Chocolate Sauce

Place in a pot and mix well:

½ C water
¼ C cocoa powder (I use Van Houten)
1 C sugar 

Gently boil for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally so it doesn't burn. Then add: 

a pinch of salt
50 gm dark chocolate (I use 1 bar of Ghana Black)

Wait for about a minute for the chocolate to melt, then stir gently. When cool, add:

¼ t vanilla extract

Store in an airtight jar in the fridge. This lasts a long time.

Shiodare Buta (Pork with Salt Sauce)

400-500 gm thinly-sliced pork (bara)

½ onion - sliced
1 T cornstarch
1 long onion, cut the white section in thin diagonal slices, use the green part in the sauce

For stir-frying:

approximately 1½ t canola oil

Mix together for the sauce:

½ t salt
½ chicken bouillon cube, mashed
1 T sesame oil
1½ T water
1½ T sake
1½ T lemon juice
minced green part of long onion
1-2 cloves garlic, finely minced

Mix the cornstarch into the meat. Put a little canola oil and sesame oil in a frying pan and heat. Stir-fry the onion and pork, making sure the meat doesn't stick together. Add the cut white long onions when the pork is almost cooked and cook a little more.

Add the sauce and stir. Cover and simmer for a minute or so.

Serve on rice. Top with black pepper and sesame seeds.

Niku-Jaga

Prepare the vegetables:

1 carrot (cut into large pieces)
1 potato (cut into large pieces, bigger than the carrots)
½-1 onion (sliced thickly)

Heat 2 t vegetable oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan. When heated, stir fry:

onions
400 grams thinly-sliced beef

When meat is whitish, add potatoes and carrots. Stir fry for a minute. Add:

1/3 C sake
1/3 C mirin
1/3 C soy sauce
1 t konbu dashi
2 T sugar
500 ml water (or enough to almost cover everything - little bits of vegetable sticking out don't matter)
(1 package shirataki noodles, drained and rinsed)

Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered for about 20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.

Remove lid and simmer to reduce the sauce. If there is any scum on the surface of the liquid, skim it off with a spoon. Cover the pan, and turn off the fire about 10 minutes before serving to further infuse the flavor into the vegetables. 

Serve with rice.

Rice Stuffing for Roast Fowl

Cook:

3-6 slices bacon

Mince and set aside.

Sauté in 1½ T butter:

½ minced onion
3 minced shiitake mushrooms (or whatever mushrooms you have)

Add:

⅛ t sage
¾ t salt
¼ t ground pepper

Mix all of the above into:

Cooked rice (measure 2 C raw rice)
½-1 C Japanese dry bread crumbs (Panko)

Finally, mix in:

½-¾ C milk or chicken broth

Fill the cavities of your bird no more than ¾ full, as the stuffing will expand. 

To bake the stuffing that didn't fit in the bird -

Place it on a piece of parchment paper, place the chicken neck in the center, and wrap it up. Cover the whole thing with foil. Place beside the bird in your oven and bake for an hour or more, depending on the size of your stuffing package. My oven is small, so I divide the stuffing into two smaller packets with ½ chicken neck in each and bake them for 1½ hours. The stuffing is moist and infused with flavor from the chicken.

Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Grilled cheese with flax-seed bread.

Slice 2 pieces of bread about 1 cm thick.
Butter what will be the outside of the sandwich. 
Heat frying pan over a low flame.
Place one piece of bread, buttered side down, on the heated pan.
Place your choice of cheese on that piece of bread. (Be careful not to drop any cheese on the pan.) Then put the other slice of bread on top of the cheese, buttered side up.
Cook slowly (slowly is the key) until browned on the bottom. Turn it over carefully and brown the other side.
Voila! A grilled cheese sandwich!