We're Cooking Japanese, We're Cooking Japanese, I Really Think So!

I had to go grocery shopping.

If you remember my first round of gorcery shopping in a Japanese supermarket, it didn't go well. After getting a few things from Takashimaya, it was still a wee bit frustrating.

So today, I decided to take some action. I went to AllRecipes.com and looked up some Japanese recipies. I did not want to live off a diet of spaghetti, sandwhiches and salad, and instant udon/ramen is downright nasty. Cup Noodle is good, but only in small doses. Since this is Japan, I don't have an oven either, which made things a bit more difficult.

So I got some recipes for a stir-fry, udon, miso and one more thing. Two of the recipes had the same ingredients so it worked out really well. And I put down the usual suspects on my grovery lists: bananas, cucumbers, lettuce, ham, OJ, bread, etc.

I eat lunch at school so it's the dinner I worry about. Like I said, spaghetti every night isn't a good thing. Luckily, I have only eaten spaghetti for dinner twice, if anyone was wondering. It's been salad most of the time. But that can get expensive since veggies are expensive here.

Ingredients for miso soup was easy. I asked a clerk were dashi stock and miso paste was, and easily found the tofu. In lieu of seaweed, I got this leafy green thing to put in the soup.

I had a list of complicated ingredients to make the soup part of udon. I knew I would put like a beef or chicken with veggies in it, but its the soup part the always got me scratching my head. But when I was getting the dashi stock and miso paste (always get yellow instead of red, it tastes better) I noticed a box with the following label on it:

"Udon Suppu"

"Suppu" is the katakana for "soup." I took the box and looked at the back - obviously, I can't read the entire thing, but I like Japanese packaging because they have little pictures. Pretty much, add a little packet of this "Udon Suppu" stuff to hot water, then add udon noodles.

Simple!
Cost effective!

They even have packets for "Karee Udon" which is "Curry Udon." A fusion of Japanese and Indian. Maybe next time. Add two packets of udon noodles for 35yen and I was ready to go.

For lunch, I made the miso soup using the basics of the recipe that I found on AllRecipes.com. Here are the results:



It's miso soup! It's got tofu! It's got leafy green stuff!

And what is even better:

It tastes amazing. I did not mess this up! I made enough for two bowls of it. So I had this (both bowls of it) with a half-sandwhich; the bread is rather thick here and they only come in slices of 6 or 4, so I take one slice and cut it in half to make my sandwhich. I have given up on cheese, so its usually lettuce and ham with mayo. I save my tomatoes for the salad.

For dinner, I made udon. I bought this beef in the supermarket that is really thin and had a little package of sauce with it. So I took half and sauteed it (no oil, I put it in the pan and let it cook in its own juices) and poured half the packet of sauce in it - the rest of the meat and sauce I put in a container for lunch tomorrow so it will marinate overnight. Added some carrots, boiled the water, put two packets of "Udon Suppu" in it since I did not want my udon to taste watery, and - tada! Udon!



I am very happy. My tummy is happy. I can cook Japanese food. Just wait till I get started on my cooking classes. I may not be able to cook much, but by the time I come home in March 2008, I will be able to cook Japanese food.