Saffron rice with crab flesh topping

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For unexplainable reasons, I crave for 'X', 'Y'/'Z' occassionally. Dontcha? Sometimes, it gets so severe that I even dream about it.

For instance, I dreamt about catching 7 massive crabs with bare hands the other day! Haha! =D

And it's only instinctual, that I succumb to my craving whenever possible. Like a week ago when Japan was having a long weekend, Bear took me to a fancy Italian/Western restaurant in a neighbouring prefecture.

I was totally elated to find a crab dish on the menu! The description read : A platter of rice with topping of extravagant crab flesh and mushroom.





Duh... but my anticipation nosedived. I obviously forgot that most restaurants here provide moderate or miserable ingredients. I squinted hard... The platter was nothing like a crab galore (~~), it was more like a plate of crap, and a rather pricey one. As Bear footed the bill ungrudgingly, he explained the tyranny of economy depression, and that we ought to give thanks for food at bad times like such.

He's beary right, but my disappointment wasn't soothed right there. Suddenly, it dawned on me that Japan has fresh crab flesh for sashimi almost around the year! So I was all ready to roll my sleeves to gratify my gluttony nature. ;P





And believe me, the preparation is dead easy! Pleasantly satisfying and almost instant to prepare. =P



No concrete measurements here. I prepared saffron rice for two. A handful of Bunashimeji mushroom, and Enoki mushroom cut in short strips, saute with olive oil, finish with soy sauce and little white wine to make a truly wet mass. Chop spring onions, cut Perilla leaves in strips and put aside.



Scoop saffron rice on plate, sprinkle chopped spring onions. Spread the crab flesh, then mushroom mixture over. Generous portion of seaweed strips, with stripped Perilla leaves topped above. To finish, half a slice of 10gram butter and place on both sides. Serve while rice is hot!





And TALA, the effort paid off, almost effortlessly. Almost like the real deal if not for the absence of a sizzling hot plate. But who needs a hot plate, when I can have all the crab flesh I want? =P Bear has already demanded repetition, while I contemplated on buttered prawn or scallop to go along the next time. =)

Buttered Scallop with Soy Sauce, in modern-Japanese style

Understand 現代和風 ( gen-dai-wa-fu ), which means ' modern-Japanese '. A clever application that incoporates the Western element, without eliminating the Japanese fundamentals.

My husband who appreciates olden Japanese style, accepts modern-Japanese touches just as readily. In fact, he prefers the latter which always produces a result neat and clean. Modern-Japanese finishes can be found in architecture, fashion, landscape design and many other features; not forgetting Japanese cuisine.

It's butter that helps clothe the scallop in a modern-Japanese style, and soy sauce to complete it immaculately. This simple trick always fill the kitchen with a compelling aroma that must have travelled to other homes. Buttery scallops bursting with flavour of the soy sauce-accomplice and its own, blamelessly perfect. We probably eat slower than usual when enjoying this dish, cos the heavenly chewing is all too rewarding...

Recipe for Buttered Scallop with Soy Sauce, in modern-Japanese style


Ingredients

Fresh Scallop ( dried scallops do not work ) with or without roe, the bigger the better : 200g

Butter : 10g, or 1 large tablespoon

Soy sauce : 1 tablespoon

Options for finish : Sesame seed, Seaweed shreds, mustard sauce


1. Melt butter at medium fire, and throw in scallops to saute at high fire. Flip scallops occassionally to avoid burn.

2. When traces of butter disappears, lower to medium fire. As the fragrance intense and scallops start to show browning, add in soy sauce for a quick and thorough stir. Enjoy, enjoy the indescribable tempting aroma...




3. To finish, dash sesame seeds over. If you prefer seaweed in thin shreds, cut the soy sauce amount to half a tablespoon to avoid too much salt. The scallops may be enjoyed too with mustard sauce for dipping.



Ah huh... I'm just so sure that you'll love this amazing recipe. =)

Salmon with Japanese Plum Wine

Being passive drinkers, we are often clueless about wine even when we are offered the best, but there is always a good bottle sitting at home and constantly replenished.

Note : this is not an ad. Neither am I paid for this post. =P

My love relationship with Japanese Choya Plum Wine or ' Umeshu ' has long influenced big boys like Daddy and the Bear. Yes, Japanese Choya Plum Wine fascinates the ladies, and lures gentlemen drinkers alike. Lightly alcoholic, the wine infused with the sweet and sour taste of plum is delightful to anyone, anytime.

Do you know? Plum wine is homemade in some prefectures of Japan. When the harvest of plum begins, the method is widely shared on tv and magazines. Seemingly easy indeed, and the wine can be consumed a year later. To be on the safe side, we would rather buy this household brand which is available year round at a very cheap price.

I shall share different ways of drinking this wine some time later. For now, the wine is used for this recipe. =)

Evolved from the Japanese Terriyaki flavour, this dish has the flavour of plum emphasized. With a pinch of wit, I decided to throw a plum in and it turned out to be a positive move! The plum and salmon complemented each other so finely , Bear and I actually fought over them. =P Very well, I shall throw in 2 plums next time.

Recipe for Salmon with Japanese Plum Wine

Serves 2 people

Salmon pieces for 2 persons. Cutting into wedges is optional, remove bones if you must do so.

Japanese Plum Wine ( Choya Umeshu ) : 3 tablespoon

2 plums from the bottle of wine, cut into fleshy pieces, not too small. Discard the seeds.

Soy sauce : 1 tablespoon

Mirin : 1 tablespoon

Water : 1 tablespoon

Brown sugar ( or white ) : 1/2 teaspoon

Olive oil : 2 1/2 tablespoon

Wheat flour

Salt

Pepper

Salad idea : Green salad leaves, sliced onion , tomato, olive, nuts, etc.

1. Lightly marinate salmon with salt and pepper. Coat salmon ligthly with wheat flour.

2. Fry salmon with olive oil in a pan, till golden brown. Draw out salmon and put aside. Wipe off excess oil from pan.

3. In a bowl, mix wine, soy sauce, mirin, water and brown sugar. Mix well. Add in plum pieces. I've added some black fungus for mine ( it's optional ).

4. Heat pan at medium fire. When the pan is hot enough, throw in salmon pieces again, pour in the bowl of mixture prepared in step 3 and stir fry. Do not cook too long for it will soften the plum much. The dish is ready when the mixture starts to thicken a little. Draw out all the ingredients. The remaining sauce should go very well with accompanied salad, if any.

The fleshy plums give salmon a desirable taste, and I suppose they go well with Mackerel too. ( ? Well, I'll find that out... ) The mild tinge of alcohol is no way overwhelming, but absolutely complementing. A refreshing and appetizing dish perfect for Summer. =D

Flavor of Spring : Bamboo Shoot Rice, Baked Scallop with Fragrant Crumb

There is a Japanese expression to describe an element of their eating culture; ' 旬 ' ( shun ) which means, ' the best time '. For those product you'd see labelled with a sticker and mention the word, it simply means that it is the best time to enjoy whatever packed within. =)


To produce the taste of ' best time ' ( 旬の味 ), simply use ingredients that are at their top form. In Spring, we are fortunate to enjoy good harvest for vegetables and certain seafood. Read on to find out how I tackle the Bamboo Shoot, fresh plump scallop and green beans. =D



This is the bamboo shoot ( 竹の子 ). I wonder if Bamboo Shoot is available in western areas, though these shoots are used in certain oriental dishes. The picture on the right shows how a bamboo shoot looks like when dug up from the ground. It looks like a rugged-skin hat to me... heheheh...

Anyway, this crunchy soft and lightly sweet root is quite a pain to prepare from start! A hard time washing to get rid of dirt, long time of boiling to make it soft, stripping and etc. ( ** ) I always buy those packed and prepared ones that are not too huge for 2 persons to finish.

You know I really appreciate this thoughtful merchandise, else I wouldn't be able to enjoy this lovely root at home.

Bamboo shoot is a versatile ingredient that provides lots of cooking possibilities! They go with vegetables, seafood, meat, probably anything! To savor its flavor, I had it prepared for this Bamboo Shoot Rice, together with asparagus, fragrant mushroom, topped with the seaweed that we 've bought from the Wasabi farm.

We love the gently flavored rice, infused with the best taste of Spring. It can't be any mistake for those who love a delicate flavor.

Recipe for Bamboo Shoot Rice

Now this is actually a very free and easy thing, just use ingredients that you think work best with Bamboo Shoot. You'd need a rice cooker though.

Ingredients ( Makes 3 bowls but serves 2 hungry people at home )

Rice : 1 standard cup or 155g

Bamboo shoot : 120 g, cut to mouth-sized length and sliced at 2mm at least

Asaparagus : 3 stalks, sliced cross wise. Cooking asparagus with the rice retains the nuitrients within the serving, so no wastage here. To understand what I'm trying to stress, read here.

Carrot : 1/2 stalk, sliced into thin strips

Mushroom : I'm using 2 quality dried ' Shiitake ', sliced at 4mm thickness

Seaweed : Strips of seaweed for topping, cut from bite-size ones if you need to.

Stock : 300ml. I'm using stock of konnbu ( 昆布 ), one may find such stock powder in supermarket. You may like to replace with chicken stock or other stock you prefer. Read instruction below for explanation.

Japanese Rice Wine : 1 tablespoon

Mirin : 1 tablespoon

Soy sauce : 2 tablespoon

1. Prepare stock by boiling slightly more than 300ml or water with 1 teaspoon of stock powder of Konnbu. Put aside when ready.

2. Wash rice, and drain off water. In a fry pan, fry the washed rice to rid of moisture. This helps the rice absorb the flavor readily. Pan fry for about a minute and transfer to rice cooker. Spread out the rice.

3. Pour in stock, rice wine, mirin and soy sauce, stir. Place in bamboo shoot, mushroom, carrot and asparagus, and just let the cooker do its job! Easy isn't it??

4. Slightly before serving, prepare the seaweed strips. For those who have no access to stripped seaweeds, use a sisscors to cut those standard seaweed pieces to strips. =)

Isn't this done so easily? That's why I label dishes like this under ' One Pot HAPPY '. =)

Recipe for Baked Scallop with Fragrant Crumb

While waiting for the rice to be cooked, I prepared some side dishes to go along. Scallops are so fleshy and fresh now! The market selling this was proposing customers to eat it raw! Oh but I decided to bake it the way I prefer.

I apply this to almost anything goes cos it's so easy, no mess and absolutely delicious! The crispy fragrant crumb outside seals the juicy scallop within, perfectly combined! This is definitely a favourite of our home. Try it!

Ingredients ( Prepares 2 large scallops with shell intact )

2 large scallops

Bread crumb : 3 heaping tablespoon. Not too flaky please, crush a little with spoon if you must.

Garlic : Grated, 1 teaspoon

Grated Parmesan Cheeze : 1 tablespoon

Olive oil : 2 tablespoon

Minced herb : Use herb that you prefer, I've run out of herbs so I used dried Parsley.

1. Preheat oven at 180deg.

2.Wash your scallops! The seller claimed that these can be consumed straight away, but I've found hmm... unfriendly particles within. =(

3. In a bowl, place in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, grated garlic, and cheeze, do a quick mix. Add in bread crumb, mix to let the bread crumb absorb the olive oil. Then, add in another tablespoon of olive oil across and perform thorough mixing. The idea is to wet the bread crumb with olive oil.

4. If the bread crumb isn't uniformly moistened, add another 1 teaspoon of olive oil to help.

5. Spread the moistened crumb across the scallops, covering them like a blanket. Sprinkle your favourite herbs on top. Bake at 180 deg for 15 mins, or watch your stuff to see the bread crumbs have turned into delicious looking gold.

To an average Singaporean, things in Japan are considered expensive. While green beans like these are dirt cheap in Singapore, it is unbelievably expensive here. With the price of getting barely a handful of it in Japan, one can get 9 times the volume in Singapore.

To prepare it simple, just fry some onion slices with sesame oil till fragrant. Add the green beans to fry, season with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, or 1 good pinch of salt. Complete with topping of sesame seeds.

Seafood Paella

Love Spring! It's not just the greenery outside that wakes up my senses, star vegetables appearing in the market, but also something's happening under the sea! =D


Asari ( あさり ) is making a loud comeback! See picture on the left ( lifted from the internet ) for its looks for I have no idea what's this shell's name is called in English. Apologies. It is said that the best time to have Asari is Spring and Autumn, when they are the most fleshy and sweet!

There are pretty lots of ways to use these tasty shells but I decided to use them for this Paella one evening. I shall share other recipes one of these days.



The Asari shells play a vital part in providing a good base, just add other favourite seafood to make it complete! We love the tasty rice that blends so well with the seafood. There are various versions of Seafood Paella around the world, but I'm sharing this simple homemade recipe that never fails to please my husband so much!


Recipe for Seafood Paella


Utensil required : 1 large pan, mine is 30 cm diameter. Lid for covering pan.

Ingredients ( Serves 2 )
Rice : 1 standard cup or 155g
Seafood stock : 350ml ( Preparation explained below )
Asari : 300g ( shell intact )
Other seafood : Prawn, squid, scallop, crab, or any seafood you fancy, keeping in mind the volume to serve and cholesterol level to keep at safe
Paprika : 1 big piece ( I used half or a red and yellow one )
Mushroom : 2 large mushroom, thickly sliced
Carrot : 1/2, and cut into wedges
Tomato : Medium size, cut into 6 large wedges
Onion : 1/2, sliced
Garlic : 1 large clove, minced
Curry , Saffron or Turmeric powder : 1 tablespoon
Ketchup : 2 tablespoon
Soy sauce or fish sauce : 1 tablespoon ( without which, replace with a firm pinch of salt )
White wine : 150ml
Olive oil : 2 tablespoon
Salt
Pepper
Preferred herbs like thyme, rosemary and etc is optional.
Garnish : Broccoli stalks and a quarter of lemon


1. Prepare Asari by soaking them in water and 1 large teaspoon of salt for at least 20 mins, placing them in a dim place. This makes the Asari spit out sand or particles, thus making them cleaner to consume. After which, wash Asari by rubbing palm harshly upon them. Drain and wash again until the waste water has appeared much cleaner.

2. Wash and devein prawn without removing the shell. Use knife to cut the prawn's back to do so. Leaving shell intact produces a better flavour. Wash up other seafood and land them in a bowl. Dash salt and pepper 2 times, quick stir, pour 150ml white wine over and put aside.

3. Wash rice, put aside.

4. Prepare seafood stock by boiling seafood cubes or powder concentrate in water. I am using scallop concentrate for mine. Boil 1/3 teaspoon of concentrate in slightly more than 350ml of water. Taste to make sure that it is bland, not too salty.

5. In the large diameter pan, fry the washed rice at medium fire to rid excess moisture. This makes the rice absorb the stock readily. Perform frying for about a minute and remove from pan.

6. In the same pan, heat olive oil at medium fire, fry minced garlic, onion slices till fragrant.

7. Add rice in, stir fry to get a well mix. Add in curry powder, ketchup and fry mixture evenly to get a uniform color.

8. Switch off fire. Add in stock, soy sauce or replacement, extract the white wine soaked within seafood into the pan. Stir well, and spread rice evenly across pan. Spread ingredients across the pan, spaced apart, following the order : Asari, seafood, carrot, paprika, tomato and lastly mushroom.

9. Cover pan with lid, cook at high heat till the mixture is brought to boil, with the Asari shells opened apart. Reduce heat to medium and cook. Check the Paella once every 10 mins, it could be ready by 20 mins later. You'd know that it's ready when the mixture looks moist but the soup is gone. Do not overcook Paella or it will cause an awful burn at the bottom of the mixture. While waiting, prepare garnish by boiling broccoli stalks in another pan with water and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, put aside when done.

10. When Paella's done, switch off the fire, chuck broccoli stalks in and leave lid on for 5 mins, let the thing infuse. Serve with lemon squishes.


I have lovely memories of delicious Seafood Paella tried in Australia, Italy and especially Belgium. They were really heavenly with the fresh, plump and extravagant seafood, that often make me reminisce much. We've tried many others around Japan, but sadly; none has managed to satisfy us.

My husband loves this homemade-possible Seafood Paella absolutely, thus I'm pleased that this has become a surprisingly good substitute, and also, one recipe that settles dinner rather easily. ;)

Tempura + Special Sides & Wild Tips

My husband has been working overtime since the we've returned from the CNY holiday. He seems tired after a few days of hard work and I decided to do some special dish to cheer him up. Tempura!

For your information, the Tempura is first introduced to Japan by the Portugese, and became a popular dish among the Japanese. Even the name ' Tempura ', is originated from the Portugese. The Japanese has long since been good in imitating something, customize it a little, then calling it ' theirs '.

So much for the introduction. Let's check out this basic recipe. I shall produce a little more complicated version and share again someday.

Recipe for Tempura ( Fried prawns ) [ Scroll below for Special Sides ]

Preparation of prawn ( 10 prawns for my serving at home ) :

• Purchase prawns that are big. The ones I use are longer than my palm when extended. I'd love to tell you what prawns I'm using but I only know their name in Japanese ( 車えび )[ Huh, ' Car Prawns '? ]
• Take off the shell of the prawns leaving the tail portion intact. Devein.

Wild tips : Keep the prawn shell scraps in the frozen section of the refridgerator. They come in handy for other dishes, especially seafood soup. Just drop 5 to 6 prawn shells in a pot that broils 4 servings, and they produce the extra goodness to the soup. Serve without the shells please. =) I shall share more about these shells sometime later.

• Cut off the ends of the tail ( about 5mm ), see picture below. It is said that this eliminates moisture in the tail part and makes frying safer.
  
• Insert 3mm cuts into the flesh ( tummy area? ), see picture below for positions. The idea is to cut the vein of the prawn so that these hunchback fellas can straighten their back.


• Dry the prawns with kitchen paper towel. Dry them well for safer frying!
• Powder the flesh part very lightly to achieve dryness. Leave tail part alone.

Preparation of batter ( For frying 10 prawns and sides ) :

• Use specialized Tempura flour, or even ' weak ' Wheat flour. Follow the instructions for Tempura mentioned in product's packaging, if any. Else, you may like to try my lighter version.
• For mine, there's no hard and fast measurements, just a 85% cup of flour, and full cup of water. I prefer lighter coat for fried stuff. Consistency varies between different product, so if you find your batter too watery, add flour little by little to achieve a light creamy mixture. Do mix batter well.

Preparation of oil :

• I am using Ajinomoto's cholestrol-free oil which is very light. Use a depth-deep frying pan, got to pour in a generous volume of oil to pretend bathing the fellas. For my prawns, the oil level is about the height of my forefinger.
• Heat oil to 180deg. Sorry guys, my stove heats to 180deg upon command. To know when your oil is ready, land a droplet of batter into the oil. If it surfaces and appears ' fried ', it's time!

IT'S FRY TIME :

• Dip prawns into batter, and leave the tail part alone at best. You would want to see the reds after frying.
• Depending on the size of you pan, fry prawns 2, 3 or 4 at a time to acheive better frying. Overcrowding causes prawns to stick together or unable to expand in size during frying.
• Catch the prawn by tail, dip slowly into oil, and perform a gentle swing; forth and back. This causes the batter to produce great crust. Finally, let go of prawn in a straight forthward position. The rhythm should go ' Forward, back, forward, back, land. ' Attempt the next prawn. It takes some practise.
  * Note : This action is not a must. If you feel uncomfortable about it, please do not risk your poor fingers. Just slide the prawn quietly in will do. =)
• I fry 3 prawns in my small pan. Collect upon less than 2 minutes' oil bath, and cool on kitchen towel. ( Hehehe, I've run out of nice oil papers. ) You may wish to cool on a rack.
• You should see some crust remains in the oil after scooping up the prawns or other ingredients, as much as you can, try extracting those crust remains out as they tend to interfere the next batch's fry. Repeat after each batch.
  

Fry tip : Specified time may not be reliable especially when the desired temperature is not achieved. Size of ingredient makes a difference too. Generally, Tempura need not be that deeply fried in order to achieve the golden hue. It should appear cream white and lightly crusted. Should part of crust start to turn slightly brown, scoop the fella up.

Recipe for Special Side 1 : Stuffed green pepper

Ingredients ( makes 6 ) :

3 green pepper, 2 chicken fillet, 1/4 onion; minced, salt, pepper, 1tsp cornstarch

• Mince chicken fillet, season with little salt and pepper. Rub cornstarch into minced meat. You may add 1tsp of water to ease rubbing. This effort helps retaining moisture of meat so that it will not become too hard after frying.
• Mix minced meat with minced onion well. Fillings done.
• Cut head and tail off green pepper. Half and rid off seeds.
• Spread fillings into green pepper.
• To fry, simply dip into batter and fry for 2 minutes.
  

Recipe for Special Side 2 : Bundled Enokitake

Ingredients ( makes 5 ) :

Enoki Mushroom, packet of Japanese seaweed( 5 pcs within )

• 
  
  
  
• I am only using part of the mushroom pack here. Cut roots of the mushroom, but to the extent that they still adhere together. Split carefully into comfortable bite-size bundles. Do not spread them loose, this makes bundling job easier
• Bundle each piece of Enoki branch with seaweed. Wet the ending side of seaweed to create the adhering effect. If seaweed fails to yield. moist them carefully to make them soft for control.

Wild tips : Wrapping seaweed around ingredient gives surprizing flavour and special look to the dish, but dry, crisp seaweed may be a pain to manipulate. Extract needed seaweed out of drying agent, expose packed seaweed in the kitchen for 2 days before use. Refridgerating helps too.

• Holding bundled side, dip into batter. Fry for 2 minutes.

In the Tempura dish, prawn is the main while others are sides. For the sides, the Japs use anything from mushrooms, lotus roots, herbs to potatoes. Do pull them together in a plate to make a gorgeous pile. The golden rule, always arrange the prawns with tails pointing up!

Enjoy the natural taste of Tempura. Or, serve with Japanese sauce like つゆ( Tsuyu ). You may lighten the taste by adding a little boiling water ( to serve at colder climate ), or just water ( at hotter climate ). For us, we like it straight. Some like it with grated daikons (　大根　) within the tsuyu, ( oh, spare me ). Other options : prepare a small dish of good mineral salt for dipping, barbecue sauce, Tartar's, you name it.

頂きます。( Itadakimasu : I'll be tucking in. )