Bugged

Japanese Savory custard/茶碗蒸し

The seller was a Japanese woman whose husband’s job here is done and so they are going back to Japan. Six custard cups for $15 was the asking price I took a closer look and they were in perfect shape. It’s like one for… 2 dollars and …before I could finish the calculation in my head, I was told they were sold already. Darn it!

I broke my custard cups sometime ago and I have never been able to find ones I could fall in love with. I have impeccable taste in things like dishes, bags, shoes…what? what’s that honey? Oh, yeah,right, in men too. He is absolutely a great find.

I received a phone call from the seller a few days later. The buyer backed out and the cups are still available and did I want them? That was 2 weeks ago. It is not really a good time of year to make this dish because of difficulty getting one important ingredient but hey, that does not stop me from trying.

Savory custard is called chawan mushi. Chawan means cup or small bowl. Mushi means ‘steamed’ in Japanese but also means bug. I thought it had something to do with bugs as a child and it gave me a creepy feeling. My late mother was an expert in making the dish but I never got her recipe. The kitchen was her territory and her dislike of other people in her tiny kitchen made her unpleasant. One day in her absence, I re-arranged dishes and so on and she scolded me as she could not find anything in HER kitchen later. But mother, I protested, how am I supposed to get the can of candies if it’s waaay up there?

Ingredients and how-to for my version of  4 savory custards. 

Make dashi (Japanese soup stock) first or skip the whole thing and use store bought dashi powder to make 500cc dashi stock.

• Water 500cc
• Dried Kelp (昆布) 2 inch by 2 inch. Wipe the surface with moist paper towel to clean.
• Dried tuna flakes (鰹節) – a handful about 10g

1. Pour water and kelp into pan. Slowly bring water to boil at low heat.
2. Remove kelp just before the water starts boil. Discard kelp.
3. Put a handful of tuna flakes in the pan and cook for 1 minute and turn off heat. Leave for 30 minutes
   .
4. Strain through strainer and cool.
   

While the dashi is cooling, prepare other ingredients

• Dried Shiitake 10 to 12 pieces soak in 200cc water in a pan until it gets soft. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of soy sauce. Cook until most of the liquid is evaporated.
  
• Chicken breast about 70g cut into bite size pieces. Rub the chicken with 1 teaspoon soy sauce and a little bit of salt.
• Shrimp 8 Shelled and deveined. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sake.
• Spinach - a bunch. Prepare ice bath in bowl first. Wash spinach and cut off the stems. Boil two cups of water and a teaspoon of salt in a pan, cook for 20 to 30 seconds then drain the water and plunge into prepared ice bath. Gently squeeze water out and cut in 2 inch lengths.
• Gingko nuts 8 pieces (optional). My husband’s must have-important ingredient. Fresh nuts are available in the Fall. I used dried gingko nuts and that was a nutty idea. There are canned gingko nuts that you could also use but I dunno, they are a little mushy.
  
• Mitsuba 4 leaves (optional) Shown below right.Other suggested ingredients: fish cake (かまぼこ), eel, crab meat.

Make custard

Gently beat 3 eggs so that  you won’t create air bubbles. Mix with dashi stock then strain through strainer to make smooth custard.

Steam process – THIS IS THE MOST TRICKY PART – do not over steam.

Equipment: Steamer with lid (lid wrapped with dish cloth to prevent water dropping into the cups).

Pour water in the bottom section of steamer and start boiling. Divide shitake, chicken, shrimp, spinach, ginkgo nuts by 4. Place in individual custard cups and pour egg mixture 3/4 way. If you see bubbles on surface, prick with toothpick. Place the cups in fully going steamer. Cover and steam for about 20 minutes at low heat. Put Mitsuba leaf on top to decorate
.Yup! I steamed that one too long. In all honesty, I suck at it.

I love the name! Yuki no Kakera (Snowflakes), a new crop of rice, was on sale at the Japanese super market. We usually consume Haiga rice or brown rice but with the purchase of a large bag, you get a small bag for free. I wish it was the other way around. It was shiny and white as snow like any other white rice, not too shabby though.

These gluten free mini cupcakes were for a church function. I’m not allergic to wheat but made them just in case some people who have a restricted diet showed up.They were surprisingly good! 

Then the gluten free cheese cake my husband made was also marvelous. See that recent find of antique plate made in France? Très belle (very nice) right?

UDON

Simplified Japanese fat noodle dish

Have you seen ‘UDON’? It is a 2006 movie about a guy who wants to be a comedian abroad in New York but couldn’t make it and broke, returns to his home town of Kagawa prefecture in Shikoku. HIs father owned a fat noodle shop which he had no desire of taking over. He eventually got a job at the local town newspaper as editor of tourist guide book. He accidently created Sanuki noodle boom which is Kagawa’s specialty udon. I like the scene in which he and a lovely colleague go all over town trying different noodle shops. I had the sudden urge to have noodles after watching it. This funny, cute and delicious movie is available on Netflix. You’ve got to see it if you like udon noodles.

Kagawa is the smallest prefecture in Japan. It’s nickname is udon prefecture (うどん県) Many self-serve Sanuki udon eateries available there. Similar to self-serve yogurt shops, you choose noodle sauce and choose your toppings then pay. The price is determined by number of toppings not by weight. Don’t fret! it’s not expensive!  Charter the ‘udon taxi’ (about $50 for 1 hour) there and you could try lots of udon shops and taxi drivers really knows udon but I think that will make you udon out for a while. Do you know there is such an udon shop in Seattle? U:DON  is the name. Cute, huh?  It’s located in University district. I bet students love this good but cheap place.

I like fox (きつね) among toppings the best. The fox is actually fried bean curd sweetened with sugar and soy sauce. There is an old folk tale of how Foxes possess magical power that transform themselves into human to deceive people and their favorite treat is fried bean curd. Some people in Japan worship fox and use bean curd as an offering. Another popular topping is tanuki (たぬき-red raccoon) fried mixed vegetable tempura (かき揚げ). A Tanuki also can turn himself to human or other object and trick people without being mean-spirited but I don’t know if they like fried vegetable tempura though. Today I made a simple udon noodle topped with soft poached egg. We still don’t a have kitchen, remember? This one pot wonder is hearty and easy!

Ingredients for today’s udon dish Serves 1

• Water 300cc
• Dashi (soup stock) 1 packet This one is tea-bag style and specifically for udon noodle.
• 1 Frozen Sanuki udon bundle –no need for defrost, no precook necessary ( I like frozen noodle better than dry ones).
• 1 stalk of Green onion finely sliced.
• Grated ginger (optional)

1. Boil water in pan
2. Add dashi and simmer for 5 minutes
3. Remove dashi packet from pan and put noodle in.
4. Cook about 4 minutes.
5. Sprinkle with green onion and your favorite topping. My husband likes add a few drops of rice vinegar.

I made the soft poached egg in the microwave using a poached egg gadget but you could make it in same pan as noodle is cooking. Gently drop the egg in after the noodle has cooked a little bit, cook until desired hardness is achieved. Here is another handful of fresh eggs from a friend.

We had snow last Thursday. The second snow fall in March My painting teacher ‘s neighbor built a snow man and a snow kid..Ah may be it’s a pet.Then next day was sunny and warm. Gorgeous display of flowers in front of the grocery store.

The kitchen floor is refinished and stained.A skilled cabinet installer spent 12 hours to put cabinets in the kitchen. Exciting and grateful. 

I remember something from the movie where someone said “A boom is like a festival, at some point it ends”.  That’s something to think about.