Japanese food cooking

I am really behind my blog schedules lately (still publishing Berlin stuff even though I've been back for 2 weeks), because I'm busily engage in cooking 'experiments'. Cooking is not the really time consuming part but searching for recipe, getting the ingredient, preparing, eating plus cleaning afterwards does :)

Anyway, after the marginally pass bread trial, this time, the bar is raised & the target is set to cooking Japanese food. Finding ordinary Japanese cooking ingredient in Copenhaegn isn't difficult with a friend's guidance, (unless one is looking for sashimi quality fish, then it might be a problem) only downside is pricy.

My Japanese dinner setting is not 100% 'Japanese compliant', served in IKEA 365 cheap plates & bowls without garnish (the place mat is bamboo though :p) but the food tasted good to me since I cooked them. The menu: soba (Japanese buckwheat noodle) in mentsuyu , teriyaki chicken, chawanmushi (steam egg) and deep fried tofu + crabstick.

Here are some recipes which I think is working to share (also served as archive to myself, lol):

Chawanmushi (serves 2):-
1. Break 3 eggs (4 if small) into the bowl, gently stir the eggs well, try to minimize bubbles.
2. Add 325ml dashi stock (I bought dashi powder & dissolved it in water per instruction on the package), 1 tsp sugar, 2 tsp sake, 1 tbsp light soy sauce & 1/2 tsp salt to the eggs mixture.
3. Place some thinly sliced Shiitake mushrooms (that I carried all the way from M'sia) & some shredded crabstick filament into 2 bowls and pour the egg mixture over (do not fill to the brim, leave some gap on top).
** The 'fillings' can be changed to prawns / fish cake slices etc based on personal taste
4. Steam the cups over high heat for about 10 mins. Insert a bamboo stick into the mixture: if a little clear liquid comes out, it is cooked.
**Cover the cups with lids, transparent food wrap or aluminum foil to prevent water from 'splashing' into the egg bowls (but I didn't do it :p) to keep nice egg texture

Soba Noodles in Mentsuyu (serves 1)
1. Heat 40ml of mirin and 1 tablespoon of sugar in a pot. Stop heat before it boils.
2. Add in 50ml of soy sauce and 125ml dashi stock (more or less depending on saltiness desired) and bring to boil.
3. Meanwhile, boil a pot of water, add in desired amount of dried soba noodles and cook until the noodles are firm but with no crunch. Drain and rinse well with cold water.
** If you're serving cold soba, add in some ice cubes to cool the cooked soba.

Teriyaki Chicken
1. Mix 1 tbsp sake, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp mirin & 1 tbsp sugar in a bowl. Marinate 500g chicken in the mixture for 15 minutes in the refrigerator.
2. Heat some oil in a frying pan, brown both sides of the chicken and leave until cokked through. 3. Pour the sauce used to marinate chicken in the pan and continue to cook until it has glazed and cover the chicken. Pour thickened sauce over the teriyaki chicken.
** easier solution is to buy ready made teriyaki sauce but since I have mirin, sake & soy sauce, I'd rather save the $$ and make the sauce myself

I was spoilt with nice abundantly available Japanese restaurants back in Penang when I craved for Japanese food back then. Not that there are no Japanese restaurants in Copenhagen but they're really pricy. Since I have the time & the kitchen, I can always 'experiment'. Never thought I'd cook any Japanese food (other than sushi) & still taste okay but I did it (giving myself a pat on the back virtually while writing this)!