Homestyle Japanese Cooking (5 page)

Roll up the chicken and fasten with kitchen string on both ends.

Japanese Garlic Ginger Steak

4 steaks (about 250 g or 8 oz each), excess fat trimmed

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons
mirin

1 tablespoon sugar

4 tablespoons rice vinegar

180 g (6 oz) daikon, peeled and thinly shredded

½ carrot, peeled and thinly shredded

2½ cm (1 in) fresh ginger, thinly shredded

1 tablespoon oil

2 spring onions, thinly sliced

1
Place the meat in a large baking dish. In a small bowl combine the garlic, soy sauce, and
mirin
, and pour it over the steaks. Let it marinate for 30 minutes, turning occasionally.

2
Dissolve sugar in vinegar. Arrange vegetables and ginger in a large bowl and pour rice vinegar over the shredded vegetables. Set aside for 5 to 10 minutes. Drain and squeeze out any excess moisture.

3
Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the steak and stir-fry until done to taste. For medium rarea, stir-fry for about 3 minutes on each side .

4
Remove steaks and place on warmed serving plates. Sprinkle with spring onions and serve with the marinated vegetable mixture.

Serves 4

Preparation time:
30 mins

Cooking time:
10 mins

Stir-fried Pork with Ginger and Cabbage

3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons fresh ginger juice

2 tablespoons sake

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons oil

500 g (1 lb) pork tenderloin, thinly sliced

120 g (¾ cup) Chinese cabbage, cut into small squares

5 cm (2 in) fresh ginger, thinly shredded

1
Combine soy sauce, ginger juice, sake, and sugar in a small bowl and stir until sugar is dissolved.

2
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add pork and stir-fry until meat is partially cooked, about 1 minute. Remove pork from skillet and drain.

3
Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the pan. Add cabbage and ginger and stir-fry until almost tender, about 2 minutes. Return pork to skillet with the sauce mixture, and stir-fry over high heat until pork is cooked through, about 2 minutes. Serve with rice.

Serves 4

Preparation time:
10 mins

Cooking time:
6 mins

Sliced Beef in Ginger Soy Gravy

500 g (1 lb) sirloin steak

4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

1 medium onion, peeled

2 tablespoons oil

500 ml (2 cups) Basic Dashi Stock (page
4
)

3 tablespoons sake

2 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons soy sauce

5 cm (2 in) fresh ginger, thinly shredded

1
Place potato chunks into bowl of cold water.

2
Freeze steak for 30 minutes to firm. Cut across the grain into very thin slices.

3
Halve onion lengthwise, and slice each half.

4
Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add beef and stir-fry until meat is just brown, about 2 minutes. Remove from pan and drain.

5
Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add onions and potatoes and stir-fry for 2 minutes until potatoes are well coated with oil.

6
Add Basic Dashi Stock, sake, and sugar and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add soy sauce and beef to pan and cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

7
Garnish with ginger and serve immediately.

Serves 4

Preparation time:
35 mins

Cooking time:
20 mins

Seafood and Chicken Hotpot

8 fresh or dried shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and discarded, caps, quartered

1 carrot, thinly sliced

6 mussels or large clams

2 tablespoons plus ½ teaspoon salt

225 g (8 oz)
shirataki
noodles (glass noodles)

225 g (½ lb) chicken breast, skin removed and diced

225 g (½ lb) fish fillets, such as sea bass, mackerel, or salmon, cubed

4 large scallops

180 g (6 oz) shucked oysters

8–10 prawns, peeled and deveined with tails intact

4 leaves Chinese cabbage, cut in 5-cm (2-in) squares

1 large or 2 small leeks, rinsed

300 g (10 oz) firm tofu

Pinch cayenne pepper

1½ liters (6 cups) Basic Dashi Stock (page
4
)

1 tablespoon
mirin

1 tablespoon soy sauce

½ teaspoon salt

250 ml (1 cup)
ponzu
dipping sauce (page
3
)

6 tablespoons daikon, grated

1 spring onions, thinly sliced

1
If using dried mushrooms, soak for 20 minutes in hot water until soft, then drain. Blanch carrot and set aside. Soak mussels or clams for 5 minutes in 4 cups cold water mixed with 2 tablespoons salt. Rinse under cold running water and drain. Blanch
shirataki
noodles for 2 minutes, remove from water, and when cool enough to handle, cut into 10-cm (4-in) lengths.

2
Bring the Basic Dashi Stock,
mirin
, soy sauce, and salt to a boil. Pour enough liquid over the ingredients in the casserole to almost cover and it let cook over low heat. Keep remaining liquid mixture hot over low heat. Do not boil the remaining liquid mix.

3
Arrange ingredients in four small batches—chicken, seafood, vegetables and tofu—into a hotpot on a table-top hotplate and cook them in batches.

4
As ingredients continue to cook, diners can help themselves from the cookpot. Pass individual dipping bowls of
ponzu
dipping sauce stirred with grated daikon and thinly sliced spring onions. Replenish the hotpot with remaining ingredients and Basic Dashi Stock as needed.

Serves 4 to 6

Preparation time:
30 mins

Cooking time:
20 mins

Sweet Soy Beef and Vegetable Hotpot
(Sukiyaki)

12 dried or fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and discarded

500 g (1 lb) beef tenderloin, thinly sliced

250 g (8 oz)
shirataki
(or glass noodles)

250 g (8 oz) firm tofu, cubed

2 small leeks, rinsed and sliced diagonally

120 g (4 oz) spinach, washed and coarsely cut in sections

4 large eggs (optional)

2 tablespoons oil

Sauce

180 ml (¾ cup) soy sauce

60 ml (¼ cup) sake

60 ml (¼ cup)
mirin