Easy Bean Sprout (moyashi) Omlete Recipe

Japanese bean sprouts (moyashi) are an extremely inexpensive and nutritious vegetable used in many Japanese recipes. Here's a simple omlete you can make.

Ingredients: 

• 1-2 slices of sandwich ham
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 onion
• handful of bean sprouts
• milk
• salt
• soy sauce

Directions:

1. Dice the onion and ham. 
2. Saute onion and ham in a pan on medium heat with a little cooking oil. Add salt
3. When onion is tender add the bean sprouts with about 1/4 cup water. and steam.
4. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, add a little milk and a dash of soy sauce.
5. Add mixture to the pan cook everything into an omlete, turning occasionally until done.
6. Serve with rice and ketchup if desired.

Curry Face

Here's a great face my girls made when we had curry and rice. Press the cooked rice into a small round bowl. Cut a fish sausage or ham for the rosy cheeks, carrot smile, potato nose, and ground beef eyes. Put the face at the bottom of the big bowl, then pour curry on the top part for hair. Awesome!

そうめん, Easy Soumen noodles Recipe

そうめん, Soumen noodles are a common dish in Japan, especially in the summer. Soumen is a thin, white noodle. It's much thinner when compared to udon, ramen, or soba. Unlike ramen, which is served hot and with a strong tasting soup, soumen is often served cold and in a thin, light broth. We ate a lot of soumen this summer. Here's dinner the other night. Besides the broth, it's served with tuna, cucumber, egg, and a little nori (seaweed). My wife has a great artistic sense of food. She said it wasn't special. She's so modest. One popular way to eat it is "nagashi soumen". This is soumen served sliding down a bamboo half-pipe. You have to catch it with your chopsticks and then dip in your soup and eat. I did this once this summer at my school's Mt. Daisen camp. Great fun. They put a bucket at the end to catch anything you missed. Beat the heat with soumen!


Ingredients:

• somen noodles
• tuna
• eggs
• cucumber
• nori seaweed
• mentsuyu dipping sauce base

Directions:

1. Hard boil eggs. Peel and cut in half. (about 1 per person)
2. Thinly slice cucumber.
3. Raw somen comes in taped rolls. Unroll and boil for 1 minute.
4. Drain and rinse with cold water.
5. Mix about 1/4 cup dipping sauce base and half a cup of water.
6. Serve noodles in a dish with toppings placed artistically.
7. Place dipping sauce in a separate cup for dipping, or simply pour sauce over noodles.
8. Replace noodles, sauce, and toppings as necessary.

Easy Hiyashi Chuka Recipe(Cold Ramen Noodles)

Dinner tonight was Hiyasi Chuka, egg noodles served cold with sliced tomato, cucumber and ham and with a white sesame sauce. It's tangy and has a great sesame taste. It's a favorite dish in the summer. Also Junko made croquette with leftover pumpkin and potato salad. It tasted great served with a little okonomiyaki sauce(like Worcester sauce). A road to a man's heart is through his stomach.






Hiyashi Chuka Recipe

Ingredients:

hiyashi chuka noodles(cold ramen egg-noodles)

sauce(tare)
You can buy pre-packaged sauce at Asian grocers or simply make your own. The recipe below is just a guideline, adjust to taste:

• 1/3 cup water
• 3 Tbsp. rice vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. sesame oil

You could also use a white sesame sauce for salads

Toppings:

• 
  
• ham
• tomatoes
• cucumbe
• egg
• 
  

Directions:

1. Cook the noodles, rinse with cold water and serve in a dish with the sauce.
2. Cook a thin omelet sheet and julienne all toppings and place artistically on top of noodles.
3. Add more noodles an toppings as necessary. Enjoy

Japanese Chicken Sesame Salad Recipe (Banbanji)

Banbanji (バンバンジー) is a cold chicken dish with fresh vegetables and a sesame dressing. It's especially enjoyed in the summer. If you can find sesame dressing at your Asian grocer, you can use that. If not, this banbanji recipe shows you how to make your own from scratch. Enjoy this light and healthy dish.

Serves 2-4    243 cal./serving

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts (9 oz./250g)
• a pinch of salt
• 1 pack (9 oz./250g) bean sprouts
• 2 cucumbers
• 3/4 cup roasted sesame seeds
• 12 cherry tomatoes, halved or 3 tomatoes, sliced
• 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp. mirin( or 3 Tbsp. sake + 1 Tbsp. sugar)
• 3 Tbsp. rice vinegar

Directions:

1. Place chicken in a small pan of lightly salted water and boil about 10 minutes. Allow to cool in the water. Remove chicken and save the stock. When cool, tear chicken into long thin strips by hand.
2. In a separate pan, blanch bean sprouts, then immediately rinse in cold water.
3. Cut cucumber long, thin matchstick like strips.
4. Make sauce by grinding sesame seeds in a grinding bowl, mortar, or food processor. Add soy sauce, mirin, and vinegar,. Then mix in some of the chicken stock, little by little, stirring until mixture is smooth.
5. Arrange cut tomatoes, bean sprouts, cucumbers, and chicken on a plate. Pour on sesame sauce and serve.

5 minute Japanese Cucumber Pickles Recipe('Kyuri no shoyu-zuke)

Here is a super easy 5 minute Japanese cucumber pickles recipe. It's actually more like a mini salad than pickles. Great for summer or anytime. A healthy last minute side dish.








Serves 4      20 cal./serving

Ingredients:

• 1-2 cucumbers
• 1 tsp. white sesame seeds
• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 5 rounded Tbsp. loose bonito flakes(hana-katsuo/katsuo-bushi)
• 1 tsp. sesame oil(optional)

Directions:

1. Toast sesame seeds. Partially peel and seeds cucumber, then quarter lengthwise. Cut into bite size wedges. Pat with a dry cloth to remove excess water.
2. Combine cucumber, soy sauce, sesame seeds, and bonito flakes in a bowl. Add a little sesame oil for extra taste. Mix well.
3. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes before serving.

Chilled Chinese Noodles(Hiyashi-Chuka)

Hiyashi-Chuka are Chinese egg(ramen) noodles served cold with a refreshing vinegary sauce and topped julienned egg, ham, and cucumbers. This is a light, refreshing dish popular in the heat of summer, healthy and invigorating. Other alternative toppings include wakame seaweed or tomatoes.

Serves 4      460 cal./serving




Ingredients:

• 4 portions fresh chukamen, Chinese egg noodles, 4-1/2 oz./130g each(or angel hair pasta)
• 1 bag bean sprouts (9 oz./250g)
• 2 eggs
• salt
• vegetable oil
• 2 cucumbers
• 6 slices ham
• sliced tomatoes(optional)
• wakame seaweed(optional)

Chuka Sauce

• 6 Tbsp. rice vinegar
• 5 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. sesame oil

Condiments:

• pickled red ginger, benishoga(optional)
• mustard(optional)
• roasted white sesame seeds(optional)

Directions:

1. Blanch bean sprouts briefly in salted boiling water until soft. Drain and set aside.
2. Beat eggs with a little salt seasoning. Heat oil in a frying pan and pour 1/4 of the egg mixture, spreading as thin as possible over the whole pan. Remove the egg sheet and fold in half on the cutting board. repeat with rest of mixture. Place all folded sheets on top of another and cut everything into thin strips. This is the traditional way to cook the egg in Japan. However, it's fine to just scramble the eggs and cut into thin strips.
3. Julienne all the cucumbers into thin, matchstick size pieces.
4. Cut ham into thin strips.
5. Cook noodles according to packet instructions, Rinse several times in cold water.
6. Serve noodles on individual plates, topped with bean sprouts, cucumber, egg, and ham. Adding some sliced tomato or wakame on top is great, too. If desired, serve with pickled red ginger, sesame seeds and place a dab of mustard on the corner of each plate. Finally, pour sauce over the top and eat.

Chilled Fresh Tofu Recipe (Hiya-Yakko)

Japanese cooking just doesn't get any simpler than this. Fresh tofu is a light, healthy dish that is beloved by vegetarians or people trying to stay healthy or lose weight, but it can be enjoyed by anyone. This is perfect on a hot summer day when you need something refreshing that's light and easy on the stomach.

(Serves 4)                   128 Cal. per serving






Ingredients:

2 cakes tofu, 10 oz. (285g)

Condiments

• 2 rounded Tbsp. finely chopped green onion
• 1-1/2 inches(4cm) fresh ginger, grated
• 1 rounded Tbsp. loose bonito flakes(hana-katsuo)
• 3-4 Tbsp. soy sauce

Directions:

1. Prepare condiments in advance.
2. Cut tofu in half and dunk into boiling water for 5 seconds, then immediately place into a large bowl of ice water.
3. Drain tofu and place 1 piece each in 4 individual bowls. Top with a small mound of grated ginger, chopped green onion, and pour a little soy sauce over the top and serve.