When I made this the other day for a party, people asked, "Who made the fried rice?" It's not exactly fried rice, it's cooked in a bamboo steamer--but the rice is fried a little before, so it might qualify as fried rice.
What makes it good is it's made with mochigome--glutinous, sticky rice. Although it's called glutinous rice, it doesn't contain gluten. Mochigome is what mochi is made from.
Ingredients:
2 cups mochigome or sweet rice, soaked in water for 6 hours & drained
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped barbecued pork
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped chinese sausage or kielbasa
1/4 cup drippings from purchased barbecued pork or 2 tablespoons soy sauce, mirin and 1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
salt and pepper to taste
I usually buy the Koda Farms Sho-Chiku-Bai mochigome--with this type of rice, you have to soak it in water for at least 6 hours before cooking, and drain before using.
At Nijiya Market, they have these two brands, as well as others. The bag on the right is sweet brown rice. I tried making this recipe with the brown rice and the recipe needs some work, after an hour of steaming, the rice was still hard. I called my cousin Brian for some advice since he is the proprietor of Fugetsu-Do and makes Japanese sweets from mochigome everyday. Brian doesn't use brown mochigome--I'm going to have to get him a bag to experiment with.
I bought the meats, but you can make you own Chinese Barbecued Pork. To flavor the rice, I used the sauce at the bottom of the take-out container, but you can make it with 2 tablespoons each, soy sauce & mirin, and 1 tablespoon sugar.
Chop the meats.
Add the sauce and meats to a frying pan with the rice and mix well over medium heat--stirring until the liquid is absorbed by the rice.
Add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice Blend and mix well.
Brian suggested I use this cloth in the bamboo steamer--they have them at the Japanese grocery stores. If I read it correctly, it says--mushineno.
It's big, so I cut it in half to fit my two layers of the bamboo steamer. Rinse it and ring it out before lining the steamer and adding the rice. Then fold the cloth over the rice before adding the lid.
Steam the rice over boiling water. I use a wok on a bigger burner so there's a lot of steam--steam for about 20 minutes--making sure the water doesn't run out. It takes a little practice to get the steam right. If the rice isn't quite done, simply steam it longer, until the rice is done.
When it's done, the rice gets a little translucent. Taste it to test for doneness.
Before serving, chop cilantro and green onion and mix into rice. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Itadakimasu!
***
Today's Jessica's birthday.
A couple of months ago, Jessica made her Thai Chicken Salad here on FOODjimoto.com and you can get to know her a little--after the recipe.
The salad's so delicious!
I love this picture of Jessica playing the "Pin the Mustache on Uncle Mako" game at Mako's retirement party--because in the very next second, she is laughing!
Jessica knows Rick loves baseball and goes to a lot of games.
Today, Jessica's co-workers decorated her office for her birthday.
All the attention and well-wishes you have received on this special day reflect all that you have given to others.
We love you.
***
Sticky Rice with Barbecued Pork
Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 cups mochigome or sweet rice, soaked in water for 6 hours & drained
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped barbecued pork
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped chinese sausage or kielbasa
1/4 cup drippings from purchased barbecued pork or 2 tablespoons soy sauce, mirin and 1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
salt and pepper to taste
Add the rice, sauce, 1/4 teaspoon Chinese five spice blend and meats into a frying pan over medium heat and mix well. Heat until the liquid is absorbed and transfer into a damp-cloth-lined bamboo steamer. 2 cups rice will fill one layer of a 9-inch steamer.
Place steamer over boiling water and steam for about 20 minutes or until rice is translucent--chewy, but not hard. Before serving, mix in chopped cilantro and green onion. Taste and adjust seasonings.
I made some gumbo the other day for a family gathering--the first time I made it with a roux!
When I made gumbo and blogged about it last year, I thickened it with okra and received a comment to try thickening it with okra and a roux and gumbo file--the commenter said he thought I'd like it. That comment stayed in my mind and, while other things fly right out of mind, this comment stayed. I remembered it when my daughter sent me a recipe from Cook's Country magazine, instructions on cooking the roux for gumbo in the oven, and a photo of the gumbo she made--I was inspired and had to try it myself!
My other gumbo tastes a lot lighter, since it doesn't have any flour in the broth--this one is richer--it's more like gravy.
Easy Oven Roux Gumbo
adapted from Cook's Country magazine
Ingredients:
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup oil
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded & finely chopped
2 cups finely chopped celery
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced thyme
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 (14 oz.) canned diced tomatoes
about 28 oz. lower sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup sake
about 2 pounds cut up chicken thighs or breasts, seasoned with Cajun seasoning
6 - 8 ounces andouille sausage, sliced
1 (20 oz.) bag frozen, cut okra or 3-4 cups fresh cut
2 pounds peeled & deveined raw shrimp
1 small can crab meat
Preheat oven to 350ºF with the oven rack at lowest level. In a Dutch oven, add 3/4 cup all-purpose flour and heat over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until flour just begins to brown.
Add 1/2 cup oil and whisk until smooth.
Cover the Dutch oven and put into the oven for 45 minutes. Look at how nice and brown the flour is after 45 minutes in the oven--and it smells so good as it's baking.
While the roux is in the oven, prepare other ingredients.
There are two bags of okra here, but I just used one.
Chop the onion, celery and bell pepper as well as the garlic.
When the roux comes out of the oven and you're ready to cook the gumbo, heat the roux over medium-high heat and add the vegetables.
A wooden spoon works the best to saute the vegetables in the roux, cook for about 10 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and wilted. Add 1 teaspoon minced thyme and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper. Cook for about 1 minute more.
Add the chicken broth, tomatoes and sake, combining them well until smooth. Then add the chicken pieces sprinkled with Cajun seasoning.
I like this Cajun Creole Seasoning because it's salt free. Here are the ingredients in order so you can formulate your own: paprika, onion, garlic, black pepper, lemon peel, chile, allspice, thyme, cloves, mace, cayenne, bay leaf.
The market didn't have any fresh okra, so I bought frozen and used the whole bag.
Bring the pot to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and cook about for about 20 minutes.
Stir in seasoned shrimp and sliced sausage. Cook gently until shrimp are curled and just cooked, about 5 minutes. Add the canned crab and stir gently. Season with salt and pepper to taste. The next time I make this I'm going to try adding gumbo file too.
Garnish with a scoop of rice and a sprinkling of jalapeno peppers if you like it spicy.
Itadakimasu!
***
My husband's cousins had their get-together this month with a Cajun theme.
Jessica came over and we cooked the gumbo together.
Dean stopped by one of the local crab places and brought an array of seasoned, boiled seafood.
Erik and I were busy taking photos of all the food. Erik is very artistic--I love looking at his photos. He and Claire shared a photo book they made of their trip to Paris!
Cajun style fried shrimp--I'm sorry, I've forgotten who made these. (Taeko, did you make these?) GREAT idea to put them on a bed of green beans!
Mako's generally the organizer of the get-togethers--here he is with his three boys, Chad, Garret and Dean, from last year's holiday card. I just love the little snippets of their lives that I get to know at the parties. They are so friendly and so nice to visit with me a little at each family gathering.
It doesn't seem that long ago that the boys were little.
Look what Mako made! Collard greens with ham. It may have been my favorite food of the evening.
These caprese cherry cherry tomatoes were delicious--the tomatoes were cut in half, with a small square of mozzarella cheese in the middle, secured with a toothpick, perfect for the buffet. Dressed with a little salt & pepper and light dressing. If I remember correctly, Lena made these. Yum!
Meg & Ken.
Meg's most often our hostess. I absolutely love these family gatherings. They remind me of getting together with my cousins at Bachan's house when I was little.
This is Auntie Tsuyuki saying "Itadakimasu" before eating.
She's the matriarch at 95.
Jessica loves babies and they love her.
Almost a year ago, we welcomed a new little one into our family--here he is with his mother, Maria. He's got a bunch of new teeth and already knows to smile for the camera!
***
Easy Oven Roux Gumbo
adapted from Cook's Country magazine
Ingredients:
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup oil
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded & finely chopped
2 cups finely chopped celery
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced thyme
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 (14 oz.) canned diced tomatoes
about 28 oz. lower sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup sake
about 2 pounds cut up chicken thighs or breasts, seasoned with Cajun seasoning
6 - 8 ounces andouille sausage, sliced
1 (20 oz.) bag frozen, cut okra or 3-4 cups fresh cut
2 pounds peeled & deveined raw shrimp
1 small can crab meat
Preheat oven to 350ºF with the oven rack at lowest level. In a Dutch oven, add 3/4 cup all-purpose flour and heat over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until flour just begins to brown. Add 1/2 cup oil and whisk until smooth. Cover the Dutch oven and put into the oven for 45 minutes.
On the stove, heat the roux over medium-high heat and add the vegetables. Cook for about 10 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and wilted. Add 1 teaspoon minced thyme and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper. Cook for about 1 minute more.
Add the chicken broth, tomatoes and sake, combining them well until smooth. Then add the chicken pieces sprinkled with Cajun seasoning. Bring the pot to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and cook about for about 20 minutes. Stir in seasoned shrimp and sliced sausage. Cook gently until shrimp are curled and just cooked, about 5 minutes. Add the canned crab and stir gently. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
At our house, we call this dish--and pretty much any dish made in a skillet with everything mixed together--Okazu. In Japanese-American households, okazu is a general dish to go with rice. I made a different type of okazu the first month I started blogging. This one is Eggplant with Tofu, Pork & Miso.
My husband likes this dish--it's got just a little bit of meat and lots of flavor.
You can garnish the dish with a little bit of daikon fukujinzuke--Japanese pickle--for color.
Ingredients:
2 eggplants
canola oil
thinly sliced pork or ground pork
1 block medium tofu
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 to 2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup mirin
2 tablespoons miso
garnish with thinly sliced green onions & toasted sesame seeds
Peel the eggplant and slice into 1/2 inch rounds.
Preheat the broiler to high. Put the eggplant slices into a large bowl of water and soak them for 5 minutes or so. This will take any bitterness out--when you drain the water it will be tinged a little dark. After draining them, put the slices on a baking sheet and brush them with a little oil on each side.
Broil for about 5 minutes on each side, or until browned. I put the two pans in the oven at once, so the pan on the second rack will be hot and take less time to brown when the top one is done and I move the bottom one to the top.
They don't have to be real soft because you're going to cook them just a bit more when you add them to the pan. You could cook the eggplant in the skillet, you don't have to cook them this way in the broiler--I did it this way when I made Moussaka, and liked the technique because it uses less oil.
Slice the eggplant into bite-sized pieces and set aside.
I bought this thinly sliced pork at Nijiya Market. It's .380 of a pound, so it's not a lot, but it was enough for my husband and I with leftovers. You can also slice a slightly frozen pork chop into thin slices, that works too, or use ground pork.
Cut the slices in half.
Grate the ginger for about 2 teaspoons and mince the garlic for about the same.
Saute the ginger and garlic in a little bit of oil, then add the sliced pork, separating the slices. It will cook fast since it's so thin.
Add the eggplant.
Drain the water from the tofu, cut it into cubes and add it to the pan.
Mix 2 tablespoons miso with 1/4 cup mirin, 2 tablespoons shoyu and 1 to 2 tablespoons sugar.
It's helpful to mix the miso with a little bit of water first, so it incorporates into the sauce smoothly.
I just mixed them in the empty tofu container. I forgot to mix the miso with a little water first--it takes a little more stirring if you forget to mix it with water!
Add the miso sauce and add about 1 cup of water so there's some sauce. Heat gently until simmering, but you don't want to boil the miso. Taste and adjust seasonings. I like to sprinkle it with a pinch of chili flakes.
Garnish with thinly sliced green onions.
Sprinkle with some toasted sesame seeds and add tsukemono, kizami shoga or some slices of sushi ginger. Serve with hot rice and maybe some sliced cucumbers.
Itadakimasu!
***
The other day, the neighbor kids came over to visit. You might remember Lilian and David from the Gyoza post, you meet them after the recipe.
We don't see them everyday like we used to when they first moved into the house next door and were in junior high--now they're in high school, in the band, studying & with their friends--but they still make time for us. We're kind of like their surrogate grandparents.
Lilian is always so nice to help me so I can take photos of the shirts I make for craft shows.
David liked to come over and swim with Dixie when he was younger. What a fun summer that was!
When Lilian and David come over after school, they're hungry, and it's fun to feed them.
We had just enough time to make and bake the cake before they had to go home for dinner.
When the cake was in the oven, Lilian played the piano for me--she played 5 pieces from her Certificate of Merit recital. I like this Chopin piece and a Bach piece the best. The video is a little shaky--I took it with my phone and hand-held it. I think Lilian plays beautifully. When she first moved here from Taiwan, and didn't have her piano yet, she practiced everyday at our house. What a treat that was!
Later, David came over. While we waited for the cake to bake, Lilian took this picture. David loves Dixie--he got down on the floor so he could take a picture with her--I would make her get up, but David got down there with her because she was resting.
David's gotten so tall, he's almost taller than Gary.
It was only a couple of years ago that David would come over almost everyday after school wearing his rollerblades, to help Gary around the yard--trimming the plants and helping to remove the spider webs from under the eaves.
Lilian wanted me to take their picture--I told them to put their heads together and this was their reaction.
Just kidding--they like each other.
Mostly.
When the cake was done, they had to go home and get ready for dinner.
Thanks for coming over, Lilian and David, come over again soon!
***
Eggplant with Tofu, Pork & Miso
Ingredients:
2 large eggplants
canola oil
thinly sliced pork or ground pork
1 block medium tofu
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 to 2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup mirin
2 tablespoons miso
garnish with thinly sliced green onions & toasted sesame seeds
Preheat broiler to high. Peel the eggplant and slice into 1/2 inch rounds. Put the eggplant slices into a large bowl of water and soak them for 5 minutes or so. This will take any bitterness out--when you drain the water it will be tinged a little dark. After draining them, put the slices on a baking sheet and brush them with a little oil on each side. Broil for about 5 minutes on each side, or until browned. Slice the eggplant into bite-sized pieces and set aside.
In a hot skillet over medium-high heat, saute the garlic and ginger with a little bit of oil but do not brown, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add the pork slices and saute, separating the slices. Add the eggplant and tofu, combine, and turn heat to medium-low.
Mix the miso with a little bit of water so it's easier to combine with the sugar, soy sauce and mirin. Add to the eggplant mixture and simmer, adding about 1 cup of water. Heat through, but do not bring to full boil.
Garnish with thinly sliced green onion and toasted sesame seeds. Serve with hot rice.
Print This Recipe
