Tofu no Kara Age- Deep Fried Tofu (Wings Imitation)

Feel like eating non meat tonight? Try Tofu fritters.

Freeze tofu more than 2 hours, squeeze it and break it into cubes. Handle it as chicken cubes.

Ingredients and instruction: Tori no Kara Age- Deep Fried Chicken (Wings)

Soba Noodle Buddha Bowl

In macrobiotics, there is no strict dietary rule although it recommends people to eat less animal products or refined sugar.

Eat seasonal foods, listen to your body needs, and don't torture your body.

It gets really hot in Ottawa. Lately, I make lots of pickled vegetables and eat Yin food such as cucumber and tomatoes.

My body is telling me to stay cool this summer.

Add some ginger in the bowl to balance up Yin and Yang.

Ready in: 10 minutes

Ingredients for two:
200g Soba noodles
A few salad leaves
Pickled vegetables, such as peppers, red cabbage, ginger, and carrots (soak over night in sugar and vinegar)
Green onions as  decorations.
[Prepare sauce in a cup]
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of vinegar
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
2 teaspoons of Mirin or maple syrup


Step 1: Cook noodles by following the package.

Step 2: Put everything in a bowl and pour sauce on top.

Nashi Golen- Fried Rice/ Nasi Goreng

Back in 2003 when I started living in Australia, Japanese food wasn't so popular. There were no Ramen shops or Izakaya pubs. There were a few fancy Japanese restaurants, but they were pricy for a student.

Finding Japanese ingredients was challenging!

I remember eating lots of Indonesian, Vietnamese and Chinese food.

Nasi Goreng just brings me back to fun days. 

Ready in: 15 minutes

Ingredients for two:

2-3 cups of cooked rice

Vegetables in your fridge, i.e. spinach, mushrooms, carrots, onions, bean sprout, cabbage, and/or lettuce

A few slices of tomatoes

A few slices of cucumbers

Coriander

1 garlic clove, minced

2 eggs

Shrimp and/or chicken, optional

Frying oil

[Prepare sauce in a cup]

2 tablespoons of Asian sweet&chili sauce

1 tablespoon of soy sauce

1 tablespoon of nam pla fish sauce

1 tablespoon of oyster sauce

Click here for How To Cook Sushi Rice on Stove

Step 1: Make egg sunny side-up, and put it aside. I prefer a running egg! 

Step 2: Heat up a pan, and fry garlic first. Cook vegetables after.

Step 3: Add rice into the pan.

Step 4: Add sauce into the pan, and mix well.

Step 5: Voilà!

Kocha Kinoko- Kombucha

One of my first Canadian friends asked me if I wanted Kombucha 6 years ago. Apparently, it was homemade. I thought it was interesting that she had a homemade Kombucha. Kombucha means a powdered algae tea in Japanese. It reminded me of my grandparent's house where I used to drink it. So I said, Sure!

She came back with a huge slimy jelly. It looked so gross! 

What the hell is Kombucha then?! This is my first impression of Kombucha.

I started brewing it by myself. It's actually not bad.

I find homemade one is less fizzy, it doesn't hurt my throat.

Ready in: 2 weeks or less, Ottawa is too cold to brew it fast!!

Ingredients for 1L:

1L water

80g sugar

2 cafainated black tea bags

Required Equipment:

Scoby

30-50ml store-bought Kombucha, or starter fluid (depending on the size difference of your scoby and jar)

Mason jar

Cheesecloth or paper towel or coffee filter

Elastic band

Towel, optional

Step 1: Make sure your mason jar is bacteria-free!

Step 2: Make dark tea in hot water or boiling water.

Step 3: Add sugar while tea is still hot, and cool it down to room temperature.

Step 4: Once it cools down, pour tea in a jar.

<Important> Do NOT put your scoby in hot tea. You will kill her!!

Step 5: With your surgeon-clean hands, slowly put a scoby in the jar. Add store-bought Kombucha or starter fluid. Cover it with a cheesecloth and elastic band. Let it sit in a dark place where you don't need to move it around. You may want to wrap the jar with towel to keep 20 degrees around the jar for a better result.

<Important> New scoby layer will start. At the beginning, it looks like grease on the surface. If you move the jar, you disturb the growth of the new scoby. 

Step 6: After 5-8 days, a new scoby layer starts growing. At some point, the original scoby comes on the surface. Once it gets about 3mm thick evenly, your Kombucha is ready to enjoy. Your Kombucha has a lighter color than black tea you made to start.

Keep a scoby in 30ml Kombucha, use it in your next brew as a starter

Optional Step: For the second ferment, put Kombucha in a sealable bin. For its flavor, you may want to add some fruits directly in the jar. Keep it sealed in the room temperature for 1-2 days. When you open the lid, you will hear a fizzy soda sound.

Saidah Zeri- Rain Drop Cake with Fruits

During the summer, it gets really hot and humid in Japan, just like being in a sauna. Using an AC increases the heat in the air because there are so many people on the tinny island, and it's so crowded! The warm air comes from neighbor's AC would come right in your house.

We try to stay cool in every possible way, by Cool Biz clothes, by cold food, or by visual of food!

We have so many different kinds of rain drop cakes. 

They make your body and mind cold and refreshing, inside and outside!

Ready in: 40 minutes, including 30 minutes in the fridge

Ingredients for four:

15g of agar agar, you can use jello as well

25g of sugar

5 tablespoons of canned fruit syrup

400ml of plain sparkling water, room temperature

Fresh fruits

Canned mandarin

5 tablespoons of canned mandarin syrup

Required Equipment:

Four 125ml mason jars

Pan

Skewer

Step 1: Mix agar agar with sugar. 

<Important> Agar agar gets lumpy in water if you don't mix it with sugar. If you use gelatin, follow the direction on its package.

Step 2: Warm up sparkling water in a pan, and add syrup. Slowly add the agar agar mix into it.

<Important> It's very important that you don't heat it up. Otherwise, you lose fizzy texture in your cake.

Step 3: Cut fruits. Wet jars and place fruits in them.

<Tip> Create water layer inside the jar, so your cake can smoothly come out of it.

Step 4: Pour [Step 2] into each mason jar, and leave it on the counter till it cools down. Then put it in the fridge.

Step 5: Once it's solid, stick a skewer to put some air in, and remove the skewer. Hold the jar up side down towards a plate, and tap the bottom of the jar. Your cake should jump out from the jar if you properly wet the jar before.

Kappa Maki & Futo Maki- Cucumber Sushi Rolls, Sushi Burrito & California Rolls

Sushi has become very popular Japanese food now. It looks complicated, but is easy to make. It's a picnic lunch in Japan.

It's time to pack your lunch for cherry blossom season!

You can put any ingredients in it.

Ready in: 20 minutes from cooked rice

Ingredients for two Sushi Burritos:

2 cups of cooked Sushi rice

2 Nori sheets

Some sweet ginger pickles

Topping recommendation

Cucumber

Shiso leaves

Carrots, cook in microwave

Spinach, cook in microwave

Thin omelet

Mushrooms

Avocados

Smocked salmon

Required Equipment

Sushi mat

Similar recipe:

Sarada Maki- Salad Sushi Roll

Step 1: Make Sushi rice with white vinegar and sugar. For details, see here; How to Cook Sushi Rice on Stove.

Step 2: Prepare toppings.

Step 3: Place a Sushi mat on a table.

Sushi mat

Step 4: Put a Nori sheet on top.

Burrito

Cucumber Sushi roll 

Step 5: Take a handful of rice to make a burrito, half hand for cucumber Sushi rolls. Put it onto the Nori sheet. Leave about 1" on top of the sheet without rice.

Burrito

Cucumber Sushi roll  

Step 6: Place preferred ingredients on top.

Burrito

Cucumber Sushi roll 

Step 7: Put your 8 fingers on the middle of rice, and lift the bottom of the Sushi mat using your tombs, and roll it over the top.

Step 7: Cut it.

Step 8: Let's eat!

California Rolls

Kimpira- Lotus Root and Carrot Spicy Stir Fry

I have been practicing Microbiotics Diet since 2015.
Lotus Roots are often eaten in Microbiotics Diet.

The biggest reason why I started Microbiotics Diet is to warm up my body. Maybe because I live in a city where gets minus 30 degrees in the winter, I feel cold always. I am bundled up with leg warmers, a blanket and scarf at work, and I am still cold. I researched how I can warm up my body online. I tried many different things, but nothing lasts long. My friend’s parents own a Chinese medicine store, and they recommended boiling water with some dried fruits for 30 minutes and make a tea. I wasn’t sure if I could continue it. It tastes awful, but surprisingly I’m still doing it. This is how I went back to the orient culture.

I researched more about Chinese medicine, and learned Yin and Yang in food. Then I ended up reaching out to Microbiotics Diet which was invented in Japan in 1928. If you go deep in the concept, it gets complicated. However, eat a bowl of rice with some pickles, and miso soup, that’s a very simple Microbiotics Diet.

I enjoy Japanese simple food, so this diet is very fun for me.

Cut refined suger, dairy food, meat, fish, and reduce egg consumption. Eat rice, seaweeds, beans, fungus and vegetables. Microbiotics Diet doesn’t consume fruits or raw vegetable- except mandarin orange and apples. I eat meat and fish on weekends, and enjoy coffee in the morning.

Simply, stick to Japanese traditional dish. This is what I like th most about this diet!

Ready in: 15 minutes

Ingredients for two:
2 small lotus roots
1/2 carrots
1 chili
2 tablespoons of mirin
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of sake
sesame oil

Step 1: Cut vegetables.

Step 2: In a pan, put some sesame oil, and cook vegetables. Add mirin, soy sauce, sake.

Oden- Dashi Broth Stew

This is a classic winter food for us. We usually cook it in a pot right at the dinner table, and have a long dinner time.

Ready in: 6 hours (15 minutes of preparation time)

Ingredients for two:

Some boiled eggs, or quails eggs because my crockpot is small

Some daikon radish
One cake of konyaku, yum potato cake
Konbu seaweed, if you don't add this, you need one cup of Dashi stock

Some fried tofu

Some fishcakes, optional

Some mustard as a condiment

Soup

2 cups of water

2 tablespoons of Mirin
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tablespoons of sake or white wine
1 tablespoons of maple sylup or sugar

Equipment:

Crockpot, you can make it in a pot as well 

Step 1: Cut all the ingredients to fit in your pot, and put everything in the pot.

Step 2: Add the soup in the pot, and set crockpot at low for 6 hours.

Chimaki- Steamed Sticky Rice with Meat and Veggies

My mother was on mission of making home-made food and dessert 365 days a year when I grew up. She has made anything by herslef; juice, pizzas, birthday cake, ice cream, anything you can think of. 

There are many food that I missed from her. Chimaki rice is one of my favorite.

After both her children left home, my mother opened a cooking class and still enjoys home-made cooking. 

She has never taught me how to cook. We've never stood in the kitchen together. However, I remember seeing things what she did in the kitchen, and oddly enough I know what to do to make her taste.

This rice taste good even eating it cold.

Ready in: 30 minutes

Ingredients for four:

2 cups of sweet rice

1/2 cups of dried mushrooms- dilute the mushroom water to 2 cups

1/2 cups of minced chicken or pork, if you want

1 cup of vegetables, such as green beans, carrots, or bamboo shoots 

2 tablespoons of sake

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

2 tablespoons of sesame oil for frying

2 cups of  mushroom water

Equipment:

Foil or leaves to wrap

Steamer

Step 1: Soak dried mushrooms in water and mice them. Do NOT throw out the water!!

Step 2: Mince your meat and vegetables, and cook eveything with sesame oil in a frying pan.

Step 3: Wash rice, and put in the pan. Mix everything.

Step 4: Put mushroom water, sake and soy sauce, and cook untill water disappears.

Rice should look still white, and uncooked.

Step 5: Place some in foil and wrap it in a shape you like.

Step 6: Steam the wraps for 20 -30 minutes.

Put the lid on!