Easy Avocado Tofu

Tofu was believed to help lower choleterol and also good for the skin.  This tasty recipe was given to me by a friend who is a vegetarian.  I like the fact that I can prepare this healthy snack in no time and fill my stomach with no guilt at all.

Ingredients:

Soft or silkienTofu
Avocado
Soy sauce
Sesame oil
Black pepper

Direction:

Cut tofu and place sliced avocado on top.  Drizzle some sesame oil and soy sauce over.  Sprinkle some black pepper.

Notes:

For variation, sprinkle some shredded roasted seaweed or green onion. Or substitute soysauce with prepared cold noodle sauce.

Ume Sushi Restaurant

If you like Japanese sushi rolls, this is a place to try.  There was a menu devoted to many interesting sushi rolls at this UME Japanese restuarant in Pleasanton:

The place is quite big and there is a sushi bar on the right side once you walk into the restaurant.



We were going to order the Padora but decided instead to order the Simba roll with Hamachi, cream cheese, and avocado inside with house special sauce on top.

The bento box lunch was quite well-priced with a choice of 2  for $8.95 or 3 items  for $11.95.  We chose 3 items this time since it was only $3 more to try an additional item.

Yakiniku (Sliced beef),tempura and sashimi bento

Salmon, tempura and sashimi bento

The portion of the lunch box was big and the roll was also fresh.  The next time I come,  I will try the Pandora and other rolls.

UME Sushi Japanese Restaurant

4855 Hopyard Road
Pleasanton, CA  94588

(925) 734-0996

Oede Japanese Restaurant

My friend and I were hiking toward Mission Peak this morning as our morning routine walk.  After the two hour walk, we were so tired and ready to have a good meal.  She took me to this nearby Japanese restaurant.  I had not been to this restaurant for over 10 years, since I became a full-time stay-at-home mom. 
The name of the restaurant had been changed to Oede.  I was surprised that the lunch was really cheap but the portion of the food was good.  Check the menu here for price.

 I ordered the saba from the lunch menu. I was surprised to see that the portion was big and filling for lunch. The deep fried tempura was not greasy and the saba was really good. I loved the salad dressing as well.

My friend ordered the Teriyaki chicken and sashimi as her choice from the lunch menu.  The portion was big too for the price.

This sure is a place I will take my kids to, because the price is good and it is also very close to visit.

Oedo Japanese Restaurant
46573 Mission Blvd.
Fremont, CA 94539
(510) 770-9999

Japanese Sesame Salad Dressing

Every time we went to a Japanese restaurant, the salad that came with the meal was always our favorite.  It was the salad dressing that made it taste so good.  I can never find that dressing in supermarkets.  I have tried several bottles of salad dressing that looked like that dressing, but it never tasted the same as what we had from the restaurant.  I also tried a few recipes I found online, but the results were not the same.  I didn't know you can buy the salad dressing from the restaurant until my neighbor told me so.  So then I bought it at the restaurant whenever I craved it.  However, the price is not cheap for small container of that dressing and thought I should try to mix the dressing myself.  After several tries with the mixing of different ingredients, I finally came up with a recipe that's very close to the dressing from the restaurant. 

I found that it's important to get the Japanese mayonnaise and not use the American mayonnaise.  The taste is different.  I made the mistake by using the red miso; that's why the color didn't look as creamy.  Adjust your own sugar and mayonnaise amounts to your liking,  but if you are counting your calories, you can omit the mayonaise and it will still taste great without it.  It took me awhile to figure out what the Japanese mayonaise looked like since I don't read Japanese.  That's why I will always try to put the pictures of the ingredients whenever possible for those of you not familiar with the ingredients.

Miso paste (left) and Japanese Mayonaise (right)

Other ingredients

Ingredients:

1 tsp white miso paste

2 tbsp Japanese mayonnaise

1 tsp salad vinegar

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp sesame seed

1 tsp sesame sesame oil

1 tsp soysauce

1 tsp olive oil

Slowly mix in one ingredient at a time and mix well.  For best taste, use after refrigeration for at least 30 mniutes.

Note:

You can add a little Vietnamese Srirachi sauce if you like it a little spicy for different variation. Use this mayonnaise as you would with the American mayonnaise.

Japanese Cold Noodles

As the weather turning warmer these days.  It was too warm to cook at home.  I decided to go to grocery store to get some ingredients to make some cold noodles.  I invited my friend to tag along to the store.  She learned this from her Japanese mother-in-law and was very nice to make this for lunch at her house.  It's really a refreshing and simple meal to prepare.  I am happy to know my family really like the Japanese style cold noodles, that certainly help make my time in the kitchen a lot more pleasant during those very warm days.

Ingredients:

1 pkg. buckwheat Noodles
1 sheet roasted Seaweed, shredded
1/2 cucumber, shredded
1/2 stalk carrot, shredded
4 oz. ham or Japanese fish cake, sliced
Some soba noodle Soup base
Shichimi togarashi(Japanese red pepper mix, optional)

Directions:

1. Cook noodles in boiling water for about 6 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.
2. Serve all other prepared ingredients on small dishes.
3. To serve, fill soba soup base in a small sauce dish.
4. Sprinkle some red pepper mix.
5. Dip noodle in soba sauce and eat with other prepared food.

Note:

I did not have the Japanese fish cake at home and it's omitted in the picture here.  I found out the proper way to eat the noodle is not pouring the soup base over the noodle but dipping the noodle in the soba soup base sauce as you eat.

Japanese Chicken Salad - Ban Ban Ji 棒棒雞

We like to buy roasted chicken from Costco.  We always have left over chicken breasts.  I usually use it to make chicken salad.  This is the recipe I saw from a Japanese cooking show. This is a little different than the oriental chicken salad I made but it is very good.

Ingredients:

1 Cooked chicken breasts (see note), sliced
1 Cucumber
1 Tomatoes

Mixed sauce: (These are just estimate, adjust sauce to your prefer taste)
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sesame paste
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 green onion
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp minced ginger
Some hot sauce

Directions:

1. Shred or cut cucumber into thin slices.
2. Cut tomatoes in half first then thin slice it.  Place around the plate.
3. Put shredded cucumber in the middle.
4. Place sliced chicken breasts on top.
5. Pour sauce on top of chicken and serve.

Note:  If you don't have left over cooked chicken breasts, here is the original recipe from the show on how to prepare in advance:

Place 2 pieces of raw chicken breasts in cold water.
Add a few of pepper corn.
Boil for 20 minutes in medium heat
Let cool off, slice chicken breasts.

Healthy Soup - Daikon Seaweed Miso Soup

I have been eating this soup to help me lose some weight. Daikon cleanses the blood, promotes energy circulation and increases the metabolic rate.  Seaweed is very high in alkaline and also help with the cleansing process.  My kids didn't like the smell of the fresh seaweed.  I took extra step just to get rid of the overpowering smell of the seaweed.  I boiled the seaweed in hot water first for about 5 minutes, drained and then proceeded to cook it with the rest in fresh pot of boiling water.  The soup was so delicious that we ate only that for dinner and were still full.

Ingredients:

1 (8 oz.) Daikon radish, cut into bite-size pieces
1 lb. Lean pork
Fresh seaweed, rinsed well with water a couple of times
5 cups water
2 slices of ginger (optional)
Silkien Tofu, diced
1 tbsp of Dashi powder (Japanese soup base mix)
1 1/2 tbsp white miso paste
2 Scallions, chopped

Directions:

1. Place daikon, seaweed  along with 5 cups water into a 2-quart saucepan and place over high heat. 
2. Add tofu and cook for another minute. Turn heat off.
3. Remove 1/4 cup stock from the pot and place in a small bowl.  Using a fork, dissolve the miso paste and add it back into the soup pot. Stir in the dashi powder. Garnish with scallions and serve

Note:

Always add miso and dashi powder before serving.  Heat destroys the nutrition value of the miso,so always remove the soup from heat when adding miso paste and dashi powder.