Back in March I joined a cooking club called the HouseHold6 (HH6) Cooking Club. We are a group of military spouse food bloggers hoping to bring some HOOAH/OORAH!! in our own chow hall by tackling monthly culinary themes and challenges. Of course, I missed the first challenge because I was way busy being in my last trimester and birthing a baby. :)
So, I'm going to join in the April Challenge: Create a meal or a dish from a country you have been stationed in, lived in, visited, or would like to visit (America excluded). It can be a main dish, side dish, dessert, drink, or all of the above. Tell us the story of why you chose it and if it has any special meaning to you or your family.
I am going to cheat a little here and repost a dish I made a few years ago while we were still living in Japan (in the interest of time...I have a one month old and for those of you with children, I'm sure you know the ticking time bomb theory of baby's naptime). This was pre-food blog and was originally posted on my family blog. The hardest part is deciding which dish to share...although because it's springtime, that helps me narrow it down (a lot of my posts were about soups). I'll post links to some of my other japan inspired dishes below the recipe.
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We were stationed in Japan for four years and absolutely loved it. The people, the culture and of course, the delicious food. The japanese people are perfectionists and take pride in everything they do. Whether it's serving you burgers and fries at McDonald's (seriously, the best fries and the best customer service we've ever had at a Mc D's) or ringing you up at the grocery store. We hardly ever encountered bad customer service (unless we were on base).
I love the flavors of Japan and this dish uses one of my favorites: ginger. Here's the original post in it's entirety with some side notes in italics.
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ginger pork with stir fry veggies and brown rice
Last week I stumbled across a delicious looking recipe for gingered pork in my Japanese Home Cooking cookbook. I haven't really cooked anything out of this book since I've had it (and I don't remember when I bought it) and am so glad I finally did. The pork was delicious paired with the stir fried veggies and brown rice. The only recipe I really stuck with was the one for the pork. I improvised a bit on the veggies and served over brown rice instead of sushi rice.
I started the brown rice first, as it takes awhile to cook. I used 3 cups of rice (so I'd have leftovers for fried rice the next day), 3 cups of water, and 2 cups of chicken broth. I then added a couple of whole cracked cloves of garlic and a few slices of ginger to add some flavor.
(My favorite way to cook brown rice comes from Alton Brown and is very hands off: Baked Brown Rice. I unfortunately can't find it on foodtv.com, so here's how you do it: Bring 1t salt, 1T butter, and water and/or broth to a boil. Pour over rice in a 9x13 baking dish. Cover with foil and bake at 375º for one hour. This makes a double batch and the rice freezes very nicely )
For the veggies, I found a stir fry recipe in the cookbook. However, it called for bell peppers, cabbage and bean sprouts and I had snow peas, carrots and broccoli. However, the sauce worked for me and would probably work with any combo of veggies you like. The sauce is 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of instant dashi and 1 tablespoon of mirin. I just added this after stir frying (and steaming) the veggies for a bit. It really added a nice flavor.
Ginger Pork
(buta no shogayaki)
From Japanese Home Cooking by Shunsuke Fukushima
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon mirin
2 tablespoons chicken stock or water
1 lb pork fillet, trimmed of sinew, cut into slices 1/2 inch thick (I used a pork tenderloin, sliced)
1/2 cup peeled and finely grated ginger
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 scallions (shallots/spring onions), thinly sliced
1 teaspoon sesame seeds, for garnish
In a small saucepan over medium-high-heat, combine sugar, soy sauce, mirin and stock or water and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove sauce from heat and set aside.
Dip both sides of each pork slice into grated ginger. Reserve any leftover ginger. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add pork and fry, turning once until pork is no longer pink, 3-4 minutes. Add sauce to pan with any remaining grated ginger and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 minute. Remove pork from pan and divide among 4 warmed plates. Spoon any remaining sauce from pan over slices. Garnish with sliced scallions and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve immediately. (serves 4)
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And here is some of my other japan-inspired food:
Sanshoku-dan (tri-colored rice bowl)
Kinako Chicken Stir Fry (similar to peanut chicken)
Chicken and Leek Soup (really a chinese food inspired dish..but from a restaurant in Japan)
Kobucha Houtou (a fall squash soup)
Kinchin-jiru (soup), Sesame coated fish, and Cold Sesame Noodles
