Fish Trip Cafe

This crispy deep-fried cod warm salad has the perfect combination of flavour and texture.

Also the refreshing soy sauce dressing adds brightness to the dish.

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— Fried Fish Salad with Soy Sauce Dressing (serves 2)—

200g cod fillets

3 tablespoons corn flour

Salt and pepper

Oil for deep-frying

100g mooli (daikon) radish

1 carrot

1/4 red onion

40g wild rocket

*****

— for Soy Sauce Dressing —

3 tablespoons light soy sauce

3 tablespoons virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon honey

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To make the dressing: combine all the dressing ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.

Julienne the mooli and carrot. Slice the red onion very thinly.

Cut the cod fillets into bite sized pieces, season with salt and pepper. Coat them with the corn flour.

Heat the deep-fried oil to 350F/180C, and deep fry the cod until light golden and crispy. Drain on kitchen paper.

Place the rocket, mooli, carrot and red onion on a plate, arrange the deep-fried cod on the top and pour the dressing over the cod and salad.

Sleepy Sunday. I love being lazy today.

This is a very easy but delicious chicken dish.

The combination of miso and honey makes an appetizing sweet & savoury flavour.

I’ll have another nap after the meal. Zzz…

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— Miso & Honey Roast Chicken (serves 2) —

4 chicken thighs (about 500g)

2 tablespoons miso paste (medium-coloured)

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon sake (rice wine)

1/2 tablespoon sesame oil

Some spring onion, finely sliced

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Preheat the oven to 350F/180C.

Mix the miso, sake and honey in a small bowl. Set aside.

Trim the excess skin and fat from the chicken thighs (leave just enough skin to cover the meat). Lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper and coat the chicken with the sesame oil.

Place the chicken in a shallow roasting tin in a single layer. Bake for about 30 minutes.

Coat the miso mixture on top side of the chicken. Place under a grill and cook for 5 minutes until the miso paste became nicely brown.

Garnish with finely sliced spring onion.

Okonomiyaki is a very popular Japanese savory pancake.

The name “Okonomiyaki” means “cook what/as you like”. The base ingredients are usually flour-batter and cabbage, then your favourite toppings (meat, seafood and vegetable etc.) are blended into the batter. I chose vegetables and cheese for my Okonomiyaki this time.

It’s a hot summer day in London today, almost too hot for me, my head is spinning around, and the sauces are spinning around on Okonomiyaki too.

Spinning around round round.

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— Okonomiyaki (serves 4) —

— for the batter —

150g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

200ml dashi stock (about dashi, vegetarian dashi)

50g yam, peeled and grinded (option)

*****

4 eggs

700g cabbage

100g spring onion

8 dried shiitake mushrooms

4 tablespoons red pickled ginger (beni-shoga)

100g cheddar cheese

Vegetable oil for frying

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— for the sauce —

*Okonomiyaki-sauce is available at Japanese grocery store, or you can make the similar sauce; mix the following ingredients

4 tablespoons brown sauce

1 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon ketchup

1 tablespoon brown sugar

*****

Some mayonnaise

Some green nori-seaweed sprinkle (aonori)

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Mix the flour, baking powder, the dashi stock and grinded yam in a bowl. Cover with cling film and rest the batter for at least 1 hour in the fridge.

Meanwhile, prepare the toppings; soak the dried shiitake mushrooms for 15 minutes into warm water, remove stems and chop into finely. Cut the cabbage into 0.2 inch pieces, finely chop the spring onion and finely chop the red pickled ginger and cut the cheddar cheese into 0.3 inch cubes.

To make 1 set of okonomiyaki, place 1/4 amount of the batter in another bowl, add 1/4 amount of the chopped cabbage, spring onion, shiitake mushroom, red pickled ginger, cheddar cheese and 1 egg. Stir and mix everything together.

Heat the oil in a frying-pan over medium-low heat, pour the batter in the pan and make a round shape, around 0.8 inch thick.

Cook for around 5-7 minutes, carefully flip over and cook on the other side for a further 5-7 minutes.

Transfer the okonomiyaki onto a plate, pour the okonomiyaki-sauce and mayonnaise, sprinkle green nori-seaweed over the sauce.

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)

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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.

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

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— 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.

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— 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.

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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.

Pork and ginger go well together, “Ginger pork (pan-fried pork with ginger sauce)” is Japan’s national favourite home cooking dish.

This recipe is slightly different from the traditional ginger pork recipe, but I think I prefer this version more.

Apple adds fruity flavour to the ginger sauce and makes the pork tender.

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— Pan-fried Apple Ginger Pork (serves 2) —

300g pork loin or shoulder steak

1 apple (small), grated

2 tablespoon soya sauce

2 tablespoon white wine

1 teaspoon honey

1 tablespoon ginger, grated

Some corn flour

Salt and pepper

Some vegetable oil for frying

Some chopped parsley for garnish

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Place the grated apple, soya sauce, white wine and honey in a bowl and mix. Set aside.

Cut the pork steak into bite sized pieces and sprinkle with salt and peper.

Lightly dust the pork with some corn flour.

Heat some oil in a frying-pan, fry the pork over medium heat until lightly browned.

Pour the apple mixture into a frying-pan, stir and cook for 1 minutes.

Add the grated ginger and mix everything.

Sprinkle with finely chopped parsley.

Green tea powder – also known as Matcha – is traditionally used in the Japanese tea ceremony and a popular sweets ingredient in Japan now.

This is a chilled dessert custard that has rich and mildly bitter green tea flavour and creamy in texture.

The beautiful natural green colour and the scent of Matcha make me calm.

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— Green Tea Crème (serves 4-5)—

1&1/2 tablespoon green tea powder

100ml milk

150ml single cream

50g caster sugar

2 eggs

1 egg york

whipped cream, to serve (optional)

green tea powder, to serve (optional)

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Preheat the oven 160C/320F.

Mix the green tea powder with 3 tablespoons of warm water until dissolved. Set aside.

Place the milk, single cream in a small saucepan oven medium heat until just comes to the boil. Add the dissolved green tea and mix.

Place the eggs, egg york and sugar in a bowl and mix until well combined. Gradually add the milk mixture, mix to combine.

Strain the mixture through a fine-meshed strainer and pour into the cups.

Place in a deep baking dish and pour in enough hot water.

Bake for about 30 minutes until set.

Remove from the baking dish and refrigerate until cool.

Serve topped with the whipped cream and green tea powder if desired.

Light up Japan recipe –No.4

This unique appetizer has a cheese-like flavour and texture.

Just put a tofu into miso paste (fermented soya beans paste) and then miso does all the remaining work.

You can use any kind of tofu as you prefer. Firm tofu will be something like soft cheddar and soft tofu will be creamier. Also any kind of miso paste. Usually the light coloured miso has sweet and light flavour and dark coloured miso has strong mature flavour.

Very easy to make this rich and savory flavoured healthy snack. Suitable for vegans too.

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— Miso Marinated Tofu —

400g tofu

150g white miso paste

150g dark or aka miso paste

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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 30 minutes.

Mix the white miso and the dark miso in a bowl.

Spread the 1/3 of the miso mixture into a container, place the dried tofu, and coat all side with the miso mixture, cover and refrigerate for overnight. You can marinate it up to 5 days. The longer marinate the tofu will be saltier.

Lightly wipe off any excess miso mixture, cut into bite sized pieces and serve.

* The miso mixture can be used 3 times for the marinade.

This is a unique, creamy low-fat pasta dish and it’s suitable for vegans.

Soya milk and miso (fermented soya bean paste) go well together, because they are made from same ingredient. And a spoon of miso paste brings a great savory and richness to the sauce.

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— Miso & Soya Milk Pasta with Mushrooms (serves 2) —

160g shiitake mushroom & shimeji mushrooms (Shiitake mushrooms: sliced. Shimeji mushrooms: base discarded, mushrooms separated. )

1/2 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped

200g tagliatelle

1 tablespoon miso paste

300 ml soya milk

2 tablespoons white wine

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

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Cook the tagliatelle as directed on the package. Drain and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a flying-pan over medium heat, add the garlic and mushrooms and fry for 3-4 minutes.

Add the white wine into the flying-pan, bring to a boil over high heat.

Turn the heat to low, pour in the soya milk and heat until piping hot. Add the miso paste and stir until the miso is melted.

Add the cooked tagliatelle and chopped parsley into the flying-pan, tossing everything together.