Diced beef steak with Japanese mushroom sauce

I remarked that it had passed over one month since I started writing this blog and beside I could do daily update!!  I was so glad and wanted make something special for celebration.  For me, speaking of celebration,  I can imagine beef steak at the very beginning.  So I made beef steak tonight as a celebration dinner tonight.

Diced beef steak with Japanese mushroom sauce (2 serves)

• 3/4 of beef rib for steak
• salt
• papper
• canola oil

Japanese mushroom sauce

• 1 pack of oyster mushroom
• 1 Tbs of butter
• 1 Tbs of fried garlic
• 1 Tbs of tamari-soy sauce
• 2 Tbs of mirin
• 1 Tbs of butter
• salt
• pepper

1,  Leave the beef rib from the fridge to bring back to room temperature and cut into diced cubes and add salt and pepper 

2,  Add canola oil to a pan and heat with high fire until you can see white smoke

3,  Add cut stakes to the pan and leave about 1 minute

4,  Turn upside down and grill another side about 1 minute and stir-fry quickly then remove to a plate

5,  Add 1 Tbs of butter and fried garlic to same pan and heat with medium fire

6,  Add cut oyster mushroom and stir-fry quickly

7,  Add tamari-soy sauce and mirin and stir-fry and then turn down the heat and add butter and stir-fry again until butter melt

8,  Season the sauce with salt and pepper

Thank you for reading my blog everyday.  Absolutely I could not have done upload everyday without you.  I know I made a lot of troubles but thank you so much for your corporation.  I really appreciate you.  I am writing everyday from now on as has been the way until now for you and me!!

Thanks and love all you guys♡

Candied Japanese sweet potato

Suppose to be so chilly tomorrow as usual.  It seems like the autumn has quite arrived at Boston.  In autumn, I really get the urge to eat Japanese sweet potatoes which is a little moisture, seems to soft and be smooth.  In Japan, we can get really tasty one especially in autumn!

It has really sweet taste so you don't have to add so much sugar when you cook it.  Even just bake is totally fine and taste so good!  Also it has a lot of vitamins and fiber.  That's why it is got attention as a healthy ingredients and people, especially young women,  love it!

Fortunately, I could find it at one Japanese grocery store!  I think you can find at asian grocery store or even some grocery store does have.  I highly recommend to try it when you find!

Candied Japanese sweet potato

• 3/4  pound of Japanese sweet potatoes
• canola oil
• 3 Tbs of sugar (☆)
• 3 Tbs of mirin(☆)
• 2 Tbs of water(☆)
• 1/4 tsp of soy sauce(☆)
• 1/4 tsp of vinegar(☆)
• black sesame seed

1,  Wash Japanese sweet potatoes and cut into bigger bite-size

2,  Soak in water and leave for 10 minutes

3,  Put canola oil in a pan and heat with medium fire until oil become hot

4,  Pan fry it tuning upside down sometime until soft

5,  Remove from the pan and put on the cooler

6,  Mix all (☆) in a small bowl and add to a pan and heat with low fire

7,  After the sauce makes big babbles and become thick, add fried potatoes and mix them very well until the sauce become really thick and sticky.

8,  Put on the cooler again and add black sesame seed

Actually I was so tired because I helped a Japanese festival all the day.  But this sweet potato made me invigorate a lot!  It seemed like just I needed something sweets, haha, I am simple :)   I made this maybe too much amount so I'll make some sweets with candied sweet potato.  Can be so tasty!!

Taiyaki (Fish-shaped pancake filled with been jam)

Tomorrow I am helping a Japanese grocery store's 1st anniversary festival which my friend is working.  They are trying to take a Japanese autumn festival (called Aki Matsuri) and having a lot of kinda street stalls, for example, octopus dumplings (called takoyaki), fried soba (called yakisoba), shooting game, coin game and more which are Japanese traditional things.  I am making Taiyaki tomorrow.  Taiyaki is a fish-shaped Japanese pancake and the filling is azuki bean jelly.  It's a kind of traditional Japanese sweets and very popular because not only looks nice but also really tasty!

I have never made Taiyaki so I went to the store and practiced a lot!

This is a Taiyaki pan.

Hooooo!!!!  So cute♡♡

I was so excited to use this pan!  Well, let's practice!!

Taiyaki (Fish-shaped pancake filled with been jam) (6 pieces)

• sugar  40g (☆)
• 2 tsp of baking powder (☆)
• 1 Tbs of corn starch (☆)
• salt (☆)
• flour 140g (☆)
• 1+1/2 eggs
• 1+1/2cup of water or whole milk
• azuki bean jelly

1,  Mix  (☆) and sift it in a bid bowl and add egg and water or milk and mix them very well

2,  Heat a pan until quite hot and put 2 spoon of the batter and put 1 spoon of azuki bean on it and cover a bit of the batter

3,  close the pan and turn upside down immediately and grill for 2〜3 minutes

4,  turn upside down again and grill another side about 2 minutes and open the pan

Hoooo!!! Too cute to eat♡

I practiced a lot so now I can perfect Taiyaki!  (Actually I made over 50 taiyaki this week...)

The festival will be taken in Cambridge.  You must be so excited so please come tomorrow!!

Aki Matsuri

Saturday, 29 September 2012   10am - 7 pm

@Miso market

1963 Massachusetts avenue, Porter square, Cambridge MA, 02140

Salmon 3 colors rice bowl

So many nice fish companies here in Boston.  Some companies can deriver a lot of kinda sea food not only at companies or restaurants but also at home by the next day!

One of my friend bought a huge salmon and he even scared and clean the salmon by himself!  After that he gave me belly meat which had a lot of nice fat and taste really good.  Wow, thank you!  I lost no time to starting cooking this amazing salmon!

Salmon 3 colors rice bowl (2 serves)

• 2 bowls of cooked rice

Salmon flakes

• half a pound of boneless and skinless salmon
• salt
• 1/2〜1 Tbs of soy sauce

Scrambled eggs

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 Tbs of sugar
• 1 Tbs of dashi

Boiled spinach dipped in sauce

• half a pack of spinach
• 1 Tbs of dashi
• 1 Tbs of soy sauce
• ground black sesame seed

1,  Make scrambled eggs.  Beat eggs and add sugar and dashi.  Heat a pan with low fire until quite hot and add a bit of oil then pour in the egg and immediately continue stirring and turning the egg with chopstick until all the uncooked parts become firm 

2,  Make boiled spinach dipped in sauce.  Wash the spinach and boil in boiled hot water for 30 〜45 seconds.  Remove from the pot and cool down by cold water immediately for color fixing.  Sqeeze completely and cut into about 2 inches length and add dashi, soy sauce and ground sesame seed.

3,  Make salmon flakes.  Cut the salmon into bite-seze and add salt then leave for 15 minutes.  Heat a pan and oil until quite hot and add the salmon and stir-fry with a wood spatura until all pieces change color and cook enough.

4,  Put cooked rice in a rice bowl and place salmon on the left, scrambled eggs on the center and boiled spinach dipped in sauce on the right.

Now maybe you know, it looks kind of complicate but actually each cooking process is really easy!  My mom sometime made 3 colors rice bowl for lunch box when I was kids.  I was trying to make similar one but it was a little bit different.  During eating, I was remembering how she made and what she used.  I'll ask her and wanna introduce her recipe next time!

Boiled Broccoli and Avocado dipped in sauce

A side dish served between main courses (箸休め) is really important for Japanese-style meal.  It makes you refresh during eating and also showes to advantage the deliciousness so much.  Actually my mom made so many kind of side dished every dinner time.  I would to show not only main dished but also side dished served between main courses from now on!

As a first side dished in Poppin' kitchen, I would like to show my favorite side dish which has an avocado I really love!  Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to make dash (Japanese soup stock) today so I used just a soup stock (dashi) powder this time.

Next time I wanna show you how to make dashi also!

Boiled Broccoli and Avocado dipped in sauce (2 serves)

• 1/2 of broccoli
• 1/2 of avocado
• a small pack of dried bonito
• 1/2 cup of hot water
• 3 tsp of dashi powder
• 2 Tbs of soy sauce

1,  Mix hot water and dashi powder very well

2,  Cut a broccoli into small pieces and boil in salted boiling water until enough soft

3,  Rise it with cold water and allow to cold

4,  Cut an avocado into bite-size pieces

5,  Put broccoli and avocado in a bowl and add dashi and soy sauce and leave over one hour in the fridge

This time I used broccoli and avocado but you can use any vegetable also!  I would be happy if you try this recipe with your favorite vegetable :)

Easy curry doughnuts

One of the popular Japanese bakery is a curry doughnut (called curry-pan).  I went to a Japanese grocery store last weekend and saw a curry pan then remembered I used to eat it when I was in Japan.

It taste really good even when eaten cold but if you eat it when just made I am sure it can be amazing and you will be so impressed!!

Unfortunately, it is kind of big deal to make curry doughnuts because you need to make curry, bread dough and that deep-fry it!!  Actually when I made curry doughnuts, it took more than 4 hours since I had to wait for rising.  It was fun but I don't want to do same thing very much now...

That's why I was thinking if I use just sandwich loaf I already have and chicken curry I put in the freezer for curry doughnuts, I can eat free made curry pan any minutes now!  It's gonna be great idea I think!!

Easy curry doughnuts

• 2 slices of sandwich loaf
• 2〜3 Tbs of chicken curry (Leave in the fridge over 1 hour)
• an egg
• panko
• canola oil

1,  Cut crust and roll out the sandwich loaf without crust

2,  Put curry between slices of bread and push the edge with fork strongly to close the joint

3,  Dip it in egg and then add panko wholly

4,  Put canola oil in a pan as much as cover surface of the pan and heat wit medium fire until panko make sound of splutter and small babble

5,  Add the curry doughnuts and pan-fry until the edge become brown

6,  Turn upside down and pan-fry another side until brown

It took about 20 minutes to make it!  It was so easy but still taste like real curry doughnuts!! I was so impressed and also my friend too and he said its hard to believe that I made the curry doughnuts from just sandwich loaf!

Anyway, we were so happy to have fresh made curry doughnuts!!

By the way,  he made a curry doughnuts don like Katsu don because he really loved both curry doughnuts and Katsu don.  It's way too funny!!  I don't know if it tastes good but for me it sounds kind of gross... It seems like I should make a katsu don for him sometime soon!!

↓↓These are pictures he took and sent me of the cooking process of curry doughnuts don.

Looks completely Katsu-don!!!!

☆☆Related recipe☆☆

Chicken curry