Japanese Cooking Lesson 2

Gyooza, Ikameshi, Tanaga To Shiratsu

The second Japanese cooking lesson was fun and delicious because Chieko san taught our group of all Thai students, all-time favourite of "Gyooza" (fried vegetable and ground pork dumplings) and new exciting food called "Ikemashi" (stewed stuffing squids with sticky rice) and "Tanaga To Shiratsu" (fried pickled lettuce with tiny dried fish). It is not so difficult to cook both Gyooza and Ikemashi, I have learnt that Gyooza is rich in nutrients with combination vegetables of cabbages, Chinese chives and lettuce, onion, mushroom mixing with ground pork. Frying Gyooza uses only few oil, water is added in frying process to authentically soften the food and create crispiness. I really love Ikameshi because I live in the land of sticky rice so it is easy to find good ingredient, it takes short time to prepare this squid menu while the cooking process is easy, let it simmering in a pot then I can switch to other jobs and come back in 30 - 40 minutes. The only draw back is to choose the squids of real freshness and without chemical contamination. Chieko san brilliantly used Thai pickled lettuce to inspire this sophisticated side dish" "Tanaga To Shiratsu ", it was the delightful flavour of Thai-Japanese friendship. Apart from those lesson food, Chieko san also cooked "Oden" and "Okara" (fried minced tofu with sliced carrots and sea grass) for us to try.

Japanese style farewell lunch

Chieko san, connoisseur of Japanese food in Chiang Mai recently hosted a Japanese style lunch to bid farewell our good friend, Kumiko Funaki who returned to Yokohama after over one year working in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. I was invited to join this stylist "Bento" party at Chieko's residence.

It was a tradition for guests to bring something for the host, either flowers or anything, on that day both one of the Japanese guests and I happened to give Chieko san the same pink lilly bouquets. Chieko san' s lunch began with pomegranate juice which is believed to enhance blood cells. Aesthetic style lunch boxes arranging on the table featured Sashimi, Tamago Yaki (thick omelette stuffed with Japanese eels), cooked rice with gingko nuts and green beans serving in Sakura shape and Kani Shinjoo.

Side dish was Tsukemono (pickle) of Kimpiri Gobo roots, tomatoes with chopped onion, cucumber with sesame and seaweed. Two more sumptuous dishes were shrimp tempura and Stewed pork with egg, long bean and radish. It took time and efforts to prepare the food which Chieko san explained that it was Tokyo style food. On that day, Chieko san received two large cartons of food supplies from her elder sister in Tokyo so I knew why her "Bento" was so uniquely special.