After seeing me taking photos and trying all sorts of things in the kitchen, my wife wondered aloud why I never wrote any posts about the bento lunches she makes for our daughter.  In our house, we tend to cook separately.  She doesn’t want me in there.  She loves it and excels at it, and I just don’t have the experience to write about it.  The next time she asked me about the bento post, I said “would you like to write one?”  She finally agreed, so here is her first guest post.  She’d love any questions or comments you have, so please share them.  Oh, and the pictures in this post are really useful, so I encourage you to click to get the bigger version to see all the little details that go into them.

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This article originally appeared in Smile Politely here.  I’d urge you to click through and read it there since they’ll get some ad revenue or something.  I understand if you just want to get to it, though, so enjoy.

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I don’t often go to Youtube for recipes or recipe ideas, but there are two exceptions in the past few months.  The first is Cooking With Dog.  I don’t understand why there’s a dog.  I don’t understand why it seems like the dog is narrating the whole procedure while some woman does all the work.

I made these a while back for dessert after the Okonomiyaki dinner.  The video makes them look very easy, but they are a lot of work with a lot of short windows of opportunity where things can get really screwed up.  Of course, I had to make this as hard as possible for myself, so I made my own anko or sweet red bean (azuki or adzuki) paste first.  The recipe I used was from a book I had out from the library, Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art.

I love learning traditional ways of making things, and going through the process to make anko the old-fashioned way was enlightening.  I don’t have the cookbook I referenced anymore (I borrowed it from the library back in May), so I may be remembering the steps wrong.  If you love making anko, please send along your tips, tricks, and recipes.  You start by taking azuki beans and soaking and boiling them in water, just like most other bean preparations.  Next you mash, smash, puree the beans until they are as smooth as you want.  You can then reserve some to leave whole if you wish, but I made a smooth bean paste.  Then you thoroughly drain and “rinse” the mashed beans.  It was a strange step, something I’ve never done before, but it washed away some of the excess starchiness of the beans.  You do all of that in a flour sack cloth, and then wring it dry.  What you end up with looks like a really dry, crumbly reddish paste.  You can see it in the picture here.  Then you add back a little water, a bunch of sugar and heat it up until it’s all dissolved and it becomes shiny and smooth again.  It does have a beany taste, but the slight sweetness reminds you that it’s dessert.

Once the anko has been made (or, more often, purchased), you envelop the strawberries with it.  You want to made sure your strawberries are clean and completely dry, otherwise the anko will slip around instead of sticking like you see in the video.

The mochi dough is made with sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour).  It’s not actually sweet, nor does it contain gluten, it’s just referring to the different type of starch in the glutinous rice it’s made from (sticky amylopectin instead of amylose).  The most popular and widely available brand that I’ve seen and heard of is Mochiko.  You basically mix it with sugar and water to make a sweet pasty slurry then steam it for a while.  Once it’s been cooked it is very sticky and stretchy.  The texture is unique, and changes quickly.  As it dries, it firms up and will not stick together well any more, so despite being way too hot to handle with your hands, you have to divide the dough and carefully cover the anko-covered strawberries.  Place on corn starch (or powdered sugar) so that they don’t stick, but brush off the excess as it can make the outside too dry.  You can see my mochi that I made… they’re messy and misshapen.  The small ones just have the anko inside (no strawberry).

They are really a treat.  As you bite into them, you pass through the chewy layer of mochi dough and the sweet sticky azuki bean paste to get to the strawberry inside.  The mochi dough is nice, but it’s really just a containment system for the filling.  The strawberry and red bean flavors combine into something that is definitely greater than the sum of the parts.  This recipe is not for the faint of heart, but if you’re feeling adventurous (or see ichigo daifuku in a store or restaurant near you), give them a try.

My wife spent a few months living in Japan during her high school years. She brought back a lot of memories, and a love for the food and culture of the country. She lived with a host family near Osaka, and experienced much of what the area had to offer.

One such specialty of the area is a particular street-food style of cabbage pancake called okonomiyaki. Normally you would find this dish made to order on a large griddle at a place specializing in just this dish. Numerous items like green onions, meat, seafood, or vegetables are mixed in to the batter or layered on top as it cooks. There are two main schools of okonomiyaki, the mix-it-all-into-the-batter style of Osaka, and the layered variety popularized in Hiroshima.

Because of where she lived, my wife wanted to make Osaka-style okonomiyaki, and it turned out to be easy and delicious. The batter can be as simple as eggs, flour and water, but you can make it more authentic and delicious by using dashi in place of water and grated yam in place of some of the flour.

Basic Okonomiyaki Batter
This proportion should be split and made into two pancakes, which will serve 2-4 people. It can be halved or multiplied easily.

• 2 c flour
• 1 1/2 c water
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 or more of a cabbage (green or napa), finely shredded

1. Mix together the flour, water, and eggs.
2. Stir in the cabbage, and season with salt and pepper.

As I mentioned before, you could also stir in some chopped green onions, some ground meat, shrimp, squid, or other vegetables.

Basic Okonomiyaki Preparation

• oil (vegetable, olive, doesn’t matter much)
• 1/2 of the basic batter
• 4 slices of bacon
• okonomiyaki sauce
• Kewpie mayonnaise
• bonito flakes

1. Heat a 10-12 inch shallow-sided pan over medium heat. I like my cast iron griddle for this.
2. Spread a film of oil on the pan.
3. Pour on the batter and spread into a large circle (mine nearly fills the pan).
4. Lay bacon slices on top of the okonomiyaki. Press down to bind them to the batter.
5. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the bottom has browned.
6. Flip. This is much easier said than done. Use two spatulas and don’t worry too much about it breaking, you’ll cover up any mistakes later.
7. Cook on the second side for another 5 minutes, or until the bacon and any other raw meat in the batter is fully cooked.
8. Remove to a plate and garnish with sauce, mayo, and bonito flakes.

We like to smear some okonomiyaki sauce all over, then squirt the Kewpie mayo all over. Toss on some bonito flakes (also known as katsuobushi) and watch them dance in the heat from the okonomiyaki.

While it can be a meal all on its own, I served it with some daikon, peeled, cut into rounds, beveled the edges (a process known as mentori), and simmered in a kelp/dashi/soy broth until tender. Refer to this recipe for “furofuki daikon” from Recipezaar.

Okonomiyaki Sauce
from The Japanese Kitchen
You may be able to find okonomiyaki sauce at a local ethnic store, but it’s just a variation on steak sauce. Make your own by mixing the following and simmer for 3 minutes:

• 1/4 cup tomato ketchup
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Worchestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon smooth French mustard
• 2 Tablespoons mirin
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce

A note on Kewpie mayonnaise (sometimes referred to as QP mayonnaise). You may be tempted to pull out your typical mayo, but this soft, squeezable bottle dispenses a tangier version of the white gooey condiment. It’s made with rice vinegar or cider vinegar, which gives it a little sweeter flavor unlike the simpler creamy flavor of American mayo.

My 6 year old daughter is in love with all things Japanese. Since the after school Japan club was discontinued, she has begged to learn about Japanese language and culture from a local teacher. She has Japanese every Sunday, and she learns about language, culture, customs, crafts. Her teacher is impressed at her ability to concentrate for so long, and my daughter comes away just wanting to learn more. Her first, and perhaps favorite exposure to the world of Japan has been through its food. Whether it’s sushi, noodles, okonomiyaki, or tonkatsu, she loves the umami-rich lavors of Asia.

Sometimes we go out to restaurants to have Japanese or other Asian food (her current favorite is a small Korean restaurant, Goodfella). These days, we’re more often staying at home, but this doesn’t mean we have to leave behind her favorite cuisine!

She has been working on her skills with chopsticks lately, and she has gotten much better. I made a variety of sushi last weekend, and we all had fun picking our favorites and trying new things. Making sushi at home isn’t hard, necessarily, but it does take practice. I mangle some scraps of nori and sushi rice, but the sushi tastes good, and in the end it’s all about the flavors.

We went with some simple combinations, based on what we had around the house. With our family’s love of Japanese food, we almost always have some of the basic staples of Japanese cuisine. We’re always excited to find new ways to use the same ingredients.

First is a classic stripped-down California roll. It has our favorite bits, the fake crab and creamy avocado.
Next, we have eel. This eel is actually from a can of roasted eel (black pepper flavor). The pepper flavor was very strong, but otherwise it was surprisingly good. Not as soft and sweet as the unagi you’d get at your favorite sushi bar, but good on its own merits. Next to it are some seasoned corn gunkanmaki (corn, kewpie mayo, soy sauce).

We eat eggs all the time, and sushi night is no different. I made some tamago (seasoned scrambled eggs) wrapped with nori strips.

We had some frozen prepared shrimp that we’ve been looking to use. I’ve made them from scratch before, but it’s certainly easier to buy it pre-made. The package we got at the local Asian market had probably 3 dozen prepared shrimp for around $7. Pack some rice, add a dab of wasabi, place the shrimp, and there you have a delicious piece of ebi.