Innie or Outie

Many people are fascinated wth Japanese food, such as the various types of sushi and bentos; so much so that they want to try and create their own versions:

Here is a Japanese site with diagrams that displays how to create several hotdog art projects that can be added to the bento box.

Here’s another of the choices in the local bento box cuisine. This one had rice, chicken, Chinese-style pork, shredded cabbage, various veggies, and pickled plum.

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This is a simple meal that can be served almost anytime of the day:

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Okonomiyaki

Hubby brought this premixed okonomiyaki (Japanese Combination Pancake) set back from his trip to Osaka (a city renown throughout Japan for their particular expertise in the meal).

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To the premix, we added sliced pork, dried krill, squid-flavored deep-fried tenpura batter droplets, three eggs, 120cc water, grated cabbage and carrot mix, Japanese mayonnaise, and pickled ginger.

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This is a very simple meal to prepare:

Mix the prepackaged batter powder, eggs, and water until smooth. Then add the krill, tenpura droplets, and veggie mix.

Place the pork on the electric skillet in four sections and brown on one side.

Ladle the batter mixture onto the skillet in four sections (one at a time) and place the pork on top of the sections (uncooked side facing up). Let cook until slightly brown (approximately five minutes), flip and continue to cook for approximately ten minutes (or until pork and batter are thoroughly cooked).

Top with okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise, seaweed flakes, pickled ginger, and shredded dried bonito (fish).

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There are many different methods used to prepare okonomiyaki. If you prefer to cook from scratch, here is one way.

Here is another versatile option for a relaxing dinner for two:

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Tabletop Teriyaki Dinner

An electric skillet makes it easy to turn any tabletop into an instant mock izakaya. For our dinner we chose beef (marinated in teriyaki sauce), mushrooms, leek, veggies and cheese rolled in pork, cabbage, and greens accompanied by miso soup and rice topped with grated sesame seeds.

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Several of the foodie pages have been updated and two new pages, Other Culinary Info Sites and Other Specialty Food Sites, have been added to the blog.

Here are some currently active other-than-blog specialty food sites:

(Last Updated 30 Sep 2009)

British Cheese Board

Food Facts.com

The Fresh Loaf

The Daily Pork

Tokyo Food Page

Here are some currently active other-than-blog sites that offer a wealth of culinary information:

(Last Updated 30 Sep 2009)

Cooking with Kurma – Recipes

Epicurious

Food Reference Website

I Chef.com

Jo’s Deli & Bakery

Joy of Baking

Leite’s Culinaria

The Gilded Fork – Recipes

Waitrose.com

Oden is one dish available at some of the convenience stores on island at this time of year. It is similar to nabe, but has a much cleaner tasting broth. Each person chooses which items are desired from the “cafeteria style” menu of goodies that simmer in a main broth 24 hours daily.

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Hubby chose sausage, daikon, ashitebichi (pig’s feet), kamaboko, stuffed cabbage rolls, potato, koniyaku, and konbu.

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Sometimes when I create new dishes and come up with names to try and describe the dishes, I notice that not all basic food terms are understood equally by all. This may be because in most areas an original dish is slightly altered to match the local population’s taste buds. Limited food term recognization also probably has a small hand in the conflicting images of what each item represents. Since I grew up in Texas, I use many ethnic terms in the construction of the names of new Tex-Mex based dishes I create. To help clarify exactly what the original food terms refer to, I have composed a very brief dictionary-based glossary of the most commonly used Tex-Mex food terms:

bur·ri·to – A flour tortilla wrapped around a filling, as of beef, beans, or cheese.
cha·lu·pa – Corn tortilla dough fried in a boat shape and filled with shredded meat, vegetables, or cheese.*
chi·la·qui·les – Fried softened tortilla chips covered with salsa or mole and cheese and broiled.
chim·i·chan·ga – A deep-fried burrito.
em·pa·na·da – A turnover with a flaky crust and a spicy or sweet filling.
en·chi·la·da – A tortilla rolled and stuffed usually with a mixture containing meat or cheese and served with a sauce spiced with chili.
fa·ji·ta – A dish consisting of strips of marinated meat, poultry, or vegetables that are grilled over an open fire and served in a tortilla, usually with spicy condiments.
flau·ta – A corn tortilla rolled around a filling, such as beef, chicken, or cheese, into a thin cylinder and sometimes deep-fried.
na·cho – A small, often triangular piece of tortilla topped with cheese or chili-pepper sauce and broiled.
que·sa·dil·la – A flour tortilla folded in half around a savory filling, as of cheese or beans, then fried or toasted.
ta·co – A corn tortilla folded around a filling such as ground meat or cheese.
ta·ma·le – A Mexican dish made of chopped meat and crushed peppers, highly seasoned, wrapped in cornhusks spread with masa, and steamed.
tos·ta·da or tos·ta·do – A tortilla or tortilla chip deep-fried until crisp.

*NOTE: Where I was raised in Texas, a chalupa was basically the same as a flat deep fried open-faced taco topped with all the fillings (beans, beef, lettuce, tomato, cheese, guacamole, sour cream, black olives) in other words – like a miniture Tex-Mex pizza.

For those who are interested in trying some homemade Tex-Mex recipes, this site has an extensive selection from which to choose.

Although hubby and I have been married for over 30 years, and he knows it’s not necessary to shower me with “special little somethings” on V-Day, he just loves to surprise me with different chocolate goodies anyway. This year he found a chocolate liqueur to help wash down the chocolate covered cherries.

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