Autumn is the season for gastronomy

In early autumn, Japanese people talk about and focus on autumnal pastimes such as gastronomy, sports and art. I am not gastronomic, however autumnal food is a real pleasure for me. Japanese people especially look for Matsutake mushroom, Sanma(mackerel pike) and chestnuts. As I live in London, I am excited to have game, wild mushrooms and oysters.

When I travel to France, I don't tend to choose simple food which I know I like from previous experience. I take a gamble on the chef's creativity. When I went to Paris last time, though I like oysters, I didn't order them. I wanted to try game and wild mushrooms which come out in the impressive recipes. Unluckily I had venison with overpowering sauce served with defrosted vegetables. The following day I was looking forward to some really good food though I had no specific plan or booking. I didn't know the best place to go. (I should have been more organised!)

It was 2:15, when I gave up looking for a restaurant. I had to rush in the end to get a table for lunch in a local restaurant. There was no game or wild mushrooms on the menu! However, I was happy to eat simple home cooking such as sauteed fish served with julienned vegetables in light butter sauce. It was comfort food for a exhausted and hungry girl! Never mind, an excuse to return to Paris for some autumnal food! That's a good reason in my mind!

Sushi workshop for professionals

I went to a sushi workshop last Sunday. It was great opportunity to see skillful 7 sushi samurai who have come from the other side of the world. The workshop is held only once a year so I was looking forward to attending.

In the morning, I had a lecture about the history of sushi, sushi ingredients and hygiene. After the lecture, I had lunch with the chef's delicious nigiri sushi. Unlike take away sushi, sushi rice fell apart in my mouth. The texture and flavor were perfect! Of course, fish were very fresh!

After the tasting, I started practicing my cooking with sushi expert tutor, Mr Ogata who is one of 7 sushi samurai. I was happy with the the quality of my sushi rice. However, he gave me some tips which will improve the taste of my sushi rice further. Filleting fish wasn't easy for me. I was untidy separating the fins and scales of sea bass. Finally, I enjoyed making sushi. I had excellent experience with 7 sushi samurai. All chefs were passionate about sushi. I thought about being proper sushi chef after this workshop. Is this good idea? Mr Ogata said he would like to have me in his sushi restaurant.(he is kind or he meant he wanted to hire me as a waitress?)

My tutor Mr Ogata won the sushi competition this year! Congratulation!

Tamago yaki

Who doesn't have personal preference for eggs? I love rightly cooked soft boiled egg, slightly runny poached egg, onsen tamgo which is slowly cooked in hot spa and tamago yaki.

You might have had a slice of tamago yaki on a small ball-shaped rice in sushi restaurants. Japanese people have tamago yaki as side dish, in bento boxes and of course accompanying sushi.

My tamago yaki has been popular for my friends since I was 10 years old! When I was a little school girl, I remember walking back home from school with my friends I was thinking what to cook for them. Both my parents had full time jobs so the kitchen was a kind of play room for me. One of my best friends loved my tamago yaki. She always asked me to cook it. I was adventurous about food at an early age, so I created numerous recipes such as julienned root vegetables tamago yaki, seaweed and dried prawn tamago yaki and fluffy sweet tamago yaki that was her favorite. My personal preference is moist and soft and with mentaiko. mentaiko is chilli cod raw. It's not easy to buy it in London. I am missing it...

I will give you a basic tamago yaki recipe to start.

Ingredients
5 Eggs
2 tbsp of mirin
1 tbsp of sugar
1 tsp of soy sauce
A pinch of sea salt to taste

Break the eggs into a bowl.
Beat the eggs well using chop sticks ensuring that they are mixed evenly, but also that no froth forms. Add the other ingredients into eggs and mix well.
Heat a square omelet pan thoroughly. Ensure that the pan is evenly coated with oil, right to the sides.
Heat the pan once more until the surface is very hot and then, add one third of the egg mixture.
When bubbles appear in the egg mixture, burst then using your chopsticks.
As the underside of the omelet begins to set, peel it back using your chopsticks.

Fold over the cooked omelet and roll it toward you, to complete the first roll of the omelet.
Spread the oil to the far side of the pan. Push the egg away from you and this time spread the oil toward you.
Add half the remaining mixture to the side of the pan nearest you slide your chopsticks under the first omelet you made until they touch the far side of the pan and allow the new egg mixture to run underneath the omelet. Then repeat to make the second roll and the third roll.
Remove the pan from the heat and press down on both sides of the omelet to fix the shape.

Sashimi Salad

Sashimi on a bed of salad is not a traditional dish but has been popular for long time in Japanese restaurants known as 'Izakaya'.

A crisp salad makes sashimi more interesting and gives crunchiness and flavor. I prefer the combination of lettuce, baby leaves, cherry tomatoes and radish topped with white fish, prawn, squid or scallop. When I prepare bonito, I accompany with onions, sprouts, shiso leaves and sliced garlic which is the seasonal dish in Autumn.

As I had fresh squid sashimi last evening, I used the left over squid to make squid sashimi salad. Obviously as the fish is combined with other flavors, the quality of the sashimi is not so important. This makes the most of the left overs from the fresh fish from the day before, as the fish starts to change the texture and flavor.

The subtle flavor of squid goes well with a ginger dressing.

Ingredients
12-16 pieces squids
200g edamame in pods, boiled and shelled
Handful spinach leaves, washed and dried
2 radish, thinly sliced
Pink pepper corns

For the ginger vinaigrette
2 tsp ginger minced
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp fish sauce
½ tsp sugar
2 tbsp grape seed oil
Sea salt
Black pepper

For the ginger vinaigrette, combine all ingredients in a bowl except the grape seed oil.
Slowly whisk in grape seed oil. Cover and refrigerate until required.
Next, place the spinach, squid, edamame and radish on each plate.
Drizzle the vinaigrette around the plates. Sprinkle the pink pepper corns.

Tsukune

Tsukune is a type meatball. However, the taste is very different as it is not prepared in a tomato based sauce.

Char-grilled tukune is generally the most popular variety and is found in yakitori restaurants. It is the habit of Japanese business men to go to yakitori restaurants after work to treat themselves with tsukune and some sake or beers. It is growing in popularity for young girls, too. My friends and I used to meet for tsukune and a beer and we talked so much that we almost missed the last train!

My mum and I from time to time make this dish at home. We grill on a thick heavy flying pan or grill pan. The advantage of making tsukune at home is that you can add as many ingredients as you like to create your own variety of tsukune.

My mum generally adds yum potatoes, lotus root and sometimes tofu. Yum potatoes and tofu make tsukune softer. My favorite ingredients are shiso leaves and shitake mushrooms which have a strong flavor.
I will introduce a basic tsukune recipe to you. you can add your selection of ingredients to create interesting variation!

Ingredients
300g minced chicken
60g spring onion, chopped
1 ginger, minced
11/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp potato flower
Sea salt
Black pepper

Sesame oil for grilling

For the sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sake
2 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp sugar

Direction
Mix together all the ingredients until the mixture is sticky.
Make small ball shapes on your hand.
Push 2 balls onto each bamboo skewer.
Heat a thick heavy grill pan or flying pan and add sesame oil.
Cook the tsukune until browned all over.
Pour sake and put lid on steam for 3 minutes.
Take the lid off and add soy sauce, mirin and sugar and cook until sticky.

Antony Worrall Thompson

I had some good luck today. I met celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson by pure chance! I went to Piccadilly circus to see my friend this afternoon. It was raining and I had some heavy bags after visiting wholefoods market. My friend and I ran into the cafe in Waterstone's book shop to escape the heavy rain. However, as i was leaving the cafe, I saw a familiar face near the entrance of the book store. It was Antony Worrall Thompson signing copies of 'The People's Cookbook'! I picked up a copy and he wrote a personalised message for me. I spoke to him for a minute and he wrote his message (above). He is a really nice gentleman. It has given me more motivation, so I will cook more to improve my cookery skills. Someday I would like to cook with him. It's my dream! I now have his book proudly on display in my kitchen.

Keep smiling!

When I wasn't well...

I wasn't well last week. I didn't have any energy to go shopping or spent much time cooking. My fridge was almost empty. I thought that I really would like a local organic fruit and vegetable grocery store near my flat rather than a shoe shop that I really desired two weeks ago!

I went to central London to work. Although I was quite tired after work and I knew it was busy around 5pm rush hour, I took a chance and popped to the food hall in Selfridges to buy some fresh vegetables. I craved onion so I grabbed some large onions and returned home.

I used to eat raw onion salad as a side dish in Japan. It goes well with almost everything. Particularly in spring, onions are less sharp and contain more water. These onions are perfect when raw.

Nowadays, we are lucky as the customer is not affected by seasonal harvest; you can buy all type of vegetables through out the year. Despite having a wider and more interesting selection, I think seasonal food has more flavor. We didn't have much sunshine this year, the tomatoes growing in my kitchen have finally ripened. I made a salad with the white onions from Selfridges and tomatoes from my kitchen.

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I saw this on the shelf and thought i would give it a go. I will see if I love it or hate it!

What's about Japanese sweets?

Like many Japanese girls, my favorite sweets are French. If I make a dessert for a dinner party for friends, I generally choose to make Italian desserts as they are quicker and I have a lot of experience through my work. ( I am teaching Italian as well as Japanese!)

However, Japanese sweets have the advantage of being health as traditional Japanese sweets are made with Azuki bean paste and rice flour. This means that traditional Japanese sweets are gluten, dairy and fat free!

In Japan, there are many specialist sweets shops much like you would find in France. The display and presentation is very beautiful. I stop to watch display whenever I find sweets shops! Japanese sweets have developed over time to accompany tea ceremonies. In there tea ceremonies, very strong green tea is served. Therefore a sweet is a perfect company. For the ceremony, the presentation is the most important. The sweets for the ceremony have brighter natural colouring and quite often express season and nature. For example, you will have a cherry shaped and pink coloured sweet in March. The creation of these traditional sweets must be trained for many years, much like sushi chefs.

I sometimes combine European style sweets with Japanese ingredients. I made some biscuits for a little cookie monster! He is a son of my friend's sister. It's really easy to make and gluten free!



Gluten free biscuits

200g rice flour, shifted
50g corn starch, shifted
150g unsalted butter, softened
120g caster sugar
1 egg york
1 lemon zest
1 tbsp soy milk, milk or water
a pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 150C
Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and cream until it becomes pale and smooth like mayonnaise.
Add the egg york, the salt and the lemon zest and mix well.
Add the flour and cornflour and blend briefly, just until thoroughly combined. If its difficult to mix, add a little soy milk into the mixture.
Turn the mixture onto a lightly floured surface and knead to form a smooth dough.
Shape into roll and put in the fridge for about 1 hour.
Make 1 inch ball shapes and press the middle of each ball with your finger.
Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until pale golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Shime saba

Mackerel is not a luxurious ingredient.When I was little, I couldn't stand the smell of mackerel. There were no escape when my mum cooked mackerel. The smell was very strong! I only managed to eat Shime saba which is pickled mackerel. Now I grew up and changed my taste. I like mackerel very much. But the biggest reason I like the fish is good memory with my dad.

For many years, my dad have traveled around Japan on business. He often went to Kyushu which is south part of Japan and bought back beautiful mackerel called Seki saba. Saba means mackerel in Japanese. Seki is the name of place in Kyusyu. The mackerel is very popular. The skin is shiny and the flesh is a pale pink. It doesn't have strong fishy smell. At the age of 14, I already preferred fishes to sweets. My dad doesn't like sweet at all. He liked that I asked the fish rather than sweets. The shime saba using Seki saba is the best!

Though I mainly eat Shime saba as it is, I introduce a nice recipe. Having this dish with Sake together is perfect! You can find Shime saba in some Japanese store in London. Alternatively you can use pickled herrings which is almost as tasty.

Shime saba salad
Serves 4

Ingredients
100g shime saba fillet, sliced
200g daikon (white radish), skinned, julienned
4 shiso leaves, thinly sliced
25g gari (pickled ginger), thinly sliced
1 tbsp black sesame seeds, toasted
Soy sauce

Place all ingredients (except soy sauce) in a large bowl. Toss until well mixed. Serve with soy sauce in separate plates.

Pork Ginger

After a busy day you don't want to spend much time on cooking. I don't even want to take time to think what I will cook for dinner. I have the perfect recipes for such days. This evening I found some pork loins in my fridge. British pork is one of my favorite ingredients as it has nice flavor, is generally tender and is fairly cheap! You might think pork is not the ingredient for Japanese, but it is becoming more popular. To be honest with you, I didn't like pork before.

When I visited Tokyo, I went to a restaurant called 'Pork Club'. There is only one choice in the restaurant which is 'Tonkatsu'(breaded pork cutlet). First, you must specify the part of the pork, then choose region. All pork are special breeds. I chose 'Genton fillet. The pork have a unique taste as they are fed on sweet potatoes and drink mineral water. I was very impressed by the taste of the pork. So I bought some pork from the same region and cooked a pork dish at home which was ginger pork. When I got back to London, I tried the recipe with British pork. It was as tasty as with the Japanese pork! Since then, the recipe is one of my favorite quick meals!

Pork Ginger

Serves 4

Ingredients
400g pork loin
3 tbsp tamari
3 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp sake or white wine if unavailable
1 tbsp ginger, minced
Rapeseed oil
Corn flour

When I make this recipe in Japan, I use finely cut pork. However, to speed things up, I just score each side in a shallow diamond pattern and then cut into stripes.

Soak the pork stripes in the sake and ginger for about 10 minutes. Wipe off the excess moisture.

Coat the pork slices with the corn flour thoroughly.
Heat a frying pan and add the oil.
Stir-fry the pork over medium heat until they are almost cooked.
Pour the mirin, sake, tamari and ginger in the pan and cook until the liquid becomes thick.

Serve with rice.

Sesame Crusted Tuna

Tuna is a special fish for Japanese people. There are many type of tuna such as blue fin tuna, southern blue fin tuna, big eye tuna, yellow fin tuna etc. We eat all parts of the fish from head to tail. I have had the huge char-grilled head, marrow and ara hot pot in a tuna restaurant. I quite liked them. However, my best tuna is blue fin tuna Chutoro which is the belly closer to the born, from Oma port. As the tuna is captured by single rod fishing, I feel less guilty.

It's not easy to find high quality tuna. When I find such tuna, I become greedy! I tend to buy a big chunk without thinking of my stomach size. As I like eating raw tuna, I use most of the tuna for sashimi and tuna. the left over will be cooked over the following days. The last thing you want to do is make flaky tuna like you get in a typical tin of tuna.

Japanese people traditionally didn't like tuna until approximately 200 years ago. The problem was transportation which wasn't good, so they cooked fish thoroughly. I imagine it was like tin tuna which I don't like much either. I cook tuna quickly so that it is still pink. What else I take care of is using some soy sauce. I think soy sauce accentuate the flavor of tuna.

In this sesame crusted tuna, the outside is crispy but the inside is moist, so that the fish still maintains the raw iron flavor.

Sesame crusted tuna

Serves 4

Ingredients
300g tuna
Sesame seeds
6 spring onions, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 tbsp tamari
2 tbsp mirin
Sesame seeds oil
Japanese dried chili
Black pepper

Combine the tamari and mirin. Add the tuna and spring onions. Then cover and marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Remove the tuna from the marinade and roll in the sesame seeds to coat.
Add the oil and cook the tuna for 30 seconds each side. Cook the spring onion for 2-3 minutes each side or until golden brown.
Slice the tuna and sprinkle the chili and black pepper over the tuna.
Serve with the spring onions.

Do you like Japanese food?

When it comes to Japanese food, people talk about sushi. Yes! I love sushi. However, Japanese food is so much more than sushi. I like cooking the food I learnt from my mum. She used to teach cookery in Tokyo where I grew up. She is a great cook. I hope I take after some of her talent. I have been here in London for 4 years missing my mum's food. I tried copying her food and creating new recipes with local ingredients. Eventually, that changed my life. Now I am teaching Japanese cookery. My recipes are generally healthy, practical and not complicated. I introduce easy and simple recipes as well as Japanese ingredients.