Mabo Dofu

An expat mom here in Japan was asking for ideas to expand her cooking repertoire. She has four children and, I'm sure the easier, the better. I have one child, and that is ALWAYS my motto! PP (Pre-parenthood), Ryu and I liked to try different foods out and then try to create them at home. His Dad is a Chinese food fan, and we enjoyed trying some of his favorites. I found a Chinese cookbook at the 100 yen store, and we have tried MANY of the recipes and adapted them to our tastes and made them EASY to cook.

This is a hot (according to the amount of spice you put into it) dish using ground meat and tofu. We serve it over/beside rice. A nice winter dish! You can also substitute egg plant for the tofu, and have a nice summer dish!

Mabo Dofu

200 gm (1/2 pound or so) of ground meat. I use chicken.
1/2 tsp. garlic finely chopped (or out of the tube! I love Japanese spice tubes!)
1-3 tsp. tobanjan This is where the heat comes in. It comes in a small jar and is red. Helpful? Please start with a little and work your way up. I probably only use 1/4 tsp. I'm not as into hot as Ryu is. And, with Jun eating from the same pot, I leave it out now and Ryu adds rayu to his serving.
2 cups bouillon soup I use two cubes and 2 cups of water
1 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp. sake
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
300 gm block (again - 1/2 pound or so) of the harder kind of tofu (momen)

Fry up your meat with the garlic and tobanjan. Add the soup and other flavorings and bring to a boil. Cut the tofu up into large dice sized pieces. Add to the pot, and wait for it to return to a boil. At this stage, I sometimes turn it off and continue with other things - like folding laundry or taking care of Jun - who is into puzzles and dancing in her kimono, lately. My theory is that this "down time" gives the flavorings time to soak into the tofu. But, do as you like. It is only a theory. However, if you use eggplant, I think this extra time is very necessary for the eggplant to get nice and soft and soak up the soup!

Then combine 2 tsp. cornstarch/katakuriko (potato starch) with 2 Tbsp. cold water. When it is mixed well, pour slowly into the hot tofu soup, and stir till thickened.

Garnish with a little chopped green onion and a quick sprinkle of sesame oil.

I have also been known to add boiled and squeezed spinach to this dish, green peas, frozen corn, grated carrot, etc. Also, Jun likes it before it is thickened, as a soup.

Serve over rice. Nice and yummy on a cold day!

Taco Rice

This week, Abigail posted a copy of her mother's Mexican Meatloaf recipe. Abigail made it into burgers instead. I did too! Ohhhhh, so good! That recipe will be our winter version of this summer favorite.

One day my FIL and I were shopping at an imported food shop. He saw a package for Taco Rice from Okinawa. I looked at the picture and said, "We don't need that! I can make it myself!" And so I have - or my version of it anyway. Feel free to make up your version too!

Note: As "taco" means octopus in Japanese, I would like to clear up all misunderstandings before they start. This dish contains NO octopus! SMILE!

Taco Rice (Takosu Raisu)

Take big individual serving bowls. Ramen bowls or big pasta bowls are nice.

Crush a bag or two of tortilla chips - choose the flavor you like. Put a nice handful of tortilla chips in the bottom of each bowl.

Spoon a portion of hot white rice over the chips.

Next, top with taco seasoned ground meat. We use chicken. If we don't have seasoning, we just salt and pepper it. Still yummy.

Next comes grated cheese - if you have it.

Then lettuce and tomatoes. I love shiso in this dish. Ryu hates it.

Top with yogurt or a dressing of your choice. Our household loves Caesar Dressing on this.

Some people dig in with a fork and eat down through the layers. Others mix it all up and eat it. Japanese friends are shocked that one would pair lettuce and chips with hot rice, but they always love it.

I'm sure you could probably add refried beans or ???? to make it your very own dish. How about an avocado?? MMMM. Yum!

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!