Obento

Yesterday was the first day of term 2 at my daughter's school.  I made this Obento for her.
It has pork ginger, kyuri asazuke and tamagoyaki.

Octopus and Cucumber Salad

I think Octopus is not so popular fish around the world.  In Japan, we eat a lot of Octopus and it is very tender and soft if it's fresh.

My children also love Octopus and you can get it in Singapore at the Japanese supermarket even though it's 3 times more expensive than Japan.

I sometimes go there to get fresh Octopus and eat as Sashimi or make salad like this.

Harusame Salad

Harusame are transparent noodles made from potato starch.  It is often used in soup, salad etc.

I made Salad with tomatoes, ham, cucumber and lettuce with soy sauce and sesame oil dressing.

Temarizushi

This is Temarizushi.  Te means hand, Mari means ball and it looks like a small hand made ball so it named Temarizushi.

You can put anything you want, but just make sure you shape nicely like a little ball.  I made finely scrambled egg (Ititamago) and put Ikura(salmon roe).

Shichimi Togarashi

Shichimi togarashi means seven spices.  It has seven ingredients and nice flavor.  It works well with noodle dishes, Yakitori, Shabushabu and tempuras.

I've got this bottle as a gift from a very famous, traditional company in Nagano in Japan.

This bottle is a lacquer and so beautiful.

Fried Pork with Kimchi

Kimchi is a traditional fermented Korean dish made of vegetable with a lot of seasonings.  Of course Kimchi is much better taste in Korea than Singapore, but it is quite easy to find Kimchi here.  

I usually serve Kimchi with a steamed white rice.  It is simple and nice, but it needs a variation sometimes.  I had thin sliced pork in my freezer so I made Fried Pork with Kimchi.

1.  Put 4 thin sliced pork together and sprinkle pepper.

2.  One lady finger and some Kimchi together and roll up.

3.  Put egg, flour, bread crumbs on the surface of rolled pork and fry until golden brown.

4.  Cut half and serve.

Even though you don't like Kimchi, this is not so strong flavor of it so you can enjoy the best combination of Pork and Kimchi.

Urushi (Lacquer ware)

This is also Urushi.  A very good friend of mine came to visit me 2 weeks ago and she gave me the beautiful lacquer ware from Japan.  Usushi is famous for Red and Black colour, but she gave me the silver colour one so that I can use both for Western food and Japanese food:)

I like her sense and I enjoy using this very much.