March 11th - 17 days on

OK, so this is my food blog, but this is so important that I am posting this on here as well as my personal blog.

This is a difficult post to write, and please be aware that these are just my perceptions from living in Japan and from what I see on the news here and internationally.  Although aware through my own research and living here, I am not a scientist or an expert on the current situation, but I don't think the true picture is completely apparent outside of Japan.

It's been over two weeks, and in some ways I think the timing of this post is right.  For me, I'm starting to grasp more of the enormity and reality of it all and could only now write this.  Perhaps for many people outside of Japan the initial horror has passed, and it's just another news item.

I think that in the last week, the focus on international media (and even domestic media to a lesser extent) relating to Japan has shifted from the devastation in northern Japan, to nuclear power plant and radiation worries internationally.  Of course the nuclear power plant situation in Japan is a very serious concern, and has added to the number of evacuees and problems of food supply, not mention the large number of workers and their families.  However outside of the 20km zone, airborne levels are low.  For example in Tokyo, about 240km from the Fukushima power plant, after a very brief alarming spike they are currently at 0.11uSV/hour - higher than normal in Tokyo http://www.mext.go.jp/component/english/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2011/03/28/1304324_2819.pdf but still well under the international average of 0.27uSv/hour (based on an average background radiation of 2.4mSv/year). Outside of Japan, increases are minute (for example about one millionth of what you would get in normal daily background radiation).  This fortunately isn't another Chernobyl.

The devastation in northern Japan hasn't gone away, even if the focus on the news has.  Pictures in the news show the remarkable transformation of a major road with a great chasm after the earthquake - six days on you'd never know.  Businesses are starting to relocate and get back on their feet.  This enables some supplies to get through to the affected region.  These stories are great.  But the reality is that whilst things are looking better, they are still not good.  Food, water, basic supplies and medicine are starting to get through now, but the diet is poor because non-perishable foods have to be used.  As at March 22nd 320,000 evacuees are staying at about 2,100 shelters.  The risk of contagious disease such as flu is high. http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/80009.html.  The landscape is still flattened.

There is a still a lack of basic supplies, electricity and heat in many areas.  It is still very cold.  This means that people, especially the sick and elderly are still dying having survived an earthquake and tsunami.  This is correctly described as Japan's worst disaster since World War 2.  This page shows a translated interview with some local people. http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/japan/110322/japan-rebuilding-tsunami-earthquake-ofunato-iwate

It seems that many people feel that because Japan is a rich technologically advanced country, people don't believe that they need donations so much.  Yet the United States is also a rich technologically advanced country and they received substantially more donations in the first week after Hurricane Katrina.  http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/18/pf/japan_earthquake_aid/index.htm.
Often  people donate in the first week whilst the emerging images are so strong.
Japan always donates generously to disaster relief funds, again for example Hurricane Katrina http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2005/September/20050915165123ajesrom9.768313e-02.html and now Japan needs help to rebuild  itself.

The northern area of Japan, especially the coastal areas, is not the richest region.  If a situation like this were to happen in the UK, then international help would be needed.  Japan is no different.  I think that people see videos and pictures on television and see people behaving in a quiet ordered manner without asking for help, and assume that help isn't needed.  There has been little looting in Japan, people tend to be more honest.  The culture in Japan is often to endure quietly and to try to resolve your own problems, not to ask for help.  The 'stiff upper lip' reputation of the British is more apparent in the 'gaman' of Japan.  Just because people don't ask for help, doesn't mean that we shouldn't give it.  Money is always needed for rebuilding no matter how developed a nation is.  Rebuilding homes, services, companies and lives.

Donations are the best way to help, so that the relief agencies can spend it on what is needed most.  The Red Cross in your own country will have a donation fund for the Japan Earthquake/Tsunami and is a good way to help.  This is the key aid agency organising support in Japan.  They will ensure that the money is used efficiently and, in the event that it can't be used efficiently in Japan, they will use the money for other countries that need it even more.

In Britain http://www.redcross.org.uk (online, or by phone or post), or you can use Google Checkout to pay via the Google Crisis Response site http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html
In Japan there are many more options which will get aid to the right place.  Almost every convenience store and supermarket has a box, many legitimate charities including Second Harvest http://www.2hj.org/, but again you can donate on the Red Cross website http://www.jrc.or.jp/english/index.html

You can also donate by buying the Songs for Japan on iTunes for GBP7.99, $10 or 1500yen - all proceeds go to the Japanese Red Cross.

Cauliflower cheese and potato soup

Nutrition Data (per portion, serves 4)
Calories 231
Protein 13g
Carbohydrate 17g
Fat 13g
Dietary Fibre 6g







Ingredients
1 large onion(210g)
1 tsp olive oil
1 head of cauliflower, head and stalks (520g)
160g potatoes
1 stock cube
100g grated cheddar
50g marscarpone

Method

• Wash the cauliflower and cut into florets, and cut up the stems.
• Wash and scrub the potatoes, and cut into chunks.
• Dice the onion.
• Heat the oil and fry the onion for about 5 minutes until  soft and golden brown.  Add the cauliflower, potato, 1 litre of boiling water, and crumble in a stock cube.  Bring back to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
• Stir in the mascarpone and grated cheese and stir until melted.  Leave to cool slightly.
• When cool enough to handle, transfer in batches to a blender, and blend until smooth.
• Reheat to serve, grating in fresh black pepper and nutmeg.

Banana 'Ice-Cream'

A quick healthy dessert!

You can freeze whole peeled bananas wrapped in greaseproof paper and packed into airtight ziplock bags for a few months, without them going brown.

When you want to make this creamy ice-cream, just put a banana in a blender and pulse until completely mashed!  Serve with a teaspoon of chocolate sauce, or blend with a flavouring.  Idea from here http://www.slice-of-slim.com/2013/04/something-for-nothing-frozen-banana.html.

Shirataki Stirfry

Shirataki noodles are made of konnyaku and so very low in calories but high in dietary fibre.  They are filling and great once in a while, especially if you've eaten unhealthily and want to balance things out a bit!  They have no taste, but soak up other strong flavours.  This stirfry is tasty and quick to make.


Nutrition Data (total for both portions)
Calories 178
Protein 5g
Carbohydrate 30g
Fat 5g
Dietary Fibre 8.5g

Ingredients
1 x 150g pack of shirataki noodles
100g enoki mushrooms
100g leek (one leek)
40g red bell pepper
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp reduced salt soy sauce
a little shichimi

Method

• Rinse the shirataki in a sieve under running water until the fishy smell of the packaging liquid is completely gone.
• Heat the sesame oil in a frying pan, add the shirataki, toss well to coat and then continue to cook over a medium heat whilst finely slicing the leek and the red pepper.
• Add the leek, red pepper, enoki mushrooms, soy sauce and a sprinkle of shichimi and continue to cook for 5 minutes.
• Serve immediately

Chicken and Brown Rice Meatloaf

Nutrition Data (for whole meatloaf, serves 6-8 with a salad or vegetables)
Calories 1094
Protein 101g
Carbohydrate 112g
Fat 25g
Dietary Fibre 11g



Ingredients
400g minced chicken thigh
380g cooked (1 cup dried) brown rice
1 medium onion
1 stick celery
1 egg, beaten
100g non fat yoghurt
1 tsp nutmeg
good grating black pepper

Method

•  Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
•  Dice the onion and celery.
• In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients thoroughly.
• Pack well into a loaf tin; I use a silicone loaf tin, so don't need to grease it.
• Bake in the oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes until golden brown on top.  Drain off the fat and cooking juices.
• Let it stand for 10 minutes, then slice. Serve hot or cold.

Tips
This can be frozen.  Once the meatloaf is cold, finish slicing it and wrap the individual slices in greaseproof paper and put in a freezer bag.  Freeze on the same day.

Kimchi butter stir-fried cabbage with orange

 Ingredients
White cabbage
Broken-up orange, pith removed
kimchi butter for stir-frying (blend 1 quantity unsalted butter with 2 quantities kimchi)

Method

• Slice enough cabbage and put in a wok with some kimchi butter.  Stir fry for a few minutes, adding the broken orange pieces at the end to warm through.
• Serve immediately.

Kimchi buttter and blue brie croissant

Aaaggghhhh, I hear you cry!  That is just not going to work!  My initial reaction was the same when I read  in the Flavour Thesaurus about Momofuku Restaurant in New York selling a kimchi butter and sweet gorgonzola croissant.  Still, I was intrigued, and the more I thought about it the more I could imagine that the flavours could probably temper each other quite well.  So I attempted it and it was delicious!

Of course, there was the snag of obtaining sweet gorgonzola, otherwise known as dolcelatte.  You can relatively easily buy danish blue, gorgonzola and other strong blue cheese in Japan, I couldn't get dolcelatte.

I processed kimchi with some butter in my blender, and was astonished at the change in taste.  I love kimchi and will quite happily eat it from the jar, but blending it with butter amazingly transformed the tart spiciness into sweet tangy creaminess.  Hmmm, this could work, I thought!

With misgivings, I tried using regular gorgonzola, unsurprisingly it didn't work.  What I settled on in the end was Gerard Fromage Bleu which is like a blue brie, and available from Yamaya.  Delicious! If anyone tries this with dolcelatte, please let me know!


Ingredients
1 quantity butter
2 quantities kimchi
slices of blue brie
croissants

Method

•  Blend the kimchi and butter in a blender, putting it into the microwave for intervals of 10-20 seconds if the butter is too hard.
• Split the croissant with a sharp knife.  Spread both sides with the kimchi butter.
• Top with thin slices of blue brie and sandwich the two halves together.
• Enjoy! 

Gooey Scrambled Egg and Spam on Brown Rice

Hmmm.  This is my semi-healthy answer to McDonald's absolutely delicious Sausage and Egg McMuffin breakfast set!  On Saturdays I have an early start, and got into a habit of treating myself to a sausage & egg muffin and hash brown from McDonald's.  Delicious, but 600 calories, 36g fat, 45g carbohydrate, 22g protein and 4g dietary fibre for the lot (was surprised it was so high in fibre actually!)

I needed a healthier alternative.  But most importantly, it had to be quick to make.  With this recipe, the rice is set to be ready in the rice cooker just before I go out.  Boil the kettle to heat up the thermos.  Make the egg mixture, spoon in the rice and top with the egg mixture.  Ready to go!

Nutrition Data
Calories 318
Carbohydrate 23g
Protein 17g
Fat 17g
Dietary Fibre 3g 

Still very high in fat, but a better treat! I make double the quantities for my thermos, and eat the rest at lunchtime with a green salad.


Ingredients (serves 1)
85g cooked brown rice (1/4 cup dried rice) 
1 medium egg
14g grated cheese
3g butter
35g spam lite
56g kimchi

Method

• Chop the spam into 1cm cubes.
• If cooking to take to work, pour boiling water into the thermos, and put the lid on.
• About 10 minutes before the rice is cooked, melt the butter in a saucepan, beat in the egg, and stir in the spam, cheese and kimchi.  Keep stirring until thickened but still very glossy and of a pourable consistency.  Take off the heat.
• Pour the water out of the thermos, pile in the rice and top with the egg mixture.  Close the thermos immediately!
• I find that, even after taking half out for breakfast, it is still pretty warm 5 hours later.  Absolutely delicious!

Fruity Coleslaw

This is a slightly sweet, creamy but healthy coleslaw.  My quantities make an awful lot (about 8 large salad-sized servings), but it keeps well in the fridge for about 5 days in a covered container.  Using Hellmans mayonnaise is very important for the taste; this is sold in import food shops in Japan under the Best Foods label. Actual weights for mayonnaise and mustard were guessed.

Nutrition Data (per serving)
Calories 100
Carbohydrate 16g
Protein 4g
Fat 3g
Dietary Fibre 3g

Ingredients
450g fat free yoghurt
1 heaped dessertspoon (30g) Hellmanns mayonnaise
1 heaped teaspoon (10g) wholegrain mustard
1/2 white cabbage
1 medium carrot
3 medium radishes
1 large red apple
25g raisins

Method

• Mix the yoghurt, mayonnaise, mustard and raisins together.
• Shred the cabbage, carrot, radishes and apple.
• Mix everything together in a large container, making sure to coat the fruit and vegetables well.
• Store covered in the fridge.

Tip

If you make, or want to make, a lot of salads, it is well worth buying an electric vegetable slicer.  Last year, I bought one intending to eat more salads but was worried that the salad motivation would wear off!  Actually, because it means that it's much quicker to make salads, I eat even more than I expected!

Sweet Chilli Lentil and Smoked Salmon Warm Salad

This is very filling and is high in protein and fibre.  The pomegranate seeds and chilli sauce give a lovely tang against the lentils, and the seeds look beautiful too.

In the ingredients list I've specified 200g cooked lentils, I'm not sure what the dry weight would be because I cooked up so many for the week!


Nutrition Data
Calories 384
Carbohydrate 59g
Protein 28g
Fat 3g
Dietary Fibre 19g


Ingredients (serves 1)
200g cooked brown lentils
1/2 red onion, sliced
50g spinach
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
40g smoked salmon
30g pomegranate seeds
1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

Method

• If not already done, rinse the lentils and cook them for about 30 minutes in boiling water.
• Meanwhile, cook the onions in the balsamic vinegar and some water until soft and caramelized.
• Wash the spinach and tear into the lentils.  Add the onions.  Mix in the sweet chilli sauce.
• Mix in pieces of smoked salmon and the pomegranate seeds.
• Serve warm or cold.

Sage and Onion Stuffing

When I was in England last summer, I brought back some stuffing mix, which I ate with some roast gammon on New Year's Day, and then cold over the next few days...

This gave me the taste again for roast gammon, stuffing and cranberry sauce (I'm using lingonberry sauce from Ikea) sandwiches.  Not having any more stuffing mix, I made my own today from some of my own bread that I hadn't eaten and had gone stale.  Here is the recipe.


Ingredients
180g stale bread (only because that's how much I had!), made into breadcrumbs
a good teaspoon of sage, to taste
1 medium onion
1 medium apple
25g walnuts
25g raisins

Method

•  Preheat the oven to 170C.
• Put the breadcrumbs into a large bowl and stir in the sage.
• Grate the onion and apple and stir into the breadcrumbs.
• Crumble in the walnuts, and stir in the raisins.
• Mix everything together well.
• Spoon into a greased shallow baking tray and bake for about 45 minutes until brown and crispy on top.

Tobiko and Soft Cheese Rye Bread

A straightforward snack!  Cut 3 slices of Delba Wholegrain rye bread in half.  Spread with soft cheese, and sprinkle a little tobiko on top.

Tobiko - Flying Fish Roe

I used to think flying fish roe (tobiko/tobiran) was not worth buying because there is a lot of it, and you only use a little in recipes.  However if you freeze it in small containers, it defrosts easily with no deterioration.

What is it like?  Well, each egg is tiny, less than 1mm in diameter.  They are hard crunchy sparkling red-orange jewels which explode in your mouth with a salty lemony taste.  They make a beautiful garnish.

This is about 40g for 298yen.

Scrambled Eggs on an English Muffin

I used to make scrambled eggs sometimes, using cream, as a special treat.  Using milk or cream, and cooking slowly was the method I used for a long time.  Then I discovered the Australian chef Bill Granger's recipe http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1720/perfect-scrambled-eggs.

Indeed delicious, and very quick too!  Incidentally I first went to Bill's in Sydney for dinner about 5 years ago and was very impressed.  A couple of years back I went for breakfast at Bill Granger's relatively newly-opened restaurant in Shichirigahama, the Shonan Beach area of Kanagawa.  This was the following day after visiting Enoshima.  By that stage it had been open for 10 months, I got there just before the opening time at 8am and had to queue for about an hour for a table...  Make a reservation!  That day I had sweetcorn fritters which I found a bit too rich for breakfast...  Apparently, he's now opened his 2nd restaurant in Japan in the Red Brick Warehouse in Yokohama.  http://www.bills-jp.net/bills_english/index.html.

However...  This morning I discovered a new and phenomenally quick method of making scrambled eggs, and I think I actually prefer them.  This is adapted from the British chef Nigel Slater.

Ingredients for one muffin
One English muffin, split and toasted
a small knob of butter
one egg
about 25g grated cheese

Method

• Over  a medium heat, melt the butter.
• Turn off the heat and beat in one egg.
• Stir in the cheese, turn on the heat again if necessary to finish melting the cheese and setting the egg, but remember that the saucepan is probably hot enough to continue cooking the egg.
• Spoon over the unbuttered muffin and eat whilst hot.

Spam, tofu and potato salad

This was tonight's spam dinner, and very tasty it was too!  Those of you who are sharp-eyed will notice a green olive in the bowl, that does not appear in the ingredients...  Yes, I love olives but they just were too much in this recipe.  The recipe is much better without them.

A note on the mayonnaise...  This should be a mayonnaise that you could enjoy on a teaspoon on its own, no cheap salad dressing here!  I recommend Hellmanns, sold in Japan under the Best Foods label.


Ingredients (serves 1)
New potatoes
100g spam, chopped
100g firm tofu, chopped
dollop of mayonnaise
good teaspoon wholegrain mustard
2-3 chopped garlic chives (nira in Japan)

Method

• Boil the potatoes, drain, then chop roughly.
• Mix the mayonnaise and mustard in a small bowl, then stir into the hot potatoes.
• Stir in the spam, tofu and nira.
• Serve warm or cold.

Spam

What can I say, I have a confession...  I've always has a sneaky love of Spam, despite the out-and-out derision it gets  in the UK these days.  My recent trip to Okinawa, where it is a common ingredient, re-ignited my love of Spam!  I predict that over the next few weeks, I'm going to be posting a whole lot of Spam recipes, inspiration coming from http://www.spam-jp.com/recipes/occasion/index.html.

Look at the photo - a spam riceball!

Chilli Gammon and Potato Stew

This was inspired by The Flavour Thesaurus and its description of a Korean soup called Gamjatang.  I googled Gamjatang and found that it was a spicy soup made from pork bones, potatoes and other vegetables and spices.

Not having half the herbs and spices, and not even wanting to cook with pork bones, I came up with this adaptation.  It was delicious, and hopefully the fermenting kimchi will have the usual effect of helping my cold!  All of the ingredients are according to taste...

Ingredients (serves 1)
1-2 potatoes
roughly chopped gammon
Stock cube
a bit of garlic puree
a bit more ginger puree
a tablespoon of kimchi
1/4 chopped white cabbage



Method

• Halve the potatoes and boil them in water with a stock cube until almost tender.
• Add the garlic and ginger puree, the chopped gammon, the cabbage and the kimchi, and simmer with the lid on for about 5 minutes until the gammon is hot and the cabbage is cooked.
• Serve immediately, steaming hot.

The Flavour Thesaurus

One of my brothers gave me an interesting cookery book for Christmas, The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit.  It's not exactly a cookery book; instead it's a commentary on food pairings, some obvious, some definitely not so obvious.  She chose 99 foods/herbs/spices and researched 980 pairings of them, and described them in mouth-watering detail!  And with the description of the flavour pairings come the ideas and the combinations...!  Thank you!

Making Mince Pies in Japan

This year I decided to make some mince pies for Christmas, because I find the shop-bought ones way too sweet!  As I didn't have much time, I did cheat with the mincemeat but if you want to make your own I recommend Delia's mincemeat recipe that I used to use in England.  Unless you have a 12 hole yorkshire pudding tin not something you'll find in Japan!), you will also need to find some shallow rigid paper or foil cases and a baking tray.    Tins for baking muffins are too deep.  I got my cases from my local DIY centre and Tokyu Hands.  Baking in cases does actually make it  a lot easier to freeze the baked pies.  You will also need a rolling pin and two cutters, for the base and the top.  I used a 7.5cm diameter round one (which was the largest I could find, but actually a little too small), and a star for the top.

To make these allow yourself about 3 hours.


Ingredients
For the pastry
200g plain flour (ie in Japan, not bread flour)
pinch of salt
100g butter
extra flour for rolling
a little milk to brush the tops
a little brown sugar to sprinkle

For the mincemeat (cheating)
411g jar of Robertson's Classic Mincemeat from Kaldi Coffee Farm
1/2 apple, peeled
30-40g dried cranberries
1 tbsp brandy

Method

• Wrap the measured butter in foil and put in the freezer for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl.
• Grate the butter into the flour, holding it in flour and dipping it into the flour to make it easier to grate.  Stir the butter through the flour making sure it is well covered.  Add cold water a little at the time and bring the pastry together with your hands.  It should hold well together, but not be too sticky.  Add a little extra flour if you find you've accidentally added too much water.
• Wrap the ball of pastry in cling film or a plastic bag, and leave in the fridge to rest. 
• Prepare the mincemeat.  Scoop out the jar into a large mixing bowl, grate in the apple, add the dried cranberries and brandy and mix well.
• Preheat an oven to 190C.
• Spread flour on a work surface.  Divide the pastry into four smaller pieces to make it easier to work with.  I'm lucky to have a pretty big kitchen in Japan, even by British standards, but even so my largest work surface area is only a square with side 35cm (yes, I just measured!)
• Roll the pastry as thin as possible without it breaking.  Cut equal quantities of circles and stars.
• Put a circle of pastry in each case, and fill with a teaspoon of mincemeat.  Cover with a star and brush with milk.  Repeat until all the pastry is used up.  I made 32 pies, using up the mincemeat exactly and with a tiny remaining bit of pastry.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes and cool on a wire rack.  I had to bake two batches of 16.
• These freeze well when cooled.
• Reheat from frozen at 220C, covered with foil, for about 5 minutes.

Beef Casserole

Well, I've been busy so it's been a long time since I've posted any recipes. The temperature is now dipping below 20C so it's feeling cold to me now!  That, and I also finally have a long weekend to sort myself out and enjoy a bit of cooking!

Yesterday I decided that today was going to be a beef casserole day, something I haven't eaten for many years!  After reading various recipes and taking out the bits I like, here is the finished recipe! 

I have very happy memories of hot dumplings made with suet, but these potato ones are healthier, if indeed you can even buy suet in Japan!  You can add more vegetables as you like, but the carrot and onions are essential! No picture yet - because I didn't follow my advice about making sure the pot didn't run dry...  Just remembered it in time, still delicious but it was a bit too dry and caramelised!

Ingredients (serves 1 very hungry Alison with 2 too many dumplings!)
200g stewing beef
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, cut into 1/2cm discs
1 large mushroom, sliced thickly
1 tsp garlic paste
1 generous tsp marmite (you could use a beef stock cube)
200ml boiling water
2 medium potatoes
25g grated cheese
1 tbsp flour
2-3 tbsp maybe of breadcrumbs
1 egg

Method

• In a large saucepan, heat the vegetable oil until hot.  Add the beef and brown quickly on all sides.  Add the chopped onions and garlic paste and fry until golden brown.  Add the carrot and mushroom, and season with thyme and a good grating of freshly ground black pepper.
• Meanwhile, boil the water and mix with the marmite or stock cube.  Pour into the saucepan, bring to the boil, then cover and leave to simmer for one hour, adding about 100ml more of boiling water every now and then if you feel it needs it.
• After starting the casserole simmering, halve the potatoes and boil in water for 15-20 minutes until tender.  Remove from the pan and mash in a bowl with the raw egg, cheese, flour and breadcrumbs.  Season with freshly ground black pepper.
•  After one hour, shape the potato mixture into balls, add a little more boiling water, and lay the potato dumplings on top of the casserole.  Re-cover and continue to simmer for 15 minutes.
•  Serve immediately in a large bowl.