Ingredient

4 egg whites

1 egg

50g carrot

50g Japanese cucumber

50g red capsicum

2 sheets of seaweed

Method

1. Cut all the vegetables into thin strips and set aside.

2. In a bowl, whisk the egg mixture well (egg and whites) and season with salt and pepper.

3. On a non-stick pan, pour in half the egg mixture to form a thin pancake.

4. Once the sides start to brown, gently flip over the pancake.

5. Remove and set aside to cool. Repeat with the other half of the egg mixture.

6. Lay pancake on flat surface and layer the seaweed on top. Arrange all the vegetables on top.

7. Gently roll the pancake like you would roll a sushi.

8. Cut into 1/2-inch rolls and serve.

Nutritional analysis: 199kcal (per serving of two rolls), carbohydrate: 12.3g, protein: 24.2g, fat: 5.0g, dietary fibre: 4.9g, sodium: 333mg

Ingredient

80 gram mi daripada tepung gandum - soba gandum
50 gram kulit taufu yang sudah digoreng
50 gram sayur kailan
1 biji telur separuh masak
Air rebusan bonito
100 gram kepingan onito
1 liter air
50 mililiter kicap Kikkoman
Garam secukup rasa

Method

1. Didihkan air, masukkan soba ke dalam air mendidih selama lima minit. Toskan.

2. Air rebusan soba dibiarkan mendidih, kemudian masukkan kicap Kikkoman dan garam secukup rasa.

3. Masukkan kepingan bonito ke dalam air rebusan hingga sebati. Biarkan mendidih seketika.

4. Akhir sekali, pecahkan telur. Biarkan sebentar jangan dikacau sehingga telur separuh masak. Kemudian masukkan sayur kailan dan kulit taufu.

5. Sedia untuk dihidang.

Petua chef:
- Rebus bahan seperti sayur dalam masa singkat.
- Jangan gunakan api terlalu besar (nyalaan sederhana).
- Untuk lebih menjimatkan masa, sediakan bahan lebih awal supaya tidak membazirkan waktu.

Ingredient

60g sushi rice

1 piece half cut yakinori (seaweed for sushi roll)

50g fresh cream cheese

50g mozzarella cheese

200g white breadcrumbs

50g ebiko (prawn roe)

Method

1. Place sushi rice on the half cut yakinori.

2. Roll to form a cylindri cal shape and coat with ebiko.

3. Mix the mozzarella cheese and fresh cream cheese with bread crumbs.

4. Place the creamy cheese sauce on top of the roll and grill till golden brown.

Ingredient

3pcs Tasmanian fresh oyster

20g homemade mayonnaise sauce

50g grated yellow onions

20g grated carrots

100g Japanese mayonnaise

Method

1. Open the oysters and clean them with water.

2. Mix the onions, carrots and homemade mayon naise together to make a dip.

3. Grill the oyster for about 5 minutes.

4. Place the Japanese mayonnaise on top the oyster and grill till golden brown. Serve with dip.

Ingredient

• 200g of Japanese rice
• 8-10 pieces scallops
• 50g of sansai (mixed Japanese wild vegetables)
• 350ml of dashi
• 1 tsp of sea salt
• 1 tsp of light shoyu (Japanese soy sauce)
• 1.5 tsp of mirin (Japanese cooking wine)
• shredded nori (dried seaweed), for topping

Method

1. Wash the rice several times and strain the water in a sieve for 30 minutes.
2. In a six-inch claypot, put in the rice, dashi, salt, light shoyu and mirin.
3. Cook over high heat until boiling. Then lower the heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes.
4. While the rice is being cooked, sauteed the scallop with butter. Add salt, pepper and shoyu.
5. Five minutes before the rice is cooked, add the sauteed scallops and sansai. Put the claypot cover back and cook till done.
6. Garnish with shredded nori and serve hot.

As with anything Japanese, it's first a visual feast before it becomes a feast for your palate. And yes, it's indeed a feast for any palate!

From "Memorable kaiseki flavours"

This dish has been given a health twist by Gleneagles Hospital KL chief dietitian Lim Ai Leng, and her team. (serves 2)

Ingredient

• 2 pieces / 50g smoked salmon
• 2 pieces / 60g Japanese tofu (cut into 2.5cm roll)
• 100g Soba noodles (blanched in advance)
• 20g green tea leaves
• 250ml water
• Bonito flakes
• 1 tbsp / 10g miso seasoning
• 1 tbsp / 10ml mirin (Japanese rice vinegar)
• 10ml vegetable oil garnishing
• sliced spring onion seaweed (julienned)

Method

1. Pan-fry tofu with vegetable oil

2. Roll the salmon around the tofu.

3. To make the sauce: Heat up the water and add in the green tea leaves. Simmer for five minutes and add in bonito flakes and mirin.

4. Arrange soba onto the plate and top it with the salmon roll.

5. Slowly pour the sauce over the noodles.

6. Garnish with spring onion and julienned seaweed.

Nutritional values per serving:

● Calories 170kcal

● Protein 10g

● Fat 8g

● Cholesterol 6mg

● Calcium 58mg

● Iron 1mg

DIETITIAN'S COMMENT:

This dish is low in calories, fat and cholesterol. You need an acquired taste to enjoy it. The fat in the salmon is mainly from monounsaturated fatty acid.

This one is an appetiser consisting of lightly grilled tuna with tomato dressing. This recipe serves four. The tomato dressing is basically refined salsa with no extreme bursts of zest.

[From "Complex simplicity," New Straits Times. 9 Jan 2010]

Ingredient

• 200g tuna
• 20g spring onions, chopped
• 30ml soy sauce

For the tomato dressing you’ll need:

• 70g onions, chopped
• 15ml vinegar
• 8g sugar
• 3g wasabi
• 5g black pepper
• 15ml sesame oil
• 15ml olive oil
• 60g cherry tomatoes, chopped

Method

So, you begin with tuna:

1. Marinate the tuna with soy sauce for few minutes.

2. Sear both sides of the tuna and put it in ice water (to cool down immediately).

3. Then pat dry with a paper towel.

4. Slice tuna into 20 pieces with approximately half a centimetre thickness.

For the tomato dressing:

1. Rinse the onions with cold water to get rid of the sharpness and drain well.

2. Mix all the ingredients and season with a bit of salt.

3. Then blend to a semi-smooth consistency.

Iketeru’s special maki roll consists of soft shell crab, shrimp and slices of eel. Freshness and comforting sticky textures are dominant in this one. The recipe makes eight pieces.

Ingredient

• 120g steamed rice
• 1 piece seaweed or yaki nori
• 1 soft shell crab
• a few shrimp
• 100g grilled eel
• 45g avocado
• 30g cucumber
• 2 pieces butterhead lettuce
• 20g sesame seed
• 15g flying fish roe
• 15ml mayonnaise
• 15g sushi pickled ginger

To mix

• 130g tempura powder
• 200ml cold water
• 30g beaten egg
• 150ml corn oil

Method

1. Mix the tempura powder and corn oil in cold water and beaten egg until it’s even and thick.

2. Then peel off the shrimp’s shells and tails, dip the shrimp and soft shell crab in the batter one by one.

3. Deep fry for about 30 seconds or until you get these a golden brown colour.

4. To roll:

• slice the cucumber into long sticks and cut the avocado into thin layers
• spread the rice evenly on seaweed and place it on a bamboo place mat
• rest the avocado slices, cucumber sticks, tempura shrimp, eel, soft shell crab, butterhead lettuce and flying fish roe on the bed of rice
• top with sesame seed, roll the seaweed with all the condiments nicely placed inside out
• trim the edges of both sides and cut the rolled sushi into eight pieces
• serve with mayonnaise or light soya sauce and wasabi.

Unagi Yanagawa, or eel cooked in egg, comes from the Benkay Japanese Restaurant in Hotel Nikko Kuala Lumpur.

[From "Flow with good cheer," New Straits Times, 19 Dec 2009]

Ingredient

• 70g eel
• 20g burdock
• 5g onion (sliced)
• 100ml Yanagawa sauce
• 1 egg

For Yanagawa sauce:

• 80ml Bonito stock
• 10ml sweet sauce
• 10ml Higashimaru soy sauce

Method

1. First, boil the burdock, eel and yanagawa sauce on medium temperature.

2. When the burdock is quite soft, add in the egg and sliced onions and use at a slow temperature.

3. Boil until the egg is half cook, and then transfer it to a bowl.

Tip: You can subtitute eel with any type of white fish.

Hidangan Jepun ini boleh didapati di dalam menu restoran Jepun O-Shima.

Ingredient

Bahan (untuk hidangan seorang):

100g spageti

40g mentaiko (telur ikan kod)

15g mentega

Garam secukup rasa

Shoyu (kicap Jepun)

Kizami nori (rumpai laut dipotong halus)

Method

Cara memasak:

1. Rebus spageti sehingga masak.

2. Selepas itu buat sos ikan kod dengan mencampurkan mentega, telur ikan kod, sedikit kicap dan garam. Kacau sehingga sebati.

3. Apabila sos siap diadun, letakkan di lapisan atas spageti.

4. Tabur potongan rumpai laut di bahagian atas sebelum dihidang.

Ingredient

80g matsutake mushroom
20g fried beancurd skin (finely shredded)
10g or three mitsuba leaves (Japanese herb leaf)
1 cup rice
200ml bonito soup
20ml sake
16ml light soy sauce (higashimaru)

Method

1. First, wipe the grime off (without washing) the matsutake mushroom (washing the mushroom will change the color and even taste).

2. Then slice off the root (at the bottom) of the mushroom very finely (do not chop it off entirely).

3. Wash the rice and mix the bonito soup, sake and light soy sauce together and leave to marinate for 20 minutes.

4. Then add the mushrooms and fried beancurd skin to the rice and cook for 40 minutes.

5. Once the rice is cooked, add the mitsuba leaves and cover for 10 minutes. Then it is ready to be served.

Tip:
The rice used for this recipe is Japanese rice, which can be easily found in stores that specialise in Japanese goods.

Matsutake mushrooms are seasonal items (usually found in September) and can be pretty expensive; you can opt for shimeji mushroom instead.

Use boiled spinach if you find it hard to get mitsuba leaves. Bonito soup is actually made from the bonito fish, so it's essentially fish stock.

The easier option to get the stock is to buy the bonito powder from Japanese stores and mix it with water.

This dish is similar to fried rice but with a different twist.

Ingredient

100g of unagi or freshwater eel marinated with kabayaki sauce (Grilled)

For the kabayaki sauce:

• half a cup rice vinegar
• quarter cup sugar
• half a cup shoyu, a Japanese light soy sauce
• 20cm leek, sliced and grilled
• 1 onion, sliced and grilled

Method

To make the kabayaki sauce:
1. Simmer all ingredients  (except the leek and onion) in a sauce pan on low heat for a few minutes until sugar dissolves.

2. Add in grilled leek and onion for more aroma.

3. Turn off the heat and cool the mixture. The sauce is ready.

4. Serve it with rice and miso soup. The grilled eel can also be dribbled with the sauce.

O-Shima Restaurant’s Bento Set comes with potato salad, Oshima-styled deepfried chicken and fried tofu served with tempura sauce.