Snack Test #4: Yuzu Lemon Water

Hi Everyone,

I finally get to post about my so far favorite drink from Japan. I'm literally addicted to this stuff...well maybe not addicted but I totally buy all of them when I go to the store.

DYDO Yuzu Lemon is a citrus flavored water beverage. It's pretty much lemonade but made with yuzu and lemon juice flavor.





















The ingredients are:
water
high fructose corn syrup
sugar
citrus juice (I would say the yuzu)
lemon
honey
trehalose (according to google it is a sugar created by fungi)
flavor (gotta love that generic term)
citric acid
ascorbic acid

All in all....better than what's in a soda, although I do love sprite.

The bottle size is 350 ml and the entire bottle is 100 calories.
It has no carbonation at all.

I just love the flavor of this, it makes me think of sprite or 7up having a baby with lemonade, hey this is what my taste buds tell me so I'm going with it.

It costs $3.29 at the store I go to in Pittsburgh, and I say totally worth it.
It's a bit pricey because of having yuzu in it. Yuzu from what I can see is rather expensive, they had it there once and it was quite a bit of money to get 1-2 yuzu.

Now if you're wondering what yuzu is, it is a citrus fruit from Japan and it sorta looks like a lemon and its taste isn't as sour at least in my opinion. If I could get my hands on it more often I would.

Hope you guys give it a try some day, now if you'll excuse me Rilakkuma and I are going to be indulging in some yuzu lemon goodness. Til next time ^___^

Snack Test #2 & 3: Curry Bread and Chocolate Coronet

Hi Everyone!

So as you probably guessed it I made the trip to the Japanese grocery store in Pittsburgh....again.
But as we know this blog is mainly dedicated to Japanese cooking so you know for blogging science!

While I did get a major haul of vegetables and mixes like hayashi rice mix I decided to try 2 of the breads. They had Curry Bread and Chocolate Coronet.

I never had either before so I was rather excited to taste test them.

This is curry bread and my first thoughts were of Black Butler and how Sebastien makes curry bread in one episode...yes this was totally an anime driven purchase. Now if you've made Japanese curry from the roux block before you'll understand what I'm talking about when I describe this.

First the bread reminded me a little bit like a sandwich bun, it was nice and soft and then I THINK it was fried because of what looked to be a panko (Japanese bread crumbs) covering on the bun.

The inside was filled with vegetable curry. There were little pieces of carrot inside too ^__^
I just love carrots so it was great. The sauce was a mild version of Japanese curry. It reminded me a lot like the S&B mild curry mix. So no spicy kick to it but a very pleasant taste nonetheless.

I tried eating it cool then tried heating it up a little bit in the microwave, it's good cold but far better warmed up.

Next up is the Chocolate Coronet:

So pretty, cute little spiral of soft bread, no it's not donut like it's literally a piece of super soft bread.
It did taste a little sweeter than regular bread but still bread. Not complaining though the chocolate filling inside was more than enough sweetness.

...if you look closely you will see the chocolate reaches into the friggin' tip of the coronet, no sad little end piece of chocolateless bread here my friends.

I think I will totally buy the coronet again, the chocolate filling tasted like chocolate pudding and chocolate icing got together and had a baby it was that good.

The curry bread on the other hand I think I will refrain from buying again although I did highly enjoy it I just think I'd like to try making it myself one of these days. If I fail at it I know where it lives.

If you get a chance and are in the area the Grocery Store is at 5855 Ellsworth Ave. in Pittsburgh.

It's not a ginormous store but it has all your needs for Japanese food ^__^ and the owners are so nice and sweet.

Chicken Nira

Hi Everyone,

For dinner today I made Chicken Nira.
I found a bunch of recipes online for Reba Nira which is Liver and Garlic Chives.
I've always wanted to try this dish but due to having high cholesterol.....I need to avoid it like the plague. So instead I chose to make this dish with Chicken.

This recipe I made from watching and looking up various versions of reba nira I hope you like it.
This should serve 1-2 people, just depends on how hungry you are.

You'll need:

1 chicken breast cut into thin strips.
2 cups of bean sprouts
approximately 1 cup of nira/garlic chives
2 TBS potato starch
1 TSP minced garlic
1/2 TSP ginger paste
2 TBS vegetable oil
2 TBS sesame oil (if you do not have this use vegetable oil)

For the Marinade:
1 TSP ginger paste
1 TSP sake
1 TSP shoyu (soy sauce)
dash of pepper

Sauce:
1 TBS shoyu (soy sauce)
1 TBS sake
1 tsp oyster sauce
1/4 tsp potato starch
dash of pepper

First make sure your bean sprouts are nice and clean. I tend to remove the little sprouty leafy head things on the ends. Also cut your nira into about 2 inch pieces.

Rinse your chicken in water and pat dry with a paper towel.
Thinly slice your chicken.

Mix the ingredients for your marinade together and mix into the chicken.
You can let this sit for a minimum for 10-15 minutes.
I was making rice at the time and it had an hour to go so I let it marinate for about 40 minutes.

After that put 2 TBS potato starch on a plate and gently coat your pieces of chicken.

In a frying pan put about 1-2 TBS of vegetable oil and swirl to coat the pan.
Add your chicken pieces and brown on each side. Once done set the chicken aside.
For the entire cooking process I use the temperature between Medium to Medium High.

Now to the pan add 1-2 TBS of Sesame Oil, if you don't have this you can use vegetable oil again.
Sesame oil just adds a bit of extra flavor to it.
Add your minced garlic and ginger paste. Saute until aromatic.
Add your bean sprouts and gently stir fry.
After about 2 minutes add the nira.
Once the nira start to look like they're beginning to wilt a bit add the chicken back into the pan.
Heat up the chicken.

Mix up the ingredients for your sauce.
Make sure before you add it to the chicken mixture that you stir it.
Potato Starch has a tendency to sink to the bottom.

Gently stir everything until the sauce begins to thicken.
Now it's ready to serve.

I hope you give this recipe a try ^___^
As always if you have any requests please let me know.

Snack Taste Test #1 La France Pear Water

Hi Everyone!,

So my first snack food test is a soft drink.
It is from the brand La France.
It is pear flavored water.
It is completely clear there is absolutely no food coloring which already gets me to like it.

It cost $2.19 at the Japanese grocery store I go to.
For the entire 16.6 fluid oz/500 ml bottle it is 80 calories.

The ingredients are:
Water
High fructose corn syrup
"flavor"
citric acid
acesulfam-k (this is a calorie free sweetener)
sucralose (another calorie free sweetener)

When I open it up there's no fizz and has a fruity smell.
Trying my best to describe it, it tastes like a water that's had pears soaking in it yet at the same time kinda reminds me of a slight lollipop taste but I think that's the sweeteners they added to it.

It's a nice change from the regular soft drinks we have around.

I would buy this again, I find that it's rather pleasant to drink and for a drink  with sweeteners it definitely beats soda, it's 10g of sugar for the entire bottle.

I hope you give it a try ^_^

Feta Cheese Tamagoyaki

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Onigirazu #1 Hamburger

Hi Everyone,


Today I decided to make my second attempt ever at Onigirazu.
Onigirazu is similar to Onigiri. Onigirazu, instead of shaping it with your hands (which is what the Nigiru means), you simply sandwich it between nori. The ZU in Onigirazu is a negative, to say it's not shaped with the hands....my knowledge of Japanese is limited. I'm going to hope Emily shares some notes T.T

I figured since I had the ingredients for a hamburger it'd be the first one I'd make for you guys.
You can choose whatever fillings you like for onigirazu and I hope to be adding a few more filling ideas in the future.

Anyway here we go!

To make 2 Onigirazu you'll need:

Cling wrap
onigirazu shaper (OPTIONAL)
Approximately 2 cups of japanese cooked rice, hot and seasoned with salt (to your taste).
2 sheets of nori
Approximately 1/4 pound of ground beef (you can use other kinds of meat if you don't like beef)
1 slice of processed cheese (I chose white processed cheese because I keep hearing it's seen a lot at Japanese grocery stores)
1-2 thin slices of tomato
1-2 thin slices of onion
Kewpie Mayo
1 lettuce leaf (I was going to put this in mine but.... I kinda over filled them...and couldn't fit it in)

                                                 

 Other options: whatever you like putting on a burger ^.^ I                                                                 was tempted to buy an avocado for this...ya ya I know "ew!"

Shape your ground meat of choice and cook, after I took this picture I put cheese on them
I was cooking burgers for dinner at the time too, so the bigger ones were definitely not for onigirazu.

First lay down a piece of nori sheet and put a thin layer of rice if using a shaper try to gauge how much filling you plan to put in and try to adjust the amount of rice. Those free handing it, make a thin layer of rice on the nori, when I made it without a shaper I aimed for a square shape.

Add your fillings
....I kind of over filled mine this time....hey I was hungry

Then add another thin layer of rice.

If you have the shaper you'll use the little mold pusher to flatten the onigirazu down a bit, pretty much the same if you use an onigiri mold when you make onigiri.

Then fold up the onigirazu, this one i had too close to the end, i suggest putting it in the center.

Wrap in Cling wrap and let it sit for a while. This is to let the nori soften up.

 ...mine looks so ugly T.T but he'll be tasty I just know it.

After about 10 minutes or so take a sharp knife and cut it in half. Remove the cling wrap after cutting.

Put it in your bento and let it completely cool before putting on the lid.

And now it's done ^.^

Don't you just love Totoro?

.....what?....I'm not the only 28 year old with a Totoro bento

....that's my story and I'm sticking to it

I hope you try this for yourself. Like always if you have an requests please leave me a comment and I'll try my best ^_^

Simple Miso Soup

Hi Everyone!

Miso Soup, very versatile, so many ingredients can go into it changing the flavor. Before we go into anything "fancy" or "different" here's the simple tofu and wakame miso soup.


You'll need:

4 cups water
1 TSP Dashi (I prefer bonito dashi but kombu dashi works well too)
3 TBS Miso Paste
1 TBS Dried Wakame
2 Green Onions
Tofu (your choice in the consistency)


What is Miso Paste? It's fermented edamame, that's the easiest explanation I have. It comes in various colors and tastes.

The mains ones are Shiro Miso (White Miso) and Aka Miso (Red Miso), they also do a mixture of these two together. I have Shiro Miso still in its packaging (this tastes lighter than the aka miso) and my Aka Miso in a glass container (aka miso tastes "meaty" it just has that flavor note that many meat broths have).

Today I used Aka Miso for our Miso Soup.

What is Dashi? Dashi is stock/broth. Usually Bonito (it's a fish that's related to the Tuna, so I'm just going to call it tuna for the sake of my sanity), there's also Kombu a type of seaweed, and there's also Sardine and Shiitake Dashi.  For this recipe I used Bonito Dashi, I also recommend Kombu Dashi.

There are miso pastes out there that already have the dashi incorporated into it. If you have one of these types of miso pastes please omit the step with the Dashi for this recipe.

In a pot bring the water to a boil (I usually leave it on medium heat). Add 1/2 TSP Dashi.
While it's heating up prep your tofu. I used Firm tofu. I wrapped the two slices in paper towel and set a glass bowl on top of it. This will help remove some of the brine the tofu comes in.

Once the Tofu is ready, cut it into cubes. The easiest way is to cut it while the tofu is in your hand...just don't cut your self in the process. If you're uncomfortable with this technique slowly cut it into cubes while it sits on your cutting board.

Afterward cut your green onions into diagonal strips.

Add both the tofu and the green onion to the now hot dashi stock. Let it cook for about 5 minutes.

Do not stir too much you don't want to break the tofu into pieces. If you stir do so gently.

What is Wakame? Wakame is a type of sea weed. It is used in salad, soups etc. Plus it's high in vitamins.

Measure your wakame.

Add it to your miso soup along with the other 1/2 TSP Dashi. Let it cook for 3 minutes.

Below is what it looks like when you first add it to your soup.

What it looks like after 3 minutes

Now in a bowl put your 3 TBS of miso paste.

Add some of the Broth to the miso paste and stir.

If you dilute the miso paste in brother first before adding it to the soup it incorporates faster when you add it.

When you add this to the soup, do not boil the soup!

Just let it heat up and serve immediately ^__^

I hope you try this recipe out. I'll post different kinds of miso soup in the future ^__^

Mini Web Mistress Gypsy hopes you Enjoy.

Gypsy: "I'm ready for my close up Mr. Demille!"