Cellophane Wraps Continued (and Finished)

So, let's see...where did I leave off last time? Oh, right, mixing the spices into the noodles. I forgot to say that you should also add the chicken and veggie mixture into the noodles and spices while you are mixing. Well after your done with that, then your ready to start putting it all together. You're gonna need two big plates, two small dishes, and a shallow pan. This was our set up: The small dishes are for any dipping sauce you want to use. We used sweet chili sauce. In the shallow pan, you will put cold water to soak your rice paper in. We (i.e. I) didn't have a shallow pan, so I washed out the fry pan and put some cold water in it. The water doesn't need to be hot. I previously believed that you needed hot water to soak these in, but after a cooking lesson at a local Vietnamese restaurant, I learned that cold water is better...but I'm not sure why. So the rice paper should only be dunked 2-3 times, and you should pull it out almost immediately. Don't let it soak in the water. After dipping the rice paper, we just put it out on our plate, since we were planning to eat it immediately after finishing wrapping it. If you are planning to make several before eating them, or if you want to fry them in a batch, you should lay a damp paper towel out on a tray and when you're done wrapping it, put the wrap on the damp paper towel and then cover it with another damp paper towel. The towel doesn't need to be soaking wet. The moisture will keep the rice paper from drying up.

Next, comes the wrapping. This is pretty easy, but if you want your wrap to look like a work of art, then it's gonna take some practice. First, put a small to medium portion of the noodles mixture close to one side. Leave about one inch to an inch and a half of space from the edge. Next, take the bottom edge and pull tight over the noodle mixture. You want the noodles to fit firmly snug in this first pull-over. If you don't wrap-over firmly enough, then your wrap might be floppy or messy. If you pull too tightly, then your rice paper could rip. When you've rolled the mixture into the rice paper so that the top of your noodle mixture is now face down on the plate, it's time to fold in the sides. Just like so, thank you, X. And then you roll over until your wrap is complete. The rice paper will stick to itself because while you are wrapping, it will be drying, so there's no need to close it with slicking the edges or anything. Here is a finished picture of X's wrap. She chose to forgo the avocado and just had a nice plain wrap. I on the other hand....I chose to add avocado mixed with lime juice into my wrap. And this is a perfect way to explain how to make your wraps look pretty. If you want to add decorative herbs or place shrimp in the shape of hearts, you should place them above your main mixture. When you go to wrap it, follow the directions above. During your first wrap-over, wrap only the main mixture, fold in the sides and keep wrapping until finished. When you turn it over, you will be able to see your design. The avocado helped cool down the spiciness of the wrap and it made it a little creamy. Initially, I had planned to make a batch of wraps and then pan fry them to make them crispy on the outside, but severe hunger and impatience put my plan on hold. Oh well, there's always next time! These were really delicious and totally worth the time they took to make. I really can't say enough about how satisfying these were. I should also add, we made enough food for 3-4 people. If you make these with a full pack of cellophane noodles prepare for some leftovers.

Cellophane Wraps

Today's post is Vietnamese Cellophane Wraps! So I had been planning on making these things for about a month and a half now, and last week, I finally decided to bite the bullet and wash the 7 dishes that I needed to make this dish. I also invited X over to be my sous chef, which meant making her chop everything. Yay! So these are very simple and easy, but they take a long time to make, since there is a lot of dicing and chopping required. Let's start with the ingredients....So, there are quite a few things you will need to make these wraps. You can, of course, add more vegetables, or change the sauces used to produce whatever taste you desire, but I can only vouch for this one. We used, large round rice paper wraps, cellophane (bean thread) noodles, optional avocado, snap peas, bell pepper, chicken, garlic, lime juice, sweet chili sauce, mirin, and pepper flakes. I also have oyster sauce and ginger paste pictured, but both were vetoed by my sous chef, and I didn't care enough to argue. Plus, maybe the oyster sauce would have been a little funky with the sweet chili sauce and ginger paste. So then I set X to choppin' and dicin' all the vegetables, like the snap peas and the garlic, and whatever else we had. You want to dice the garlic up as small as possible.
Then we sliced the avocado into strips. You want to keep them in strips, because they will be placed flat on the large rice paper and then rolled into the wrap form. If you cube them, they will make your wrap lumpy and potentially break through the rice paper. I guess you could also mash the avocado up and dollop it onto the rice paper. You might want to be careful about this too, b/c when you try to spread it on the wet rice paper, the paper might rip. And so the chopping continued. I pulled out 3 very small bell peppers. People in America will only need 1 or 2 bell peppers. First, I cut the top off the bell peppers and then I slice them in half. I pulled out most of the seeds, but let a few escape my notice to add a little heat to the mix. After cleaning them out, I chopped them up pretty small. Wait...those aren't my hands! X chopped those!

And so the chopping continued....(Nice work on the garlic, X!)

Then it was time to cut the chicken. I think we used 2-3 strips of chicken. We also cubed them pretty small. So, after everything was done being cut and diced and sliced and every other way to cut things up, we started cooking the chicken and the veggies.

We started cooking the chicken, and after it turn white on the outside, we added the snap peas and the bell peppers. We did not add the garlic, because we decided having it raw would add more flavor to the wraps. Now, during our chopping and dicing, I had put a pot of water on to boil to cook our cellophane noodles. These things only take about 5 minutes to cook, and they need to be watched carefully. If they aren't cooked enough, then you'll never be able to break through them with teeth or knives. If they're cooked to much...

Well, this is what happens. Well, this will also happen if you cook them too soon and then let them sit in a small container for too long. These noodles wouldn't budge with a chisel and hammer, and after 5 minutes of prying and burning my fingers, I was struck by genius. I put them under cold water. I ran them under cold water while loosening them up with my fingers, and eventually most of them came out of the strainer.

Once the noodles were free from their self-imposed prison, I started to add the spices. Like I've said before, I don't measure my spices, and I don't really know what I'm going to add until the time I'm doing it. My best advice would be to eye how much food you've got and then add in small amounts and taste until you've got the desired flavor. I will say, that you are probably going to use a lot of sweet chili sauce with this recipe. Like a lot, a lot. Don't be afraid to pour it in.

So, the noodles are going to comprise a large portion of the inside of the wrap, so we wanted to make sure they had a lot of spices mixed in them. We added pepper flakes, garlic, some mirin to help the mixture stay moist, and sweet chili sauce for heat and a sweet flavor. We also added lime juice for a nice tang. After you're doing adding everything, mix it all together until the spices and garlic are spread evenly throughout the noodles.

And this is where I'm ending the post today. I have a lot more pictures for this dish and it was simply too long for one post. Please look forward to the next half and the completion of this dish!

What the what?!

Yes, that is exactly what it looks like. Strawberry Cheetos. Strawberry cheetos.... Sounds like it's time for another food abomination post! Now, my grandfather happens to love Cheetos, so when I saw this gem I couldn't resist buying a pack. And it only took me 3 months from the purchase date to open it.
As you can see, it looks like pig intestines and just about as appetizing. And for those of you who are still pondering what this disaster is, let me clarify. It is a regular cheeto covered in what Frito Lay refers to as strawberry chocolate.
I couldn't hold back my curiosity, and took small bite of one. The cheeto had about as much taste as a freeze dried piece of cardboard, and the strawberry chocolate, which lacked all strawberry taste, could be described as a mix of liquid plastic and lard.

Honestly, this is not the worst thing I've seen Japan do to food. There's chocolate covered pringles, candied squid and octopus (think seafood roll-up), soba and ramen ice cream, etc etc etc. Even still, these were pretty disgusting, and I threw the rest away after taking a few pictures.

Backerei Danken Revisited

Last week I was feeling in the breadish mood, and X and I were naturally near our favorite bread shop, Backerei Danken, which I sometimes refer to as Bendan for no reason other than I can't remember the real name. So we decided to pop in, X in search of pretzels, and I in search of either of my two favorite breads, the berry tower bread or the caramel nuts roll. Unfortunately, they had neither of the breads I was looking for but that didn't stop me. First, I bought the honey comb bread. The honey comb bread is nice and lite. (Pardon my messy room. I am packing atm.) They cut the top of the bread in the shape of an X and shove honey and butter inside while it is still hot. The honey and butter soak into the soft bread inside and make it nice and sweet. The bread itself is like a french bread roll. Very nice. This has become one of my top 5 favorites at Danken. Next, I tried something new. I noticed that they had put out a new bread, which was pink and in some way was related to berries. It was soft bread, which I am usually not drawn to, but it was pink and I am nothing if not sucker for pink things. I'm not really sure what they have covering the bread. It looked like a layer of batter. When I picked it up, it was quite heavy and that should have been my first clue that I wasn't going to like this bread. I opened it up and inside must have been a whole jar of strawberry jam. Unfortunately, I have never liked jam filled anything, but if you do, then you would probably like this bread very much. The bread was very sweet and they were very generous with the jam. I wonder how they get the bread to turn pink? I think they use fruit juice. I don't think food coloring would make it taste as sweet as it does, even if sugar was added.

Danken, while making some (in my opinion) unfortunate changes to their bread menu, is still one of my top 3 favorite bread shops in Kagoshima...(maybe in Japan). What's your favorite bread treat?

Happy Father's Day: J-Style

Sunday was Father's Day and, of course, if you can buy something for it, it's celebrated in Japan. So this is what I got my super kakoii oyaji (cool old man): Becuase he is one cool good-looking (the) dandy! And he wouldn't be a man if he didn't like bitter chocolate. Actually, I must confess that I bought this last father's day, but only recently found it for this father's day. Thankfully, I didnt' buy it for the high quality bitter chocolate inside, but for the box. This is labeled as being a sweet specifically for a man by saying Men's Sweets in Japanese on the top. Japan has this weird hang-up that sweets are for women and are not manly food. Men are given a small break, though, because they are allowed to eat bitter chocolate, which is usually labeled as being "men's ~." Men's Pocky, for example. Clearly, totally ridic.

Also, just incase the cool old man choco wwas sold out, you could have gone down to your local grocery store and bought your old man a piece of bread with his face on it! The likeness is uncanny.

Restaurant Rec: JOYFULL

So good it has two Ls. I'd say Joyfull is a mix between America's Ihop and Waffle House. It's quick, cheap and has semi-decent delicious food. What more could you want? I went there on Saturday with X and got my latest favorite, the yokubari omubagu. What the hell is that you ask? It's a plate of omurice and a teriyaki burger with cheese on top.

Yeah, it does look a little questionable, but it's hot and tasty. The egg on the omu rice, is soft but not runny. The rice does contain dark meat chicken, which is nice. I usually pick the chicken out of mine because it has quite a strong taste, and I don't want the chicken taste to mix with the burger taste. The burger is big and sauce is tangy. Very nice all around. And the dish is pretty big.

Joyfull also has a lot of other tasty foods. My past favortites include: the katsu curry (curry rice with fried pork on top), carbonara, kimchi udon, burger steak with corn n potatoes. They also have a ton of good side dishes, like salads and small sides. I always get the ceasar salad no matter what.

It's a nice size and I can put as much parm on it as I want. I also never find any bugs in it, which is more than I can say about the lettuce I buy at the store.

Last, but not least, we ordered dessert! Joyfull has a nice selection of parfaits and cakes, but now that it's summer time they've put out their kakigori menu!! Kakigori is shaved ice (or a big snow ball).

I got strawberry, which tastes more like "red" than strawberry, and X got ramune, which is like a blue soda. We ordered them without the condensed milk on top, but didn't realize until after we took the pictures that it did indeed have condensed milk on it. I think they just add the condensed milk as a shout out to it's southern cousin, the Shirokuma. Shirokuma is shaved ice, drenched in condensed milk and stuffed with sweet beans and fruit chunks.

Anyway, Joyfull is a great option if you're tight on money and people in your group are at odds about eating western or Japanese food. Joyfull has both! It's quick and tasty and a great place to hangout with friends.

Fried Rice (cha han)

Last night I made a rice dish with lime and tumeric and it was sooo good! It also made me remember that I had forgotten to post about some fried rice I made a while ago. Fried rice in Japanese is called cha han. So I started out with the following:

Some mirin (rice wine vinegar), soy sauce, snow peas, bell papers, chicken, rice, garlic, and some red pepper flakes.

Considering I usually only have one clean plate and one clean knife, I chopped the peas and the bell pepper up first. I used a handfull of snow peas and one small bell pepper. For the bell pepper, cut the top off and then slice it in half. Then, clean out all the seeds and the core, and throw those away. I chopped everything into tiny bits and then set it to the side. Then I got my chicken and I cubed it as usual. I'm pretty sure I used the whole chicken breast for this. After chopping up the chicken, I tossed the peppers and peas into a pan with a bit of oil and let them cook until they were nice and brown. I like my peppers blackened somewhat, so maybe you won't want to cook yours quite as long as I cooked mine :) After they are done cooking, take them out and set them to the side. Unless you don't cook yours that much, I would take them out so they won't burn while the chicken cooks. So now it's time to add the rice. I buy my rice in a one serving pack, already cooked. Rice in Japan is expensive and I don't have the patience to wait for rice to cook. My food moods change too quickly. So if you have some cold pre-cooked rice, I would pop it in the microwave for a minute before adding it. It will help the rice break up more easily in the pan. So after I added the rice to the chicken, I added the rice wine, soy sauce, garlic, peas, peppers, and pepper flakes to the mix. Make sure you turn the heat down once you add the rice or everything will stick to the bottom and burn. How much rice wine and soy sauce you add is a judgement call. Rice wine can be very sweet and soy sauce is really salty. I would go easy at first and add less than you think you need. After stirring it all together and tasting it, you can decide if you need to add more. So after stirring it all together for about a minute or two it should be finished! Grab a bowl and serve some up. This meal is great if you want something hot and filling. I think you could make this a side dish if you take out half the chicken and cut the remaining chicken a lot smaller, but I like it as a main dish. The red pepper flakes gives it some flare because they don't make the whole dish spicey. Instead they release their heat when you chew them. I will admit though, if you add a lot of ingredients to your fried rice, like mushrooms and onions, etc, the chopping can be tedious. All in all a good meal.

Weekend Food Extravaganza!

So much for coming home fit! This weekend was filled with fatty and sugary sweet foods that were SO FINE, but maybe not so healthy.

First, I finally finished some curry that I had made early in the week. I, for the first time in a long time, made enough food for 4 people. I was eating this curry alllll week, and I was happy to finish it off. Japanese curry is a lot sweeter than other curries. It's made with tomato sauce and sugar, and includes things like potatoes, onions, beef, and carrots. I made mine with chicken.

Next, X and I went to visit KG this weekend, and she brought us to this FAB dessert shop, where we all got not one but *2* desserts! First, I couldn't resist this cute little bear dish of choco mousse. It was delicious, and had the texture of marshmallow creme, so that was another plus. Next, we all got a slice of ichigo (strawberry) tart. KG had brought this on one of our karaoke trips once, and we were dying to have more. If I remember correctly, the time we had it at karaoke we forgot silverware and so we devoured it with our hands. Nice.

Next, and the best meal of the weekend, was, of course, yakiniku. But this wasn't just any yakiniku, oh no. This was a 90 minute tabehoudai (all-of-can-eat) explosion of beef, pork, tongue, organs, and veggies. And it was AMAZING. My JTE found this great place and we went Saturday night. This was the STARTING plate of beef:This was for TWO people!! There was a little pork on the plate, but we also had an additional plate of pork. We barely got through this starting plate of beef and the tongue. We finished before our 90 minutes and we never did order another plate, but we both agreed it was for the best. I was SOOO full and it was sooo good! I'm going to miss yakiniku the most.

Lastly, on Sunday, X and I went to Aeon and we decided to have some Starbucks and listen to the karaoke contest going on in the atrium before shopping. So I got up to the counter and they had put out their summer drinks!! I was so happy! I got a mango frappacino, which was really good. I was also happy to see they brought back their lemon scone, which I also got, which was also delicious. Maybe I will have to make more SB runs in the future...just not in the mornings.....

Well, that's about it! I'd say a pretty full weekend! Hopefully I can rein myself in a little in the future.

Disaster! (in the kitchen)

So quite some time ago I was reallllly craving mac n' cheese, but not from a box. I thought to myself, I've seen countless people in family make mac n' cheese, surely I can do it too. So on that train of thought I pulled out my ingredients, sure that I had this one in the bag.

I had two half bags of pasta, some "cooking cheese", butter, milk, parmesan, and I decided to add chicken and some snap peas for nutrition. Simple enough ingredients. How could it go wrong?

So, first I cubed the chicken, and to cut down on my cook time, I put them on a plate and shoved them in the microwave to cook, instead of what I usually do, which is to pan fry them. And then I washed my snap/snow peas (i think the flat ones are snow peas and the rounder ones are snap peas...) and started to peel them.

Peeling peas is really easy. Take a knife, and hold the blade flat in your hand (like in the above picture). Then place the tip of the pea on the flat of the blade. Snap the pea down across the blade gently, and then peel down the spine of the pea. Easy peasy. If you don't peel your peas, then you might find it a little difficult to cut them or eat them without this strip getting in the way. I'm a psycho about these things, so I peel both sides of my peas, but I think if you don't mind some fiber, then it's okay to leave the thinner side in. So after finishing the peas, I turned my attention to my pasta, which I had put on to boil. I drained it and then started to add the cheese.

So I added the "cooking cheese," butter and some parmesan. God only knows what "cooking cheese" is. I just know that "sandwich cheese" and "cooking cheese" are the only cheeses under 5$ available at the grocery store, so that's what I use. I also added a tiny bit of milk. Then I added the peas and the chicken. At the time, I didn't realize that the chicken was really only half cooked. To help the cheese melt, I turned on the heat super low, and stirred it all around for a few minutes. After which, this was the result:Looks pretty good, huh? But looks can be (and were) deciving. It tasted like watered down hot mess. The chicken wasn't cooked and neither were the peas, which I had stupidly added right before I stirred everything around. The "cooking cheese" didn't really melt, but instead morphed into giant blobs of goop, which tasted nothing like cheese. Suffice to say, this pictured bowl was the only one I ate. I put the leftovers in my fridge, but never did convince myself to eat the rest of it. I threw it out a week later.

Better luck next time