.  Toasting baby fish crisp in a skillet (our Mother’s way) requires patience and time, so Keiko uses modern approach – she microwaves them. 

1 1/2 ounces tazukuri (dried baby sardine)

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon shoyu

1 tablespoon sake

1/3 tablespoon mirin

Place a paper towel on a microwave oven-safe plate.  Arrange half of the baby anchovie on top of the paper towel-lined plate without overlapping them.  Microwave for 1  1/2 to 2 minutes.  Check the doness by breaking it up – it should feel crisp.  Repeat the same process for the second batch of sardine.

In a skillet add the sugar, shoyu, sake and mirin and put it over medium heat.  When the mixture starts to sizzle, add the fish and turn off the heat.  Gently toss the fish wit the sauce. 

Lightly grease another plate and transfer the cooked fish onto it.  Let it stand to cool.

Nishiki Tamago (steamed layered egg cake): Nishiki means golden brocade.  This gorgeous looking egg dish reminds people of that.  I always fought with my sisters to get many portions of my mother’s Nishiki tamago.   You need a square cake mold to prepare this dish.

4 large eggs

1 1/5 ounces sugar

Pinch salt

Make hard boiled eggs.  While the eggs are hot separate the yolks and whites.  Press the egg white first through a fine sieve and transfer it to a bowl.  After finishing the egg white, press the yolk through the sieve and transfer it to another bowl.  Add 1 ounce sugar to the bowl of egg yolk, and the remaining, to the bowl of egg white.  Add pinch salt to each bowls.  With a spatula, gently fold the egg, salt and sugar. 

Cut out and pace a parchment paper on the bottom of the mold.  Place additional parchment paper on the sides of the mold.  Transfer and fill the egg white in the mold.  Press the white gently to level the surface.  Place the egg yolk on top of the egg white and, again, gently level the surface (do not press hard).

In a heated steamer cook the egg for 5 minutes.  Remove the mold from the steamer and let it stand to cool.  Remove the egg cake from the mold and cut it into bite sized squares.

Kurikinton (Sweet Chestnuts): This is a quite sweet dish.  Sweet cooked chestnuts which holds thier shape during cooking are tossed with sweet cooked and mashed Japanese sweet potato.

12 pounds Japanese sweet potato

1 jar Chestnut kanroni (cooked chestnut in syrup)

Remove thick skin of Japanese sweet potato and soak it in a cold water overnight.  Steam the sweet potato in a high steaming steamer.  Press the cooked potato through a fine sieve while it is hot.  Transfer the pressed potato to a pot and add the generous amount of chestnut syrup until the potato is lightly loosened.  Put the pot over medium heat and cook it, stirring all the time, for 2 to 3 minutes.  Transfer the potato to a bowl and add the drained chestnut kanroni.  Let the mixture stand to cool.

Please be alerted at the beginning of October, 2011.  Please try hard to find the mushrooms in your area – local, domestic or imported.  Finding kabosu fruit is a impossible mission at commercial base.  Use a mixture of lemon and lime juice to flavor the soup.

4 servings

1 to 2 matsutake mushrooms, soaked in salt added water for 10 to 15 minutes to remove soil and insect (if the mushroom is clean and no trace of insect, omit the soaking process)

4 tiger shrimp, shelled and de-veined

8 ounces flounder, cut into 4 pieces

2 ounces mizuna greens or arugula

4 cups dashi stock

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup and 3 tablespoons sake

Shoyu to taste

A mixture of lemon and lime juice

Remove soil from mushroom and wipe dry.  Cut mushrooms into thin slices lengthwise. 

In a saucepan bring 2 cups water with 1/4 cup sake to a gentle boil.  Have a bowl of ice cold water at hand.  Add shrimp and cook until the outside turns white.  Fish out shrimp with a slotted spoon and drop them in ice cold water.  When shrimp are cool, remove them from the water and drain.  Add fish to the saucepan and cook until fish turns white.  Carefully remove fish from the hot water and lower it into cold water.  Quickly remove it from water and drain.   Enjoy!

In a pot heat 4 cups of dashi stock over medium heat to a gentle simmer.  Add salt and the remaining sake.  Add little shoyu to taste.  Add shrimp, fish and mushrooms and cook 3 to 4 minutes over low heat.  Turn off the heat, add greens and cover the pot with a lid.  Infuse the soup for a few minutes.  Divide and transfer shrimp, fish, mushroom slices and greens into four soup bowls and pour in hot broth. 

At the table each diner drops about 1/8 teaspoon of lemon and lime juice mixture into the soup.

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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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.

Fresh kuromame just popped out of the shell presents beautiful smooth and shiny appearance.  The shape of the beans is an ordinary, slightly oblong bean-shape like the ones of fresh edamame green soybeans.  But when it is dried, it becomes perfect round shape.  This is magical to me.  Here is teh kuromame recipe.

I cook the beans with my special egg shaped iron ball.  When you do not have this special ball, you can use old nail, but please wrap it up in a cheese cloth, so that you can spot it and remove it without hurting yourself and your family after cooking the beans.  The color of anthocyanin, when it contacts with iron, stabilized and produces appealing dark purple color.

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I am not a vegetarian, but I do love vegetables and fruits.  So, vegetables and fruits occupy 50% of our diet.  The other 50% is consists of protein and wholesome carbohydrate.  Summer is one of the best time to enjoy an extensive variety of vegetables.  And, the most important tip is that you are not eating just a few kinds of vegetables in your salad.  In your preparations you should employ vegetables from all categories, such as

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I enjoy vegetable tempura from time to time…My friend, Suvir Saran (a charming, skilled and successful chef, consultant and cookbook author), told me that his experiences eating tempura at Japanese restaurants have not been satisfactory.  He has found that the dough is…. (more…)