Tofu and Miso （豆腐と味噌）


It is said that the Japanese cuisine is one of the most healthy cuisine in the world.
And everybody knows about Sushi （寿司 or すし）nowadays. Sushi is so popular in the UK, isn't it?
And you can buy a sushi pack at the supermarket for your lunch or snack.
My friend Manu (Your Sushi in Bristol) and Kyoko teach how to make a proper sushi in many cities in the UK.
If you're interested in Your Sushi, go to www.yoursushi.co.uk/ . Find out more details.





How about Tofu and Miso (pic. top)? Many people know these products, maybe only the name?
OK, shall I explain how to cook Tofu and Miso?
I use both for making Miso shiru（Tofu miso soup/豆腐とワカメのみそ汁）

3 to 4 serves 
500ml           water
2 - 3 tbsp       Miso paste
cut wakame   small quantity, the volume will be the double.
Tofu              a half pack, 1cm cubed
- Pour the water into a pan and bring to the boil. 
- Add the wakame and tofu. Turn down the heat to low.
Simmer, but not too much.
- Add the miso paste, using a sieve and spatula.
Don't boil after miso has dissolved, otherwise the flavour will be spoiled.
(my measurement is always rough so checking the taste occasionally would be essential.) 



You can put anything you want to for miso shiru.
Tofu and spinach, onion, leaks. etc., etc.,. Literally  any veggies, even meat can be used. Miso paste always add the last and don't boil it.

Tofu is so good for your health. You can eat it row and just add the shoyu (soy sauce).  I'll show you some variations of tofu cooking in the next issue.

This picture is a Sushi/Sashimi pack corner 

in a ordinary supermarket in Japan.

Maybe 10 to 15 meters of its length?

All packs of sushi and Sashimi are 

contained very very fresh row fish.   

Including Gari-ginger and Wasabi inside a pack.

You also can buy some hot food in the other counter.

Just pop in the supermarket after your hectic work,

and get your supper for tonight.

One more Teriyaki chicken, served with fried rice, beans and radish leaves from the garden,
of course, the fresh green salad mustn't be forgotten. Serve 3 (My husband and our daughter and me)


I just cooked this Teriyaki Chicken last night.
I used the Nabe-teriyaki sauce that I introduced last blog.                              
2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp and 2 tbsp mirin (if you don't have a mirin, you can use 1 tbsp honey and 1 more tbsp cider. The taste will be a bit different but it worth to try)
This time I unboned 3 chicken thighs from the half frozen.
I really prefer the thigh, instead the fillet.

Marinate the thigh with 1 tbsp each cider and soy sauce for 10 minutes. If you have a bottle of Sake, use it!! Or sherry would be good. But all dry the better.

 

Fry the thighs with a little oil, firstly high heat.

When the thigh, both sides were browned, reduce the heat . 

Pour the sauce and continue to fry gently until well cooked.

If the chicken were thick, cover the pan during the cooking.

Basting occasionally.

We cannot live without the green veggies at the meal time. Even the winter time, our dinner should be

served with some greens. Japanese food uses so many green veggies all the time. This is the tip that Japanese people are not fat in general. And the fish, lots of fishes on the dinning table in Japan.

Sushi and Sashimi are very popular here in the UK nowadays. But it's difficult to a find good quality fish for Sushi or Sashimi,,,,. 

Actually, I'm not a sashimi person. I rather like the cooked fish but I cook Sushi, many different types of Sushi for our dinner with friends and family. They always love my cooking.

By the way, we put our house on the market for sale last week. But,,, very quiet! No viewer.

Anyone has interested in viewing our house?      www.debbiefortune.co.uk/

Teriyaki, teriyaki and more teriyaki sauces!! 「照り焼きソース」

Teriyaki means BBQ the meat or fish coating with thick soy based sauce on the charcoal.  You can marinated the meat or fish in advance, but you can spread the sauce during the cooking a couple of times.

If you cook the small peaces of chicken fillet, liver and some vegetable such as leak, peppers, skewered them.
It called Yakitori (焼き鳥).  It's just like a Tandori chicken!!

Yakitori sauce; (proper sauce)
- 100cc Soy sauce 
- 40cc Sake (if you don't have sake, use dry sherry or dry cider. I use cider usually, because sake is too expensive for the daily cooking)
- 60cc Mirin (unfortunately, there's no alternative)
= mix all the liquid in a small pan and simmer very gently until the liquid will be in ⅓.


For the fillet of fish; Nabe teriyaki (鍋照り焼き）Serve 4
- per-soak the fish with Sake and soy sauce for 10 minutes.
- heat the oil in a frying pan, and fry the fish. Skin-saide up.
- When browned, turn over. Cover the pan and fry a little bit more.
- Remove the excess oil and put the sauce onto the fish. Simmer and baste the fish sometimes until the fish well coated with sauce.
For the sauce;
- 2 tbsp Soy sauce
- 2 tbsp Sake
- 2 tbsp Mirin     plus grated fresh ginger, if you like. 

BBQ Chicken (6 to 8 chicken thighs)

3 tbsp shoyu

5 tbsp sake.sherry/cider

2 tbsp water

1½ tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp tomato pure/ketchup

ginger if you like

- mix all the ingredient in a bowl. 

- bake the chicken with the sauce in the oven at 200℃ until the chicken is cooked.  

 (if you do the slow cook, at 160 - 180℃ for a couple of hours.)

- I recommend you cook the chicken with sliced onion for 30 minutes, but without sauce. You need a little oil. 

Our dinner; Teriyaki chicken.

I cooked the fillet of chicken, but it got dried a bit.

I prefer to use the thigh, instead fillet.

Rice and miso-shiru (miso soup)

Natto and salad.