Spanish Potato Omelette - Tortilla de Patatas (スペイン風ポテトオムレツ）

When I was small, I did not like to go to church on Sundays except for one thing.
That is this Tortilla de Patatas sold in the melinda in the church.
Even though it was in Japan, some of sisters of the church are from Spain, and they made unforgettable Tortilla.
Now I can make it by myself, and it turns out to be pretty good !
The key to make tasty tortillas is to use a lot of olive oil without any hesitation.
Potato needs to be boiled in oil which is almost like frying potatoes to get that sweet flavor.

Baby Buk Choy and Ham Soup （青梗菜とハムのスープ）

This is very simple, yet has a unique flavor.
The combination of baby buk choy and ham already bring up soup to a certain level, so you just need to add simple soup stock you like.

Chili Shrimp (えびちり）

This dish is one of the most popular Chinese dishes in Japan.
We call it Ebi-chilli, and it's basically hot and sweet shrimp with tons of green onion.
You can add some red chili, but I prefer not so spicy.
Sweetness comes from sugar and ketchup.

Truffle Oil Pasta (トリュフオイルのパスタ）

I've got a bottle of truffle oil as a souvenir from France, and I've been thinking about how to use it for a while. Truffle oil is flavored extra virgin olive oil with black truffle. Sometime you don't see the truffle inside, but it has very strong flavor of it. These day, olive maker in California started making truffle oil as well, and I think it's equally good compared to French ones.
The problem is truffle has so strong flavor that it dominates the dish completely, so I  need to use it carefully. I made very simple pasta dish with cabbage and string bean, and drizzle truffle oil in the end. It worked out very well !

Tofu Hamburg （豆腐ハンバーグ）

I was used to eating meat every meal before, but nowadays I don't feel like it after I started hanging out with vegetarian people. The problem about vegetarian dish is, it's very hard to make main dish out of merely vegetables. Tofu is made out of soy, and has good volume to be main dish. I made pate with tofu and egg, and baked it like normal hamburg.
I added sweet and sour sauce on it, and it was a hit !

Potato Gratin (ポテトグラタン）

This is a standard menu of home cooking in Japan. Many western dishes are converted to Japanese style from Meiji (late 19th) to early Showa(early 20th)  period.
Other popular Japanized western menus are hamburg, cutlet, croquette, omelet, spaghetti, etc.
Typical potato gratin has layer of white sauce, potato, and meat sauce which is potato version of Lasagna.

Fennel and Orange Salad (ファネルとオレンジのサラダ）

Fennel is a vegetable with licorice flavor to it. I sliced it very thinly using Japanese slicer, and make salad with orange and a bit of olive oil. The key is not to add so much salt.

Salmon with Lemon Butter Sauce (鮭のレモンバターソース）

This recipe is inspired by Jacque Pepin & Julia Child show.
Salmon is just boiled in water and white wine which I substituted with Sake.
Then make a quick sauce and put on it.

How to make:
1: Boil Salmon with boiling water and sake. You can add some herb to it.
2: Keep salmon on serving plate, and clean up the water which is used to boil salmon with a strainer. Just try as much as you can.
3: In a sauce pan, melt butter and add lemon juice. When it's mixed up well, add flour and whisk. Reduce the mixture with the water from 2, and complete the taste with salt and pepper.
4: Put sauce on salmon. Potato goes well with the sauce as well.

Pepper Corn Chicken (鶏肉と粒スパイスの炒め物）

I've got a new non-stick fry pan, and it does make a lot of difference compared to the old ones.
Today, I wanted to have a Chinese dish but without using any Chinese sauces, and something which has a kick to its flavor.
I remember fried calamari in Chinese restaurants have almost raw onion and whole pepper corn with calamari, and decided to apply this to chicken.

 

How to make:

1: marinate chicken with salt, pepper, and corn starch

2: Put oil and pepper corns ( or other spice corns such as coriander corn ) in a pan and heat it up till you smell spices.

3: Add chicken to the pan, and fry it till it's almost cooked.

4: Add onion and green pepper, and cook till they are still crunchy.

Spanish Garlic Soup, - Sopa de Ajo (にんにくスープ）

My mom, who is of course Japanese, makes this soup since I and my sisters were small.
Recently I've found that this is Spanish soup.
It can be smelly even in the next day ;p

How to make:
1: Saute chopped garlic and bacon in a pot.
2: Add water, soup stock, pepper and salt..
3: When the water boils, slowly add beaten egg.
4: Add relatively big pieces of bread ( can be old bread), and chopped parsley.

Tofu and Green Onion Soup (豆腐と長ネギのあっさりスープ)

My digestion system is not very strong, and I want to have something very light sometime.
Japanese soup stock and Vietnamese chicken soup stock are very light ones.
You can get them as powder from Asian grocery stores.
I added Tofu and green onion to the soup, and garnish with a  lot of sesame seeds.

Cucumber Yogurt Salad (きゅうりヨーグルトサラダ ）

This is middle eastern style salad.
Mix pealed sliced cucumber with yogurt, salt, pepper and lemon.

Cod and autumn vegetable soup (鱈と秋野菜のスープ）

I've got small pieces of cod and decided to make soup.
In Japan, we have cod hot pot during winter, and I wanted to make small version of that.
I added snow peas, carrots, and Maitake mushroom.
Don't boil it so much. It will get fishy smell.

Toaster Dinner - Roasted Chicken (トースタでローストチキン）

I started using my toaster oven in stead of regular oven to make dinner so that I don't need to waste energy by turning on whole oven.
My toaster oven was somewhere around $10, but it's so powerful that it can burn a piece of bread in 30 sec !  So, it's rather good to be used as oven rather than toaster anyways.

How to Make:

1: I put some butter underneath of chicken so that the skin gets crispy.
You can put some herbs, salt and pepper as well.
2: Put cooking paper or aluminum foil on toaster tray, and put chicken first. Cook for 30min.
3: Put potato to the tray, and cook for 10min.
4: put asparagus and mushroom. Cook for another 7min.
5:  Garnish asparagus with feta cheese and almond.

Shabu shabu （しゃぶしゃぶ）

Crab and Avocado Salad (蟹とアボカドのサラダ）

I mixed canned crab meat with avocado.

Shiratama Mochi and Roasted Buckwheat in Red Bean Soup (白玉と蕎麦の汁粉）

Scallop and Mushroom Ceviche

I made half Scallop and half Eringi mushroom ceviche.

Stewed Sausage in Tajin Style (タジンスタイルのソーセージのシチュー)

I wanted to make something goes well with Couscous. In France, I had stewed chicken with olive and something sweet which was served with couscous, and since then I wanted have it again.
I made something like Ratatouille, and add sausage and apricots.

Green Peas Soup (グリーンピースのスープ）

I've got fresh green peas in a market, and I was very excited to make this soup because I've been thinking about having really fresh green soup without cooking and wasting freshness.
so I hardly boiled this green peas, and blend it. I added a little bit of milk to dilute.

Sweet and Sour Soup- Suan La Tang (酸辣湯)

I want to have sweet and sour soup when I don't have so much appetite or I have sore throat.

How to make:
1: Boil vegetables such as sliced carrots, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms.
2: Add Chinese black vinegar, vinegar, Chinese white pepper, soy sauce, and chicken soup stock.
3: Mix cone starch with water, and put it slowly to boiling soup till it becomes good consistency.

Wasabi Avocado Salad (わさびアボガドサラダ）

Do you know avocado goes well with soy sauce and Wasabi ? I cut avocado into half and put soy sauce and Wasabi in the pit after removing the seed. Then you can literally dig it in.
I made it to decent looking salad this time. Bon Appetite !

Chicken Karaage (鶏から揚げ）

Chicken Karaage is fried chicken in Japanese style.
Its butter is starch, soy sauce, and some other stuffs as you like. 
There is Karaage butter mix sold in Japanese markets which is very popular.
It includes something to make chicken soft as well as flavor.
I add graded onion to it and marinate chicken more than 1hr.

Sweet Hijiki Seaweed ( ひじきの煮物）

One ingredient which is particular to Japanese cuisine is seaweed.
It has strong flavor and can produce soup stock, or it can be eaten like normal vegetables.
This dish is made of Hijiki seaweed and one of the standard dishes in Japanese households.

How to make:
1: soak dried Hijiki in water till it gets soft
2: Put Hijiki, sliced carrots, and tofu skin in a pot, and add soy sauce, sugar, sake, and a bit of dashi (if you have). Boil till carrots get soft.

Potato Salad with Corn and Tomato （コーンとトマトの入ったポテトサラダ）

I mixed sweet corn, sliced tomato, and potato with mayonnaise and cayenne pepper.
Since sweet corn in California is very sweet, cayenne pepper gives good contrast.

Spinach and Almond Filo Pizza （ほうれん草とアーモンドのフィロピザ）

I do not like American pizza dough so much because it fills me up with just a slice !
In stead, I used few pieces of Filo dough which is thin like a piece of paper. Filo dough is used to make Middle Eastern sweets such as Baklava.
Good thing about using Filo dough is you don't need to care about oven temperature, but just bake in whatever temperature till it gets crispy.

I also made Margarita version of Filo dough pizza.

Lamb Chop, Potato, Asparagus, and Olive (ラムチョップ、ポテト、アスパラガスとオリーブのプレート）

This is one of the easiest recipes I like. Find whatever you feel like eating, drizzle nice olive oil on them, and put them in a oven. Just by sitting in front of TV for 30min, Voila !, wonderful dinner is in front of you ! A glass of nice wine and fresh baguette will surely bring it to even higher level :)

 

Orange Beet, Tomato, and Shiso Mint Salad (黄色ビート、トマトとシソのサラダ）

I had magically tasty black flakes on eggplant hummus, and asked the restaurant what it is. It turned out to be fried mint and basil leaves. They fried leaves till they get really black, but they did not taste bitter or burnt at all. Rather, they taste like spice. I experimented the same method on Shiso leaves, a  Japanese mint. I could not fry it till it got so black, but it added a nice hint to orange beet and tomato.

Chicken Cream Stew (チキンクリームシチュー)

Chicken cream stew is quite common in Japan.
When autumn is around the corner, we will see TV ads of cream stew cubes in the same style as Japanese curry cubes which basically makes cream stew or curry just by being melted in hot water.
This time, I didn't use that cube, but made the sauce by myself. It's basically white sauce made of butter, flour, and milk.

Cajun Chicken and Crumble Feta Cheese on Baked Prune (ケージャンチキンとフェタチーズとアーモンドをのせた焼きプルーン）

Main part of dish is baked prune topped with French Feta cheese and roasted almond.
This is really good !
Chicken spiced with Cajun spice mix and asparagus were baked in a oven altogether with prune.

Stuffed Baby Portabella Mushroom （マッシュルームの詰め物）

I stuffed baby Portabella mushroom with French Feta cheese and green onion cream.
I added egg to colligate cheese cream, but it may not be necessary.
I garnished it with chopped dill which I recently purchased as a plant.

Polo, Persian Pilaf (ペルシャ風炊き込みご飯）

Do you know what is Polo ? Polo I'm talking about here is not a type of sport, but rice dish usually served with Kebab in Persian culture. The one I had first time at my favorite Persian restaurant contained almond and various kinds of dry fruits, and it goes perfectly well with spicy and savory meat such as Kebab..
I came up with the idea of making my own polo today for a potluck at my vegetarian friends' place.
I added saffron dried raisin, and butter to half Indian Basmati rice and half Japanese rice, and cook it with rice cooker. When the rice is cooked, I added salt/pepper and sliced almond.
It is very easy, and looks fancy dish.

Bean Sprout Ramen （もやしあんかけラーメン）

There is a cafeteria right next to class room building in my college,
and I always sneaked out around 3pm to have this Ramen there.
Since bean sprout is very cheap  even in Japan, somewhere around 30 cents per bag, this Ramen was also very cheap ~ $3. I should check if they still have this menu !
Oba-chan who makes this Ramen suggested me to put a little bit of vinegar, and this became unforgettable taste for me. Bean Sprout sauce is creamy and sweet, and vinegar brings up the sweetness in nice way.

Steamed Fish and Mushroom in a bag （お魚ときのこのフォイル焼き）

This is one of the most common way to cook fish in Japan, and it's the easiest one.
I recently remember this method from a book called "Lunch in Paris". The author is American lady and living in France. I don't know where she came to know this recipe, but I've never seen it anywhere else other than Japan or China.
How to make is very easy, but this is an experience: As soon as you open the bag, all the nice flavor burst into the air.

How to make :
1: place white fish, mushroom, and onion slice in a alumni foil.
2: Close the foil to make a bag.
3: Place it in toaster oven, and bake it for 30 min.
4: Squeeze lemon and put soy sauce on it before you eat.

Soy Sauce Spagetti (お醤油パスタ）

I came up this pasta one day, and just love it since then.
Garlic, bacon, and soy sauce bring this particular flavor.
I like to put zucchini which also goes terrifically well with soy sauce and garlic.
My younger sister gave me this microwave spaghetti boiler, and since then it became so easy to make pasta. You can get one in Japanese one-dollar shop like Daiso. It's basically a long tapper ware. You can put cold water, salt, and pasta, and microwave it to boil pasta. I think any microwave-save dish will do. 

Yellow Beet Root Salad (黄ビートのサラダ）

Not only red, but there is yellow beet root.
I have salad of yellow beet root in Chez Pannise, one of the most famous restaurant in US.
I put olive oil, creamy dressing, and balsamic vinegar on it.

Potato and Leak Soup

When potato and leak meet, it becomes a comfort soup.
Leak is not available in Japan, and it may be substituted with long white onion.

Lamb Chop and Mashed Potato

This is marinated lamp chop sold in Trader Joe's, and it was wonderfully inexpensive.
The flavor was also very nice and simple, only pepper and thyme.

Cuscus Salad (クスクスサラダ）

I saw this recipe from a book, "Lunch in Paris" by Elizabeth Bard. She has a lot of nice authentic recipe in the book, and I love to try all of them !

 

Pork and Zatsai Soup Rice (豚肉とザーサイのスープかけご飯）

This is my mom's recipe. It's very simple dish but very addictive :)
She told me that she gained weight because of this dish during this crazy hot summer in Japan.

Roasted Boiled Chickpea (焦がしひよこ豆）

You can get raw chickpea at Indian grocery store, and it is very different from canned or dried chickpeas.
Just boiling them is already amazing, but I roasted a bit to put extra kick to it.

Hot Salad (温野菜サラダ）

I've got nice small mushrooms, heirloom tomato, and crispy zucchini at the farmer's market.
Diced them and marinate with good olive oil and a bit of lemon.

Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup using Japanese instant noodle packet (即席ラーメンを使ったベトナム風チキンラーメン）

You need to buy Japanese raw instant noodle kit from Japanese super market.
They have usually Miso, Shio(Salt), and Shoyu(Soy Sauce), and I recommend to use Shio(Salt) flavor for this recipe.

Mexican Dinner (メキシコ風ラップディナー）

This is a fun time ! and very easy and quick to prepare.
Prepare your favorite topping of Tacos and make your own on the table.
I prepared one chicken and one shrimp dish described in the following, and
avocado, cilantro, lettuce, red onion, red bell pepper, and limes are nicely arranged in a plate.
Remember to have salsa sauce and other sauces on the table as well ! 

The shrimp dish is sauteed shrimp with Achiote powder.
Achiote is name of plant which bears seeds containing red powder in it.
Achiote powder is mixture of this powder, vinegar, and salt.
It has similar tastes to Paprika, but a bit bitter.

The chicken topping is sauteed chicken and green and red pepper with Tacos spice.
I've got Tacos spice from Trader Joe's, but I believe any spice mixture you like will do.

You can make your own Tacos on the table !

Minced Chicken & Lettuce Soup (鶏ひき肉とレタスのスープ)

I was lazy to make meat ball. In stead, I didn't rigorously stir minced meat so that it forms some chunks.
Combination of chicken, lettuce, and mushroom is quite nice.

Salmon Tartar (サーモンのタルタルソース)

Sauteed salmon with butter after dusting it with flour.
Sauce is egg tartar sauce. Minced boiled egg, onion, mayonnaise, lemon and black pepper.

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