Matt Cooking Stuff, Recipes

Custard Pudding (カスタード・プリン)

Aya has found memories of her mom making this pudding when she would stay home sick from school. While her mom was here visiting she gave us a lesson on how to make. It’s pretty much the same thing as the flan, crème caramel. Aya said this custard pudding is extremely common in Japan.

400 ml whole milk
4 large eggs
100g (1/2 cup) sugar
1~2 drops of vanilla extract
2 tsp rum
<Caramel sauce>
4 Tbp sugar
1 Tbp water
2 Tbp hot water

  1. To make the caramel sauce, boil the sugar and water together in a small sauce pan and brown the sugar. Add the hot water, stir, and turn off the heat. While it’s still hot, pour about 1tsp each into the pudding molds.
  2. Beat the eggs and sugar together.
  3. Slowly add warm milk to the above and add vanilla extract and rum once the sugar has completed melted.
  4. Run the milk and egg mixture through a strainer to remove the bubbles.
  5. Gently pour the milk and egg mixture into pudding molds.
  6. In a 9×13 cake pan, fill boiling water half way and gently place the pudding molds inside.
  7. Bake in oven at 425 for 20 minutes.
Matt Cooking Stuff, Recipes

Miso Glazed Tilapia

(I can never get fish to photograph to well. It tastes much better than it looks)

I found this recipe on the internet. I’m not sure I prepared the glaze correctly, but we did enjoy the flavor. The saltiness of the miso balanced out the citrus from the zest. As the instructions read on the blog, I just smothered the marinade on top and baked instead of doing the cheesecloth method. This was easy to do and I just  scraped off some of the marinade so it wouldn’t be too strong.

I served this with gyozas, seaweed salad, and rice. I was surprised how quickly I threw this together.

RECIPES:

Miso Glazed Tilapia

Matt Cooking Stuff, Recipes

Miso and Butter Sauteed Pork Donburi (豚肉のみそバター焼き丼)

I did get to eat this (that’s why the photo is from Aya’s phone) when Aya’s mom made it, but Aya loved it and said it was super easy.

300g (about 1/2 to 3/4lb) thinly sliced pork shoulder
2Tb butter
2 Tb potato starch
Sauce: 1Tb sugar, 4Tb miso, 4Tb Japanese cooking wine
1 small head of lettuce
8 shiso leaves
2tsp ground white sesame seeds
Rice

  1. Chop shiso and lettuce into thin strips.
  2. Slice the pork into bite size pieces and coat with potato starch.
  3. Mix A together.
  4. Melt butter in a pan and saute both sides of pork.  Add sauce.
  5. Serve rice in a bowl and top with the lettuce, shiso, pork, and sprinkle ground sesame seeds on top.
Matt Dad Stuff, Recipes

Soba Noodles (蕎麦)

You can find a lot of innovative pasta recipes now using soba noodles, but traditionally, it’s eaten plain with a dipping broth. We had two broths, one being the typical soy sauce based “men-tsuyu”(麺つゆ) and the other a walnut and miso based one Aya’s mom bought to try. She topped the noodles with sesame seeds and nori seaweed. This was so simple and delicious.

RECIPES:

Soba Noodles

All you do is boil the noodles according the directions on the package, and then dip them in the sauce. (The sauce we had came with the noodles).

Matt Cooking Stuff, Recipes

Pork and Lotus Root Oyster Sauce Stir Fry (豚肉とレンコンのオイスターソース炒め)

Lotus root, or “renkon,” is one of my favorite Asian vegetables. For one, it looks cool, and two, it has a mild taste with a nice crunchy texture. You can use it in a bunch of different ways, but this dish is pretty straight forward with a simple sauce. Aya’s mom made a daicon salad, miso soup, and rice to accompany the meal.

RECIPES:

Pork and Lotus Root Oyster Sauce Stir Fry

300g (about 3/4 lb) lotus root (renkon)
100g (about 1/4 lb) thinly sliced pork
1 clove minced garlic
Sauce: 2Tb oyster sauce, 2tb soy sauce, 2tb Japanese cooking wine
Sliced almonds for garnish
Pinch of sugar
1Tb vegetable oil

  1. Slice the pork into 1″ strips.
  2. Slice the lotus root into 1/16″ thickness and soak in water.
  3. Heat oil in frying pan and saute garlic.
  4. Add pork and once browned, add the lotus root.(be careful not to over cook and lose crispy texture)
  5. Add sauce, pinch of sugar, and stir.
  6. Serve hot on plate and garnish with almond slices on top.