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

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 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