Apple Tart - りんごタルト - かまきの食事時間#7

初めて、お菓子料理を作ってみた。ちょっと心配される。「なんで？」とあなたが尋ねます。美味しくない食べ物を作ることが嫌だなー

Trying to step into pastry food, and to tell you the truth, I am a little nervous. The only two desserts I made are chocolate biscuits and brownies, and they both turned out horrible. So I went on a mission to find something simple. Something that only requires a few ingredients, few steps, and easy to make.

Dessert du jour

Baking requires precision. A mixture without exact measurements will create an unbalanced and distasteful food. Since I don't have any measuring tool to weigh any ingredients, and with the lack of experience in baking, I decided to start with an apple tart (りんごタルト). 

The following is the recipe for apple tart. I got inspired to make this after watching apple dessert recipe challenege from "Gordon Ramsay's F Word".

Ingredients:

Apple - 4

Shortcrust pastry - 1 base

Cinnamon powder - 2 tablespoon

brown sugar - 4 tablespoon

Butter

1. Peel, core, and slice apple. Dice a small portion of the apple for the apple puree.

2. Add the diced apple into a sauce pan, add brown sugar, cinnamon powder and water. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.

3. When the diced apple becomes soft, crush them with the back of a spoon or simply use a blender. This is the apple puree.

4. Brush butter onto the baking pan and place the pastry base. 

5. Fold the margin of the pastry into any shapes as desired, along as the apple puree doesn't escape out from the pastry. 

5. Place the apple slices on, and cover the entire puree. I place it in a counter-clock wise direction. Then brush butter on top of the apple slices.

6. Bake for 30-40 minutes on Fan-force 180 degree Celsius.

7. Serve with any additional toppings (such as ice cream) if desired.

りんごタルトを完成！いつも甘いお菓子が好きですが、歯医者の考え方があるのでお菓子を少し食べた。

どうぞごゆっくり召し上がってください。

Miso Ramen - 味噌ラーメン - かまきの食事時間#6

「寿司を作りたい」と思って、でもこしひかりがも食べ終わった。

With shortage of rice in the house, I had to pull out my noodle storage today. Throwing a bit of my love for Japan, I decided to make ramen (ラーメン) for dinner. Ramen is an iconic Japanese dish that can be served with versatility. Various form of ramen noodle requires careful selection of specific thickness of the soup base. It is often said that when eating a bowl of ramen, the soup must be "pulled" with the noodle itself in order to taste the intended texture and flavour of the dish as a whole. With some people calling the "theory of ramen" (ラーメン理論), multiple ramen shops therefore strive to create the most balanced, and perfect, ramen dish.

A commonly used soup base for ramen is miso (味噌). Miso comes in various type, but the most common types are (1) white (白味噌 [しろ]), (2) yellow (信州味噌 [しんしゅう]), (3) red (赤味噌 [あか]), (4) barley (麦味噌 [むぎ]), and (5) soybean (豆味噌  [まめ]); with 白,信州, and 赤 being the most widely used. People living in different part of Japan may tend to use different type of miso, some finds specific miso more suitable for specific dishes. Although I cannot say for sure, but a few of my Japanese friends like 赤味噌 with sashimi (刺し身). I personally like 赤味噌 because of its intense and rustic flavour.

The following is my recipe for miso ramen (味噌ラーメン). Unfortunately, I am unable to make the typical ramen toppings (ラーメントッピング) from scratch.

Ingredients (serving for 4)
Pork belly - 400g
Garlic - 3 cloves
Shallot - 2 sticks
Sliced Onion - 1
Red miso paste - 2 table spoons
Seaweed (わかめ) - as desired 
Dried Skipjack Tuna flakes (鰹節[かつおぶし]) - as desired
Chinese Five spice - 1 table spoon
Ground coriander seed - half table spoon
Chicken stock - 250mL 
Eggs - 1 egg per person if desired
Salt and pepper - as desired

 

1. Season the pork belly by rubbing salt, pepper, diced garlic, Chinese five spice and ground coriander seed on all surfaces.

2. Pan fry garlic and shallot, then place the pork belly with its fat part faced down. Pan-fry until the fat turns golden brown.

3. Remove the pork belly from the pan, and then tie it up into a roll shape with a stick of shallot in the middle.

4. In a stew pan, place in chicken stock, shallot, onion and the residual shallot and garlic from the fry-pan. Place the stringed-up pork belly into the stew pan, and add water until the whole meat is covered. Stew for at least 2 hours.

5. To make the miso soup, add 4 cups of water and bring to boil. Add the miso paste in, and add about a cup of the sauce from the stew for additional flavour. Then add the seaweed and dried skipjack tuna in.

 

6. Slice the pork belly. Don't forget to remove the strings!

 

7. Serve ramen noodle with miso soup, pork belly and any other toppings as desired. I added eggs and a vegetable in this case.

 味噌ラーメンを完成！！
どうぞごゆっくり召し上がってください。

Steamed bean curd skin roll - エビの蒸し湯葉巻き - かまきの食事時間#5

Soy bean (大豆) is my favorite ingredient to date. It can be made into different forms, from soy bean milk, to a variety types of tofu. Bean curd skin (腐竹 / 湯葉[ゆば])is commonly known as a "byproduct" when boiling soy bean milk, but its usage in Asian cuisine is more than just an "accompany" with other ingredients. The first documentation of the usage of bean curd skins dates back to the 16th century in China (李時珍の本草綱目) and Japan (松屋久政の松屋会記).

僕の一番好きな食料は大豆です。

Bean curd skin can be bought in 4 main forms: fresh (新鮮な), half-dried (半乾燥), dried (乾燥) and fried (揚げ). Fried skin is commonly used in hot pot, dried and half-dried is commonly used in stir-frying or steaming, where as fresh skins are normally used in broth or stews. As soy bean has a low calorie count, and has a high amount of protein and iron, it is commonly used as the meat alternatives for vegetarians.

A common dish in Yam-Cha is 鮮竹捲 (steamed bean curd skin roll) and 腐皮捲 (Pan-fried bean curd skin roll). Both dish consist of bean curd skin wrapping pork mince, prawns and vegetable(s), where the main difference is the the method of cooking and thus the thickness of the skin wrapped around it. The steamed roll requires a thicker skin as a thin skin can tear once the steam enters between the layers.

The following is my recipe of making the steamed bean curd skin roll (エビの蒸し湯葉巻き). Note, I did not add any additional oil as the pork mince's fat will provide me the oil needed. Also, because steam food is overall healthier than any pan-fried/fried food.

Ingredients (serving for 4)
Pork mince - 250g
Fresh prawns- 8-10 pieces
Half-dried or dried Bean curd skins- 2 large sheets
Chives - 10g
Garlic - 3 cloves
Lemon Zest
Salt - as desired
Pepper - as desired

Eggs -1
Milk - 50mL
Brown sugar - 1 table spoon

 

1. Immerse bean curd skins into water for about 5 minutes.

2. Peel and clean the prawns, then dice them into small pieces. Mix the pork mince with the prawns, chopped garlic and chopped chives. Then zest some lemon. Season the mixture with salt and pepper.

3. Beat the egg with milk and sugar in a separate bowl. This will be used as the glazing layer for our roll.

4. Cut the bean curd skin into a long rectangular shape, and place sufficient minced mixture on the skin and roll.

5. Glaze the roll with the egg and milk before placing into the steamer.

6. Steam for 15-20 minutes.

7. Serve with additional chives, lemon zest and drizzle a tea spoon of soy sauce if desired.

エビの蒸し湯葉巻きを完成しました！！
どうぞごゆっくり召し上がってください。

Chicken and Swiss Brown Mushroom Risotto - 鶏肉とスイス茶色いキノコリゾット - かまきの食事時間#4

One of my first dish ever cooked is Italian. It is the essence of simplicity in Italian cuisine that makes their dishes stand out above all other countries. Most people think of "pizza" or "pasta" when we talk about Italian food, but what I really love is the Italian rice called "Risotto"/"リゾット".

The origin of rice in Italy can be traced back to the Arabs during the Middle Ages. The humidity and geography in Mediterranean was found to be suitable to grow short-grained rices. Although the use of rice in dishes slowly become widely known throughout Italy, it is in the northern Italy city of Milan where the method of slow-cooking the rice becomes popular. The principles of slow-cooking the rice with meat, herbs and spices allows the enrichment of the flavour into each rice grains. In addition, this specific rice provides a sticky and creamy consistency after slow-cooking. Such combination is what makes risotto beloved by the world.

イタリアの食事に単純の本質を持っていることが非常に重要です。

The following is my recipe for Chicken and Swiss Brown Mushroom Risotto. The most basic, and most common, ingredients used with risotto are onion, butter and wine. However, because I rarely put any alcohol contents into my cooking, I used brown mushroom as an exchange for a more rustic flavour. Any meat is suitable with risotto.

Ingredients: (serving for 6)
Risotto rice: 2 cups
Water: 3 cups (around a 1:1.5 rice to water ratio is used)
Diced chicken thigh: 1 large or 2 medium sized piece(s)
Swiss Brown Mushroom: 500g
Diced onion: 1 onion
Garlic: 3-4 cloves
Fresh Chives: 15g
Smoked cheddar cheese: as desired
Olive Oil
Salt and pepper as desired

1. Place the risotto rice and water into a pot, and bring the water to boil. Turn the heat down to slow cook the rice for about 15 minutes or until the rice appears fluffy and creamy.

2. While waiting for the risotto rice to cook, pan-fry chopped garlic and diced onion until golden brown.

3. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, and place it into the pan. Stir-fry with the garlic and onion until the chicken is cooked. Set aside to cool.

4. Cook the swiss brown mushroom with a pinch of salt.

5. Add the chicken into the cooked mushroom and simmer for about 5 minutes on low heat.

6. Once the rice is ready, remove from stove and stir through with a pinch of salt.

7. Add the risotto rice into the chicken and mushroom, and stir through without any heat from the stove.

8. Add chopped fresh chives and stir-through.

9. Place the risotto rice on a plate/bowl and add smoked cheddar cheese on top.

鶏肉とスイス茶色いキノコリゾットを完成しました！僕は始めるの作った料理はイタリアの料理ですよ。
どうぞごゆっくり上がってください。