Fish Trip Cafe

I saw a man who looks exactly like “Curry-pan-man” in the street yesterday.

“Curry-pan-man” is a famous cartoon hero in Japan. His head is made from curry filled bread. He is hot-tempered and very hot curry sports from his head when he fight the enemy.

I was obsessed with curry bread after I saw him, and decided to make it.

This is a very popular food in Japan (as it became a hero character), it’s a filling snack and you can quickly get enough energy to be like Curry-pan-man.

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— Curry Bread (6 pieces) —

— for filling —

200ml curry sauce (your favourite sauce)

1/2 onion, finely chopped

1/2 carrot, finely chopped

1/2 egg, beaten

Some breadcrumbs

Vegetable oil for deep frying

*****

— for dough —

220g plain flour

4g dry yeast

1/2 egg, beaten

20g butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

20g sugar

Some vegetable oil

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— to make filling —

Heat the vegetable oil in a frying-pan oven medium heat, add the finely chopped onion and carrot and stir-fry until cooked. Add the your favourite curry sauce and make thick curry.

(*you can use minced meat instead of vegetables if you like)

*****

Place the dry yeast and a pinch of sugar in a bowl, mix in 100ml lukewarm water. Set aside in a warm place for 5 minutes, until bubbles appear on the surface.

Place the flour, beaten egg, salt and sugar in a different bowl, add the yeast mixture and mix well by hand.

Transfer the dough to a floured surface board and knead for about 10 minutes.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and roll to coat. Cover the bowl with cling film and and let rise about 40 minutes in a warm place.

Punch down the dough and divide it into 6 pieces and shape into balls.

Roll out each piece into a flat round. Put a large spoonful of curry in the center. Gather up the opposite edges of dough and pinch to seal well. Repeat this for the other pieces.

Coat all sides of the bun with the beaten egg, then coat with breadcrumbs.

Lay the buns on a tray, leave in a warm place for about 20 minutes.

Heat the oil to 340F, and deep-fry the buns until light golden on both sides, place it on kitchen paper to remove excess oil.

Crackers are blooming.

Carrot and cheese flowers.

Yum!

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— Carrot & Cheese Crackers —

150g plain flour

100g carrot, grated

3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

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Preheat oven to 180C/350F.

Mix the flour, grated parmesan cheese and salt in a bowl.

Add the grated carrot and vegetable oil in the bowl and mix all together.

Place the dough on a lightly floured board and roll out about 2mm thick.

Cut out with cookie cutters  and Prick each crackers with a fork. Lay them on a baking try lined with baking paper.

Bake for about 20 minutes.

Allow to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

I had a beautiful mango soup at a Thai restaurant when I was having a short break in Berlin over the last weekend.

I made a similar soup today. I wanted to make it before I forget the flavour.

This soup is sweet and a bit sour, creamy and spicy, it has a subtle charm just like Berlin city.

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— Spicy Mango Soup (serves 2) —

1 ripe mango, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1 carrot (about 150g), chopped

300ml vegetable stock

300ml coconut milk

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon curry powder

Some dried mint leaves for garnish

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Melt the butter over medium heat and sauté the chopped onion for 3 minutes until slightly softened.

Add the chopped carrot and chopped mango and sauté for another 5 minutes.

Add the vegetable stock and bring to boil, reduce the heat to low, stir in the curry powder and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Remove from the heat and leave to cool for 10 minutes.

Transfer the soup to a blender and process until smooth.

Return the soup to the sauce pan, stir in the coconut milk and season with a little bit of salt and pepper, and warm through over low heat.

Sprinkle with dried mint leaves.

This is also a very traditional Japanese dish and it’s suitable for vegans.

You can make dashi stock from dried shiitake mushrooms too. It’s very easy to make; just soak them in lukewarm water for an hour, and then, here is the umami-rich dashi stock.

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— Soba Noodles with Vegetable Tempra (serves 4) —

400g soba noodles

Some spring onion, finely chopped

Vegetable oil for deep-frying

*****

— for noodle soup —

6-7 dried shiitake mushrooms

1200ml lukewarm water

50ml soya sauce

50ml mirin

*****

— for vegetable tempra —

90g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

150ml water

2 ice cubes

4 shiitake mushrooms, stemmed

100g red pepperr

100g butter nut squash

8 fine beans

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— to make noodle soup —

Shiitake soup stock: Place the dried shiitake mushrooms in the lukewarm water, leave for 1 hour at least, strain with a fine meshed sieve (if you don’t have a time, boil the dried shiitake mushrooms once and leave for 10 minutes).

Place the shiitake soup stock, soya sauce and mirin in a pan and bring to the boil, turn down the heat to low and  simmer the noodle soup about 2 minutes.

*****

— to make vegetable tempra —

Heat the oil in a deep pan to 340F.

Cut the red pepper and butter nut squash into bite-sized slices.

Combine the flout and baking powder in a bowl.

Place 150ml water and 2 ice cubes in another bowl, add the flour mixture, mix together very lightly with chopsticks.

Lightly dip ingredients in the butter and immediately deep-fry them until crisp.

Drain excess oil on kitchen papers.

*****

Cook the soba noodles in a large pot of boiling water until cooked (follow the package directions) and drain.

Place the cooked soba noodles in a deep bowl, sprinkle chopped spring onion, pour in the hot noodle soup, arrange the vegetable tempra on top.

This is a very traditional and popular Japanese dish. Deep-fried tofu with dashi-based sauce.

Dashi means ‘Japanese soup stock’, and it’s the most important element of the authentic Japanese taste and many Japanese dishes include dashi.

Classic dashi is made using dried kelp and dried bonito flakes, and it’s not difficult to make, but I guess it quite difficult to get right ingredients for dashi in the UK.

Ummm, let’s take it easy, and get instant dashi powder this time! (I’ll write how to make authentic dashi another day)

Instant dashi powder is available in most oriental grocery shops, and if you are vegan “konbu dashi” is also available (konbu means kelp seaweed).

Usually, 1 teaspoon of dashi powder is used for 2-3 cups (400ml to 600ml) of hot water.

So, if you know what is dashi, then you can make miso soups and so many kind of Japanese dishes.

Itadakimasu (“bon appetit” in Japanese).

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— Agedashi Tofu (serves 2) —

1 pack of medium firm tofu (about 300g)

2 tablespoons corn flour

Oil for frying

Some chives, finely chopped

Some ginger, grated

Some mooli (daikon) radish, grated

*****

— for the sauce —

100ml dashi

2 tablespoons soya sauce

2 tablespoons mirin* (*sweet cooking alcohol; available in oriental grocery shops)

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Wrap the tofu in a clean tea towel or some layer of kitchen papers, and place a heavy thing (such as a pan) on top of it to force out excess water, then leave it for about 20 minutes.

To make the sauce: place the dashi, soya sauce, mirin in a small pan and heat gently. Keep the sauce warm until ready to serve.

Cut the tofu into 6 even blocks and coat them with the corn flour.

Heat the oil to 340F, and deep-fry the tofu until light golden, place it on kitchen paper to remove excess oil.

Place the deep fried tofu on a plate and pour the sauce over and garnish with finely chopped chives, grated mooli radish and grated ginger.

“Chicken Teriyaki Burger” is a popular fast-food menu in Japan.

It might be a good idea to sell it in the UK… I was thinking that while I was eating this chicken burger.

Suddenly started pouring down rain. And, the bird window ornament looks like crying. I felt a little bit guilty.

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— Chicken Teriyaki Burger (serves 2) —

250g chicken mince meat

30g (about 2 stems) spring onion, finely chopped

1/2 egg, beaten

1/2 teaspoon ginger, grated

1/2 tablespoon corn flour

1/2 soya sauce

1/2 sake rice wine

A pinch of salt and pepper

Some vegetable oil (for frying)

2 burger buns

Some lettuce

Some tomato

Some mayonnaise

*****

— for Teriyaki sauce —

3 tablespoons soya sauce

1 & 1/2 honey

2 tablespoons sake rice wine

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Place the chicken mince and a pinch of salt and pepper in a bowl, mix thoroughly by hand until quite sticky.

Add the finely chopped spring onion, beaten egg, grated ginger, corn flour, soya sauce and sake in the bowl and mix everything well.

Divided the mixture into 2 and shape them into flattened rounds. Make shallow hollow in the centre of each.

Put some oil into a heated frying-pan, fry on both sides of the hamburgers over medium heat until golden brown and cooked. Transfer the hamburgers to a plate.

Discard the oil from the frying-pan, turn down the heat to low, add all the Teriyaki sauce ingredients and cook for about 2 minutes until the sauce being to bubble. Bring back the hamburgers into the frying-pan and toss well with the Teriyaki sauce.

Serve the burgers in toasted buns with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise.

“Marusei butter sandwich” is the best and long-seller sweet product in Hokkaido where I was born.

I was fascinated with the delicious rum & raisin cream even when I was a little child.

I tried to remember the flovour and made the similar cookies.

Yes, I think it’s close enough.

But I miss my hometown after I’ve eaten few cookies.

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— Rum Raisin Cream Sandwich Cookies —

100g plain flour

30g almond powder

60g unsalted butter, softened

40g sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg yolk

*****

— for the rum raisin cream filling —

80g raisins

4 tablespoons dark rum

60g unsalted butter, softened

70g white chocolate

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— to make the cookie dough —

Place the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat together until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg yolk.

Sift together the flour, almond powder and baking powder into the butter mixture and mix everything until combined.

Shape the cookie dough into a log, approximately 2 inches in diameter. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate about 2 hours.

Unwrap the dough, slices into 0.2 inch thick and place on a baking try lined with baking paper.

Bake in a preheated 180C/356F for about 15 minutes until golden. Leave to cool the cookies.

*****

— to make the rum raisin cream filling —

Place the raisins in a bowl, pour in the rum and cover with cling film, leave to soak at room temperature for about 2 hours.

Set a bowl on top of hot water and melt the white chocolate. Let it cool down a bit.

Place the butter in another bowl, beat until light and smooth.

Add the melted white chocolate into the butter, mix them well.

Add the rum-raisin into the bowl, mix everything together and leave the cream mixture until a little bit harder.

*****

Spread the rum raisin cream filling over half the cookies and top with the remainder.

Refrigerate them for few hours until chilled.

A massive hangover… I need to get rid of this headache from hell.

Gazpacho to the rescue!

This is the greatest natural remedy for hangover.

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— Gazpacho (serves 2) —

5 tomatoes, chopped

1/2 cucumber, peeled and deseeded

1 red pepper, seeded and chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed

1/2 small green chili, chopped (optional)

1 slice of white bread, crust removed

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon wine vinegar

A pinch of salt

*****

— for the garnish —

Red onions, finely chopped

Cucumbers, finely chopped

Red pepper, finely chopped

Green pepper, finely chopped

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Soak the bread in cold water for 5 minutes, squeeze out the water.

Place the bread, tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, garlic and chili in a blender and process until combined and smooth.

Add the olive oil and wine vinegar, season with a pinch of salt and mix everything.

Refrigerate until cold.

Serve with the finely chopped vegetables.

My mum always told me that onions make my brain work good.

I don’t know if there is any evidence of it, or maybe she just tried to make me eat onions.

Anyway, I eat onions today.

I need to be a little bit clever this week.

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— Caramelised Onion & Goat Cheese Tarts (4 x 4 inch tarts) —

1 onion

100g goat cheese

200g puff pastry

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon olive oil

Some fresh thyme leaves

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Preheat oven 200C/400F.

Slice the goat cheese thickly (4 slices).

Slice the onion thickly (4 slices). Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat, place the onion slices and cook for 3-4 minutes each side until they start to soften.

Roll the puff pastry on a light floured work surface into a sheet. Cut 4 x 4 inch rounds from the pastry and place on a baking try lined with baking paper.

Place the goat cheese slice on the middle of pastry and put the fried onion on top.

Mix the balsamic vinegar and brown sugar in a bowl and drizzle over the onion slices. Sprinkle the fresh thyme leaves.

Bake for 20-30 minutes until puffed and golden brown.