Hiroshima-Okonomiyaki, Daifuku, rice, and tea

YAY Thursdays! I didn't make a bento for the family today because I didn't get that far.

Okonomiyaki is like a Japanese pancake that married a pizza. There are any different styles to cook it, the two most popular being Osaka and Hiroshima’s style . I cooked the Osaka style a couple weeks ago and really liked it, so this week I’m trying the Hiroshima to compare the two mostly and see which I like better.

So after I got up and dressed this morning I started on the Daifuku. Daifuku is a type of mochi (rice cake) that has anko filling, anko is a sweet red bean usually in a powder or past form. I have never cooked this before so it was interesting to say the least. On my first try the dough was more like batter, way too watery, on my second try I has to use two different rice flowers (sweet and glutinous) before I got it the way it needed to be. I added about five drops of green food coloring to give it a contrast for tonight’s dinner, then I popped it in the microwave for 2 minutes. When I pulled it out next I added just a little more water, stirred it, and put it back in for one minute.

The directions say to start flattening the dough the minute it comes out of the microwave. OUCH!!! It burns so my advice is to slam your hands on it quickly, remove, scream ouch, repeat. After I got it kinda flat I rolled some anko past into balls and stretched out pieces of the dough over them. The key in doing all this is the potato starch, it keeps the dough from sticking to my hands too much.

After I got all the anko covered with the dough, I put the Daifuku in the fridge. Originally I didn’t plan to start cooking the rice until four but mom’s home with stomach flu and she wanted some for lunch. She ate her share while the rest went into the fridge.

Making the Okonomiyaki was easier this time. Cooking the dough with the veggies (cabbage, green onion and bean sprouts) while frying the noodles turned out easier than I had originally thought. Yakisoba sauce tastes kinda like barbeque sauce, only better. I’m not a fan of BBQ. So after you cook the dough and veggies you add the meat slices, I already cooked my meat slices a little first so I knew they would be cooked thoroughly, and you flip it over onto the noodles. At the same time you fry an egg to put on the top.

After it’s cooked a little longer it gets flipped back over and put on a plate, egg goes on top, and then some Okonomiyaki sauce, also kinda tastes like bbq sauce, before setting it down to enjoy. And YUMMY! I think I may like this one better than Osaka style. Mom and dad enjoyed it too so this has been added to the “Cook Again” list.

Viva La Intro

Call me Nissa, I'm a young gothic chick who has an ever-growing love for things from Japan. It started with Anime, jumped to food, now it's also culture and J-Rock. So join me as I learn and explore these worlds.

Here is a lil' about me, mind you this is just a little cause the internet is full of creepies.
I'm Nissa, or Nissy if you really must.
I do live with my parents yes, but hey it's cheap.
I have two pets: Tux and Syren. Tuxadurby is my five year old, 15lbs, tuxedo cat... who suffers from stupidity. Syren is my 15 year old chestnut (red-head) Arabian horse who thinks she's the Queen of Shiba.
My mother's two cats are Dorry and Luna-P (yes, yes, from Sailor Moon).
Hm what else? My favorite color is red and my favorite drink is Dr. Pepper.

Yeah I think that will do-for now.

Anime may be my first love of things that are Japanese, but its followed very closely by Japanese Food! Oh my god I love their food! And not just sushi, terykaki, ramen, and pokey either. No, no, no. I'm in love with udon dishes, okonomiyaki, daifuku, yakisoba, and mochi.

Every Thursday night I make a Japanese Meal for dinner and sometimes I get real ambitious and pack bento (lunches) for my mom and dad too. During my first few weeks of this I've learned a few interesting things on Japanese food culture. Ever go to your fav search engine and typed in 'bento'? If not give it a try. It really is amazing what these people do with their lunches. The only thing I have yet to try is Sake, I'm of age to drink but I've never gone out to get any because I haven't the foggiest idea of where to start. The liquor stores here are small but they do have what looks like a good selection of sake.

Now that the pointless babbling is over, here are a few basics about the kitchen cabinet essentials:
Mirin - it's a mix of sugar and sake
Soy Sauce - you do know what this is, right?
Dashi - A fish based stock, very fishy
Rice - If you don't know what that is then slap yourself HARD
Nori - Better known to us as seaweed and you usually find it dried
All these make up the main parts of the different meals, what you add after that in the recipe you follow is really up to you.