This post is by Kay, who writes the K’s Kitchen section of Todd’s Wanderings. She also happens to be Todd’s lovely wife!

Only the Japanese can turn a meat loaf into a gourmet dish!

First of all, I have to apologize for my looong absence from K’s Kitchen. Here is my excuse…I was on bed rest from February to June due to some complications for my pregnancy and I couldn’t use use the computer much. The good news is that (A) our son was born in good health 4 weeks ago; and (B) K’s kitchen is back now

Today, I would like to introduce you to a ‘Japanese Western Food’ called ‘Hambagu’. Basically this is a dish made from ground beef and is similar to a rounded meatloaf or a salisbury streak. This dish originates from ‘Tartar Steak’ in Germany. It is not known exactly when this dish arrived at Japan but it’s sometime during Meiji Era (1868-1912) that similar dishes started to appear. In fact, beef was not common prior to this period in Japan. Since the 1950s, Hambagu (yes this is a very Japanese way to pronounce Hamburg) has become really popular as a home dish and its popularity continues today.

According to my husband (who is American and is familiar with the Japanese culture), the uniqueness of Hambagu in Japan as a foreigner is that this dish can be an expensive and posh dish and an economical dish at the same time. (Todd here: I mean seriously, who would serve a meatloaf at a five star restaurant!)

The recipe that I am introducing to you today is my mom’s special recipe (again!). The particular point for this recipe is that you bake the dish in an oven, while we normally only use a frying pan to cook it in Japan. This way, the juicy taste of the meat will remain. Enjoy this Japanese Western Food!!

Hambagu Ingredients (for 4 people)

Ground Beef: 240g

Ground Pork: 160g

Bread Crumbs: 60g

Milk: 100cc

Egg: 1

Salt: 1/2 teaspoon

Pepper, Nutmeg: a pinch or two each

Sauce

Sherry (alcohol) 3 Tablespoons (if not available, you can also substitute with whisky or brandy)

Ketchup: 3 Tablespoons

Worcestershire Sauce: 1.5 Tablespoons

Chicken broth: 3 Tablespoons

Mustard: 1 Tablespoon

Mushrooms- sliced finely (as much as your like to cover each patty)

How to cook Japanese Hambagu (cooking/preparation time: 45-50 mins)

(1)   Chop onions finely, sauté, and cool them down.

(2)   Soak the bread crumbs in milk

The Pate, trust me it gets better looking as the cooking continues

(3)   Put onions, bread crumbs in milk, salt, pepper, eggs, and nutmeg in a bowl and mix them.

(4)   Add ground beef and pork into the bowl and mix well with the ingredients in (3). Divide the pate into four.

(5)   Throw each piece from right to left hand to get rid of air in the pate and make a rectangular shape with 2 cm thickness. Push the middle part to make a dent.

(6)   Put 1.5 tablespoons of vegetable oil into the frying pan, heat it up, and fry the outside of the pate for 2-3 minutes to brown them.

(7)   Put vegetable oil onto the oven pan, put the hamburg pate, and bake them for about 13 min with 220 C.

(8)   Take out the hambagu patties from the pan, remove grease from the pan, and collect the remaining meat essence into a small pot.

(9)   Sauté mushrooms and put into (8), add the ingredients for sauce, and heat up until it boils. Serve the hamburg with the sauce on top.

You can also serve a side vegetable dish such as carrots grasse or sautéd beans, as you like.

What do you think? Have the Japanese perfected the meatloaf?

Japanese Hambagu Recipe (Japanese Gourmet Hamburger Patty? WOW) is a post from: Todd's Wanderings

This post is by Kay, who writes the K’s Kitchen section of Todd’s Wanderings. She also happens to be Todd’s lovely wife!

These are the Seven Herbs

This is a special and traditional dish that Japanese eat on January 7^th with the wish to get rid of evil and bring health. Also, there is a connotation for resting your stomach after eating heavy and rich Osechi Meals over New Years. The porridge/congee is cooked with seven kinds of herbs: (Japanese parsley (seri); Shepherd’s purse (nazuna); Jersey Cudweed (gogyō); Common chickweed (hakobera); Henbit (hotokenoza); Turnip (suzuna); and Daikon (suzushiro).

They are seven herbs which represent spring. For your reference, there are seven leaves for autumn but they are for decoration not for cooking.

To be honest, this is not a very tasty and attractive dish as it is, but I like the significance of this custom and the idea to rest my stomach after eating a lot over new years. That being said, there is a period that I like to eat Porridge/congee, when I am sick. In the US and some countries, they tend to cook chicken soup when they are sick but Japanese tend to go for this porridge. In case you have not tried it when you are sick, this is the best dish to throw into your stomach and recover quickly when you don’t have appetite! We put these special herbs only for the Nanakusa Gayu, and normally eat the plain Porridge with some Japanese side-dishes, pickles, or plums (Umeboshi).

Ingredients (for 3-4 people)

• 

  I love the green and white!

  Japanese Rice: 1 cup (Can be substituted with other sticky types of rice such as Thai). I use Macedonian rice in Kosovo which works perfectly!!

• Water: 7 cups
• Salt
• 7 kinds of herbs (Seri, Nazuna, Gogyo, Hakobera, Hotokenoza, Suzuna, and Suzushiro- See the introduction paragraph for details). If you would like to make a plain porridge, you don’t need these herbs.

How to cook (cooking and preparation time: 40-50 min)

(1)  Wash rice and put in a pot with 7 Cups of water. Leave it for about 1 hour as it is.

(2)  Cook the rice in the pot for about 40min. Start the stove on medium and turn it down to low once the water starts boiling. If the water evaporates earlier than 40 min, that’s fine as long as the rice is cooked well.

(3)  Wash the herbs, cut them into small pieces, and put then in the pot. Cook for a few minutes, add salt, and leave the pot with the lid off after turning off the stove.

(4)  Serve in a bowl with some additional Japanese side-dishes /tsukemono as you like. Please see the reference below for pickles in case you would like to purchase them at the Asian Store.

Tips: The above recipe is cooking rice from scratch.  If you have some already cooked rice, you can also use it with 2-3 times more water than the amount of rice until the porridge looks like the one in the photo.

Japanese side dish to go with porridge/congee:

Tsukemono (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsukemono)

Umeboshi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umeboshi)

Tsukudani (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsukudani)

Curbed Tuna (Katsuobushi) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsuobushi) with soy sauce

How did it go? What other Japanese dishes do you like?

Nanakusa Gayu (Japanese Porridge or Congee with Seven herbs) is a post from: Todd's Wanderings

This post is by Kay, who writes the K’s Kitchen section of Todd’s Wanderings. She also happens to be Todd’s lovely wife!

Tender and delicious! This is my favorite of the New Years dishes. Of course it is used in ramen as well.

Todd and I spent our New Years in Japan stuffing ourselves with my Mom’s cooking. New Years in Japan is a very busy time, especially in the kitchen as we have to get ready for our New Years meal. This year my Mom welcomed the help and I rolled up my sleeves, put on the apron and got to cook with her after being away for New Years for 3 years.

Osechi-Ryouri is a traditional Japanese food that Japanese eat for New Year’s. It is said that the tradition started during the Heian Period (794-1185) but originally came from China. Osechi-Ryouri is comprised of different dishes, such as:

Nishime-cooked vegetables such as carrots, bamboo shoot, konjac, Japanese taro potatoes, and lotus root

Datemaki-process product made of white fish meat, shrimps, and eggs

Kurikinton-a sweet dish made of sweet potatoes and chest nut),

So many different dishes! The Pork is in the top left corner.

Kouhaku Namasu-marinated thinly sliced carrots and Daikon radish – carrot represents ‘Kou’ meaning red and radish represents ‘haku’ meaning white. The combination of red and white shows happiness), ‘Yakimono’ (roasted seafood such as Japanese amberjack, sea bream, and shrimps

Kouhaku Kamaboko-red and white fish broiled paste

Kazunoko-herring roe

Kuromame-cooked black soy beans with sweet taste), and more

Each dish has meaning which you can find out more here.

Typically, you spend 2-3 days to cook all these dishes at the end of December. You then eat Osechi for 3 days from Jan 1 to 3, as we are not supposed to cook for the first 3 days, although recently many families only follow this tradition for a day or two. Besides Osechi, ‘Zouni’ and ‘Toso’ are accompanied, which I will not get into details this time (see the link above for full descriptions).

Japanese Yakibuta (cooked pork loin- in Chinese they call it Char Siu)

My mother cooks Osechi-Ryori every year and put them in Jyuu-Bako (2-5 layered boxes to put food in for special occasion). The boxes are typically made of wood or lacquer-ware but recently plastic is also popular. Although it seems that Jyuu-bako can be traced back in Muromachi era (1338-1573), it is during Edo era (1610) that Jyuu-bako became popular.

The food is served in the boxes on the right which come apart. Middle pot is filled with sweet sake.

In my family, one of the usual dishes that we include in Osechi-Ryouri besides the above mentioned dishes is ‘Japanese Yakibuta’, a cooked pork with a special sauce. As most dishes mentioned above make better sense together and some of them are very time consuming, or prepared products (such as Datemaki and Kamaboko), I have selected this popular dish ‘Japanese Yakibuta’ which is tasty by itself. The recipe is originally from my grandmother which my mother adjusted over years.

Ingredients

Pork loin: 500g

Marinade

Sake: 1 Tablespoon

Oyster sauce: 1 Tablespoon

Sugar: 50g

Regular Soy sauce: 110 cc (originally 65 cc of this 110 cc would be Chinese soy sauce. Feel free to use this is you know the difference

Leaks: one stick chopped

Ginger: some slices

Cinnamon stick: 1 stick

Japanese pepper (Sanshou): 7-10 grains

Star Anise (Hakkaku): 2-3 pieces

How to cook (cooking/preparation time: 30-40 min)

1.    Wind the string around the pork loin to help it keep its shape and poke it with the stick all around

2.    Put all the spices in the bowl and soak the pork in it for 3-4 hours. Turn the pork around from time to time.

3.    Pour 1 Tablespoon of oil into a frying pan and sauté the pork with a big flame to brown the outside.

4.    Move the pork and the spices and the sauce into a thick bottom pot, add water until the meat is covered to the top, and cook until it is boiled. Remove the forms on the top.

5.    Turn down the flame to a mid range and cook for 30-40 min until the sauce gets thick.

Once the meat cools down, cut the pork into 5 mm thick slices and serve with some vegetables as well as with the sauce. In my family, we like to serve the meat with a potato salad.

How does it look? Let us know how it turns out or feel free to ask questions.

Photo Credit Yakibuta

Yakibuta Recipie: How to Cook Japanese Marinated Pork Loin is a post from: Todd's Wanderings

Christmas themed cookies...Yum!

This post is by Kay, who writes the K’s Kitchen section of Todd’s Wanderings. She also happens to be Todd’s lovely wife!

Time is flying! Christmas is just around the corner now. Like last year, my friend Laura and I decided to have a Christmas baking session with another friend of ours, Jasmin. Let me tell you how we started this baking session last year. We went to the Danish Military Camp in Mitrovica (northern part of Kosovo) for a Sunday Brunch sometime early December last year and found an advertisement for soldiers on Danish Christmas baking sessions at the cafeteria. I found it such a great idea that they offer this opportunity for soldiers so that they can feel Christmas!

We were really jealous (as we were not eligible to join them) and decided to have our own. Last year, I baked gingerbread men cookies and Laura baked Peppernuts. This year, I decided to bake Christmas wreath cookies from my mom’s recipe and Laura and Jasmin decided to stick to their nostalgic Danish peppernuts. Both of them were born in Denmark and moved around the world during their teenage years and have the love and passion for Denmark! It was a lot of fun to bake with them with Danish Christmas music playing in the background!

If you have not prepared for Christmas, you still have time to bake. Try both of these cookies out!! They are quite easy and make nice Christmas entertainment!

Christmas Wreath Cookies

Ingredients

Butter: 150 g

Sugar: 110 g (shifted)

Egg: one

Lemon zest: from one lemon

Lemon juice: 1 Tablespoon

Flour: 250 g

Cherry: red and green (for decoration): finely chopped

Milk: 100cc

Cocoa or green tea powder

How to Prepare (preparation and baking time in total: 1-1.5 hr)

Squeeze that cookie out!

(1)  Cut the butter into pieces and leave at room temperature for a couple of hours (well, if you live in a tropical country, 5-10 min may be enough!)

(2)  Whisk the butter in a bowl until it is soft and turns white. If butter is still too hard, you can also warm up the bottom of the bowl (but of course only if the bowl is tolerant to the stove!)

(3)  Add sugar in three times and continue to whisk.

(4)  Add egg, lemon zest, lemon, and milk.

(5)  Add flour and mix all the ingredients lightly.

(6)  If you would like to have a color, divide the dough into half (or three), dissolve cocoa or green tea powder with hot water in a separate cup, and mix with the dough.

(7)  Put the dough into the Pastry bag (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastry_bag) with a tip and squeeze out the dough in a circle shape (like a Christmas wreath).

(8)  Put a piece of green and red cherry on the dough.

(9)  Heat up the oven at 160-170C and bake the cookies for 15-20 min.

Tip: If you can’t find the cherry for baking, you can substitute with other things which make the cookies look like a wreath. I used dried cranberries for red and dyed raisins with green coloring to substitute the cherries (but my fingers and nails stayed green for a day!)

Peppernut Cookies (preparation and baking time in total: 1hr)

According to Laura and Jasmin, peppernut cookies are called ‘Pebernødder’ in Denmark. They thought it is a very Danish and Nordic specialty for Christmas but apparently, it is also baked in Germany and The Netherlands as well as in the USA. As the name shows, these cookies have various spices, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and pepper.

We recommend the recipe through the link. They were delicious!

As the dough was a bit too soft to roll on our hands, we ended up adding more flour which made the cookies look a bit whiter but they were delicious!!

Laura and Jasmin used the recipe from the following web site:

http://globalcookies.blogspot.com/2007/09/denmark-pebernodder.html

How did they taste? We’d love to hear how everything turned out, or even about your favorite cookie recipes.

Christmas Special Recipe: Wreath and Peppernut Cookies is a post from: Todd's Wanderings

Steaming the top while frying the bottom to crispy goodness

This post is by Kay, who writes the K’s Kitchen section of Todd’s Wanderings. She also happens to be Todd’s lovely wife!

“What is your fiancé’s favorite food?” This was one of my hen night questions. ‘Gyoza!’ (normally called potstickers in English). I got the answer right and at the same time I became determined that I had to cook this dish very well all the time! [Todd here, isn't Kay a lovely wife?! I am a lucky man.] Well, the truth is that I also love Gyoza, but the problem is that we can’t buy the Gyoza skin in Kosovo. If we want to eat something we have to find a way, so I started making Gyoza from the scratch! If you have a Chinese (or Japanese/Korean) store near by, you can simply buy the skin (it is much easier and takes less time).

In Japan we usually fry them in a pan. This is a very satisfying dish and goes very well with beer [another of Todd's favorites] as well as with steamed white rice. Be careful, it’s addictive! I hope you enjoy the goyza recipe and eating them even more!

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Ingredients (for 3-4 people / 32 pieces)

Dough

It takes some time but it's worth it!

Flour 400cc: The ratio of Strong (Bread) Flour and Weak Flour is 300cc:100cc

Salt: 1/2 teaspoon

Hot water: 150-160cc

If you find the ready-made Gyoza skins at the Chinese/Japanese store, you can simply use them to save time.

Meat Filling

Ground pork: 200g

Water: 2 Tablespoon

Sake (Japanese alcohol): 2 Tablespoons (if you don’t have Sake, you can substitute with water)

Egg: 1 beaten

Chinese cabbage: 5 leaves (or you can substitute with regular cabbage)

Chinese chive: 2 Tablespoons (chopped after water poured). If you can’t find it, you can skip

Lard: 1 Tablespoon (you can substitute with vegetable oil but a bit less amount)

Ginger: 1 Tablespoon finely chopped

Leek: 1 Tablespoon finely chopped

Garlic: 1/2 Tablespoon finely chopped

Spices

It doesn't take long to learn how to fold the skins.

Soya sauce: 1 Tablespoon

Salt: 1/2 Teaspoon

Sake: 1 Tablespoon (if you don’t have Sake, you can substitute with water)

Pepper: a pinch

Sugar: a pinch

Sesame oil: 1 Tablespoon

Corn (rice) Starch: 1 Tablespoon

Dip

Chili oil (or Rayu):

Soya sauce

Vinegar

How to cook (cooking and preparation time: including Gyoza skins: 2hrs/ with ready-made skins: 45 min)

(1)  Shift flour in a bowl, add salt and hot water and knead the dough very well for about 15-20 min. Wrap with a wet cloth and leave it for 20-30 min.

(2)  Boil Chinese cabbage, chop finely, wrap with a cloth and squeeze to drain water.

(3)  Pour hot water on the Chinese chives and cut them finely. Finely cut ginger, leek, and garlic.

(4)  Put ground pork in a bowl and mix by hand adding water little by little followed by Sake and a beaten egg. Mix very well until the meat is sticky.

These are unbelievable with beer. Oh, I'm so hungry now.

(5)  Add Spices, ginger, leek, and garlic and continue mixing well. Add Chinese cabbage and chives, and pour sesame oil. After mixing them all, put Corn starch. Put the bowl in the fridge for a while.

(6)  Take out the dough and shape it to a long bar shape. Cut this bar into 32 pieces.

(7)  Flatten each piece and spread it with a rolling pin to a width of 8cm circle.

(8)  Wrap the meat ingredients in the middle of round dough, fold into half, put water around the inside edge to act like glue, and put the edges together by making pleats around. To do this start on the left side and pleat corner then keep make progressive folds until you reach the right side.

(9)  Heat the frying pan on high heat, add oil, and line up Gyoza pieces. As soon as you put all the Gyoza down, add 1/2 Cup of hot water and cover with a lid. Cook until water evaporates, pour in a little oil and keep the pan on the stove for 1 minute to make the bottom crispy.

That’s all!!  Make the dipping sauce and eat with the sauce!

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Its not as confusing at it sounds! if you have any questions ask away, otherwise report back and let us know how it goes.

If you liked the this post, K’s Kitchen or Todd’s Wanderings in general, we would love for your to share this with a friend (options are below).

How to make Japanese Gyoza (in Chinese Jyaozi/ in English Potstickers) is a post from: Todd's Wanderings

This post is by: Kay (my lovely wife and writer for K’s Kitchen!)

Turkish Tabboleh in a nice Turkish bowl straight from Istanbul's Grand Bazarr

I just came back from my work trip to Istanbul. Although this was my third trip there, I am still impressed with the energy and number of people! And Istanbul will welcome you with so many interesting activities including beautiful historical sights, shopping, and delicious Turkish cuisine. Today, I would like to introduce you to one of the Turkish dishes called Kisir which is a Turkish style Tabboleh.This dish is very healthy and friendly for vegetarians. As usual, I had to substitute bulgur with couscous as I could not find bulgur in Kosovo (and forgot to buy it while in Istanbul). I hope you enjoy this glimpse of Turkish Cuisine!

Ingredients (for 4 people)

Couscous: 1 cup=240 cc (and of course use bulgur if available)

Hot water: 1 1/4 cup

Salt: 1 teaspoon

Tomato paste: 2 Tablespoons (other recipes calls for hot pepper paste which is probably better to add the spicy taste)

Green onions: 1/2 Cups (finely chopped)

Onion: half (finely chopped)

Italian parsley: 1-1.5 cups (finely chopped)

Cucumber: 1 (diced)

Red paprika: 1/4 cup (finely chopped)

Pomegranate syrup: 1 Tablespoon

Lemon juice: 2 Tablespoons

Cumin: 1 Tablespoon (if you fry and grind) / 2 Tablespoons if you use powder

Tomato: 1 (diced)

Pepper: 1 teaspoon

Olive oil: 2 Tablespoons (or more if you like)

Fresh mint leaves (if available): 2 Tablespoons (chopped)

How to cook (cooking/preparation time: 30-40 min)

(1)  Chop all the vegetables as instructed above

(2)  Put Couscous in a pot and pour hot water mixed with salt and tomato paste into the pot. Put a lid and let is sit for 10 minutes. Then fluff up couscous with a fork softly.

(3)  Roast cumin in a frying pan and grind them.

(4)  Combine couscous, pepper, cumin, vegetables, and mix them well.

(5)  Add Pomegranate syrup, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt depending on the taste.

(6)  Serve in a bowl!

That’s all! It is quite easy to make, isn’t it?

Was that easy? Delicious? Tell us how tasty it was, or how it all went horribly, horribly wrong

How to Cook Kisir-Turkish Tabbouleh is a post from: Todd's Wanderings

This post is by: Kay (my lovely wife and writer for K’s Kitchen!)

It's great as an appetizer and for dipping!

Since the end of August, I started to see lots of sacks of paprika at vegetable shops in Kosovo….Yes, this is a sign that autumn is here and therefore the season for Ajvar has started….Indeed, leaves are turning yellow and it was zero degree at night in Prishtina few days ago (early October)!!

Today, I’m FINALLY introducing you to one of the most popular Balkan dishes (sauce), Ajvar. I never knew about this very popular Balkan dish until I moved to Kosovo. Ajvar is basically a sauce made of red paprika and spices. According to the website and some recipes that I have seen, eggplants and onions are sometimes used, however, my Kosovar friends tell me that Ajvar is strictly with paprikas and the one mixed with other vegetables are actually called Pinxhur. Both of them are often used as a dip or part of the appetizer (Meze) with bread. You can also use it as a sauce for meat, or even as a pasta sauce. Here is the link for the history of Ajvar, for those interested.

Ingredients (makes 1.5 litters)

Fresh and delicious. Ok the chillies might not be traditional but we love the spice.

Red paprika:10

Eggplant: 4

Onions: 1 finely chopped

Garlic: 3 cloves finely chopped

Chili: 3-5 (depending on your preference)

Olive oil: Half cup

Vinegar or lemon: 1 Tablespoon

Salt: to taste

Pepper: to taste

How to cook (cooking/preparation time: 60 minutes)

Skinning the peppers

(1)  Roast red paprika and eggplants in the oven at 240 C° for 25-30 min or until they are roasted. You may want to cut the eggplants into haves if they are big. Turn the vegetables around half way through to roast them evenly. Roast chilies as well, but please don’t put in the oven too long! Mine exploded in the oven!

(2)  While roasting, sauté the onions and garlic with 1-2 table spoons of olive oil very well until they are brown and very soft.

(3)  When paprika and eggplants are done, put them in a pot and leave them for 5-10 min. Peel their skins and take out the seeds of paprika, cut them in pieces, and mash them with a masher.

(4)  Put the mashed vegetables, chopped chilies, and sauteed onion & garlic, as well as olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, into a blender and blend them until the chunks disappear.

(5)  Adjust the taste by adding more salt and peppers. In my case, I have added more chopped spicy Sri Lankan chilies (-:

(6)  Serve Ajvar on the plate together with other dips or meze along with some bread (ideally Arabic or pita bread). Today, I decided to serve with some olives from Macedonia (thanks to Todd’s recent trip to Lake Ohrid).

That’s a lot of Peppers!

As I wanted to make it properly, I bought a sack of paprika and used 10 which produced almost 1.5 litters of Pinxhur Ajvar! If you would like to try first, you can probably cook a half portion. If you sterilize the bottle, they say that Ajvar lasts for couple of years. This is the way how people in the Balkans used to prepare (and still prepare) the preserved food to be ready for winter. Kosovar Moms also like to point out how healthy this is, especially since one red paprika is said to have more vitamin C than a lemon.

Was that easy? Delicious? Tell us how tasty it was, or how it all went horribly, horribly wrong

How to Make Ajvar: Balkan staple of Fall and Winter is a post from: Todd's Wanderings

This post is by: Kay (my lovely wife and writer for K’s Kitchen!)

I apologize for taking a break from K’s kitchen for sometime…I thought that I’d have a lot of time during the summer but my work kept me busy until we left for 9 Day Balkans Road Trip. The good news is that we had a great harvest of tomatoes, basil, Sri Lankan chili, and thyme in our small garden on the balcony. We were indeed busy watering and taking care of the plants every morning before we went to work, but our effort really paid off!! Today, I’d like to introduce you to Caponata- K’s Special. This dish is one of my favorites because it’s healthy and remains tasty for a couple of days.

Yummmm...fresh vegetables soaked in delicious juices.

Ingredients (for 3-4 people)

Onions: One big size or two medium size-chopped to 1cm pieces

Paprika: 3 Red and 2 Yellow (if you use a regular big paprika, you can use 1 Red and 1 Yellow) cut into the size of a thumb

Egg Plant: 3 medium size or 1 big size- slice them in 5-8mm width (if they are big, please cut them in half)

Fresh tomatoes straight from our beer...I mean, balcony garden

Tomatoes: 2 large tomatoes diced

Zucchini: 1 medium size- sliced 5-8mm width

Garlic: 2 cloves- sliced

Chili: 1 small Sri Lankan chili (or any other kind, or without if you don’t like spicy food)- finely chopped

Basil: 4-5 fresh leaves (if you don’t have fresh ones, you can substitute with the dried basil)- chopped

Thyme: 1/4 of handful (if you don’t have fresh ones, you can substitute with the dried thyme)

Olive oil: 2-3 Tablespoons

Bay leaf: 2-3 leaves

Salt and pepper

How to cook (cooking/preparation time: 30 min)

We grew thyme as well

(1)  Cut all the vegetables mentioned above

(2)  Fry garlic and onions with 2-3 Tablespoons of olive oil until they are cooked and browned.

(3)  Add egg plant, paprika and zucchini and fry them until they are soft and cooked.

(4)  Add tomatoes and sauté all the vegetables until tomatoes have cooked and the juice comes out.

(5)  Season with salt and pepper, and put thyme, bay leaf and basil and cook for another 5 minutes,

(6)  Serve on a dish and garnish with some Basil leaves.

Personally, I like eating Caponata a day after cooking. The flavors soak into the vegetables and the dish tastes better. Please try eating the day after cooking. You will notice the difference

I’m not sure if this is a proper way, but I keep Caponata in the fridge and eat with Cous Cous as a nice cool dish.

Was that easy? Delicious? Tell us how tasty it was, or how it all went horribly, horribly wrong

Italian Caponata- K’s Special is a post from: Todd's Wanderings

This post is by: Kay (my lovely wife and founder of K’s Kitchen!)

In Japan and some parts of Europe, this summer has been extremely hot and harsh. In Kosovo, we had some rather cool weeks in July, but it’s finally become hot in the past 2 weeks. Having spent several years in the tropics, I actually prefer a hot and sticky summer to a cool one….I love licking ice cream while complaining about the temperature and the humidity….I know I’m odd (at least my husband claims so)!

There are noodles under there, I promise!

When it’s hot, we lose our appetite and don’t know what to cook. A-ha! Here is a great menu for you! Hiyashi-chuka, which literally means Cold Chinese (or Ryan-Ban-Mien in Chinese). This dish is very popular among Japanese in the summer because the cold taste stimulates their appetite. The standard Hiyashi-chuka is with a soy and vinegar sauce, but I would like to introduce you to a Sesame Sauce this time, which is my favorite.

The beauty of this dish is that you can substitute the ingredients with different items that you have at home and also add or reduce according to what you have.

Ingredients (for 3 people)

Chinese noodles: 3 packs (If you can’t find them, you can simply use instant ramen noodles)

Chicken breast (or can be thigh): (150 g) – can be substituted with other ingredients such a cooked steak or ham.

1 Cucumber (or about 120g)

3 Eggs (with 3-4 teaspoons of sugar, a pinch of salt, and mix of 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch and 1 Tablespoon of water)

Bean sprouts: 100g (optional) boiled.

Shitake mushroom (optional)

Tomatoes or lettuce (optional)

(a) Sesame Sauce

Soy sauce: 80cc

Sugar: 40g

Rice Vinegar: 50cc

Chicken broth (you can also use the chicken cubes): 100cc

Sesame paste (you can also use tahini): 40g

(b) Sauce to cook Shitake mushroom

Soy sauce: 1.5 Tablespoons

Sugar: 1.5 Tablespoons

Water: 3 Tablespoons

How to cook (cooking/preparation time: 30 min)

(1)  Make the Sesame sauce and set aside

(2)  Season the chicken with a pinch of salt and steam it until it’s cooked (or you can wrap it and put it in a microwave, or even boil it if you prefer). Shred them into long pieces. You can also use any kind of meat (or none at all) if you don’t have chicken. For instance, ham is often used at the restaurant. You just need to cut them thinly. If you have steak, you can also thinly cut them and use as a substitute. I used cooked pork, as you can see in the photo!

(3)  Cut the cucumber thinly (3mm), about the length of a toothpick. If you decide to have lots of fresh vegetables, you can also cut tomatoes and lettuce in a similar shape and length.

(4)  Quickly boil the bean sprouts and pour sesame oil on to taste.

(5)  Cook the Shitake mushrooms with ingredients (b) until it is cooked. Add sesame oil to taste after cooking. Cut them thinly.

(6)  Beat eggs and add sugar, salt, and starch. Pour a small portion into the pan,  just enough to cover the pan as if you are making a crepe (see the photo). Make several sheets of crepe looking egg omelets. When you are finished, wrap them all together and cut them long and thin (3mm) from the side.

(7)  Boil hot water and cook the noodles. Please don’t cook too long!! Pour noodles into the strainer and wash them with cold and fresh water until they cool down. Drain the noodles.

(8)  Serve the noodles on a plate and put different kinds of ingredients on top of the noodles. Pour sesame sauce on top and the dish is ready!!

Moms Are Strict

As you have noticed, all the ingredients are supposed to be cut thinly. Since I was young, I was always told by my mom to cut the ingredients in a similar shape. If they are mostly long shaped, cut them thinly. If they are rounded, cut them in a round shape with the similar size. Japanese tend to be very particular about the shape of ingredients in general, but I think this principle also applies to many cultures including China….

Was that easy? Delicious? Tell us how tasty it was, or how it all went horribly, horribly wrong

Hiyashi-chuka (Ryan-Ban-Mien)- Chinese Cold Noodles for Summer is a post from: Todd's Wanderings

This post is by: Kay (my lovely wife and writer for K’s Kitchen!)

Is it only kids who love fried chicken? Nope! I still love fried chicken and this ‘Yu Lin Chi’ is even more special for adults because it goes well with chilled beer!! This dish is popular among EVERYONE-drinkers and non-drinkers, adults and children.

The ‘Yu Lin Chi’ recipe is also from my mom which I learned more than 13 years ago. Having lived outside Japan for 10 years, I’ve been absent from my mom’s cooking class (yes, she teaches cooking), but I still get her recipes from time to time and try out new dishes. It is not always easy to cook some dishes without the right ingredients but I’ve learned how to substitute some ingredients with other items by now! The beauty of this ‘Yu Lin Chi’ is that you can cook with generally available ingredients. OK. Here we go!

Ingredients (for 2 people)

Chicken thigh: 400g

Leak: 1/3 of a long leak (finely chopped)

Yummy, yummy Yu Lin Chi Special Chicken Sauce!

Ginger: 1/2 Tablespoon (finely chopped)

Lettuce 5-6 leaves

(a) Marinade for chicken

Salt:1/3 teaspoon

Soy sauce: 2 teaspoons

Sake: 1Tablespoon

Pepper to taste

(b) Special Sauce

Soy sauce: 3 Tablespoons

Vinegar: 2 Tablespoons

Sugar: 2.5 Tablespoons

Sesame oil: 1 teaspoon

Chicken broth (or clear soup with the stock): 1Tablespoon

How to cook (preparation time: 15 min; cooking time: 20 min)

(1)  Cut the chicken to open it up and keep the thickness even.

(2)  Marinade the meat with (a) for 5-10 minutes, just long enough to give it a nice coating.

(3)  Finely chop the leak and ginger, and tear the lettuce into pieces.

(4)  Put the ingredients for sauce together in a small bowl.

(5)  Heat oil, enough to cover the chicken, up to 160 C (315 F) and throw in the chicken (well don’t throw or you’ll get burned by the oil!). Keep the flame of the stove in the middle range until the center of the chicken is cooked fully.

(6)  Turn up the heat for a minute to make the chicken crispy.

(7)  Put the chicken on top of a bed of lettuce on the plate. Pour on the sauce. That’s all!

If you like to eat with rice, please check how to cook rice in the recipe for Nishoku Gohan.

Was that easy? Delicious? Tell us how tasty it was, or how it all went horribly, horribly wrong

This post is part of the Lonely Planet BlogSherpa Travel Blog Carnival hosted this time by Kat over at Tie Dye Travels on Food Around the World. The Carnival is hosted every two weeks by a BlogSherpa member. The topic this time is Food Around the World. I hosted one here earlier on Todd’s Wanderings about Travel Safety.

Chinese Fried Chicken with special sauce- Yu Lin Chi is a post from: Todd's Wanderings

This post is by: Kay (my lovely wife and founder of K’s Kitchen!)

I have to apologize for not posting a recipe in a while….It has been really hectic with work in the last few weeks and I just got back to Kosovo from a work trip in Skopje, Macedonia. But that was the great push for me to post the new recipe! After eating almost the same food and way too much meat for 4 days, I was missing spicy Asian food sooooo much. As soon as I got home, I started cooking Dhal, something spicy, easy, and vegetarian!! Oh, eating dhal while watching the World Cup really recuperated me from a hectic and stressful life….and now my husband (that’s Todd for those of you now paying attention) is coming back from the US in 2 days….Life is not bad after all

This is a modified version of a recipe from ‘Step by Step Indian Cooking Book’ together with my late-Pakistani friend’s tip from 10 years ago and my own experimentation.

Ingredients (for 2-3 people)

1 cup of red or yellow lentils

3 cups of water

1 teaspoon of salt

3 dried chilies (chopped)

1 teaspoon of Turmeric

1 large onion chopped

2 Tablespoons of oil

2 cloves of garlic (sliced or mashed)

1 teaspoon of ginger (chopped or grated)

1 teaspoon of turmeric

1 ripe tomato (chopped)

2 teaspoons of garam masala

3 pieces of cloves

2-3 Tablespoons of coriander (chopped)

Cooked rice

How to cook (cooking/preparation time: 30-40 min)

1. Wash the lentils and cook with water, salt, chili and turmeric for 20-25 min or until they are completely soft.
2. Cook the onions in the oil until they turn golden brown and become really soft (this is important!). Then add ginger, garlic, and turmeric and cook for a few minutes. Add 50 cc of water, cover with a lid, and leave it for a few minutes until the water simmers.
3. Add chopped tomatoes and cook until the juice comes out.
4. Pour 2 and3 (onion and tomatoes) into 1 (lentils), add garam masala, coriander, and cloves, and cook for 5-7 min.
5. Serve on a dish and garnish with a leaf of coriander in the middle (I forgot to put it on for the photo!).

Eat with cooked rice (or if you prefer, you can eat with rotti or nan).

What do you think? Leave a comment and tell us how your muffins turned out.

Spicy Dhal Curry, bring your South Asian adventures home to your friends is a post from: Todd's Wanderings

This post was written by Kay, who writes the K’s Kitchen section of Todd’s Wanderings. She also happens to be Todd’s lovely wife!

When I went to my friend’s house awhile ago, she served me a freshly baked banana muffin for breakfast. It made me really happy early in the morning and kept my happiness all day (along with a very nice coffee, of course!). This is it! I want to bake muffins in the morning on the weekend! I was determined to find the good recipe. I looked into several recipes in my cook books and on the internet, and found this recipe (adapted from David Herbert’s Simply Perfect Every Time) which is very tasty and easy. When I tried this for the first time, I confirmed the happiness!! My husband Todd was away (at that time for 6 weeks!), so I decided to share this happiness with my friends and they all loved the muffins!

When it comes to baking, some people tend to think that it is time-consuming and troublesome, but once you try this recipe you will change your opinion! Try it now!

Ingredients (makes 12-14 small muffins):

Flour (all-purpose): 2 cups (with 240 cc per cup*) or 300g

Baking powder: 2 teaspoons

Baking soda: 1 teaspoon

Salt: 1/8 teaspoon

Yogurt and milk mixture: ½ cup plain yogurt and ½ cup milk

2 Large Eggs

Lemon zest from 1 lemon

Sugar: 3/4 cup or 187 g

Unsalted butter: 1/2 cup (melted)

Fresh or frozen blueberry: 1 cup (or other berries depending on your preference)

*not all cups are the same and in Japan 1 cup=180 cc

How to cook- Cooking time: 20 min prep plus 20-25 baking time

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius (or 375 Fahrenheit). Have 12 muffin cups ready. If you are using the tinned     cups, spray with oil or rub the oil inside the cups.

2. Shift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together and put them all in a bowl.

3. Put the milk & yogurt mixture, beaten eggs, lemon zest, sugar, and melted butter in another bowl and mix them well.      Add this mixture into the flour and mix them all together.

4. Even if you see lumps in the mix, don’t worry as long as ingredients are mixed. Add blueberries and mix further.

5. Put the muffin dough into the muffin cups.

6. Bake the muffins for 20-25 min. From my experience, I would suggest that you keep the muffins on the lower shelf for 10 minutes and then move them to the upper shelf and bake for another 10 min. If muffins turn brown, poke a toothpick in and see if the dough sticks to it when you pull it out. If it’s not baked enough, bake for another 3-5 min. When muffins are done, take them out from the oven and let them cool for 5 min before taking them out of the cups.

Eat, drink coffee and enjoy the happiness

What do you think? Leave a comment and tell us how your muffins turned out.

Yogurt Blueberry Muffin Recipe: The Cure for any Homesickness is a post from: Todd's Wanderings

The finished dish, yum!

I’d like to introduce you to one of my favorite Chinese Dishes, Mapo Dofu. This recipe is from my Mom who learned it from a Chinese chef over 30 years ago. Over the years she has made a few changes here and there. The process is not that complicated, but this dish requires some specific Chinese ingredients and spices. But don’t worry. You can buy most of them at an Asian grocery store, or even in a big grocery store in the US or in some countries in Europe. I also tried to put suggestions for substitutes for some ingredients. I’ve lived in countries where these ingredients are not always available and I’ve learned to improvise and be a bit flexible when I cook.

Tricky ingredients (left to right): Doubanjiang, Chinese Sweet Bean Sauce, sake, soy sauce, and chicken stock (front)

Some ingredients may seem unfamiliar at first but I’ll be introducing more recipes that use the same ingredients in the future. Before you know it you’ll have Chinese chili paste in your fridge all the time

One tip before we start! This dish can be a Donburi Menu Part 2, if you put Mapo Doufu on top of a bed of rice in a bowl. In Japan, we call it Mabo Don (shortened from Donburi). You can serve as a regular dish or make it as Mabo Don as you like! Let’s get started!

Ingredients (for 2 people)

• Tofu (firm): 1 pack
• Minced pork: 100g
• Leak or French onion (finely chopped: 3 Tablespoons)
• Ginger (finely chopped: 1 Tablespoon)
• Garlic (finely chopped: 1 teaspoon)
• Chicken broth 250cc

Spices

• Doubanjiang or chili paste (Chinese spicy and salty paste made of fermented beans) More Info: 1 Tablespoon (or more if you like a super spicy dish)
• Chinese Sweet Bean Sauce, More Info: 2 teaspoons
• Douchi (Chinese fermented black beans) More Info: 2 teaspoons- if it’s not available, you can live without it!

This is what those strange sounding fermented beans look like!

• Soy sauce: 1 Tablespoon
• Shaoxing wine, More Info (or Japanese sake): 1 Tablespoon – if it’s not available, you can live without it!
• Starch: 2 Tablespoons mixed with 4 Tablespoons of water
• Chili oil (or Rayu) More Info: to taste, more if you like it spicy
• Shichuan pepper, More Info (or ground pepper)

How to cook (cooking time: 20-25 min)

Squeezing the liquid out of tofu

(1)   Finely chop Leak (or French onion), ginger, and garlic. Rinse and finely chop Douchi.

(2)   Wrap tofu with a dish cloth and put some kind of weight on top to get rid of the moist of the tofu. Cut into 2cm cubes.

(3)   Heat the wok (you can use a deep fry pan if it’s all you have), put in 2 Tablespoons of oil, and fry garlic, leak, and ginger slowly with a medium heat.

(4)   Add minced meat and cook them together on high. Once the meat turns whitish, add Doubanjiang and mix it into the meat. Add Douchi and Chinese sweet bean sauce and continue mixing.

(5)   Add soy sauce, shaoxing wine (or sake), and chicken broth and cook until the sauce starts boiling. Add Tofu and continue cooking on low heat for 5 min or so.

(6)   Add the starch mixed with water into the wok to thicken the sauce.

(7)   Add Chili oil and Shichuan pepper (ground pepper) and serve on a plate.

Yup, just that simple. It's all ready, enjoy.

Eat with rice and enjoy!

Did you like this recipe? Leave a comment and let others know how it turned out.

Mapo Doufu Recipe, Spicy Tofu and Pork (in Japan, commonly called Mabo Doufu) is a post from: Todd's Wanderings

Japanese dish Nishoku Gohan ("two colored rice")

When it comes to Japanese food, many non-Japanese tend to think that Sushi is the only Japanese food and it’s hard to cook in their home country without having the right ingredients. To break this image, I will be introducing some Easy, Quick, and Tasty Japanese foods. Please note that they may not be authentic Japanese, but they are definitely popular among all Japanese across all age groups!

Today, I am introducing you to Donburi Menu called ‘Nishoku Gohan’. Donburi is a big rice bowl and Donburi menu refers to a dish that has a topping over a bed of rice in the big bowl. Nishoku-Gohan literary means ‘two-colored rice’ referring to rice with two colored toppings, which is one of the easiest dishes to cook and does not require different kinds of unusual Japanese ingredients. This is Todd’s and my ‘Comfort Food’.

Ingredients (for 2 people) Prep and cooking time: 15-20 minutes. Yes, it’s that fast!

2 cups of rice (Japanese, Thai, or California type of rice) and 2.4 cups of water

Nori-Seaweed (if available)

Meat topping

Minced meat (pork/chicken/beef- as you like) 200g

4 tablespoons of soy sauce

3 teaspoons of sugar

1 tablespoon of sliced ginger

If available, 1tablespoon of cooking sake (but not essential)

Tip: If the soy sauce is already sweet, you may want to put less sugar. Heinz soy sauce is usually already sweet enough. Kikkoman needs the sugar.

Egg topping

3 Large eggs

3 teaspoons of sugar

Pinch of salt

Rice: (if you have a rice cooker, skip this section but don’t forget to wash the rice!)

Wash rice about 5 times (or until the water is more or less clear). Add 2.4 cups of water (you need to cook rice with 20% more water). (Tip: It is suggested to soak the rice in water for 30 min to 1hr, but it’s not essential). Cook rice with a lid on a regular flame until it starts boiling. Turn down the flame slightly sliding the lid off a bit. Cook until the water evaporates (taste the rice to see if it is soft enough) turn off the stove and let it sit with the lid on for 5 min.

p.s. 2 cups of rice maybe too much for 2 portions of Donburi-menu, however, it is suggested to cook at least 2 cups of rice or else the rice will not turn out well. Save the extra for rice balls the next day (recipe coming soon!).

Preparing the meat

Meat topping

Put all the ingredients in a small pot, break up the meat while mixing, and cook until the meat is browned.

Egg topping

1. Put the cracked eggs, sugar, and salt in a bowl and beat them.
2. Cook them in a small pot. Please make sure that you keep mixing it really hard to make sure they become small crumbles. (Tip: use chop-sticks to help you to make the crumbles).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Maw8Pxxyn4

Scramble the eggs Japanese style, with chopsticks!

Serving

1. Put some rice in a bowl and flatten the top.
2. Put the meat and eggs on top of rice
3. If you like, put some flakes of seaweed (tear them into pieces) on the top

AND, Nishoku-gohan is ready!

Did you like this recipe? Leave a comment and let others know how it turned out.

Note: Some people call this dish Soboro Gohan (meaning “crumbles and  rice”). If you feel anxious that we are using a different (be equally popular) way of naming this dish you are at the wrong blog This is simple Japanese food, that tastes great with no room for pretentiousness.

May Japan Blog Matsuri, hosted by http://nihongoup.com

Nishoku Gohan (rice) Recipe- Donburi Menu Part 1 is a post from: Todd's Wanderings

Yup, she loves to travel too!

As a start to a beautiful new week I would like to introduce a new section to Todd’s Wanderings, K’s Kitchen, and my lovely wife Kay who will be doing the writing. People don’t usually get married because of their future mother-in-laws, but in my case Kay’s mom was a fantastic part of the deal. She is one of the sweetest women I know and a fantastic cook to boot. Besides cooking excellent Japanese food (she’s a Japanese mom after all), she is also an expert Chinese cook! Luckily, all this talent and homemade recipes, were transferred to Kay. Yes, I am a lucky man.

In K’s Kitchen, Kay will introduce a variety of international recipes that she loves. She’ll begin with some of our favorite Japanese and Chinese food and will move on to homemade recipes from the places we live and travel to. Kay’s mom has graciously allowed us to use her recipes as well! We know that cooking Asian food can be difficult at times and ingredients are not always available, or when they are they bear incomprehensible names and directions. Kay will do her best to work around these issues and suggest alternatives when ingredients aren’t available in your local Asian market.

To prove we are not full of empty promises here is Kay’s first recipe for Nishoku Gohan, “two colored rice.” A completely unsophisticated Japanese dish that is one of my favorite foods of all time. Bold statement? You bet, but try it out for yourself and I guarantee you’ll love it too.

Introducing K’s Kitchen: Good food for good times is a post from: Todd's Wanderings