Yam potato in Japanese style,  cauliflower and pork stir fry with salt and black pepper sauce (Dinner 1 Oct)

I always try to use more than 10 different kinds of veggies with small portions of meat every day especially at dinner that Mr. Husband joins.

By taking small portions of meat with lots of veggie ingredients, we can take protein more efficiently compare to taking veggies solely.

This menu was a successful example. 

Menu 

• Cauliflower and pork stir fry with salt and black pepper sauce, 
• yam potato in Japanese style, 
• cucumber and avocado with chilli oil and mayonaise, 
• rice, 
• miso soup with tofu, seaweed and spring onion

Cauliflower and pork stir fry with salt and black pepper sauce: Ingredients

• Cauliflower 100g
• 1/2 pieces of carrot
• 70-80g pork belly
• 5-6 stems of aspragus
• 1 teaspoon of grated ginger
• 1 tablespoon of sake 

<Stir fry sauce>

• 2/3 teaspoon of black pepper
• 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
• 1.5 teaspoon of chinese chicken stock (if not, 1/4 cube of chicken stock)
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 teaspoons of cornflour
• 150cc of cold water

Directions

1. Slice pork belly as thin as possible, then put into a bowl. Season with sake, ginger and pinches of salt

2. Cut cauliflower into small bite sized. Slice carrot thinly. Peel the surface of stems of aspragus and remove the bottom. Then cut aspragus into three portions lengthwise

3. Bring water into boil in a pan, add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and cook all veggies for 3-4 mins until they get half done. Meanwhile, heat up a large frying pan over medium temperature and fry the pork intil they get half done

4. Take out veggies from the pan and put into the frying pan. Combine veggies and pork and stir fry them over medium temperature for 2 mins
5. Pour the sauce and cook for 1 min to make it thick and dress it with all ingredients. 

Yam potato in Japanese style

This is called Nishime and a traditional recipe of root veggies

Ingredients

• 3-4 Yam potatoes 
• 1 carrot
• 1/2 of  Konjaku pack (about 80g)
• 100g chicken thigh

<seasoning>

• 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 100cc of dashi (japanese fish stock)
• 2 tablespoons of mirin
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Directions

1. Boil konjaku for 2 mins to remove out the smell of lime. Take out from the water and allow it cool

2. Tear konjaku into small bite sized pieces with hands. Cut all other veggies into large bite sized. You can cut konjaku with a knife but using hands allows the seasoning get into the fiber of konjaku much quicker than using a knife

3. Heat up a thick large deep pan over medium temperature. Grease the pan with sesame oil and fry all ingredients for 4-5 mins with sugar. Add mirin in the end

4. Add dashi, soy sauce and salt

5. Shimmer gently for 10-12 mins until veggies get tender. In case using a pressur pan, cover the lid and bring it into boil then turn the heat over small temperature. Leave it for 3 mins and turn off the heat. Leave the pan until the lid is ready to open

6. Add some green veggies (beans or sugar snaps) to boil. Serve in a small dish with some depth.

Important Point

Japanese cuisine often combines soy sauce seasoning with sugar or mirin sauce to deepen the taste. In this salty-sweet combination sugar must be added first, and soy sauce second. If the sequence is reversed, the dish just tases of soy sauce.
This is because sugar molecules are much larger than salt molecules. If ingredients are seasoned with sugar first there remains space to absorb salt in the cells. In the opposite order, salt is absorbed densely, leaving no space for sugar. (Please refer to the illustration of this site: http://www.tsujicho.com/oishii/recipe/j_food/ichinensei/sashisuseso.html)

Time to prepare: 40 mins
Total cost: 4.9 pounds (1.2 for yam poptatoes, 1.5 for chicken thigh, 0.7 for cauliflower, 1.5 for the all other veggies and meat)

Pumpkin Cream Stew (26 Sep)

Just wondering how many people got injured by preparing Halloween pumpkin lantern in this season.

Pumpkins got hard skin and they are tough to curve by a kitchen knife. 

By microwaving a pumpkin, the curving process becomes much easier.

 I made cream pumpkin stew with pork and cabbage. This is very seasonal and the warm yellow colour celebrates the arrival of autumn. 

Ingredients

• 1/4 pumpkin 
• 1 round onion
• 100g pork belly
• 4-5 cabbage leaves (or Chinese cabbage leaves)
• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• 300cc milk
• 3/2 teaspoon of salt
• black pepper

 Directions

1. Put a pumpkin in a heat resist bowl. Cover it with a plate. Microwave it for 10-12 mins

 2. Cut cabbage into large bite sized, slice onion into 1.5 cm and slice pork as thin as possible

 3. Once the pumpkin got cool down, cut into quarter. Remove seeds and cores

 4. Wrap each piece of pumpkin with a cling film and put into a freezing bag to store in the freezer

5. Heat up a large deep pan over medium temperature. Add oil and butter and cook the pork pieces until they get half done. Add the rest of veggies and flour. Fry them until the white colour from flour disappears (about for 4-5 mins)

6. Add milk and allow ingredients gently boiled for 20 mins until they get tender

7. Season with salt and black pepper to serve. I added some sugar snaps in last minutes to cook before serving.

Mr. Husband really liked this dish and went for the second portion.

He expects me to repeat this soon once he knows about the pumpkin stock left in our freezer.

Time to prepare: 40 mins

Total cost: 3.1 pounds (60p for pumpkin, 1.5 for pork belly, 1 for the rest of veggies including salad)