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! 

"Ni-tu-ke" (煮付け) is a way of cooking in Japan which involves boiling the ingredient in soy sauce and sugar. Fish is very expensive in the US compared to Japan but I've found that Trader Joe's sells cheap tilapia (around $6 for 3 generous pieces). It may not be the best fish but it's a wonderful alternative for those on a budget. 

Grilling or baking the fish in butter may sound easy but sometimes could end up being burnt and tough. This recipe involves boiling the fish in a simple savoury sauce. It's easy, takes only 10 minutes and you'll end up with a tasty traditional Japanese dish. Better than going to a Japanese restaurant!  Serve with white rice, miso soup and veggies, like always.

Here, I'll also be introducing a new technique called "otoshi-buta" (落とし蓋) which means to put a lid directly onto the food or deep into the pan. 

Ingredients:

• 3-4 pieces of fish (preferably with white meat. I used Trader Joe's tilapia)
  
  

Sauce (start with this, add more or less depending on how sweet/savoury you like your sauce)

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

Steps:

1. Mix all the ingredients for the sauce together and heat in a pan until it starts boiling. 
2. Once the sauce starts boiling, put the fish into the pan and turn the heat to LOW. Get some aluminum foil and cover the fish/broth directly. We call this technique "otoshi-buta" which means "fallen lid". We want the lid to be placed deeply inside the pot, directly on the food. This will help the sauce get soaked up easier. (Photograph below)
   
3. Cook the fish in the pan for 7 - 10 minutes on LOW. 
4. After 7-10 minutes, take off the lid and use a spoon to pour the sauce onto the surface of the fish which was not soaked in the sauce. Be careful not to cook the fish any longer as the sauce may get too thick and strong. 
5. Serve with rice and other side dishes. I often use the left over sauce to cook vegetables such as broccoli and zucchini!

San Francisco's Japan Town's Nijiya has a special 20%-off-all-meat-day on the 29th of every month a.k.a. Meat day. "2-9" can also be read "ni-ku" which means "meat" in Japanese. 

On this day last month, I went a little crazy purchasing thin sliced pork and beef. Enough to last us a month. Today's dish uses thin sliced pork and any of your favourite vegetables. I used Japanese daikon, zucchini and onions since it's been in season at SF's farmers markets. 

This dish is a "ita-me-ni" (炒め煮) which means to stir fry and boil in liquid. In this case, we boil the ingredients in Japanese soy sauce, ginger, sugar, mirin and sake; a typical teriyaki type sauce. A typical Japanese dish which goes perfectly with rice and miso soup. With every bite, I was reminded of home. 

A similar dish I've posted earlier is the "Shoga-yaki"; pork ginger stir fry. Also a must try if you have thin sliced pork in your fridge. 


Ingredients:

• 0.5 lb thin sliced pork (200g)
• 2 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
• 2 tbsp mirin
• 2 tbsp sake
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 - 2 tsp grated ginger

Steps:

1. On a heated pan with oil, toss in the meat (MEDIUM-HIGH heat)
2. Once the meat is mostly cooked, add the vegetables and stir fry them until cooked through.
3. Mix the ginger, soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar together and add into the pan. Put a lid on the pan and the heat down to LOW or MEDIUM. 
4. Boil until the sauce is absorbed by the ingredients. This helps the ingredients to suck up all the goodness. Once the liquid has disappeared, enjoy! 

P.S. Heart of the City Farmers Market


I just wanted to add a note about the wonderful experiences I've been having at one of San Francisco's Farmer's Markets. I go to Heart of the City Farmers Market in Civic Center every Sunday to get fresh vegetables and fruits. Today, I got 2 eggplants, 4 apricots, a bag of cucumbers, a bag of large green peppers, kabocha, strawberries, black berries and mini tomatoes for just......$10! 

Not only can you get fresh vegetables and fruits from farmers markets. You can also speak with the people who are responsible for the products and get advice from them; how to pick the best kinds and such. Highly recommended! 

Little food stands and trucks can be hidden gems as well. 

With all the amazing vegetables in season and my visits to the farmers markets here in San Francisco, I've been needing to find a way to consume the vegetables but in an easy manner; especially for those weekday dinners at home after work. I've discovered the simplest Japanese vegetable stir fry recipe!

Ingredients (for 2 people):

• Any vegetable(s) you like  (e.g. 1 zucchini, 1 onion, broccoli)
  
• Any other additional ingredients (e.g. mushrooms)
• 1 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 2 tsp Hondashi (Japanese soup stock)
• 1/2 - 1 tbsp sugar
• Oil

Steps: 
Simply stir fry the veggies your pan until they are cooked through, then add the Hondashi, soy sauce, vinegar and sugar. Heat until water is evaporated. 


It's delicious and makes your dish taste like a true Japanese dish despite its simplicity and ease! Please give it a try! 

It goes well as a side dish with grilled chicken, grilled fish and even my favourite natto! 

One of my favourite destination in San Francisco so far are the Farmers Markets! There are so many around the city all throughout the week and the quality of vegetables and fruits you get there are outstanding. My favourite so far is the "Heart of the City Farmers Market" in Civic Center. If you follow my Instagram, you should already know that I got 2 large daikons, 4 apricots/peaches, bitter melon and zucchinis, all for $3. I also got a bag full of delicious onions and zucchinis for $1 each last week. You get fruits and veggies in season directly from the farmers, how amazing is that?! 

One vegetable I've been seeing a lot at these Farmers Market recently are eggplants! 

I've already introduced the ginger eggplant stir fry on this blog, but today I'll introduce something more simple and easy. A simple Japanese stir fry, somewhat like a teriyaki sauce! 

May I warn you that my boyfriend and I just could not stop eating this. It was so tasty, went perfectly with Japanese rice; just unstoppable.

Ingredients

• 1 eggplant
• (Optional) Any other vegetables of your choice
• 1 tbsp oil of your choice (I use coconut oil or olive oil)
• 2 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sugar
• (Optional) A hint of sesame oil

Steps

1. Cut the eggplant into slices and soak them in water for a couple of minutes.
2. Heat up a pan with oil.
3. Once the pan is heated, toss in the eggplants (and additional veggies if any).
4. Once the vegetables get soft and heated, add the sugar.
5. Once the sugar is disolved, add the soy sauce. Heat for a couple more minutes until the soy sauce settles into the veggies. Add the hint of sesame oil at the end for a savory smell prior to serving.

Tortillas are very expensive here in Japan. I went to a local supermarket (known to provide low prices) and found 10 tortillas for around $6. Ouch. This didn't stop me from sharing the concept of wraps, dips and spreads to my family in Japan. I decided to make my own tortillas instead! I make my own pizza with my boyfriend sometimes so this tortilla making ended up being very similar to that.

- - - T O R T I L L A - - - 

My first homemade tortillas ended up being chewy, soft and on the thicker side. Instead of wrapping things inside, we ended up dipping or placing the spreads and dips on top. After thorough research online about making tortillas, here's what I used:

• 1.5 cup of all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• A little less than half a cup of warm water (I highly recommend you adjust the amount of water you put in throughout the process while you kneed the dough)
• Salt 

Steps:

1. In a bowl, mix the flour, olive oil and salt together. 
2. Start to add in the warm water (little by little!) while you mix the dough. We want the dough to become like pizza dough! Maybe as soft as your ear lobe.
3. Settle the dough in saran wrap or in a kitchen towel for a while.
4. Separate the dough into sections. Roll them into balls and flatten them so they are thin like tortillas. 
5. Place them onto a MEDIUM heated pan and cook both sides for approximately 1 minute each.
6. After you're done cooking them, place them onto a plate and cover it with saran wrap or a towel to prevent it from drying out.

- - - D I P S / S P R E A D S - - -

Simple Yoghurt Guacamole 

• Mix 1/2 avocado, 1/4 to 1/3 cup of strained/greek yoghurt, salt, pepper, garlic (optional), onions (optional). This guacamole becomes super creamy! My absolute favourite. 

Garlic Basil Mayo

• Mix 2 tbsp mayo, 1/2 tbsp basil, salt, pepper and a little bit of minced garlic and mix! Goes great with meat, veggie sticks and bread.

Tomato and Basil Marinade

• Mix tomatoes, basil, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and minced garlic together. 

Hummus

• Blend 1 can of chick peas and 1 minced garlic clove until smooth. Then add 1 - 1.5 tbsp tahini (ground sesame seed paste), 2-4 tbsp lemon juice, salt, pepper and a few tbsp of the left over water from the chick pea can (~2 tbsp) and blend until creamy. You could also add olive oil into the mixture. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and other spices (if you like).

Number of steps:  4 steps
Time taken: 15 minutes
Approximately 200 per serving (when serving 4)

About This Dish:
Chicken, chicken, chicken. One of my favourite meats, especially for cooking at home. It's versatile and goes great with various Japanese sauces. As you can see on my recipe list, lots of dishes can be made with chicken! 

This dish like any other Japanese chicken dish goes perfectly with rice. I found myself pouring the chicken and leftover sauce all over my Japanese brown rice like a "donburi" which is literally a bowl of rice with food on top like this dish with a bed of chicken and eggplant with delicious eel sauce!  By using egg white and potato starch, the chicken becomes soft and chewy as well as helps to thicken the delicious vinegar sauce. 

Vinegar has various health benefits; given the increase in health consciousness in Japan, vinegar has become popular and have been used greatly in dishes in the recent years. What are the health benefits? The main 5 benefits of vinegar according to this article in Japan is: Recovery, better appetite, increase in ability for the body to take in calcium, reduction in body fat, blood sugar level and blood pressure. 



What You Need:
(Makes 3-4 servings)

• Chicken breast (I used boneless/skinless chicken breast) 1lb
• 1 egg white
• 2 tbsp potato starch
• 1/2 - 1 tbsp oil (I used organic coconut oil but any oil works)

Marinade

• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp Japanese soy sauce
• 1 tsp Japanese rice vinegar

Sauce

• 2 tbsp sugar
• 3 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2.5 tbsp Japanese soy sauce

Number of steps:  4 steps
Time taken: 15 - 20 minutes
Approximately 300kcal per serving

About This Dish:
I love fish, especially when it's cooked in soy sauce! This recipe cooks ahi tuna in a mixture of soy sauce, mirin and sake. It's very similar to teriyaki sauce and I can't tell you how great the fish and sauce goes with rice! The ahi tuna becomes a very Japanese dish. Additionally, you cook the fish and add the sauce until it gets thick so it's very simple to make on a busy night. My only advice is to put the lid on the pan once you throw in the sauce to make sure it seeps through. Enjoy!

What You Need:
(Makes 2 servings)

• 2 slices of ahi tuna (I bought mine at Trader Joes) approximately 12oz for 2 slices
• 1 - 2 tsp chopped garlic
• 1/2 - 1 tbsp oil (I used organic coconut oil from Trader Joes)
• Salt and pepper
• (Optional) Sprinkle of potato starch
• (Optional) Butter for taste

Sauce

• 4 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
• 2 tbsp mirin
• 2 tbsp Japanese sake

I have recently started to buy whole grain pasta after reading numerous nutrition blogs. Pasta is my to-go-dish; I often make it when I'm lazy to make anything else. So what do I do when I'm craving for something Japanese and some pasta? Make "Shoyu pasta"! It's so easy and most of all, you can just dump in any left over veggies or meats into it. This time, I put in 1/2 red onion, mushrooms and green onions. It's quick, easy and delicious. 

Ingredients
(Used about 300g of dried pasta)

Approximately 260kcal per serving, considering that 1 cup of cooked pasta is 1 serving

• 300g pasta
• (Optional) Vegetables of your choice
• (Optional) Meat of your choice
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
• Garlic (I put in about 1-2 tsp chopped garlic)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Steps

1. Start cooking the pasta.
2. In a separate pan, heat the garlic with olive oil. Then, throw in the vegetables/meat and heat until cooked. Add the soy sauce and let it heat. I also put in a couple tablespoons of the water from the boiling pasta to add to the sauce.
3. Once the pasta is done, throw it in the pan with the sauce and mix!
4. I usually sprinkle some cheese on top, mmm!

I already have posted a wonderful recipe for tofu patties made with ground meat of your choice (I pick turkey) or one using teriyaki sauce and chicken ground meat, but this time I'll introduce a easy demi glace sauce which goes so well with those patties. Keep in mind that you can completely disregard the ground meat and make tofu hamburgs just with tofu! You can use chicken, turkey, pork, beef ground meat. Possibilities are endless.

Now for the sauce, simply mix the ingredients and heat up in a pan until it starts bubbling. Then it's ready to serve! 

Ingredients
(Makes about 3-4 servings)
Approximately 60kcal per serving

• 4 tbsp ketchup
• 3 tbsp katsu sauce (if you don't have this, you can try with Worcestershire sauce or steak sauce)
• 1/2 tbsp mirin
• 2 tbsp Japanese sake