carbonara with a japanese twist

Some days, a girl just needs some Italian. Or more specifically, a salted cream explosion of al dente spaghetti goodness scattered with juicy bacon bits. Yeaaaa it's carbonara. 

This recipe includes the slight Japanese twist of adding konbu-cha, which gives great depth to the salty overtones to create a more vibrant flavour, but if you don't have it you can always leave it out.

Ingredients (serves 2)
♥ 180g spaghetti
♥ 2 knobs of garlic
♥ 3 slithers of bacon

{Sauce}
♥ 100ml fresh cream (whippable type) [生クリーム(ホイップ可)]
♥ 100ml milk
♥ 2 egg yolks
♥ A sprinkle of black pepper and parmesan cheese

{Seasoning}
♥ A pinch of konbu-cha [昆布茶] or konbu-dashi [昆布だし]
♥ 1 teaspoon salt

+ optional: half-boiled egg [温泉卵]

1. Put the pasta on to boil for 10 minutes.
2. Grate the garlic and cut up the bacon into strips.
3. Mix the sauce ingredients.
4. Heat olive oil in a frying pan and add the garlic. When fragrant, add the bacon.
5. Add the drained spaghetti and sauce. 
6. Sprinkle the seasoning, black pepper and place a half-boiled egg on top if you wish.

'toromi tamago' soba noodle soup

Soba noodles are healthy and super versatile, yet so often I end up eating the same old zaru-soba (chilled soba with a tsuyu dipping sauce) that I thought it was time to spice things up a bit. This cookpad recipe is dirt cheap and dead easy, and considering the small amount of ingredients required to make it, the depth of flavour is superb.   

Ingredients:

♥ 2 servings soba noodles (dry/fresh/boiled, anything is fine)

♥ 500ml water

♥ 1 teaspoon hondashi

♥ 3 tablespoons soy sauce

♥ 3 tablespoons mirin

♥ 1 beaten egg

♥ 1 tablespoon potato starch [片栗粉] mixed with 2 tablespoons water

♥ 1cm tube ginger / a teaspoon of fresh ginger

Optional: salad onions, cayenne pepper powder [一味唐辛子]

1. Prepare the soba noodles as directed on the packet (usually boil for a couple of minutes). Drain under ice water and chill in the fridge.

2. Add the water, hondashi, soy sauce and mirin to a saucepan. Once boiling, turn down to a simmer and slowly stir in the potato starch until the mixture thickens.

3. Slowly pour in the egg whilst mixing slowly. 

4. Add in the ginger and soba noodles and bring back up to the boil for a couple of minutes.

5. Serve in a bowl with salad onions and pepper powder.

cabbage roll sausages

I kind of feel like a massive fraud for posting this under the tag "recipes", because it's probably the easiest thing in the world. 

Satoshi's parents live in Nagoya and every so often they send us a huge box of groceries full of all his favourite childhood foods - it's like the most adorbs thing ever and for some reason makes me well up every time they do it. Not expressing your love outwardly but instead making sweet gestures like that is just so wa. But yeah, anyway, the other day they sent us about ten million sausages and the most gorgeously fresh and crisp spring cabbage, so I thought I'd put them both to use for dinner. It's a fancy way to eat your sausages and adds some vegetables to the mix!

Ingredients:
♥ Sausages (we love the Johnsonville range 'Beddar with Cheddar' and 'Cooked Brats')
♥ A few cabbage leaves
♥ 1 cup water
♥ A konsome stock cube [コンソメ]
♥ 1 tablespoon of potato starch [片栗粉] mixed with 2 tablespoons water

1. Boil the water and add in the konsome stock cube.
2. Add the cabbage leaves and leave to boil for 4 minutes or until soft.
3. Wrap each sausage in a cabbage leaf.
4. Put back into the boiling water and simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Stir in the potato starch for about 2 minutes until the mixture thickens.

monjayaki in tsukishima

The other day our friend invited us to a dance music festival he was running called 'Body and Soul'. All our crew were there and it was really cool to catch up with everyone as it'd been a super long time. Macchan gave us a world-class tour behind the scenes and we had an absolute blast - it was a really cool, laid-back festival and everybody was just out to enjoy themselves, dancing along to remixed disco and old school anthems. 

It finished around 8pm, and since we were in the area, Satoshi took me out to Tsukishima Monjayaki street to chow down on one of the less well-known regional iron grill dishes. Monjayaki originates from Tokyo, and unlike Osaka's okonomiyaki or Hiroshima's hiroshima-yaki, the mixture is runnier and not as stodgy, with the main focus being on enjoying the vegetables and toppings, which range from seafood, to meat, to gyoza, to cheese, to anything you can imagine. The batter acts as a sort of flavouring or sauce so you don't need to add any extra dressings or mayo, which makes me like to think that it's a (somewhat) healthier option! 

Monjayaki street is packed with row after row of monja restaurants so it's really hard to know which one to go for, but Satoshi took me to a place called 'Okame' which he used to go to with his company senpais. We luckily got the last free table, and ordered butter oysters and two monjayaki - gyoza and seafood. There's just something about DIY food and eating freshly off a grill pan that makes food taste so very good - the slight charring really rams in the flavour. 

You prepare monjayaki firstly by sautéing the solid ingredients. Once all the veg has softened, shape it into a donut shape and pour the batter inside the hole. Eat it directly off the grill pan with the little spatula that comes with your chopsticks. 

We also got dessert - we went for anko (red bean paste), but there was also anzu (apricot) or mixed filling to choose from. Dipping the fried anko in kuromitsu (brown sugar syrup) created a really warming, comforting taste very typical of Japanese desserts - simple and not too sweet. 

Also on the way home, there was a cute little bakery selling melon pan and ice cream, so we had a cheeky post-dinner nightcap there too. The whole Tsukishima area was a really cute, Shōwa style town with cheesy little souvenir shops and funny mascot statues, and all in all it was a really fun gourmet experience.   

curry rice

I was always kinda scared to try making curry rice, since it's such a kodawari (picky) thing, and everybody has their own taste preference. But I figured I might be able to wing it with cookpad's most popular curry recipe, so I gave it a try and actually it turned out pretty damn good. It passed the husband test which is all I need to know anyway!

Ingredients (makes a big pot of about 5 plates - it's best to make a big stash then freeze each serving you don't need in ziplock bags):

{Stage One}
♥ 300g beef in bitesize chunks
♥ 2 onions
♥ 1 carrot
♥ 20g butter
♥ 1 tablespoon crushed garlic
♥ Arabiki shiokoshou (if you don't have this, regular salt and pepper will do)
♥ 1 bay leaf [ローリエの葉] or a pack of curry herbs

{Stage Two}
♥ 200g curry roux blocks (2 packets)
♥ 1 tablespoon Worcester sauce
♥ 1 tablespoon honey
♥ 1 tablespoon soy sauce

Stage One:
1. Fry the garlic in the butter, then add the onion. Simmer until caramelised.
2. In a big saucepan, heat some oil and add in the beef. Season with arabiki shiokoshou. Add the carrots and cooked onion.
3. Add the bay leaf and 900ml water (or 1.2l water if you want to simmer for longer). Minimum simmer time is 30 minutes, but the longer you leave it, the better the flavour becomes. I like to start mine around lunchtime and leave it simmering all afternoon, making sure to top it up with a bit of water if it starts to run a bit low. 

Stage Two:
1. Add in the stage two ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes. Serve on a plate with rice!

natto hiyashi udon

The temperature is finally starting to pick up here in Tokyo and there's a hint of that sticky summer humidity in the air - all of which calls for a nice refreshing bowl of hiyashi (chilled) udon. My local supermarket had a sale on for nama-udon (fresh udon), which is so much nicer than the packet stuff, so I just had to get a couple of packets since Satoshi is a huge udon geek and I knew he'd be psyched. I chucked this recipe together in under 10 minutes - it's super super easy and tastes incredible, plus the ingredients are dirt cheap cupboard essentials, so you can always use it as a trusty back-up dish when you're low on stock.

Ingredients (serves 1):
♥ 1 serving of udon noodles
♥ 1 pack of natto
♥ Half a cucumber
♥ A handful of shirasu (whitebait)
♥ A dash of mentsuyu

1. Boil the udon as directed on the packet (it's usually for 5 minutes). Drain and rinse under ice cold water to cool the noodles.
2. Open the natto and mix in the sauce that comes in the packet.
3. Slice the cucumber with a peeler into thin strips.
4. Whack the udon noodles in a bowl, pour over a little bit of mentsuyu and mix until it's coated evenly. You can always add more to taste as you go along, so don't put too much on!
5. Arrange the natto, cucumber and shirasu on top and voila! 

warming tofu curry soup

Satoshi is obsessed with curry flavour, but it so often involves greasy chicken and oily junk food combos that make him completely regret it the day after. So he rarely eats it, reserved only for "special occasions". But I found this nice soothing recipe for a curry soup on cookpad, which uses wholesome ingredients like tofu and ginger, no processed curry flavour blocks, and the best thing is it's super easy. It's a really warming, filling soup which would go great with a bowl of brown rice or udon.

Ingredients (serves 2):
♥ 1 pack of silken tofu
♥ Half an onion
♥ 1 egg
♥ 1 tablespoon of potato starch [片栗粉] mixed with 2 tablespoons water
♥ A sprinkle of salad onions

{Soup}
♥ 350ml water
♥ 1 teaspoon hondashi powder
♥ 1/4 teaspoon salt
♥ 1&1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
♥ 1 teaspoon mirin
♥ 1 teaspoon sake
♥ 1/2 teaspoon curry powder [カレー粉]

1. Chop the onion into thin slices and fry lightly in oil.
2. When softened, sprinkle the curry powder over to form a light coating.
3. Pour in the soup mix and bring to a high heat.
4. Chop the tofu into bitesize chunks and plop them in the soup. Turn to a medium-low heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes.
5. Slowly add in the potato starch and stir lightly until the mixture thickens.
6. Turn off the heat and crack an egg in the middle of the soup. Sprinkle some salad onions on top and serve.

toshi yoroizuka, ebisu

I think I died and went to cake heaven. 

It was our anniversary this weekend - nothing special and not even a landmark number, but in our household we love any excuse to gorge ourselves on sweet treats. Satoshi was working late on Friday night so the only place that was open on the way home was a local chain store with its generic strawberry shortcakes (which, by the way are plenty delicious). But being the perfectionist he is, he was so cute about this little shortcake and got all embarrassed like "I want to buy you something better", so on Saturday as well as regular cake I also got whisked away on a spontaneous post-dinner dessert hunt to the Ebisu branch of the infamous Toshi Yoroizuka, one of Japan's best patissiers. Talk about going from one extreme to the other.

It was my first time and I didn't quite know what to expect, but I was told to prepare myself for all my favourite goodies under one roof. The Ebisu branch itself is nothing special - there are a few tables outside but it's basically a small take-away cake shop housed amongst a long line of conservative eateries in uptown Ebisu. As you walk in, there is a small counter containing tastefully arranged cakes and treats, each with a neatly written description. Nothing new there. But the desserts themselves really took the cake (...ok, that was awful, forgive me).          

There were all the classics - chocolate gateau, shu-creams, roll cake - as well as some more inventive concoctions like orange liquor cheesecake and chestnut mousse. I got a very adult impression from the selection - it's not the kind of place I can imagine your kids wanting to go on the weekends, since the taste palette is very rich and not at all sickly sweet. But as the sweet-but-not-too-sweet dessert foodie I am, it was the perfect balance and therefore impossible to choose just one. So, in a stroke of genius we got two each instead. We both ended up going for the cheese soufflé cheesecake, but I opted for chocolate gateau (when I heard the base was made with walnuts I was instantly taken), whereas Satoshi went for a shu-cream.

We hopped in a taxi home and shared our little feast with a cup of houji-cha and iced coffee. The cheese soufflé cheesecake was just as fluffy and airy as I'd expected, with a mouse-like texture that melted in the mouth. I know some people don't like it when you can taste the cheese in cheesecake, but I'm one of the weirdos that does, and this one delivered that perfect little tinge of cheesiness to balance out the sweet egg whites. The chocolate gateau was obviously amazing - I mean come on just look at that picture. In a slight Japanese twist, anzu (apricot) jelly was spread in the top layer, adding an extra texture to the mix that was just lush. And of course not to mention the shu-cream. The shell seemed almost like filo pastry - once you bite into it it just crumbles and melts on the tongue, and the cream inside was a luscious, thick vanilla.

Toshi Yoroizuka is located at 1-32-6 Ebisu and open from 11am-8pm (every day except Tuesdays). There's also a swanky bar version in Midtown where you can enjoy dessert over a cocktail - defo going next time!  

'tori-kawa soumen' noodle soup

Tori-kawa, or its super unattractive English translation "chicken skin" (don't let that put you off!) is a super versatile and flavoursome ingredient often overlooked in Western cooking. In Japan, chicken skin is widely regarded as a wholesome meat full of good, healthy fats that aids better skin, nails and hair, and when combined with other nourishing ingredients such as ginger and spring onion like in this cookpad recipe, it's a great beauty fuel for your body. Not to mention it's cheap, easy and tastes freaking delicious. It's a very meaty, slightly salty but very deep and earthy flavour, which is very easy on the stomach but not at all bland. You might recognise the stock flavour from some ramen places - chicken skin is quite often used there too! It's a well-loved flavour all over Japan and great for nourishing a tired SO after a long day at work. 

Ingredients (serves 1):
♥ 1-3 leftover chicken skins
♥ 2 tablespoons sake
♥ 1 knob of ginger, roughly cut into thin slices
♥ The top, dark green part of a naga-negi onion, or if you don't have that then spring onion slices will do.
♥ 1-2 teaspoons of powdered Chinese stock [中華だし]
♥ 1 bunch of soumen noodles

1. Flash boil the chicken skins in some water, drain and rinse well under the tap.
2. Boil up a big pot of water (about twice the amount of your serving bowl), add in the chicken skins, sake, ginger and onion.
3. Turn down to low heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
4. Remove the chicken skins and use in another recipe. I like to put mine under the grill for 10 minutes with a sprinkle of oil until they are crispy, then sprinkle salt and pepper on for a tasty side dish!

5. Add the Chinese stock powder and soumen noodles. Bring back to the boil for about 3 minutes then serve!

rice porridge 'okayu'

Chicken, ginger and spring onion are universally regarded as the bunged-up flu sufferer's holy grail, except whereas in the UK you just drink plain old chicken soup, in Japan you get the whole extra level up with added stodgy carbs to give you that extra comfort-food kick back to full health. Everyone's mom has their own family recipe so it's a good one to have on the repertoire for when you want to do a little impressing nursing the SO if they catch a cold. It also makes a super yummy and wholesome side-dish if you just fancy eating something with a nice warming ginger flavour - who says you can't break the rules and have it on non-flu days? Go on be a rebel.

Ingredients (serves 1-2):
♥ 1 rice cooker measuring cup of uncooked rice
♥ 6 cups water
♥ 1 thumb of ginger, cut into thin strips
♥ A handful of chopped spring onions
♥ 1 tablespoon of chicken stock powder [鶏ガラスープ]
♥ A sprinkle of salt and pepper
♥ A dash of sesame oil (optional)

1. Wash the rice then place it in a saucepan with the water. Bring to a boil then simmer for 25 minutes.
2. Test the hardness of the rice - if it's still a bit firm, leave it on for a little longer.
3. Add in the ginger, onion, chicken stock and salt and pepper and stir.
4. Divide into bowls and pour a dash of sesame oil on top to serve. Slurp with a big spoon!

Note: you can tailor the amount of ginger and spring onion to your taste - if you prefer a spicier ginger flavour then feel free to add more! You can also customise this recipe by adding in chicken breast pieces, beaten egg, cabbage, mushrooms etc. 

chicken and boiled egg 'teritare'

Teritare [照りタレ] is basically two words smooshed together - you've got the 'teri' from teriyaki and tare, which means sauce. So yeah. We're talking some bonafide teriyaki chicken action today. Guess I got your attention now huh?

Teriyaki is one of the most universally loved flavours of Japanese cooking, and it's easy to understand why - the sticky deep soy flavour is one of those finger-licking inducing vices that spruces up even the plainest of ingredients and compliments an endless array of dishes. Although chicken is the standard protocol, this recipe from a Japanese magazine called Esse uses the addition of boiled eggs, which is just the most genius thing ever. The crispy chicken combined with the softness of the egg is just heavenly, and what's better it's dead-easy to make and uses simple cupboard ingredients.

Ingredients (serves 3-4 as a side dish):

♥ 6 boiled eggs

♥ 2 chicken thighs [鳥もも肉] cut into bitesize chunks

♥ A sprinkle of potato starch [片栗粉]

♥ A sprinkle of salad onions, salt, pepper

{Marinade}

♥ 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger

♥ 3 tablespoons soy sauce

♥ 3 tablespoons mirin

♥ 3 tablespoons sake

♥ 1 teaspoon sugar

1. Sprinkle the chicken with a good coating of the potato starch, season with salt and pepper. 

2. Whack it in a frying pan on high heat and sear each side for a couple of minutes. Turn down to low heat and cover with a lid, leave to cook for 5-6 minutes.

3. Pour the marinade over and stir until sticky. 

4. Stop the heat and add the eggs. Stir until they are coated nicely in the mixture.

5. Cut the eggs in half and serve everything on a plate with a sprinkle of salad onions on top.

gyuukatsu motomura, shibuya

For what could possibly be the first time in my entire life, I managed to actually wait for food. Like, actually more than 5 minutes from my stomach rumbling to giving in to the bag of crisps in the cupboard. Yup. I'm talking a whole one and a half hours of sheer and utter hangriness, waiting in line with the tantalising smell of freshly cooked gyuukatsu (beef cutlet) repeatedly wafting right in front of my face. Was it worth it? ...come on, just look at the food porn above. LOOK AT IT IN ALL IT'S BEAUTIFUL GLORY.

(...yes, yes it was worth it).

Gyuukatsu Motomura is possibly the most talked-about katsu joint on the food scene right now, and queues are round the block. With only a small, dimly lit counter table available, diners have to wait for as long as 2, sometimes 3 hours just to get a taste of the super restricted menu offering up only the infamous gyuukatsu, rice and salad.

Satoshi and I arrived at just past 11am, and the queue was already out the door. Located down a shabby little side street, the place isn't much to look at, but the impatient atmosphere and line of hungry stomachs creates an air of anticipation that really builds up the foodie excitement. 

After watching string after string of satisfied customers leaving with smiles on their faces, it was finally our turn to be seated in the tiny little restaurant. We were both absolutely starving by this point, so each ordered the double size that comes with two katsu cutlets, which actually turned out to be the perfect amount and smaller than we'd expected. 

There's not much I can say that can do justice to describe the sweet taste of juicy, tender meat cutlets after an excruciatingly long wait, but all I will say is that we both ate in silence, too moved by the experience to utter a word. And the thing is, I think that even if we hadn't had to wait for such a bloody long time, I truly believe that the cutlets would be just as incredibly delicious. The ultra-fresh pink meaty colour of the katsu, enhanced by the expert searing job by the small team of chefs is just a work of art, and the light coating of breadcrumbs was just enough to add that extra satisfying gritty texture to the melt-in-the-mouth meat. 

Even the miso soup was the perfect compliment to the taste experience, using red instead of white miso paste, creating a more earthy flavour to bring out the beef tones. Ahh it was all just SO GOOD.

We both left feeling totally full and satisfied, pausing only to drop a cheeky smirk at the long line of unknowing hungry diners waiting outside. 

Gyuukatsu Motomura is located at Shibuya 3-18-10 and is open daily from 11am-11pm. Get there early!

mushroom rice: 'takikomi gohan'

'Takikomi gohan' (rice seasoned with various ingredients) is basically the lazy chef's best friend - you simply whack all the ingredients in a rice cooker and press the button, and out comes a deceivingly impressive dish bursting with flavour. When I first made this cookpad recipe for Satoshi, I thought he'd see through me judging by how damn easy it was, but he was super impressed and has forever since been requesting mushroom rice for today's dinner, mushroom rice for tomorrow's lunch, mushroom rice when we have friends round...I wouldn't be surprised if he has dreams about mushroom rice, he's that into it. Although I do have to hand it to him, it is pretty damn tasty. 

You can really taste the deep richness of the mushrooms infused into the rice, and the marinade flavour is slightly sweet but delicately balanced with the saltiness of the soy sauce, making it a real all-round crowd pleaser for kids and adults alike. It really is just one of those dishes you can pair with just about anything, or simply enjoy by itself. Also a side note, if you want to impress your significant other you can brag about how you made the marinade from scratch rather than cheating and using the pre-flavoured packets from the supermarket - MAJOR wifey points. I won't tell them about how it's actually easy-peasy and only takes 5 minutes to prepare - it's our little secret;)

Ingredients:
♥ 2 rice cooker measuring cups of uncooked rice
♥ 1 pack of eringi / king oyster mushrooms [エリンギ]
♥ 1 pack of shimeji mushrooms [しめじ]
♥ 100ml of water
♥ Sesame seeds and salad onions to garnish

{Marinade}
♥ 1 teaspoon of sugar
♥ 2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
♥ 1 tablespoon hondashi powder
♥ 2 tablespoons mirin
♥ 2 tablespoons sake

1. Roughly cut the mushrooms into 2cm-ish pieces, whack them in a frying pan with the water and simmer. Don't worry if it looks really watery - that's the idea!
2. When the mushrooms have softened up and released their water content, add the marinade and simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Whilst that's simmering, wash your rice and put it in the rice cooker. 

4. Turn off the heat and sieve the mushroom juice over the rice. Stir. 
5. Add water up to the '2' mark on the rice cooker.
6. Shove the cooked mushrooms on top of this mixture, close the lid and press start! 

7. When cooked, serve in a bowl with sesame seeds and salad onions sprinkled on top. Alternatively, you can also store this in the freezer! Whenever you need to use it, simply defrost and heat in the microwave - simples.

what i eat for breakfast

So if you know me well, you'll know that I'm super obsessive about my peanut butter and banana oatmeal for breakfast. I wish I was one of those laid-back Jamie Oliver types who just rustled up a variety of stuff on the spur of the moment, but unfortunately I've got a slight obsession with peanut butter which has rendered me slave to the same breakfast every single day like some kind of crazed nut-addict (like, literally, if I don't have at least 3 jars of peanut butter on reserve in the cupboard, I freak out. It's not cool).

As an avid gym-goer, this oatmeal is the perfect pre-workout fuel, not to mention a deliciously wholesome and super healthy start to the day. It delivers a perfectly balanced hit of essential morning carbs, as well as healthy fats and protein, and as oatmeal is proven to aid weight loss when combined with exercise, it's the perfect diet food in disguise as it leaves you feeling full and satisfied until lunchtime. 

When I first moved out to Japan, the one thing that I was positively petrified about was losing my beloved oatmeal. How would I survive? How would I get by on jam on toast or - heaven forbid - natto and rice? I ain't no natto and rice girl! I'm an oatmeal girl! ...buuuut Japan being as fabulous as it is answered my plea, as oatmeal is now widely available in supermarkets across the country - although I'm guessing it's still a pretty niche gaijin-service-type food as Satoshi was utterly mortified and bamboozled at the sight of the gloopy oats swirling about in my bowl in the morning. Ah well, haters gonna hate.

To make the oatmeal, I cook 40g of oats with water in the microwave, then stir-in all natural peanut butter (I buy a super yummy one by Alishan's off amazon.jp), chop bananas on top, sprinkle a few organic raisins and voila! It's the perfect wake-me-up as it's slightly sweet but not horrif, so even if you can't stomach much in the morning it's a gentle, natural flavour, very warming and easy to eat. Oh and I will stress the importance of peanut butter being the all-natural type with no added sugar, palm oil or salt. Don't put those nasties into your body and distort the yummy natural taste!

What is your favourite breakfast or oatmeal combo? Let me know!:)