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I have absolutely hit on a divine combination with this one.  I cannot believe that from such humble stuffs arose this magical creature.

I started by chopping a whole onion and two cloves of garlic and let them start to brown in sesame oil. When they were just starting to caramelize I threw in a can of drained and rinsed chickpeas.

After those had a few minutes to warm up I added a generous swishing of soy sauce, a tsp. or so of rice vinegar, two squirts of hoisin sauce, and a few teeny dollops of chili garlic sauce.

After a few more minutes the sauces had reduced and glazed the chickpeas and onions with a spicy, salty, sweet coating.

It sits on a bed of jasmine rice, fluffy like a pillow. Toasted sesame seeds and chopped scallions top it all off.

This was one of those dishes where I had little idea what I was making until I was halfway there. I assure you it will go swiftly into the “make again” file, it’s just too easy and too good!

Spicy chickpea and onion donburi

Chickpeas and onions glazed with a spicy sauce, served over rice.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

• 1 can chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
• 1 large onion
• 2 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 1 tbsp. rice vinegar
• 2-3 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. hoisin sauce
• approx. 1/2 tsp. chili garlic sauce
• sesame oil for sauteing

Cooking Directions

1. Saute diced onion and garlic in sesame oil.
2. When onions begin to caramelize, add chickpeas and sauces.
3. Allow sauces to heat up and form a glaze over the chickpeas and onions.
4. Serve over jasmine rice and top with scallions and toasted sesame seeds if desired.

It’s glorified rice and beans, people!  And it’s insane!

November 16, 2010 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 5 comments

Mmmm…so warm and comforting!

If you haven’t noticed, I cook Japanese food a lot.  It’s easy, healthy, and delicious. What’s not to love?

But if cooking Japanese food sounds intimidating to you, I completely understand why. Many recipes require ingredients not found in the typical Western pantry, and even if you could find them at a local asian market, would you ever use them more than once?

Many of the typical cooking techniques used in making Japanese foods are also not typical for an American home cook, but none of them are difficult, just different.

I think one problem that many people have with cooking Japanese foods is just that they don’t really know what those foods are outside of sushi. Sushi is admittedly not a meal for a beginner to prepare, especially if you want it to look nice. But there’s just so much more out there, and I think that one good place to start is with the donburi.

A donburi is, in essence, a bowl of rice with something tasty on top of it.  Traditionally, most donburi toppings are simmered slowly in a dashi-based stock with other flavorful sauces added, and left to reduce until all the liquid is evaporated and/or absorbed by the ingredients.

Here’s one I made last night that contains a few substitutions for some more traditional items.  You need:

• Half a butternut squash, cubed
• One block extra firm tofu, pressed and cubed
• Vegetable broth to cover
• 3 tbsp. mirin
• 3 tbsp. soy sauce
• approx. 3 tbsp. miso paste
• sprinkle of sugar

Just add all the liquids to a pot and turn it on to medium-high heat.  Whisk to incorporate the miso, then add the squash and tofu. It should look like this…

All you need to do is keep this pot at a steady simmer, but not boiling, until most of the liquid is absorbed. Don’t stir or you’ll break apart the squash, just let it do it’s thang.  It’ll look like this after 30 to 40 minutes…

That’s really it.  Put stuff in pot. Simmer. Eat.

As you can imagine, this technique works well with most any vegetables or cuts of meat you may have on hand.  The sauce can also be tweaked to whatever your tastes are or whatever ingredients you have in the fridge. I used butternut squash this time because I had some pre-chopped and waiting in the freezer, though I think sweet potato would have been even better. I used vegetable stock so that I wouldn’t have to add the extra step of making dashi stock. (Dashi tutorial will follow soon!)

That’s the beauty of the donburi, the addition of rice turns a bunch of random stuff into an impressive meal with minimal effort.  With all the time you’ll have left over you can concentrate on making perfectly sticky sushi rice!

Come to think of it, I should show you how to make sushi rice too.  Coming soon!

October 24, 2010 Alayna Recipes Comments Off on Japanese-style simmered squash and tofu

This is a short-cut version of the more traditional oyakodon that includes simmering the ingredients in dashi stock.  Oyakodon means “parent and child rice bowl” because it includes both chicken and eggs.  Kind of a creepy title when you think about it.

You start by making sushi rice, which I will go into another time because it is quite a process in and of itself.  So to make the topping, you need the following:

• one small onion
• one portion chicken (I used turkey this time and it was still awesome)
• 3 eggs, beaten
• mirin
• soy sauce

Start by thinly slicing the onion and sauteing it in sesame oil until near caramelization.

Slice the chicken into small and thin slices and add to the pan, cook through.

Pour a couple of swishes of the mirin over the dish and a generous sloshing of soy sauce. Mix well then pour over the eggs.  Use a spatula to keep the eggs from sticking to the sides of the pan as they begin to firm up, mix them in a bit but not too much.

Serve over sushi rice and garnish with toasted sesame seeds and chopped scallions.

So good and so comforting, I could seriously just eat the glazed onions by themselves.

October 10, 2010 Alayna Recipes 2 comments