Something about Ｍana-sama in Yukata Enjoying Somen Noodles During Hot Summer in Japan

Summer is over and there may not be a lot that we have to look back on, in a friendly way, but there was one thing we were able to enjoy and share in. That was enjoying the Mana in Yukata making negashi somen video. And while most of us do not have a somen noodle slide, it was still possible to make and enjoy cold somen during the hot summer days.

 

Chilled somen is not difficult to make, and Mana showed how to make excellent eggs to go with it. So what I am going to share in this blog is a little information about the dipping sauce tsuyu or mentsuyu.

There are a lot of recipes on the internet, with various ingredients and amounts of how much to put in. So I will share a little bit about the ingredients that can be used. Since they are basic staples for Japanese cooking, it is worth trying to find them. The first staple is sake. You could use regular sake, but it is nice to have a bottle of cooking sake on hand. Cooking sake tends to have less alcohol but also have salt which regular sake does not have. 

Something that works in place of sugar or with it is the second staple, mirin. While sugar could be substituted, I find mirin has a nice distinctive flavor that is found in so much Japanese food. It is also a rice wine like sake, but with a higher sugar content. Like all of the ingredients, there are many good brands, but I prefer a glass bottle because the top closes better.

The third staple is soy sauce or shoyu. So many varieties out there! What I have right now in this photo left to right is a special shoyu from Hokkaido, tamari, usukuchi light color shoyu, and less salt shoyu. 

I use the Hokkaido shoyu for sashimi and sushi dipping and other dishes where shoyu is a stand-alone ingredient. While somen isn't a gluten free dish unless gluten free noodles are used., tamari can still be used to make gluten free sauces. Usukuchi is sometimes used in some Japanese dishes. I find less salt or reduced sodium shoyu is good not just for health reasons, but also for taste. It is up to each person as to what they want to use. I do think it is worth it to try different shoyu, because there can be differences in flavor. 

The fourth staple of Japanese cooking is dashi. Again, there are a lot of recipes online and just as many varieties of dashi. Basic dashi consists of three things. Water, konbu and katsuobushi. Konbu is a dried seaweed. It is thick and for cooking you can buy it in large pieces and cut off as much as you need. Konbu is used in various ways so it's worth searching for it to have in the kitchen. You can even use it in non-Japanese cooking. Add to a broth or sauce or rice for additional umami. Finely shredded konbu can be used as a topping for okonomiyaki and rice.

As for katsuobushi, that also comes in various forms. Katsuobushi is dried smoked bonita, a skipjack tuna. In Japan, some cooks have it in blocks which they shave with a katsuobushi kezuriki. While it helps to use larger pieces for making dashi, outside of Japan it's the smaller shavings that are usually in stores. These also work, just a little harder to remove from the dashi broth.

While dashi does take time and effort to make, it is definitely worth having. An easier way is to find instant dashi. Which also comes in a lot of varieties. If you want basic dashi stock, there is instant dashi for that. There is also dashi that can be used for making ramen, like the anchovy iroko dashi. Another instant dashi that I like is the Shimaya tennen dashi. As you can see, it also has shiitake mushrooms and anchovies in it. I use these and also make dashi, depending on the dish.

Of course, there is another way to have tsuyu. You can buy it premade. I do think it's fun to make dishes from scratch, but sometimes it's not possible to find all the ingredients or there isn't enough time cook it. So nothing wrong with using good premade items.

I hope you enjoyed my blog post. Here is the Moi-même-Moitié video of gothic elegant Chef Mana making somen noodles.

It's Mana's 『Elegant Gothic Fruit Paradise』 Sangria!

One of the fun things in the Moi-même-Moitié Salon is that Mana gives hints as to what the next cooking video will be. So it was perfect timing for the 『Elegant Gothic Fruit Paradise』 sangria. Because I had just bought a pineapple.

The first step in making Mana's sangria is to find as many different types of fruit that is out there. I was able to find everything that Mana used, except chunks of aloe vera. For the record, there was pineapple, lime, lemon, apple, kiwi, watermelon, melon, and two types of cherries. I went with Bing and Rainier cherries.

I was looking forward to making this sangria, because it reminded me of one I enjoyed at the Portland restaurant Ataula. So to honor that sangria, I added something extra. Pomegranate seeds. Because Pomegranate sangria is delicious.

I would guess that most people are familiar with red sangria. But white wine works very well with fruit. The above stated pomegranate sangria is a white wine sangria. As for what white wine, I think something a little sweet and less acid works well with Mana's sangria. As for me, I went with the Charles Shaw chardonnay. It was a good choice.

I will say, this is a labor intensive drink to make. First up I cut the pineapple. Not fancy like the video. Although I do think pineapple is pretty just as it is.

Something different, a yellow watermelon! Because of the pandemic, it's a little difficult to shop here. The store I went to did not have regular watermelon, but they did have these cute little yellow watermelon. So I went with this. And yes I gave into cutting out the pieces in hearts and flowers.

It's a simple recipe. All the fruit goes into a pitcher or container. After that, pour in as much honey that you want. It's a totally subjective measurement. 

I mixed the honey into the fruit and then poured in the wine. Then mixed some more.

I think serving it with ice is refreshing. The chilled liquid keeps the fruit fresh. 

Just one more photo of this fun festive Elegant Gothic Fruit Paradise. And for the record, I did make more pineapple version to go with Mana's pork curry. That was really good too!

That was a lot of fruit. I enjoyed eating some of it separately, with a little more honey and brown sugar. I also added a few blueberries.

Here is Mana's video for the sangria. You can watch it and all of the other Mana cooking videos at the Moi-même-Moitié YouTube Channel here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp24JyPNmvF0jPJoLLX-r2w

Cooking Mana's Elegant Gothic『The Excitement of Spices and "Splendid" Magic』

Because of the pandemic, cooking at home has become extremely popular. Someone who has been known for their skills in cooking, guitarist Mana, decided to make good use of the time and began filming cooking videos. Despite difficulties at times trying to get ingredients, I decided to try to make each of Mana's dishes. So, I'm going to document how that went with the last dish, Mana's 『The Excitement of Spices and "Splendid" Magic』

While I had many of the needed ingredients already, I still had to find a pineapple, curry powder, pink peppercorns and ground pork. Above are the spices I used. Because it is really difficult for me to digest bell pepper, aka paprika in Japan, I substituted ground paprika for it. I do like the smoked varieties of this.

After getting everything in place and chopping onion, (and bell pepper and hawk claw peppers if you are going to use them), it's time to heat olive oil at a low temperature. Crush garlic cloves and cardamom pods before putting in the oil. I happen to use the garlic cubes from Trader Joe's, which are really good quality. Since I was only cooking 1/2 pound of pork, the amounts I used were less than in Mana's video. This amount of pork, plus the rice, was enough to fill the pineapple bowl. Two crushed cardamom pods and three garlic cubes. One cube equals one clove. Sine I did not have hawk claw peppers (I've been searching for them) I used a bit of crushed red pepper. It's very similar. Since there are a number of types of pepper in this dish, I kept the amount of red pepper low. 

I used about 1/2 of an onion, which went into the pan next. At this point the bell pepper would be added. I sprinkled on a bit of paprika instead. No measurements, all by eye and experience. I'd say maybe about a teaspoon?

Onions and all were sautéed till slightly brown, to bring out a bit of caramelization flavor. I raised the heat under my pan to medium by this point.

And in goes the ground or minced pork. I had not bought meat in months, due to the poor situation at meat processing plants in the US. There is a butcher near me that sells products from farmers and ranchers here in Oregon. Oregon has been working with businesses here to make sure employees are safe, including giving them free face masks and more. A visit to Ponderosa Meats and I had pork, chicken and turkey. 

Season the pork with ground pepper, ground pink Himalayan salt, curry powder, chili powder and ground cayenne pepper. Of course sea salt could be substituted, but grinding peppercorns brings out a lot more flavor and scent so if possible, that is best to use. As for the curry powder, some places call it Indian curry powder. The distinction is it is not Oriental curry powder or garam masala. All of the spices in the recipe can be added in amounts according to your taste. If you like food hotter, add more.

Now comes the secret part of Mana's dry ground pork curry. Ketchup and Worchester sauce.

The basics for okonomiyaki sauce and many sweet and sour sauces. I mixed 1/4 of a cup of each together, then added that to the pork. Seriously, do not leave this out. I would like to say, that this dish could also be made with beef, chicken or ground turkey for people who do not eat pork. Personally, I think ground turkey would be a good substitute. Although pork does give it a South Pacific vibe.

Right now is a good time to taste and add more of the different peppers if you think it needs it.

There is one more thing that I needed to cook. It's not in the video, but I will explain it here. It's simple yet delicious. Turmeric Butter Rice. Now, you can cook it with onions and stock, but since this is part of the whole dish, here is a simple way to make it.

If you can find Basmati rice, it makes this dish even better. You can use a pot or rice cooker. Just follow the directions for cooking your rice, but add in butter and turmeric. I think I went with one cup of rice, a teaspoon of turmeric and maybe two teaspoons of butter. It helps to mix the rice a couple times while it is cooking. Seriously this color and the fragrance, so amazing.

It really is gorgeous. You don't need a lot of turmeric, although it's a great spice both in taste and in health benefits.

So now comes the hard part. That pineapple in the first picture? I cut in half and scooped out the inner part. It helps to cut up the inside of the pineapple, remove the core and then scoop out the rest. I saved that for something else. A pineapple bowl isn't necessary for the dish, but it's fun to see and the flavor of pineapple adds to the curry. Since not everyone can find whole fresh pineapple, it might be enjoyable to add some pieces after plating, to eat with the curry.

In goes that wonderful rice. It would be a fun surprise for anyone to eat who didn't see this being cooked. 

Next is the dry curry and then pink peppercorns and chopped parsley for a festive appearance.

Since I did not use red bell pepper, the pink peppercorns add color to this.

So what did I do with that pineapple? I made more of Chef Mana's Elegant Gothic Fruit Paradise Sangria. This was more of a pineapple version and very refreshing. As to how I made Mana's sangria, perhaps that will be my next post.

And here is the result! As to how this curry tastes, it's very good. The addition of ketchup and Worchester sauce turns a regular spicy pork curry into something that reminded me of Hawaiian and Okinawan pork dishes. The flavor of the pineapple bowl seeped in the rice and pork, adding to the delicious flavor. I think these ingredients move the flavor up into something unique and fun. I did have a feeling of visiting South Pacific Islands. 

Here is Chef Mana's video from the Moi-même-Moitié YouTube channel. You can use the YouTube video settings to automatically translate the subtitles into your preferred language. I hope my post helps if anyone is wanting to cook this dish. If you have questions, please ask! And thank you for visiting my blog.

Since the video may not show up if you view this on your phone, here is the link to elegant gothic chef Mana's video https://youtu.be/rh3uHyws3TQ

La Kitchen Knife Aristocracy~ Another Face~ Moi dix Mois Menu Translations

I decided to translate another Moi dix Mois item. The menus from the La Kitchen Knife Aristocracy~ Another Face~ Moi dix Mois June 23rd dinner shows. Since Mana posted the menus on Twitter, I decided to have a go at it. Not the easiest due to liberal use of katakana and some flowery prose, but thanks to having a little knowledge of cooking and ingredients, I managed to get an idea of what was written. But before that, I would like to write something in hopes that it makes some of this a little more understandable.

Because some people might not know who Holy Girl is. Over the years, Mana has been known for wearing not just men's clothing but women's. Mana created Moi-même-Moitié, designs that were at the forefront of gothic lolita fashion, and also wore the clothing in advertisements and events. While Mana performed with the band MALICE MIZER, Mana did did so wearing feminine clothing and hair styles. When asked if these were characters Mana played for performing, like an actor does, Mana stated they are all part of him. The elegant gothic aristocrat magician, the hard rock guitarist musician, chef and food connoisseur, sorceress of horror, and pious young lady are some of Mana's personas, all facets of Mana. They are all Mana. And Mana is Mana.

Holy Girl has been around for some time. The pretty, flirtatious, eternally waiting for romance figure that graced the pages of Gothic Lolita Bible, who twirled on the stage while wearing elegant gothic lolita at MALICE MIZER lives. While it has been some time since Holy Girl has appeared, except for Valentines Day tweets, Mana expressed this persona at the Moi dix Mois dinner shows this year, not just in performances but also in the development of the menu. Which explains the event name "Another Face".

Just to note I did not attend the shows. And also I am not an experienced translator but did this out of my own curiosity and it's good practice for me. Most of this is a direct translation this time.

Today's lunch menu

Blue experience ~ The sweet and dangerous wakefulness of the Holy Girl ~ I do not know 

Lesson 1

Bamboo charcoal painted jet black pancakes

Ahh secret hidden in it overlaps several fold ~~~

Secret of cherry and strawberries sweetly intertwined ~ ~ ~ play at the flower garden

A blue drop that boosts the temptation reflected in your inner part ~~~

along with a gently prepared soft blue snowfall, Creamy Mana

Bamboo charcoal used for pancakes to represent the depth of sweetness, with chocolate,
in stage 1 of 3 steps

Cherry and strawberry sauce (fresh cream, cherry puree, strawberry puree)

Blueberry sauce, fruit for decoration (strawberry, blueberry)

Blue ice cream

(bottom is just a list of ingredients with reference to allergies so I did not translate that)

Today's dinner menu

Blue experience ~ Secret of the Holy Girl ~

Lesson 2

In the little white sleep

Fill your mouth with Framboise*~ ~ ~ Burning heart like beats

Sparkling Blue Curaçao invites you

Together with the shout of the holy wild beast, it turns into black

The evil-colored chicken is wrapped in a refreshing fragrance of lemongrass

Summer's temptation zucchini and paprika will give you color

The jet black potato drips like blood, beet sauce makes a new eye awake~~~

And in the blue experience of the Holy Girl, with the feelings secretly dressed in black

To another myself ~~~

Pink curry: a curry like stew, pink color made with beets and puree of Framboise

Summer Vegetable Grill: Zucchini, paprika (red, yellow), small eggplant

Black rice: wild rice, black rice, white rice, mixed with bamboo charcoal to add color, it is heaven

Blue sauce: fruit consommé colored with Blue Curaçao, sauce thickened with agar

Decoration: edible flowers

Jerk chicken: chicken with Cajun spice and lemon grass

Salad: potato salad colored with bamboo charcoal. Beet sauce

*written in katakana, フランボワーズ, I went with Framboise since it fit with the other mentions of ingredients in this section. 

Salmon in Coconut Curry ~ A Recipe

A few months ago I finally decided to do what I wanted to do for about a year. Which was make curry from scratch. After browsing many recipes I had an idea what I wanted to do. Except it meant coming up with something by borrowing from a few of those recipes. So here it is, my recipe for Salmon in Coconut Curry. I am not a professional so it is what it is. Those are fresh curry leaves I found locally and definitely worth getting if you decide to cook curry. This serves two to three people, depending on how much you want to eat.

Ingredients
    1 to 2 tbs canola or other unsaturated oil, enough to cook onion
    1/4th sweet onion, finely chopped
    3 garlic cloves, crushed
    2 tsp fresh root ginger, finely grated (can substitute ground if needed)
    1 tsp ground coriander
    1 1/2 tsp garam masala or curry powder (to taste so can use less or more)

    1 cardamom pod crushed
    8 curry leaves
    1 1/2 tbsp palm sugar, cane sugar or light brown sugar
    1 can low fat coconut milk (the can I used was 13.5 oz/400 ml, so something around that size)
    1 lime, juice and a bit of the zest
    2 to 4 pieces of salmon, around 6 oz or a little larger. Small enough to cook in 5-6 minutes
    fresh corriander or thai basil as garnish (optional)
    freshly steamed rice, to serve (optional)

Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over a low heat. Add the onions and fry for 15 minutes, or until soft and starting to turn golden. Add the garlic, ginger, ground coriander, garam masala or curry powder, cardamom pod and curry leaves.

Cook everything for one minute. The smell will be really nice.

Add the sugar, coconut milk, lime juice, zest and cook for 10–15 minutes, or until slightly reduced.

Add the salmon and gently poach covered for 5–6 minutes or until done.

Plate the salmon and carefully pour the curry sauce through a strainer to remove the leaves, onion and zest.

You can also add rice to your plate at this point and spoon the curry sauce onto the place. Sprinkle with garnish if you wish.

Since I am not a professional chef or recipe writer, this is just something I put together. I thought I would share it since it is January 22nd here, which is Curry Day in Japan. I've cooked this a couple of times and it turned out well. If you are not use to curry or have sensitive digestion I would suggest reducing the onion, garlic, spices and number of curry leaves. And of course if you want it hotter, add more curry powder.

Oh Crepes

Last week I got the urge to make crepes. It had been a few years since I made them so I wasn't sure how they would turn out. Thankfully they looked fine and the taste was great. Just to note, I used soy milk. I would suggest not using low or non-fat soy milk if doing this.

So what to do with these crepes? My first thought was salmon with lemon along with spinach cooked in butter with lemon. I kind of used this recipe here, but kind of didn't 

http://www.foodrepublic.com/recipes/salmon-and-spinach-filled-crepes/. I left out the tomatoes, cheese and garlic because I wanted to have the salmon and lemon stand out.

And I made a white wine sauce which is a simple white sauce with white wine added in. I use to make this to go with turkey filled crepes. I also used soy milk for this and topped the crepe with a little green onion since I did not have chives. Capers would be good too.

The thought of that sauce with poultry led to my next dish using the crepes. I made a rosemary chicken with crimini mushrooms cooked in butter with a little onion.

This time I put a few fresh parsley leaves on top. Similar to the turkey dish I made in the past. This was so good.

My imagination was in full swing. Chicken crepes with an orange sauce maybe?

I had orange syrup from making candied oranges so I added in some acid in the form of red wine vinegar plus minced onion, orange peel and orange slices. This is a variation on a classic orange sauce like the one in this recipe http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/duck-a-lorange-102145. I left out the butter and broth because I wanted to reduce the amount of fat in the dish.

Put chicken in a crepe, add the orange sauce and cooked slice and it was like a Chinese orange flavored chicken dish. Very sweet and good.

I had one more crepe. Deciding I wanted to go with vegetables I made a veloute sauce with butter, flour, low salt vegetable stock, mushrooms and a little minced onion. I used the recipe here http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/how-to-make-classic-sauces-vegan/ 

Into the crepe went vegetables sauteed in olive oil with a little garlic and onion. I was trying hard not to cook Italian style vegetables so limited the garlic and put in corn, carrots and peas.

Dressed with the veloute sauce and parsley blossoms this turned out very well. The corn added a bit of sweetness that bumped the flavor up.

What I enjoyed about this, besides the food, was the ability to use my imagination. Something to remember is to consider adding a little acid like wine, fruit juice or a nice vinegar to push the flavor up and balance the dish. Especially with orange sauce it helps reduce bitterness.

So what else can I make with crepes?

Well I whipped up chilled coconut milk,

tossed some local strawberries in cane sugar,

and cooked up a batch of dessert crepes.

The end result.

I could have put whipped coconut on top, more strawberries but I really wanted to eat. So delicious!