Ten Ichi, Ginza

When this restaurant is Googled, all you get are fav reviews of this restaurant. Some say its one of the best tempura restaurants in Japan.

Tempura is one of the easiest foods to eat in Japan. Most everyone likes it and its available everywhere. Its simple food, the basic ingredient, deep fried with a light crispy batter. Take a string bean, deep fry it. The high heat ensures you probably wont get food poisoning. The simplicity ensures there are no hidden ingredients to baulk at the taste. I like it mostly because of all the types of Japanese foods, this has the most vegetables.

Then you have Ten ichi.

There is tempura and there is tempura. Here the most excellent vegetables are sourced specifically for its freshness and natural tastes. The batter is perfectly mixed to form a crispy outer coating to cook the vegetable quickly and seal in all its goodness. The oil perfectly clean heated in a copper basin with thermometer attached.

When the food is served, the chef gently explains how to eat it - the prawn head: with salt only, the prawn: with salt and lemon then the fish and vegetables, as you wish - salt or the delicious home made tempura dressing with grated daikon.

Seated around the chef, each morsel is served consecutively. He watches how you eat, and times the moment to start cooking the next selection. It starts with prawns, vegetable, fish vegetables, fish, etc ending with a mixed tempura on rice.

Nathan asked for a second helping of asparagus, which cost USD5. He wont eat asparagus without being reminded of this visit.

So I took my Dad to this restaurant. The chef had changed to a younger person. My previous visit with Jon and Suzi the older one was training the new one. I hope he enjoyed it.

I noticed yet another wonderful thing here: the rice at the end. They serve a smaller grain rice than I have tried before. The smallness reminded me of broken rice at home, but you could feel each roundness tinier than what we are used to. perfect.

San Bei Ji

I needed a non curry recipe for some chicken thigh I bought. I also had some basil that needed to be used. I still have ambitions to make pizza ala Sherinkan) So what about San Bei Ji which should be chicken made with 3 cups of sauce: 1 cup sesame oil, 1 cup soysauce and 1 cup chinese wine.

I looked up the web and found some recipes. Google "San Bei Ji".

Jan 2016 update: another Three Cup Chicken recipe from Taste of Hong Kong.

Beef Caserole

A friend told me this recipe. She makes it on days that she knows she won't have time to cook. So its all prepared in the morning and left in the oven with a note to her children. All they do it put the oven on 2 hours before eating. I made it today - took me 15 minutes to prepare, leave in the oven for later.

Its a bit like Lancashire hot pot.

Beef Casserole

400g oyster blade steak
1 onion sliced into rings
1 carrot, cut into circles
1 bay leaf
1 sprig rosemary
3 tbs madiera wine
1 cube beef stock
Water, salt and pepper

1. Find a casserole dish with a close fitting lid. My friend used a ceramic pot/earthern ware pot.
2. Lay the onions, bay leaf,rosemary, madiera, meat, carrots in that order.
3. Sprinkle a cube of beef stock over it, salt and pepper. Pour enough water to cover the meat by 2/3.
4. Place a baking sheet over the pot and cover.
5. Leave in the oven till ready to cook.
6. Cook for 2 hours on 180 deg C (and not for less than that)

I put some potatoes over the carrots so it becomes a one pot dish. If I have a really small amount of tomatoes, like 3 cherry tomatoes or some sweet potato, I might place them in as well.

Eating Japanese

One of the factors that sets the Japanese way of eating apart and makes the nation healthier and slimmer is the high component of carbohydrate-based energy. In the Japanese diet, carbohydrates, mainly in the form of rice and noodles, make up nearly a third of the total energy intake. In the west, however, carbohydrates are often portrayed as a villain among weight-watchers and many diets demonise them. What matters is the quality of carbohydrate. Good carbohydrates are those that are still in their natural state and less processed. They are nutritious, high in fibre, give you sustainable energy and leave you feeling satisfied for longer. Fibre-rich foods also help to lower cholesterols and are a great detox. Traditional Japanese meals feature many good carbohydrate foods such as fresh vegetables, rice, soba noodles, and beans. Also we don’t add fat or dairy products to carbohydrates.

Portions are much smaller in Japan. Japanese food is served in small dishes and there is a saying, hara hachibu, which literally means that you should eat until you are about 80 per cent satisfied and no more. Leave the table when you are still wishing to eat more but not when you are completely full. Eating smaller amounts of food is not only beneficial for your health but also keeps the costs of food down.

After a fortnight of festive eating and drinking, I am looking forward to writing my 2009 wish list, accompanied by a bowl of traditional Japanese new year ozoni – miso soup with a sticky rice cake. Miso, made of fermented soybeans, is an essential ingredient in Japanese cuisine. It is rich in vitamin E, calcium and minerals and the high quality protein of soyabeans, converted into digestible amino acid, is known to lower cholesterol, blood pressure and help to prevent arteriosclerosis. Miso also slows down the ageing process, it is anti-cancerous and, best of all, it is an amazing hangover cure. Here are a couple of recipes using miso to start you off. I wish you happy, healthier – and slower – eating for the new year.

Japanese mushroom miso soup

Ingredients
4 dried shiitake mushrooms
1 leek, trimmed and finely sliced diagonally
200g fresh mushrooms such as shimeji, enoki or oyster
2 tbs dried wakame seaweed, softened in water and drained
2 tbs medium coloured miso paste of your choice

Method
● Soak the shiitake mushrooms in boiling water and infuse for 15-20 minutes. For shimeji or enoki mushrooms, discard the bases and separate the mushrooms. Discard the stalks of the softened shiitake mushrooms and slice caps.
● Put the leek slices in the saucepan of mushroom-infused water and bring to the boil over a medium heat. Add the mushrooms and wakame and cook for two minutes.
● Put the miso paste in a small bowl, ladle in the soup liquid to soften and dissolve the paste. Then pour the diluted miso paste back into the saucepan and return to the boil for just 1 second before turning off the heat. Serve immediately with chopsticks.

All from the FT weekend by Kimiko Barber

Macaroni Cauliflower Cheese

Today we had the best ever Macaroni Cauliflower Cheese. This is how it happened:

A few weeks ago, I asked Stephen if he would like Macaroni Cheese for dinner and he said he would cook it. I had all the ingredients and was going to cook it myself. But if someone offers to do my work....

It was delicious - he made the cheese sauce in what I would call 'entirely the wrong way' but it turned out way better than mine. How does he do that?

So today when I suggested we have it again, he agreed to make the cheese sauce. I used to make this quite often in Melbourne where cheese is a staple ingredient. This was one of my 'eat less meat' meals. In Tokyo, this wasn't so till I discovered Nissin supermarket. Now its back on the menu again. It's not the healthiest of meals and we both love cauliflower cheese so I add that to the pasta. And bacon of course. My version has had a bit of chopped tomato on the top, spring onions, pine nuts/walnuts - mostly to add nutrition and perhaps mustard and nutmeg to the sauce. I also don't use macaroni pasta as this gets too soft in the baking process.

I was cringing as he made the sauce. And again it was the tastiest sauce for macaroni cauliflower cheese! Today's recipe had shell shaped pasta, cauliflower, bacon bits, a mix of cheddar, red cheddar, mixed packet of cheese with breadcrumbs and parmesan on the top.

I checked Delia Smith's version, a bit complicated for me, asking to whip egg whites just to make dinner! and she suggests heating the dish while preparing the pasta/sauce. This certainly hastens things up.

Tuna Pasta

I got this recipe from a magazine. Its quick and easy to make. If I am eating alone, this is what I'll do. Today I made this for myself while Nathan had some shop bought meatballs. He ended up eating my pasta while I had to eat his meatballs (which was actually a prawn/fishball something with a very Chinese restaurant taste)

1 can tuna flakes in olive oil, drained
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 dried chilli, crushed
1/2 cup olives, chopped
1 cup rocket or watercress
1/4 cup feta cheese (optional)
olive oil
salt & pepper
lemon

1. Cook the pasta as directed.
2. Heat the oil and throw in the garlic and chilli.
3. When the garlic begins to brown, add the tuna flakes.
4. Toss it around. When the pasta has finished cooking, drain and add to the tuna.
5. Add the rocket and olives and combine.
6. Add salt, pepper and lemon.

I found this recipe on Simply Recipes here

Chocolate shops in Shirokanedai

I thought I should list the chocolate and cake shops around here seeing there are quiet a few.

• Oriol Balaguer
• La Farine
• Lettre D'armour
• aeschbach chocolatiet
• Chocolatier Erica
• Kinmugi
• Shirokanetei
• Atelier Pattiserie Reive
  

Gin and Tonic

Some delicious things in Japan:

I am enjoying the realest Gin and Tonic. No more the horrible sugar filled Schweppes Tonic to accompany the Gin. We have Japanese real Tonic. And it tastes real, no sugar-substitute after taste, just plain tonic.

I have discovered why Gin and Tonic became a drink.

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I found its cheaper to buy alcohol in bulk than to keep running down to the supermarket every time we run out of sake. As the lack of alcohol at home seems to definitely motivate trips to the supermarket which instigates spending of other sorts. This bulk buying seems to be a savings on money and on effort carrying all those bottles up. Today's trip was bigger than normal as I found they also sell mineral water. Nathan adds this to fruit juice to make an 'ade. I also chose 6 1.8l bottles of sake. AND I was tempted and didn't allow myself to think about it and bought 24 bottles of this fantastic tonic. In the back of my mind, I am thinking that I have to finish all of it before July when we are most likely to have to leave Japan. Can I achieve this? Should I have bought the accompanying Gin or Vodka as the beer will last till we leave? Will I have to throw a Gin and Tonic party? Perhaps in July, I shouldnt any earlier.

I think this would be one thing I will miss from Japan.