PRAWN TEMPURA RECIPE

Ingredients :

6 medium prawns

12 green beans

4 leaves Chinese basil

4 slices courgettes

2 shiitake mushrooms, cut in half

Oil for frying

Batter :

1 egg yolk

120g flour

175 ml ice-cold water

Directions:

Prepare prawns, leaving tail on. Cut in half lengthways, wash and dry.

Make batter: Beat the egg yolk lightly with a fork. Add water, stir twice and add flour. Stir a little more. Heat the oil in a pan on medium-high heat. Coat prawns and vegetables in batter, then fry in hot oil. Cook until batter puffs up, but not yet golden. Take prawns and vegetables out with the aid of a skimmer or ladle, use kitchen paper to soak off excess oil and serve immediately.

Tip: eat with salt, pepper and chunks of lemon, or try this traditional Japanese sauce with your tempura : 1/5 soy sauce, 1/5 mirin or sake and 3/5 dashi or fish stock, with a little ginger.

MISO SOUP

Ingredients:

• about 30 half-inch cubes tofu
• 4 mushrooms, sliced
• 2 stalks green onions, chopped
• 4 cups water
• 2 teaspoons dashi
• 3-4 tablespoons miso (adjust to taste)

Boil 4 cups of water and dashi . Add tofu and mushrooms, simmer gently about 3 minutes. Add miso and dissolve completely. Immediately turn off the heat and add chopped green onions, then serve.

Tip: you have to cook the hard vegetables longer. If you have a combination of soft and hard vegetables, add the soft vegetables later. The miso flavour will weaken if you overcook the miso.

SUSHI RICE

Japanese rice is a medium-grained rice and gets sticky when it is cooked. The long-grained rice isn't proper for sushi because it is drier and doesn't stick together.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups Japanese-style rice
• 3 1/4 cups water
• 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt

Directions:

After washing the rice well, cook it by pan or rice cooker. Prepare sushi vinegar (sushi-zu) by mixing rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a small pan.put pan on low heat until sugar dissolves. Cool the vinegar mixture. Spread the cooked hot rice into a large plate (if you have it, use a wooden bowl called sushi-oke) by spatula. Sprinkle the vinegar mixture over the rice and fold the rice very quickly by using a shamoji or flat wooden spatula. Be careful not to smash the rice. To cool and remove the moisture of the rice well, use a fan as you mix sushi rice; this will give the rice a shiny look. It's best to use it right away.

INARI SUSHI

Ingredients:

Directions:

Bring the prepared sushi rice to room temperature.

(If using canned aburage, skip this next step) Pour boiling water over the deep-fried tofu cakes to remove oil. Cool, then slice each tofu cake in half lengthwise to make eight tofu pouches. In a small saucepan, combine the mirin, sugar, soy sauce and dashi together. Simmer over low heat until hot. Drain gourd strips, then add the gourd strips and tofu pouches into the stock. Heat to boil. Cover, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Squeeze the tofu pouches and gourd strips dry. Set aside.

Mix the shredded carrot with the sushi rice. Moisten hands, then pick up enough rice to make a small, oval-shaped ball. Open a tofu pouch and gently slide the rice ball into the pouch. Fold the sides in and top flap over the rice to close pouch. Repeat with remaining rice and tofu pouches.

SALMON SASHIMI RECIPE

Ingredients:

500g Very fresh fish such as tuna, salmon or trout

1 Carrot

1 Daikon

Japanese soy sauce, to serve

Wasabi, to serve

Directions :

Use a very sharp, flat-bladed knife to remove any skin from the fish. Place the fish in the freezer and chill it until it is just firm enough to be cut thinly and evenly into slices, about 5 mm in width. Try to make each cut one motion in one direction, taking care not to saw the fish. Use a zester to scrape the carrot and daikon into long fine strips or cut them into fine julienne strips. Arrange the sashimi pieces on a platter. Garnish with the carrot and daikon and serve with the soy sauce and wasabi.

Tip : it is crucial that the fish used for making Sashimi is very fresh.

CHICKEN TERIYAKI RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 500g boned chicken breasts and thighs
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 cups diagonally sliced celery
• 250g frozen stir-fry vegetables, thawed and drained

Directions:

Blend soy sauce, vinegar, garlic powder, sugar and ginger in a large bowl. Cut chicken into thin strips about 2 inches long. Place in bowl. Toss chicken until coasted with marinade. Marinate in for 10 minutes in refrigerator.

Drain chicken and discard marinade. Heat vegetable oil in a wok or large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Stir-fry chicken for 7 minutes or until cooked through and lightly browned. Add celery and vegetables. Stir-fry for 3 minutes. Serve immediately with cooked rice or chinese noodles.

KABAYAKI SAUCE

This sauce is used as an accompaniment for grilled unagi (eel).

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup mirin (sweet rice wine)
• 1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

Pour all ingredients in a pan. Stir the mixture well. Put the pan on low heat and simmer for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and cool the mixture. Store the sauce in a clean bottle in the fridge.