Teaming up with European chefs I make Kamo-Seiro. 鴨せいろ

Teaming up with European chefs I make Kamo-Seiro.   鴨せいろ

Kamo-Seiro is freshly handmade soba noodles served with a hot dipping sauce, duck breast fillet slices, browned green onion, and fresh yuzu zest. This soba dish was enjoyed by 100 dinner guests including the Japanese Ambassador Mr. Takeshi Nakane and his wife in Berlin. Since 2015, I have teamed up five times with European chefs and made kamo-seiro at a French restaurant Pasits in Berlin, Club Mitchel in Frankfurt, and QuintaForca Restaurant in Tarragona, Spain. Dinner guests can enjoy red wine with this dish. I will return to Europe to cook with them when the pandemic is over.

Kamo Serio

Ingredients:   Serves 4

400g-450g duck breast fillet (thinly sliced 4mm thick, 100g per serving), 20 pieces yaki-negi (green onions cut into 5cm long and browned in a dry frying pan), 4 slices of thinly sliced fresh yuzu citrus zest of fresh if available (I take with me sun-dried yuzu zest with seven spices made in Seki to Europe.)

To make the soba noodles (5 servings): 400g buckwheat flour, 100g wheat flour (strong wheat flour), 250ml water

(Alternatively, you can use dried soba noodles sold at your local Japanese supermarket or Asian grocery store.)

To make the dipping sauce (8 servings): combine 350ml ichiban dashi (dried kelp and bonito flake stock), 100ml koikuchi or all-purpose soy sauce, and 50ml mirin (flambé the mirin to remove alcohol before adding the soy sauce and ichiban dashi.)

To make the ichiban dashi: heat one litre of cold water with 10g dried kelp (dashi kombu) without a cover and remove the kelp just before the boiling point (allow 15 minutes before it comes to a near boil) and add 40g bonito flakes (thick shredded for soba noodles) and simmer for 20 minutes. Skim the froth from time to time and strain through a cheesecloth or kitchen paper into a stockpot.

Deep-Fried Eggplant with Tempura Dipping Sauce and Grated Daikon 揚げ出し茄子

I was introduced to this dish when I began working as an apprentice cook at a Kaiseki Izakaya in Takadanobaba, Tokyo in 1981. The regular customers including world-famous fashion designer Hanae Mori would enjoy it with sake.

Agedashi-tofu, deep-fried tofu and deep-fried fish such as rock cod, flounder, flathead, and snapper served with this sauce are also nice.

Ingredients: Serves 2

1 large eggplant

Cornflour or potato starch as needed

Deep frying oil as needed

10g ginger (peeled and grated)

60g daikon (white radish, peeled, grated, drained)

Green onion as needed (cut finely)

To make tempura dipping sauce- 25ml mirin, 25ml usukuchi soy sauce, 100ml ichiban dashi

Method:

1.    Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise and place the pieces skin side up on a cutting board. Poke the eggplant with a fork or metal skewers. Turn the eggplant over and with a knife score the flesh as Shuji shows you in his YouTube video of this dish. 動画リンク貼る

Apply cornflour over the cut side of eggplants and deep fry in 160-degree Celsius deep-frying oil with skin side up first for about 2-3 minutes and turn the pieces over and deep fry the skin side for about 2 minutes. Try skewering the eggplants with a bamboo skewer and if it goes through with ease they are done. Take them out of the oil and drain well. Turn off the heat.

2.    To make the sauce, pour 25ml mirin into a small saucepan. Bring to boil and tilt the saucepan and flambe to allow the alcohol to evaporate. Add 25ml usukuchi soy sauce and 100ml dashi. Remove from the heat.

3.    Peel the daikon then grate and drain it.

4.    Place the deep-fried eggplant skin side down in a dish. Pour reheated tempura sauce over it and top with grated daikon, grated ginger and finely chopped green onions.

5.    Serve with a spoon.

●      Usukuchi soy sauce is lighter in colour as compared to koikuchi all-purpose soy sauce, but it is saltier than koikuchi soy sauce. Usukuchi is used to season dashi broth, chawan-mushi (savoury steamed egg-dashi), and sauces like a tempura dipping sauce.

Lesson 23: Okonomiyaki お好み焼き

Okonomiyaki   Serves 2

お好み焼き　Okonomiyaki

Ingredients

200g flour, 1 egg, 200ml water, 200g cabbage (Cut into julienne), 200g pork belly meat (thinly sliced), bonito flakes as needed, aonori (powdered seaweed, if available) as needed, beni-shoga (pickled ginger in ume juice, if available) as needed, vegetable oil as needed, Otafuku-Okonomiyaki sauce, if available.

Method

To make okonomiyaki mixture, crack one egg into a mixing bowl and beat well with chopsticks.

Add water and mix well and add flour and mix well with a whisk. Add cabbage and mix.

To make sauce, mix 2 tbs. tomato sauce, 2tbs. mayonnaise and 2tbs Worcestershire sauce.

1.     Heat a frying pan (preferably heavy bottomed one), add vegetable oil, and pour half the okonomiyaki mixture. Place the pork meat on it.

2.     Reduce the heat to low and cook until the bottom is nicely toasted. With a turner, flip over the okonomiyaki and cook the other side until the bottom is toasted.

3.     Plate the okonomiyaki, spread the sauce, sprinkle aonori and beni-shoga ginger and put bonito flakes.

l  You can use seafood such as scallops, prawns, and calamari for pork belly meat.

l  You can watch Shuji make Okonomiyaki and learn how to flip it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M1L7yJxLro

Braised Pumpkin with Minced Beef

カボチャの牛そぼろ煮　Serves 2

 Ingredients                  

300g Japanese pumpkin

100g minced beef

2nd dashi stock as needed

1 tbs sugar

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tbs sake

 Method

1.     Cut pumpkin into large bite-size.

2.     Cook the pumpkin and minced beef in second dashi (enough to cover pumpkin) on high heat. Skim the froth, and add sugar, soy sauce and sake. Taste the broth and add sugar and soy sauce if needed. Reduce heat to simmer and cook until the broth is almost gone or the pumpkin is cooked.

Lesson 22: Takikomi-Gohan, Salmon & Potatoes Cooked with Rice, Kombu & Sake

All food is cooked with rice in a rice cooker

Takikomi-Gohan with seared salmon fillet, potato wedges topped with new season ginkgo nuts

The new harvest rice is available in Japan. I would like to cook with the participants Taki komi-Gohan. There are a variety of ways to make this rice dish. You can add dashi stock, or without it and also chicken, beef, fish, vegetables, fish cakes, mushrooms, deep-fried tofu and the list goes on and on. And cook them with rice in a rice cooker as shown in the above photo. I think you could say that the Spanish version of Takikomi-Gohan is paella.

The upcoming online cooking class will be held at 6 pm Japan time on Saturday 29 January 2022.

Lesson fee: 2,500 yen per person or per family. Please make payment via PaPal by 27th January 2022.

Payment via PayPal: http://www.ozekicookingschool.com/inquiry-and-booking

I am looking forward to cooking with you and your family again this year.

Eat well and stay safe.

Shuji Ozeki

Ingredients:

2 cups rice (washed, rinsed, drained)

2 salmon fillets

Vegetable oil as needed

1 potato (peeled, eyes-removed, cut into bite sizes)

14 ginkgo nuts (if available)

(A)  10g ginger (peeled, julienned), a pinch of salt, 1 tablespoon sake, 5g kombu

20g butter

Method:

1.     Cut the salmon filet into bite sizes and sear them on a frying pan with vegetable oil.

2.     Cook rice in a rice cooker with 2 cups water, and all (A) into it and cook.

3.     When the rice is cooked add butter to it, mix well and serve in rice bowls.

 Chef’s Tip: When cooking rice with an ordinary saucepan or pot (preferably with the

heavy bottom), you need to drain the washed rice for 30 minutes and then soak it in water for 1 hour before cooking. This makes the boiled rice fluffy.

Green Beans with Miso-Walnut Sauce   Serves 2

インゲン豆のくるみ味噌和え

Ingredients:

100g spinach, 2 tablespoons toasted walnuts, 1 teaspoon

miso paste, 2 tablespoons mirin 

 Method:

1.    Blanch spinach in salted boiling water and dunk

into cold water and drain.

2.    In a Japanese mortar called suribachi, grind toasted walnuts with a wooden pestle called surikogi, and add 1 teaspoon miso paste and mirin and mix well.

Miso soup with tomato, wakame and green onions  　Serves 2

3 cups ichiban dashi, miso as needed, 1 tomato (diced), 20g salted wakame (rinsed and cut into bite-size), green onions as needed (cut finely)

①     Heat up 3 cups dashi stock to near-boil and reduce heat to low and add miso paste to your taste.  Add the diced tomato and heat up near boil, but do not boil or you will lose the flavour of Ichiban dashi stock. Serve with wakame and chopped green onions.

Copyright 2022  Shuji Ozeki www.ozekicookingschool.com

Lesson 21: Oyako-Don, Chicken and Eggs Cooked in Dashi Broth Served on Boiled Rice

Hello everyone,

I am happy to offer you and your family an online cooking class this month.

This class is suitable for those who live in Asia, Australia, NZ, Europe and Japan.

Menu: Oyako-Don, Chicken and Eggs Cooked in Dashi Broth Served on Boiled Rice

Miso Soup

When: 5 pm Japan time, Saturday 28 August 2021

Where:  In the comfort of your own kitchen or wherever you may be, and the Shuji’s via Zoom 

Fee:      2,500 yen per person including your family

Seats:   10 seats are available 

Booking is essential. If you are a new member, please visit my website Inquiry and booking page, fill in a booking form, and send us the payment via PayPay by 25 August. If you are a regular member, please send us your payment via PayPal. I will then send you an invitation with the link.    

The recipe is now published on this page. You will be able to go shopping in time for the scheduled cooking class. 

I am looking forward to cooking with you and your family.

Eat well, stay well.

Shuji Ozeki

Ingredients:

300ml Ichiban dashi stock (See, How to make Dashi (Ichiban dashi-jiru stock on Recipe Blog)

2-3 tablespoons sugar

2-3 tablespoons soy sauce

Half an onion (cut into 5cm thick slices)

Chicken thigh meat with skin on (cut into bite-sized pieces)

2 Eggs

2 Mitsuba leaves（or blanched snow peas, or you can use nori if you like)

Method:

1. Bring 300ml dashi to a boil, add the sliced onions and chicken meat, then add sugar and soy sauce and cook until the chicken meat is cooked. Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat well with chopsticks.

2. Pour the egg mixture over the chicken and onions then cover and cook for a few minutes on low heat.

3. Serve on top of boiled rice in a large rice bowl topped with mitsuba leaves.

Lesson 20: House-Made Tofu-Wagyu-Beef Hamburgers with Red Wine Kuwayaki Sauce

Tofu-Hida-Wagyu Beef Hamburger with Red Wine Kuwayaki Sauce with Boiled Broccoli, Carrots and Sauteed Eggplant and Zucchini. You can use any vegetables you like.

Make a hollow in the meat with your fingers by pressing.

Last year I offered an Online Cooking Lesson 1: Pan-Fried Chicken with Kuwayaki BBQ Sauce. At 5 pm Japan time, Saturday 31 July 2021, we will be making Tofu-Beef Hamburgers with red wine and Kuwayaki BBQ Sauce. The sauce goes well with the hamburgers and boiled rice.

Ingredients: Serves 2

30g Panko, bread crumbs

4 tablespoons milk

300g minced beef 

80g tofu (momen tofu, hard one with less water)

Half a teaspoon salt

Black pepper as needed

Nutmeg as needed

2 cloves of garlic (diced)

20g ginger (peeled and diced)

Half an onion (diced)

Vegetable oil as needed

To thicken the sauce: 2 teaspoons cornflour (or potato starch), 2 teaspoons water
To make red wine Kuwasaki BBQ sauce, combine 2 tbs red wine, 2tbs sake, 2tbs koikuchi-soy sauce, 2tbs mirin,  1 tablespoon honey

6 stems of broccoli (boiled)

1 carrot (cut into 1cm medallions and boiled)

1 bell pepper (cut into 4 equal parts lengthwise and stir-fry as you cook the hamburgers in a frying pan.)

Method:

1. Wrap the tofu with sarashi, or clean cheesecloth and squeeze the water. (Shuji will soon add pictures to show you this process.)

When the excess water of tofu is squeezed, unwrap the cheesecloth and mash the tofu.

2. Soak the bread crumbs in milk.

3. Stir fry the diced garlic, ginger and onions in vegetable oil until the onions are transparent. Set aside to cool off.

4. Add a pinch of salt, black pepper and nutmeg to the minced meat and mix well by hand in a mixing bowl until it gets sticky.

5. Add the stir-fried garlic, ginger and onions to the minced meat, and mix well by hand. In a separate mixing bowl, add the soaked bread crumbs to the mashed tofu and mix well. Add it to the mixed minced meat and mix well.

6.  Shape the minced meat into hamburgers. Put them in the fridge whilst preparing the vegetables. Cut all the vegetables into bite sizes and boil them in salted water. (It is all up to you what vegetables you like to eat, how you cut them and how you want to cook them.)

7.  Heat the frying pan with minimum vegetable oil (tasty oil comes out of the hamburgers as you cook), put the hamburgers into the pan, and cook on medium heat for about 2-3 minutes. Turn the hamburgers over and cook the other side for about 3 minutes.

8.  Plate the hamburgers with the cooked vegetables. Thicken the sauce with the cornflour and water mixture. Pour the sauce over the hamburgers. Serve with miso soup and boiled rice if you like.

---

How to make Dashi (ichiban dashi-jiru)

Serves 4 people when making clear soup or miso soup 

Ichiban dashi is used for clear broth (suimono), miso soup, tempura dipping sauce, dashi-maki tamago (thick egg omelette), chawan-mushi steamed egg & dashi soup and the list goes on and on.

Ingredients

5 cups water (1-litre water), 10 g dried kelp (dashi konbu), 20g bonito flakes (hana-katsuo)  

1. Do not wipe the white stuff off of the dried kelp as it is the natural flavour (umami). Heat up the water with 10 g dried kelp to near boiling on medium heat for 10 minutes. Do not boil the water when the dried kelp is in the water or the water will go green and lose the nice flavour of the dried kelp. Just before the boiling point remove the dried kelp and set it aside for making the second dashi stock (niban dashi). Add the bonito flakes and allow water to boil then turn off the heat.

2. Skim the froth if any and as you do so the bonito flakes will go down to the bottom of the pot. Strain the dashi stock through cheesecloth into a clean pot. Do not squeeze the fish flakes with a ladle or you may spoil the pure ichiban dashi for clear soup.

Strain the dashi stock through cheesecloth into a clean pot.

How to make 2nd Dashi Stock (niban dashi)

Niban dashi is used for cooking vegetables, Nikujaga, braised Wagyu with onions, carrots and potatoes.

Ingredients

500ml water, reuse the kelp and the bonito flakes just used to make the ichiban dashi.

1. Heat up the water, used kelp, and fish flakes on high heat. Reduce the heat to simmering and keep simmering for about 5 minutes.

2. Remove the kelp and strain the niban dashi through cheesecloth into a clean pot. You may squeeze the fish flakes with a ladle this time. 

昆布の効能 About Kombu

According to Professor Kazunaga Yazawa of Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, kombu is rich in marine minerals and dietary fibre. Recent studies show that the colouring component of Kombu enhances fat burning and prevents obesity. It also lowers cholesterol and blood sugar levels. 

To watch Flying Chef Shuji cook in Japan and overseas:  www.youtube.com/user/shujiozeki

Lesson 1: Kuwayaki-Chicken, Pan-Fried Chicken with Kuwayaki BBQ Sauce

Topped with hand-picked fresh kinome (sansho-no-me), leaves from the Japanese pepper tree (available in April-May in Seki City)

This dish goes well with freshly cooked Japanese rice.

Kuwayaki BBQ sauce is a multi-purpose sauce, and it is often used to marinate chicken, duck and fish fillet in autumn-winter dishes in kaiseki cuisine. If you add sugar, honey, or raw sugar to your taste, it is teriyaki sauce and unagi-kabayaki sauce, chargrilled eel.

Kuwayaki sauce was a great tip I was advised to make by a head chef at a Cha-Kaiseki Restaurant Kitami, Takadanobaba, Tokyo in 1981. He taught me to make it and keep it in an empty sake bottle. It made my life as a first-year apprentice cook so much easier when I had to whip up breakfast, lunch and dinner 6 days a week for a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 12 people when busier days including 7 chefs and the waitresses. Kuwayaki BBQ sauce literally goes a long way! I learnt how to make it 40 years ago.

published 23 May 2020

Pan-Fried Chicken Thigh Fillet with Kuwayaki BBQ Sauce 　 Serves 4

鳥のくわ焼き  焼きネギ　木の芽

Ingredients

2 chicken thigh fillets (with skin on)            

Green onions or leeks as needed (cut into 5 cm long, five pieces per person. If using leeks cut into 1cm medallions)

Kona-sansho as needed (Japanese pepper powder if available, or fresh kinome)

To make kuwayaki BBQ sauce: Combine 50ml mirin, 50ml sake, 50ml soy sauce.

1. Pan-fry green onions in a dry frying pan until golden brown and set aside.

2. Heat a frying pan on high heat and place the chicken thighs skin side down. Reduce the heat to medium-low and keep cooking until the skin is crisp and golden brown. (as a soba chef I normally save the chicken fat and add it to tori-nanban soup. Tori-nanban is soba noodles in hot soup with chicken thigh meat and green onions.) Flip the meat over and cook the meat side on medium heat until done.

3. Put the browned green onions back into the frying pan and add kuwayaki BBQ sauce all at once.

4. With a ladle swiftly pour the sauce over the meat again and again to glaze it. Be careful not to burn it.

5. Remove the chicken from the heat and let it rest for one minute.  Cut the meat into bite-size pieces and plate the meat and the green onions and pour the sauce over it.  Sprinkle Japanese pepper powder on top if needed.

To watch Shuji cook Kuwayaki Organic Chicken Thigh Fillets in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9mmbfGuOEU

Lesson 19: Izakaya Food, Torino-Karaage: Deep-Fried Chicken (鳥の唐げ) Serves 2

Ingredients     

300g chicken thigh fillet with skin on

20g ginger (peeled and grated)

One clove of garlic (peeled and grated)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon sake

3 tablespoons potato starch, or as needed (or cornflour)

1-litre deep-frying oil or as needed (canola, soybean, or sunflower oil)

Oil absorbent paper as needed

Cooking method

1. Cut the chicken meat onto a sizeable bite-size piece and put them into a plastic bag. Add into grated ginger, garlic, sake and soy sauce: Shake and mix well, and marinate for about 10 minutes.

2. Heat the deep-frying oil to 160 degrees Celsius.

3. Put the marinated chicken meat into a mixing bowl and add 3 tablespoons of potato starch and mix well.

4. Deep fry the chicken meat. When cooked, drain oil well and serve on a platter with an old absorbent paper.

Boiled Edamame  (えだまめ)　Serves 2

200g fresh edamame

Salt as needed

1 litre boiling water

1. Boil the edamame for about 5 minutes or until a few pods pop open. Drain the edamame in a colander. Sprinkle salt over to, and fan to them cool off.

Pote-Sala, Potato Salad (ポテサラ)    Serves 2

Pote-Sala on a Hoba leaf of a Japanese magnolia, hand-picked in the forest of Meiho, Okumino region, Gifu Prefecture

We tend to shorten the word, and we call potato salad, pote-sala. Pote-Sala is one of the most popular Izakaya dishes. Last night I test-cooked a lot of it. I spread the leftover pote-sala on my soba-bread this morning. You can also make a pote-sala sandwich.

Pote-Sala on soba chef-baked soba-bread for breakfast

Ingredients

1 large new season potato

1 large new season onion

A few slices of bacon (cut into one-inch pieces)

1 cucumber 

A pinch of salt

1 carrot

3 tablespoons Japanese mayonnaise, or as needed

Salt and pepper as needed

Greens onions as needed

Tomatoes as needed

Cooking Method

1. Cut the large potato into four or six wedges depending on the size and boil them in salted water. This way you will save time. Then peel and mash it.  As you boil the potato, also boil the carrot in the same boiling water.  

2. Fry the bacon and sliced onions without adding oil. Cut the boiled carrot into 3mm medallions. 

3. Cut the cucumber into 2mm thick slices. Put them into a mixing bowl and add salt then mix well. Leave for a few minutes or until the cucumber slices are moist.  Rinse the cucumber in running tap water and drain well. Then squeeze out the excess water.

4. Put the vegetables, bacon, and some mayonnaise into the mashed potato and mix well. Add salt and pepper as needed. Taste the pote-sala and add more mayonnaise if needed.

5. Serve the pote-sala with some tomatoes and top with chopped green onions.

Lesson 18: Shishi Nabe: Wild Boar Meat and Winter Root Vegetables Cooked in a Hotpot 猪鍋

In winter, local hunters are allowed to go hunting for wild boars in Gujo City, Oku-Mino, the deep-northern mountain region of Gifu Prefecture. Wild boar meat is tough, fatty, and tasty, but it is surprisingly not greasy compared to pork belly meat. The meat is thinly sliced and sold at specialty game butchers in Gujo-Hachiman. The town has been renowned for its Gujo-Odori, Bon dancing during the summer months for over 400 years. They make nice miso called Gujo-Miso that matches nicely with wild boar hotpot cooking.

Lot’s of Negi (green onions) are used in winter hotpot cooking as they are in season in winter and softer and sweeter as compared to summer green onions. They prevent influenza, help you recover from fatigue, and also have a sterilizing effect.

Ingredients: Serves 4

600g thinly sliced wild boar meat (thinly sliced pork belly meat or duck breast fillet can be substituted)

200g daikon, white radish (peeled and cut into 5mm medallions and cut in half, or cut into hegigiri pieces as shown in Shuji’s Shishi-Nabe, Hotpot Cooking in snow. 

https://youtu.be/oRfBDquM-yM

200g Negi (leeks can be substituted)

200g gobo (burdock root) if available. Wash the burdock to remove the dirt and shred it with a peeler.

1 packet of tofu (cut into large cubes)

4 shiitake mushrooms (stems removed)

100g shimeji mushrooms (stems removed)

Yuzu-shichimi (seven spices with dried Yuzu) as needed, or chilli powder

To make the broth, 2 litres water, 20g kombu, 50ml sake, 20g sake-kasu (sake lees),

80g Gujo-miso or as needed (If Gujo-miso is not available, you can use regular miso.),

50ml sake

Method:

1. Reheat the miso-based broth to a boil in a clay pot.

2. Cook the wild boar meat, vegetables, tofu, and mushrooms and eat with the broth and Zuzu-seven spices if you like.

3. A warm sake would be a perfect pairing on a snowy evening.

Lesson 17 : Katsu-Don, Pork Loin Cutlet Rice Bowl カツ丼

Katsu-Don is one of the popular donburi dishes in Japan. It is a deep-fried pork cutlet battered with panko breadcrumbs that is cooked in dashi-broth with eggs and onions then served on top of boiled rice in a large donburi, or rice bowl.

Ingredients　　Serves 2

2 boneless pork loin chops (1cm thick)

Salt and pepper as needed 

1/2 Onion 

3 Eggs

To make the batter mix one egg, 100ml water, and 50g wheat flour

Plain wheat flour as needed

Panko, breadcrumbs as needed

One litre deep-frying oil, or as needed (soybean, canola or sunflower oil can also be used)

300ml Ichiban-dashi stock with 3 tablespoons sugar, 3 tablespoons soy sauce (koikuchi)

You will be able to find the recipe, “How to make Dashi.” at the top of this page now!

1. Heat the deep-frying oil to 160 degrees Celsius.

2. Cut the tendons of the pork loin. Salt and pepper the meat and coat it lightly with plain flour. Dip the pork loin into the batter (A) then coat it with breadcrumbs. Deep fry the meat and as it surfaces, turn it over and keep cooking until it is golden brown. Try not to overcook the pork meat as it will get tough.

3. Take the meat out and drain the oil well. Let it rest for a few minutes and then cut into 1.5 cm strips.

4. Peel the onion and slice it thinly.

5. In a saucepan add 2 cups ichiban-dashi,  2 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons soy sauce (koikuchi), and bring it to a boil then add the onions and the deep-fried pork cutlet and bring it to a boil. Pour the egg mixture over the top then cover and simmer for one minute.

6. Dish the boiled rice into a donburi, rice bowl and top it with the cooked Katsu. Then drizzle the broth over the Katsu and sprinkle mitsuba and cut nori, sun-dried seaweed on top.

Cut the Katsu, deep-fried pork cutlet into 1.5 cm strips

Lesson 16: Oden, Beef-Up with Beef Tendons 牛すじおでん

We normally cook oden on a table-top gas stove like this one on a snowy evening.

Assorted Oden fish cakes made from fish paste mixed with prawns, shellfish, seaweed, shiitake, gobo-burdock root and the list goes on and on. They normally come with the oden broth like this one.

Oden is one of the most popular foods enjoyed by Japanese people throughout the year. You will find oden at Izakaya (Japanese pub-restaurants), convenience stores, and at home. We crave oden during winter months because it makes you warm inside out and goes nice with warm sake on a snowy evening.

Surprisingly, the quality of Japanese reconstituted foods we cook in oden such as fish cakes is very good.

Fish cakes add extra flavour to the oden broth. We will also beef up the broth with the boiled beef tendons during our oden cooking class. You should boil the beef tendons prior to the cooking class and save the broth as well. If you prefer the broth without the beef-tendon broth, you can do so. It is still nice with the kombu, fish cake and root-vegetable broth.

If imported Japanese oden ingredients are not available in your town, you can use potatoes, cabbage, sausages, daikon, and carrots. You might want to add some boiled oxtails to your oden hotpot. That would make a very tasty broth. I think you could say that oden is a Japanese version of the French beef stew called pot-au-feu. We use plenty of seafood-based reconstituted food instead of beef though.

Ingredients

400g beef tendons

2 green onions

Water as needed

2 litres water

3 tablespoons soy sauce, or as needed (preferably usukuchi soy sauce)

20g kombu

200g daikon, white radish 

200g satoimo, Japanese taro potatoes (potatoes can be substituted)

4 hard boiled eggs (peeled)

Assorted oden fish cakes 

Karashi, mustard or ichimi, chilli powder as you like.

1. Boil beef the tendons with green onions for one hour or boil them in a pressure cooker for 15 minutes then let them rest for 10 minutes. Cut the tendons into bite-size pieces. Save the boiled water to add to the kombu broth.

Hida-Wagyu Beef tendons, green onions and water in a pressure cooker, cover and cook for 15 minutes.

2. In a large hotpot, or nabe (a Japanese clay hotpot), add 2 litres water and 20g kombu. 
3. Peel the daikon and cut it into 2cm medallions then cut the medallions in half. Put the daikon in a saucepan and add water and boil on medium heat until the daikon is soft. Dunk the daikon into cold water then drain it.

4. Peel the satoimo and cut them into 1cm medallions and boil until soft. Remove from the boiling water.

5. Add the boiled beef tendons and the beef broth and all of the other oden ingredients to the hotpot. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer. Keep simmering the oden for at least half an hour. When the daikon is cooked add the soy sauce. Turn off the heat and let the oden cool so as to infuse the food with the tasty broth.

6. Reheat the oden before eating. Dish out the oden pieces of your choice and serve with mustard or chilli powder.

Lesson 15: Tori no Mizutaki, Chicken Nabe, Hotpot Cooking 鳥の水炊き

A nabe is both a large clay hotpot and also the name of a dish. Tori-no-Mizutakiz is a chicken hotpot with chicken thigh meat with bone, chicken meatballs, tofu, shiitake, and vegetables served with ponzu dipping sauce.

We enjoy nabe with warm sake during our freezing winter months.

Eating nabe creates intimacy because family and close friends get together and share the feast. 

When: Please go to Zoom Cooking Classes page of this website.

Ingredients Serve 4

Broth (nabe-tsuyu): 2 litres water, 20g kombu

Dipping Sauce (yuzu ponzu): 100ml soy sauce, 100ml yuzu juice (or lemon juice)

Yakumi, herb & spice: 50g grated daikon (white radish), chilli powder as needed, 4 tablespoons asatsuki Negi (or green onions)

Tsukune, chicken meatballs: 400g minced chicken thigh meat, a pinch of salt, 30g Yamato potato (or 1 tablespoon cornflour)

Zousui, rice porridge in chicken hotpot broth: 200g boiled rice or leftover-rice, 4 eggs, 4 tablespoon finely cut green onions, salt as needed

60g kuzukiri (dried noodles made from Yoshino-Kuzu arrowroot powder, if available)

2 chicken drumsticks with skin (Chop into large bite-size pieces)

carrot as needed (cut into 5mm medallions)

100g daikon (white radish peeled and cut into 5mm medallions and cut half)

200g cabbage (cut into large bite-size)

1 packet tofu (momen tofu or hard tofu is recommended, if available)

4 shiitake mushrooms (cut to remove stems)

6 Negi, or large green onion stems and leaves or leeks

1 bunch shungiku (chrysanthemums leaves) or  Bok choy

Method

Put the minced chicken meat in a mixing bowl, add a pinch of salt and mix well with a spatula. Grind the Yamato potato (skin peeled) on the inside wall of a Japanese mortar and add it to the chicken meat. With a spatula, put the chicken meat paste onto a serving plate.

Boil the kuzukiri for about 5 minutes or as instructed on a packet, and dunk them into cold water and drain.

Cut the carrot into 5 mm medallions.

Cut the white radish into 5mm medallions and then cut into the half-moon shapes.

Cut the cabbage and tofu into bite-size pieces.

Remove the stems from the shiitake.

Cut the green onions diagonally into 2-inch long pieces.

In a water basin, wash the chrysanthemum leaves with running water to remove the dirt.

Cut tofu into large bite-size cubes.

Arrange all the above on a large serving plate.

How to enjoy the Chicken Nabe.

In a large clay pot or saucepan, add 2 litres of water and 20g kombu, half the chopped chicken thigh drumsticks, and the daikon radish and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and keep cooking the meat. 

Put (B) the grated white radish, the chilli powder mixture, and the finely chopped green onions into the dipping sauce. When the chicken meat is cooked, start eating them with the dipping sauce.

Yuzu-Ponzu dipping sauce is perfect match with the chicken thigh meat with bone.

Next, start cooking the minced chicken meat by scooping with a spoon and dropping the meatballs into the boiling hotpot broth. When the chicken meatballs come to the surface, keep cooking them for a few minutes on medium heat. Try pinching them firmly with chopsticks. If they are firm, they are cooked and ready to eat.

Third, after enjoying the perfectly boiled chicken meatballs, add the remaining chicken meat, all the rest of vegetables and tofu on the large plate to the boiling Nabe and cook with the lid on. When it boils again, remove the lid and enjoy the rest of the Nabe feast.

How to make zousui (雑炊 rice porridge cooked in nabe broth)

Scoop and remove the remaining meat and vegetables if any from the Nabe. Taste the broth and add salt if needed.

Rinse the cooked rice (or leftover rice) in cold running water to remove the excess starch and drain it well, then add the rice to the boiling nabe broth, put the lid on. Remove the lid as it starts to boil again, pour in the beaten eggs and put the chopped green onions on top and cover it. Turn the heat off and wait for one minute. Enjoy the rice porridge with the tasty chicken nabe broth. Be careful, it is boiling hot!

You may also add udon noodles into your Nabe if you wish.

Lesson 14: Agedashi tofu, Deep-Fried Tofu with Shimeji Mushroom Sauce and Braised Pumpkin with Minced Beef

1 packet of tofu, 60g shimeji mushroom

60g daikon (grated white radish)

4 stems asatsuki (or green onions)

deep-frying vegetable oil as needed

potato starch as needed (or cornflour)

2 teaspoons Yoshino-kuzu arrowroot powder (or potato starch or cornflour to thicken the sauce) and 2 teaspoons water

To make the mushroom sauce: Pour 50ml mirin into a saucepan bring to boil and tilt the saucepan to flambe mirin. Be careful not to burn your face or hair!  Add 200ml Ichiban dashi (1st dashi) and 50ml soy sauce and shimeji mushrooms and cook for about one minute.  Dissolve 2 teaspoons potato starch with 2 teaspoons water. Bring the mushroom sauce to a boil and stir it with a ladle as you pour into the dissolved potato starch. As the sauce is thickened, remove from heat.

1.     Cut one tofu into 4 equal parts. Place a cheesecloth on a cutting board and place all cut tofu on it and wrap up with the cheesecloth. Tilt the cutting board to drain excess water for about 10 minutes.

2.     Grate daikon, white radish and drain excess water in a sieve. Chop green onions finely.

3.     Coat tofu with potato starch and deep fry at 160 degrees Celsius for about 2-3 minutes or until tofu is crisp as you feel tofu with chopsticks. Drain the oil well.

4.     Reheat the mushroom sauce and pour the sauce over the deep-fried tofu. Top with grated daikon and finely chopped green onions.

l  Momen tofu has less water than kinugoshi tofu. Momen tofu is better for this dish. Kinugoshi tofu has a smooth texture and is nice for hiya-yakko (fresh tofu served chilled topped with chopped green onions, grated ginger and soy sauce.)

Soybean oil, canola oil and sunflower oil can be used for this dish.

Japanese measurements

1 cup is 200ml

1 tablespoon soy sauce is 15ml 

1 teaspoon water is 5ml

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Braised Pumpkin with Minced Beef

カボチャの牛そぼろ煮　kabocha no gyu-soboro-ni

Ingredients                   Serves 4

400 Japanese pumpkin

200g minced beef

2nd dashi stock or water as needed

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons sake

Mirin as needed

Method

1.     Cut the pumpkin into large bite size.

2.     Cook the pumpkin and minced beef in second dashi (enough to cover the pumpkin) on high and add sugar, soy sauce and sake. Taste the broth and reduce heat to medium and keep cooking until the broth is almost gone. Taste the pumpkin and pour mirin, if needed.

Lesson 13: Nikujyaga, Braised beef and Potapoes 牛すじ 肉じゃが

Nikujaga—warm up with Japanese-style comfort food!

Nikujaga, literally meaning meat-potato, was invented by the Japanese Imperial Navy in the late 19th century. It is believed to be the Japanese take on British beef stew. Today, I think it’s safe to say nikujaga is one of the most frequently home-cooked dishes in Japan. Historically, carrots, onions, and potatoes have been easily found in the freezing winter months and are especially good at warming our bones from the inside out—just like firewood in the good old stove.

Sukiyaki-cut, thinly sliced tender wagyu beef is normally used for this dish.  I usually buy beef tendon from a local butcher. Adding boiled beef tendon makes this dish economical and also very flavorful. Of course, you can use fatty wagyu beef if you it is available in your town. But, you do not have to use beef tendon to make this dish. This is the Ozeki way—we believe beef tendon adds extra flavour to the water and vegetables. This beefed-up nikujaga dish is complimented nicely with dry red wine. Alternately, like people in Miyazaki Prefecture, southern Kyushu you can use chicken thigh meat for this dish, as the skin adds a nice flavour to the vegetables.

Nikujaga pairs nicely with freshly cooked rice. The recipes of boiled rice and miso soup are published on Lesson 1. Scroll further down this page to find them.

Alright, let’s get started!

Nikujaga 肉じゃが, braised beef and new season potatoes                                                 

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 200g beef tendon (optional)

• 200g thinly sliced beef (preferably wagyu sukiyaki cut, or top blade steak)

• 4 potatoes

• 2 large onions

• 2 carrots

• 2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 100g shirataki (optional, thin white noodles made from konnyaku potatoes, devil’s tongue)

• 10 snow peas (or green beans or broad beans)

      For broth

• reuse the water from cooking beef tendon. If you do not use beef tendon, just use water. You can also use 2nd dashi stock (ni-ban dashi).

• 2-3 tablespoons sugar

• 3 tablespoons sake

• 2-3 tablespoons soy sauce (koikuchi)

Please note that the amount of the sugar and soy sauce may vary each time you cook this dish due to the sizes of the vegetables and the amount of water you use. You may need more or less. Trust your own taste buds.

Method

1. Cook beef tendon in water, covered, on medium heat for one hour, or until tender. (I normally cook beef tendon with water in a pressure-cooking saucepan for 15 minutes. Leave it overnight until the fat sets and remove it.)

2. Cut boiled tendon into bite-size pieces.

3. Wash potatoes, scrub skin with a brush (we use tawashi, turtle-shell shaped brush made from coconuts fiber.) and cut into large bite-size pieces. Do the same with carrots.

4. Peel onions and cut into 6 wedges.

5. Cut thinly sliced beef into large bite size.

6. Boil shirataki for a few minutes, rinse in cold water and drain well. Cut into 10cm long pieces.

7. In a saucepan coated with vegetable oil, stir fry beef, potatoes, carrot, and onion.

8. Add water or 2nd dashi (niban-dashi) to cover the ingredients.

9. Bring to a boil on high heat and skim the froth. Keep cooking until the vegetables are tender.

10. Add shirataki, sugar and sake and keep cooking on medium heat with an otoshi-buta* for about 5 minutes.

11. Add soy sauce and keep boiling until the broth is almost gone. Serve with blanched snow peas or boiled green beans.

Chef’s Tip  

Normally, I cook the nikujaga until the broth is almost gone, but I suggest you do not when cooking on a freezing evening. The remaining broth creates what I call soup-nikujaga. 

I normally use a pressure cooking pot to boil 1kg beef tendon in enough water to cover the tendon. I cook it for 15 minutes and let it cool until the sets. I then remove and discard the fat, and cut tendon into bite-sized pieces and pack them into freezer bags along with the tasty cooked water. I store them in the freezer for future use.

For vegans, you can use namayuba and fu instead of beef. Namayuba is freshly made soy milk product and is available at Asahiya Tofuten in Mino City and Yubayu in Gifu City. Fu is a wheat flour-based gluten product and is sold at Yubayu in Gifu City. Yuba or other tofu products are readily available in Kyoto. Kyoto is renowned for its tofu produces.

If you add curry power and water to the leftover Nikujaga the next day, you can instantly make beef & vegetable curry!!!

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Lesson 12: Gomoku-Mazegohan, Boiled Rice Mixed with Five kinds of Food 五目まぜご飯

五目混ぜご飯 Gomoku-Mazegohan, Boiled Rice Mixed with Five kinds of Food      Serves 2

This rice dish is a well-balanced meal and can be enjoyed at home and also outdoors as a picnic lunch.

2 cups rice (Japonica variety short-grain rice, washed, rinsed and cooked with 2.2 cups water)

80g chicken thigh fillet (preferably with skin on, diced into small bits)

40g carrot (shredded)

1/2 age, deep-fried tofu

40g eringi, king trumpet mushrooms (oyster, shitake, or shimeji mushrooms are also nice)

40g chikuwa (fishcake cut into small bits)

10 gingko nuts if available (shells cracked and skin removed)

40ml soy sauce (koikuchi)

20ml mirin

1 tablespoon sake

vegetable oil as needed

1.   Stir fry the diced chicken with vegetable oil. Add the rest of the ingredients then add the soy sauce, mirin, and sake. Cover and simmer for 3 minutes.

2.  Mix well with the freshly cooked rice. Watch this video of Shuji cooking gomoku-mazegohan with bamboo shoots in a bamboo forest.

Scroll down to find a recipe of Gomoku-Mazegohan with bamboo shoots Shuji cooked in spring.

Watch this video of Shuji cooking gomoku-mazegohan with bamboo shoots in a bamboo forest.

YouTube video

Deep-Fried Eggplant Served with Tempura Dipping Sauce, and Grated Daikon    

Serves 2

揚げ出しなす   天つゆ　おろし大根　おろし生姜　あさつき　

I was introduced to this dish when I began working as an apprentice cook at a Kaiseki Izakaya Kitami in Tokyo in 1981. The regular customers would enjoy it with sake.

Agetashi-tofu, deep-fried tofu and deep-fried fish such as rock cod, flounder, flathead and snapper served with this sauce are also nice.

 1 large eggplant

Corn flour or potato starch as needed

Deep frying oil as needed

10g ginger (peeled and grated)

60g daikon (white radish, peeled, grated, drained)

1 green onion stem (cut finely)

To make tempura dipping sauce- 25ml mirin, 25ml usukuchi soy sauce, 100ml ichiban dashi.

Dashi recipe is published in Lesson 11: Bento making.

1       Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise and place the pieces skin side up on a cutting board. Poke the eggplant with a fork or metal skewers. Turn the eggplant over and with a knife cut it as Shuji will show you during the lesson.

Apply cornflour over the cut side of eggplants and deep fry in 160 degree Celsius deep-frying oil with skin side up first for about 2-3 minutes and turn the pieces over and deep fry the skin side for  2 minutes. Try skewering the eggplants with a bamboo skewer, and if it goes through with ease, they are done. Take them out of the oil and drain well. Turn off the heat.

2       To make the sauce, pour 25ml mirin into a small saucepan. Bring to boil and tilt the saucepan and flambe to allow the alcohol to evaporate. Add 25ml usukuchi soy sauce and 100ml dashi. Remove from the heat.　

3       Peel the daikon then grate and drain it.

4       Place the deep-fried eggplant skin side down in a soup dish. Pour reheated tempura sauce over it and top with grated daikon, grated ginger and finely chopped green onions.　

5       Serve with a spoon.

●       Usukuchi soy sauce is lighter in colour as compared with koikuchi-all-purpose soy sauce, but it is saltier than koikuchi soy sauce. Usukuchi is used to season the dashi broth and chawan-mushi or steamed egg-dashi savoury and also the sauce like a tempura dipping sauce.

大根の甘酢漬け　Daikon no Amuzuzuke, Pickled White Radish in Sweet Vinegar

　クチナシの実　と　ガーゼに包んだ実　の画像挿入

Sun-dried gardenia seeds are used to serve as natural preservative and colouring when making pickled vegetables. I also use them when making sweets from boiled sweet potatoes and chestnuts.

1kg daikon, white radish

20g salt

60ml rice vinegar (white wine vinegar can be substituted)

80g caster sugar

1 sun-dried gardenia seed wrapped in gauze tied with a string and crushed

A few sun-dried chilis (seeds removed)

1.     Peel the white radish and cut into inch-long sticks. Add 20g salt and mix well. Place a weight on the white radish and leave at room temperature for three days and drain water well in a sieve.

2.     Add 60ml vinegar, 80g caster sugar, gardenia seeds wrapped in gauze, and chilis.

3.     Remove the gardenia seeds when the liquid turns yellow as shown in this photo.

4.     Store in a jar in the refrigerator for three days before you eat them.

Lesson 11: Bento making

Bento with the tastes of autumn, Boiled Rice with Dashi, Chicken, Shimeji Mushrooms and New Season Gingko Nuts, Dashi-maki tamago, Sweet Egg Omeltte, Yuan-marinated Salmon, Braised Pumpkin and Broccoli Dressed in Toasted Sesame Sauce, and Mandarin Orange

We will need to make 1 liter of dashi for our bento class on Saturday 3 October. Please include bonito flakes and kombu, sun-dried kelp in your shopping list, if you do not have them.

How to make 1st dashi stock (ichiban dashi-jiru)

Serves 4 people when making clear soup or miso soup

Ichiban dashi is used for clear broth (suimono), miso soup, tempura dipping sauce, dashi-maki tamago (thick egg omelette), chawan-mushi steamed egg & dashi soup and the list goes on and on.

5 cups water (1 litre water), 10 g dried kelp (dashi kombu), 20g bonito flakes (hana-katsuo) 

1.     Do not wipe off the white stuff on the dried kelp as it is the natural flavour (umami). Heat up 1 litre water with 10 g dried kelp on medium heat allowing 10 minutes before the near boiling point. Do not boil the water when the dried kelp is in the water or the water goes green and loses the nice flavour of the dried kelp. Just before the boiling point remove the dried kelp and set it aside for making the second dashi stock (niban dashi). Add the bonito flakes and allow water to boil once and turn off the heat.

2.     Skim the froth if any and as you do so the bonito flakes go down to the bottom of the pot. Strain the dashi stock through the clean cheesecloth into a clean pot. Do not squeeze the fish flakes with a ladle or you may spoil the pure ichiban dashi for clear soup.

How to make 2nd dashi stock (niban dashi)

Niban dashi is used for cooking vegetables, Nikujaga, braised Wagyu with onion, carrot and potatoes.

500ml water, reuse the kelp and the bonito flakes just used to make the ichiban dashi.

1.     Heat up the water with the used kelp and fish flakes on high heat. Reduce heat to simmer as it boils and keep simmering for about 5 minutes.

2.     Remove the kelp and strain the niban dashi through the clean cheesecloth into a clean pot. You may squeeze the fish flakes with a ladle this time.

To watch Flying Chef Shuji cook in Japan and overseas: www.youtube.com/user/shujiozeki

Yuan Marinaded & Grilled Kamasu Barracuda Fillet Served with Kabosu

カマスの幽庵焼き かぼす   Serves 2

In the Edo period, there used to be a Chado Master and also an epicurean by the name of Kitamura Yuan who lived by the Lake biwa, the largest lake in Japan. He would marinate and grill the fish and wild duck fillet in his own marinade consisted of one part mirin, one part sake and one part soy sauce (the same as Kuwayaki BBQ sauce).  It is said that the name of this marinade was named after his name Yuan. Yuan-marinade is often used in kaiseki cuisine during autumn-winter months today. In kaiseki cuisine, fish or duck fillet is marinated in Yuan marinade with Yuzu medallions and chargrilled. 

Ingredients:

2 whole barracuda (kamasu)

two kabosu citrus fruits (or lemon or lime)

To make yuan marinade mix 50ml sake, 50ml mirin, 50ml soy sauce, 4 slices of yuzu citrus fruit, or orange.

1. Scale the fish, remove the heads and guts then wash with cold tap water and dry with a paper towel. Fillet the fish and remove the bones.

2. Put the fish fillet in a plastic bag and pour in the yuan marinade and soak for 15 to 30 minutes. The soaking time will vary according to the size of the fish, room temperature, humidity and the four seasons in the climate where you live in. Take the fish out of the bag and drain well. 

3. Skewer the fish with metal skewers and score the skin side as demonstrated by Chef Shuji during his lesson. Grill on high heat on the meat side first then turn over and cook the skin side. Twist the skewers a few times whilst grilling the fish. This makes it easy to remove the skewers.

4. Remove the skewers and arrange on the dishes. Serve with kabosu citrus fruit, lime or lemon.

• You can use salmon fillet, buri or kingfish, amadai or tilefish, and Spanish mackerel instead of barracuda.

• You can simply panfry or steam the marinated fish. 

Dashimaki-Tamago: Sweet Egg Omelette with Dashiだし巻き玉子

Ingredients  Serves 2

4 eggs

80 ml ichiban-dashi

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon soy sauce  

kitchen paper as needed

vegetable oil as needed

Method

1       Crack four eggs into a mixing bowl and beat well with chopsticks. 

2       In another mixing bowl, pour in 80 ml ichiban-dashi stock then add 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 tablespoon soy sauce and mix well. Pour into the egg mixture and mix well with chopsticks.

3       Heat a square-shaped egg frying pan (If you do not have one, you can use a normal frying pan.) on high heat, oil it lightly and pour in about 60ml egg mixture. Quickly move the frying pan to let the egg mixture run evenly into every corner of the pan. Poke the bubbles with the chopsticks as they appear. Tilt the pan to a 60-degree angle and flip the pan towards you. At the same time use the chopsticks (or a spatula) to help flip the egg sheet and fold the egg sheet twice towards you by repeating the 60-degree angle and flipping motion. This is as far as I can explain in words. I will show you how to do this during our cooking class.

●    If you do not have a Japanese square-shaped egg frying pan, you can use a normal frying pan.

Braised Pumpkin 南瓜のじか煮　  Serves 2

Japanese pumpkin (cut into 6 pieces of bite-size)

water as needed

1 tablespoon sugar (raw sugar, if you prefer.)

A pinch of salt

1.     Boil the pumpkin in water with the sugar and salt. As it boils, reduce the heat to medium and keep cooking until the water is almost gone or the pumpkin is cooked.

鳥としめじの炊き込みごはん

Rice Cooked in Dashi with Shimeji Mushrooms and Chicken

Ingredients  Serves 2

80g shimeji

80 chicken thigh fillet

10g ginger (chopped finely)

10 boiled new season gingko nuts (if available)

(A) 2 cups short-grain rice (washed, rinsed and drained), 2.2 cups dashi, a pinch of salt, 2 teaspoons usukuchi soy sauce, 2 teaspoons sake

Method

1       Separate the shimeji mushrooms into individual stems.

2       Cut the chicken meat into 5mm thick strips and dice into small pieces.

3       Combine (A) in a rice cooker and put shimeji, chicken meat and chopped ginger on top of the rice. Do not mix. Cook the rice. Mix the rice with what’s on the top when serving.

After putting the mixed rice in a bento box, place some gingko nuts on the rice.

• When you are too busy to make dashi, you can cook a similar dish without dashi.

1.     Stir fry the chopped ginger in vegetable oil and add the diced chicken thigh meat and shimeji then add 40ml soy sauce (Kikkoman all purpose) and 20ml mirin. Cover and simmer for a few minutes.

2.     Add the freshly boiled rice and mix well.

To watch Shuji cook this rice dish with the bamboo shoots in the bamboo forest in Seki,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSfb3cm3ON8

Boiled Broccoli Dressed with Miso and Sesame Seed Sauce      Serves 2

ブロッコリーの白ごまみそ和え



We actually cooked this dish before.

Ingredients

100g broccoli or nabana(rape flower)

2 tablespoons white sesame seeds (lightly toasted)

Miso paste as needed

Mirin as needed (sherry or port can be substituted)

1.     In a Japanese mortar (suribachi, coy-paste a pic) grind the lightly toasted sesame seeds with a wooden pestle (surikogi, coy-paste a pic) then add miso paste and mirin to your taste and mix well. The mixture should have a creamy texture. Add more mirin or cherry to your taste, if needed.

2.     Boil the broccoli in salted boiling water. Drain the broccoli well in a strainer and toss with the miso sesame dressing sauce to mix well.

Chef’s Tip

Genuine mirin normally contains about 12% alcohol. When you make this dish for children, remove the alcohol from the mirin by boiling it and flambé before adding it to the miso and sesame to make the sauce.

Walnuts, peanuts, pine nuts, and macadamia nuts can also be used instead of sesame seeds. Nabana, green beans, spinach, green asparagus, and broad beans can also be used for this dish.

The Japanese love to eat nabana buds in long-awaited early spring after a long winter.

Nabana buds are rich in vitamin C, iron, and calcium. Its bitterness beefs up the immunity.

Lesson 10: Breakfast with Shuji

I would like to introduce you to one of my normal breakfast in the summertime. This meal is easy to prepare and healthy and can be your lunch and dinner. This class will give you an idea of how to make use of your kombu stock in a few different ways. You could do the food prep the day before if you need to. I usually do so and I only need 10 minutes to prepare this breakfast.

About Kombu: According to Professor Kazunaga Yazawa of Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, kombu is rich in marine minerals and dietary fibre. Recent studies show that the colouring component of Kombu enhances fat burning and prevents obesity. It also lowers cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

Date: 6 pm Japan Time, 5th September 2020

Venue: In the comfort of your own kitchen via Zoom

Cost: 2,000 yen per person

For more and Booking: Please visit Shuji’s website Zoom Cooking Class page.

www.ozekicookingschool.com

We are looking forward to cooking with you again!

Eat well, stay well.

Shuji & Mum Hideko Ozeki

Menu:

Chicken & Kombu Soup with Tofu, Wakame, Eggs and Green Onions

Boiled Chicken Breast Meat with Fresh Vegetables dressed with Sesame Sauce

Mashed Avocados and Nori, sun-dried seaweed with Soy Sauce, Vinegar and X.O. Sauce (optional)

Tsukemono, pickled Cucumber and Tomatoes with Kombu-Ponzu

Boiled Rice

Boiled Chicken Breast Fillet with Fresh Vegetables and Sesame Sauce     Serves 2

2 chicken breast fillets

1 liter water

10g kombu (with scissors, cut into 2mm wide by 2cm strips)

1 green onion

2 cloves of garlic (crushed)

5 slices of ginger with skin (crushed)

2 green asparaguses (or cucumber)

1 tomato

Lettuce as needed

green onions as needed (cut finely)

1 avocado (remove skin and stone and mash or cut into bite-size and serve in a small dish)

To make sesame sauce; 1 tablespoon white sesame seeds (toasted and ground to half-paste)

1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon vinegar, 3 tablespoons chicken broth,

1.     Bring one-litre water to a boil with kombu, crushed garlic, ginger and green onion on medium heat without cover. Allow at least 10 minutes before boiling point to extract the umami favour of kombu.

2.     When boiling, put into it chicken meat and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes. I normally cook for 8 minutes as I prefer medium. If you prefer well-done, cook for 10 minutes and then dunk into iced water. When cooled, dry the meat. They can last up to 5 days in my fridge. Normally we eat them within a few days though.

3.     Strain the chicken broth and save for soup dish and sesame sauce.

4.     You can do step 1-4 the day before and keep the boiled chicken meat and the broth in the fridge.

5.     When actually making the breakfast, you can slice the boiled chicken meat and plate them with fresh seasonal vegetables and serve with sesame sauce. Also with mashed avocado and nori, flavoured sun-dried seaweed.

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Chicken Soup with Tofu, Wakame, Egg and Green Onions   Serves 2

2 cups chicken broth

40g tofu (break into bits with your fingers)

20g wakame (cut into bite-sized pieces)

5cm green onion (cut finely)

2 teaspoons Usukuchi soy sauce or as needed

A pinch of salt or as needed

One egg (beaten with chopsticks)

1. Reheat the chicken soup and add the usukuchi soy sauce (lighter coloured soy) and a pinch of salt then taste the soup. Add more soy and salt to suit your taste. 

2. Add the tofu and bring to a boil. Stir the soup with a ladle and add the beaten egg into it.

Add the wakame and green onions and serve. 

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Tsukemono, Pickled Cucumber & Tomatoes with Kombu-Ponzu     Serves 2

Tsukemono, Pickled Cucumber & Tomatoes with Kombu-Ponzu     Serves 2

1 cucumber (cut into bite-sized pieces)

3 small tomatoes (cut in half)

A pinch of salt

2 shiso leaves (cut finely)

To make Kombu-Ponzu: Cut the kombu into 2mm by 2 cm strips and soak in 1 tablespoon water for 5 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon vinegar (or lemon or lime juice) 

• If you wish to make it with a Mediterranean twist add extra virgin olive oil as needed.

1. Wash the cucumber and add salt then mix well in a mixing bowl.

2. Place a small plate on the cucumber, put a weight on it and leave for 10 minutes or until the excess water comes out. 

3. Drain the salty water and add the tomatoes and kombu-ponzu and mix well. Serve with the finely cut shiso leaves.

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Lesson 9: Ramen with Kuwayaki-Marinated Chicken Serves 4

To make chicken stock (A):

2 liters water

The bones of two whole chickens (or 1 tablespoon powdered chicken stock)

20g kombu (sun-dried kelp)

One onion (cut into large wedges)

Two stems of green onions (or one leek)

2 cloves of garlic (crushed)

20g ginger (sliced and crushed)

1. Put all (A) into a pot, bring to a boil and simmer for about 1 hour. Skim the froth from time to time, but there is no need to do that thoroughly because you may scoop the tasty chicken oil.

2. Strain the stock through a fine strainer.

Ingredients:

4 packets of ramen noodles

2 chicken thigh fillets with the skin on

4 tablespoons Kuwayaki BBQ sauce 

1 zip-lock plastic bag

120ml soy sauce (Koikuchi, all-purpose soy sauce)

One green onion stem (finely sliced)

4 soft-boiled eggs (boiled for 5 minutes)

8 slices of kamaboko (steamed fish cake, if available)

30g wakame (cut into bite-size pieced)

Black pepper as needed

Method:

1. Place two chicken thigh fillets into the plastic bag with 4 tablespoons kuwayakai BBQ sauce. Keep it in the fridge overnight. Take the chicken meat out of the bag and wrap it with cling film. Cook in a microwave oven for about 5 minutes or until cooked then rest the meat until it cools off.

2. Take the cling film off the meat and brown the meat in a heated frying pan. Cut the meat into 5mm thick medallions.

3. Bring 2 liters of water to a boil and boil ramen noodles as instructed on the product. 

Put 30ml soy sauce in each large bowl. Boil chicken stock. 

1. When the noodles are cooked, put them into a sieve to drain the excess hot water. Pour 300ml boiling chicken stock into the bowls with the soy sauce and mix well with chopsticks. Add the drained ramen noodles to the bowl. 

2. Arrange the chicken meat, fish cakes, boiled eggs (cut in half), green onions, wakame, and pepper then serve.

Lesson 8: Shojin-ryori, the Serene Taste of Zen Cooking

Takiawae: Hirousu (ganmo), Tofu mashed & Deep-fried and Braised in Shojin-Dashi Stock with Pumpkin, Sun-Dried Shiitake and Snow Peas

炊き合わせ　飛龍頭 (tofu balls, flying dragon head)　かぼちゃ　干し椎茸　絹さや

Ingredients                                Serves 4

4 bite-size pieces of pumpkin

5 sun-dried shiitake mushrooms

8 snow peas (trimmed and blanched, green beans, broad beans or green asparagus can be used)

To make Kombu and shiitake dashi stock (Soak 20 g kombu and 5 shiitake in one-litre water overnight)

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons soy sauce 

1 tablespoon sake

1 tablespoon mirin

canola oil as needed

To make hirousu (ganmo, or tofu balls, flying dragon heads or ): 

400g momen tofu (hard tofu)

40g yamaimo (mountain yam potato to bind mashed tofu and to give softer eating texture)

20ml vegetable oil (to oil your hands when shaping the mashed tofu)

4 boiled ginkgo nuts (sliced thinly)

1 sun-dried shiitake mushroom (soaked overnight and sliced thinly)

10g carrot (shredded)

10g kikurage (木耳Judas's ear soaked in water and sliced into thin julienne)

• If ginkgo nuts or Judas’s ear are not available, no problem, you can do without them.

• 1/4 of one egg white and 1 tablespoon cornflour can be substituted for yamaimo, mountain yam.

• Kinugushi-tofu, soft tofu is not good for this dish. It has more water than momen-tofu, hard tofu.

1. Cut half a packet of tofu into two equal parts and wrap with sarashi, or cheesecloth on a cutting board. Then put another cutting board on top. Put one or two stones on top for about 15 minutes (or until the tofu becomes harder) to drain the excess water from the tofu. ]

2. Mash the tofu well with a Japanese mortar and pestle (suribachi and surikogi), grind the mountain yam potato on the inner wall of the mortar and mix well with a pestle.

• If you do not have a Japanese mortar and pestle, you can mash the drained tofu with a potato masher and add 1/4 of one egg white and 1 tablespoon cornflour and mix well, and add the shredded carrot, julienned kikurage, sliced ginkgo nuts, and shiitake and mix well with a spatula.

 3. Wet your hands with oil and hand-mould 4 tofu balls with each ball weighing 60g then deep fry them in oil heated to 160 degrees Celsius. Turn them over as they surface and keep cooking until golden brown and take them out to drain the oil.

4. Put the deep-fried tofu balls into a sieve and pour boiling water over to remove any excess oil.

Method 

1. Soak the dried shiitake in water overnight. Remove and discard the stems. Save the soaking water for cooking.

2. Cut the pumpkin into bite-size cubes and trim the edges with a peeler.

3. Blanch the snow peas in salted boiling water and dunk them into cold water then drain them.

4. Cook the deep-fried tofu balls (hirousu), pumpkin and shiitake in shojin-dashi (stock made from the shiitake soaking water and kombu sun-dried kelp from Hokkaido), bring it to a boil skimming the froth. Add 2 tablespoons sugar and simmer for a few minutes or until the pumpkins are soft. Add 2 tablespoons Koikuchi all-purpose soy sauce (濃口醬油) and 1 tablespoon sake, put an otoshi-buta (a wooden lid which can go into the saucepan and sits on the food when braising. It helps thicken the sauce and infuse the flavours), and simmer for about 10 minutes. Taste the broth, add 1 tablespoon mirin, if needed. And keep simmering for a few minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool to infuse the flavours. 

5. Reheat before serving and arrange in serving dishes with the blanched snow peas and pour the broth into the dishes.

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Kimpira Lotus Root　蓮根のキンピラ

A photo of this dish will soon be posted.

Ingredients Serve 4

100 g lotus root (julienned carrot or gobo, burdock root can be substituted)

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 tablespoon vegetable oil or as needed

(A)  2 tablespoons sake, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons sugar

chilli powder as you like

2 teaspoons toasted white sesame seeds

Method

1.     To make the sauce, mix well all (A) to dissolve sugar in a mixing bowl.

2.     Wash to remove dirt and peel lotus root with a peeler, cut into 2 mm thick medallions, and soak in cold water with one tablespoon vinegar. Blanch in the soaked water for about 10 seconds, dunk into cold water, drain water well in a sieve and dry with kitchen paper. Stir fry on high heat with vegetable oil for 15 seconds and pour into it the sauce (A). Serve with chilli powder and toasted white sesame seeds.