Occasionally I get in the mood to try something radically different than what you get every day, day in and day out. This weekend was a japanese banquet. It STARTED as going to the asian market for stir fry ingredients.... a bunch of vegetables for CHEAP ... I swear.

..Then we saw coconut milk 2 cans for a buck, live crawdads 1.99 a pound in up to 30 lb bags, etc. and the brains got going.

So, next thing you know, spent about a hundred dollars in sauces, spices, noodles, VARIOUS kinds of seafood, and vegetables I've never heard of to try.

So, without further ado, here's a few of the hits from this weekend's taste adventure.

First is Dashi - its 2 tablespoons dried bonito flakes, and a sheet of seaweed - the stuff you normally wrap around a sushi roll- ripped into shreds. 6 cups of water and boil til its reduced by about a third. This stuff is used in everything. So when I call later for dashi, you know what I'm talking about.

Simmered pork nagasaki style
I'm going to warn you, the recipe I have calls for a day of simmering, steaming, boiling, chilling, reheating, etc of a pork belly or spare rib. Since this seemed more to do with tenderizing and rendering the fat from the meat, I cheated and used a pork chop. Cut into 1" chunks and flash brown in a dry saucepan. Note, you're going to want to use 1 pork chop per person... I was just testing this.
Pour in
2 1/2 c. dashi
When this starts simmering, add in:
4 T sugar
5 -6 T dark brown soy
1 c sake (or rice cooking wine)
1 T mirin (this is a liquid sweetener used in a lot of japanese food)

Bring to a rapid boil and reduce heat, cover, and simmer until the stock is reduced by about half. Recipe says 30 - 40 min, but I did 20.

To plate it up, a little pork, a little stock, and a dab of hot mustard to the side.

________

More to come.

Mori Soba - chilled buckwheat noodles.

These were AMAZINGLY good. Better than any of us thought it was going to be. Jacob tends to think cold noodles = but oooooh god these are now added to the rotation of stuff after work. Fast and easy and cheap.

Noodles - buckwheat noodles... also labled Soba.
Now these things are cooked differently than spaghetti noodles that we're used to. Bring the water to a boil. Then add the noodles, stirring slowly and constantly to keep them seperated. After adding noodles, when the water returns to a boil, add 2/3 c COLD water to reduce the temp again, and repeat the process one more time, then let it be at a full rolling boil 2 minutes. Immediately douse into a bowl of COLD water. Strain and replace a couple times so you stop the cooking process immediately.

And that's it. They're done. Strain and plate the noodles.

The special bit is that instead of pouring sauce over them, you dip them in sauce, then eat. Look for soba noodle dipping sauce in the asian market (in the japenese stuff) OR, here's a recipe.

2 1/2 c dashi
1/2 c dark soy
4 T mirin
1 t sugar

Mix well, bring to a boil and chill. Add as much or as little wasabi to the sauce as you like. TASTY STUFF!!

Kake soba - Buckwheat noodles in hot broth.

Cook the noodles the same way as for the cold noodles. NORMALLY, you would reheat cold noodles in just a couple seconds in boiling water, but in our case, I was ready to go with the broth when the noodles were done, so served immediately... and they were GOOD.

The broth is the only real difference, and this gets ladled over your already cooked noodles. Not enough to give a full soup, but enough to give a good liquid. Think of it as a winter "warm you up" dish versus the cold noodles as a summer dish.

Broth:
2 1/2 c dashi
3 T dark soy
2 T sugar
2 T mirin
2 t salt.

heat through and you have your broth. Now, they normally top this with some shredded leeks or scallions (green onions) but I wasn't being that fancy... just wanted to try some stuff.

Alright, now for supper tonight - which was kind of a chicken version of the pork.

Take about 2 1/2 c dashi plus, if you have it, some of the noodle dipping sauce. (kinda poured everything that was left over from the previous experiments into the bowl)
splash of sesame oil
marinate the chicken about 30 minutes.

Pour the marinade and a little water in the bottom of your pot, then set a steamer basket inside the pot to keep the chicken from direct heat. Mine was still a little submerged, but meh. figured it wouldn't hurt anything.

Simmer / steam with a tight fitting lid about 30 minutes - but I was using drumsticks, other cuts may take longer.

Its all the same basic ingredients, but you end up mostly steaming the chicken.

The thing is, the sauce. We ran across something labled "ponzu" sauce, and oh lord have mercy. slightly sweet, lime soy. I wanted to try it on grilled tuna, but ... yeah.

The chicken has a lot of flavor from the marinade and the steaming process, but the sauce complimented it very well... we ate ourselves to the "oog" stage.

Sounds good, may have to try these sometime, thanks for sharing!

Pix please, this would help us salivate.

sorry... it didn't last long enough to take pictures

lol I bet. Great recipes! Thank you for sharing.

what asian market did you go to?

Hong Kong Supermarket at 303 and Great Southwest Parkway in Grand Prairie.

sounds good

Making this for supper tonight, so starting with pictures.

About a tablespoon and a half of this.


and a 6" stick of this.


Left to simmer in 4 c of water with the lid on to make dashi (broth)

Lift out the seaweed, after about an hour, then add 5 to 6 tablespoons dark soy.


3 tablespoons sugar, 1 cup sake, and 1 tablespoon mirin


Now, seperately, cube up 2 1/4 lbs pork, and stir fry it until it starts getting a touch of color and then dump it into the broth, put the lid on, and simmer about an hour.

Pics when its done cooking.

Ahhh so you do have a Camera!

Finish it off with a snort or two of sake (about 101 degrees) and a bowl of wasabi rice crackers. You're good to go.