Homemade Shio-koji (salt-marinated rice koji)

I've been so fascinated by the power of kome koji (or "rice koji"; malted rice with koji mold). My passion for rice koji is growing bigger and bigger. With rice koji, I make my own miso, and just lately, I made my first makkoli (rice wine), and this time, I made Shio-koji. It's basically a simple salt-fermented rice koji, which can be used for a wide variety of dishes for marinade, seasoning, etc.

It's very simple to make Shio-koji. You just need some patience to wait for it to be ready to use.

Only 3 ingredients are required. 400 grams dry rice koji, 120 grams sea salt, and 400 ml water (room temperature).

Just like making homemade miso, first, pressed rice koji was broken into grains by hand.

Salt was added and mixed by hand throughly.

Water was added and stirred. The mixture was transferred to a container.

You can use a regular plastic container, but make sure it's only loosely covered (so that the mixture won't explode during fermentation). Let the mixture ferment at a room temperature for 7-10 days (it's different from alcoholic fermentation, so no alcohol would be produced). Meanwhile, you can stir the mixture once a day. In the first few days, you might think the mixture is not wet enough, but as the grains start to break down, it will become more moist.

Here's the finished Shio-koji after 10 days! It's so beautifully soft and smooth. The aroma has the nice "fermented" koji smell. I tasted it just as is, and it was so unique and so fantastic! It was, of course, salty, and also had the sweet sake-like flavor. With the magic of koji mold, the grains were almost completely dissolved into smooth paste.

You can keep the finished Shio-koji (in a tightly sealed container) in refrigerator for a few months. I'm going to make many different things with it and want to post pictures in t his blog.

Sesame Avocado Dip

My sesame avocado dip was pretty popular the other day and I was asked to post the recipe.

So, here's my sesame avocado dip recipe. Very simple to make, and it's great with grilled meat, fish, or just on its own with pita toast.

Sesame Avocado Dip

Ingredients:

1 medium-large avocado

1 tablespoon tahini paste

1/2 small lime, juice only

2 tablespoons creme fraiche

1/2 to 1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and puree until they become a fine paste.

That's it!

Simple and natural donabe chicken curry

I got the really dense organic chicken drumsticks, and I was ready to make a donabe curry dish with them.

I love Indian curry for the complexity and depth. When I make Indian-style curry, I use at least 5-6 different spices. This time, I wanted to make something more simple but still tasty (more like a Japanese concept). So, the only spices I used were the curry powder and garam masala. As long as the quality of these spices are high, I found I can make very flavorful curry with very easy preparation. Because I made a big batch, I used the donabe steamer, "Mushi Nabe" (without the steam grate) to make this dish.

Simple Donabe Chicken Curry

Ingredients - 5-6 servings

2.5 pounds chicken drumsticks

some salt, pepper, and flour

1 tablespoon each olive oil and butter

2 medium-size onion, thinly sliced

1/2 tablespoon each grated garlic and grated ginger

3 tablespoons curry powder

2 bay leaves

4.5 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup tomato sauce

1/2 pound potatoes, peeled and cut into large cubes

1/2 carrot, peeled and cut into oblique

1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 tablespoon garam masala

some salt and pepper

some olive oil

Procedure

1. Season the chicken drumsticks with salt and pepper. Dredge them in flour and shake off excess. Set aside.

2. In a large donabe, saute the onion with the olive oil and butter for 15 minutes until the onion is very soft. Add the garlic, ginger, curry powder, and bay leaves, and continue to saute until fragrant.

3. Slowly add the chicken stock as stir so that the curry powder won't be lumpy.

4. Add the tomato sauce, potatoes, carrot, and garbanzo beans. Cover. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer. Skim as necessary.

5. In a large saute pan, sear the chicken until all sides are browned.

6. Add the chicken to the donabe. Continue to simmer for 20 minutes or until everything is cooked through.

7. Add the garam masala and adjust the seasoning with some salt and pepper. (I also like to add a little drizzle of soy sauce for more depth in flavor.)

8. Turn off the heat and serve. Serve with donabe rice (optional).

*It would taste even nicer the next day.

The flavor was really deep and soothing at the same time. The dish was so delicious. I made basmati rice + millet + red quinoa in the donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san", to serve with the curry. They were so nice together.

Happy donabe life.

Homemade Chunky La-yu ("Taberu La-yu")

La-yu (hot chili sesame oil) is one of my favorite condiments, and I love drizzling it to many different dishes. With just a tiny amount, it gives a nice kick to a dish. Original la-yu is from China, but it has been loved by Japanese people for so long and is very much localized in Japan.

Maybe since last year, a new type of la-yu was introduced and making a sensational hit throughout the nation of Japan. It's so-called, "Taberu La-yu", or chunky la-yu, and you can find different versions from so many different producers at stores. In my last trip back to Japan, I picked up one of the most sought-after kind from Kyoto Hotel Okura, and I thought it was really nice. I've also tried other versions from different producers.

Because I love la-yu so much, after tasting different versions, I thought I should make my own chunky la-yu at home! I studies different recipes for inspiration and reached to my original. I wanted to make something rather simple than too big flavor kind which can be fortified by adding dried shrimp/ scallop or fermented black beans. So, my version is pretty straight-forward, and best of all, it tastes so good...with just about anything!

The recipe is very easy. I simply infused all the ingredients (except for soy sauce) in the oil (EVOO + sesame oil) and added the soy sauce at the end. After resting it for 24 hours, the very flavorful chunky la-yu is ready. You can find the recipe on toiro's website, so please check it out.

It's great with the steam-fried donabe fish, steamed vegetables, donabe rice, etc.

Asian-style Spicy Yakitori and Hijiki Onigiri Picnic Dinner

Last Sunday, we went to see Chemical Brothers at Hollywood Bowl!

This time, I made everything which can be eaten by hand. The main dish was oven-roasted Asian-style Spicy Yakitori (skewered chicken). It came out so juicy and nice!

Here's the recipe.

Asian-style Spicy Yakitori

Ingredients:

(for 10-12 yakitori skewers)

1/4 small onion

2 cloves garlic

1 small knob ginger

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon nam pla

1 tablespooon brown rice vinegar

2 teaspoons tobanjiang (Chinese hot bean paste)

2 teaspoons raw brown sugar

1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine

1/2 tablespoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Szechwan pepper corn

1/4 cup cilantro

2 pounds boneless chicken thighs, cut into cubes

Procedure:

1. Put all the ingredients except for the chicken in the food processor and puree into sauce.

2. Marinade the chicken in the sauce for 2-3 hours.

3. Skewer the marinated chicken and bake in the 400F oven for 12-13 minutes.

4. Finish under the broiler for 3-5 minutes or until the surface is nice brown and chicken is cooked through.

5. Serve with some sprinkles of sansho pepper and ichimi pepper (optional).

Our picnic food...yakitori, onigiri (rice balls), salt-roasted donabe fingerling potatoes (click here for the recipe), and edamame.

Onigiri was hijiki seaweed and sesame seeds. The rice was so fluffy and tasty even after 3 hours because it was cooked with the double-lid donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san"!

Happy donabe life.

Spicy Cold Udon

Another summer-style cold noodle dish.

Only with the ingredients I already had in the kitchen, and I came up with the really fantastic spicy cold udon! Red yuzu kosho gave the really refreshing kick.

Spicy Cold Udon

Ingredients (for 2 servings)

(sauce)

1 teaspoon red yuzu kosho

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1.5 tablespoons nam pla (fish sauce)

2 tablespoons satsuma yam vinegar (or black vinegar)

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1/2 tablespoon sesame oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1-1.5 tablespoons almond

1 tablespoon dry baby shrimp

1/2 cup mizuna

1 teaspoon sliced dry red chili pepper

some thinly sliced young ginger

some thinly sliced scallion

some tofu, cut into smaller pieces

some seaweed

some chopped cilantro

2 servings udon noodles

Lemon wedges

Ground roasted sesame seeds

Procedure

1. Whisk together the ingredients for the sauce. Keep it cold in the refrigerator.

2. In a small pan, heat saute the garlic in 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil until fragrant. Add the almond and dry baby shrimp and continue to saute for a couple more minutes. Add the mizuna and saute until mizuna is wilted. Add the dry chili pepper, stir, and turn off the heat. Set aside.

3. Cook the udon noodles according to the package directions. Rinse in cold running water. Drain and divide into two bowls.

4. Take the sauce out of the refrigerator and drizzle over the noodles.

5. Arrange the young ginger, scallion, tofu, seaweed, and cilantro on top of the noodles. Make a small mound of the sauteed almond mixture in the center.

6. Serve with lemon wedges and ground sesame seeds.

You can mix the ingredients with the noodles as you eat. It's really tasty.

Kind of like Pho

I wanted to eat rice noodles, so I made a quick soup noodle dish, inspired by Vietnamese pho. I don't know the real pho recipe, so this is just my quick version made with the ingredients I had. And, it was really good!

Kind of like Pho

Ingredients (for 2 servings)

(Soup)

2 1/3 cups Chinese-style chicken stock

2 tablespoons sake

1.5 tablespoon nan pla (fish sauce)

1 tablespoon mirin

1/2 tablespoon minced ginger

5 oz rice noodles (dry)

sliced dry hot chili

vegetable toppings...thinly sliced cabbage, scallion, daikon sprouts, mung bean sprouts

lemon wedges, tofu, la-yu (hot sesame oil)

Procedure

1. In a pot, combine the ingredients for the soup and simmer.

2. Meanwhile, in a separate large pot, boil the water. Add the rice noodles and turn off the heat. Cover and let it stand for 10 minutes. Uncover and cut the noodles by scissors. Drain and divide into two bowls.

3. Pour the soup over the noodles. Garnish with dry hot chili slices.

4. Serve with the vegetable toppings, lemon wedges, tofu, and la-yu.

Baba Ganou-ish

This is my regular summer eggplant side dish and Jason loves it very much. I always make it kind of whimsically with my own way, so we call it Baba Ganou-ish. Here's the basic recipe.

Baba Ganou-ish

Ingredients

4 medium-size Japanese eggplant

1-2 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon tahini paste

1/2 tablespoon ground roasted white sesame seeds

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 teaspoon cumin

some minced fresh oregano and cilantro

salt and pepper

some more olive oil

Procedure

1. Over the stove-top fish grill, grill the eggplant and garlic until the outside is charred and inside is very soft.

2. Carefully peel the skin of both eggplant and garlic. Puree in a bowl with a bar mixer.

3. Add the next 5 ingredients and mix together with a spatula.

4. Season with some salt and pepper.

5. Transfer to a shallow plate and drizzle some more olive oil.