All things spicy

On Tuesday we had a very simple supper. Pictured above and below is Curry Udon. It uses curry roux, just like regular curry stew, only you add udon noodles and a few vegetables. It really becomes more of a soup. For a protein in this meal, I made tamago-yaki (sweet rolled omelet). Tamago-yaki is made using a square frying pan. You mix eggs with sugar, soy sauce and dashi. Then you pour a thin layer into the pan. When it is nearly cooked, you carefully roll it into a log. Then you add another thin layer to the pan and repeat. It produces a really pretty pattern when the log is sliced in half. See photos below:

It is hard to see the layers in this photo, but they are there...

Keeping with the economical theme, yesterday I made my own taco seasoning for ground meat. Now it is easy enough to purchase a packet from the store, but for their size, the packets are expensive. Anyone who has a decent spice rack sitting around collecting dust can surely make their own taco spice. I whipped mine up using chili powder, paprika, cumin, garlic powder, oregano, salt, pepper, beef boullion and cornstarch. To be clear, the cornstarch was not mixed in with the spices. It was added later, along with a little cold water to prevent clumping. This blend of spices was exactly like the the store bought packet, only much better! I highly recommend trying this economical method.

I fried up my ground meat and then added half a can of diced tomatoes (the other half being carefully saved for Thursday's supper of spaghetti). After letting the mixture simmer for awhile, I started adding the taco seasoning until it tasted satisfactory. I then added about five drops of tabasco sauce for some kick. I served this on top of lettuce and topped with cheese. Even my husband enjoyed it and he doesn't usually go in for herbs and spices. So bust out the old spice rack and give it a try!

Muffins and More!

Chocolate oatmeal muffins! Hooray! Fiber and chocolate together at last! Check out my half-eaten delicacy below:

It really was far too hot for baking (the inside temperature of our apartment is nearly always uncomfortably hot), but we were out of sweets (of any kind!). I really couldn't take tea without a little something and my husband always needs nibblies for his lunch, so I took a few minutes to bake the above pictured muffins. Really quite good. As with nearly all quickbreads, it freezes well.

Tonight was fried rice night. Don't you just love how I garnish everything with mitsuba? ^_^ Anyway, I used a bit of ground beef, along with egg, onion, garlic and a handful of frozen mixed veggies in this dish. The pickled ginger tops it off nicely.

The whole meal consisted of miso soup (with wakame) and a simple fresh salad. Surprisingly economical (thrifty lately...aren't I?).

Yesterday (Sunday) I made zaru soba for lunch. We didn't eat until 2pm, but this is a fairly quick meal to prepare. The dipping sauce in the cup actually came pre-made. I just added water to the liquid and ta-da! Dipping sauce!

This is just a closer view of the noodles. They are eaten cold and are very refreshing on a hot day.

Supper on Sunday night was chicken thigh pieces simmered in ginger, garlic, sugar, sake, mirin and soy sauce. This combination creates a glaze on the chicken. I served it on a giant shiso leaf.

Because I removed the thigh bone from the chicken myself, I had leftover bones which I used to make a clear soup. The cucumber in the small dish has a dressing of vinegar and soy sauce on it. As always, a salad and rice complete the meal. It may seem small, but it was satisfying. ^_^ P.S. Chicken thigh is best for simmering because it doesn't dry out like white meat.

A week's worth of photos!

Tonight's supper was very economical. It consisted of meatball soup with vegetables and herbs from our balcony garden (turnips, turnip greens, mitsuba). I did throw in a couple of mini carrots and a green onion I had in the fridge. The broth is basically a miso base with some Toban-jan (spicy Korean bean paste) and sesame oil. The salad is seaweed mixed with shiso leaves from our garden, dressed in a home made dressing of vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and seasame oil. Rice and a green salad round the meal off. A close up of the meal is below.

Today I decided to make cinnamon raisin buns. I made them with half whole wheat and half white flour. I shaped them fairly large, so I only got about nine out of the batch. I really love raisin bread with Cheese Whiz on it for breakfast. Something about the cheese and raisins...

Yesterday I had a major craving for cookies and decided to make chocolate chocolate chip cookies with raisins. The raisins were not part of the original recipe, but I added them anyway because I have raisins lying around the pantry.

Back on Thursday I made another economical supper. This is the Japanese one bowl dish Oyako-don. Did you know Oyako literally means "family" or "parent and child"? This dish consists of eggs and chicken cooked together and put over rice. Hence the "family." ^_^ The pink garnish is pickled ginger.

Last Sunday I made raisin buns for my husband--no cinnamon, no whole wheat, just fluffy white bread with raisins. I used an egg wash on the top of the buns to make them shiny.

There you have it! A weeks worth of pics! I seriously need to learn how to download photos off the camera myself...

Sushi sushi sushi!!!

Today my husband and I made sushi. We made both kinds--nigiri and maki. Above you can see the nigiri my husband was in charge of making. There is salmon along the top, followed by tuna and then shrimp at the bottom. He then took a mini blowtorch to the sushi and seared them. See pic below:

We put mayonnaise on some of the salmon, along with sliced white onion. Words cannot describe how good this was!!!

Now I was in charge of making the maki sushi. The flavours I used were cucumber, shiso, ume boshi and sesame.

This sushi was seriously so delicious and easy to make! My husband and I plan to indulge ourselves more often!

P.S. A mini kitchen blowtorch is one of the best culinary investments you can make!

A Saturday by myself...

This morning my husband had to work, so I packed him a special bento lunch to cheer him on. There is simmered pork from last night (pork cooked in soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar and water), along with some salad and steamed rice. The gimped word 'love' is written using pieces of nori seaweed. The little black dots are black sesame.

At roughly 5:00pm, I decided to make whole wheat buns. I had run out of home made bread at lunch time, so I got motivated and whipped up another batch. My husband does not eat whole wheat bread, so these should last a long time in the freezer. They are 100% whole wheat and SUPER light. I attribute this to a couple of tricks. One of which is my grandma's trick of adding vinegar to the dough. The other trick is my own--vital wheat gluten. Wheat gluten is a yellow-ish powder that adds height to bread, which is perfect for whole wheat goods. I added about half a cup vital wheat gluten for these buns. As well, I added a lot more sweetener than the recipe calls for, which is for no purpose other than I like sweet bread. A quarter cup sugar was added, as well as a quarter cup Splenda. These buns rose quickly and were done by 8:00pm exactly. Delish!

Notice how the one bun on the right decided to be unique in shape. ^_^

Just a look at the raw dough before rising. I make all my bread by hand--no food processor or mixer and definately NO bread machine. Kneading dough is a good way of taking out your frustrations!

For supper I prepared 'Mabo Dofu'. This dish is made of minced pork, simmered with tofu, green onion, garlic, ginger, 'to-ban-jan' (spicy Korean paste), chicken broth, sake, sugar, soy sauce and miso. It is really delicious and oh so inexpensive to make! You can purchase the sauce in asian food markets, but it is ridiculously easy to make it from scratch.

Tomorrow my husband wants to make sushi. Stay tuned for that!

Really soft sugar cookies

Today I decided to make sugar cookies. I prefer my cookies soft and cake-like as opposed to super flat and hard. These cookies come from Marlene Koch's Splenda cookbook. For anyone who enjoys Splenda, I highly recommend this book. The baking recipes are specially adapted to suit Splenda and I have enjoyed everything that I have tried so far. Having said that, these sugar cookies are different from traditional sugar cookies in that you use sour cream and honey, in addition to the usual ingredients (and of course substituting Splenda for sugar). These cookies could have been rolled and cut into shapes, but I did the drop method. For fun I sprinkled mini chocolate chips on top. The actual recipe recommended citrus zest for a more grown-up flavour, but who wants to be grown-up anyway? These cookies truly are delicious! They are soft and not too sweet. The honey adds a very unique flavour that you don't find in the store bought variety. This is the first time I have tried this recipe, but it is truly a keeper!

Asian glazed chicken

Even though it was way too hot for me to turn on the oven, I did anyway because I really wanted this chicken! To get the glaze, roasting is best. I used drumsticks, but thighs work great too. I have never tried it with boneless skinless chicken, but it should work too. Basically you place the chicken directly into a foiled lined roaster. Mix in a measuring cup:

1/4 cup soy sauce

3 tbsp sesame oil

3 tbsp honey

Pour this over the chicken and coat it well. Then sprinkle chopped green onion, grated fresh ginger and chopped fresh garlic over the mixture. Add some salt and pepper as well. All of this is done to your taste. Then you roast it covered at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes. It smells great too and is delicious cold the next day.