October 13, 2010 by deirinberg
The other night Yuki and I cooked together. We made one of my favorites, chicken hijiki rice, along with some vegetables that we needed to use up.
Making the rice is easy as can be. We used 1.5 tablespoons of dried hijiki seaweed, 4 shiitake sliced, 1 carrot sliced in half moons, and 1/2 pound of skinless chicken thighs. While I rinsed off 2 cups of rice and cut up the vegetables Yuki cut up the chicken and quickly sauteed it in sesame oil. After filling the rice cooker with the proper amount of water for 2 cups of rice I put the hijiki in and let it sit for about 15 minutes. Then we tossed everything else in, turned on the cooker, and let it go.
I made a sesame dressing for some pea pods that were in our fridge. I used 1 tablespoon of miso paste, a pinch of sugar, 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, and 1/2 tablespoon of mirin.
I toasted the sesame seeds in a dry skillet for a few minutes until they turned a golden brown and started to give off their fragrance. Then I ground them with my pestle and mortar. I added the rest of the ingredients, mixed them all together, and set it aside. I simply steamed the pea pods for about 4 minutes when the rice was ready. Then I tossed them with the sesame dressing.
We also had some chikuwa and 1/2 a zucchini to use up. Chikuwa are tubular, hollow fish cakes that have been baked or grilled. I sliced the zucchini into long sticks and stuffed the chikuwa with them. Once the rice was ready and the pea pods steaming I just put them in the toaster oven and toasted them for about 6 minutes. I drizzled them with the sesame dressing as well.
While I was doing that Yuki made some miso soup. I didn’t watch her make it, but she put in it sliced onion and wakame.
Posted in Home Cooking, poultry | Tagged beer, carrot, chicken, chikuwa, fish cake, hijike, mirin, miso, miso soup, onion, rice, sake, sesame dressing, sesame oil, sesame seeds, shiitake, soy sauce, sugar, wakame, zucchini | 2 Comments »
October 12, 2010 by deirinberg
My buddy Tony and his wife Sandra took Yuki and I to Salam for lunch this past Saturday. Tony’s been talking about how fantastic their hummus is for a long time as he’s an even bigger hummus snob than I am. He took me up there for lunch a while back only to find they were on vacation, so I never got to try it. Well, Saturday worked out. We went and we dined. I have to say, that hummus is not only the best I’ve had in Chicago, it’s right up there with the best I’ve ever had period! I lived in the Middle East for a year so I know a thing or two about hummus. For the life of me I have no idea how they get such a creamy texture. Fantastic! Funny enough, Yuki found online that their hummus voted the best in Chicago by WGN Sunday night.
At any rate, when we were there Saturday I had the shawerma and Yuki had the chicken kifta, both also fantastic, but neither of us tried the falafel. Craving that hummus and wanting to not only try their falafel but also their baba ganouj we decided that we ought to go back for Meatless Monday.
We were meeting a close friend for dinner up there and got there early, so we walked around a little bit. Albany Park is a great neighborhood full of culture that I need to explore more of. We walked into the Tannourine Bakery just to check things out. They hand bake all of their own goods, including their pita bread. After chitchatting with Mike, the head honcho there, we ended up buying some spinach pockets, cheese pockets, and thyme manakeesh. He and I hit it off so he not only gave me a discount, but he also threw in a box of free anise cookies. Everything is so delicious and you can tell they care about their goods. I will definately head back to Mike when I need some good pastries.
Back to Salam. We started off with baba ganouj, hummus, and lentil soup. Believe it or not what you see in the pic are the smalls! Huge portions, only order large if you’re feeding an army. One of the best lentil soups in Chicago and that baba just might qualify as the best in town as well.
The falafel is also outstanding. If not the best in town, definately in the conversation and definately one of the largest falafel sandwiches! Perfectly cooked fresh falafel, diced tomato and cucumber, and tahini…a classic.
Just look at how green and fresh the inside of that falafel is. I know the picture sucks, but trust me, that falafel was heaven in a fried chickpea.
I also ordered the spinach pie, but honestly, I was so stuffed from the huge falafel sandwhich that I didn’t even touch it. I’m going to eat it tonight. Judging by everything else I’m sure it’s one of the best spinach pies in Chitown.
We ordered the combo plate full of kifta and kabob on rice with a tomato and cucumber salad to go along with six more falafel balls. The idea being that we had a bunch of left over hummus and baba that we ought to just have leftovers for lunch today. Not only did we have leftovers for lunch, we still have enough for dinner tonight as well. For about $40 we both got 3 full, healthy and delicious meals. You can’t beat that.
Service is also pretty good. It’s a bare bones little restaurant, but very attentive. I’ll definately make this little joint a regular stop in my rotation. I just cannot say enough good things about Salam except for “Peace be with you”.
Posted in Meatless Monday, Restaurant, Vegetarian | Tagged albany park, anise, baba ganouj, cheese, chicken, chickpea, cookies, cucumber, falafel, hummus, kabob, kifta, lentil, manakeesh, meatless monday, middle east, pita, rice, salam, shawerma, spinach, spinach pie, tahini, tannourine bakery, thyme, tomato, wgn | 9 Comments »
October 9, 2010 by deirinberg
I’ve been doing more baking lately and find that I quite enjoy it. There’s nothing like biting into a warm, fresh, moist baked good. With just the two of us one batch lasts about a week giving us healthy afternoon snacks. My latest were these Raspberry Yogurt Buns. They’re made like a muffin, but with the yogurt they don’t rise very much. They are absolutely delicious though and could be made with just about any kind of fruit, fresh or dried.
The ingredient list includes 3/4 cup pure cane sugar, 1 package of fresh raspberries, 1 3/4 cup cake flour, 2 eggs at room temperature, 1/2 cup butter at room temperature, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 1 cup plain yogurt, and two teaspoons baking powder.
In a large bowl I mixed together the butter and sugar until it was nice and fluffy. An electric mixer would make this easy. I don’t have one, but I kind of enjoy the challenge of doing this by hand. I used a fork to cream the butter and sugar. Once it was nicely creamed I switched to a whisk and added the eggs one at a time followed by the vanilla, the yogurt, and then the raspberries. I whisked it really well until the raspberries mostly came apart and mixed in evenly.
In a seperate bowl I sifted the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mixed that all together with a clean fork. In batches of three to make sure it’s evenly incorporated I mixed this flour mixture into the yogurt mixture. I whisked it all together until I had a nice smooth batter.
I have a 12 cup muffin pan that I lightly buttered each cup. I poured the batter in each cup and then put it into a 350 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes. The tops should be a little springy when touched. Once cooled I had some fantastic little buns.
Posted in Baking, Home Cooking, Sweets | Tagged baking powder, baking soda, bun, butter, cake flour, cane sugar, egg, flour, muffin, raspberry, salt, vanilla, vanilla extract, whisk, yogurt | 2 Comments »
October 5, 2010 by deirinberg
Finally, I got Meatless Monday back into my life. No Bears game (thank goodness, I don’t think I can stand to watch that O-line pretend to block anymore) or anything that calls for carcus so I cleaned out some of the vegetables I had in my fridge. With the weather getting a little chilly I thought a nice hot bowl of Minestrone would hit the spot, especially since Yuki loves soup. To go with it I made some mushrooms in soy milk on toast.
For the minestrone I used 1 can of brown beans, 4 quarts of vegetable stock, 1 28oz can of skinned tomatoes, 6oz of farfale pasta, 2 ribs of celery chopped, 1 carrot chopped, 1 zucchini chopped, 1/2 an onion chopped, 1/2 green bell pepper chopped, 1 yukon gold potato skinned and chopped (2 in the pic but I only used 1), 3 garlic cloves chopped, some basil thinly sliced, and Parmigiano Reggiano grated.
In a heated stock pot I poured in about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and then sweated down the onion, carrot, and celery for about 3 minutes. Then I added the green pepper and garlic and let that go for another 3 minutes. I dumped the juice from the tomato can in and crushed the tomatoes with my hands. Once the tomato juice started to boil, about 1 minute or so, I poured in the stock and seasoned with salt and pepper and 1 bay leaf. Once the stock started to boil, about 2 or 3 minutes, I added the potato and zucchini. The potato and zucchini obviously lowered the temperature of the soup, so a few minutes later when it came back to a boil I added the pasta then covered the pot and turned the heat down from medium-high to medium. I let it simmer for about 15 minutes to let the pasta cook properly.
While the pasta was cooking I heated up my saute pan and got the mushrooms ready. I thickly sliced (about 1/4-1/3 inch) 4 button mushrooms and a container of cremini mushrooms and sliced up 3 green onions. I melted 1 tablespoon of butter and poured in another tablespoon of olive oil then dumped all of the mushrooms and green onions in. I let them cook down for about 10 minutes until the mushrooms started to release their moisture. Then I poured in about 1/4 cup of soy milk and let that thicken up for about 2 minutes. I added some thinly sliced basil and turned off the heat. I toasted some sliced of challah during the cooking.
To serve, I ladled some soup into my bowls and topped it with sliced basil. I put the toasted challah on a plate and spooned some of the mushrooms on top. Then I topped everything with fresh grated Parmigiano Reggiano.
Posted in Meatless Monday, Vegetarian | Tagged basil, bay leaf, butter, button mushroom, carrot, celery, challah, cremini, farfale, garlic, green bell pepper, green onion, meatless monday, minestrone, mushrooms, olive oil, onion, parmigiano reggiano, pasta, potato, soy milk, tomato, yukon gold, zucchini | Leave a Comment »
October 4, 2010 by deirinberg
So, Yuki had some coupons from unused miles on United Airlines. Last night we used one at Ai Sushi. I dvr’d the Bears-Giants game and we headed down to Ontario St for some grub.
Parking was a pain because all of the meters were “For Residents Only Until Oct 4”. We did find a spot about a block away so we didn’t have to spend on valet. Tonight we could have gotten a spot right in front. Oh well, can’t blame that on the restaurant.
The interior is really nice. It has the open loft feel with exposed brick and wood beams. The art on the walls was not flashy at all and instead complimented the brick. Colors were soft and very intimate. It has a real nice setting inside.
I did use my phone’s camera, so these pics are terrible.
First thing we got was the Sunomono Moriawase. Shrimp, real crab meat, and octopus lightly cooked along with fluke sashimi in a dashi vinaigrette with daikon sticks and seaweed. It was really good, fresh fish and not to vinegary at all.
Next was one of the specials of the night, Wagyu Tobanyaki. 5 slices of real Kobe beef imported from Japan, enoki mushrooms, and shimeji mushrooms that you cook yourself on a hot stone with butter. The beef was so soft and delicious. It was definitely the real thing, none of that cow from Nebraska.
After that we each had a bowl of Kabocha Corn Soup. Simply a puree of kabocha and corn, probably with onion. It tasted like something I would make, which is to say it was pretty tasty.
Then came the Chawanmushi. A Chinese style egg custard with shiitake, shimeji, and enoki mushrooms. The custard was the perfect consistency. Not a fancy dish, but a good one.
The first maki roll we got was their Habanero Lobster. It had tempura lobster, kampyo, ginger, mango, avocado, habanero, capers, cilantro, and sour cream mayo. We’re not usually fans of rolls with more than a few ingredients, but this one was pretty good. That habanero packed a punch, but not so much that you couldn’t taste the lobster’s sweetness. It was pretty good. They also put a few slices of smoked duck on the plate. They serve smoked duck sushi and must have needed to get rid of it, but it tasted pretty good to me, so I didn’t mind.
The last thing we got was one of the night’s special rolls, Orange Maki. It had tempura shrimp and orange zest inside and was topped with salmon and black tobiko. It was really good! Light, sweet, and refreshing. I would definitely order that roll again. Also, there was more smoked duck on this plate.
We didn’t have any room for dessert and didn’t even look at the dessert menu so I can’t comment on that.
The service was professional. We never had to wait long for anything, we weren’t rushed or bothered to hurry up, and our server was very knowledgable of the menu. The only gripe I have, and it’s nitpicking, is that the food should have come out in a different order. The beef should have been last and soup served before the chawanmushi. Other than that, I have no complaints at all.
I would have to say that Ai is one of the better sushi restaurants we’ve been to in Chicago. I wouldn’t call it the best, but it is definitely worth while with some creative offerings as well as some classics, all very fresh and properly prepared. I would go back without hesitation.
Posted in Restaurant | Tagged ai sushi, avocado, butter, capers, chawanmushi, chicago bears, chinese, cilantro, corn, crab, custard, daikon, dashi, duck, egg, enoki, fluke, ginger, habanero, japan, kabocha, kampyo, kobe beef, lobster, mango, mayo, mushrooms, nebraska, new york giants, octopus, onion, ontario street, orange, salmon, sashimi, seaweed, shiitake, shimeji, shrimp, sour cream, sunomono moriawase, tempura, tobanyaki, tobiko, united airlines, vinaigrette, wagyu | Leave a Comment »
September 30, 2010 by deirinberg
Last night we finally got to try Ruxbin Kitchen. It was our third attempt, and I guess it’s true what they say, the third time’s the charm. You see, Ruxbin Kitchen is a new restaurant just down the street from us that opened up this past summer. They don’t take reservations and word must have gotten out quick about how good it is because the first two times Yuki and I went there the wait was 1.5 hours. Yesterday we planned on going early, at 6pm, to ensure a table. We got our table, and while I don’t think there was a wait after we got there, the restaurant was full, for good reason.
It’s a small space, only about a 40 person capacity maybe. It’s real kitschy inside. Comfortable seats, wood tables and fixtures, cookbooks displayed on the walls, and pages from cookbooks plastered all over the ceiling.
Service was good. Not the fastest, not the slowest, but a nice pace. Our server was knowledgable of the menu and didn’t push us in any direction. It is BYOB, so be prepared. They do offer the proper glasses and openers. They also brought out popcorn sprinkled with ground nori to nosh on while perusing the menu. That replaced bread service.
We started off with the Crispy Eggplant. It’s sliced, quartered eggplant coating in bread crumbs and deep-fried. Served with roasted beets, sticks of cucumber, frisee, and honey-cardamom yogurt. There’s also some pepper sprinkled around one edge of the plate for you own pleasure. I have to say, as much as I love the classic beet salad with mixed greens, walnuts, and fried goat cheese that everyone serves, this was a really nice change of pace. Even though it’s called Crispy Eggplant, for me, the beets were the dominant flavor. Very nice salad to start with.
Next, we shared the K-Town Empanadas. Two empanadas stuffed with masa, kimchee, Oaxaca cheese, and covered with a chimichurri creme fraiche. Who on earth would put cheese and kimchee together? Chef Ed Kim, that’s who. What a stroke of genius! The kimchee took center stage while the cheese added a subtle sweetness and the masa some texture. definitely a winner.
We split two entrees. One was a perfectly cooked piece of trout with nice crispy skin and moist flesh. It was served on top of a bulgur wheat tabbouleh with black sesame seeds and dates, asparagus spears on top, and basil pesto drizzled around the plate. I’m not usually impressed by trout, but this dish was fantastic. The sweet dates, bitter asparagus, earthy bulgur wheat and sesame seeds, and herby basil all worked really well together.
The other entrée we got was their play on chicken and waffles. There was roasted breast with crispy skin along one side of the plate. That came with a citrus sauce of some kind. Then was a cumin cheddar waffle with dark meat carnitas and apple walnut compote. The waffle was sliced in half with the carnitas sandwiched in between and the compote on top. The rest of the plate was a slaw with arugula. The waffle was outstanding. The most creative take on chicken and waffles I’ve ever eaten and another home run by Chef Kim. My only gripe with the plate was that the breast was a little over salted, not so much that it was bad though. That’s something that most chefs do and I’ll never understand. I like salt, but chefs almost always put a little too much on chicken. Oh well, the entire dish was great.
We didn’t have any room in our guts for dessert so I can’t comment on them. Next time we go back we’ll keep it to one appetizer so that we have room for dessert. And believe me, we’ll definitely go back! Not sure it’s worth a 1.5 hour wait (I don’t think any restaurant is worth that) but it’s definitely worth waiting for a while if you get there and it’s full. I love having a joint like this so close to my place. A great place to take out-of-town friends who want something hip that’s off the beaten path.
Posted in Restaurant | Tagged apple, arugula, asparagus, basil, beets, bread, bread crumbs, bulgur, cardamom, carnitas, cheddar, cheese, chicken, chimichurri, citrus, compote, creme fraiche, cucumber, cumin, dates, edward kim, eggplant, empanada, frisee, goat cheese, honey, kimchee, masa, nori, oaxaca, pesto, popcorn, ruxbin, sesame seed, slaw, tabbouleh, trout, waffle, walnuts, wheat, yogurt | 2 Comments »
September 29, 2010 by deirinberg
Last night I made another Japanese flavored spaghetti dish using sake hogushi and aonori. Sake hogushi is simply cooked salmon that’s been flaked into small “crumbs” and jarred. Aonori is a type of nori, Japanese algae, that’s been ground into a powder. The two ingredients can be used in a variety of ways like being sprinkled on white rice, mixed into cream sauces or dressings, or used like I did last night to name a few. Great ingredients to have on hand and available at any Asian grocer.
First thing I did was get my side vegetables ready. I had three beefsteak tomatoes and 1 large Japanese eggplant. I sliced the top off the tomatoes, sliced the eggplant in half length-wise, and then cut the eggplant into 2-3 inch pieces. I coated the tops of the vegetables with panko, then drizzled some olive oil on top, then sprinkled some aonori on top of that. I roasted them in a 350 degree oven for about 35-40 minutes, just enough time for me to get the rest of dinner ready.
To make the spaghetti I used butter, the sake hogushi, half on onion sliced, 7 button mushrooms sliced, and 4 garlic cloves. In a large hot skillet I poured about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and then melted 1 tablespoon of butter in that. I added the onion and let it sweat for about 4 minutes. Then, I added the garlic and mushrooms. At the same time I cooked my noodles in boiling water until al dente. The garlic and mushrooms needed about 5 minutes which was about the same amount of time the noodles took. After draining the noodles (I reserved about 1/3 cup of the water) I added about 1/4 cup of soy sauce along with 1/2 cup of the sake hogushi to the onions, garlic, and mushrooms. I let the soy come to boil for about 2 minutes and then added the noodles and reserved water with some black pepper. I let the noodles coat with the sauce and most of the liquid boil off then turned off the heat and covered the skillet.
Then, I took two baby bok choy that I had seperated the leaves of and put them in my steamer for about 4 minutes. That’s just enough time to cook the stems without having the leaves wilt too much.
To serve, I put the baby bok choy on the plate then the spaghetti on top of that. I sprinkled it with some aonori and then put a tomato and some eggplant on the side.
Posted in Home Cooking, seafood | Tagged algae, aonori, baby bok choy, beefsteak tomato, butter, button mushroom, eggplant, garlic, japanese, japanese eggplant, nori, olive oil, onion, panko, sake, sake hogushi, salmon, spaghetti | 1 Comment »
September 28, 2010 by deirinberg
Again, no Meatless Monday. With the Bears-Packers game it just didn’t seem right to cook vegetarian. Sausages on the grill seemed much more appropriate for a Monday Night Football game like that. I did make some carrot cake earlier in the day however, and that’s a vegetarian dish.
There are a million ways to make carrot cake, but to me, there’s nothing better than the classic. I used 6 medium carrots, 2.5 cups of cake flour, 3 eggs, 7 ounces of greek yogurt, 1/4 cup of crushed walnuts, 1.5 cups of pure cane sugar, 1/4 teaspoon each of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice, 1 teaspoon each of baking soda and baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 2/3 cup of vegetable oil (didn’t make it in the photo).
In a medium glass bowl I stirred up the eggs, sugar, yogurt, and oil. I set that aside and grated the carrots. I used the grater in my food processor because that’s by far the fastest and easiest way to grate 6 carrots. You could easily use a hand-held grater too, doesn’t matter as long as the carrots are grated. In a large glass dish I mixed together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt and then put the grated carrots in and mixed it all together until all of the carrot pieces were completely coated. I poured the egg mixture into the carrot and flour mixture and completely mixed all of that together. Then I stirred in the walnuts. I poured the batter into a regular 9 inch loaf pan that I placed a piece of parchment paper on the bottom. I baked it at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes then turned the heat down to 325 degrees and let it bake for another 20 minutes. This kept it nice and moist while giving it a golden color.
It’s great either on its own or sliced and toasted with some butter. You could also frost it with a buttermilk or cream cheese frosting if you want, but it’s just fine by itself.
Posted in Home Cooking, Sweets, Vegetarian | Tagged allspice, baking powder, baking soda, carrot, carrot cake, cinnamon, egg, flour, greek yogurt, meatless monday, monday night football, nutmeg, sausage, sugar, vetetable oil, walnuts, yogurt | Leave a Comment »
September 26, 2010 by deirinberg
Friday night, to me, was the perfect night for grilling. Mid-60’s, clear skies, light breeze. Unlike summer, which I still grill quite a bit, it wasn’t too hot to stand over a hot grill. In light of that, I had to get something on the grill. With organic air-chilled split chicken breasts on sale my mind was made up for me.
I had two big breasts that I slashed the flesh 4 times in each. I did this for two reasons, to allow the marinade to penetrate more meat and to allow them to grill more evenly since they were pretty meaty in the middle. For the marinade, in my small processor I processed up 3 garlic cloves, 2 green onions, 1 inch of ginger, and 2 tablespoons each of soy sauce, mirin, sake, and shiro miso. I rubbed it all into the chicken, covered it, and let it sit in the fridge for an hour.
For my side I made haricots vert in miso-sesame dressing. I cleaned up 6 ounces of haricots vert and set them aside. I took 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds and dumped them into a hot skillet and let them toast until they turned a nice golden color and started to release their aroma, about 1-2 minutes. Then I ground them with my pestle and mortar and added a big pinch of sugar, 1.5 tablespoons of seasoned soy sauce (contains mirin and dashi), and 1/2 tablespoon of shiro miso. I mixed that all together and set it aside. Later on, right after taking the chicken off the grill, I steamed the haricots vert for about 4 minutes and then tossed them with the dressing.
I also made some miso soup. I boiled about 2 cups of water and added two skinned and diced yukon gold potatoes, 2 green onions sliced, and three shiitake sliced. While they were boiling I took a bunch of salted wakame and soaked it in water while also cleaning 3 ounces of bean sprouts. I also set aside 1/4 cup of the seasoned soy sauce and a large spoonful of shiro miso.
While the potatoes were cooking in the miso soup I got the grill ready and grilled up the chicken. I got the skin nice and crisp while the meat stayed juicy.
Just before taking the chicken off I poured the seasoned soy into the miso soup and added the sprouts and wakame. Right after taking the chicken off I mixed the miso into the soup and then, like I said earlier, steamed the haricots vert. I took some shichimi togarashi and crushed black and white sesame seeds and sprinkled them all over the chicken. I served everything with white rice.
Posted in Home Cooking, poultry | Tagged bean sprouts, chicken breast, dashi, garlic, ginger, green onion, haricots vert, mirin, miso, potato, sake, sesame seeds, shichimi togarashi, shiitake, shiro miso, soy sauce, sugar, wakame, white rice, yukon gold | Leave a Comment »
September 23, 2010 by deirinberg
Yesterday I saw some really nice coho salmon on sale that just came in that morning. Since I haven’t cooked salmon in a while I took that as a sign that it’s time to do it up again. I decided to keep it very simple and use some Japanese flavors to appease my wife.
After lunch I got the rice ready. I rinsed 1 cup of rice and threw it in the rice cooker like normal, then added a couple of large pinches of dried hijiki seaweed and a diced carrot. I let it sit for about a half hour to let the hijiki re-hydrate and flavor some of the water. Then I turned on the machine and let the rice cook. When it was finished I turned it off, mixed everything together, and let it cool to room temperature.
Closer to dinner time I made my teriyaki sauce. In a small saucepan I gently heated 3 tablespoons each of soy sauce, sake, and mirin along with 1 tablespoon of sugar. I let it heat just until the sugar was completely dissolved and turned off the heat before it came to a boil. I let that cool to room temperature.
Here’s my 20 ounce filet of coho salmon. I cut it into 4 equal portions and marinated it in the teriyaki sauce for about 45 minutes at room temperature.
While the salmon was marinating I got the abura-age ready. I had a pack of three here. I cut them in half and rinsed them off with some boiling water. They very oily and the boiling water rinsed a majority of that oil off. Then the packages open up nicely for easy stuffing.
I stuffed them equally with the rice mixture and then sealed them. I didn’t have any toothpicks, so I cut down some bamboo skewers to do the job. In a saute pan I brought 1/4 cup of water to boil with 1/4 cup of seasoned soy. The soy is seasoned with a little dashi and mirin. Once lightly boiling I put the packets in, covered it, and turned the heat to low. This lets the broth flavor penetrate while heating up the rice. I let it go for about 10 minutes then turned off the heat and let it sit until everything was ready.
I also placed the salmon under the broiler, starting with the skin-side up. About 5 minutes later I turned it over, basted the top with the marinade left in the dish, and let it broil for another 5 minutes.
Before cooking the salmon and abura-age I got my vegetables ready. I had two large heads of baby bok choy that I separated the leaves from the stems and chopped them all down, 1/2 onion sliced, 3 garlic cloves minced, 1 package of shiitake sliced, and 1/2 a large red bell pepper sliced.
While the salmon was broiling and the abura-age packets absorbing tasty fluids I heated up a pan and poured in 2 tablespoons of sesame oil and tossed in the onions to let them saute for about 4 minutes. Then I added the peppers and garlic. After another few minutes I added the shiitake and bok choy stems for about 4 more minutes. I seasoned with pepper and poured in about 3 tablespoons of soy sauce. Once the soy boiled off I added the bok choy leaves, stirred them in, covered the pan, and turned off the heat. I just wanted the leaves to wilt a little.
I timed it all so everything would be finished at the same time. I plated it up and scarfed it down.
Posted in Home Cooking, seafood | Tagged abura age, baby bok choy, bamboo, carrot, coho salmon, dashi, hijiki, mirin, onion, red bell pepper, rice, sake, salmon, seaweed, sesame oil, shiitake, skewer, soy sauce, sugar, teriyaki, toothpick | Leave a Comment »
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