Not With, but Together - Hash Browns Scrambled Eggs

Either use a box grater or a food professor to do the shredding for potatoes, this will make life much easier. Well, actually if you're using store-bought or frozen hash browns, that will definitely cut down a good portion of work in the kitchen.

Hash browns scrambled eggs - 

Ingredients?

• 3 medium small potatoes 
• 4 eggs
• 100 grams bacon
• 1 small canned corn
• 1 stalk scallion
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (if needed)
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 pinch black pepper (plus more for garnish)

Potato seasonings:

• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/8 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

How?

Mix all the ingredients under the "potato seasonings" and set aside for later use.

Peel the potatoes, I actually used three different varieties for this recipe. Since we're going to make a scrambled eggs in the end, the texture of the potatoes don't matter as much compared to making hash browns only. Starchy or not, it's up to you. I think mixed potato types seemed more fun.

Shred the peeled potatoes with food processor. It can be done in seconds. The only drawback is that there're more parts needed to be cleaned with a food processor, as opposed to box grater.

Soak the shredded potatoes in cold water, about 30 minutes. Once done, drain well and transfer potatoes to table cloth to further squeeze out all the remaining liquid.

Prepare a pan and transfer bacon over. Turn to medium high heat to sear the bacon till some fats start to render. Drizzle some more olive oil if ended up without enough rendered fats.

Pick out the bacon and let it cool off on the side. Once ready to handle by hand, slice the bacon into smaller pieces. Transfer to a big bowl.

You can sear chopped bacon in the beginning but that can easily result in dryer tougher texture bacon bits in the end. That's fine too, I prefer searing larger bacon pieces to begin with instead.

Make sure the pan is well-coated with oil. To the pan, add in well-dried shredded potatoes along with the seasoning mix. Stir-fry till the potatoes softened, around 10 to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, destem and chop the scallion, transfer to the bacon bowl. Drain out the liquid from canned corn, pour the corn to the bowl also. Beat in 4 eggs along with 1 pinch of salt and 1 pinch of black pepper. Mix till blended.

Pour the egg mixture to the pan and give it a quick mix till all the ingredients are evenly blended. 

Cover the pan with a lid to help the eggs set. When the eggs seemed cooked through, scramble into chunks and transfer to serving plate.

Sprinkle some more black pepper over before serving.

Even though I'm not really making hash browns here, but I still followed the soaking and draining steps for the shredded potatoes. This only makes a slight different in the final texture, so if it seems too troublesome, simply omit this part all along. 

Most importantly, if you're going to start with shredded potatoes, remember to slowly cook and stir-fry the potatoes till softened early on to avoid rubbery bite in the end.

Extended reading:

• Weekend brunch idea - shakshuka with feta

Nikujaga 肉じゃが - Japanese Meat and Potato Stew

Niku means meat in Japanese, and jaga refers to potato, so it shouldn't be hard to imagine what this dish is about. Nikujaga is just like pork stew to Taiwanese, and perhaps pulled pork to Americans, most families in Japan have their own recipe for nikujaga. 

It's one of Japanese's all time comfort food. I can also recall that back in college in CA, the international student from Japan was making nikujaga for everyone, it's that one dish commonly cooked by Japanese students overseas. As recommended by my fellow Japanese friend, "use beef," she said. You must make nikujaga with beef slices, not pork. Instruction well remembered and followed.

Nikujaga 肉じゃが/Japanese meat and potato stew - 

Ingredients?

• 250 grams beef slices
• 3 small potatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 medium carrot
• 170 grams shirataki noodles (konjac noodles)
• 100 grams peas/snap peas
• 850ml water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil or other preferred cooking oil

Sauce:

• 4 to 6 tablespoons soy sauce
• 4 tablespoons mirin
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

How?

If you prefer potatoes to have a softer, more so "fluffy" bite, here's what I do. Peel and steam whole potatoes for about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and wait till the potatoes cool down.

Meanwhile, bring a small pot of water to a boil. Add in the peas or snap peas and let it boil for about 30 seconds. Drain and remove the thin skin from the peas. Set aside for final garnish in the end.

Peel and chop the carrot into chunks. Drain out any liquid from the shirataki/konjac noodles package and rinse for a bit. Drain again and cut into shorter sections. 

Once the earlier potatoes cool down, chop into chunks also. Peel and slice the onion, wider slices this time. If using long pieces of beef slices, slice into shorter sections.

Take a medium pot, drizzle about 2 tablespoons of oil and turn to medium high heat. Add in onion and stir-fry till translucent.

Add in carrot and potatoes, continue to stir-fry for another 30 seconds or so.

Add in beef and shirataki. Pour in about 850ml of water along with all the ingredients under the "sauce" section. Use up to 6 tablespoons of soy sauce for a saltier taste. You can start out with 4 tablespoons and add a little bit more at a time when needed later on.

Still under medium high heat. Cook till it starts to bubble. You can cut the parchment paper into round shape with a hole in the center. Measure it so the paper can cover the inner surface of the pot perfectly. Or the easier way is to simply use a lid but don't fully cover the pot, leaving a small gap for the steam to escape. 

Lower the heat to a simmer. Continue to cook for 20 to 25 minutes. If it starts to boil, try to move the lid a little bit more to the side, or tilted. Shouldn't be an issue if you use the paper method instead.

Finally, remove the paper or the lid, serve from the pot or scoop to individual servings, and remember to garnish with peas. A pop of green to brighten up this stew.

You should definitely taste the sweetness from both the sugar, stewed veggies, and mirin. That's how a basic Japanese stew would taste like. Slightly salty and sweet, makes all the remaining juice an ideal company for steamed rice.

Other Japanese recipes:

• Kanikama and shiso tamagoyaki
• Japanese spicy shrimp stir-fry (ebi chili エビチリ) 
• Japanese side dish using satsuma age and konjac 
• Japanese hijiki no takikomi gohan ひじきの炊き込みご飯