Marissa's Arrival!

Spent the day shopping for food, reading and emailing about East Asian medicine and preparing for my friend's arrival in Tokyo for a short visit!  Here are some of the things we'll be eating together during her stay.

Five Ingredient Rice
Wash and drain the a cup and a third of rice.  Heat 1 and a third cup of dashi stock in a pan and add about a cup of matchstick carrots and bamboo.  Boil and add half a breast of bitesize pieces of chicken until the color turns.  Add 2 tbsps each of soy sauce, sake, mirin and salt.  Add rice and a cup of torn oyster mushrooms and cover with lid.  Boil for 5 minutes, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, turn heat off and let stand for 15 minutes.  Add mitsuba as garnish. Serve.

Shiitake Soy Sauce Rice
Soak 3 dried shiitake mushrooms overnight.  Drain, reserving 1/2 cup liquid. Remove and discard stalks. Stir-fry shiitake with oil on high heat for 5 minutes and then add 2 tbsp soy sauce and 1 1/2 tbsp sugar.  Cook until liquid has evaporated. Cool and slice into thin strips.  Mix with steamed rice and serve with sesame seeds on top.

Daikon and Carrot salad
Salt about a cup of matchstick carrots and daikon in a sieve and let sit for about 30 minutes to sweat.  Squeeze carrots and daikon with hands.  Mix 3tbsp sugar and 4 1/2 tbsp sweet rice vinegar and dress the carrots and daikon.  Seal airtight and store in the refrigerator overnight.  Serve cold with sesame seeds on top.

Seaweed and Chicken salad
Soak 1/3 cup of dried hiijiki seaweed for about 30 minutes. Cut a third of a chicken breast into tiny pieces and cook over oil until color changes.  Add hiijiki and 1/2 a small carrot cut into matchsticks.  Cook for about 1 minute on high heat and then add 2 tbsp sake, sugar and 3 tbsps soy sauce.  Cook for 5 minutes, let stand for 10 minutes and serve.  Can serve chilled.

Fish Vegetable Parcel
Quickly steam shimeji mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, carrots cut into flower shapes, spring onions and leafy greens cabbage.  Drain veggies and package in tin foil with fish fillets and dress with a mixture of dashi stock, soy sauce, mirin and sake.  Put packet on frying pan and cook for 5-10 minutes.  Open and serve over rice.

OyakoDon
Heat 1 1/4 cups dashi stock, 2 tbsp sugar, 4 tbsp mirin, and 4 tbsp soy sauce in a pan and add thinly sliced onion rounds from half an onion. Add bite sized chicken breast pieces and cook on high heat or 5 minutes. Add some shredded mitsuba leaves and pour 2 beaten eggs over the mixture.Cover and wait 30 seconds. Remove from heat and let stand covered for 1 minute. Serve over warm rice.