Moon Viewing Noodles

27Sep08

Though I missed it this year, in Japan, Tsukimi is a festival honoring the first full moon of Autumn. I used a recipe in my book as a guide to making my own “moon-viewing noodles.” The original recipe—oyako udon—is a bowl of noodles topped with chicken and an egg; oyako means “parents and children”and the chicken is clearly the parent of the egg.

Filed under: Japanese Food, Noodles, Udon   |  6 Comments
Tags: Japanese Recipes, Menrui

Crisp Chuka Soba with Vegetables and Seafood

24Sep08

I remember my mother at the kitchen table having a coffee klatch by phone with my aunt, snacking on a slice of homemade cardamom bread and she’d say, “This tastes like more!”
This simple meal, with shrimp, sweet peas, crunchy and soft noodles is like that—”This tastes like more!.”

Filed under: Asian Influenced Food, Fish and Seafood, Grilling and Pan-Frying, Japanese Food, Noodles, Ramen, Western Influenced food, Yakimono   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: chuka soba, Japanese Recipes, Menrui, shrimp

Soba Sushi

22Sep08

This is an unusual dish: sushi made with soba noodles rather than rice! Apparently it’s not well known even in Japan. Funny, but there are recipes in two of my cookbooks: The Japanese Kitchen, and Washoku!

Filed under: Japanese Food, Noodles, Soba, Sushi   |  4 Comments
Tags: Japanese Recipes, Menrui

Daisy Tofu Dumplings

06Sep08

This is a fun Japanese recipe for tofu dumplings. Ms. Shimbo says that her students named them Tofu Daisies because they resemble the flower! They are very pretty, not at all fussy to make, and very tasty.

Filed under: Japanese Food, Noodles, Steaming, Tofu, chicken   |  8 Comments
Tags: appetizers, dumplings, Japanese Recipes, Menrui, Mushimono

Hiyashi Chuka Soba: Japanese Summertime Noodles

10Aug08

These ramen noodles are very popular in Japan, but apparently they are served only in the summer. Below is the recipe as written in my project book, but Ms. Shimbo has many suggestions for different toppings. Note that she says this dish always includes the thin omelette strips. You can use seafood (crab meat, shrimp, or squid), meat (chashu, ham, chicken) and a variety of vegetables (asparagus, bell peppers, broccoli, carrot, chard, cucumber, fennel, lettuce, spinach, wakame, zucchini…).

Filed under: Eggs, Harusame Mung Bean Noodles, Japanese Food, Ramen   |  11 Comments
Tags: Japanese Recipes, Menrui