Authentic Japanese snacks delivered to your door!  Snakku is a subscription service starting at $38.95. 
(Read more to get 10% off!)

They kindly sent me a sample to try out and so I could share my experience with you. I must say - lots of childhood memories came back to me when opening their box. Good childhood memories of course :) 

Wrapping
I believe that all Japanese products begins its high quality experience at the wrapping/packaging stage. Snakku uses a beautiful Japanese cloth, also called a furoshiki to wrap the Snakku box. This month it was a deep green furoshiki - resusable of course! I plan to wrap my lunches or any other boxes with this in the future.

Branding and Messaging
Inside the box, I found a pamphlet and flyer of Snakku's. I love how they use Japanese characters (which are truly Japanese, not random characters!) to make the experience authentic, even for a native Japanese person like me.

The Snacks
This month (August) happened to be the month of rusks! I hadn't had rusks since I left Japan (~7 years ago) so this was a *very* pleasant surprise. Here is the list of snacks which came in my box (taken from Snakku's website):

• 17 regionally made Japanese rusks of different flavors (My favourite was the *Classic*, simply butter & sugar)

• Yuki no Yado: Slightly salty senbei topped with Hokkaido fresh cream (Now this has my childhood written all over it!)
• Summer Salty Pocky: Milk chocolate covered pocky with sea salt and sugar crystals (Who doesn't like Pocky?)
• Maison De Kukkia: Matcha chocolate sandwiched between wafer cookies  (Classy & sophisticated)
• Bourbon Rumando: Grilled crepe cookie dipped in cocoa cream 
• Hokkaido Match Milk Candy: Made from Hokkaido milk and matcha from Aichi
  
  

All of these high quality Japanese snacks were all very tasty - and now you can get 10% off by using "jpinsider" at checkout. Now's your time to give Snakku a try ;) 

Highlighted in photographs:

• AMIAYA (models, singers)
  
• Katsu Curry from JapaCurry
  
• Onigirazu (Onigiri Sandwiches) 
  
• Pocky food truck
  
• Hello Kitty food truck
  
• Fyuse with a Japanese idol
  
• Karaage (Japanese Fried chicken)
  

Credits:
Fyuse by Ryan Chua

In Japan, "Donburi" is what we call a bowl of rice with goodies on top, it could be shortened to "-Don" too.

If it's Chicken on a bed of rice, we could say "Chicken-Don".

With just 4 ingredients, here's what I whipped up for dinner. It took less than 15 minutes.

Ingredients:

• Pork (thin sliced)
  
• Seaweed 
• Rice (I used frozen)
• Chinese Chives
• (Optional) Add veggies & condiments of your choice (I used soy sauce, sesame oil)

Steps:

• Simply stir fry the pork with the Chinese chives. I added salt, pepper, soy sauce and some sesame oil to taste. 
• In a bowl, create a bed of rice and place seaweed on top for saltiness.
• On top of the seaweed place the pork stir fry.

I promise - it's going to turn out delicious!


有り合わせで作るどんぶりって
最高ですよね♥︎

Hijiki! 
Full of iron, fiber, calcium and VItamin A. 
It's a superfood which will help us for a better blood flow, healthier skin and a superb intestine! 
What is it?
It's a brown sea vegetable, much like seaweed but chewy. 

For those of you who have not had a taste of it, and those of you who have, this recipe is a super-easy-must-try. All you do is throw in the following ingredients into your rice cooker. It'll turn into a savoury, warm Japanese rice dish. 

Ingredients

• Hijiki (2 tbsp dry) You can buy these at Daiso, or at any Japanese supermarket. They come dry, so make sure you soak it in water before throwing it into the rice cooker!
• 300g dry rice (cook w/ ~400ml water, or follow your rice cooker instructions)
  
  

Sauce

• Japanese soy sauce 1 tbsp
• Hondashi  (Japanese broth powder) 1 tsp
• Salt 1 tsp
• Japanese sake 2 tbsp
• Japanese mirin 1 tbsp

Steps

1. Wash the rice (as usual) and place the sauce into the rice
2. Add the water per rice cooker's instruction (or add around ~400ml if you don't have instructions)
3. Add the hijiki
4. Stir a bit, then cook the rice as usual!

I made these Japanese potstickers "Gyoza" for a dinner potluck on Friday. They were a hit! Great for a casual appetizer. They are savoury, easy to eat and will open up your guests' appetite for the upcoming meal.

I've posted a recipe here in the past but the ingredients I used this time are much simpler & easy.
Vegetarians! Keep in mind you can also make these without meat.

Ingredients (makes around 25-30 potstickers):

• Gyoza wrappers (you can buy them at a Japanese supermarket or an asian one. I've seen them in Wholefoods here in SF)
• 1/3 minced meat (I used turkey, I also recommend chicken or pork)
• Chinese Chives (I bought these also at the Japanese supermarket), if you don't have them, use spring onions
• (optional) Any other greens you like, like cabbage
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1/2 - 1 tbsp grated garlic
• 1 tbsp each of Japanese soy sauce, sake, sesame oil

Steps: 
Please follow the steps on this recipe, I've provided step by step photos! 
Just make sure to pan fry them right before you are ready to eat them!

I'll start throwing in some of the basic + necessary ingredients you'll need to cook amazing Japanese dishes here! 

Here in San Francisco, I'm lucky enough to have a Japanese market. Every 29th of this month, thin sliced meat is 20 percent off. We buy 5 to 7 packs of meat and freeze them all. What to do with thin sliced beef? Sukiyaki style stew!

For those of you who don't know, sukiyaki is a savory, sweet meat dish. It is usually cooked with a bunch of vegetables, but since I was lazy tonight, I only used meat.

Every Japanese house hold has their own taste of Sukiyaki. Some like it with a very strong salty taste, some like it weaker. People in Kansai like it bold where as Kanto like it more bland. I love it the Kansai style, so keep that in mind!

All you need is:

• Thin sliced beef (half a pound)

Sauce

• Japanese soy sauce (2-3 tbsp)
• Sugar (1-2 tbsp)
• Mirin (1 tbsp)
• Sake (1 tbsp)
• Dashi stock (1/2 cup)
• Optionally, add all different kinds of veggies, egg and tofu as you wish! (e.g. Cabbage, green onion)

Steps:

1. Cook the thin sliced beef quickly and pour in the sauce and simmer. That's it! 

Belos is my Lekue Steamer. Scroll to read more! 

I also experimented with a Lekue (Steamer) to make a similar dish with udon! Even more simple. Simply throw in all these ingredients and put it in the microwave! 

All you need for this Lekue Steamer Recipe is:

• How ever much meat you want (I put in 4 slices of thin sliced beef)
• 1 pack of Udon (I used frozen)
• 1 egg
• (Optional) Veggies 
  
• Sauce: Half the ingredients for the sauce above. 

Steps:

1. Lay the Udon, veggies and meat into the Lekue steamer. Pour in the sauce.
2. 5 min in the microwave for Power level 6 (or ~600 watts)
3. Crack in the egg after step 2. Using a fork, puncture the egg and heat for 2 min.

As always, the most popular recipe on this blog! I served it to my guests the other night and everyone loved it.

Click here for the recipe!

Instant noodles don't have to look "cheap".

Add delicious toppings to make it a proper, healthy, satisfying meal!

• Boiled eggs
• Stirfried veggies
• Seaweed
• Meat

Seems like teriyaki chicken is a very popular Japanese dish here in the United States.

I never really grew up eating it, but I've learnt to love it. It's just so simple and easy. A simple stir fry is all you need sometimes. 

Here's a super simple recipe I use.  All you need is:

• 1lb chicken
• Veggies
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1.5 tbsp sugar
• 1.5 tbsp mirin
• 1.5 tbsp Japanese sake

Heat the chicken, add the veggies and add the sauce! That's it :) 

I usually serve this dish with Japanese rice and miso soup. Perfect! 

Who likes Empanadas?
Who likes Gyozas?

Who wants to hear about a fun, delicious twist on a gyoza? 

Most of us who access this blog love curry (I hope). Especially Japanese Curry.


Today, I decided to wrap up Keema curry in the Japanese Gyoza dumpling wrappers!  

Why, you ask? Because, I was craving for a snack somewhat similar to an Empanada. Unfortunately, it's very hard to find frozen Empanadas here in Japan, but dumpling wrappers are very cheap! 

These delicious dumplings were super crunchy and crispy on the outside. The curry inside and the wrapper itself matched perfectly too. Pairs great with wine or beer. Great appetizer or finger food for parties! 

Keema curry, for those of you who have not tried it yet, is basically stir fried minced meat with curry spices. It's not runny  like the traditional Japanese curry. It's more like paste. That's why I thought it would be a great idea to wrap it up with Gyoza wrappers! 

I bought the ready-made Keema curry but I plan to post a recipe for it soon as the ready-made kind may be hard to find in the US....If you cannot find the ready-made curry but want to try this a.s.a.p, I highly recommend for you to cook some minced meat and add some salt, pepper, curry spice and maybe even some cumin? 


Steps

1. Once you have the curry cooked and ready, wrap a teaspoon of it in a Gyoza dumpling wrapper. You can use other dumpling wrappers or even some pie dough!
   If you're wondering how to wrap a gyoza dumpling, check this recipe out 
2. Heat the oven at 200C (370F) and place the dumplings in for 10-15 minutes until gold and crispy.

That's it. If you decide to use ready-made curry/meat like me, it takes less than 20 minutes. 15 minutes of it is just waiting for it to cook in the oven...

Enjoy! 

Though I've already introduced this recipe for omelette rice (omu-rice), I'm posting it again. 

Very fun dish to make. Popular dish to make for your boyfriend in Japan ;) Show some love! 

Ketchup chicken rice is a typical stuffing for this dish in Japan but you can get creative as well. This time, I stuffed my omelette with some left overs from burrito night; rice with black beans and some South American spices. Mm! 

What you need (serves 1 dish) :

1. 2 large eggs
2. Oil
3. Rice (chicken rice, ketchup rice, any type of rice works here. See this recipe)
4. (optional) Veggies 

Steps:

1. Start by preparing the stuffing. You can use this recipe or simply stir fry some rice with optional veggies and chicken. It's good to throw in some ketchup or tomato sauce before adding in the rice. This will help prevent blotches of ketchup/sauce in the rice. Throw in the rice after and you'll see a more even tone.
2. Put the rice out of the pan and keep it to the side while you prepare the omelette.
3. Heat the pan on HIGH, put a little bit of oil. Mix the egg in a separate bowl and pour it into the heated pan. Quickly scramble the egg and throw in the rice. 
4. Start wrapping the egg up on one side of the rice (Be careful not to overcook the egg here). Flip the omelette+rice onto a plate. It's okay to toss the omelette onto the plate by turning the pan up side down! :)
5. Top it off with ketchup or be fun like me and place some pineapple salsa and avocado! 

Note: Steps #3 and #4 should only take 2-3min as the egg heats fast! 

Hot pot or shabu shabu is easy to get in cities like San Francisco and Boston. There are Japanese, Korean or Mongolian restaurants who offer it for an okay price! Have you ever thought about doing it at home though? It's easier than you think :)

I bought a portable stove on Amazon (for only $15) and a Japanese pot (for only $10). After that, all you need are veggies, meat and good company (maybe some good beer and sake too).

What you need:

• Any veggie, how ever much you want. (I had lettuce, spinach, carrots, radish, zucchini)
• Mushrooms
• Meat (I had thin sliced pork, some people like beef too) 
• (Optional) Seafood
• Tofu
• (Optional) Noodles (e.g. udon)
• Sauce (I bought ponzu and sesame sauce, both available on Amazon or Japanese supermarkets)

Yup. That's it! 

For your broth, you can get creative (kimchi, soy milk, tomato sauce...); but since I was out of most ingredients, I just poured some sake in water, added a pinch of salt and some dashi.

You get to eat a lot of vegetables, and this dish warms you up. It's perfect for those chilly nights which make you want to feel cozy.

I was surprised to see DAISO (Japanese $1 store) in San Francisco selling hijiki! 

Hijiki is a very well known healthy ingredient in Japan; it's high in fiber, iron and calcium. The most popular dish which is made using this ingredient is a simple simmered dish. It's a side dish, not a main dish. People like to throw in carrots, garbanzo beans and even konnyaku. All of which can be found in the US. The ingredients are simmered in a sweet broth made of dashi, soy sauce and sugar. It's simple, tasty and very good for you. Great to pack in your obento too.

Hijiki is usually sold in its dried state. You'll have to soak it in water for 20-30 minutes. The amount will increase by 7 to 8 times; it's fun to watch :) 

Ingredients (This makes a substantial amount, maybe around 6-8 servings) 

• 1 bag of hijiki (40g) 
• Carrots
• 1/2 cup of garbanzo beans 
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2-3 tbsp sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)
  
• 3 tbsp Japanese sake
• 1.5 tsp Hondashi soup stock
• 1 cup of water
• (Optional) 3 tbsp mirin

Steps

1. Put the dried hijiki in a bowl of water and see it increase its mass by 7 to 8 times. Rinse and wash thoroughly.
2. Heat a pan on MEDIUM heat. Place some oil and stir fry the carrots, garbanzo beans and hijiki until heated through.
3. Add the soy sauce, sugar, sake, soup stock and water (optional: mirin)
4. Place a otoshi-buta on the pan (Use foil as a lid and place directly on the ingredients, this helps the ingredients soak up the goodness). Heat until most of the broth is soaked up.

I was surprised when I saw a small Japanese kabocha being sold at a Farmers Market. Kabocha is a pumpkin or it could also be a winter squash of Asian variety according to Wikipedia. 

If you follow my blog, you may have realized that I've been cooking a lot of "boiled" dishes lately. The technique is to "niru" (煮る). When you cook ingredients in a broth, the broth is sucked up by the ingredients, ending up in a very tasty dish. This technique can be used for vegetables, meat and seafood. The best thing about it is that it is so easy. You just prepare the broth (probably just a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, etc), toss in the ingredients drop a lid and wait for the broth to be soaked up! 

The dish I'm introducing today is a Japanese kabocha nimono (煮物). Kabocha boiled in Japanese broth. It's sweet but savoury. The more you leave it in the broth, the more intense the taste will get. So be careful in boiling the ingredient too long! 


Ingredients:

• 1/4 of a kabocha (a fairly large kabocha)

Broth

• 2 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Japanese mirin
• 2 tbsp Japanese sake
• 1 - 2 tbsp sugar (depending on how sweet you like the dish)
• 3/4 - 1 cup of water

Steps:

1. Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a hot pan. Heat until it starts boils.
2. Once the broth starts boiling, toss in the cut pumpkins. (Cut them into bite-size pieces)
3. Place a piece of aluminum foil directly onto the pumpkin. This is called "otoshi-buta" which means to drop a lid directly onto the ingredients. This will help the pumpkin truly soak up the broth. Keep heating on MEDIUM heat.
4. Heat until the broth has been completely soaked up by the pumpkins. 

Note: Mix while heating so that the pumpkin is heated evenly. Also, you can adjust the heat to low since the aluminum foil lid can contain a lot of heat.

I packed the leftovers in my bento the next day. Became tastier than the day before!