A Night In Tokyo

One of my favorite places to eat is a Japanese restaurant called Little Tokyo. The food is amazing, and prepared traditionally. I could eat there all the time. The ambience is welcoming and the air is filled with the smells and sounds one would expect from a Japanese restaurant. In the distance, one can hear the familiar clamour of the hibachi chef's knives followed by oohs and ahhs of the patrons. In the back, you can see the head sushi chef at work always taking time to greet the new guests. Once you order the waiter brings you a small salad and a bowl of miso soup. I ordered a pot of hot green tea, and Ash ordered eda mame which are boiled soy beans still in the pod. They are a healthy and tasty snack you can pop into your mouth. We also enjoyed an appetizer of beef tataki, which was delicious. It was served chilled, and the dipping sauce was nice and spicy which warmed you with each bite.

We ordered sushi and my favorite dish, the Spicy Beef Don. It is a donbury, which is a rice bowl with the meat served on top. Normally you eat this with a spoon, where you mix the meat around in the rice which causes the sauce to moisten the sticky rice. The Spicy Beef Don is a variation of a Korean barbeque. It is savory, spicy, and warming.

Stir Fry

One of the most requested dishes in my repertoire is also the most recent I've experimented with, Asian stir fry. Originally it was because of my love for hibachi style food. I really wanted to recreate that flavor. Unfortunately I did not have access to a hibachi grill of my own, so I chose to use a regular frying pan. While I'm still experimenting with this dish, I would like to share the recipe as is with all of you. It is great for any kind of weather and perfect for gatherings and cookouts. In fact this past Fourth of July I shared it with my fiancee, her family and friends. It was unanimously devoured. Not only that, it was requested at least three more times that week. And countless times since then.

Ingredients:
Thinly sliced Steak
1/4 White Onion chunky dice
1/2 cup Baby Carrots sliced lengthwise.
2-3 tablespoons Teriyaki Sauce
1 pack Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon Tabasco Sweet Asian Sauce
1 pack Duck Sauce (found at most chinese fast food stands)
1 pinch of Eric's Original Asian Spice Mixture (recipe follows)
1 cup White Rice
1-2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 tablespoon of freshly ground peppercorn medley (black, green, white, and pink)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Process:
In a large bowl marinate the steak with 1/3 of the teriyaki sauce, half of the soy sauce, the tabasco sauce, duck sauce, asian spice and ginger. Let sit for thirty minutes.
In a large pot, boil the rice.
In large saucepan or fry pan, heat 1/3 of the olive oil over medium high. Cook the steak. The moisture from the steak may fill the pan, drain this off and continue to cook. Remove meat from pan and set aside.
Move rice into the sauce pan and add half of the remaining oil. Stir continuously to prevent burning. Add the rest of the soy sauce and half of the remaining teriyaki sauce and continue to stir. Add half of the peppercorn medley. Move the rice to one side of the pan and add the onion and carrot. Add the remaining teriyaki sauce and peppercorn. Stir until the onion starts to brown. Mix the meat, rice and veggie mixture to evenly distribute the stir fry. Serve immediately.

If you have a love of Asian food, this is a great way to spice up the dinner routine. I guaranty that your family will regularly request it, and You may find yourself cooking it often.

Unagi

Feeling adventurous when my fiancee and I ate at a Japanese restaurant, I decided to try something new. Unagi. I saw this on the menu and against my better judgement ordered it. Not that the dish was at all ill prepared. No, actually, it was prepared quite well and was aesthetically pleasing to look at. We also had sushi and that beef tataki i mentioned in my last entry. After partaking in all of that, I decided to dig into the Unagi. It was presented in a 2-piece bento-like box. The Unagi was in the top section along with sea breeze salad, sliced ginger, and octopus salad. In the lower section was rice drizzled in a dark sauce and sprinkled with roe. As I said, the dish looked gorgeous, however when I took my first bite I realized what a big mistake I had made. For those who don't know, Unagi is eel. This particular dish is barbecued eel. Well as close to barbecue Japanese food can get. It fell apart in my mouth, and not in a "mmm-delicious" sort of way. It was more like a gritty. "OMG what did I just eat" kind of way. It was so off-putting that it ruined my appetite not just for that night, but for the next three days. Seriously, I barely ate for three days after. Not knocking the restaurant, I've had great food from there before, it's just that eel (and pretty much any seafood) is not my thing. Lesson learned.

Beef Tataki

I have recently been exposed to this Japanese dish, and I cannot believe it has taken me this long to experience it. My fiancee and I dined at a Japanese Hibachi restaurant recently, and on a whim I ordered this as an appetizer. Since then I have craved it. It was THAT good. For those who do not know, it is a dish consisting of seared thinly sliced beef served over lettuce and drizzled with a Ponzu sauce; or a ginger soy dressing. My fiancee equally enjoyed it, and in fact, we have been looking for an excuse to get more. Just last night we dined at a different Japanese restaurant and ordered the Tataki as an appetizer. While the quality was no where near in comparison to the first, it was delicious. This time it had an addition of sliced cucumber, which surprisingly added a nice crisp contrast to the savory beef. We enjoyed it so much that I am thinking of making an attempt at the dish myself. While I have been attempting to avoid pre-made seasonings, Kikkoman brand soy sauce has come out with its own ponzu sauce, and I will gladly use it. If you have a Japanese restaurant in your vicinity, see if they have this dish. If they do, I highly recommend trying it. You will be glad you did.