David's Tempura

David's Tempura - serves 7-8 

This is one of Nani's favorite meals and she remembers when David and Tommy made it for her at the yellow house.  

Measure about 2 1/2 C Japanese rice, cook in rice cooker.  

For the batter (keep everything very cold): 

400 ml cold water


200 ml sparkling water, chilled 

60 g potato starch or corn starch


300 g cake flour


2 eggs, chilled

1.  Combine 60 g potato starch and 300 g cake flour into a small chilled bowl. 

2.  Combine water and sparkling water into medium mixing bowl.  Add eggs and gently whisk to fully combine eggs into the water.  

3.  Gently stir in flour, 1/3 at a time, with chopsticks or Danish dough whisk.  Do not over mix or whisk.  Place the bowl of batter on top of a slightly larger bowl filled with ice water, so that the batter stays ice cold. 

SAUCE: combine and keep warm on the stove until serving. 

3 cups dashi stock

9 tablespoons soy sauce

9 tablespoons mirin

grated Daikon to taste (give each person about 1T on their plates, so they can add it to the sauce).  

Meanwhile, prepare your tempura ingredients by washing, cutting, and drying them with paper towels to remove any excess moisture.
 

Examples:  

18 - 24  oz shrimp

2-4  fillets of firm white fish  (cod, halibut) - aim for chunky pieces

Firm tofu cut into 2x3cm cubes

A sheet pan filled with vege is just about the right amount: 

Sweet potato, cut into thin slices

Carrots, bundled matchsticks

Broccoli florets

Green beans, single

Bell pepper slices 

Shitake mushrooms 

etc etc                 

4.  Preheat vegetable oil in wok, to 180 °C (356 °F).


5.  Cook the same ingredients at the same time (ex. 6 slices of sweet potato) being careful to not let them turn brown.  The tempura batter should remain light in color.  

David likes to cook one batch of each ingredient, so that everyone has a chance to taste everything, and then he takes "requests" on what people want more of. 

Serve with the sauce and Japanese rice.  YUM 

Sukiyaki

 

Sukiyaki Recipe

In 2021 we got set up to make sukiyaki in our Tokyo apartment, at the table with the portable gas cooker and a Japanese cast iron pot.  YUM.  This is David's method and recipe:  

The broth for Sukiyaki is called “Warishita”. 

Warishita and Usu-warishita Recipe

Dashi Broth

3 Cups water

Dashi Powder (or 1 dashi bag from Kayanoya)

Boil the water and add the dashi powder. If using Kayanoya, remove the bag after a few minutes

Warishita

1 Cup Dashi broth

1 Cup Mirin

1 Cup Soy Sauce

5 T sugar

Usu-Warishita

2 Cups Dashi broth

1 T Soy Sauce

Sukiyaki Ingredients

Thinly sliced beef

Shiitake Mushrooms (make 3 cuts in the top to create a design)

Harusame rice noodles (soak in water)

Firm Tofu (cut into bite sized squares)

Vegetables washed and cut into bite sized pieces

- Chinese (Napa) cabbage

- Enoki Mushrooms

- Spinach 

- Leek 

- Carrots 

Heat the sukiyaki pan

Add a small amount of oil

Put a few pieces of beef in the pan and brown

Add Warishita until the pan is 1/3 full

Add other ingredients 

Cover the pan

Give everyone a small bowl and rice. (Some people like to scramble a raw egg in their bowl)

After a few minutes remove the cover and EAT (dip the food in the egg)

Continue to add ingredients and Warishita as needed

Add the Usu-Warishita to dilute the broth and maintain the right flavor 

Dad and Tommy's Gyoza

Dad and Tommy’s Gyoza

We have been working on this recipe for years and years. This amount is for a family of 5. - David 

Filling

• 2 lbs ground pork
• 3 T Cooking Sherry
• 2 T Japanese soy sauce (Kikoman or other)
• 1 T Rice Vinegar
• 4 large garlic cloves minced (or through a garlic press)
• 2 thumb sized pieces of fresh ginger finely chopped  
• 1 small head of cabbage finely chopped (or 1 1/2 bags of Cole Slaw cut cabbage)
• 2 Shitake mushroom caps finely chopped
• 3-4 scallions finely chopped
• Salt and Pepper 

Wrappers

• 2 packages round wrappers that can be found at a Chinese grocery store.  

Sauce (put the vinegar in a small bowl, then add a small amount of soy sauce)

• White Vinegar
• Japanese soy sauce
• A few drops of hot sesame oil

1. Start by putting the cabbage in a large bowl. Add the cooking sherri, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. I’m never really precise with the liquids. I just splash it in. Let that mixture sit while you are chopping the garlic, ginger, scallions, and shiitake mushrooms.

2. Add the ground pork to the cabbage and the rest of the filling ingredients. Mix thoroughly. I always check the filling by checking to see if it smells like gyoza. 

3. Fold the gyoza using round wrappers

4. Heat a skillet and add a small amount of cooking oil. When the skillet is hot, put the gyoza lined up in the pan. It’s good to put them in lines. 

5. Check the bottom of a gyoza to see if it is crispy brown. When the bottom is brown, add enough water to cover the entire bottom of the pan. Turn the heat down slightly and cover. Cook until all the water is evaporated. 

6. Serve by taking a spatula and lifting up a line of gyoza and flip over on a plate.