Coffeecake

Preheat oven to 180ºC (350ºF)

Topping

Sift into a bowl:

¼ C white flour

2-3 T dark brown sugar

2-3 T room temperature butter

1 t cinnamon

1 tiny pinch of salt

Mix with a fork until it looks like little balls.  Add:

½-¾ C chopped walnuts, pecans, or sliced almonds

Set topping aside.  

Batter

Sift into a bowl, then whisk together:

2 C whole wheat flour

1 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

a little less than ½ t salt

In another bigger bowl, whisk together:

2 eggs

1 t vanilla

½ C honey

Prepare: 

1 C whey from yogurt (That is the watery part of the yogurt that separates out. If you don't have enough, you can add a little watered down yogurt, milk, or soy milk)

Mix ⅓ of the flour mixture in to the eggs and honey. Then add ⅓ of the yogurt. Repeat until everything is mixed in. Don't mix it too much. Once everything is just mixed, stop.

Line an 9 inch square pan with cooking paper. Pour in batter. Sprinkle topping evenly over surface. Push it in gently with a fork.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and it feels firm to the touch.

Makizushi (Rolled sushi)

Makes 5 sushi rolls

This lends itself to much variety and personal taste. 

Make Sushi Rice. While it's cooking, prepare your fillings.

Sushi Fillings

Cucumber – 

Slice in ½ and then lengthwise in rectangles. You don’t need to peel the cucumber. Usually the seeds are not used.

Cucumber and Tamagoyaki -

Prepare cucumbers like I described above. Make a tamagoyaki, and after it is cooled, cut into about 1 cm square lengths.

Tuna and lettuce – 

Drain 1 can of tuna and mix with mayonnaise to moisten and hold it together. Add a little wasabi and/or chopped green onions (negi) if you like.

Wash and dry a piece of green leaf lettuce. 

Fried chicken tenders (sasami) and lettuce –

Cut chicken tenders in half, lengthwise.

For 3 tenders, marinate in:

1 t sake
1 t soy sauce
½ t ginger paste

Put 3 T flour in a disposable plastic bag. Add the marinated tenders and shake bag to coat them.

Put 1 egg in a wide bowl and mix it. Dip the tenders, one at a time, in the egg.  

Put ½ C panko (Japanese bread crumbs) in a disposable plastic bag. Shake the tenders, one at a time, in the bread crumbs to coat.

Heat about 1 cm of canola or grapeseed oil in a small frying pan. When the oil is hot, turn the fire to low and add 3 of the tenders, making sure they are straight in the pan. (To test the oil temperature, put the end of a wooden chopstick in the oil. When the oil is the right temperature, the oil on the chopstick will bubble.)

Cook until golden brown on one side, gently turn and cook the other side until golden. Drain on a rack over newspaper.

Wash and dry a piece of green leaf lettuce.

For one sushi roll, include tender, 1 torn piece of lettuce to fit the nori, and 1 thin line of mayonnaise.

Natto – 

One pack of natto mixed with soy sauce and karashi (hot mustard) - or however you like it.

Boiled shrimp – 

Straighten the shrimp out to make a line across the rice. Add a thin line of wasabi beside the shrimp before you roll the sushi.

Raw tuna – 

Cut tuna into long 1cm square pieces. Place on the rice. Add a thin line of wasabi beside the tuna before rolling.

Raw salmon with onion and avocado -

Cut long 1cm square pieces of salmon, being sure to cut across the grain of the fish.
Cut thin avocado slices.
Use a vegetable slicer to slice some onion paper-thin. (Use the sweeter, summer onions if you can get them.)
Mayonnaise
Wasabi

Gyudon-style beef

Prepare a small amount of Gyudon, then chop it into small pieces. 

To make a rolled sushi
Lay your bamboo sushi mat on your working surface. (I usually put it inside a large zip-lock bag for easier clean-up.)

Place a piece of sushi nori on the mat, shiny side down.

Cover the nori with a 1 cm layer of sushi rice, leaving about 2 cm at the far end with no rice. Use a spoon or rice scooper that you keep in a bowl of salt-water to serve the rice with. This will keep the rice from sticking to the utensil.

Add your choice of ingredients from the list above. Place your fillings about ⅓ from the bottom edge of the rice, lengthwise. Carefully lift the sushi mat to roll the sushi away from you towards the empty part of the nori. Roll it carefully so the nori doesn’t fold or crumble. It should be rolled fairly tightly. Dip your finger in a little water or soy sauce and use the liquid to seal the open end of the nori to the roll.

Use the bamboo mat to shape your sushi into a firm round roll. Set aside, seam side down.

Continue making sushi according to that method until 5 rolls are made. There should be just enough rice. When using several ingredients, be sure to hold them so they don’t tumble as you roll the sushi. When I make the gyudon roll, I hold the gyudon in place with a butter knife as I start to roll the sushi.

When all the rolls are made, slice them with a damp, clean, sharp knife. Slice each roll into 8 tidy pieces. (If you want it to be more professional looking, cut the ends off first.) Clean and dampen the knife as needed, so the rice doesn’t stick to it. Lay the sushi attractively on a platter. If you are like me, and don't want to spend so much time slicing, an easier way is to slice the rolls in half along a diagonal. I did that with the rolls in the photo below.

Serve with pickled ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce.

Click this link to buy a Bamboo sushi mat from Amazon.

Tamagoyaki (Rolled omelet)

Mix together:

3 eggs
½ t sugar
¼ t salt
½ t water or sake

Pour just enough to cover the bottom of the pan into a hot, oiled, heavy-bottomed frying pan. If you have a rectangular tamagoyaki pan, all the better. 

This cooked a little too much as I went to
grab my camera. I hope you get the idea.

When it is set on the bottom and still wet on the top, roll the egg from one side of the pan and then slide the egg back towards that side. Add another thin layer of egg to the pan and continue to roll the egg carefully. Continue adding more egg and rolling, one thin layer at a time, until all the egg is used. Gently turn and press it with your spatula to set it firmly into a rectangular shape.




Here are a couple other ways I make tamagoyaki:

3 eggs
½ t water
1 slice of chopped ham

Cook the ham a little in the pan, then add the egg whipped together with water, and cook as above.

3 eggs
¼ t water
¼ t sesame oil
¼ t salt
½ t sugar

Mix together and cook as above.

I've put edamame in tamagoyaki, too. Sometimes I use a mix of sesame oil and grapeseed oil in the pan for cooking.  

I bet you can come up with other good ideas. Of course, this is a standard ingredient in obentos. 

Click this link to see Tamagoyaki pans at Amazon. 

Tofu Egg Soup

Bring to a boil:

2-3 C chicken broth

Whisk together:

1 egg
¼ block of tofu - mashed

Add this to the broth and stir. When the egg/tofu mixture floats to the top after 30 seconds or so, it is done.

Put in each bowl:

½ t chopped negi (green onions)
¼ t sesame oil
a pinch of salt

Ladle soup into bowls and serve.

Chicken Salad for Sandwiches

Chicken salad on whole wheat flaxseed bread.

Remove the fat and skin from: 

2 large chicken breasts

Place in a pan, and add: 

300 ml water
1 chicken bouillon cube

Boil on a low flame, covered, for 5 minutes. Turn off fire, and leave until cool.

Mix in a large bowl:

¼ C mayonnaise
1 T French mustard
1 T German dill pickle juice
½ minced onion
(1 T strained yogurt)
½ t freshly ground pepper
¼ t salt
(2 T minced red or yellow peppers)
(chopped black olives)
Finally, add the shredded chicken.

Mix well. Refrigerate. This should be enough for 6 sandwiches.
You can keep the broth and use it to make Tofu-Egg Soup, Kenjin-jiru, etc. If you want to do that, you could double the amount of water and bouillon when you cook the chicken.

Tip:  Using a stand mixer to shred the chicken and mix it all up makes this so much easier! I broke the chicken breasts up, put them in the mixer and turned it on low. Then, as it was mixing, I added the mayo and other ingredients and let it run while I chopped the onions and black olives. By the time I turned off the mixer to stir in the onions and olives, it was mixed to perfection!

Wasabi Okra

Remove any little leaves, wash okra well, and scrub a bit to get rid of some of the fuzz.

Steam until bright in color (about 3 minutes):

200 grams okra

Put in a plastic container and thoroughly mix:

1-2 t wasabi paste (or ½-1 t wasabi powder)
2 t soy sauce

Adjust amounts to suit your taste.

Add steamed okra to the container and gently shake until it's coated.

Serve.

This also goes well in an obento.

Apple Pie

Apple pie with folded over crust

Crust

Place in a food processor (or mix by hand lightly):

2 C all-purpose flour （中力粉 in Japanese）

1/8 t salt

Mix in little by little:

90 grams cold butter

When the butter is well-distributed, add:

1 egg (cool, from the refrigerator)

Add, little by little, being careful about the consistency. The dough is ready when you can pinch a bit and it just holds together. It shouldn't be wet.

approximately 1/4 C cold milk

Form the dough into a flat ball, wrap in parchment paper or plastic, and refrigerate for 30 minutes or more.

Filling

It's a little hard to be precise with the measurements for the filling, as much depends on the size, moisture content, and flavor of the apples. So take this recipe more as a general guideline than an exact science. 

Put in a large bowl:

1-2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 t finely grated lemon peel
3 big apples, cored and cut into approximately 5 mm slices It is not necessary to peel them.

Toss the apples in the lemon juice to coat them. This will help them to retain their light color.

Then sift in:

1 pinch salt
4-6 T cornstarch
4-6 T sugar
½ t cinnamon
(¼ t nutmeg)

Toss the apples to coat them with the dry mixture. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 180ºC (350ºF).

Roll out one large circle of dough. Place its center in a pie pan and gently fit it into the corners. Fill with apples, then fold the dough over the top of the apples all around, towards the center. Be careful not to have any areas that are too thick with folded over dough.

Place the pie towards the bottom of the oven to ensure the bottom crust cooks thoroughly. Bake for about an hour. Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick. The pie is cooked when the apples are soft and the crust is golden. The liquid from the fruit may bubble up.

Cool on a wire rack.

Click this link to see the pyrex Pie Pans that are sold on Amazon.

Dry Curry

Dry curry made with minced chicken.

I got this basic recipe from Cookpad. It's easy, quick, and tasty.

If you are using ground beef, cook it first separately, drain the grease, then add it.

Heat in a frying pan:

1 T olive oil

When oil is heated, add and cook:

1 minced small onion
1 t minced garlic (about 1 large or 2 small cloves)
300 grams ground chicken or beef
1 bay leaf (aka laurel leaf)
1 grated carrot

When meat is thoroughly cooked, add:

300 ml water
1 chicken bouillon cube
1 T curry powder
a little salt
(1 T ketchup)

Simmer until most of the water evaporates - about 10 minutes.

Serve on rice and top with a little grated cheese.

This is easy to make ahead of time and freeze, so it's handy for obentos.

Milkshakes

Our default summer lunch beverage. Makes about 3 US cups, or about 600 ml. Before making, be sure your blender is the type that will blend ice. 

Banana Milkshake

In a clean blender add:

enough water to nearly cover the blades

Add and blend:

½ C whole milk powder

1 frozen banana (If you don't have frozen bananas, no problem. Just lessen the amount of water a bit and use a fresh, ripe banana.)

Add little by little, blending after each addition:

3 C ice cubes

Serve

Chocolate Milkshake

In a clean blender add:

enough water to nearly cover the blades

Add and blend:

½ C whole milk powder

1 slightly rounded T sugar

1 flat T chocolate powder

(1 T coffee, chocolate, or cream liqueur) 

Add little by little, blending after each addition:

3 C ice cubes

Serve

Other tried-and-proven flavor options:

Coffee

Coffee/chocolate

Strawberry (use frozen strawberries and reduce the amount of ice)

Nutritional yeast with flax and chia seeds

You can use honey instead of sugar, but be sure it's fully blended before adding any ice.

Click this link to see the impressive variety of Blenders available from Amazon.

Kabocha (Pumpkin) Pie

Pie crust for 9.5in/25cm pie pan:

Mix with a whisk:

3/4 C all-purpose flour (中力粉 churikiko in Japanese)
¼ C whole wheat flour
2 t brown sugar
1/8 t salt

Mix in until the mixture looks a bit like peas:

3-4 T butter

Add, a little at a time:

3-4 T iced water, vodka, shochu, or tequila (the alcohol makes the crust more flakey)

Use your clean hands to mix. Stop adding liquid once the dough holds together.

(This whole process can be greatly simplified by mixing the crust in a food processor and pulsing, little by little. When a handful sticks together, it's done.)

Refrigerate the dough for an hour or more.




Preheat oven to 200ºC (390ºF). Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface until it's slightly larger than your pie pan. Butter and then flour pie pan, or cover with parchment. Lay the crust in the pan and press to fit. Crimp the edges.

Place a sheet of cooking paper in the crust, and fill with pie weights or flat marbles (or something similar and heat-proof) to keep the crust from puffing up while it bakes.

Bake the crust for 15 minutes. Remove the pie weights and paper and return to the oven until the bottom of the crust is lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

Filling

Blend until smooth:

2 C kabocha squash (steamed and cooled, peels are optional)
2 eggs
2 T brown sugar
2 t cornstarch
1/4 C milk
½ t cinnamon

Pour into cooled, baked crust. Cover the exposed crust with foil to prevent overcooking, if necessary. Bake at 190ºC (375ºF) for 60 minutes, or until the center of the pie is slightly firm. Cool on a wire rack. Serve with whipped cream.

Brownies

½ C butter (110gm)
1 C light brown sugar

2 eggs
1 t vanilla
¼ C good quality cocoa (I use Van Houten) 
⅓ C flour (white or whole wheat or a mix of both)
about ⅓ C bitter chocolate chips 

about ⅓ C chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 180ºC (350ºF). Melt the butter by placing your metal mixing bowl in the preheating oven. While you do that, get your other ingredients ready.

When the butter is nearly melted, take it out of the oven (Use a hot pad!) and mix it around until it all melts (a little not completely melted doesn't matter). Whisk in the sugar. 

Then whisk in first the eggs, then vanilla, then cocoa, then flour. Stir in the nuts and chocolate chips. 

Spread in an 8 inch square pan lined with cooking paper and bake for 25-28 minutes or until cooked. (A toothpick will come out clean - unless it hits a chocolate chip. You can also gently touch the top and it should no longer be doughy soft.) 

If you want to ice them, after they are removed from the oven, place a thin (dark) chocolate bar on the top. After a minute or two, spread it around.

Cool on a wire rack. They're good the next day, too. If you make more than you will eat, individually wrap and freeze them in a freezer bag. 

You can make cherry brownies by adding ¼ C dried cherries that have been soaked overnight in brandy, and omit the vanilla. Don't add the soaking liquid.

For more cakey brownies, use these measurements:

½ C butter (110 gm)  
1 C light brown sugar  
2 eggs  
1 t vanilla  
⅓ C good quality cocoa  
½ C flour 
scant ¼ t salt 
¼ t baking powder 
⅓ C bitter chocolate chips  
⅓ C chopped pecans or walnuts

Carrot Cake

2 eggs 
¼ C grapeseed oil
3/8-1/2 C applesauce
½ C brown sugar
1 t vanilla
½ C whole wheat flour
½ C white flour
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
¼ t salt
1 t cinnamon
(¼ t nutmeg)
1½ C grated carrots
1/3 C chopped pecans or walnuts

1. Make the applesauce by simmering a chopped apple with a little lemon juice (just to keep the color). Cook, covered, over a very low flame until the apple is soft.  Set aside to cool to room temp.
2. Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF). Line a 8x8” square pan with parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, applesauce, sugar, vanilla.
4. Sift in dry ingredients and mix. Stir in carrots. Fold in nuts.
5. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 
6. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Chocolate Banana Cake

½ C softened butter (room temperature butter is good)

1 C sugar

1 egg

1 t vanilla

1½ C mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium - Mash them with a fork on a plate.)

1½ C whole wheat flour

1 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

½ t salt

3 T cocoa powder (or more up to ¼ C)

1-2 T milk

Preheat oven to 180ºC (350ºF). Line an 8" square pan with cooking paper.

1. Whisk butter and sugar until creamy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until thoroughly combined. Mix in bananas. 
2. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. (Be sure to sift the baking soda so no lumps go into the batter.) Stir until it's just mixed.
3. Divide batter in half. Add cocoa to one half. Add 1-2 T milk to make that batter the same consistency as the plain half. Spread in baking pan.
4. Spread the rest of the batter on top of the chocolate layer.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
6. Cool on a wire rack. This is even better the next day, and makes a great breakfast.

Granola Bars

A quick and easy default breakfast.  Make a batch on Sunday, and you're set for the week.

1 cup coconut oil 

1½ cups brown sugar (kurozato works well if you don't mind its rather strong flavor)

2 eggs

1 t vanilla

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup flour (whole-wheat is fine)

1 t baking soda

¾ t salt

2 cups chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds, etc.)
¾ C chocolate chips or 2 chopped dark (or milk) chocolate bars (about 160 grams)

Preheat oven to 180ºC (350ºF). Line a big baking pan with cooking paper. (I use my oven tray which is 28x30cm.)

Whisk coconut oil and sugar in a big mixing bowl. When smooth, whisk in eggs and vanilla. Sift flour, soda, and salt together, add, and mix in. Use a spatula to add in the oats. Then stir in the nuts and chocolate.

Spread in a big pan lined with cooking paper. Bake for about 28 minutes until golden brown and edges pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool on wire rack. Cut into 36 pieces. These can be stored in zip-lock bags - frozen or refrigerated.

Bitter Melon with Eggs

Wash, cut off ends, cut lengthwise, remove seeds and pith, and slice:

1 bitter melon

Mince:

2 small cloves garlic (or 1 large clove)

In a non-stick pan, sauté bitter melon and garlic in:

½ T olive oil (or other healthy oil. I often use grape-seed oil.)

When garlic is cooked, add:

1-2 T water
1-2 t soy sauce
It depends on how big your bitter melon is.

Turn the flame down and simmer until bitter melon is soft. Remove lid and let the water evaporate while simmering. (That is, if there is liquid remaining in the pan.)

[Now, if your pan is really non-stick, you can add the eggs to this pan. My pan is not non-stick, so I do the following:]

Take the bitter melon out of the pan and place it in a bowl. Wash the pan, dry it, and add a little oil. Heat the oil and spread it in the pan. When the oil is hot, add:

2 scrambled eggs
Cooked bitter melon

If you want, you could sprinkle a little turmeric on it and/or additional soy sauce.

Cook, stirring and mixing as if you were making scrambled eggs. When they eggs are done to suit your taste, remove from pan and serve.

Bitter melon may take a little getting used to - it's not called "bitter" for no reason - but it's nutritional value is a worth it, plus it grows on you.  

Beef and Daikon Soup

300 gm lean beef, thinly sliced and cut into manageable pieces

1 T grated ginger
(1-2 cloves minced garlic)

2 T canola or other healthy oil you like

1½ liter of water

½ stick konbu dashi (4gm) + 3 bouillon cubes OR 5 bouillon cubes

10cm daikon radish – sliced into thin rectangles
(2 thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms)

1 package harusame (40 gm, aka cellophane noodles) – soak in boiling water until tender, drain, and cut into 5cm lengths

2 T sake

1-1½ T usukuchi soy sauce
1½-2 t sesame oil

1 long onion – thinly sliced on a diagonal slant

1. Pour oil in a heavy-bottomed, deep pan. When oil is heated, sauté ginger, (garlic), and meat.
2. When the meat turns light in color, add water, dashi powder, and bouillon.
3. Add daikon (and shiitake mushrooms), and bring to a boil. Turn down to simmer.
4. Skim off any scum that comes to the surface and throw it away.
5. When daikon is soft, add harusame.
6. Add sake, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Taste the soup, and add more sake and/or soy sauce as you like.
7. Put a little chopped long onion in the each bowl, and then ladle in the soup.

This soup, as well as Kenjin-Jiru, keeps well in the refrigerator, and makes for very easy lunches during the cold winter months.