No more ginger! a.k.a. my Tori-Kamameshi recipe

Tori Kamameshi - Quick 'n' Easy

Ingredients:

Rice-
4 cups rice (Japanese Long Grain Sticky or Jasponica)
3 cups water (or 3.5 cups, depending on the rice)

100 ml. Japanese (Kikkoman) Soy Sauce
2 tsp Mirin, 2 tsp Teriyaki Sauce
1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp Salt or AjiSho

Meat and Toppings-
500 g chicken breasts diced
1/2 cup Shiitake mushrooms sliced (you can also add Maitake)
1 large carrot cut into thin strings (think twice of Piknik size)
1/2 cup asparagus cut into small stems
2-3 bulbs onion
1 tsp garlic minced
1 tsp onion leeks small slices (Negi)

Instructions:

1) Wash rice thrice with cold water, pick out husks etc. to ensure rice is clean

2) Mix in all the ingredients together, but make sure to put the toppings last 

3) Cook in rice cooker, or use medium-low heat with a THICK pot(to avoid too much burned rice due to hotspots) for 20-30 minutes. Mix the pot after the rice cooks to ensure flavor is distributed evenly.

ENJOY :-)  Itadakimasu!

Back to back baking

Having access recently to an oven has allowed me to practice my baking skillz and come up with some righteous recipes again. So for today, I share with  you my recipe for Drunk Banana Cake, which I used to do in Europe during our travels. Enjoy.


Drunk Choco-Banana Cake (Serves 10) best with Jello-Shots ;-)

Ingredients:


5 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup corn starch
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoon baking soda

2/3 cup full cream milk
3 teaspoon lemon or lime juice
1/3 cup REAL butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon banana extract

4 large eggs (or 6 medium)

---Choco-element---
1/4 cup cooking cacao powder
1/2 cup cooking chocolate
1 shot gin
1 shot vodka
1 shot schnapps
1 shot brandy

Sift flour, corn starch, sugar, baking soda and powder in a bowl.
Prepare buttermilk by mixing milk with lemon juice in a shaker.
Beat eggs, then put in the bowl along with other ingredients.
Mix well use a mixer if available.

Prepare chocolate-liquor element separately, use blender until thick consistency.

Pre-heat oven to 350 F (or arnd 180 C). Apply butter/lard coating to baking pan/dish.
Pour cake mixture into pan evenly.Then pour chocolate element into desired pattern.

Let bake for 35-40 minutes. Take out oven and let cool for 1 hour before putting on cream/icing.
(Note: most of the alcohol will evaporate during the baking process, so if you want an extra kick for this cake, you can top this with a Jello-shot glaze along with sliced bananas and icing). Bon apetit or cheers :-D

How to "Cacciatore"

I have been trying to "level-up" my culinary skills lately and came up with a Euro-Asian dish.
So far, most of my guests (read: guinea pigs) have enjoyed it :-)

Hence it is with great satisfaction that I present my recipe that I have named...

CATCH-A-TORI ORIENT EXPRESS (Serves 4-6)

The whole dish takes about 30-50 minutes to prepare, depending on the setup of your kitchen and equipment.
I do however recommend cooking with gas or radiant burners in order to have a relatively uniform distribution of heat for your pots and pans.

Now let us begin...

---First we start with the chicken---
1 egg
1/2 cup flour
100 ml water
1 teaspoon salt
1/6 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 crispy bread crumbs  OR tempura breading mix
4-6 pieces chicken breast (filet optional)
3 cups corn oil (or sunflower oil if not available)

Beat egg, mix in flour, salt, pepper, and water to create smooth batter. Dip chicken into batter, and then cover with breading mix. Deep fry chicken for 5-7 minutes in order to create a very crispy exterior and tender-juicy
interior. Strain excess oil and place over napkin or newspaper to drain residual oil.

---Now for the sauce and base.---
1 can (approx 400g) chunky tomatoes
1 cup white wine (dry)
300 g Shiitake mushrooms
100 g champignon mushrooms (button)
40 g black olives (pitted)
100 g yellow bell peppers (big slices-1" length at least)
100 g green bell pepper(big slices)
100 g Zucchini (small slices)
1 medium bulb onion (ring slices)

Put everything except wine in a pot, bring to boil, then transfer to a slow cooker(or rice cooker) and let simmer

for 30 minutes.

---Finally for the rice,---
1 pack(200 g) mixed vegetables (corn, peas, carrots)
2 teaspoons Kikkoman soy sauce
1 teaspoon mirin or white vinegar
1 stick of onion leek(10 g)
2 cups of long-grain parboiled rice, or 1 1/2 cup Japanese rice
2 cups of water

Put everything into a pot. Let rice cook. Prepare table...call your friends...drink all the remaining wine

in the bottle by yourself before they arrive. Remove apron, chef's hat, and sweaty shirt...change into something fresh.

---Time to eat---
Place rice and chicken in a dish or large Japanese bowl then top with the sauce. Garnish with parsley and Parmesan cheese. Place in a pre-heated oven for 5 minutes if you want it to have a crunchy layer on top.
ENJOY.


Final note about the name: "Catch a tori" is a play on words from the Italian dish "cacciatore" and the Japanese word for bird/chicken "Tori".
Chicken cacciatore is a classic Italian dish, also referred to as hunter’s stew. Early recipes may have been made with rabbit or chicken, and each recipe was adapted for those who might be traveling or hunting for several days and would require an easy to prepare recipe for outside cooking.
Orient Express is meant not only to hint an Euro-Asian fusion cuisine but
also to serve as irony on how long actually it takes to complete the dish, similar to the time it takes that one would experience riding the real orient express.

Compliments to my assistant chef: Mr. Teething Putty

-Joseph