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Home Top 5 food Top 5 dishes made from Chicken Stock *OR Water 1 cup & Asian Chicken Bouillon Powder 1 teaspoon

Top 5 dishes made from Chicken Stock *OR Water 1 cup & Asian Chicken Bouillon Powder 1 teaspoon

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1 . Mabo Dofu Don

Mabo Dofu Don

‘Mabo Dofu Don’ is a dish of freshly cooked rice covered with Japanese Style Mabo Dofu. It’s one of my son’s favourites. I have tried some different types of Tofu for this dish, but our favourite remains Momen Tofu, which is medium to soft type, but naturally you can use your favourite type.

Ingredient

servings Freshly Cooked Rice

500 g

Tofu *Momen Tofu is preferred

250-300 g

Pork Mince

1 clove

Garlic *finely chopped

small piece Ginger *finely chopped

Thick Spring Onions

1 tablespoon

Oil

1 tablespoon

Dark Colour Miso *Red Miso recommended

1 tablespoon

Soy Sauce

1 tablespoon

Sugar

2-3 teaspoons

Toban Djan (Chili Bean Sauce)

2 tablespoons

Sake

1 cup

Chicken Stock *OR Water 1 cup & Asian Chicken Bouillon Powder 1 teaspoon

1 tablespoon

Sesame Oil

1 tablespoon

Potato Starch

Cooking instructions

* Step 1

Prepare vegetables. Basically you need to finely chop up everything. Save green part of Spring Onion for the topping. Cut Tofu into bite-size cubes.

* Step 2

Place all the sauce ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well. This has to be done before you start cooking. Cooking process doesn’t take long at all.

* Step 3

Heat Oil in a large frying pan or a wok, cook Pork Mince and vegetables breaking up the mince.

* Step 4

Before you add the sauce mixture into the pan, mix it well again. Then pour in the sauce mixture and bring it to boil and let it thicken.

* Step 5

Add Tofu and gently mix and combine.

* Step 6

Half fill a bowl with freshly cooked rice and cover it with the Mabo Dofu mixture. Sprinkle with the chopped green part of Spring Onion and serve.

Note: if there is a photo you can click to enlarge it

2 . Braised Tofu with Chicken & Shimeji

Braised Tofu with Chicken & Shimeji

If you like ‘Mabo Tofu’, you would like this dish. My quick-braise method doesn’t stir-fry Tofu so you can use soft and delicate type of Tofu for this dish. I use whatever mushrooms that I have in hand. Shimeji, Shiitake, Enoki, Oyster Mushrooms are all very nice for this recipe. Serve with freshly cooked rice.

Ingredient

400-500 g

Tofu *soft to medium soft type recommended

250-300 g

Chicken Mince

100-200 g

Shimeji OR other Asian mushrooms

1 tablespoon

Oil

small piece Ginger *finely chopped or grated

Spring Onion *finely chopped

1 cup

Chicken Stock (or Water 1 cup & Asian Chicken Bouillon Powder 1 teaspoon)

2 tablespoons

Sake

2 teaspoons

Sugar

2 teaspoons

Oyster Sauce

1 tablespoon

Soy Sauce

1 tablespoon

Potato Starch

Cooking instructions

* Step 1

Finely chop up Ginger (you may wish to grate Ginger) and Spring Onion. Tear Shimeji into smaller pieces and cut Tofu into bite-size cubes.

* Step 2

Place all the sauce ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well. This has to be done before you start cooking. Cooking process doesn’t take long at all.

* Step 3

Heat Oil in a large frying pan or a wok, cook Chicken Mince, Shimeji and Ginger breaking up the mince.

* Step 4

Before you add the sauce mixture into the pan, mix it well again. Then pour in the sauce mixture and bring it to boil and let it thicken.

* Step 5

Add Tofu and Spring Onion gently mix and combine.

Note: if there is a photo you can click to enlarge it

3 . ‘Nira-Tama’ Don (Garlic Chives & Eggs Rice Bowl)

‘Nira-Tama’ Don (Garlic Chives & Eggs Rice Bowl)

You must be seeing more and more unfamiliar Asian vegetables even at supermarket stores. But you don’t try them because you don’t know how to cook them. ’Nira’ (Garlic Chives in Japanese) is a real super food. Why don’t you try it? ‘Nira’ & Egg is a great combination for stir-fry and soup. Here is another recipe that I am sure you would love.

Ingredient

1 bunch

‘Nira’ (Garlic Chives) *about 120g

Eggs

1 tablespoon

Canola Oil

1 cup

Chicken Stock (*or Water 1 cup & Asian Chicken Bouillon Powder 1 teaspoon)

1 tablespoon

Soy Sauce

1 tablespoon

Mirin

1 tablespoon

Potato Starch Flour

Cooking instructions

* Step 1

Wash ‘Nira’ (Garlic Chives) and cut about 3cm. Lightly beat Eggs and season with a pinch of Salt.

* Step 2

Place Chicken Stock, Soy Sauce and Mirin in a small saucepan and mix well. If required, add some Salt. Then add Potato Starch Flour and heat over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened.

* Step 3

Heat Oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat and cook Eggs gently stirring until set but still soft. Move it onto a plate.

* Step 4

Cook ‘Nira’ until almost soft, season with some Salt & Pepper, then add the cooked Eggs and combine. *Alternatively you can cook ‘Nira’ first then add Eggs and cook them together.

* Step 5

Half fill a bowl with freshly cooked rice and cover it with the mixture. Pour the sauce over generously and serve hot.

Note: if there is a photo you can click to enlarge it

4 . Mabo Harusame

Mabo Harusame

A Japanese word ‘Okazu’ is hard to be translated into English. There is no English word that has the same meaning. The Japanese principal food is rice (short grain). The most typical meal in standard Japanese cuisine is called ‘Ichijū Sansai’ which means ‘One Soup & Three Dishes’. This doesn’t include rice. These dishes are the accompanying dishes to be eaten with rice and ‘Okazu’ are the these dishes. I heard this ‘Mabo Harusame’ is one of the most popular ‘Okazu’ dishes these days. The basic concept of this dish is replacing Tofu of ‘Mabo Dofu’ with Harusame, the starch noodles. It tastes yummy but less nutritious. That’s why I tend to add lots of vegetables and mushrooms to this dish.

Ingredient

250 g

Pork Mince

small piece Ginger *finely chopped

1 clove

Garlic *finely chopped

Spring Onion *finely chopped

100 g

Harusame Noodles (Bean Thread Noodles)

1/2 tablespoon

Sesame Oil

1 cup

Chicken Stock (or Water 1 cup & Asian Chicken Bouillon Powder 1 teaspoon)

1 tablespoon

Sugar

2 tablespoons

Soy Sauce

2 tablespoons

Sake

2-3 teaspoons

Toban Djan (Chili Bean Sauce)

Cooking instructions

* Step 1

Soak Harusame Noodles in cold water for 10 to 15 minutes to hydrate. When they are soft, drain well and tear short if very long.

* Step 2

Prepare vegetables. Basically you need to slice them into thin strips or cut into small pieces. I used 1 Carrot, a handful of Snow Peas, 100g cooked Bamboo Shoots, 5 Shiitake Mushrooms. Other suggestions include Shimeji, Enoki, Beans, Black Fungus (Kikurage), Garlic Chives, Bean Sprouts, Pak Choi, etc.

* Step 3

Place all the sauce ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well. This has to be done before you start cooking. Cooking process doesn’t take long at all.

* Step 4

Heat Sesame Oil in a large frying pan or a wok, cook Pork Mince with Ginger and Garlic, breaking up the mince. When the Pork changes colour, add vegetables and cook for a few minutes.

* Step 5

Pour in the sauce mixture and bring it to the boil. Then add Harusame Noodles.

* Step 6

Harusame Noodles become transparent. At this point, you might think the sauce is too much and you need more noodles. DO NOT worry because the noodles will soak up the sauce. When the sauce is almost gone, it is ready to serve.

Note: if there is a photo you can click to enlarge it

5 . Mabo Eggplant

Mabo Eggplant

My Japanese style Mabo Dofu (Tofu) recipe is quite versatile and you can replace Tofu with vegetables such as eggplant. All eggplant lovers should try this dish! It is very easy to cook but you need patience to precook eggplant pieces until they are tender. If you are OK with the oil intake, you can deep fry the eggplant pieces. But I prefer cooking them in a frying pan, though I still need generous amount of oil.