I keep finding things in Japan that makes me say, Wahhh Kawaii!  This basically means "Oh, how cute!" but it can also mean "I like it." Japanese use this word in almost any context. Kawaii rhymes with Hawaii so it is easy to remember. Here is what I found today while shopping at SUPER VIVA HOME, a gigantic store that reminds me of HOME DEPOT, only it's got tons of fun and Kawaii merchandise.  Take a look at this egg mold.  It molds a hard boiled egg into the following  Kawaii shape.   

Car shape egg mold. This one didn't work very well. The

design was too complicated for the delicate egg.  The egg fell apart

when I closed the mold.

The fish shape egg mold worked much better.

The egg is beige because it has been marinated in

a dipping sauce for noodles. 

It was Kawaii and delicious.

Marinated soft boiled egg recipe

2 peeled soft boiled eggs

1 cup Basic Dipping sauce (see below)

Marinate the peeled soft boiled eggs in dipping sauce for four hours or overnight.

Put it in the egg mold and lightly press to make your favorite shape. Keeps in the

fridge for 4-5 days.

Basic Dipping Sauce

 This is an all purpose basic dipping sauce that I use for dipping Tempura, Soba, Somen noodles. You can use this as a basic recipe and make some adjustments with the seasonings to suit your palate. The sauce is sweetened with Mirin, sweet sake, which unlike sugar has more depth in flavor.

1 cup of Dashi (see Basics for Dashi broth recipe)

1/6 cup - light color soy sauce (Usukuchi-shoyu) or regular soysauce. (I prefer light color soysauce)

1/6 cup - Mirin, sweet sake

1/2 cup - bonito flakes

Bring the Dashi broth, soysauce and Mirin, sweet sake in a medium size pot and bring to a boil. Turn off heat. Add the bonito flakes and let the flakes sink to the bottom. Strain broth. Discard bonito flakes. Let the broth cool down to room temperature. Refrigerate.

Makes about 11/4 cups of dipping sauce.

Keeps in the fridge for 3-4 days.

During this time of year, almost every body in Japan will make time to view the cherry blossoms. The weather in Tokyo has been particularly kind to the cherries. The necessary cold spell came a few days before the cherries bloomed and once that spell passed, we've moved right into good spring weather. Not too windy. Not wet. Warm enough to allow the blooms to open slowly and surely. In Japan, cherry blossoms are known for their fragility and transient nature. The blooms last for about a week.  Some of us think that life is like that: ephermeral. We might as well enjoy it while they last.

  Spectacular blooms

  The cherry blossoms blanket the sky

  People have picnics under the cherry trees.  

I was in Myogadani with my sister Fuyuko. We went to Ikoan, an artisinal pastry shop that I blogged about last year. They make a pastry called "Mitarashi dango" during the flower viewing season. The tiny shop was crowded with people who came to buy the dango and Sakura Mochi (Pastries wrapped in pickled cherry leaves). The Sakura mochi was sold out.

  Fuyuko takes a bite of the mitarashi dango

  Mitarashi dango is made with rice flour. It is

served with a sweet soy sauce.

The shape of Mitarashi dango was inspired by droplets of water. These little balls are soft and chewy like mochi. What makes them special is the soy based sauce. It is traditional these rice balls during the flower viewing season.

I have to say, this was one of the best spring I have ever experienced.

Simmer the beans  gently

ZENSAI 

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

300 grams azuki beans  

300 grams white granulated sugar  or more

1 Tbs soy sauce  

4 pieces of Mochi, cut in half

Rinse the beans in cold water several times. Soak overnight in plenty of cold water to soften.  If the beans are very fresh, no soaking is necessary.

Discard soaking water, rinse and cover beans with fresh cold water.  In a heavy saucepan, bring the beans and water to a boil.  Drain.  Start again with fresh water and bring to a boil and then turn heat to a gentle simmer until the beans are cooked throughly, being careful not to overcook or burn them. The beans should be submerged in the cooking liquid and never exposed. It will take about 90 minutes to two hours to cook the beans. Test one bean and squash it with your finger.  If it squashes easily, it is ready.

When the beans are cooked, pour off the excess cooking water leaving just enough to cover the beans. Add 1/2 the white sugar and the soy sauce. Bring to the boil and then turn down the heat to a simmer for about 15 minutes.  Add the remaining sugar and cook for another 15 minutes. Taste and make adjustments.  If more sugar is needed it can be added at this point.  Simmer for a few more minutes and turn heat off.  The azuki beans are ready to be served but it's best if you let them rest in the saucepan overnight. 

When ready to serve, cut the mochi pieces in half and grill under a broiler or a toaster oven until they pop. Heat the zenzai until very hot. Place a piece of grilled mochi in individual serving bowls. Ladle the hot zenzai on top. Serve immediately.

This recipe makes about 8-12  servings.   

Note: If the soup is too thick, you can dilute it with a  little water.  If it is too thin, you can

cook it and thicken the soup. This is a matter of preference.  It should have the consistency of a thick soup.

Natto pasta with scallions

When it comes to fusion cusine, Japanese often do things that I find quite daring mixing native ingredients with foreign imports.  Take pasta, for example. The most popular Wafu, Japanese style pastas are Tarako, salted cod roe and Natto, fermented soybeans. Both ingredients have strong flavors.  Tarako is salty, some are spiced with chili, in which case they are called Mentaiko.  Natto is smelly like cheese and slimy like okra. It is an acquired taste.  Fusing Tarako with Pasta is understandable because Tararko is similar to Bottarga, the dried and cured roe, which is used in Italian pasta.  But there is nothing I can think of that comes close to Natto in Italy. The Japanese figured, if Natto works on top of rice, it can also work on top of pasta, and it does, more or less. 

Pasta Carbonara with Bacon, Mentaiko (salted cod roe) and Chives

When my son Sakae and his girlfriend Bina were in Tokyo during the winter holidays, I took them to an inexpensive neighborhood pasta place in Shibuya that's been here since the early fifities called Kabe no Ana, Hole in the Wall.

We ordered the two quintessential Wafu style pastas. The Natto spaghetti came with a generous mound of whipped natto (fermented soybeans) seasoned with raw egg, soysauce and mustard and served over buttered spaghetti. It was slimy as Natto  should be. People either love Natto or hate it. My son loves natto but he was not crazy about this dish. He said he prefers Natto over rice and not pasta.  I feel the same but many Japanese eat Natto this way and love it.

Bina ordered the Mentaiko pasta, carbonara style.  It was your basic egg pasta with bacon which was coated with spicy Tarako, salted cod roe. She ordered the large plate. Compared to the Natto spaghetti, this one was a winner. I orderedTarako, salted cod roe, and with Squid and Shiso.   Bina's dish tasted better. We all ended up taking a bite or two of her pasta. 

Both Natto and Tarako pasta can be easily made at home. WIth natto, you just take it out of the container, mix it with whipped raw egg, a teaspoon or two of soy sauce and mustard and pour it over hot buttered spaghetti.  Not much to it really.  Sesame oil works instead of butter, too. WIth the Mentaiko pasta, you take the cod eggs out of the egg sac with a spoon, or slice it in half, and mix the loose roe into the hot pasta. Toppings such as chopped shiso, scallions, nori seaweed, roasted sesema seeds, daikon sprouts work for both pasta dishes.

I found a funny side bar about Cat Hot Pots in Japanese Hot Pots, the wonderful new Japanese cookbook I blogged about.  No, Cat Hot Pots are not recipes for cooking cats.  Japanese felines have their own clever ideas about repurposing old pots. Here are some on-line Cat Hot Pots "Neko-Nabe" images taken by Japanese cat lovers.  

   !                                    

 The beautiful box of Higashi from Ikkoan.

I love soba.  It's food I can eat everyday and never get tired of.  I was on a soba marathon for the last few weeks while in Tokyo, visiting one artisinal soba restaurant to another and cooking it at my parents' home in Shibuya.  I also did something I have been wanting to do for the longest time: Take a cooking class in handmade soba.

The search for a school started whlle I was still in Los Angeles. I came upon several listings on the web. I chose Tsukiji Soba Academy because I liked the description of the classes and the location, which is near the Tsukiji Fish market. They offered classes for beginners to a full on soba chef training course that can last anywhere from a week to a month. I decided to sign up for the day class for beginners.  I had no idea what to expect but I had high hopes that when I come out of the class, I will get to eat my own handmade soba.

The school was on the third floor of a building just a few blocks off the fish market.  It was equipped with all kinds of tools and state-of-the-art machinery.  The place was spotlessly clean and had a feeling that you entered a dojo.  I was greeted by Akila Inouye, Master chef and President of the Academy, and his apprentice chef.  The apprentice chef asked me to take my shoes off and change into slippers.  My name tag and soba making tools, including a mixing bowl, knife, cutting board and a couple rolling pins were waiting for me at the work table.  Two more students had signed up for the class so we waited for a few minutes but they were a no show.  I ended up having a two-on-one class. I felt lucky but slightly nervous.

One of the first questions the Master chef asked me was how serious I was about soba. I said in my registration form that I was considering becoming a noodle maker one day. Ha. I said it.   I love working in movies but I can't do it forever. Even if I did, I want to make soba.  It would be wonderful if I can have a tiny handmade soba bar. Ideally somewhere not far from where I will grow my own buckwheat.  Pretty ambitious dream for an urban girl. The dream started when I was making the film SILK in a small village in Nagano prefecture near Matsumoto, Japan, which is famous for good soba. The man who built the film set invited me over to his house to eat his 85 year old mother's handmade soba. The old lady grows the buckwheat, mills the flour herself and makes the soba noodles - all by hand.That is when I thought,  If she can do it, maybe I could.  She has been making soba for more than 50 years so I will have to live a long time but I have good genes for that.  The handmade soba the old woman made was one of the best meals I ever had. I still think about  her and her family who went out of their way to treat me. That lunch was the inspiration for my dream.   I have been dreaming ever since.

I could turn out a soba that looks like a rubbery and inedible mass of flour but I decided to relax and give it a try.  When I revealed my dream to Akila Inouye, he said it was very realizable.   That he's had many people who attend his school with the same dream in mind.  I told him that I even tried growing buckwheat flowers in my backyard as a fun experiment.  He warned me that Buckwheat should not be grown for pleasure as it is a precious food.  Whoops, I failed him already. I washed my hands, put my cap and apron on and so the lesson began.  He demonstrated first.

Ingredients for making soba noodles:  

80 grams All purpose flour (churiki ko)   

320 grams Buckwheat flour

160 grams water - approx 40% of the flour weight plus additional water 2-8% of the flour, as needed during kneading.  

The ingredients are measured on an electric scale.  Soba making is quite a science.  The extra water (2-8% of the flour) indicated in the recipe will be used to make adjustments to the flour mixture according to the level of humidity, season, quality of the flour and soba maker's skill.

Once the measured water is added to the flour mixture, Akila Inouye works very fast, using all ten fingers (see how they are spread open) and the entire space of the mixing bowl. What you get is a sandy flaky mixture.

Now he rolls the dough into one oblong mass.

Notice how clean the bowl looks.  He wastes no flour.

The ends are gathered into one. The opening looks like belly button.  At this point, the dough is smooth as a baby's skin and has a nice shine.

He turns the dough out and we have an upside down Kiss chocolate.

He flattens the dough, using both hands and turns it into a disc. The kneading is complete. At this point, Akila Inouye  takes a break to wash his hands and wipes the bowl clean.  

The soba dough does not require drying like Italian pasta.

He uses his hands to flatten the disc to an even thickness.

Then begins rolling.

He takes a pinch of buckwheat flour and sprinkles it vertically across the dough in three areas.  To roll, he applies the most pressure at the center of the dough and eases the pressure as he rolls outward. The hands move across the dough like a pair of  window wipers.  I tried to do this but this window wiping motion takes practice on a piece of dough.

The dough eventually turns into an oval shape.  He then shapes it further into a rectangle shape.  This is easier said than done.  My dough was missing two corners and had wrinkles in the middle. No panic though.  You stretch the wrinkles gently so as not to tear the dough and leave the missing corners as is.  Any attempt to patchwork like we do with apple pie crusts will affect the texture of soba.  

This rolling is done rather quickly to prevent the dough from drying out.  The ideal thickness of the dough is a uniform 1.5mm  The dough in its final stage of rolling is smooth, long and flexible. These three elements are essential for making that slurpable long soba noodles.   

He uses the smaller rolling pin to roll out the corners.

He spreads buckwheat flour. Look at the generous amount of flour he uses!  

Now the dough is ready to be folded and cut.

He uses a special soba cutting knife, which is rather big.  Move over Freddie and Jason!

See how holds the knife.  He uses a forward motion to cut the noodles. Then tilts the knife at a 1.5 degree angle (very slight) to cut the next noodle.  It takes a lot of practice to make thin, even noodles.  Mine started out thin but as my hands grew tired, the noodles began to grow in size.  Some of my noodles were as wide as 2 mm to 2.5mm (some even 3mm!!!) , instead of the ideal 1.5mm.  I wanted to hide my noodles.  The apprentice chef told me not to worry, that when cooked they will still taste good.

The right hand and the left hand need to work in unison to make the perfect cut.

So this is the finished soba. Thinly sliced and ready to be cooked.  Talk about perfection!

Comments about the soba making class.  A three hour class was just a brief glimpse into this artful world of soba making.  Akila Inouye did a thorough and beautiful demonstration that really helped me appreciate the craft and tradition.  I know that in order to replicate the same soba at home, it will take a lot of practice, skill, and some soba making tools and equipment.  I think a beginner could modify the tools and use what they have at home but the end result will be quite different.  I am willing to take the lesson a step further and go for the longer commitment.  That soba cutting knife will be a commitment.  Not sure if I can even get it across customs!   I don't want to wait too long to take the next class.  At the end of the class, the apprentice chef cooked the soba made by Akila Inouye and served it with a dipping sauce, wasabi and chopped green onions.  It tasted heavenly.   I also got to take home my soba in my Tupperware. I cooked the soba that very night for my family who were all waiting to be the guinea pigs of my creation.  My father, sister and nephew thought my soba was very tasty even though the noodles were a bit uneven in width. I got the texture right.  When I shared my dream about someday becoming a soba maker, they didn't discourage me. They were so busy slurping, all they could do was nod.  Did I pass the slurpability test?  Not bad for a first try.   I am hooked!

If I were to have an office in Tokyo, I would without doubt  like to be near the Tsukiji Fish Market.  It so happens that one film organization I work with have this ideal location and they invited me to have lunch at one of their favorite restaurants in Tsukiji called Itadori. It has 7 locations right in Tsukiji, so it must be a popular place. Itadori specializes in Kaisen chirashi  (Seafood sushi rice) and curry noodles.  I couldn't  imagine a more unsual and strange combination of dishes but I can see how it could happen in Tsukiji where busy people need something quick, filling and fast to eat.  Curry is perfect for that.  Seafood and Sushi are already a given at the fish market.  

The restaurant was tucked away in the back of a fish shop. You have to go down a very dark narrow walk way.  It would take a bit of courage to go there alone.  It may have been a storage space in its previous life but when you go inside, it was surprisingly clean and well lit. Naked bulbs were used to light the place.  There were several communal tables.

It felt humid inside the restaurant but it felt that way everywhere.  Temperatures reached a high of 35 degrees centigrade. I could not possibly order their famous hot curry udon, though curry is always good in hot weather.  We unanimously chose the cold Chinese ramen noodles dipped in a mild curry sauce and ordered one seafood chirashi zushi to share amongst us. 

The Seafood chirashi sushi was sushi rice with a variety of toppings.  It had sea urchin, salmon eggs, water eel, tuna and snapper, all cut into small pieces. You can have it with braised shitake topping, wasabi and pickled ginger.  The seafood was fresh and the sushi rice had just the right amount of rice vinegar.  It made a nice appetizer for the five of us.

Today, I had lunch at Sobazen in Yotsuya, Tokyo - an artisinal soba restaurant where the noodles are hand made on the premises.   I had googled the place this morning to get directions.  Restaurant websites in Tokyo always provide a good map but street signs are not clear so you always end up having to ask someone for directions. While looking for Sobazen, I saw an older couple standing at the corner light looking at a book about noodle shops. Great, I thought.  They must be soba eaters making a pilgrimage to Sobazen just like me.  I was right.  Together, we wandered around for a few minutes and we finally found the restaurant.  It was so low key and small that we had walked right passed it a couple of times.  Sobazen has about 20 seats. On one side, there is a long communal table.  On the other side, there is a few small tables that seats two people in each.  It is minimalist in decor.  A single piece of old textile hangs from the wall.  My lunch guest was already waiting for me so I did not have to wait for a table.  There was only one person waiting the tables so the service was slow but you can't  complain about the service.  It's all in the quality of the soba.  It's not a run of the mill soba place.

The master soba noodle chef mills his own buckwheat flour which he gets from Ibaragi prefecture.  He mills it on the coarse side to give soba noodles good texture and flavor.  For $12 -15 dollars, we each ordered a nice bowl of cold soba.  Instead of dipping the sauce into the soba, the sauce was poured over the soba.  I see this informal all-in-one bowl style more often than not.  Here, they called this way of serving Bukkake-soba, which means (sauce) splashed onto the soba.  It came with plenty of toppings such as sliced shiso, wasabi, and grated daikon radish. The soba noodles  were cut on the thin side. The sauce was tasty and dense.  As an accompaniment,  I tried the kakiage tempura of Sakura-ebi (baby size shrimp).  My guest tried shirasu tempura (baby sardines). Sobazen is known for their crispy seafood kakiage tempura, so do try it if you visit this place.  Kakiage is a style of tempura of either sliced vegetables mixed with seafood and batter or in this case, only seafood. I could taste the natural sweetness of the buckwheat in the soba. The portion was just right for lunch.  I would like to come back for dinner sometime and try the buchwheat sashimi.  As we were leaving, the master came out. to get more buchwheat flour from the storage room near the cash register.  I thanked him for a good meal.

Sobazen

Address: 1-22-12  Yotsuya, KR Building 1st floor. Tel 03 3355-8576.

2 minutes walk from Yotsuya JR train station.