Miso Soup with Clams

Experiment: Miso Soup with Clams

Introduction:
I have always liked seafood, especially clams. I always see Japanese soup with clams in it, but I had never tried to make it. Since clams is on sale, so I decided to buy 1/2 pound and make this miso soup.
Material: (serve 2)
2 tbs Miso paste
2 cups of water
1/2 lb clams (I bought 8 clams)
2 tbs chopped green onion

Procedure:
1) Soak the clams in water for 30min – 1 hour. Rub the clams against each other.

2) Boil the water. Put the miso paste into the water, and dissolve it.

3) When the miso paste is well dissolved into the water, put the clams in. When the clams open, put the chopped green onion in. It’s ready!

Discussion:
1) I didn’t take many pictures coz I was being lazy…

2) It’s pretty easy to make… the only trouble is to get fresh clams… I usually do grocery shopping once a week… which means I can only have it once a week at most… acutally, can you put the clams in the fridge? Not sure if it’s ok…

Chinese soup - Dang Shen, Huai Shan, Lily Bulbs and Dried Longans

Experiment: Dang Shen, Huai Shan, Lily Bulbs and Dried Longans Soup

Introduction:　 Last night when I was searching for something in the freezer, I saw 2 big chunks of pork by accidents.  (I don't know what I have in the freezer... I always find things that surprise mysel) I then realized that I haven't made soup for a while now. So I flipped through a soup recipe book and made this soup.

Materials:

Dang Shen - about 3 sticks, cut into small pieces (top left pic)

Huai Shan - about 8 pieces (bottom right pic)

Lily Bulbs - a handful (top right pic)

Dried Longans - a handful (bottom left pic)

Ginger - 2 to 3 slices

Pork - 2 big chunks

Water - 6 to 8 litres

Procedure:
1) Put the pork in boiling water.  Let it boil for 3 to 5 minutes to get rid of the dirty stuff inside the meat.  Take the pork out of the pot.  Do NOT reuse the water for the soup.
 (I don't know if it really gets rid of the dirty stuff, but that's what Hong Kong families do to prepare the meat for soup)
2) Wash all the ingredients
3) Boil water, and then put all the ingredients in.  Let it boil for 20 minutes, then turn the heat to medium-low, and boil for 2 hours.


Result:

Discussions:
1) I think it's a pretty good soup.  Hmm... acutally I like all kinds of soup.  Hahaha! So ok not much for discussion today.

Tomato tofu beef soup

Experiment: Tomato tofu beef soup

Introduction:

I haven't had soup for a while now... mainly because I'm too lazy to prepare the pork or chicken for soup.  So today I decided to make a quick soup. 

Materials:

4 tomatoes

100g sliced beef

1 pack of tofu

2 eggs

2tbs chopped green onion

2L water

Procedure:

1)  Cut up the tomatoes into wedges. Cut the tofu into small cubes.

2)  Boil the water.  When water boils, put the tomatoes and tofu in.  Boil for around 20-30 minutes.

3)  Put the beef in and let it boil for a few minutes.

4)  Beat the eggs in a small bowl.  Stir the soup with a big spoon and then slowly pour the eggs into the pot.  Keep stirring while slowly pouring the eggs in.

5)  Sprinkle the chopped green onion in.  Cover the lid and turn off the heat.  Let it sit for 2 minutes.  Serve.

Result:

Discussion:

1) You can add salt to taste. 

2)  I usually don't put beef in... but since beef was on sale... so I added the beef

Conclusion:

It's a quick soup, and it's a good way to cook tomatoes! :P

Ozoni (お雑煮)

Experiment: Ozoni (お雑煮)

Introduction:

Ozoni (お雑煮) is a dish that's usually eaten on New Year in Japan.  Usually this dish consists of mochi (Japanese rice cake), meat and vegetables.  I found this recipe in a book, so I decided to give it a try on New Year's day.

Materials:

Chicken, cut into cubes

Carrots, cut into rectangles
Daikon/white radish, cut into rectangles
Fish cake, cut into thin slices
A bunch of mitsuba
Mochi
Yuzu peel or yuzu powder
Soup - 2 cups of dashi stock, a bit of soy sauce and mirin

Procedure:

1) Preheat oven.  Put rice cake on aluminum foil and put into oven.  Watch it puff up.  (It's fun!)  Make sure that it doesn't burst.

2) Boil the dashi stock, put in the mirin and soy sauce.  When the soup boils, put the mochi, chicken, carrot, dashi and fish cake in.  Bring to boil, then reduce heat to medium.  Simmer for a few minutes.

3) Put in the mitsuba and the yuzu peel/powder.  Turn off the heat.  Serve.

Results:

Discussion:

1) I was too excited watching the mochi puff up, and I was hoping that they'd grow bigger and bigger... then both the mochi bursted.  >.<  So when I boiled them, the shape didn't hold anymore.  So remember to WATCH the mochi and make sure that they don't BURST!

1) I totally forgot to put the soy sauce and mirin in... so the Ozoni was actually a bit blend.

2) In case you're wondering what Yuzu is... it's actually a citrus fruit... I wiki-ed it but there's no English name for this fruit.  >.<  Yuzu can be used for cooking or making drinks.  I got this package of powder in Kyoto, Japan. 

Conclusion:

It wasn't a successful experiment... Sigh... but I guess it's not bad for a first timer making Ozoni.  365 days later I'll give it a try again!   I'll remember not to let the mochi burst, and I'll make sure I put soy sauce and mirin in the soup!

Reference:

Pork soup (豚汁)

Experiment: Pork soup (豚汁)

Introduction:

I mentioned a few days ago that I made dashi stock for something yesterday.  I have leftover dashi stock.  I flipped through a few magazines to see if there are any dishes that I would like to try.  I saw this "pork soup (豚汁)" recipe, and it happened that I have all the ingredients at home.  So... I made this soup for dinner.

Materials: (serve 2)

80-100g Sliced pork

1 tbs miso paste

2 tbs of chopped green onions

100g thinly sliced daikon
Shichimi tougarashi (七味唐辛子) to taste

Procedure:

1)  Cut the pork into small pieces, and cut the thinly sliced daikon in quarters.

2)  In a pot, boil the dashi stock. Put the daikon in the pot and let it boil for a bit.  Then put in the sliced pork.  When the meat changes colour, add the green onions and miso paste.  Stir the soup until the miso paste is well dissolved.

3)  Serve the soup in bowls.  Sprinkle the Shichimi tougarashi as you like.

Results:

Discussion:

1) I'm not a big fan of pork, and I really don't like cooking pork.  I always think that pork has a stinky smell, and I can't usually get rid of that taste/smell when I cook.  I wasn't expecting much from this soup, but when I tasted it... To my surprise, wow, this soup actually tasted very good!  Even Mr. Clam liked this pork soup.  :) 

2) By the way, in case you're wondering what Shichimi tougarashi (七味唐辛子) is... here's a picture of it:

This powder contains 7 ingredients, and it's spicy.  You can find it in most of the Asian supermarkets.  I usually use it on noodles, or bonburi (rice bowl dish) at home, and now I know I can use it on soup too.  :)

When I went to Japan in November, I went to a store that has been selling Shichimi tougarashi in Kyoto for 350 years.  They sell many varieties of powders... When I was thinking of which powder to get, I saw this:

Hahaha I didn't have to think which one to get as I am a BIIIG Hello Kitty fan! :P  I haven't opened it yet so I don't know how it tastes like... but I'll definitely post it up when I open this package! :)

Conclusion:

It was a good and easy soup!  Will definitely make it again! :)

Reference:

Lettuce Club (レタスクラブ) April 25, 2009, Vol. 671

Dashi stock 出汁

My friend is coming on Wednesday to make Zoni (雑煮), and we'll need dashi stock for it.  Since we'll be drinking the soup, I don't wanna use dashi powder to make the soup.  Well, I'm afraid that I'll screw up on Wednesday, so I decided to "practice" first.  If I fail, at least I can still use the stock powder to make the soup (of course that's not ideal... I don't wanna drink MSG soup). 

So, I made my very frist dashi stock from scratch. 

Dashi stock is not hard to make, it just takes time. To make the stock, you only need bonito flakes and konbu.

Konbu (left) and bonito flakes (right)

I was making about 2L of dashi stock, and I used about 20cm of konbu, and about 50g of bonito flakes.

1)  Wipe both sides of the konbu with a wet towel.  Then put the konbu in a pot with 2L of water, and let it sit for about 20 minutes.

2)  Boil the water.  Just before the water boils, take the konbu out.  Then put the bonito flakes in the pot.  Let it boil for a few minutes, then turn off the stove.

3)  Take the bonito flakes out.  It's not easy to take the small pieces out, so you can drain the stock through a sieve.

Tada!  That's the dashi stock!

When I first saw this recipe, I was reluctant to make it because a) it takes time, b) it's a lot of stock, and c) I usually only need a little for cooking,  so I don't know what to do with the rest of the stock. But I read somewhere that you can acutally pour the stock in an ice cube tray and freeze it.  When you need it, you just take the ice cube out and defrost it.  WOW, how come I never thought of it?  So now, if possible, I think I'll make my own dashi stock instead of using those powder! :)

Apple Snow Ear Dried Fig Soup

It's been cold these few days in Vancouver.  And after having so many Christmas meals, I want something that's soothing for the body. I saw that there were a few apples in the fridge, so I decided to make this Apple Snow Ear Dried Fig Soup.

When I was young, my mom always made this when the weather was cold and dry.  It's supposed to "moisturize" your body according to the Chinese medicine theory.  It's really easy to make, you just need the following ingredients:

4 - 5 Apples

Dried snow ears - 2

Dried figs - 3

Ginger - 3 - 4 thin slices

Sweet and Bitter almonds - a bunch (Optional.  I didn't use it this time)

Water - 3 - 4L.

1.  Soak the dried snow ears in a big bowl for about 30 minutes or so, until the snow ears are soft.  Cut out the hard part at the bottom out.  Cut the snow ears in small pieces.

2.  Peel the apples, core them and cut them in quarters.

3.  Wash all the other ingredients.

4.  Boil the water in a large pot.  When the water bubbles, put all the ingredients in the pot.

2.  Boil the soup with high heat for about 15 to 20 minutes, then turn it to low heat.

3.  Boil for another 1.5 hours.

4.  DONE!

One pot usually lasts me a few days.  I like to heat it up in the morning, and put it in a thermal cup and bring it to work.  It feels SOOOO good when you drink it warm on a cold day.   :)