Wednesday, 9 October 2013

recipe lane


homestay dad's udon: i.e. an inspiration 
It never occurred to me that a person can really 'learn to cook'. I always assumed it was one of those skills a person is born with - like gymnastics or singing. During my homestay, though, I've got a bit fired up (ha) about homecooked food and want to learn a few things for when I go back to Tokyo. My homestay mother doesn't really like to cook and usually complains that her food doesn't taste of anything much. (Her husband agrees). I think their standards are much higher than mine: after living off conbini onigiris and salads in Tokyo, her 'simple' dishes are like nectar from the gods.




Pumpkin in soy sauce and mirin or かぼちゃ煮物

Ingredients:

One Small Pumpkin
For the sauce: equal amounts of Soy Sauce and Mirin, (a thimbleful of) Sake, Water, Salt, (a tad of) Sugar

1. Chop up pumpkin into bite-size pieces. 
2. Put in a saucepan with a cup of water and simmer until soft. 
3. Mix together sauce ingredients and pour on the pumpkin. Ta-dah!






Japanese potato croquettes or じゃがいものコロッケ

Ingredients:
Potato (Don't ask me how many! Do a bit of 目安)
1 Onion
(Go easy on the) Minced beef
(Some) Panko flakes or breadcrumbs
1 Egg

1. Peel and chop potatoes. Boil them until soft. While the potatoes are cooking...
2. Finely chop the onion and fry with the mince meet until brown. Put aside.
3. Mash the potatoes! (If you don't have a masher, wait until potatoes are really soft and use a fork).
4. Mix mince and onion with mashed potatoes. Make little round patties with your hands and dip into...
5. Beaten egg and
6. Panko flakes until covered.
7. Deep fry in oil (not sure how this works - how much oil etc? Sorry - rubbish instructions)
8. Then pat dry with paper towels. You can freeze them to eat later as well.
9. Eat them with shredded cabbage, sliced cucumber and a tomato. Brown sauce and/or Mayonnaise optional.


Homestay Mum's Oden
Oden - well, you buy Oden instead of making it. You warm it up in a big pot and eat it with Karashi (Japanese mustard). And then you wonder what you're eating... The answer is always 'Fish' (unless it's a boiled egg, daikon, konbu seaweed or konnyaku) but the reason why it's fish is really not clear. For instance, those long tubes are made of fish, and the white floating spheres. Surprising.





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