Salmon and Sweet Potato Rice

Today's highlights: Juicy salmon. Sweet and hearty satsumaimo (Japanese sweet potato) rice. Just added cut up sweet potato, along with some sake and salt, to the rice/water in the rice cooker and it came out quite nice. Today's salad experiment was lettuce with shio-kombu (a salted type of seaweed), and some sesame seeds and sesame oil. It was okay. But looking forward to trying out more shio-kombu recipes in general.

Beef Tsukudani and Bean Sprout Salad

I am getting into salads this week, hence the star treatment of salads in this meal. Along with the leftover carrot salad from yesterday, today we tried a bean sprout salad with seaweed, canned tuna, sesame oil, sesame seeds, sugar, and soy sauce. It had a nice mild sweetness to it. To satisfy our non-veggie cravings, I made a beef tsukudani to put on top of rice - tsukudani can refer to meat, seafood, or seaweed that has been simmered in soy sauce and mirin. I found this recipe on my favorite cooking site, tried and recommended by 186 people (that's a lot for this site), and it did not disappoint! It was tasty on top of rice, but also delicious as a topping for a bowl of udon noodles the next day.

Pork Daikon Stew and Carrot Salad

I've made this pork daikon stew before but tonight I added tofu too for some added volume. To add some more color to the table, I tried making this carrot salad that my mom makes often: sliced carrots, sesame oil, sesame seeds, salt and pepper, and vinegar. It was good but I think I used too much pepper and not enough salt. New rice update: bought haiga rice, which is mid-way between white and brown rice in that it still has the nutritious rice germ, but without the tough bran of brown rice. I mixed haiga and white rice in a 2:1 ratio. H and I were pleasantly surprised by the mix - it tastes almost like white rice, but is supposed to be much more nutritious, and a good source of vitamins B and E. Good thing we liked it, because we just bought a 10 lb. bag of haiga rice!

Oden and Salad with Sesame Dressing

Back to Japanese food again with oden, the stew of fish cakes, daikon, etc. that we had at Hakkei last month. My new goal is to vary up my salads a little more, so for this salad of mizuna greens and cucumbers, I made a simple sesame dressing: sesame oil, ground up sesame seeds, sugar, ponzu, and a little bit of soy sauce. Loved the scent of sesame.

Chicken Medley

Tonight's dinner was a continuation of the chicken from 2 nights ago. The menu was 1) chicken with ginger (to eat on top of rice flavored with chicken broth) and 2) ground chicken with lemon grass wrapped up in big lettuce leaves ala Thai style wraps. This was the final meal produced by H's mom and concludes our 2 week whirlwind tour of Vietnamese cuisine!

Bún bò Huế and Salad w/Shrimp Chips

Two more traditional Vietnamese dishes tonight. The first is bun bo, which literally means beef noodle soup. It's really spicy, with lots of beef, and is one of H's favorite dishes. The second dish is a shrimp salad flavored with fish sauce that you eat on top of shrimp chips. Sort of like salsa on a tortilla chip!

Rosemary Chicken and Beef Stir Fry

Today H's mom bought a whole chicken and used the first half in this dinner.
Rosemary chicken: Chicken sauteed with rosemary. The aroma of the rosemary wafting through the kitchen was so appetizing, it made my mouth water.
Beef stir fry: Mix of beef, chicken gizzards (heart, liver), tomatoes, and greens. This dish reminded me of how much I love liver. I really liked the tomatoes in the stir fry, too.
To be continued with the other half of the chicken...