Food in Japan

Nowadays, sushi is so popular here in the UK, maybe in the world. You can buy a cold (not recommended, slightly worm is the better) sushi packs in the supermarket. It's ok to having a different verity of sushi in a way. I wouldn't buy any of them in the supermarket.
See my sushi, I don't need to buy a sushi pack, do I?
If you want to have my sushi for your supper or party. I'll make them for you, but if you lived in Bristol/Bath area.





Anyway, when I'm been in Japan, I really excited to go to the supermarket or the basement of a department store (デパ地下). You can see so many different food in there. Especially, sushi and sashimi or sea food, hot or cold, are so cool.

There're many Sushi take away shops in the town. It's just like the Fish and Chips shop here in the UK.
If you've got a chance to go to Japan, I definitely recommend to go to the sushi take away shop and the food corners of a super or department store.


More pictures of Japan. Tsukiji Fish Market, Tokyo.

Anko 餡子 Sweet Azuki bean Paste

 Sweet Azuki bean paste（餡子/あん/あんこ）
This sweet bean paste is used for the traditional Japanese sweets like Dora-yaki, Daifuku-mochi etc.
You can buy a ready made paste in a Japanese food store in London. Available in a tin as well.
You also can buy a dried Azuki (Aduki or Adzuki) beans packet in a big supermarket. Or a tin beans, would be good idea, if you're a bit lazy or have no time.
Soaked the beans over night or just straight from the tin.
Use a quite large pan and the water and beans together, bring to the boil and reduce the heart medium - low, simmer for 1 hour or a bit more perhaps.  Drain the beans and squeeze the excess liquid as possible as you can.  Back the beans and the sugar (the same amount of the beans or less or more as you wish) into the pan and gently simmer until the liquid has almost gone (see pic. on the top, I prefer a bit more drier). Stirring constantly, especially near to the end. I use the dark brown sugar. Taste is so gooooood. But do not burn the pastes during the cooking.

Anko-pies（あん入りパイ）
This time I used the puff pastry.

Anko cup cakes（あんこのカップケーキ）
Put the anko paste inside the cup cakes.

I'll make some Anko version mince pies  for Christmas this year. Sounds yammy, doesn't it?



If you tried one of my recipes or made another Anko version, let me know, how was it? Made them easy or difficult? Because the sweet making is not popular things to do in Japan like the sushi making. Because you can buy the ready made sweets and sushi in everywhere in Japan. You don't need to make them yourself. So the Japanese people don't make those complicated food. Unless they love the baking or making sushi. Actually it is very very skilled job indeed. It would take a long time to master the techniques.




 

Traditional Japanese Sweets - Wagashi 和菓子

I just realised that how I didn't eat much and know about Wasashi 和菓子 , the traditional Japanese sweets, when I lived in Japan.
Actually I didn't like those, especially Anko, sweet azuki bean paste. Because they were too sweet to me. I prefer more salty stuff. 
However, after I started making Wagashi sweets by myself, I rearised that they are sooooo delirious. I think that those commercial sweets in the shop use too much chemical to keep them a long life and enhancing the strong taste and colour. 

The real hand-made sweets are really naturally gentle and deeply nice original taste of the ingredients.
They go so well with the green tea. But you can have them with any drink.




Ama-natto ライ豆の甘納豆 
Butter beans coated with sugar.

I made some Ama-natto with chick peas and red kidney beans the other day.
So literally, you can make the Ama-natto with any peas and beans, even some nuts hard vegetables. 
インゲン豆とひよこ豆の甘納豆

They are amazingly taste good.








When you buy a pack of Ama-natto in the Japanese or oriental shop, it might be too sweet for you. 

Easy making of Ama-natto, even from the tin beans/peas.
Just boil the beans/peas with the same quantity sugar. Add or reduce the sugar as you like.
Leave them with sugared water until cool or over night, if you had a time.
The dry the beans/peas for one day or two and coating with 1 table spoon of sugar. The caster sugar will make them good looking. 
Or you can eat Ama-natto without drying and no sugar. Do as you wish!!!

Japan Trip

I've been to Japan last month. It was only ten day staying.

I stayed in a capsule hotel in Asakusa.
It was cheap around £ 20.
It was OK then, for only one night.

Waso, Asakusa Hotel 和草ホテル

3-7-2 Asakusa,  Taito,  Tokyo,  111-0032,  JP

+81338728897 or Hotel.com

A capsule hotel in Japan, used to for only men, but this hotel have some booths for the ladies. There's a shared bath and showers. But no inside-shop.
It's quite close to Ueno and Tokyo Sky Tree (pic. left).

After I checked out the hotel, I went off to the Kappabashi Dogu Gai (street where selling the kitchen utensils for professionals). Unluckily many shops were closed. It was Sunday!! However, I managed to buy some utensils for my Washoku cuisine anyway. And it's very fortunate that I encountered the summer festival in the town. Really interesting. So here are some pictures,

The rainy season has finished so now it's really hot in Japan. 

Wagashi 和菓子 Sweets

My new pieces of art of  "Wagashi /和菓子 - Japanese sweets.

Frankly, I didn't like very sweet confections when I lived in Japan. I didn't eat fish much neither, even though fish is used in many dishes in Japan. 
I think that I didn't aware the Japanese culture well, because it's too close to me. 
But now, far away from Japan, I started cook every food from scratch, because I can't buy the Japanese food easily. And also my daughter were having a atopic skin condition when she was one. While living in Luxembourg. Now in the UK.
As you know sushi is very popular in the western countries. Even you can make a sushi at your home. Recently, I have many opportunities to make some sushi dishes of Japanese food for the parties and cafes. 
Then I realised that the Japanese, mainly food, culture is so rich in many ways.
Now Wagashi was added to my repertoire. 

Actually my farther was a confectioner (he passed away in 2008). I remember he was making a big quantity of anko in a huge wok type pot. Or making some sugar cakes.
I completely forgot this fact!  I was watching his back making wagashi every day when I was young. Then I asked to myself, why not to follow my father's steps. Yes, indeed!!

Ichigo daifuku イチゴ大福
Strawberry daifuku mochi. 
Strawberry season will be soon!!

         Mini daifuku with Matcha tea powder.

Dorayaki (a kind of pancake with anko)






Wagashi are traditional Japanese confections that often served in the traditional tea ceremony. Sweets made of anko (azuki beans pastes with sugar) and mochi (soft rice cake). Some fruits are used for the sweets. Wagashi is typically made from plant ingredients. (Wikipedia)

Shari-rice

Again this is from the Telegraph article. You've already known, if you read the article in my last blog. If so, you can pass this part, if you like.

「Are you eating sushi all wrong?」

5. Only dip the fish in soy sauce when eating nigiri (raw fish over pressed vinegared rice). Tokyo sushi chef Naomichi Yasuda says: “The most important element of sushi is rice. Rice is the main ingredient. People talk about the fish, but the fish is the second ingredient.”



So this is my topic today. The Rice "Shari", as you read the no. 5 in the article as above. 

This is interesting - 2. Eat sushi in one bite. It is considered rude to bite the roll in half as the chef spent time making the sushi perfect. If it is too big to eat in one go, tell the chef and he can make adjustments. 

I think many sushi pieces in here are far too big. If you are in a sushi restaurant in Tokyo area, The size of sushi is relatively small. On the other hand, Kansai sushi is a bit bigger than the Tokyo sushi.

The rice is significantly different between the sushi made by properly trained chef, "Itamae 板前" and the sushi made by an instant sushi chef. Because the Itama have trained for more than 10 years, maybe more. He needs to understand how to cook the Shari-rice perfectly before started to handling the fish.

How to cook perfect sushi shari;

Rice is boiling in the pan with Sake and Konbu

1 rice : 1.2~1.4 water, + 1 tbsp sake or cider and a piece of Konbu (kelp)

1- Washing the rice with little water thoroughly but not to crack the grains' rice for about 5 minutes. Change water and repeat washing 3 to 4 times until the water cleared. 

2- Place the rice in the coriander and leave 30 minute.

3- Soak the rice in water for 30 minutes. Use the rice cooker or a pan.

4- Start cooking the rice high heat and bring to the boil, reduce the heart low. The rice has to be absorbed all water. Then remove from the heat. 

5- Steam the cooked rice for 15 to 20 minutes. 

It sound a little complicated, but the rice is most important part of the sushi making.

That's soooo true!!

This articl from the Telegrams today.
「Japanese government to crack down on 'soggy, flavourless sushi in UK restaurant」

I quate some words from the article;

“Cooking Japanese washoku cuisine includes dealing with raw fish, so it is extremely important to have knowledge of hygienic cooking methods,” explained Eriko Sekiya.

“One common mistake is touching fish too many times, which causes a rise in the fish's temperature. Another is using cooking tools such as kitchen knives and cutting boards in the wrong way. 

etc.

But most things annoying me is most people, socalled the sushi chef here, using the gloves during making sushi. But this is really bad hygiene, when you use the gloves for a long time. The bacteria will be growth very quickly in 10 minute! 

In Japan, all the sushi chefs called "Itamae" use the plenty of water all the time instead using the gloves. Washing their hands, kitchen utensils, chopping boards, even all the kitchen area with the running water. The fishmongers are the same in Japan. See my blog on 10 Dec. "Sushi and hygiene issu"

This is a very fresh salmon. I'm going to cure the fish with the salt for a couple days.

A whole sea bass. Gutted and curing with the salt and it'll going to be soaked in the vinegar. Perfect for sushi!!

So, the sushi is not always eating in raw. Authentic Japanese sushi are carefully perepared everything with the special techniques as well. Which is taking years and years to learn completely and become a chef.

One more thing, what's the different to the authentically and traditionally prepared sushi and a sushi in the supermarket or made by an instant sushi chef apart from I mentioned before.

The key is the rice. The sushi rice called "Shari". I'll show you how to cook the perfect Shari-rice on my next blog. See you then.xxx

Happy New Year 2016!!!!

Hi,
Hope you had a lovely Christmas and New Year holiday.

We were invited the Christmas dinner by our friend. I was asked to make a sushi starter for 12 people which was really successful. Everybody loved my sushi!!!

I bought a fresh See bass and a fillet of Scottish Salmon from the fish counter of Witrose. Filleted the see bass, and preserved with the salt, for the salmon, only with the vinegar for a couple of days. I don't use the fresh raw fish for my sushi.
This is the authentic and traditional way to treat the fresh fish for the sushi in Japan. The mature fish meat and the perfectly cooked sushi rice will melt in your mouth!!

Hope this year of 2016 will be very good year for all of you, my friends!!!!!xxxxx