Episode Two: Teriyaki Nights

Welcome back to Nippon in my kitchen, I'm your hostess with the mostess! =D Today's post will be concentrated around Teriyaki sauce and the most common items found in the Japanese kitchen to make this type of sauce, and then my bento for today.

M'kay lets get started on this picture to the left, from the left to the right: Sugar, Soy Sauce, and Aji Mirin. These items are used to make Teriyaki sauce for chicken thighs, but you can use any part of the bird or even pork, beef, or whatever protein you wish to use. I found that I prefer to sometimes mix in this marinade with my protein or to use it as a glaze, or even to use it as a marinade only and throw away the rest.

The next picture is a cheap bottle of rice wine, let me tell you I don't like cooking with certain cheap things but this style of rice wine is something I would drink a glass of. Never use any kind of wine, rum, or beer you won't drink a glass of in food; always taste before you add other wise it will not taste right.

Granted some cheap wines are good to cook with, but the best is the bottle of alcohol you pay a arm and a leg for.

1 tbsp each Mirin and Soy Sauce
1 tsp sugar

Dissolve sugar in soy sauce and Mirin mixture, you can either put your meat in or mix up the marinade in your meat. Either way it will turn out tasty.

What I did was made a sauce in a pan, turning the stove up to high for five minutes before adding 3 tbsps of water. Kept it on high for another three to five minutes and tested it with a spatula to make sure it was nape; that means the sauce sticks to the spatula and when you run your finger down the middle if the liquid stays where it is its thick enough.

I did some chicken meat balls, chicken meat patties, and some oblong pieces cause I like different shapes. This picture is the before where I shaped everything out, though it was a little gooey it was fun to make. Used two chicken breasts, 3 pieces wheat bred, 1 tbsp Italian seasoning, 1/2 tbsp ground mustard, and the Teriyaki sauce recipe from my bento book.

This is the after picture, I basted the chicken pieces with the Teriyaki sauce once and let them be for a few more moments before I took them out. Turns out these guys tasted like chicken sausage! =D Yummeh!

Okay, now for my bento of the day, using three chicken balls, a few pieces of sharp white cheddar for the bottom portion.

The top has half a tier of rice and the other half has a veggie mixture of cucumber, carrots, and celery with two tbsps of Italian salad dressing and a dusting of parm cheese.

Today was an adventure in the kitchen, learning a little about the culture and how we can make our own little twists on classics. I hope you had fun today cause I sure did! =D

Join me next time in Nippon in my kitchen, Cutlets make an appearance and perhaps even a small dessert.

See you next time! =D

Episode One: As the Egg Turns

 Welcome to another installment of Nippon in my kitchen, today we will look into some egg dishes and then my bento for the day.

Being an avid culinary graduate and foodie at heart I found Japanese/Oriental cooking to be much to my liking. I started collecting books like the one to the left and right.

Japanese Cooking has many recipes from Sukiyaki (one of many hot pot meals), Odin (a soup with konyaku jelly), and even sweet potato balls with a candied nut in the middle as a small sweet treat. Japanese meals on the go also has a nice selection of recipes, some of which I've tried already.But today were going to look at a versatile ingredient, the egg.

There are many ways to utilize this delicious protein, a few ways we Americans use it is egg salad, in potato salads, or just regular salads. Hard boiled and eaten on its own, over easy, scrambled, parboiled, poached, and much more. At times eggs are even used as emulsifiers and binders.

I like the way the Oriental use the egg the best, rolled eggs are my favorite and they are just as they sound layers of egg rolled on top of each other to make a pretty layered effect and boy are they fun to eat. ^o^  Another way they use eggs is called a Donburi bowl, where whatever protein is used gets put into the egg in the pan and stays there for about two to three minutes so the egg is cooked but still a little runny; sometimes veggies are used in this as well. Then its put over rice to be used as a main dish.

One recipe I have tried, thanks to YouTube and Cooking with Dog is Omurice. Its a ketchup based fried rice with whatever protein you choose to use and its wrapped up into an oblong shape with a thin egg resembling a crape almost. Its kind of like our version of a savory omelet but with a sweet ketchup taste that is out of this world.

It can be used as a wrapper, a topping, mixed into rice, or just enjoyed over a salad.

Today's bento I wanted to talk about is called Triple Colored Rice, usually a flaked freeze dried protein is used with these style dish so it can be made into tiny pieces and organized into a pretty presentation. Usually accompanied by small pieces of eggs done much the same way with a few adjustments in seasonings, usually beans are used but you can use whatever green veggie you'd like. All this is arranged in a design to make the whole meal appealing to look at since we eat with our eyes first.


The picture to the right is out of one of my books, this is Triple Colored Rice with fish fakes, egg  sprinkles, and sauted spinach.

 This one here is mine ^-^ with a few alterations of course. Instead of grinding up my meat or using dried sprinkles I did a veggie type deal. Carrots, cucumber, and egg sprinkles. They kind of turned out a little more darker then I would have liked but it was my first time making them, so experimentation is always a good thing. Underneath all that is a cup of sticky rice.

The bottom has a simple salad, tomatoes and a half a piece of lemon margaretta chicken.

Bento doesn't have to be a hard thing to put together, just remember one simple rule of thumb; veggies are your friend.

When you put together a bento if you have say a piece of fried chicken, you make sure everything else is cooked a different way. Like parboiled spinach, coulliflour, or even broccoli. You can even put raw veggies in a bento as well and in doing so you balance out the fat content you eat.

So, the skies the limit with a bento, whether you enjoy pasta or sandwiches you can put anything in it. As for our special ingredient the egg, it can used in many applications in a meal.

Thanks for stopping by for Nippon in my kitchen. Join me next time when the next bento feature is basic Japanese items for making Teriyaki sauce.

See you next time. =D

Welcome to my Kitchen =3

Hi and welcome to my first post. ^.^ 


Nippon in my Kitchen was inspired by my bento-ing. Let me explain a little more, two years ago I was diagnosed with PCOS Polytheistic Ovary Syndrome and one way to over come it to keep myself healthy was to exercise and eat a healthy diet.  I looked into alot of diets that didn't seem to fit my lifestyle until I spied a peculiar link on a page about the way Japanese eat. 


Suddenly I was pulled into an array of different tastes from a foreign land but the best part of reading and researching the diet was what the Oriental peoples consumed on a daily basis. I undertook a Bento Diet and the result was astounding; I lost a considerable amount of weight just by changing what I ate.  It also helped with a little exercise.  


From then on I began an exploration of bentos and what could go in them. Traditional items like sticky rice, meats, pasta's. But then again the possibilities I found were endless and then my quest for a bento box began. I ended up collecting a small handful of special boxes for my nutritional needs following a criteria that was fun to use in the kitchen. 


I'm exploring the ways of the bento so that I can lose more weight but at the same time integrate international foods with a tasty flair. 


Lets cook something tasty today in my kitchen. =D