Miso Soup: Comfort Food

The past few weeks have been quite harrying for me and more than once, I found myself hankering for a big bowl of miso soup. What can I say? This, for me, is one of the best things to have when I need comfort food.

Japanese miso is perhaps the most popular soup that is included in their meals. It goes with anything, really. Miso is basically soy bean paste and is used as a base for the soup. Other ingredients are added to the soup, which is light and at the same time hearty, especially if fish is added to it.

There are different variants to miso, but here is one that I normally use. It is very basic and the ingredients can be found at most Japanese grocery stores.

Ingredients:

Miso paste (red)
Leeks
Japanese silken tofu
Salt
White fish cubes

Here’s how to make it:

Boil about 4 cups of water. Once it reaches a boil, put 3 heaping tablespoons of the red miso paste and stir vigorously. You can use less or more of the paste, depending on your preferences. Let the soup simmer for a minute and then add the fish cubes. Let it simmer for another 3 minutes and then put the leeks and the tofu in. Stir the soup again and let it simmer for another minute. Add salt to taste.

It would be better with some seaweed and some dashi stock – this adds more taste – but sometimes dashi is hard to find in my area. Sometimes I also add a bit of onion for added taste.

The Perfect Tempura

I have been craving for more Japanese food so after some feasting at my local haunts, I headed for the Japanese supermarket with a mission: to create an authentic tempura- which is an archetypal Japanese food. All the essential qualities of Japanese cuisine are reflected in its preparation: the use of absolutely fresh ingredients, the artful presentation, and the perfection of technique by a skilled chef. The result is one of the triumphs of Japanese cooking — a fried food that is light and fresh-tasting rather than heavy and greasy. It’s a cooking style in which the essence of the ingredient itself completely defines the taste.

It comes as a surprise to most foreigners to learn that tempura was not originally a Japanese dish; it actually owes its origins to the visiting Portuguese missionaries of the sixteenth century. But tempura, like many imported ideas, gradually adapted itself to Japanese needs and tastes. By the late nineteenth century tempura was a popular fast food in Tokyo, sold from sidewalk stalls and roaming pushcarts, and today’s modern tempura (made by deep-frying vegetables, fish and shellfish) is no longer a foreign food at all, but a completely Japanese cuisine.

Preparation

Seafood and vegetables are the raw materials of tempura, and only the freshest specimens are used. It’s not unusual to see live shrimps jumping around on the preparation counter, or buckets of slithering eels being carted through the kitchen. In addition to using the freshest ingredients, the next most important factor in good tempura is the quality of the batter, which is made from eggs, flour, and ice water. The batter shouldn’t be mixed too thoroughly, but should be lumpy and full of air bubbles. To achieve this consistency the batter is made up in small batches immediately before it’s used, and each batch is thrown away when it starts to settle.

The vegetables and seafood are cut, washed, dried, and dipped in the batter to give them a thin, almost transparent coating. After this they’re dropped one at a time into the oil (a combination of vegetable and sesame oil), which must be constantly kept at exactly the right temperature. Finally, the tempura must be cooked for just the right amount of time, pulled out of the oil the precise moment it’s done. If all goes well, the final product is perfect tempura — crisp, golden brown, hot, and delicious.

A few tempura restaurants offer variations on the basic recipe, adding extra ingredients to the batter to change the texture or flavor. One variation is to add chopped noodles to the batter for a rougher and crisper coating.

As you can see, making tempura is a delicate process, and lots of things can go wrong. It’s possible to find many different levels of quality in restaurant tempura, ranging from fairly bad (too greasy) to absolutely perfect (heavenly). As a general rule, tempura tends to be better at specialty restaurants rather than at all-purpose Japanese restaurants.

Eating

Before you dig in, remember some etiquette. The first rule of eating tempura is to get it while it’s hot. If you’re sitting at the counter, the chef will transfer each piece directly from the vat of hot oil to the counter in front of you, placing it on a sheet of white paper to drain off the excess oil. Even if you’re sitting at a table, every effort will be made to get your tempura to you as hot as possible. You can show your appreciation by eating it as soon as you can (although you might want to wait a minute or two to avoid burning your mouth).

When you use the dipping sauce, it’s a good idea to dip the tempura quickly and avoid lengthy soaking. The sauce may come with a small mound of grated radish, which can be mixed in. Some tempura fans forgo the dipping sauce entirely, using just a bit of salt or lemon for seasoning.

Crazy about Meiji Choco

Chocolates are delicious snacks for all ages. Whether you like it really sweet or slightly bitter, Meiji Chocolates have something in store for you. Their chocolates are interesting. They have Apollo, Choco Baby, the Meiji Chocolate bars that come in milk chocolate and dark chocolate and they also have samplers of their chocolates, the fancy ones. They are exported so you could try finding them in your local shop.

Meiji Chocolates really experiment on their varieties of chocolate. Apollo, for example, is a sweet concoction that is popular for its strawberry-choco variant. It has a conical shape with ridges. It is also available in chocolate-vanilla.

Chocobaby is neatly packaged in a plastic dispenser with a flap. And it has little chocolate beads in it. Think something like Tic-tacs or mints. And the nice thing about the container is that you could actually use it for other things like placing your pins there and other little things that you would not like lying around. (Make your own container from this!)

One time there is a feature on Pocky. Meiji happens to have Yan-yan. They are not as thin as the Pocky biscuits but the fun thing about eating them is that you are the one who will dip the biscuit sticks in the chocolate, peanut butter or whatever dip your Yan-yan has.

It seems like Meiji Chocolates are not just popular in Japan. They are also known internationally. Who could resist the yummy snacks and the cute packaging they have? Eating them could be quite an experience. If you could find a sampler of Meiji chocolates, that is good for you so that you could figure out which ones you like a lot. And if you happen to like them all, you could have a little bit of all them as you wish.

Japan Wins Bluefin Tuna Case

Japanese food is known around the world for being only the best. While that is generally accepted wherever you go, Japanese cuisine does have its controversial points. Perhaps one of the most controversial things right now is the bluefin tuna. Think sushi and sashimi – only the best kind. The bluefin tuna can fetch astronomical prices in the local and international markets due to its incomparable quality.

This popularity has led to the decline of bluefin tuna populations, and conservationists have been trying to get a ban – albeit temporarily – imposed on bluefin tuna fishing and trade. According to scientists, the population of bluefin tuna is in danger, and this fish just might very well become extinct if we do not do anything about it.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) was held in Doha last week, and countries took opposite sides of the argument. Naturally, Japan was on the side of continuing with the bluefin tuna trade. Not only does it involve business matters, but the bluefin tuna is an integral part of their cultural heritage. Japan did have a lot of support from other countries, and despite the influence of the European Union and the United States – who were leaning towards imposing a temporary ban – Japan emerged the victor.

There will be no ban on bluefin tuna fishing.

That’s good news for those involved in this business. That’s good news for those who can’t get enough of tuna. And, that includes yours truly.

I can’t get over the idea, however, that we might end up killing all the tuna fish out there. And, when that happens, what are we to do?

Bento Boxes Taking The U.S. By Storm

Japanese food has gained worldwide acclaim, and you will not be surprised to find restaurants serving Japanese cuisine in whatever country you visit. In the United States, it is no different. Perhaps the influence of Japanese cuisine is even more evident in this nation.

The news is that bento boxes are making huge waves all over the country. While it used to be that one would normally have to go to a Japanese restaurant to get a bento box, people now take great pains to make their own bento boxes and bring them to work to school as pack lunches!

So what are bento boxes exactly? Air and Angels provides a very nice description:

‘O-bento’ is what the Japanese call a packed meal, usually lunch. Bento boxes have internal dividers, and sometimes several stacked layers, so different kinds of food sit in their own little compartments. (This is nice if, like me, you don’t necessarily like to mix flavours!) The whole thing is usually wrapped together with chopsticks in a cloth or special bag, and the goal is to make the whole package as attractive as possible – from considering the colour combinations of the food and presenting and garnishing it as neatly and artfully as you can, to co-ordinating the box, chopsticks and wrapper, and any other items like paper napkins, knife and fork or spoon, drink flask or thermos.

It is easy to see why this is becoming a trend in the US. More than the cuteness factor, it serves a nutritional purpose – you can easily measure portions and control food intake when you have your food packed in a bento box.

Bento boxes do not always have to be cute. You can make them as plain as you want. You can even put non-Japanese food in there. As one obento enthusiast put it, anything that you present in a bento box looks nice. Of course, you have to make sure it’s edible too!

Green Tea Coke, Anyone?

Why not? Coke comes in various flavors, or versions if you want to call it that. We have the regular Coke, then we have Coke Light, and then there is Coke Zero. I personally prefer the regular (REAL) Coke, but hey, each to his own, right?

In Japan, they will soon get another option – Green Tea Coke. Katsuya Sato, the spokesman for Coca-Cola Japan Co., said late last week that they are going to launch a new product on June 8. This “new” Coke is going to have some tea antioxidants called catechins. Adding the catechins to the soda will not only give it the benefits that antioxidants normally give, but also provide a tea-like aftertaste.

And what is the rationale behind this? After all, most people I know drink Coke not because they want to stay healthy. We all know that it is NOT really a health drink, right? Well, Sato says that they are trying to target women who are in their 20s and 30s, who may be health-conscious. And while Coke is not really a health drink, providing the option of a somewhat healthy version will cater to people who want their soda and drink it too!

By the way, Coke is not the only soda company in Japan taking this route. In fact, fierce rival Pepsi is also coming up with their own exotic drink: basil-flavored Pepsi. Now I don’t know about that. I have always liked Coke but I don’t mind drinking Pepsi when I have to, but basil-flavored soda? I’ll pass.

Japanese Appetite For Whale Meat Declining?

Japanese cuisine is known all over the world for being one of the best. While not everyone has a liking for their more exotic dishes, staples such as tempura and sushi are well loved most everywhere that I’ve been to. One particularly exotic meat that the Japanese really love is whale meat, and it is by far the most controversial as well.

Japanese fleets regularly foray into the deep waters to hunt whales for meat. It used to be that up to 5000 tonnes of meat were consumed in the country each year. Today, however, it is reported that there are still at least 3000 tonnes left in cold storage. It is but logical to say that the Japanese population is not consuming as much whale meat as it used to.

What could be the reason behind this? The Sunday Herald reports:

Despite falling market prices, and regular government efforts to “educate” the population by way of academic lectures, food festivals, and compulsory school lunches, whale meat remains a dish that few modern Japanese have eaten more than twice. Not because it is scarce, they just don’t like it.

Daiki Fukuda is owner of a traditional izakaya restaurant called Paddock, in the northern coastal prefecture of Ishikawa. His reasons for not serving whale meat are purely culinary. “It doesn’t taste good,” he says. 

“I think it’s very strange to go hunting for whales near the South Pole when we have other meat and fish that are much more delicious. I tried whale meat once at school when I was a kid, and I hated it. We all did.”

It is pretty clear at this point that hunting whales down for profit might not last long as a practice. If no one buys it, who will continue to spend money on harvesting whale meat?

The $100,000 Tuna

I love tuna – it is perhaps my all time favorite everyday-eating fish. I don’t think that I would ever be able to pay this astronomical amount for tuna, though. An auction was held today in Tokyo, where a bluefin tuna weighing in at 282 pounds (128 kilograms) sold for $104,700! And who were the fortunate men who got the prized fish?

Two sushi bar owners – competitors at that. The Associated Press ran this story today:

The 282-pound (128-kilogram) premium tuna caught off the northern coast of Oma fetched 9.63 million yen ($104,700), the highest since 2001, when another Japanese bluefin tuna brought an all-time record of 20 million yen, market official Takashi Yoshida said.

Yoshida said the extravagant purchase — about $370 per pound ($817 per kilogram) — went to a Hong Kong sushi bar owner and his Japanese competitor who reached a peaceful settlement to share the big fish. The Hong Kong buyer also paid the highest price at last year’s new year event at Tokyo’s Tsukiji market, the world’s largest fish seller, which holds near-daily auctions.

So why were they so willing to part with that much money for a “mere” fish? Before I answer that, let me remind you that this no mere fish – it is a bluefin tuna native to the Japanese waters. This kind of tuna is very much sought after both in Japan and in the international market. And think about it, once these sushi bar owners sell sushi made from the tuna, they are going to double, even triple, the money that they spent! Now I know I would love to get a taste of that fish!

Japanese Christmas Cake

Christmas food in Japan can vary from year to year and from family to family. One thing that is quite common all throughout the country, however, is to have a Christmas cake. Perhaps the most common type of cake that the Japanese have for Christmas is the sponge cake. Here is a recipe for a Japanese Christmas cake, courtesy of About.com.

Ingredients:
• For sponge cake:
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 Tbsp butter
• For topping:
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 4 Tbsps sugar
• Various fruits (strawberries, peaches, cherries, and so on)

Preparation:
Whisk eggs in a bowl. Place the bowl over warm water in another large bowl and whisk further. Add sugar little by little. When the egg mixture becomes light yellow, sift flour and add to the bowl. Mix the flour lightly in the egg mixture. Mix butter in warm milk. Add mixture of melted butter and milk in the batter and stir gently. Preheat the oven in 350-degree. Place baking wax papers inside of a round cake pan (18cm). Pour the batter in the pan and bake in the preheated oven for 25-35 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and cool it on a rack. Cut the cake in half horizontally. Mix heavy cream and sugar in a bowl. Whip the cream well. Take the half of the whipped cream and mix with chopped fruits. Place the cream on top of a round cake slice. Place another cake slice on top of the cream. Spread the rest of the whipped cream on top and around the cake. Decorate the cake with colorful fruits and Christmas decorations.

Here’s to a happy Japanese Christmas!

Photo (c) Setsuko Yoshizuka

The Kyoto Winter Special Is Back!

For those of you who experienced the Kyoto Winter Special last year, you can do so again this year. After a successful run, the organizers have decided to have a go at it once again but this time, they are offering more and better deals for their visitors. For those who are not aware, the Kyoto Winter Special is akin to a festival – 3 months’ worth of cultural activities. This year’s Winter Special runs from 1 December 2008 to 31 March 2009. Easier.com has this feature:

In addition, special admission will be granted to normally restricted heritage sites, and there will be unique winter events and chances to receive special offers from world-famous hotels. With Kyoto Winter Special, the breathtaking beauty of winter in Kyoto awaits you!

Special Events Kyoto’s cherry blossoms and fall leaves are a sight to see, but Kyoto’s magical winter is something special. There will be various events showcasing winter.

Information on events from December to March are listed by month on the Kyoto Winter Special website. The main event during the Kyoto Winter Special is called “Hanatoro”. This event beautifies Kyoto’s nights, with elegant lanterns lighting up Kyoto’s famous spots. Adding a winter event into a visit to Kyoto is a great way to make your trip that extra bit memorable.

Ask anyone who has been to Kyoto and other Japanese cities and they will probably tell you the same thing – there is nothing like Kyoto if you really want to get a hands on experience of what the Japanese culture is like.