Waking up each day...

Second attempt at making pie in Japan.

It went rather well, I'm pleased to say.
Instead of the lame attempt at making classic puff pastry (coz it just simply takes too much time,) I tried rough puff pastry, which way surpassed my expectations! Especially since the pastry last time was so sad, I was really surprised at how nicely it turned out. Today's pie pastry was just wonderful; light and fluffy and sooooooooooo many thin crispy layers.

Anyway, enough about the pastry. The pie on the whole was quite nice actually: Chicken and Leek Pie today. Took photos but haven't uploaded them on my food blog yet. Will do so once Paul transfers them over from the other Mac.

EDIT: Oops! I forgot to include the wine in the recipe... fixed it up now.

of food... hehehe

these have been uploaded to my food blog recently:

slightly spicy vegetable soup with soy beans:


( and a couple more )

I'm really enjoying taking photos for my food blog.. I've almost been taking photos everyday, just takes a while to get the photos uploaded though.

Recently additions are:

A new page
for posting photos of my concoctions. (At the moment, there are only pictures of the simple korean meal I prepared last week... will be adding more tonight.)

A recipe for my Cheesy Sauce with Spinach on Spinach Fettucini. (photo to be added later)

o(^-^)o

I posted another recipe on my food blog, this time it's for cooking scallopped potatoes using a rice cooker.

I've taken lots of photos over the past couple of weeks or so... still haven't had a chance to edit/upload/post everything.
Will be adding a new page to my food blog, haven't decided on the title of the page yet, but the idea is that I'll post photos of meals or dishes that I make for the first time (so before I am confident with writing up a recipe for.) It's kind of like a concept page I guess.

Posted another recipe on my food blog:
Mapo Tofu with Eggplant

It was a rather whimsical attempt but...
I made chicken and mushroom PIES with last night.
I even made my own pastry!

I looked up all these recipes for puff pastry but after see the preparation times for them I went "pfft! forget it!"...

Instead of using lard and a huge block of butter, I rubbed margerine into the flour, then added a bit of cold water and make it into a soft dough.
Then I rolled it out and spread margerine on it, then folded it, then rolled it out... etc etc.
It wasn't fantastic, but hey it too a fraction of the time. It wasn't as soft and light as I'd like it to be, but I still got some layers.
Will definitely do it again and I'll do it when I have more time.

I was going through my hardly-ever-used email account and stumbled upon this recipe that I'd forgotten about.
I now recall that I made it for someone's birthday or some other special occasion at work.

Anyway, here it is.

Lisa's Toblerone & Rum Slice (Cheesecake)


Ingredients:

1 pkt chocolate biscuits and butter for the base

philladelphia cream cheese x 2

about 300g of toblerone

thick cream

rum (enough to knock yourself out!)

sugar to your own taste (or sweetened condensed milk, I think gives a smoother texture)

gelatin (a sachet/3teaspoons dissolved in a little bit of hot water)

a "flake" to crumble up and sprinkle over the the top
or shave some toblerone for the top

Steps:

1. crush biscuits and mix with melted butter (i think i sprinkled some milo stuff in it too)
then spread mixture evenly on the base of pan or springform cake tin (yes, this is a cheesecake)
while the base is chilling in the fridge...

2. melt the toblerone and keep it the bowl in hot water so that it doesn't harden up while you're whipping the cheese

3. whip the cheese till it's smooth and creamy
(you can nuke the cream cheese in the microwave for a little bit on low heat to soften it so that it's easier to whip)

4. now add the thick cream and the melted toblerone and sweetened condensed milk (maybe about half a can)

5. whip it all up until it's all evenly mixed up (slowly add the gelatin stuff into the mixture)

6. pour the creamy alcoholic mixture on top of the base and decorate with crumbled flake or shaved chocolate

7. put in fridge for a few hours and start eating!

Did I mention in my posts that Idel gave me her "oven" a couple of weeks ago? Awesome isn't it?!
As Bachiko described it, it really looked more like a huge nabe than an oven.. hehe

Anyway, here's my first attempt at bread rolls (and using Idel's oven...) so hope it goes well..


Ingredients:

the dough
180mL water
1 egg (L)
huge blob of Japanese mayonnaise
400g strong flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chicken stock powder
2 tsp dried yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon red pesto
1 tsp dried parsley
1 handful of cheese

ideas for the toppings/fillings
basically whatever we have at home... hehe
pumpkin slices (boiled them for about 2 minutes so they're kinda softish)
salami
red pesto
parsley
cheese

the result....
10 minutes is not enough for the dough to cook.
20 minutes is almost enough, but the bread is still a little doughy (eating it right now...9:36am, 10/30)

Ingredients

The Soup
-white miso paste (about 2 heaped tablespoons per person)
-fish stock or chicken stock (about 2 to 3 cups per person)
-sugar
-soy sauce
-sesame oil
-garlic (minced, chopped, any way you like them really..)
-spring onion (minced/chopped up..)
-spring onion for garnish (cut it any way you like, or not)
-rice flour mixed with water (to thicken the soup, you can use cornflour if you don't have rice flour)

The Rest
udon noodles (or other noodle of your choice)
some chicken or dumplings or sea food (anything you like really)
some tofu (if you like)
and some vegies (if you like)

Putting it all together...
1. Heat some sesame oil in a pan and fry the garlic and spring onion, this should smell great! (don't let it burn or brown too much though)
2. Add enough stock for the number of people you're cooking for (usually about 2~3 cups per person.. it'll boil down)
3. In a bowl, mix some miso paste (about 2 heaped tablespoons per person) with some water until it resembles a runny sauce
4. Add the miso paste sauce to the boiling broth, and stir
5. Add a little bit of soy sauce (not more than a tablespoon)
6. Add some sugar to your liking (it should be sweetish but still savory... probably not more than 1 small teaspoon per person, unless you like it really sweet..)
8. When you're happy with the taste of the soup, cook the noodles in the soup
9. Take out the noodles and put them into individual bowls
10. Cook the other things in the soup then ladle it over the udon
11. Finish off this spring onions and a little bit of sesame oil and maybe a bit of chili spice


Notes:

If you make a bit of the fried garlic/onion sesame oil at the start, spoon some over the top of the spring onion garnish.

A little bit of minced chili, or a few drops of chili oil will give it more flare, so to speak.

Just take this as a rough guide and experiment! (like I always do anyway.. hehe)

Well, this is what happens when you don't actually have the correct ingredients..
I haven't made beef stroganoff since high school (and god no, I don't remember that recipe either)

I did some quick research on the internet today during my lunch break, and found that it was rather different to what I'd remembered... I guess it was because the one I made in high school was from "Cookery the Australian Way", and Paul was more used to the tomatoed-variant anyway.. so I opted, yet again, to experiment.

It seems the universally accepted essential ingredients are beef and sour cream, the other ingredients are all debatable.

I decided I want some mushrooms and a bit of onion as well as the beef and sour cream, and a bit of tomato paste.
After 2 trips to the supermarkets, I couldn't get a hold of any sour cream, tomato paste or button mushrooms...

Here's what I finally used:

1 can diced/chopped tomatoes
100~150mL of yogurt (just a rough guess, didn't actually measure it out)
2 x 100g packet of "eringi" mushrooms
800g beef (cut into strips)
1 egg (white only)
a little bit of cornflour
tiny bit of soy sauce (not really necessary)
some garlic
half a red onion
1 packet instant mushroom soup
salt & pepper
nutmeg
parsley
Japanese mountain spice

This is what I did with the ingredients:

1. mixed the beef with cornflour, egg white, a few shakes of pepper and a teaspoon of soy sauce, and left it for about an hour or so
2. chopped up some garlic (couldn't be bothered mincing)
3. chopped up the red onion really finely
4. sliced the mushrooms
5. heat some oil in a pan and sautéed the garlic for a bit
6. added the beef to the pan and cooked it lightly (can still see a little bit of red on some pieces) then put it aside
7. wash the pan, then browned the chopped onions with some butter and olive oil
8. stirred in the mushrooms with the onion sautéed a bit more
9. added the can of tomatoes and instant mushroom soup and stirred thoroughly
10. let the tomatoey onion mushroom stuff simmer and reduce for a while
11. added the spices.. (then ate some of the tomatoey mushrooms...)
12. added the beef back to the pan
13. finally stirred in the yogurt and let it begin to simmer then turned the heat down

and now serving it with rice (oh, the rice isn't done yet... will have to wait a bit... doh!)

It's Yama-san's birthday today... "Happy Birthday!" (I don't think she knows about my blogs though...)
Anyway, we went and "tried" to have a surprise party, but she found out, just before Bachiko-san and I arrived. Still good fun though.

G-san and I-forgot-her-name-san made decorations
A really cool pop-up birthday cake poster and streamers.. as well as "Tanabata" decorations: branches of bamboo with wishes written on little pieces of paper hanging from them. I didn't get the chance to write one as I was too busy in the kitchen! (T-T)
I was given the responsibility of making the cake, and Bachiko was given the responsibility of preparing the sushi stuff.
It was a "temaki" (hand-roll sushi) party, where you just get a small piece of nori and put a little bit of rice and anything you want in it, then roll in up and eat it.
As usual, I ate too much... I also drank too much green tea... didn't feel too good afterwards.

( the cake I made )


Before the party, we went to Kobe and met up with Tama-san to go and visit Sumi-san who is in hospital. (She had some operation done on her right arm and would be in the hospital till next Friday.)
The four of us chatted and chatted, and ate chou cremes, and chatted for ages...
I was talked into running a marathon with them in November ... RUNNING! for crying out loud...
only 10km though... "ONLY"?! (they're doing the 20km one)

Everybody knows that: I can't run. Full-stop.
I guess it's time to give myself a new challenge...
but *GULP* 10kms is a lot to ask for, when I don't even think I can do 1km right now. Probably not even 500m...

After riding pass this little bakery that specialises in rice flour breads, it reminded my of friends who have allergies back home (name Tze-Hern who is lactose intolerant and Drew has coeliac disease and Tze who's sensitive to beef and really really fresh seafood..) I thought that it would be pretty cool to have a bakery specialising in allergen-free stuff.

And having been emailing/talking to Drew more often recently, I've decided to experiment with gluten-free rice flour cakes and milk-free recipes...
using my rice cooker, so far, I've come up with a dense but moist banana cake, and a chocolate (mousse-like) cake.


The Banana Cake serves 6
200g rice flour (maybe a little bit less would make it not as dense)
20g black soy bean powder (you don't really need it, but it's good for you)
6tbsp light brown sugar (don't know the name of it, it's dryer and lighter than normal brown sugar)
1tsp baking powder (maybe 1.5 would be better)
300mL milk (substitute with soy milk if preferred)
2 medium-sized eggs
3 medium-sized bananas

1) slice the bananas
2) mix the other ingredients in a bowl
3) add half the banana slices with the cake mixture and mash it in a little (with a fork or egg beater)
4) pour the mixture into the rice cooker bowl
5) put the rest of the banana slices over the top
6) close the lid and start cooking
7) to take the cake out, cover the top of the cake with some foil and tip the bowl upside-down while supporting the cake with one hand (in an oven mitt of course!)
8) serve hot with cream or ice-cream (or cold for breakfast, like paul)



The Chocolate Mousse Cake serves 4~6
100g rice flour
3 eggs
200mL milk
1tsp baking powder
50g chocolate coating (soft chocolate... or just use chocolate sauce)
50g bittersweet chocolate
2tbsp sweet cocoa
2tbsp light brown sugar (or just sugar)
2tsp olive oil

1) crack the eggs into a blender, add the baking powder and mix for about 10secs
2) add milk and bittersweet chocolate pieces (if it's not shaved) and blend for about 1min (or until the chocolate's in tiny bits)
3) add the rice flour and everything else and blend till it's well mixed and slightly bubbly (like a thick smoothie) add more chocolate stuff if you like
4) pout everything into the rice cooker bowl, close the lid and start cooking
5) lovely hot with ice-cream or on it's own (it becomes firmer once it's been in the fridge)

I'm using it to cook rice to make onigiri right now.. but I have other plans for it apart from using it for it's apparent function.
I've decided to try and make bread and butter pudding with it as the first wacky experiment.

decided to make some meaty gyoza today...
so I used:

350g minced meat (6:4 beef/pork)
small bunch of spring onion
3~4 cloves of garlic
about 1 tbsp ginger
a little bit of cabbage
2~3 tbsp corn flour
1 cup of chicken broth
3 tbsp soy sauce
a splash of chinese cooking wine
a few shakes of pepper
and a bit of salt

I made 40 decent sized dumplings