JapanEasy – Tim Anderson – Recipe and Giveaway
October 16, 2017 by Jenny
JapanEasy: Classic and Modern
Japanese Recipes to (Actually) Cook at Home by Tim
Anderson offers an introduction to the world of Japanese cooking
via some of its most accessible dishes. Anderson’s first book Nanban is killer, you can find more
information on that title on my Friday Flashback.
In his new title, Anderson shares everything we need to know to
make authentic Japanese food at home which, in turn, eliminates all
the reasons (“excuses”) that we come up with for not doing so. The
photos are killer, the instructions spot on and the recipes and
diagrams will have us all whipping out gyoza (including making our
own wrappers) in no time.
Fried prawns with shichimi mayo, Japanese fried chicken, the Best
miso soup, and Crab cream croquettes are a few examples of what you
will find here. Also included are Sushi, Sukiyaki, Hot Pots and
more with tips, tricks and Anderson’s expertise to guide us.
Thanks to Hardie Grant for sharing the Curry udon recipe with our members and for providing three copies of this book in our contest below.
Curry udon (Kare
udon)
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Serves 4
Difficulty: Supremely not difficult
Japanese curry and udon: a comfort food power couple. The addition of curry to hot udon doubles down on its warming, satisfying qualities – I love all kinds of udon, but this may be my favourite.
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
- 1 green chilli, very finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
- 1 red (bell) pepper, diced
- 60 g (2 oz / 1/2 stick) butter
- 6 tablespoons plain (all-purpose) flour
- 45 g (1 3/4 oz) Madras curry powder (you can use hot or mild, or a combination of both)
- 2 tablespoons garam masala
- 1.2 litres (41 fl oz / 5 cups) chicken or beef stock, dashi, or any combination of the three
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce, or more to taste
- 4 tablespoons ketchup or Tonkatsu Sauce (see below)
- salt
- 1 sweetcorn cob, or 150 g (5 oz) tinned sweetcorn
- 4 portions of udon noodles
- 2 spring onions (scallions), finely sliced
- 4 eggs, poached or soft-boiled
- pinch of dried chilli flakes (optional)
- 40-50 g (1 1/2 -2 oz) red pickled ginger (optional)
- 50 g (2 oz) Cheddar cheese, grated (optional – but it’s DELICIOUS)
- toasted sesame seeds
Method
Heat the oil in a saucepan over a medium heat and add the onion. Cook until lightly browned, then add the chilli, garlic and red pepper. Continue to cook until the garlic has softened and the pepper has started to brown.
Remove the veg from the pan with a slotted spoon and reserve. Add the butter to the pan and let it melt, then whisk in the flour. Cook until the roux turns a light golden brown, stirring constantly. Add the curry powder and garam masala, reduce the heat to low and cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently. Add the stock or dashi in a thin stream, whisking constantly to prevent lumps, and bring to the boil. Add the soy sauce and ketchup or tonkatsu sauce and reduce to a simmer.
If using a sweetcorn cob, blanch in boiling water then cut off the kernels, or heat up the tinned sweetcorn in a saucepan or the microwave.
Cook the udon according to the package instructions, then drain and portion into deep bowls. Pour over the curry broth and top with the sweetcorn kernels, sautéed onion and pepper mixture, spring onions, eggs, chilli flakes, pickled ginger, cheese, if using, and sesame seeds.
Tonkatsu sauce
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Makes about 600ml (20 FL OZ / 2 1/2 Cups)
Variations on this tangy-sweet, fruity-savoury, Worcestershire-like brown sauce – an essential flavour in dishes like okonomiyaki, takoyaki, tonkatsu and yakisoba – are incredibly common in casual modern Japanese cooking. I was running a cooking class a while ago in which I taught the students how to make this, and one of them said, upon tasting it, ‘Oh! You taught us how to make brown sauce.’ And so I did – tonkatsu sauce’s flavour is remarkably British, sitting somewhere on the flavour spectrum between HP and Branston Pickle, but it has a few Japanese flourishes to enhance umami and sweetness. It also has a delightful affinity with mayonnaise.
By the way, there’s no need to get too nerdy about this, but generally speaking this sauce should be made a little sweeter for okonomiyaki (more sugar), more acidic for tonkatsu (more vinegar/Worcestershire sauce), and thinner and more savoury for yakisoba (more soy sauce/Worcestershire sauce).
- 200 ml (7 fl oz / scant 1 cup) Worcestershire sauce
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons mirin
- 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons vinegar (malt or rice, or a mixture)
- 1/2 onion, finely chopped
- 8 dates or about 3 tablespoons raisins, chopped
- 1/2 Granny Smith apple, peeled and grated
- 1 teaspoon hot mustard (English, Chinese or Japanese)
- big pinch of garlic powder
- big pinch of white pepper
- 200 ml (7 fl oz / scant 1 cup) tomato ketchup
Method
Combine the Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, mirin, brown sugar, vinegar, onion, dates or raisins, and apple in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 10 minutes, until the onion and dates or raisins are very soft. Add the mustard, garlic powder, white pepper and ketchup, transfer to a blender, and purée until smooth (then pass through a sieve if you want it really smooth).
Keep in an airtight container in the fridge indefinitely. PRO TIP: This is the best possible condiment for a sausage or bacon bap.
Recipe excerpted with permission from JapanEasy by Tim Anderson, published by Hardie Grant Books September 2017, RRP $29.99 hardcover.
The publisher is offering three copies of this book to EYB Members in the US. One of the entry options is to answer the following question in the comments section of this blog post.
Which recipe in the index would you try first?
Please note that you must be logged into the Rafflecopter contest before posting or your entry won’t be counted. For more information on this process, please see our step-by-step help post. Be sure to check your spam filters to receive our email notifications. Prizes can take up to 6 weeks to arrive from the publishers. If you are not already a Member, you can join at no cost. The contest ends at midnight on November 28th, 2017.
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