Shio Koji Salmon Flakes 塩麹鮭フレーク

Have you ever seen jars of salmon flakes being sold at a Japanese supermarket? They are delicious and convenient ingredients to use as a rice topping or further made into rice balls, fried rice, or other dishes.

If you ever happen to have some salmon fillets on hand, maybe give it a try and turn them into flakes. The entire process is not hard at all, and you can easily get store-bought quality salmon flakes being made at home, all natural style too. 

Shio koji salmon flakes 塩麹鮭フレーク - 

Ingredients?

• 550 grams salmon fillets
• Some salt
• 2 tablespoons shio koji
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Japanese sake 
• 1 1/2 tablespoons mirin
• 1 tablespoon toasted white sesame seeds

How?

Personally I prefer to cook salmon without the skin unless it's like searing or frying. The choice is yours. Once decided to keep or remove the skin, sprinkle all sides with some salt and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes. 

After that, wipe out excess liquid that has been drawn out by the salt. Have a pot of water ready and switch to medium heat. Add in the salmon when the water is still lukewarm. Keep cooking the fish using such medium heat till fully cooked-through.

Once cooked-through, remove the fish and set aside to let cool. When it's fine to handle the fish by hand, break the fish into medium chunks, also discard the skin too. Meanwhile, touch and feel the fish chunks, making sure there are no bones remain. Aim to pick out any bones inside if any. After all we are aiming to enjoy the fish "flakes" without worrying about getting pierced by it.

Have a pan ready. There is no need to drizzle any oil there. Just add in the salmon pieces along with 2 tablespoons of shio koji, 1 1/2 tablespoons Japanese sake, and 1 1/2 tablespoons of mirin.

Use medium heat to cook the salmon chunks. Mix and break the salmon into even smaller pieces. Continue to cook and break the salmon till some moisture has been removed and appear flaky. Mine took about 10 minutes.

Mix in about 1 tablespoon of toasted white sesame seeds towards the end. That's about it. You'll get salmon flakes that taste just as close as the store-bought version. And we even boosted up the flavor with the help of shio koji. 

Some people simply use the salmon flakes as a topping, more so like a side dish with rice. Sometimes I'd like to use it as the main protein ingredient for fried rice. 

These flakes are especially good when used in fried rice, paired with some chopped veggies and a touch of white pepper powder. If you can make the fried rice using basmati rice, the final result will make you even happier. 

Other salmon recipes:

• Miso crunch salad with seared salmon
• Soupy version simmered salmon and daikon in miso broth
• Salmon and dashi takikomi gohan using brown rice 炊き込みご飯
• Salmon and quinoa rice stuffed fried tofu pouches

No Deep Fry Needed Pineapple Pork 酸甜鳳梨豬梅花

One of the ideal cuts for this recipe, in my opinion, is the pork butt. I mean the upper shoulder kind of pork butt, not the rear end butt. 

It's always a bit confusing as to why the shoulder cut has been called pork butt. After a little research online I found out that back then a specific cut of pork used to store and ship in barrels known as "butts." So as time passes by, that special cut of meat has gradually be known as "pork butt."

No Deep fry needed pineapple pork  酸甜鳳梨豬梅花 -

Ingredients?

• 630 grams pork (I used pork butt, pork shoulder works too)
• 1 canned pineapple (total 227 grams but solids 135 grams)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• Some potato starch
• Some olive oil
• 1 garlic clove
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• Some toasted white sesame seeds

How?

Use pork with some thickness to it, not the sliced shabu pork version used for hot pot. We need that full hearty bite for this recipe. I picked pork butt (upper shoulder cut) here, but any other tender cut will do.

First slice the pork into medium large pieces with some thickness to it. Use the back of the knife to pound the meat, and do that for both directions like lengthwise and crosswise, also do that for both sides of the meat. 

So after some pounding work, the meat pieces will further flatten out. However, it doesn't have to be paper thin, our goal is to break the tissue in order to have an even more tender texture in the end. Try to aim to keep some of that thickness but also able to pound the meat half way through. Once that's checked, this is the actual time to do the final sizing job by slicing the meat to medium bite size pieces.

Marinate the prepped meat pieces with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper, 1 tablespoon of potato starch, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Set aside for 15 minutes.

Peel and grate the garlic clove, we will need about 1 teaspoon of grated garlic in the end. Mix that together with 1 1/2 tablespoons of pineapple juice from the can and 1 teaspoon of potato starch. This will be our pre-mixed sauce.

Slice the canned pineapple to medium pieces if needed. By the way, the canned pineapple I got came with a tiny plastic fork. That's because some people actually buy it and enjoy the canned pineapple as a sweet snack, so the fork was conveniently provided.

Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan. Switch to medium heat and wait till the oil gets warm. Add in the pork along with the marinade. Sear till the bottom part turns slightly browned. Flip and sear the other side till slightly browned also. Scoop out the pork first.

Still using the same pan, add in pineapple and sear a little. The heat will help further drawing out that fruity aroma. It'll be hard to get the char on pineapple especially we are not grilling the fruit, so just a couple minutes in contact with heat should do the trick.

Add back the pork, mix till evenly blended. Pour in premixed sauce and stir till evenly blended again. This time, cook till reduced a bit. Plate and sprinkle some toasted white sesame seeds on top.

This is a more family-friendly way of making pineapple pork. At the restaurants, sometimes they'll deep-fry the pork first to get that even crunchier coating. It's completely up to you, but to me it's just not that convenient to use up so much frying oil in a small family setting. 

And even without the deep-frying process, I was still pretty happy with the result. The sweet and sour fruity touch can really cut away any greasy feeling from the pork, yielding this well-balanced meaty dish in the end.

Extended reading:

• Cucumber and pineapple juice with a touch of mint leaves

A Brush of Vegetable Sweetness - Peas and Sweet Corn Kernels Stir-Fry

We have this sweet corn in Taiwan, maybe it's more accurate by the name supersweet corn. It's so sweet, at least in corn-spectrum, usually you'll find such corn variety being served at a high-end shabu shabu place here.

And this is the type of corn we will be using for the stir-fry recipe. That paired with peas, it's like a formula guaranteed to yield a refreshing stir-fry filled with vegetable's natural sweetness.

Peas and sweet corn kernels stir-fry - 

Ingredients? 

• 290 grams chicken breast
• 6 shiitake mushrooms
• 2 sweet corn on the cobs (about 1 3/4 cups corn kernels)
• 3/4 cup peas
• 1 tablespoon Japanese tsuyu
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1 tablespoon rice wine
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 small chunk young ginger (about 1/2 teaspoon chopped)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper powder

How?

Slice the chicken breast into medium small cubes. Marinate that with 1 tablespoon of Japanese tsuyu, 1 tablespoon of mirin, and 1 tablespoon of rice wine. Doesn't matter if you're using triple-condensed or double-condensed Japanese tsuyu, the difference in their salty level won't affect much in the end.

Destem and cube the shiitake mushrooms. Scrape and finely chop the ginger, we will need about 1/2 teaspoon chopped ginger in the end. Peel and finely chop the garlic cloves. If using whole corn on the cobs, use a knife to slice from top to bottom to get the corn kernels, which we will need about 1 3/4 cups of corn kernels in the end.

Drizzle 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in the pan and switch to medium heat. Add in ginger and garlics while the oil hasn't turn warm yet. Continue to cook till aromatic but not burning the garlic bits.

Add in chicken and its marinade. Stir-fry till almost cooked-through.

Add in corn kernels and shiitake mushrooms along with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of white pepper powder. Stir-fry till evenly blended.

Add the the delicate peas last. The peas can be cooked in less than a minute then it's time to give the whole thing a quick taste. Adjust with any additional seasonings if needed then this dish is ready to go.

Have you noticed that I used Japanese tsuyu instead of Chinese soy sauce for this recipe? The reason is that the main ingredients we have are on the lighter side, so using soy sauce can be too over-powering taste-wise. 

That's when the Japanese tsuyu came to the picture. It can be quite salty still, but at least texture-wise in a lighter and gentler way. On top of that, Japanese tsuyu will not darken the dish as much as soy sauce. So by using Japanese tsuyu, we can better preserve the original color for the green peas and yellow corn kernels. 

Extended reading:

• Diced chicken with preserved Yibin suimiyacai 雞米芽菜

Chicken With Garlicky Lemony Anchovy Sauce

Usually one or two anchovies would do in a dish. However, this time not only I'm making bigger portion, but also making anchovies the key component here. That means, I don't want the anchovies just be like a back note or a hint of the savory depth. Instead, I want anchovies to shine. I want that umami-packed anchovies to be quite noticeable.

If someone take a bite of this chicken dish, whoever is familiar with canned anchovy should be aware of it right away. That salty savoy pop. Very yummy.

Chicken with garlicky lemony anchovy sauce - 

Ingredients?

• 740 grams boneless skin-on chicken thigh
• 1 small can/about 29 grams solid weight anchovies in olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons capers
• 1/2 teaspoon dried red chili flakes
• 1 lemon
• 1 small bundle/about 20 grams flat leaf parsley
• Some salt
• Some black pepper

How?

Thoroughly feel the chicken with your fingertips. Make sure there are no fragments of bone remain anywhere. Trim-off any excess fat then slice the chicken to medium bite size pieces. Season both sides of the chicken with salt and black pepper. Set them aside while we start prepping other ingredients.

Peel and roughly chop the garlic cloves. Use the leafy part of the parsley only, give it a rough chop. Slice the lemon into wedges.

Take out a big pan, I like to use stainless steel pan for any sort of western dishes that requires quite the amount of searing. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and switch to medium heat.

While the oil temperature hasn't rise up significantly, add in chopped garlics along with 2 teaspoons of capers and 1/2 teaspoon of dried red chili flakes. Also add in one small can of anchovies in oil, but just the anchovies. The one I used was marked as 29 grams solid weight, so I think that's just about the same weight for the actual anchovies inside.

The oil temperature should slowly rise up. Give all the bits inside the pan a few mixes. Continue to move around these ingredients till the anchovies start to break apart and nearly melt away.

Move these bits to the edge of the pan then transfer the chicken to the center skin side down. Sear till you feel the bottom starts to turn golden brown. Flip and sear the other side till golden brown too.

Once the other side seems to set and golden, squeeze in some lemon juice, about 1 tablespoon. Also add in most of the chopped parsley. Mix and cook a little bit longer, or till you are certain all the chicken pieces have been fully cooked. Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed.

Once all checked, plate and sprinkle the remaining parsley throughout. Serve with one or two more lemon wedges on the side. 

Note that we didn't use additional salt during the actual cooking steps. It's because we already sprinkle salt and black pepper on raw chicken, also remember that canned anchovies can be quite salty too, especially with the amount used in this recipe.

By the way, I haven't write about wine pairing for a long time (don't drink and drive), but based on my experience I think this dish will go very well with some nicely chilled riesling, or oaked chardonnay. 

Other recipes using canned anchovies:

• Salmon and chorizo in tangy tomato sauce
• Pasta al tonno (pasta with tomatoes, capers, and canned tuna)

Burdock Root and Beef Stir-Fry in White Miso Sansho Seasonings

Some people prefer to soak the burdock root in water right after cutting or slicing. The main reason is to prevent the burdock root from browning, perhaps better preserve its earthy aroma too. 

However, since we are going to stir-fry the burdock root in miso and soy sauce based seasonings, the darker color doesn't really matter much. Flavor-wise, at least I can't really detect any loss of that burdock root's distinct earthy aroma. So it's totally up to you if you would like to go that extra mile to soak the burdock root in water.

Burdock root and beef stir-fry in white miso sansho seasonings - 

Ingredients?

• 1 long stick burdock root
• 280 grams beef slices
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 small chunk ginger
• 1 string scallion
• 1 tablespoon white sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon sansho powder (山椒粉)

Sauce:

• 3 tablespoons white miso
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice cooking wine
• 1 tablespoon mirin (味醂)

How?

Premix all the ingredients listed under the "sauce" section and set aside for later use.

Scrape and finely chop the ginger, we will need about 1 teaspoon of chopped ginger in the end. Peel and finely chop the garlic cloves. Slice the scallion diagonally, this is only for the garnish in the end, so I only listed one "string" of scallion needed, not one "stalk" of scallion on the ingredient list.

It's up to you if you would like to peel the burdock root. Use a knife to shave the burdock root, the motion is similar to shaving the pencil in an old fashioned way, but of course with enlarged version of burdock root and knife. It's normal to get uneven thickness of burdock root shavings in the end, don't worry too much about it. We will need about one big bowl of prepped burdock root in the end.

Drizzle 1 tablespoon of white sesame oil to a pan or wok, switch to medium heat. Once warmed up, add in beef slices and sear till about 70% doneness. Scoop out first.

Add more oil to the pan or wok if needed, otherwise add in the ginger and garlic. Sear till aromatic but not burning the garlic bits.

Transfer burdock root shavings over. Stir-fry for couple minutes.

Pour in premixed sauce, give it a few stirs to even out the seasonings. Cook for couple more minutes too.

Add back the beef and give it a few mixes. Continue to cook till the sauce has been reduced a bit. Taste and adjust if needed. Once all checked, sprinkle in about 1 teaspoon of sansho powder. Give it a few stirs. Taste again and see if you prefer an even stronger sansho aroma. In that case, simply sprinkle more sansho powder all over. 

Plate and garnish with the scallion we prepped earlier.

Burdock root is not only rich in fiber and potassium, but also with good amount of antioxidants and inulin. I would love to include such ingredient in my cooking more often. It's just that preparing burdock root can be quite a hassle for me.

I could have just cut and slice the burdock root with my knife, like making chunks or juliennes of it. But to me the best texture is by "shaving" the burdock root, kind of like sharpening a pencil, just with much bigger knife instead. And that shaving step can be very strenuous, which causing me to deter from cooking burdock root most of the time.

Well, I guess I can try to use a food processor do the slicing work. I haven't tried and not sure how well it'll work on burdock root. But even if food processor can handle the job, that means I have more cleaning to do in the end. I guess just treasure the times when burdock root does show up on my dinner table. Once in a blue moon I'll be interested enough to take on the challenge and work my arms for some nicely shaved burdock root. 

Other recipes using sansho powder:

• Braised tofu in vegetable stock and sansho powder
• Sansho pork onigiri

Milkfish Tenders in Fermented Black Bean Sauce 豆鼓醬燒虱目魚柳

Milkfish is one of the most versatile fish options you can find in Taiwan. On top of that, it's cheap too. Even with the fancier better-tasting farmed version, milkfish is still considered on the quite affordable side comparing to other common varieties such as salmon and bass.

So once a while I do buy a pack of milkfish "tenders" and cook in heavier Chinese seasonings. The so-called tender part is actually the two strips of meat on each side of the lower spine. When processed right, it's like 99.99% boneless, making it one of the ideal fish options to feed the kids, and me. 

Milkfish tenders in fermented black bean sauce 豆鼓醬燒虱目魚柳 - 

Ingredients?

• 300 grams milkfish tenders
• 1 tablespoon dried fermented black beans (豆鼓)
• 2 1/2 tablespoons Chinese rice cooking wine
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 to 2 red chilies
• 1 stalk scallion
• 4 shiitake mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar

How?

Use 1 tablespoon of Chinese rice cooking wine to soak the dried fermented black beans for about 10 to 15 minutes. Note that usually you'll find both the dried version and the oiled version fermented black beans at the market. If using the oily kind, skip the soaking step.

Slice the fish to big size pieces. Some of the milkfish tenders I got can be slightly longer than preferred, so I sliced that in half instead. Use 1 1/2 tablespoons of Chinese rice cooking wine plus 1 tablespoon of soy sauce to massage and marinate the fish for 10 to 15 minutes.

Peel and roughly chop the garlic cloves. Destem and slice diagonally for the red chilies. Destem then section the scallion. Destem then quarter the shiitake mushrooms. The shiitake mushrooms I've got come with decent size, so quarter them is just about right. If you can only get the smaller kind, buy a few more and maybe halve or use whole mushrooms instead.

Have a pan ready and drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Switch to medium heat and wait till the oil gets warm. Add in garlic, red chilies, scallion sections, fermented black beans along with the marinating rice wine. Give it a quick mix and sear till aromatic but not burn the garlic bits.

Add in the shiitake mushrooms and give it a quick stir-fry for about a minute. Push things to the side of the pan. Pour in the fish along with its marinade to the empty space in the center.

Sear and wait till the bottom of the fish has set a little then flip and sear the other side. Don't move around too much at first, wait till that side starts to set too. That way the fish can better keep its shape instead of breaking apart while you do the stir-frying motion too soon.

Season with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce, and 1/4 teaspoon of granulated sugar. Mix gently and cook till the sauce seemed reduced a little. Plate and serve.

The sugar is essential to bring the entire dish to a more balanced taste. You see that most of the seasonings we have are on the salty side, especially the fermented black beans. So by adding a little sugar, it won't make the dish sweet but rather smooth out that saltiness. Yielding a more rounded result.

By the way, you don't have to use milkfish tenders. Any kind of hearty meaty white fish would do, but make sure to avoid the flaky kind. Perhaps tilapia if you're looking for a bargained substitute. Personally seaking I'm not a fan of tilapia, but I do think that the heavier seasonings used in this recipe will make such fish much more tasty.

Extended reading:

• Milkfish tenders with tomato sauce 茄汁虱目魚柳