Dashi - Japanese Soup Stock with Shiitake and Kombu

I am making Dashi (Japanese Soup Stock) tonight. I always use "Mizudashi" method which is to make Dashi by soaking dried ingredients in water overnight. I am using Dried Shiitake Mushroom and Kombu (kelp) tonight. If you have Dried Shiitake only, that will work also. Kombu only is good, too. Katsuobushi (bonito flakes) works well also.


What I used:

• 3 pieces of Dried Shiitake Mushrooms
• 1 piece of Kombu (Kelp cut down to about 4 inches)
• 3 cups of water
  

Rinse the Dried Shiitake Mushrooms. Wipe Kombu with dump paper towel. Put them in a bowl with 3 cups of water and let them soak overnight (8 hours or more) in a refrigerator.

The stock will be ready to use by the morning. I squeeze water out of Shiitake and Kombu and put them aside to be used for other recipes later on.

I am thinking about making "something Japanese" tomorrow, but not sure what. I will post whatever I decided to make tomorrow!

Okara Nuggets with Hijiki and Carrot trial

I made some soymilk today, so I got more Okara (soy pulp). Since the Okara Falafel I made last week was a big success, I decided to make something similar. Instead of putting parsley and garlic, I put Hijiki and carrots. My daughter liked it. I thought they are so so. I think everything taste good to my daughter if they are fried and with sweet chili sauce....

What I used:

• 2 cups of Okara
• 1/2 onion - finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons Hijiki
• 1/2 cup Carrots - finely chopped
• 1/3 cup Flour

I washed and drained Hijiki (I didn't soak it in water, since my Okara is pretty moiste), then mixed all the ingredients together and fried them for 5 to 7 minutes with 350 degrees F oil.

Hijiki is a brown sea vegetable growing wild on rocky coastlines. It is known to be rich in dietary fibre and essential minerals such as calcium(1400mg/100g),iron(55.0mg/100g) and magnesium(620mg/100g).

Next time, I might add green onions instead of regular onion, and maybe shelled edamame in the dough....

Please leave me a comment and tell me how you liked the recipe! Please try out my other Okara Recipes also!

Homemade Pizza Party!

Since I had a big success with Pita Breads, I decided to try making my own Pizza dough. Actually the recipe was almost exactly the same as the Pita Bread Recipe I used. I decided to let the dough rise twice instead of once after reviewing different recipes on Internet. I got premade Pizza Sauce, Pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, and 6 screaming girls. The party was a big success!

An Kibi Dango - Millet Dumplings with Sweet Red Bean Paste Topping

I'm not sure if I can call this a recipe.... I just pour my homemade Anko over Kibidango, It was great!


Please check my other posts for Japanese Desserts also! If you have a chance to try out any of the recipes, please let me know how you liked it.

Oshiruko with Kibidango - Sweet Red Bean Soup with Millet Dumplings

Traditionally, Oshiruko is made with Mochi or Shiratama (both of them are rice cakes - one made from steamed rice, the other made from sweet rice flour). I just replaced Mochi with my homemade Kibidango (Millet Dumpling).

You will need:

• 1/2 cup Anko (sweet red bean paste)
• 2 cups of water
• 6 Kibidango (Millet Dumplings)

1. Mix Anko and water in a pan and bring them to boil.

2. Stir the mixture till Anko is all desolved. Add Kibidango and simmer for a couple minutes.

You can use more/less Anko to adjust the sweetness to your liking.

Please check out my Mochi recipe! Please check my other posts for Japanese Desserts also! If you have a chance to try out any of the recipes, please let me know how you liked it.

Anko - Sweet Red Bean Paste

I recently found out that the small red beans are the number one antioxidant-rich food. Red beans happened to be one of my favorite foods. Many traditional Japanese sweets are made with Anko (sweet red bean paste). My husband hates it, my daughter and I love it....

Here is the recipe I use to make them. Many people suggest to boil the beans once and change water to make the paste tastier, but I don't do that because I don't want to drain out nutrients along with the water.

You will need:

• 1 cup of small red beans (Adzuki Beans)
• 1 cup of brown sugar

1. Wash the beans in a pot. Cover them with enough water and slowly bring them to a boil.

2. Let it simmer for 3 to 4 hours or until the beans are soft. Make sure you have enough water for the whole time. (You can soak the beans overnight and cut down the cooking time to 1 to 2 hours.)

3. Add suger 1/4 cup at a time over 10 minutes once beans are soft.

4. Simmer more until water is almost gone. Beans will soak up more water after you stop cooking, so make sure you take them off of the burner while it is still somewhat runny.

That's it! You can use this paste to make Oshiruko (sweet red bean soup), as a topping for Mochi (rice cake), and for many other dishes! Please check my other posts for Japanese Desserts also! If you have a chance to try out any of the recipes, please let me know how you liked it.

Kibidango - Millet Dumplings

I was reading an old Japanese folk tale - Momotaro - to my daughter the other night. The main character fights with ogres in the story. When he told his mom that he is going to fight with ogres, his mom made Kibidango (Millet Dumplings) for him to take....

You will need:

• 1 cup of Millet
• 2 to 3 cups of water
  

It takes about 25 minutes to cook millet by simmering. I like grainy dumplings so I use 2 cups of water, but you can add more water to make it more mashed potatoes like texture. Once it's done, you mash it and form them into 1/2 inch balls. You get about 40 of them.

I made two dishes using the dumplings - Oshiruko (Sweet Red Bean Soup with Dumplings) and An Dango (Dumplings with Sweet Red Bean Paste Topping) - and put the rest in a freezer!