Udon!!!

Ingredients:

4 cups of water

1/2 cup white miso paste

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup mirin

2 tbs dashi

2 scallions diced

1 package enoki mushroom

8 leaves napa cabbage chopped

1/2 cup carrots sliced

10 slices of pork

5 single package udon

* adjust flavoring as you wish*

Procedure:

1. Bring 4 cups of water to boil in a pot

2. Add the miso, mirin, soy sauce, dashi and vegetables in the pot

3. Adjust the flavoring of your soup to your liking and bring the pot to simmer for 20min

4. In a separate pot bring some water to boil and let the defrosted udon boil for 8min, drain and set aside

5. Put the pork in the pot until it is well done and turn the heat off

6. When you are ready, put udon in bowls and pour the soup base over it and serve, sprinkle some scallions on top (or if you prefer cooked scallions but them in the pot when you put in the pork)

oishii oishii ...

We made sushi at home the other night and had lots of fun trying to make sure we didn't make ugly formed sushi. I think the pictures speak for themselves and we did a pretty good job. Making sushi at home is a great way to get everyone together at the table (chat and have a good time). Below are some of the dishes we made for our Japanese dinner night at home...

Magical Miso Soup

(from The Candle Cafe Cookbook)

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced

3 carrots, peeled and julienned

1/8 sheet of wakame, soaked and chopped

1 cup sweet white miso

1 pound tofu, cubed

Procedure:

1. In a large soup pot, combine 6 cups of water, the onion, carrots, and wakame. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, uncovered, for 30minutes

2. Mix together the miso and 1 cup of water. Add the miso mixture to the soup and heat through, being careful not to bring to a boil. Stir the tofu cubes, if desired, into the soup and serve at once

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Sushi Rice

(A very helpful video from "Howcast" that teaches you how to make sushi rice)

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Inari Sushi

Ingredients:

1 package premade inari (bean curd) skin (this can be found in Asian supermarkets)

Sushi Rice

Procedure:
1. Stuff the inari skin with sushi rice and serve!

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Various Nigiri

For the nigiri we made several different kinds. Tamago (egg), abalone, tuna salad, egg salad, scallops, lobster salad, uni (sea urchin), seared beef with asparagus, and salmon roe. Most of these ingredients were bought premade and just topped onto the sushi rice after wrapping the rice with seaweed.

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Uni (Sea Urchin) Noodles

Ingredients:

1 cup of fresh sea urchin

1 package of soba noodles

1/2 cup seaweed pieces

1 tbs soy sauce

Procedure:

1. Boil a pot of water and cook the noodles

2. Once the noodles are well done rinse it under cold water and drain

3. Place about a hand full of noodles on 4-6 plates

4. Place 2 tbs of sea urchin ontop of the noodles, drizzle the some soy sauce and top it off with a dash of seaweed

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We had some leftover ingredients and no sushi rice left so we wrapped the ingredients in lettuce! Great way to clean up any leftovers....