Red Tomato Chutney

You may or may not remember that I made chutney for the first time last winter. And we loved it! It is a Pear and Peach Chutney with ginger root in it that makes it nice and HOT! It is great with curry and rice!

So, when my friend at Shinshu Life published a recipe for red (vs. still green) tomato chutney, I was really enthralled! Just looking at the color made me want to rush out and make it. However, Shinshu Life cooking is based on their wonderful and HUGE gardening enterprise. My balcony garden, on the other hand, was recycled early on in the summer, and replaced with flowers. So, when I compared prices of "real" (fresh) tomatoes with canned, canned won out. Here is my version of Shinshu Life's school textbook's Red Tomato Chutney:



Red Tomato Chutney


2 cans whole peeled tomatoes - I roughly cut them up with a pair of kitchen shears
3/4 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup raisins
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. pickle spice wrapped in a mesh cloth - cloves are the ticket, I think!
1 cup sugar

I threw all of this (EXCEPT THE SUGAR) into a saucepan and boiled it till the liquid was reduced by about 1/2. About 20 minutes. Then I added the sugar and boiled it for about 20-30 minutes. Ryu (my husband), isn't a real vinegar fan, and found this to be a bit sour at first, so be sure to adjust the sugar to your own taste. This made 2-3 cups of chutney. The color is so rich and the flavor so robust! I love it!

We weren't sure what to eat it on but it would work with yogurt - REALLY! and cream cheese and crackers. It is also great with chicken and white rice. I think we will be finishing it up tonight! Mmmm! Thanks for the inspiration, Heather!

Sesame Dressing

We had only been married a little time before Ryu told me he liked Chinese food also. Wow! Learning to make Japanese food as well as Chinese - I recruited his help. We bought a Chinese cookbook at the 100 yen (Dollar) store and have used it and used it!

This is the Sesame Dressing for one of the dishes (whose name I can't remember or READ!)

The cookbook is Bon Cook #23 Chinese...Something. The recipe is on page 48.

Anyway, this is Ryu's dish to make, but, we are on a chicken eating frenzy, so I am always looking for ideas. The other day I decided to boil a chicken breast, tear it into shreds, steam some green beans and cut them in half, and pour this sauce over it all. We were ALL (meaning, Jun too!) in heaven!

Sesame Dressing

3 Tbsp. White Sesame Seeds - grind these up in a food mixer you can later add wet ingredients too for ease in preparation. (I'm sure you could use black too. We used roasted white ones.)
3 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp. Sugar
1 Tbsp. Vinegar
1/2 tsp. Sesame oil
1/2 tsp. rayu (very hot oil. We leave it out when Jun is eating with us - ALWAYS - though we love it!)

After grinding up the sesame seeds, add the rest of the ingredients and blend well. This is the first time I used our food grinder/mixer. Ryu does it by hand. Do as you wish, but I will always use our cheapo frustrating mixer after this! So easy!

This is great over chicken and pork. Also, over steamed veggies like broccoli, green beans or spinach. It would also be great over a salad or chilled tofu! Of course, you can adjust the flavor/sweetness to your liking, too! Try it!

Ginger Jam

I brought some Candied Ginger to church the other morning and a friend said she had just seen a recipe for ginger jam on NHK - our national TV station. Eagerly, I DEMANDED to know the ingredients. And...that is exactly what she gave me. I am not sure if the amounts are in US cup sizes or Japanese, and I have no idea of the proper way to make the jam. I looked on the Internet in English and Japanese. I couldn't find NHK's original recipe, but here is what I did. And...it is HOT and ohohohohoh so yummy! I've had it on toast and in yogurt. It could also be made into a tea.

GINGER JAM

100 gm ginger root
3/4 cup honey
1/4 cup lemon juice (juice of 2 lemons)

Scrape the peel off of the ginger root with a spoon, and use a ginger-grater to grate it very very finely. Throw away any left over stringy things.

Throw the ginger in a saucepan with the honey and lemon juice. Simmer till it is the consistency of jam. Probably around 30 min. Don't let the heat get too high, and stir occasionally.

Japanese jam recipes don't call for pectin or other jelling agents. I don't know if this makes our (Japanese) jam less healthy because we simmer the heck out of the berries and fruit to reach jam consistency...or more healthy because it is just berries/fruit and sugar/honey. Hmmm. But, as I can't get the jelling agents easily - Japan style it is.

I did notice many other ginger jam and jelly recipes on the English Internet. Some add fruits such as pears or apples to the jam. This sounds yummy to me, as I love to use the ginger syrup, left over from the candied ginger I made, with a spoonful of applesauce in a cup of hot water.

I think I am just TOO into ginger root. But, if you have another way to use it...PLEASE share!

Sue, I hope it helps your hubby get over his flu! No fun!!!

Honey Butter

My Dad recently asked my Mom if I remembered EVERYTHING from my childhood. Well, I sure remember a lot. I remember observing, watching, and pondering more than talking. However, my memory may be hazy there!

In my memory of my childhood, we often ate soup. Good old Campbell's soup. And we always had Saltine crackers with our soup. The crackers came in a long wax paperish sleeve. For dessert, on those evenings, my Dad would dump some butter/margarine into his soup bowl, pour a bunch of honey over the top, and mix it all in well. Then, he would butter crackers for each of us and feed them to us as fast as we could eat them - finishing off the "sleeve" of crackers. The honey butter always had a faint hint of soup in it, making it "Dad's Honey Butter!" My Dad was not a cook in those days. This, ice-cream sodas, and root-beer floats are the only things I remember my Dad making when I was a kid. So, it is a very special memory!

Well, the other day I introduced Jun to honey. She was wary at first, but, hearing it was like SUGAR, gave it a try, and was quickly converted. However, honey is sticky and drips and makes a mess. Mama doesn't like messes much. So, after a day or two of sticky, I remembered HONEY BUTTER! I mixed up a batch, and I'm not sure which of us likes it more. Yummm! No crackers yet, but it goes great on hot biscuits or toast! Oh, and it makes me LONG for cornbread!

Recipe? Not really. Just mix some butter/margarine till it is soft, add in as much honey as you like and mix it up. It keeps in the fridge just fine, so make as much as you want! (Remember kids under one should not have honey! :))

Chutney

I found a recipe for peach and pear chutney in a holiday recipe book. I have never eaten, seen, or made chutney before. And, I didn't have most of the ingredients, but the idea stuck in my head. So, I looked to see what I DID have and made the following chutney. It is SOOOO spicy and delicious!

Peach and Pear Chutney

1 can peaches - drained and diced
1 can pears - drained and diced
3/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1 Tbsp. pickles spice (see note below) put in a cheesecloth or tea holder.
2 Tbsp. finely chopped raw ginger (at the request of Ryu. I diced it, and it was a bit too big, I guess.)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup reserved syrup/juice from peaches/pears.

Place all in a sauce pan and cook over low for 1-1 1/2 hours or so, until liquid is nearly gone, all fruits are soft, and yummy! I put a lid on it till the fruit was soft, then took the lid off and simmered it till the liquid was reduced.

This chutney is QUITE spicy, and wonderful with curry. I want to try it with cream cheese on crackers too.

**Pickles Spice. I used a pickle spice mix that contains: bay leaf, chili pepper, cinnamon and cloves.

Relish - For Hamburgers, Hotdogs, etc.

Living in Japan, the tiny and high priced jars of pickle relish just are not a frequent option. Imagine my delight when I went to C---- and had a hot dog in their eating area and SMOTHERED it with relish and ketchup. YUM! We found a big 1/2 gallon jar of relish at C---- and I brought it home with great expectations. Unfortunately the relish was hard and crunchy! How do you make relish that is not hard and crunchy???

A few months later the flower lady down the street's mother asked if I knew how to make pickles. "Of course," I answered. Or, at least my Mom and Grandma used to make them when I was in early elementary school. A few years ago. So, after that bold statement, I went to the Web, and found a microwave recipe for pickles. I have to tell you I was so surprised that you actually COOK cucumbers. Hmmm. Looks like I missed something watching Mom and Grandma.

After some adaptation, I now have a wonderful homemade pickle relish recipe to share with you!!!

1. 2-3 cups shredded cucumbers (About 4-5 Asian skinny ones. Not sure about American ones.)
2. Sprinkle the shredded cucumbers with 1/4 tsp. of salt and set aside while making the following:

In a sauce pan combine:

1. 3/4 cup of sugar (adjust to taste)
2. 1/2 cup of vinegar (I use rice vinegar - I live in Japan, after all.)
3. 3/4 tsp. of salt
4. 1 Tbsp. of Pickle Spice (I found this little pack at Isetan Dept. Store. Do you have this in the States?) Put it in some of cheese cloth or tea bag packet.

Cook till the sugar dissolves. Squeeze as much of the liquid as you can from the shredded cucumbers (I use an old cotton towel). Add the cucumbers and cook over medium heat stirring occasionally. Cook till cucumbers turn the color of relish - kind of dark green. Maybe around 8-10 minutes. Cool in the saucepan, and put in a Tupperware container in the fridge. I leave the spice packet in the container with the assumption that the yummy flavor will just keep getting stronger and stronger.

I have also added a few hot dried peppers to the recipe when dissolving the sugar. Don't add too many. YIKES!

Yes, this was originally a microwave recipe, but, I am a control freak and you CAN'T see what you are cooking in the microwave. Also, messing with wrap with one hand while holding a baby on your other hip, just doesn't work well for me. So, WALA, the saucepan!