Spice Up Your Life With a Taste of Japan

*Fun Bento Box**Cute and Natural Food From California*

12/27/2010

Ganmo burger



Ganmo is a fried tofu fritter made with vegetables.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganmodoki
You can find at any Japanese grocery store listed on the right.

Use the ganmo as buns! Put anything you want between the ganmos cut in half.

How to cook ganmo.

1 cup water
2 tablespoon soy source
2 tablespoon sugar

Put all the ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil.
Add ganmos and cook about for 10 minutes.

12/26/2010

Sweet Potato & Rice Potage




Rice makes soup thicker so you don't need to use creme, which makes the soup healthier.

1 large sweet potato
2 tablespoon rice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 baby leaf
2 cup vegetable stock
1/2 cup soy milk
1 tablespoon sugar

1. Heat olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat and add the peeled and cut sweet potato. Cook until tender.
2. Add the rice, water, baby leaf and sugar. Bring to a boil until rice is tender.
3. Blend the soup with a blender and return to the pot.
4. Add soy milk and bring to a boil.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.

12/25/2010

eel flavor chikuwa bowl



chikuwa is one of popular Japanese fish cakes.

Sweet source
2tablespoon sake
2tablespoon soy source
2tablespoon sugar
1tablespoon potato starch

Cut a chikuwa in half and sprinkle potato starch.
Grill with a skillet.
Mix the ingredient of the sweet source and add on chikuwa in a skillet.

Gyoza skin mini pizza




Put 2 slices of gyoza skin together using tomato ketchup as glue.
Spread tomato ketchup and arrange cheese,ham and your favorite toppings.
Grill it until cheese is melted.

12/19/2010

Tofu hamburg steak



Cute mini tofu hamburg steak is good for making your lunch box cute!

1/2 firm tofu
1 egg
2tablespoon potato starch
1/2 onion
2pieces shiitake mushroom
10 walnuts
3tablespoon katsu source
Salt&pepper to taste

Mix all well using a blender and cook! That's it.

★how to make lacy cheese★
Cut a straw in half and make a half circle.
Cut a cheese with it.

12/16/2010

Healthy Okonomiyaki (Japanese savory pancake)



Okonomiyaki + a ham rose + mayo creme = A okonomiyaki cake!
This is the cake you can eat with your chopsticks:P

Easy, Simple and Helathy Okonomiyaki
1/2pack firm tofu
2eggs
4 tablespoon potato starch
1/4 cabbage
Yakisoba(Fried noodle)
Katsu source

1. Mix tofu, eggs, cabbage in a bowl.
2. Add Yakisoba in a skillet and cook.
3. Pour 1 on the yakisoba and cook then turn over and cook.
4. Pour katsu source on the surface of okonomiyaki.

To make it look like a piece of a cake, cut okonomiyaki in 4 and put 2 pieces together.(make yakisoba inside). Decorate it with mayonnase.
Will post how to make a ham rose later!

12/13/2010

Green tea french toast



Merry Christmas!
Made tree with green tea french toast and santa with strawberries.
I used Nijiya market original "Tofu bread" for the toast. It's easier to color if the bread is more white.
Use green tea soymilk to make french toast instead of regular milk.
Cut the toast with different sizes of star shaped cookie cutters.

12/11/2010

Omu-rice



Omu-rice is a popular Japanese dish consisting of an omelet with fried ketchup rice.

★Unique thin omelet sheet
Make an thin omelet sheet with 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk.
When it's cooked, make holes of desired shapes using cookie cutters.
Then, pour egg white into the holes and cook.

http://cookpad.com/recipe/635776/

12/05/2010

Monkey Curry (Sardine Curry)



Something is getting very popular in Japan...Yes, "kyara-ben"(Character Bento)!
It’s a lunch box which features food decorated to look like characters from popular media. Japanese people like to decorate not only beto, but also other dishes like curry!

Found monkey shaped curry on cookpad the other day and fell in love with it! so made it with sardine curry.
http://cookpad.com/recipe/1203887

Choushi city in Chiba is noted for sardine and mackerel curry.
You can find canned curry of those there!

3chili pequin
1baby leaf
3cloves
1or2 onions
1canned sardine in olive oil
1canned tomato source with garlic (and basil)
3cups boiled water
1tablespoon vinegar
3tablespoon curry powder
2tablespoon soy source
2tablespoon miso
1tablespoon umeboshi paste if you have
1cup yogurt
salt and pepper

1.Heat olive oil(in canned sardine) in a skillet. Saute onion, chili, a baby leaf, cloves until onion get lightly browned.

2.Add canned tomato, sardine, curry powder,vinegar, soy source, miso and umeboshi paste. Then pour boiled water. Simmer for about an hour.

3. Add yogurt, salt and pepper and simmer.

Make monkey's face with seaweed and ears with eggs!

11/30/2010

Daikon+Smoked Salmon+Cheese



Marinate sliced daikon radish in 3tablespoon vinegar,1tablespoon milin,1/2tablespoon sugar and 1/2teaspoon salt for one night. Wrap smoked salmon and cheese with the sliced daikon. Sprinkle salt over them.

11/28/2010

Black Bean Cake with Tofu Creme



Black Bean Cake
1canned black bean
1/2cup steel cut oats
1banana
3tablespoon cocoa powder
1teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4cup agave or maple syrup

1.Preheat oven to 350F. Line a mold with parchment paper.
2.Add all the ingredient to a blender and blend until smooth.Place into the prepared mold.
3.Bake in preheated oven for about 4o mins and cool in a fridge for about 3hours.

original recipes
http://cookpad.com/recipe/1218179


Tofu creme
1pack silken or firm tofu(if you prefer hard creme)
1tablespoon lemon juice
Agave or maple syrup

1.Drain tofu between paper towels with a heavy weight on top for 1 night.
2.Add to a blender and blend for about 3mims until to be free from tofu smell.
3.Add lemon juice and syrup and blend.

Bean&Umeboshi Paste



2/3canned garbanzo bean
3tablespoon plum vinegar
2tablespoon umeboshi plum paste
3tablespoon tahini
Soy milk

Add all the ingredient to a blender and blend. Add soy milk until paste forms.


Bean&Umeboshi paste + celery


Bean&Umeboshi paste + pasta


To make pasta source, add olive oil or basil paste to the bean&umeboshi paste until smooth.

11/27/2010

Healthy Tofu Mochi



Potato starch makes food stringy.

1/2pack silken tofu
4tablespoon patato starch

1.Add tofu and potato starch to a blender and blend untill smooth.
2.Heat 1 in a microwave about 2 mins. Then turn tofu and heat it in a microwave again for about 2mins.
3.Cover tofu with kinako. Serve with azuki bean paste.

11/26/2010

Japanese Balck Bean Paste Pumpkin Pie




Add a taste of Japan to your regular pumpkin pie or pumpkin muffin!
I used black beans instead of azuki beans to make Japanese sweet paste.

1canned black beans
3tablespoon suger

11/22/2010

Japanese terrine★




Okra is such a cute vegetable.

1.Line a terrine mold with plastic wrap.
2.Boil cabbage with dashi. Then take it our of dashi then line the mold with the cabbage.(Leave overhang to cover the top of the mold)
3.Add gelatin to boiled dashi.(gelatin should be mixed with a little cold water to moisten before add it to dashi)
4.Line up okra, shirasu, baby corn.
5.Pour 3 into 4.Cover with cabbage and plastic wrap.Refrigerate.

Eat the terrine with soy source.

11/17/2010

Takoyaki~Japanese Octopus Balls~





Had a Takoyaki party with my friends!

Ingredients (about 25 pieces)

For the batter
1/2cup flour
1egg
2cups dashi
1/4cup of grated Japanese yum(yamaimo)
2teaspoon soy source

For the filling
Could be anything..
EX, ocropus, green onions,corns,konjac...


For the topping
katsu sauce
aonori (seaweed flakes)
katsuobushi (bonito flakes)
mayonnaise

11/14/2010

Japanese croquette




Made croquette using aburaage(Japanese food product made from soybeans).
Original recipe is here.

8 croquettes

4aburaage
2potatoes
1/2canned tuna
1carrot
1/2onion
salt, pepper and soy source to taste
Oil for frying
katsu Source

1.Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add peeled potatoes,carrot,onion and cook until tender.Then drain and chop.
2.Stir together 1, salt, pepper and soy source in a mixing bowl.
3.Cut aburaage into half and turn them inside out. Stuff 2 into the aburaage pockets.
4.Place 3 in 1/4 inch of hot oil

Serve katsu source with croquette!

Inari-Sushi




10 picese of inari sushi

5Aburaage(Japanese food product made from soybeans)
1cupDashi
3/4cup suger
1/4cup of soy source

1. Put aburaage in boiling water to get rid of excess oils,then cut them into half.
2. Mix other ingredients and bring to a boil. Add aburaage to it and boil those down.
3. Cool aburaage and then squeeze those easily.
4. Stuff sushi rice into the aburaage pockets.

*Any extra aburaage can be used to make croquettes.

11/02/2010

Japanese sweets~Ohagi~ bean and rice cake

Japanese breakfast~Ochazuke~Green tea over rice