Tag Archive for:  clas

Temari Sushi class for friends’ reunion

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The main dish was Temari Sushi. ‘Temari’ is a palm-sized ball for children, often decorated with fine colorful embroideries. As you can easily guess, Temari Sushi is shaped like this small ball. It is a bite-size Sushi with a variety of toppings.

In this class, we used boiled prawns, thinly sliced cucumbers, fresh sashimi-quality maguro(tuna) & salmon, Takuan(pickled Daikon radish), and Shiso leaves, etc.

There were also Mentaiko(salted chilly cod roe) and salted cherry blossoms as a few ‘challenge’ items but my guests tried everything and their plates are all empty after lunch hours. Yes, I love seeing empty plates after the class!!

We put the heads of prawns in our Miso soup and I think my guests liked it as well. Believe me, it makes your soup amazingly delicious!

It was a reunion vacation trip of old friends from Maryland and Florida, US. I enjoyed being a part of their happy moments in Tokyo.
Many thanks for coming!
Akiko

Ramen & Gyoza class for an Aussie couple & Swedish café owner

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“Oishi-!”  do as Japanese do when photo-shooting in Japan!?

The main dish for this class was Pork Ramen, with pork broth & Japanese Dashi soup stock, with toppings of Miso flavored pork and meat sauce with Japanese seasonings.
For Gyoza, we chopped cabbage, garlic chives (Nira), leek etc. Add a little bit of grated garlic if you like.
Both are served sizzling hot and full of rich meaty flavors, so I recommended something cold and fresh as a side dish. I would like my guest to try something different while they are at Tokyo apartment kitchen so here it is, fresh cabbage torn into one bite size with hands, marinated with sesame oil, salt and pickled Kombu! If you like soy sauce & vinegar flavor, try this easy side!
My Swedish guest owns a cafe near Stockholm serving some menus inspired by Japanese taste such as Maccha, while my guests from wine country Adelaide were big fans of anime.
I hope they all find our home cooking dishes as good!
Many thanks for coming!
Akiko

Tempura, Sushi and Gyoza class WOW

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This was probably one of the most challenging classes this year but we made it!
Thankfully we had 5 very skilled participants from BC Canada and Michigan US at this class.
The main dish choices are Tempura of prawns, Maitake mushroom (my favorite!), and vegetables, plus Sushi roll with Maguro(tuna), salmon, and greens. For side dishes, we prepared a small portion of Gyoza with pork and shrimp & spinach with our flavorful sesame sauce.

We started grating smoked bonito for Dashi soup stock, then prepared Sushi rice with seasonings, chopped veggies and wrapped Gyoza, and finally deep-fried Tempura and rolled Sushi!

And I was astonished that one of my guest ladies was going to be a speaker at a medical conference held in Tokyo that same evening! Indeed some people are super talented.
I have also learned one new thing in this class. My guest told me that avocado in Sushi rolls are first created by a Japanese chef in British Columbia, although we often call it ‘California’ style. I must visit ‘Tojo’s’ in Vancouver one day.
Many thanks for coming!
Akiko

Private Class for Vegetarian Dishes with Autumn harvests

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The main dish was chosen as Vegetarian Ramen for a guest lady from Israel who has been vegetarian for many years. Side dishes include cold fresh cabbage with Konbu, Gyoza dumplings with lotus root, Kaki (persimmon) & greens dressed with creamy Tofu sauce, etc.
My guest was very interested in Japanese Dashi soup stock with dried Shiitake mushrooms & Kombu kelp. Both are essential products for Umami in our cuisine.
Kombu is very rich in glutamate or glutamic acid, which is contained in most vegetables but by far the most in dried Kombu. Another ingredient known for richness in glutamate is dried tomato.
Dried shiitake is known for its richness in guanylic acid or GMP, like many kinds of mushrooms around the world including dried porcini. This may be explaining why many Japanese people are deeply in love with Italian food!?

My guest lady was a medicinal food professional with vast knowledge about Chinese herbal medicine & diet, so it was very inspiring to share some time with her in the kitchen cooking and talking about various vegetables and foods!
Many thanks for coming!
Akiko

Chicken Karaage & Chicken Lotus Meat Balls class

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The main dish request was Chicken Karaage, one of our best sellers & very popular home-cooked food all over Japan!
We also cooked chicken meatballs with our autumn/winter vegetable, lotus root, seasoned with Miso.
When I cook these chicken menus for my family, I usually pile them up on a simple big plate and tell my kids ‘Help yourself!’ But for my guests from Australia, I chose a little bamboo basket to serve our chickens to add a touch of Japanese taste and a welcoming feeling.
In our rice, we added some Black Rice. This type of rice is popular among Japanese ladies lately as it is rich in fiber, vitamin B, minerals, etc. In short, good for your health & beauty!
As we enjoyed our lunch, we talked about various social & cultural topics in Japan as well as Australia. A very relaxing moment with yummy food after a few hard-working hours in the kitchen!
I hope my guest ladies from Australia enjoyed their time at my place as much as I did.
Many thanks for coming!
Akiko

2 main dishes class

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Okonomiyaki! “Japanese pan cake” is for the lunch or the dinner not for the dessert. We put pork, Shrimp and Cabbage and yam and one more ingredient which is secret:-).

Salmon-NanbanZuke. Salmon marinated in sour sauce which you can arrange with other white fish or Chicken too.

Itadakimasu! thank you for coming!

Ramen class

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Always yummy and taste naturally!
At the Ramen class, we make Gyoza(pork dumplings) and one more side dish. Making Gyoza with friends or family is always so much fun!
Looks so yummy !
Itadakimasu!!!

Tempura and Pork Ginger class!

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Today was the Private class.
The 2 main dishes are Tempura and Pork Ginger.

The point of Tempura preparation is remove water from and keeping ingredients cool.
Deep frying time! We put the ingredients a little by each in to the oil then we can keep oil temperatures.
We also made Pork Ginger, Japanese sesame spinach salad and Green pepper stir fry with young fish.

It was really fun class! Thank you for coming.

Ramen and Gyoza class

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Today’s class was Ramen and Gyoza class for 6 students !!! From U.K, France, Spain…all over the Europe:-).
I always start prepare cooking the Ramen soup stock (made by Chicken and Pork and ginger and green onion) the day before the class which I always explain to the students advance. To make Ramen Soup stock takes long time and getting better taste if it takes a time.

We made 80 Gyoza(pork dumplings) !!!!! and everyone ate all !!!! To make Gyoza with the family and the friends is so much fun !
Looks yummy right !!!!??? You can’t stop eating Gyoza !!!!!

Itadakimasu !!!!!
We had a fun lunch together !
Thank you for coming today.

Pork ramen class with guests from Hamburg & Pescara

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My guests for this pork ramen & gyoza class were couples from Pescara,  Italy, and Hamburg, Germany. It was a terrible morning as the huge typhoon was passing Japan the night before and our notorious rush-hour trains were packed and crowded as ever!  Still, they all managed to arrive at my place & I was very very grateful.

One of their favorites was  ‘Char Siu, grilled pork slices on top of Ramen. They showed me a few photos of Menya Musashi bowls and my goodness, their pork slice is so thick!  For sure, Ramen is evolving in various directions….

It was also very interesting to hear about various types of ramen in Europe today. I love exchanging foodie information!
Many thanks for coming!
Akiko