Recipes: japanese

Makes 6

1. Wash and cook your rice.

2. While your rice is cooking, prepare the filling:

• Slice SPAM into 6 thick slices. Heat up a large skillet with 1tsp oil. Add SPAM slices and pan fry until each side is golden. Drain on kitchen paper and set aside.
• Crack eggs into a bowl and add a dash of milk/water. Season with salt and pepper and whisk well to combine. Heat up a non-stick skillet with 1tsp oil. Pour in egg mix and make one omelette. Slide omelette onto a chopping board and slice into 6 portions.

3. Once cooked, transfer the rice to a large bowl and mix in sushi seasoning to taste. Divide the rice mix into 12 portions.

To make each onigirazu:

1. Place a large sheet of cling film down on your bench.
2. Place one sheet of nori on top of your piece of plastic.
3. Place one portion of seasoned rice in the centre of the nori. Flatten it down to make a small square, rotated 45 degrees to the direction of your piece of nori. The rice acts like the bread in a sandwich.
4. Add a piece of omelette on the centre of your rice.
5. Add a piece of SPAM on the centre of your omelette.
6. Squeeze on Kewpie mayo to taste.
7. Tear up ½ a lettuce leaf to fit your rice square and layer on top of the mayo.
8. Grab another portion of seasoned rice and compact it in your hand before placing on top of the lettuce.
9. Fold each corner of nori over your ‘sushi sandwich’ to completely wrap your sandwich.
10. Wrap the cling film around your nori parcel so that it stays firmly in shape.
11. Allow your onigirazu to sit for 10 minutes to help set it before slicing in half.

Repeat with remaining ingredients to make the other 5 onigirazu.

Serves 2-4

1. Place a piece of parchment paper over one piece of pork and tenderise using a rolling pin or food mallet. Repeat to tenderise all pieces.
2. Finely grate one brown onion into a bowl. Smother each piece of pork in this onion puree and refrigerate overnight. This injects so much flavour into the meat!
3. Just before cooking, set up your crumbing station with 3 shallow bowls:

• 1 bowl filled with the AP flour
• 1 bowl filled with beaten eggs (heavily seasoned with salt & pepper and a dash of vanilla extract)
• 1 bowl filled with panko breadcrumbs

4. remove all the excess onion puree from each piece of pork and lightly dust them in AP flour.
5. Slide each piece of pork (one at a time) into the bowl of beaten eggs. This egg mix will allow the crunchy coating to stick to your pork.
6. Coat each piece of pork with panko breadcrumbs. Gently press in the crumbs with your fingers to cover the entire surface area of each piece of pork.
7. Heat a wok, deep fryer or deep skillet to 180C (355F). Ensure that there is enough oil to fully submerge each piece of pork, leaving enough room for the oil level to rise in wok/skillet when you add in the pork pieces.
8. Deep fry your crumbed pork pieces in batches  (no more than two at a time) turning each piece over so that all sides are golden. Because each piece of meat is thin, it doesn't take long for each piece to cook.
9. Drain on a cooling rack lined with a sheet of paper towel. The rack helps air circulate under the tonkatsu and keeps it crunchy longer.

Use the tonkatsu as you please. Over a bowl of piping hot ramen or roll it into a sushi and pack it for a delicious lunch.

1. Mix the minced meat, fish sauce and ground white pepper until well combined. Form into meatballs. Set aside.

2. Pour in the water and add chicken powder into a pot. Bring to a boil.

3. Add meatballs and Chinese cabbage (meatballs are cooked when they float to the top).

4. Add in the noodles and stir thoroughly (glass noodles cook VERY quickly).

5. Add the fish sauce & white pepper according to taste. 

6. Transfer to serving bowls and garnish with coriander, spring onion & chilli (optional). Serve.

Prepare your Rice

1. Wash and rinse your rice in tap water.

2. Cook the rice in a rice cooker. (1 Cup of fresh water is a guide for this amount of rice)

3. Transfer your cooked rice to a medium sized bowl and add sushi seasoning. Mix until combinied well. 

4. Spread the rice into the bottom of a baking tray to make one even flat layer.

I used a 20cm x 27cm tray.

Prepare your Crab Mix

1. In a medium sized bow, make the dressing by adding Kewpie mayo, sour cream and yuzu dressing. Mix together until well combined.

2. Separate the imitation crab sticks into strands.

3. Give the crab a rough chop then place into the bowl with the dressing. Mix together until well combined.

Assemble your Tray

1. Layer sliced avocado over the rice.

2. Sprinkle furikake on top of the avocado.

3. Spread the crab mix evenly on top.

4. Sprinkle on furikake

5. Scatter tobiko on top

6. Sprnkle on furikake to garnish.

1. In a large wok, add 1/4 cup water and a generous pinch of salt and bring to boil. 

2. Add in frozen edamame pods and toss. 

3. Cook the edamame covered on high for 2 minutes.

4. Give them a stir, then cover again and cook for a further 2 minutes.

5. Remove the lid. Cook and toss for a further 1 minute until all the liquid in the wok has evaporated.

6. Add in chopped garlic and toss.

7. Turn the heat down to medium, make a well in the centre of the wok and add in the miso and butter, and chilli oil.  

8. Give everything a toss/stir so that all the pods are coated in the spicy miso butter.

Enjoy!