Tag Archive for 'rice'

Karei raisu (Japanese curry rice)

Published
by
marc
on July 18, 2008
in Japanese, Poultry and Soups & Stews
. 12 Comments

In a country where you can get everything from hamburgers to underwear out of a vending machine, it’s no surprise that home cooks have many instant options that make “cooking” a meal as simple as slice and bake cookies.

For some dishes like mapo tofu, it’s become the accepted norm to combine a packet of sauce with some meat and veggies, and preparing them from scratch is almost unheard of. Curry is another such dish.

Like many foods in Japan (tempura is actually Portuguese), curry is a dish that was imported from another part of the world (presumably India). Typically the mix comes in segmented bars like chocolate that you break off and add to a pot of meat, veggies and water. It’s sweeter, milder and thicker than Indian curries and used to be one of my favourite dishes growing up.

I haven’t made Japanese curry since I started blogging since using packaged food is against the very ethos of this blog. Last night, I fixed that by figuring out how to make it from scratch. For those that love the packaged curry, the taste and texture are similar, but the flavours are brighter and more intense. It has an almost creamy quality about it that the packaged kind just doesn’t have.

For those that have never had Japanese curry, this dish is chock full of big tender chunks of meat and potatoes, all covered in a slightly sweet sauce that’s redolent of caramelized onions, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and nutmeg.

The best part is that this requires only a little more effort than using the packaged variety and almost no extra time (since you make the roux while the veggies and meat are cooking).

For vegetarians, just double the amount of caramelized onions and replace some of the meat with firm tofu. In my hunger, I totally forgot to add the peas, so you’ll just have to imagine how great this dish looks with little bubbles of green popping out of the dark sauce.
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Paella

Published
by
marc
on June 8, 2008
in Seafood, Spanish, Spring and Uncategorized
. 23 Comments

Being Asian, I like rice. Being Japanese, I love seafood. Add to that my affinity for smoked meats and it’s no wonder why Paella is one of my favourite foods off all time. Sadly it’s so often relegated to the ranks of mediocrity by pan wielding Cretans manning the stoves at “Spanish” restaurants here in the States. Perhaps I’m being a little harsh, but if you’ve been disappointed as many times as I have by mushy or dry paella you can probably relate.

I have to be honest though, I’ve never been to Valencia (or Spain for that matter). I have had a lot of paella though and I can’t imagine a Valencian being okay with bland pasty mush with chewy bits of mystery seameat. On rare occasion I’ve had a memorable paella, and this is my attempt at recreating some of the best ones to grace my non-Spaniard palette.

I was actually planning on doing something with a pork butt and green tea today, but after seeing Heather’s post about Orzo with Linguica and Clams at Gild the Voodoolily this morning, my menu made an abrupt turn.

For me, a truly great paella is loaded with meat and seafood, with an intense smokey flavour coming from browned Chorizo and tender chunks of chicken. The seafood should be fresh, plump and succulent including things like shrimp, octopus, squid, mussels, or whatever other seafood is fresh at the fish monger today. The rice should be overflowing with umami having a velvety texture and a deep golden hue imbued by the saffron and soffrito. Most importantly, there has to be a layer of mahogany brown soccarat at the bottom of the pan from the rice and sauce caramelizing to the pan.

The following recipe achieved all my goals and best of all it’s simple enough to make on a weeknight. While I always encourage you to improvise your own version, here are a couple tips for a successful paella.

First, make sure you use the right kind of rice. Ideally you’ll find some Arroz Valencia, but if it’s not available, Arborio or Carnaroli will do. Second, make sure you get the right kind of Chorizo. Mexican Chorizo is not the same. There are also a lot of impostor “Chorizos” out there that are really just cooked sausages with paprika. Spanish Chorizo is cured and is typically pretty dry. If in doubt, get one that’s actually from Spain.

So what’s your favourite rice dish?
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Cherry blossom rice

Published
by
marc
on June 5, 2008
in Japanese
. 13 Comments

Normally I don’t post about packaged things I make, but this was just so unique, I couldn’t resist. It’s rice that’s cooked in a broth make with cherry leaves and blossoms. Then when it’s done, you sprinkle some salted cherry blossoms on top.

It’s a very spring thing to eat in Japan and I found the mix at Mitsuwa a couple weekends ago. As far as taste, it’s unusual… I’m not sure I’d pay six bucks for this again, but it’s certainly unique. It reminded me a bit of sakura mochi (cherry blossom rice cakes) which are usually served as a dessert. The rice takes on a pink color and a very floral aroma with a slightly earthy flavour. The best part is the salted cherry blossoms though, they’re fun to look at and add little bits of briny intensity to this otherwise subtle rice. I served it tonight with a tofu stuffed squid.

On the topic of seafood, Marx Foods is giving away 15 lbs of wild salmon to the best salmon recipe that’s submitted by June 20th. I sent in my Salmon with Minty Miso Glaze.

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Chicken Biryani

Published
by
marc
on May 20, 2008
in Indian and Poultry
. 12 Comments

While most often associated with northern Indian cuisine, Biryani is a dish with Persian origins found in various forms from Iraq to Thailand. As you might imagine, there is a huge variety of different preparations stemming from the vast swath of land it calls home. Common elements include some type of meat (goat, lamb or chicken), rice, and spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaves, coriander and mint.

I’m not going to say that my recipe originates anywhere specific, but it rely heavily on Indian flavours. Though it takes a bit of prep work, it’s not complicated and there’s a lot off leeway to improvise with your own blend of spices. The chicken gets married to the rice between layers of caramelized onions. This symbiotic relationship keeps the chicken moist while infusing the rice with some serious flavour.

It’s fantastic with a cucumber raita and a squeeze of lemon, cooling off the heat while adding a fresh zing that brightens all the spices in the dish. The ingredient list below might look intimidating at first glance, but there’s nothing all that exotic on the list and it all comes together in about an hour + cooking time.
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Unagi Kamameshi (iron pot rice with eel)

Published
by
marc
on May 12, 2008
in Asian, Japanese and Seafood
. 15 Comments

While it’s not exactly a culinary mecca, Texas is loaded with gut bustin’ soul satisfyin’ comfort food. My weekend was filled with elephant sized portions of smokey bbqed sausage, cajun spiced bbq burgers, tender carne asada, and chicken fried steak drowned in creamy gravy, all washed down with margarita’s and Coors light.

Gut busted and soul satisfied, I returned to NYC craving something a little different… something a little more asian and little less cajun… something filling, but not heart-attack inducing… something like kamameshi!

Kamameshi is rice cooked in a cast iron pot along with a flavored broth and some other goodies. It’s similar to takikomi gohan except the pot it’s cooked in encourages the bottom layer of rice to lightly burn (known as “okoge” in Japanese) giving it a nice flavor reminiscent of rice crackers.

Unfortunately I don’t have a kama (iron pot) and I imagine most of my readers don’t either, so I made this using a small Le Creuset (enameled cast iron pot). You could probably use any heavy bottomed pot with a lid you have as long as it’s not teflon.

The rice cooks with a sweet soy sauce flavored broth and is topped with a layer of mitsuba (which I talk about more in this post) and unagi while it steams. After it’s all done, I mix it all together before serving which helps integrate all the flavors.
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