Elite life
Japan (Japanese Recipes)
Ingredients
60 g Chicken breast, cut to bite-size pieces
2 teaspoons Light soy sauce
50 g Baked ell, cut into 4 pieces
4 Fresh shiitake mushrooms, stem discarded
4 Large shrimps, peeled and de-vein
1 tablespoon 3 cm lengths of mitsuba or parsley stalks
8 Gingko nuts, peeled, blanched and thin skins removed
2 Large eggs
350 ml Basic dashi stock (Japanese fish stock)
3 teaspoons Light soy sauce
A little shredded yuzu orange or lemon peel to garnish
Cooking Instructions:
Sprinkle the chicken with the soy sauce. Assemble the eel, mushrooms, shrimps, mitsuba or parsley stalks and gingko nuts. Break the eggs in a bowl and mix gently with chopsticks to avoid making bubbles. Add the dashi stock and soy sauce. Mix well and strain. Divide all the assembled ingredients among 4 individual china bowls or cups with lids and pour in the egg mixture. Steam for 10 minutes over medium heat. Served garnished with yuzu orange or lemon peel.
Ingredients:
400 g Chicken breast fillets
1/4 cup Japanese soy sauce
1/4 cup Mirin
4 cm Piece fresh ginger, very finely grated
1 sheet Nori, finely chopped or crumbled into very small pieces
1/3 cup Cornflour
Oil for deep-frying
Pickled ginger and thin cucumber slices, to serve
Cooking Instructions:
Carefully trim any sinew from the chicken. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and discard any thin ends so that the pieces will be even in size. Place the chicken pieces in a bowl. Combine the soy sauce, mirin and ginger in a small jug and pour the mixture over the chicken; toss until the chicken pieces are evenly coated with the marinade. Set aside for 15 minutes, then drain off any excess marinade. Mix the nori with the cornflour. Using your fingertips, lightly coat each piece of chicken in the cornflour mixture. Heat the oil in a pan until moderately hot; add the chicken, 6 to 7 pieces at a time, and fry until golden, turning regularly. Drain on paper towels. Serve with steamed rice, pickled ginger and sliced cucumber. Garnish with extra strips of nori, if desired.
Egg
Custard
Ingredients:
200 g Chicken breast fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 teaspoons Sake
2 teaspoons Japanese Soy sauce
2 Leek, sliced
1 Small carrot, sliced
200 g Spinach, chopped
Custard:
4 cups Boiling water
1/2 cup Dashi granules
2 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce
6 Eggs
Cooking Instructions:
Place the chicken pieces into 6 heatproof bowls. Combine the sake and
soy sauce, and pour the mixture over the chicken. Divide the vegetables between the 6 bowls. To
make custard, combine the water and dashi granules in a heatproof bowl
and stir to dissolve; cool completely. Combine the dashi, soy sauce and
eggs, and strain equal amounts into the 6 bowls. Cover and bowls with
foil, place them i n a steamer, and cook on high for 20 to 30 minutes.
Test the custard by inserting a fine skewer into the center. It is
cooked when the skewer comes out with no moisture clinging to it. Serve
immemdiately.
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups Short-grain rice
1 1/3 cups Water
2 teaspoons Black sesame seeds
50 g Smoked salmon, chopped
2 tablespoons Finely chopped pickled ginger
2 Finely chopped onions
Cooking Instructions:
Wash the rice thoroughly in a sieve under running water until the water runs clear. Place the rice in a heavy-based pan with the water and bring it to the boil. Reduce the heat to very low, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Remove the pan from heat and stand, with the lid on for 20 minutes. Dry-roast the sesame seeds in a frying pan over low heat, constantly shaking the pan, for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the seeds begin to pop. Combine the salmon, ginger and spring onion in a small bowl. Using wet hands, form 1/3 cup rice into a ball; push 2 teaspoons of the salmon mixture into the center of the rice and reform the ball around it. Repeat with the remaining rice and salmon, keeping your hands wet to prevent the rice from becoming sticky. Arrange the balls on a serving platter and sprinkle with the sesame seeds.
Ingredients:
500 g Very fresh fish such as tuna, salmon or trout
1 Carrot
1 Daikon
Japanese soy sauce, to serve
Wasabi, to serve
Cooking Instructions:
Use a very sharp, flat-bladed knife to remove any skin from the fish. Place the fish in the freezer and chill it until it is just firm enough to be cut thinly and evenly into slices, about 5 mm in width. Try to make each cut one motion in one direction, taking care not to saw the fish. Use a zester to scrape the carrot and daikon into long fine strips or cut them into fine julienne strips. Arrange the sashimi pieces on a platter. Garnish with the carrot and daikon and serve with the soy sauce and wasabi.
Ingredients:
750 g Scotch fillet, partially frozen
15 Spring onions
3 Carrots
400 g Button mushrooms
1/2 Chinese cabbage
150 g Firm tofu
1 cup Short-grain rice, cooked
8 cups Chicken stock
Sesame seed sauce or ready made shabu-shabu sauce to serve
Cooking Instructions:
Cut the steak into very thin slices and set aside. Cut the firm section of the spring onions into 4 cm lengths and discard the dark green tops. Slice the carrots very thinly. Slice the mushrooms. Chop the cabbage into bite-sized pieces, discarding any though parts. Cut the tofu into bite-sized cubes. Arrange the prepared vegetables, tofu and meat in separate piles on a serving platter; cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until about 30 minutes before cooking time. Set the table with individual place setting, each with a serving bowl, a bowl of sesame seed sauce, a bowl of rice, chopsticks, soup spoons and napkins. Position the serving platter and cooking vessel so they are within easy reach of each diner. When all the diners are seated, pour the stock into the cooking vessel, cover and bring to a simmer. Each diner then picks up an ingredient or two with their chopsticks, and places it in the simmering stock for about a minute, or until just cooked (do not overcook - the vegetables should be just tender and the steak still pink in the center). The food is then dipped into the sesame seed sauce and eaten with the rice. The remaining stock can be served as soup at the end of the meal.
Ingredients:
20 Large raw shrimps
2 cups Tempura flour
2 cups Iced water
2 Egg yolks
1 Large zucchini (courgette), cut into strips
1 Red pepper (capsicum), cut into strips
1 Onion, cut into rings
Oil for deep frying
Plain or tempura flour, for coating
Japanese sauce to serve
Cooking Instructions:
Peel and devein the shrimps, leaving the tails intact. Cut 4 incisions in the under-section of each shrimp and straighten them out. Coat the shrimps lightly with flour, leaving the tail uncoated, and shake off the excess. In a bowl, gently mix the tempura flour, water and egg yolks and use at once (the batter will b e lumpy, don't over mix). Heat the oil in a deep pan or wok to moderately hot. Working with a few at a time, dip each shrimp into the batter, still leaving the tail uncoated. Fry briefly in the hot oil until lightly golden; remove from the pan and drain well o n paper towels. Repeat this process with the vegetable pieces, doing about 2 to 3 pieces at a time. Serve immediately with soy sauce. Add strips of fresh ginger to the soy sauce if you like.
Steamed Sake Chicken
Ingredients:
500 g Chicken breast fillets with skin on
1 teaspoon Salt
1/3 cup Sake
2 tablespoons Lemon juice
4 cm Fresh ginger, cut into very fine matchsticks
Sauce :
2 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce
1 tablespoon Mirin
1 teaspoon Sesame oil
1 Spring onion, sliced
Garnish :
2 Spring onions
1/2 small Red pepper (capsicum)
Cooking Instructions:
Use a fock to prick the skin on the chicken in several places. Place
t he chicken, skin-side up, in a shallow dish; sprinkle with the salt.
Combine sake, lemon juice and ginger in a bowl; pour over chicken, cover
and marinade in the refrigerator for 30 to 40 minutes. To make sauce :
Combine the soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil and spring onion in a small
bowl. To make garnish: Peel the outside layer
from the spring onions, then cut finely into diagonal pieces. Lay the
red pepper flat on a board, skin-side down. Holding a knife in a horizontal position, cut
just under the membrane surface to remove the top layer; discard top
layer. Cut the pepper into very fine 3 cm strips. Line the base of a
bamboo or metal steamer with baking paper. Arrange the chicken,
skin-side up, in the steamer. Fill a wok or frying pan with 2 cups of
water; sit the steamer in the pan. Cover, cook over gently boiling water
for 15 to 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked. Cut the chicken into
bite-sized pieces (remove the skin if you prefer); arrange in the centre
of a serving plate and drizzle over the sauce. Arrange pepper strips in
a bundle on the side of the serving dish, scatter spring onion over
chicken. Serve warm or cold, with rice if desired.
Ingredients:
1 Lebanese cucumber
375 g Raw prawns
1/4 cup Rice vinegar
1 tablespoon Caster sugar
1 tablespoon Japanese soy sauce
1 teaspoon Finely grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon Japanese white sesame seeds
Cooking Instructions:
Peel the cucumber with a vegetable peeler, halve it lengthways and remove any seeds with a teaspoon. Cut the cucumber into thin slices, sprinkle thoroughly with salt and set aside for 5 minutes. Rinse to remove salt, and pat dry with paper towels. Place the prawns in a pan of lightly salted boiling water and simmer for 2 minutes, or until just cooked. Drain the prawns and plunge them into cold water. When the prawns are cool, peel and de-vein them, leaving the tails intact. Place the vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and ginger in a large bowl and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the prawns and cucumber, cover and marinade in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, shaking the pan gently, until the seeds are golden brown; remove the seeds from the pan at once to prevent burning. Drain the prawns and cucumber from the marinade. Arrange on serving plates, sprinkle with the sesame seeds and serve.
Ingredients:
1 cup Short-grain rice
2 cups Water
2 tablespoons Rice vinegar
1 tablespoons Caster sugar
1 teaspoon Salt
125 g Very fresh salmon, tuna or trout
1 small Lebanese cucumber, peeled
1/2 small Avocado, optional
4 sheets Nori
Wasabi, to taste
3 tablespoons Pickled ginger
Japanese soy sauce, for dipping
Wasabi, extra
Cooking Instructions:
Wash the rice under cold running water until the water runs clear; drain thoroughly. Place the rice in a pan with the water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed. Reduce the heat to very low, cover and cook for another 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and leave, covered, for about 10 minutes. Add the combined vinegar, sugar and salt to the rice, tossing with a wooden spoon until the rice is cool. Cut the fish into thin strips. Cut the cucumber and avocado into matchsticks about 5 cm in length. Place a sheet of nori on a piece of greaseproof paper or on a sushi mat on a flat surface, with the longest sides at the top and bottom; pat a quarter of the rice over about half of the nori sheet along one long side, leaving a 2 cm space around the sides. Spread a very small amount of wasabi down the centre of the rice. Arrange a quarter of the pieces of fish, cucumber, avocado, if using, and ginger along the top of the wasabi stripe. Using the paper or mat as a guide, roll the nori up firmly from the bottom, enclosing the rice around the centered ingredients. Press the nori edges together to seal the roll. Using a sharp flat-bladed or electric knife, cut the roll into 2.5 cm rounds. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. Serve the Sushi on individual small plates with small bowls of sou sauce and extra wasabi to be mixed to taste to make a dipping sauce.
Ingredients:
350 g Scotch fillet, partially frozen
4 small Slender eggplants (aubergines)
100 g Fresh shiitake mushrooms
100 g Small green beans
6 Baby yellow or green squash
1 Red or green pepper (capsicum), seeded
6 Spring onions, outside layer removed
200 g Can bamboo shoots, drained
1/4 cup Cooking oil
Sesame seed sauce, to serve
Cooking Instructions:
Slice the steak into very thin pieces. Place the meat slices in a single layer on a large serving platter and season thoroughly with plenty of salt and freshly ground pepper. Set aside. Trim the ends from the eggplants and cut the flesh into long, very thin diagonal slices. Trim any hard stems from the mushrooms. Top and tail the beans (if the beans are longer than about 7 cm, cut them in half). Quarter, halve or leave the squash whole, depending on the size. Cut the pepper into thin strips and slice the spring onions into lengths about 7 cm long, discarding the tops. Arrange all the vegetables in a separate bundles on a plate. When the diners are seated, heat an electric grill or electric frying pan until very hot, and then lightly brush it with the oil. Quickly fry about a quarter of the meat, searing on both sides, and then push it over the edge of the pan. Add about a quarter of the vegetables and quickly stir-fry, adding a little more oil as needed. Serve a small portion of the meat and vegetables to the diners, who will dip the food into a sauce of their choice. Repeat the process with the remaining m eat and vegetables, cooking in bathes as extra helpings are required. Serve with steamed rice.
Ingredients:
250 g Firm tofu
1 Spring onion
4 cups Water
1/2 cup Dashi granules
100 g Miso
1 Mirin
Cooking Instructions:
Use a sharp knife to cut the tofu into 1 cm cubes. Slice the spring onion diagonally into 1 cm lengths. Using a wooden spoon, combine the water and dashi granules in a small pan, then bring the mixture to the boil. Reduce the heat to medium, add the miso and mirin and stir to combine, being careful the mixture does not boil (overheating will result in the loss of miso flavor). Add the tofu cubes to the hot stock and heat, without boiling, over medium heat for 5 minutes, until the tofu is warmed thorough. Serve in individual soup bowls, garnished with the spring onion.
Ingredients:
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 tbsp rice wine
250 g bay scallops
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tsp ginger, grate fine
2 tbsp water
75 g straw mushrooms, sliced
1/2 red capsicum, sliced
2 tsp light soy sauce
4 spring onions, sliced
Pinch of black pepper
1 tsp cornstarch
Cooking Instructions:
In a bowl, combine the lime juice with the rice wine. Add in the crushed garlic. Marinate the scallops for 15 mins. Set aside. While the scallops are marinating, heat the sesame oil in a hot wok till almost smoking. Add ginger, green spring onions, mushrooms and capsicum. Stir-fry for about 3 mins till ginger becomes fragrant. Add marinated scallops, continue to stir-fry for another 3 mins or till scallops turns opaque. Make sure everything mixes well in the wok. Add in the soy sauce and mix thoroughly. Season to taste with pepper. Dilute the cornstarch with water and pour into the wok. Cook for another 1 to 2 mins or till sauce thickens. Serve immediately with steamed rice.
Ingredients:
4 cups left-over boiled rice
Shoyu for basting
Pickles – garnish
1 Japanese cucumber, partially skinned & sliced
Cooking Instructions:
Form the rice into 8 traingular rice balls. To form a rice ball, first wet your hands then place 1/2 cup of rice on one palm. Circle the rice with your fingers and grip it tightly. Then alternate with each hand, press firm till you get a triangular shape rice ball. Repeat till you get 7 more triangular balls. Girll both sides of rice balls on a Japanese grill. Baste both sides with shoyu using a basting brush. Grill till nicely brown. Remove and serve with cucumber.
Ingredients:
3 cups chicken broth
1 medium daikon, peeled & cut into quarters
4 duck breast fillets
20 slices lotus root (deep fried till golden brown)
1/4 cup snow peas, boiled
1 leak (julienne strips), grilled
1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
Place broth in a saucepan, bring to boil
Cooking Instructions:
Add in daikon, reduce heat, simmer for 20 mins or till tender. Place duck fillets, skin-side down in medium hot frying pan. Cook for 4 to 5 mins on each side till medium rare. Cut fillet into thin slices. Place a piece of cooked daikon on each serving plate, top with duck slices. Spoon teriyaki sauce over duck and place fried lotus slices on top. Serve with cooked snow peas and grilled leek.
Ingredients:
3/4 lb pork loin, sliced thin
1 tbsp chicken or pork stock
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 Japanese seven-spice powder
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 ginger slices
1 carrot, sliced thin
1/4 cup chicken or pork stock
1/2 lb snow peas, cleaned & trimmed
8 to 10 water chestnuts, sliced thin
Ingredients for Sauce:
1 tbsp red miso paste
2/3 cup chicken or pork stock
2 tsp cornstarch
Cooking Instructions:
In a bowl, combine the pork loin with 1 tbsp chicken or pork stock, 1/4 tsp salt, Japanese seven-spice powder and 1 tbsp cornstarch. Mix everything well then set aside for about 15 mins. In a bowl, combine the following sauce ingredients: red miso paste, chicken and pork stock, light soy sauce and cornstarch. Mix well then set aside. Heat oil in a large wok. Add ginger and stir-fry it well (30 secs). Add the pork pieces and saute till lightly brown (2 mins). Reduce heat and add the sauce ingredients and cook till sauce becomes thick (2 mins). Remove pork and sauce, set aside. In the same wok, add the slices of carrots and stir-fry till soft (1 min). Add the snow peas and water chestnuts and stir-fry till vegetables become crisp-tender (2 mins). Add in the pork mixture, stir till everything become warmed through and serve immediately.
Ingredients:
Half sheet of Nori seaweed
Fresh tuna, sliced
1 1/2 tsp Sichimi Togarashi ("7 flavors chillies")
Sesame chillie oil
Prepared sushi rice
Wasabi
Soy sauce for dipping
Pickled ginger, for garnish
Cooking Instructions:
Cut tuna into 1 inch thick slices. Rub tuna with about 1 1/2 tsp of the Sichimi Togarashi and allow to marinate. Coat very lightly with oil only after marinating with the spice first, otherwise the oil will act as a barrier, preventing the spice from seasoning the tuna. For a slightly milder roll, use sesame oil instead of the sesame chillie oil. Place the half sheet of nori on the rolling mat. Spread a thin layer of rice onto the sheet, leaving a small space uncovered at the ends. Layer tuna in the center of roll. Holding the filling in place, begin rolling away from you, using the mat. Turn the roll over and seal the uncovered nori section to the roll. Use a knife to cut pieces as describe in California rolls.
Ingredients:
1 egg, beaten
1 cup cold water
2 tbs dry white wine
1 cup flour
Tentsuyu (tempura dip):
1 tbs dashi no moto in 1 cup of water, boiled for 2 to 3 minutes
2 tbs mirin, optional
2 tbs sake or dry white wine
1/4 cup soy sauce
ginger root to taste - freshly grated, optional
Sweet potato yam
5 to 6 Shrimp
Cooking Instructions:
Heat the oil to 340F or 360F. Dip vegetables or shrimp in the batter and place them in the oil. Remove when tempura turns slightly brown. Place on paper towel to absorb oil. Remove and place on decorative plate. Serve with tempura dip.
Ingredients:
4 sheets filo dough
4 ripe bananas, peeled
1/2 cup red bean paste
10g yuzu peel (sour Japanese citrus fruit)
Icing sugar
4 tbsp kuromitsu (black sugar syrup)
Cooking Instructions:
On a board, put one piece of filo dough. Place a whole banan near one corner. Spoon 2 tbsp red bean paste and 1/2 tsp yuzu peel beside banana. Roll up dough to full enclose banana (like a parcel). Heat oil. Deep fry banana parcle for 3 to 4 mins till golden. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Cut banana in half diagonally, dust with icing sugar and serve with 1 tbsp kuromitsu.
