Mexican Chicken

My husband commented on my "strong arm" in the arena of cooking this week. This means, I've made some things that he likes and that fill him up!

I thought of waiting and measuring and all that stuff to give you this recipe, but...this is Kantan (simple) Cooking, so - here is the recipe in its simplicity.

I need to add that it was inspired by this recipe for Mexican Burgers that we LOVE and often make in little meatball sizes for obentos and dinner!

Mexican Chicken

2 whole skinless and boneless chicken breasts cut in bite-sized pieces
1 splash of milk
1 Tbsp. or so of taco seasoning - if you have it
1 bag of flavored taco chips. We get them for 100 yen at the convenience store. Crush them up into tiny pieces.

So, take the pieces of chicken, throw them in a bowl. Salt them a bit. Splash with some milk (2 Tbsp?) Add the taco seasoning, and mix it in well. Put it in the fridge if you have time, and let it set for awhile for the seasonings to soak into the meat.

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Roll each piece of chicken in the crushed taco chips and toss into an oven safe pan. If they need to be layered - that's fine. If you have chips leftover, sprinkle them over the top.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the chicken is done.

I "garnished" this with well drained yogurt - fake, but yummy, sour-cream like topping, and chopped green onions. I could see some salsa over it as well, or tomatoes and shredded lettuce. If one had cheese in the fridge, I'd sprinkle a bit of that over the chicken before baking and Mmmmm.

Very SIMPLE - but, it's summer, and the hubby loved it, and I don't want to forget about it. My Japanese Mama friends' reaction? Very good and "You COOK with taco chips???" I love to shock them as often as possible.

Soboro Bento (Lunch)

I originally thought that the name of this lunch was the same word used in Japanese for "not doing what you should be doing. Goofing off!" Turns out it isn't, but they are close. The simplicity of this obento is perfect for those days when I'm just not up to making a cutsie obento. O.K. I'm never into making cutsie obentos. So, this obento is great when Jun and I have to eat in PUBLIC with PEOPLE we KNOW! And, I have received compliments on the way it looks and the way it tastes. So there.

A retired male student, who is the new cook in his family, was afraid I would let Ryu starve - especially when I told him about the lunches I fixed, and gave me a cookbook on making lunches. No pictures. As I "read" this recipe to make sure I got all the important points for you, I noticed it said that "if you put something sweet in a lunch box, it helps the eater to relax." I didn't say I understood it. I said it said it. I always DID like a cookie in my lunch bag, though!

SOBORO BENTO (Lunch)

Meat

100 gm. ground chicken
4 Tbsp. water
2 tsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. sake (surely white wine or water would suffice?)
2 tsp. sugar

Mix it all well (the meat is still raw!). Then cook it in a fry pan till the meat is all broken up into TINY pieces and much of the sauce has cooked down.

Egg

1 egg
1 tsp. water
dash of salt
dash of sugar

Mix it all up. Heat up the frying pan. Use a tad bit of oil if you need to. Pour in the egg. Grasp 5-6 chopsticks in your hand at once (that's what it SAYS in the book!) and stir away at the egg. This cooks it while breaking it up into TINY pieces like the meat. I have been known to use a small metal whisk for this job with adequate results.

Veggie

This obento should have three colors - that's how to WOW people. Any green veggie will do. I tend to use my spinach with gomae recipe.

Now, (for those new to obentos) put rice in the box (Tupperware stuff works too.) Then divide it into thirds and cover with the three toppings. I always double/triple the recipe as needed.

Ginger Pork

When my friend, Sachiko, heard I was getting married, quite a few moons ago, she was worried that I would not be able to cook satisfactorily for my Japanese husband. Somehow we decided that any decent bride worth her weight in soy sauce should be able to make shogayaki - ginger pork - for her groom. So, Sachiko called her Mom, long distance, got a recipe, and taught me. I must confess, I make a very SIMPLE version of the original recipe. Ryu seems to like it and we are going on 7 years, so...I guess I can recommend it to you too!

250-300 gm. pork (I have used everything from cheap thinly sliced meat to pork chop-like meat cut in thick strips. Whatever is handy really does work.)
1 1/2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. cooking sake (I suppose white wine could be substituted?)
1/2 tsp. finely grated ginger (I confess, I use the grated ginger from the tube!)

Put the seasonings in a plastic bag. Mix a bit. Add the meat and massage the meat. I swear, meat gets more massages here in Japan that I ever will! Just kind of squeeze it to get the marinade all mixed in well. Then set it in the fridge for as long as you want, or on the counter for 30 min. or so. Then, I dump it in a fry pan and fry it up. I never use oil, because I almost never use oil. When the meat is cooked - it is done.

Simple and oh so yummy with white rice and the spinach dish I should introduce to you too - also from Sachiko. Tonight I decided to try out a recipe I found over at Abigail's Mamatouille blog for Pumpkin, instead. Mmmmmmm.

Curry a la Flora

When I was a kid, my mom was a teacher at Child Evangelism Fellowship. Her teacher, Flora, taught her some wonderful recipes that have become family favorites.

Curry was one that we made yearly, with leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. Imagine my surprise when I moved to Japan and found that many many churches here have curry for lunch after service EVERY Sunday. I have to say that curry lost its glamour for many years.

Then I remembered what made Flora's curry so wonderful. It wasn't the curry, as we weren't the best curry makers in the world. It was the toppings!

Well, our church decided this week not to continue the curry tradition. Too many people in too small of a space and not enough room or pots to make enough, as our church has grown some this past year.

So, I bought some curry roux yesterday, and have a pot of it cooking on the stove right now. Now, for the toppings!!!

Today, I will top my Aussie-beef-on-a-good-sale curry with raisins, peanuts and hard boiled eggs. When I have it, I also add sliced bananas, sweetened shredded coconut and canned mandarin oranges.

This is so fun to do with lots of people. Japanese friends are SHOCKED that you would put anything on top of curry. But, even my husband and brother-in-law (both Japanese) like the toppings! YEAH!

Let me know if you try it and if you tried a new topping!

Kalbi

Soon after we got married, Ryu and I bought a bottle of yaki-niku sauce at C------. I should say a jug! It was huge. We had to lay it down in our fridge, it was so big. We never did finish it and finally I tossed it.

A couple of months ago, I got some Aussie beef on sale and wanted to try to make my own yaki-niku sauce. I looked up some Japanese websites for recipes and they all took tons of ingredients that I didn't have and tons of time from start to use, which I didn't have either.

Then I remembered that my sister often made Kalbi for her Japanese husband. She used a packet from the store, but I was able to find a recipe in Japanese on the net. I have made it a couple of times, and Ryu has pronounced it "delicious", so I am passing it on to you! I hope you enjoy it.

Kalbi

300 gm. thinly sliced beef

1 Tbsp. sake
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. mirin
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. ground sesame
1 tsp. minced garlic (we tend to leave this out)

Mix up the marinade and marinate the meat for 10 minutes. (I have left it over night in the fridge with no problems.) Fry it up in a fry pan, and you have yummy kalbi. (I don't add any oil, but use a non-stick pan.) It is great for lunch boxes! Jun loves it too!

Homemade Sausage II

I posted a while back about trying to redo a homemade sausage recipe to fit my hubby's tastes. Well, I have officially given up, and will post the original recipe with some of my personal notes.

This is great sausage because it tastes just like Jimmy's sausage - to me at least. And, you can choose the type of meat you use as well as the amount of salt (and other spices). Love the control!!! And Junnie at least likes it as much as I do. Sometimes, that is.

I got this recipe from Mary Jo, a fellow missionary, who now lives in Okinawa. She gave it to me in the late 1990's. I feel old. Here it is:

Italian Breakfast Sausage

1/2 tsp. fennel
1/2 tsp. savory
1/2 tsp. thyme
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Mix the above spices with 300 gm. ground pork. Make into patties and cook.

Now, for my notes, I prefer to use ground chicken, but find it makes quite a hard patty. So, one day, I decided to mix a handful of panko (Japanese bread crumbs) in with it. They were wonderful, tender, and yummy! At other times, I have mixed 1/2 ground chicken with 1/2 ground pork. This keeps the patties a little more tender than 100% ground chicken.

The patties freeze well, also!

Oh, I was able to find all of these spices in Japan, as well! At a fancy supermarket, but, still, in Japan!

Strange Crispy Chicken Bites

I really love to try STRANGE recipes. Not those that take things I can't pronounce, but ones that take everyday things and combine them in an unthinkable way. Well, someone thought of them, but...not me.

I got this recipe from a Japanese television program and shared it with my Japanese students. It isn't exactly Japanese - at all, really - but it's pretty good.

Take boneless skinless chicken legs and cut them up into bite-sized pieces.

In a bowl, combine a little bit (maybe 1/2 cup or less) of mayonnaise, a teaspoon of salt, and some garlic paste in some form or other. Mix it well and stir in the chicken pieces. Cover and let it set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Longer is fine.

In another bowl, crush up some kind of non-sweetened cereal. Take the chicken pieces out of the mayo, one at a time, and roll them in the cereal. Place as close together as you need on a cookie sheet or pan. Cook at 400F or 210C for about 20 min - depending on your interpretation of bite-sized. When done, remove to a paper towel, and eat hot!

Nice and crunchy!