Cook Japan - Zen and the Art of Rice Cookers

What I ate on my holiday: Japan 2010

succhan — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 09:01:36 +0000

Hi everyone, just back from 2 great weeks in Japan – awesome food, great weather and a truly wonderful holiday.

As you’d expect, food played a big part of the trip, so here’s a glimpse at some of the delicacies we devoured along the way…

Hope you like it…

CookwareStyle – Kitchen Appliances and Cookware : LAUNCH!

succhan — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:30:05 +0000

Hi everyone, sorry for the lack of recipes of late emanating from Cook Japan Towers, we’ve had some technical difficulties with our camera, but a lot of time has been taken up with the launch of our new shop…

www.cookwarestyle.com

Cook Japan is still going from strength to strength and we’ll have lots of new summer recipes for you, plus a food rundown on our trip back to Japan in July, but following interest from customers we have now launched CookwareStyle which is a new online shop dedicated to great kitchen appliances and cookware…

We have an ever expanding range of wonderful appliances, so if you want high quality kitchen appliances and cookware that are great to use and offer bags of style then come and visit us at www.cookwarestyle.com

Our current range of items includes:

BBQ Grills – http://www.cookwarestyle.com/category/Barbecue_Grills,i.html
Blenders – http://www.cookwarestyle.com/category/Blenders,i.html
Deep Fryers – http://www.cookwarestyle.com/category/Deep_Fryers,i.html
Egg Boilers – http://www.cookwarestyle.com/category/Egg_Boilers,i.html
Electric Grills – http://www.cookwarestyle.com/category/Electric_Grills,i.html
Induction Hot Plates – http://www.cookwarestyle.com/category/Induction_Plates___Cookers,i.html
Juicers – http://www.cookwarestyle.com/category/Juicers,i.html
Ovens – http://www.cookwarestyle.com/category/Ovens,i.html
Raclettes – http://www.cookwarestyle.com/category/Raclettes,i.html
Rice Cookers – http://www.cookwarestyle.com/category/Rice_Cookers,i.html
Sandwich Makers – http://www.cookwarestyle.com/category/Sandwich_Maker,i.html
Steamers – http://www.cookwarestyle.com/category/Steamer,i.html
Warming Plates – http://www.cookwarestyle.com/category/Warming_Plates,i.html, and
Yoghurt Makers – http://www.cookwarestyle.com/category/Yoghurt_Maker,i.html

We look forward to seeing you at CookwareStyle and will be back with more recipes soon at CookJapan.

Thanks

Cooking Nabe on an Induction Hot Plate

succhan — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:43:10 +0000

A portable induction hot plate is a great addition to any kitchen. They are perfect for cooking a variety of Japanese nabe (one pot) dishes, where family and friends sit around the nabe, eating, cooking, talking and having fun.

In Japanese cooking the nabe pot is usually placed in the centre of the tables and shared by family and friends, not only is this considered a very sociable way to eat, but is the reason for the saying Nabe o kakomu (鍋を囲む"sitting around the pot"), implying that sharing nabe will create warm relations between the diners who eat together from the shared pot.

Nabe is a wonderful meal, especially in these cold winter months. Induction heating technology means that cooking with an induction hob is not only energy efficient, but time saving as well with up to 90% more efficiency, 50% energy savings and 30% faster cooking times.

For more information visit: www.cookjapan.co.uk

Steamed Chinese Dumplings in the rice cooker

succhan — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 10:11:32 +0000

Hard not to love Cha Siu Bau; lovely chau siu pork filling and a light fluffy bun on the outside…perfect with on their own or even with a bit of soy sauce and chilli oil to dip…

As for the rice cooker’s part in this culinary master-snack…fill the cooking bowl with 3 cups of water, place the buns in the steamer tray and use the “slow cook” function for 10-20minutes depending on whether they’re fresh or frozen, and then enjoy…

I use the “slow cook” function as it creates the fastest boiling water from which to steam…in addition to dumplings, you can steam anything and everything in the rice cooker.

Valentines Day in a Rice Cooker

succhan — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:23:50 +0000

If I could have worked out how to make crab terrine in a rice cooker it would have been a clean swipe, but as it was Mrs Cook Japan had to make do with 2 courses from my favourite appliance…risotto (her request) and a dessert of strawberry and rhubarb compote…

…time for the sweetness later, with the terrine taken care of it was another run out for risotto in the rice cooker. On the menu this evening was Asparagus and Mushroom Risotto…an absolute breeze and very tasty (although could have perhaps been a tad moister)…

It really is so easy to cook risotto in a rice cooker…braise the shallots in oil and butter, add the rice and cook for a few minutes, then in goes the asparagus and mushrooms followed by chicken stock and pop the whole thing on the “Porridge” (or risotto setting depending on which machine) for 20-minutes and hey presto…

The dessert was made this morning to save some time, then served chilled with good quality vanilla ice cream. Again super easy in the rice cooker…first cook rhubarb with water and sugar for 20-minutes then add the strawberries and cook for a further 40-minutes or so…

Incredibly simple, but a great dessert full of flavour and amazingly refreshing…

Rice Cooker Ikameshi (Squid stuffed with rice)

succhan — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:10:11 +0000

For squid fans out there – why not try ikameshi (squid stuffed with glutinous rice)

Its incredibly easy to do in the rice cooker, first up take a large squid and stuff it with glutinous rice (not to full, as the rice will expand), and we also added a few chopped up bits and pieces of squid, then close the end using a toothpick and pop them in the rice cooker…

…along with sake, mirin, sugar and a pinch of salt and a little bit of soy sauce. We also put a piece of baking parchment over everything then popped it into the rice cooker for 30-minutes…

…plate up with the sauce that its been cooked in, you’ll probably find a fair bit of rice has eked out into the liquid but that’s fine and garnish with some spring onion and a bit of grated ginger…

…or just slice it open on a plate and devour it…

Rice Cooker Slow Roasted Pork with Cabbage and Beans

succhan — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 22:24:26 +0000

Frugal freezing February – cheap, hearty warming food is most definitely on the menu this month…

This is a very simple and very tasty dish – and a bit of a recession buster as well. First up we cooked 2 pork fillet in early grey tea for about 45mins to tenderise the meat. The water was then thrown away and the pork went into the rice cooker along with a whole cabbage (chopped) and a rinsed can of baked beans. Rather than buying haricot beans or something similar, rinsing the tomato sauce of a can of baked beans was Mrs Cook Japan’s latest innovation. For added flavour in went some left over stock from the previous days udon, soy sauce, mirin, sugar, salt and pepper, and a dash of Worcestershire sauce.

Use the slow cook option on the rice cooker and once the cooking cycle is completed just leave it on keep warm until ready to serve. Alongside some nice jacket potatoes, ‘twas a delight…

Sausage and Chestnut Rice

succhan — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 23:33:04 +0000

One of the joys of cooking in a rice cooker is the ease with which you can literally “dump” ingredients into the machine and come back later to a delicious meal. This time in went shiitake mushrooms, chestnuts and some “sausage-meat-balls”, along with a dash of soy sauce…

Admittedly making meatballs isn’t too difficult or time consuming, but why not just take some sausages, remove the casing, mix with soy sauce and a bit of seasoning then make into bite size meatballs? If you are lucky enough to be able to get fresh chestnuts then use those, but equally easy is just using canned chestnuts…

…delicious, simple and a joy to eat.

Making Mochi

succhan — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:21:51 +0000

I have to put my hands up and admit I’m not a big fan of mochi (rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded), but it is a mainstay of Japanese cuisine and served in soup (ozoni) is a traditional aspect of New Year…

So without entering into the mochitsuki ceremony how did we make mochi? (Well, when I say “we”, I mean Mrs Cook Japan and the 10 friends and countless children who had a great time making and eating it at our house.)

First up, mochigome (special glutinous rice for making mochi) was left to soak then wrapped in muslin and steamed in the Cook Japan rice cooker…

…and this is where the brilliant idea came into play…use a breadmaker!!!

Traditionally the rice is steamed then put into a huge mortar where it is a pounded to make a paste, whereas their plan was to put the rice into a breadmaker using the “dough” function and keep 20+ collective fingers crossed on the results….

…and what great results they were! About 30-minutes in the breadmaker produced a wonderfully sticky paste that could be easily moulded then devoured…

And what a feast it turned into, never before have I seen so much mochi in one place. Eaten with adzuki (red beans), natto (fermented soya beans), daikon oroshi (grated radish), kinako (soybean flour), and of course as ozoni, everyone had a whale of a time.

So if you’ve got a breadmaker to hand, start steaming your rice and start making mochi!

Rice, Teriyaki Chicken, Burdock Root and (Eggy) Miso Soup

succhan — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:28:00 +0000

…yeah you read that right, “Burdock Root” (gobo). Do you remember drinking dandelion and burdock as a kid, well this is the root it is made from…

We are really lucky because our friend Ikuko-san has a Japanese vegetable farm in Sussex so we can actually get fresh burdock root from her (by their very nature is a root fresh?). At the top of the picture is kinpira gobo (braised burdock root – the thin one) with renkon (lotus root). Alongside which is some lovely chunks of chicken in a teriyaki sauce and lightly tempura’ed leeks.

Alongside which was the obligatory bowl of Japanese rice…

…and a light miso soup into which a poached egg was inserted – delicious!! I can heartily recommend this combination for any lovers of miso and egg out there…