Sorry if this is too "home economics" for anyone, but a number of people have been posting interests in one form or another for Japanese and other asian types of cuisine from cooking to eating it to the 'wierdness' of it.

So I thought we could start a Recipe thread to share Asian recipes with emphasis on Japanese cuisine!



That said, I don't have a specific recipe right this moment, but a webpage:
The Ramen Page
Its an individual's page dedicated to news and recipes of the Ramen (especially the really cheap kind). There are apparently alot of novel ways to use those 9 cent blocks of noodles. Not all the recipes are asian, but I thought it was pretty interesting, especially if you are on a budget.

I have a fair number at home (I'm at work right now), all vegetarian & leaning more towards the desserts. If anyone has a request, let me know & I'll see what I have. (^_^)

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"[English] not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary."
-James Nicoll, can.general, March 21, 1992

I'm pretty sure some of you know this site but if you want to try Japanese "home-cooking", I think it's great. Some of those recipes are just impossible to make without the right ingredients, but who knows what you'll be able to find in your country?

http://www.nsknet.or.jp/~tomi-yasu/index_e.html

Enjoy!

Hey I'm a lurker, but I thought I'd break the streak and share a recipe. In the broader sense of the word, this recipe is Asian, but has been westernized a bit. It's not Japanese in origin, but hey neither is the Japanese mainstay of curry & rice. It's called Kima and it is kinda like a stew.

You need:
1 lb Ground Beef
1-2 tbsp Curry Powder (adjust it to the lvl of spiciness you prefer)
1-2 Onions (depending on size)
2 28 oz cans of Peeled Whole Tomatoes (Plum, Roma, Italian style) in Tomato Juice
Sliced Mushrooms (I usually buy the ones in the small can, so I can have them handy whenever I feel like making it. Freshness won't matter since they'll be slow cooked for a while)
A Green Bell Pepper (I usually get the pre-chopped frozen kind, again just so it's handy)
1/2 to 1 pint of heavy (whipping) cream

In a large pot, brown the ground beef with some curry, I usually put about a tbsp in(you might wanna go less), drain the fat off. Turn the heat down to medium-low. Add sliced onions, mushrooms, and tomato juice from the can. Cut the tomatoes into smaller pieces, I usually just take a cheap never needs sharpening knife and cut the tomatoes in half while inside the can(never do this with a knife that you have to sharpen). Add salt, pepper, and more curry to your tastes. I like it spicy, so I'm generous with the curry, but while your tasting it, keep in mind that when you later add the heavy cream it will mellow out a lot. For salt & pepper I usually go a tsp of each, but again it's up to your individual tastes. Simmer covered for about 30 mins. About 5-10 mins before serving add the green pepper and 1/2 a pint of heavy cream. If it's still to spicy for you, try pouring in the whole pint. I serve it over Japanese style rice, it's convenient for me to soak the rice as I'm starting to prepare the kima, then activate the rice cooker 15 mins before I'm ready to add the cream. But it works well with spaghetti or most pasta for that matter.

For some reason it actually tastes better when you reheat it the next day, so if you are serving the whole family you might want to make it the day before.
It's fairly easy to make though it takes some time slow cooking, hope you enjoy it.

Thanks for sharing your recipe for Kima! I just bought some heavy cream and am going to try it out tommorrow or Tuesday!

A simple thing I really like: vinegared short-grain rice with chunks of avocado! The flavors together are great!

ok...I just have no question. What's with Monkey Brain? I heard it's a delicacy in Asian countries.......

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Gay book discussion thread

O_O;;;;

Err.

Well, really, anything rare is a delicacy in asian countries... =_=;;;

But, I really think that it's the rich... or upper-middle class trying to seem rich... that eat the monkey brains...

It probably doesn't even taste good... and actually, it's probably bad to eat them because the brain is the first to get infected by bacteria and such right after the animal dies... so it's a risk to even eat such things.

Hahah... so I guess like, it's similar to in Japan when you eat sushi from the deadly ... pufferfish..? or... something similar to it. [referenced in the simpsons]

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-Max

I've read that its a myth to eat live monkey brains.
A little blurb from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_brains
But I wouldn't be surprised if monkey brains have been eaten (not live) since most parts of an animal are edible, and many people don't waste things.

I'm glad someone is trying it. All that typing didn't go to waste then. It's been a family favorite for years. I hope you like it, ladybrasa.

I'm looking forward to trying the kima too. Here's a link to a japanese recipe I like. I usually use scallions instead of onions, because I like them better.
http://www.recipezaar.com/59508

Hi again,
I did try the Kima yesterday! It was tasty, and I had it for lunch at work today and the taste did change - a little more spicy, I thought.
I ended up altering the recipe somewhat (well, alot really) - I thought I had ground beef, but no, only some cheap cuts of steak. So I sliced that up. Then I ended up using carrots since I had a ton of carrots and no peppers. And I don't like mushrooms. And again I thought I had a can of tomates but we had none (this is stuff we've always had before!!) so I sliced up some fresh Romas. I tossed in some frozen green beans, too.
My fault, I just assumed we had ground beef and canned tomatoes.
But I did get the heavy cream and had the curry powder (its was McCormick brand BTW - is this what you used?). I think the cream really made a big difference in flavor and texture.
I will definitely try it again with ground beef.
And your typing didn't go to waste, I copied it to my recipe files, thanks!

And next, I shall try the Oyako Donburi!

zsuzsi - Thanks for the recipe, looks tasty. I'll give it a try next time I get some chicken. It's a bit similar to katsudon, which I have the urge to make now, anyone have a good recipe for it? The miso version sounds interesting.

ladybrasa - I was actually gonna suggest the option of switching peppers for frozen green peas. I know some people don't like peppers. It gives it a little different taste/texture, but it's a tiny bit healthier too. I'm not a big fan of mushrooms either, but they don't bother me in kima. You should definitely give the ground beef version a try, unless you cut up the steak into very small pieces, I think it blends with the sauce better. I guessing the sauce was a bit thicker too, if you used fresh tomatoes, since there was no juice from the can. The pre-peeled tomatoes also mash up nice and I like how the thinner sauce gets absorbed by the rice as well.

Your take on kima is similiar to the Pakistani Kima recipes I've seen on the net. Though I don't think they use heavy cream, and the spices are more varied, like adding ginger, cinnamon, turmeric, and even coconut shavings. Those 3 spices have been used as part of curry powder blends in the past, so it may just be beefing up the taste. If you want it a bit hotter, you can add a tiny bit of red/cayenne pepper.

Regular McCormick brand curry should be fine, unless you want to get more traditional and goto an Asian food market to get Indian Curry. I'm not a curry expert, and there are so many different blends (all just labeled as curry), so I can't really recommend any.

I don't know if what you guys are looking for are those hard-to-do and complicated stuff or the easy-to-do 30-minute stuff. I just thought I'd try to post it here anyway. It's Filipino stuff btw.


Torta
You need:
500g ground pork (preferably lean)
2 cloves of garlic
1 medium sized onion (preferably red)
2 medium sized red tomatoes
soy sauce
pepper
3 eggs

Procedure: (use a teflon-coated pan, it's better)
Slice the garlic cloves, onion, and tomatoes to small pieces (not that small). Saute them in about 2 tablespoons of oil starting with the garlic, then onion, then tomatoes. Add the ground pork. Once the pork loses it's pink color, you might want to drain the excess oil/fat from the pan. Keep the flame medium-high then add soy sauce and pepper to taste. Don't make it overly salty nor bland, also not spicy. So, the pork is done. Let it cool for a bit, move it to a bowl, then add the eggs and mix. You'll get a sort of omelette mix except there's more meat than eggs. Heat the pan (a clean one), put some oil, then get a big spoon and fry a scoop of your pork-egg mixture in it. The less oil, the better. After they fry, it's done. Serve with ketchup.

Errr...this is Hong Kong style Ox tail stew ...I think...

This is a family recipe and I know it by word of mouth and experience so the measurements won't be exact. Here goes....

1 tbsp of bean sauce (Men See)
3 - 4 tbsp of cooking oil
3 - 4 tbsp of lite soy sauce
3 - 4 tbsp of rice cooking wine
2 tbsp of sugar
1 ox tail (about 4-5 pounds) cut up and halved by butcher.
1 large onion
3 large carrots
4 large stalks of celery
2 large tomatoes (I use large beefsteak tomatoes)
4-5 large potatoes
salt and pepper to taste.

You'll need a large wok and a large stew pot.

Wash the ox tail pieces to remove gristle and bone bits left by saw then leave it in a colander to drain off excess water.

Prep the veggies:

Slice the onion. Cut the vegetables into large pieces (about two by two inches).

Cook.
Heat a large wok on high heat and oil it. Stir in the bean sauce and add the onions and stir fry. Then add in the drained ox tail pieces. Fry for a bit till it starts to brown then splash in the wine then the soy sauce and add the sugar. Keep turning the meat till it browns but don't let it burn. You'll need the browned bits on the bottom of the wok for flavor.

Put the browned meat into the pot along with the other veggies. Fill the wok with water and scrape off the browning bits and add them into the pot. Add just enough water to cover the top of the ingredients. Boil on high for a hour then bring it down to medium for about another hour. Skim and remove excess oil that forms. Add salt and pepper around this time to taste. It should have a medium consistency.

Serve with white rice.

12 Servings or less if you plan to keep excess in the frig for later. Tastes better the next day.

Bon Appetite!

Last edited by Nelo_Neko at 1:56 pm, Jun 11 2007

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Mad people either have no sense or too many extra senses...
On the net, men are men, women are men and children are the FBI. =D

rice + water + fire = ... rice.

j/k

You mean people still actually measure stuff? I just pour things in, and if it doesn't taste how I want it I just pour more stuff in. It works out most of the time.

I made cookies once. /proud

Here is a without fail recipe:

1. T-Bone steak
2. A-1 Steak sauce.

Cook T-Bone steak. Add A-1 sauce. Serve.

I bought the steak in china town so technically it's Chinese food.
If you really want to be authentic you could try replacing it with oyster sauce or something...