Ali-chan's Kitchen: soup

Showing posts with label soup. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

May 15th Lunch

May 15th,

I really wanted to eat a Japanese menu.

Maybe my stomach needed something gentle. There's a lot of Japanese dishes that are delicious but are easy on the digestion. Maybe the day after binging on junk food. Also miso soup as part of your breakfast is good for mornings you have a hangover, it will help rehydrate you.

Lunch:

Tofu Salmon Stew, Cucumber Otsukemono (Pickled Cucumbers), Tamago Yaki (Japanese Style Eggs), and Miso Soup with Onions

Tofu Salmon Stew. Very simple to make but very delicious. The main flavoring I used was ginger which is also very good for you if you aren't at your 100%

Japanese style eggs, known in Japanese as Tamago Yaki (tamago = egg, yaki = cooked). It's basically scrambled eggs wrapped into a roll and cut into thick slices. You see them a lot in Japanese bento. There are two types of tamago yaki; sweet and non-sweet. Sweet type of tamago yaki typically is plain but non-sweet type of tamago yaki can have various other ingredients mixed in with it such as fish like salmon and tuna, and veggies like carrots, daikon raddish, and sea weed.

Whether the tamago yaki is sweet or not depends on the preference of the maker, but in Sushi restaurants tamago yakis are typically sweet.

Of course, I have had tamago yaki since I was little but this is the first time I have ever made them. The ones I made are the sweet kind, not too sweet.

My mom always made non-sweet tamago yaki for me at home with plenty of spinach. I didn't particularly dislike spinach but it definitely made it easier to eat it.

Monday, May 5, 2014

May 5th Lunch

May 5th,

Early this morning, we were hit with a pretty sizable earthquake. Luckily, only 17 non-serious injuries.

Still was not happy to wake up at 5AM to an earthquake.

For lunch, I tried a new version of hamburger.

Cheesy Italian Style Chicken Burger with Tomato Sauce, Avocado Salad, Tofu Pumpkin Potage with Bread Sticks.

I mixed basil in with the ground chicken and filled the burger with melty cheese. It's topped with a garlicky tomato sauce made with fresh tomatoes.

Mmmm~... cheesy goodness.

May 3rd Lunch

May 3rd,

They were having a sale of one of my favorite things, negitoro!

Negitoro is a tuna pate that is used in sushi. It is usually topped with chopped scallions.

I used it to make today's lunch.

Negitoro Cups with Kabocha and Tofu Potage

I toasted gyoza skins to make cups and filled it with rice then topped it with negitoro (which I mixed with a little bit of soy sauce and wasabi paste), minced tomato and cucumber. It was like a Japanese taco cups. I love it!

Friday, April 25, 2014

April 25th Lunch

April 25th,

When seasons change and the weather's not so great... rainy and just ugh....

I always suffer such horrible migraine headaches.

So it's not good when the rainy season starts in the spring.

Oh well, we must soldier on.

Lunch:

Sweet and Sour Drumsticks with Hard Boiled Egg, Carrot Tofu Soup with Bread Sticks, and Cucumber Salad

Mmm~.

I love chicken drum sticks, but it is hard work getting all the skin and fat off when preparing the chicken... but so~ worth it. Always good to cook boiled egg with your chicken, it's a yummy plus.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

March 22nd Lunch

March 22nd,

Was window shopping today and they were playing that well-known song from "Frozen".

First, they played the original English version then the Japanese version.

Never watched the Disney movies in Japanese so have never heard the Japanese versions of the song.

I don't like watching dubbed movies.

Today's lunch:

Curried Codfish Soup

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

March 12th Lunch

March 12th,

Today, lightly roasted bonito was on sale.

In Japanese it's called かつおのたたき (Katsuo no Tataki) and as I said it's lightly roasted on the outside and raw on the inside. Usually you add a dab of pureed ginger on top when you eat it. It's got a bit of a stronger (fishy) taste compared to maguro (tuna) so fair warning before you try it.

For lunch the tataki was accompanied by miso soup with tofu, broccoli, and rice.

March 11th Lunch

March 11th

Had pleasant lunch out in Shibuya with Mom today.

Ate at the restaurant d47 食堂(syokudo) at Hikarie shopping center at Shibuya station.

It was a Japanese hipster restaurant with the waitresses all dressed like hipsters.

I had the 北海道定食焼き糠さんま (Hokkaido Teishyoku Yaki Nuka Sanma)

Hokkaido themed teishyoku (lunch platter) with Grilled Bran Pacific Saury.

Grilled Pacific Saury is a very common dish in Japan, very yummy.

Along with the fish was potato dumplings which were super chewy like mochi balls (Yum!!), miso soup, and rice.

Along with it, I had some fancy apple juice. "Wonder Apple" apple juice.

Made with Aomori prefecture apples; Aomori prefecture is famous for its apples!

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

February 26th Lunch

February 26th,

It's such a lovely spring weather day, but they said it'll get cold again by the weekend.

Today's lunch:

Tomato and Egg Udon Soup

Chicken and Hanpen Tsukune in Teriyaki Sauce

Tsukune is basically a chicken meatball. You can find it most commonly on the menu at yaki tori restaurants. It's usually served with tare (a sticky sweet sauce) or salt.

Hanpen is an ingredient that often looks like a giant square marshmallow (the ones they sell at the super markets in Japan). It's made mostly from fish and egg whites. The great part of hanpen is that it's low in fat and calories but will add volume to your dish so it's very healthy!

You may find it at an Asian grocery store.