yuzu-ginger tropical-fruit crumble (gluten free)

No oven? Here's another microwaveable crumble that I put together recently. The heat from the doubled-up ginger and the tang of Japanese citrus were perfect for winter.

You'll need:

1/4 banana per person, chopped
1 can tropical fruit: papaya and pineapple
1 can mandarin oranges
3 small yuzu (Japanese citrus), juiced (I'd use the peel too)
1 1/2 c. almond flour
3 large pieces crystallized ginger, finely diced
1/4 c. flaked coconut, finely chopped
pinch of salt
1/2 t. powdered ginger
3 t. sugar
1 t. baking powder
1/4 c. butter or coconut oil, softened


Do this:

Drain the canned fruit (keeping a bit of the juices on hand) and add it with the bananas to each individual ramekin (or a larger baking dish if you're doing it all together). Add a wee bit of the canned juices to each bowl along with the yuzu juice and peel.

Mix the dry ingredients (including the coconut and crystallized ginger) in a large bowl and then work the butter in with your fingers until it's a crumbled, knobbly texture.

Cover each bowl with some of the crumble mixture, then cover and microwave each bowl about two minutes (depending on your microwave's power--mine is 700 watts).

This would be perfect with a rum sauce and/or whipped coconut cream. Eat with your favorite Japanese train spoon.

seasonal fun food bits and pieces

With no oven, I had to be creative with the frozen turkey I found (amazing that I could locate one!).

I didn't use a recipe, but I did add olive oil, butter, Himalayan pink rock salt, cracked pepper, garlic, onion powder, sage leaves, rosemary, chopped celery and leaves, and fresh bay leaves (about 4 or 5) from my friend's tree. I also added about a cup of Japanese sake. I cooked it while still partially frozen, so on high overnight and then low throughout the next day. I think I could've done it on low the whole time though.

Who knew a slow cooker could brown a bird? 

J-Bean had the wonderful idea to use some of my homemade cranberry sauce to make microwave mug muffins to go with our sausages for Christmas breakfast. Yum.

The extent of my Christmas "baking" this year: mix cream cheese, a tiny bit of powdered sugar, and rum-soaked and chopped candied orange peel, and stuff it in de-pitted dates. Top every other one with a walnut or sprinkle of nutmeg. I got rave reviews.

And you must have some popcorn while you're watching "White Christmas," right? I have a big beautiful tub of my favorite red miso from Okazaki, thanks to my friend Ayako. I had the brainwave to use it on popcorn, and found this recipe online after a quick search. Basically you melt butter, beer, and miso together and pour it on the popcorn (I did not add the extra spices). It was amazing!

taco rice

Taco rice, an Okinawan tradition. Japanese short-grained sticky rice on the bottom, then taco meat, and top with your choice of goodies. Eat in a bowl with a spoon.

I'm pretty sure I've posted this before, but we've gotten back into the habit of eating it weekly again. 

I season my meat with cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper, garlic, onion, and a little bit of Worcestershire sauce.

wintry vegetafull-bacon soup

Warming, full of herbs, and riddled with bacon. What more could you ask for on a snowy day after a bout of shoveling?

These are not specific amounts--just enjoy playing in the kitchen! 

You'll need:

• cooking sake
• bouillon or stock
• rosemary
• thyme
• sage
• bacon
• turnips
• red peppers (the sweet ones, like bell peppers)
• potatoes
• kabocha (or regular pumpkin would work too)
• celery stalks + leaves
• leeks
• carrots
• salt and pepper
• olive oil 
• garlic cloves 
• milk (I use soy because I don't have access to almond, but you can use dairy of course)

Do this:

Chop the veggies and bacon as small as you have time for--the smaller they are, the quicker they cook. Add them to a stock pot and sprinkle with olive oil. Saute a few minutes if you have time, or if you don't, go ahead and cover them with stock (or water + sake + bouillon powder or cubes) and add the rest of the ingredients. I would only put in enough liquid to just cover everything because you want this thick and creamy.

Bring to a boil and cook till everything is tender. I use an immersion blender to blend it all right in the pot, but you can use a regular blender if you have it.

Lastly, add some milk to taste.

Rx: Keep a jar of this handy and enjoy whenever you need an elixir of heat in your system.

honey, they're yuzu carrots!

Mmm, mmm, zingy carrots! This is not a specific recipe, but it's officially now one of our favorites. A friend gave me some organic yuzu (a kind of Asian citrus) that her friend grew, and I needed to use them up quickly. I just boiled boiled some carrots in plain unsalted water, drained them, and then tossed in a bit of butter, honey, and freshly squeezed yuzu juice.

I served them with curry chicken in coconut sauce, and we all ended up dumping the rest of the carrot juices over our chicken dish. No waste! And lots of yum.

kabocha-yuzu soup

All gone!

 You can't argue with an empty bowl. Or multiple empty bowls. 

(And do you like our 100-yen store tissue box cover? If you live in Japan, it's almost a requirement. Now that I've acquired one this time around, I feel as if my homemaking is complete.)

You could Westernize this by substituting regular pumpkin and lemon, lime, or orange juice (or a combo) instead of yuzu and leaving out the daikon. I wouldn't replace it with any other kind of radish. Click the link below for the full recipe. I served this with homemade hamburgers (no buns) with chopped green onion, garlic, almond flour, soy sauce, pepper, and cooking sake, cooked and topped with a red miso sauce and grated daikon radish.

You'll need: 

• 1 whole kabocha (Japanese pumpkin), chopped and deseeded, but not peeled
• 2 leeks, white and green parts, thinly sliced
• 2-inch piece of daikon radish, peeled and chopped
• 6 cloves garlic
• olive oil
• 1 t. dried thyme
• 1 fresh bay leaf
• 3 sage leaves
• about 1 t. rosemary leaves
• 5 c. water
• about 1 t. bouillon paste (or a couple of stock cubes if you have them)
• salt and pepper to taste
• milk of your choice (we use soy in Japan because we can't get almond)
• 1 yuzu (Japanese citrus), juiced 

Do this:

Saute the veggies in olive oil in a big stockpot for a few minutes (no need to soften completely), then add the water, herbs, salt and pepper, and bouillon paste. Simmer till everything is tender, then blend with an immersion blender or a regular one. Add in enough milk to make it creamier (I used about a cup or so), and make sure it's warmed through. For some final je ne sais quois, stir in the yuzu juice and taste for seasonings.

The creaminess of the kabocha, the hit of garlic, and the very Japanese citrus flavor of the yuzu work great together.

Itadakimasu!

gluten-free microwave berry crumble

Haven't got an oven? Hey, we're in the same boat! I'm not actually a fan of the microwave, but you do what you have to do to have a warm, berryfull dessert on a cool fall day (this crumble followed a really yummy veggie, ham, and sausage soup, to be posted soon).

I made these in four individual mugs, but ramekins or a bigger glass pan would be fine, too, if you wanted to make one dish to ladle from.

You'll need:

• frozen blueberries and raspberries, about 1/2 cup per person
• lemon juice and brown sugar for sprinkling
• 1 1/2 cups almond flour
• 1/2 cup chopped dried coconut 
• 1/4 cup chopped cashews
• 1/4 cup chopped almonds
• 2 large pieces of crystallized ginger, diced
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 4 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (omit if you have salted butter or nuts)
• 4 tablespoons melted butter or coconut oil
• honey for drizzling (if your crumble topping ends up being a bit too salty like mine was) 

Do this:

Plop your frozen berries in the container(s) and sprinkle with lemon juice and sugar (mix in). In a separate mixing bowl, stir the almond flour, coconut, nuts, crystallized ginger, spices, brown sugar, and salt (if using) together.

Stir the melted butter into the dry mix and mash together with your fingers until it forms a crumble. This will make about 1/2 cup of topping for each mug or bowl. Spoon the crumble over each container and drizzle with a little honey if desired.

My microwave is 700 watts, about half the power of a normal American unit, so please check your manual and adjust the cooking time as needed. Each of these cups (and don't forget to cover with a paper towel or similar) took about 90 seconds. If you have an American microwave, I would try for half that time and see how it goes.

The topping ended up happily nutty and crunchy, and our tummies didn't complain either. Tart berries and a granola-like topping! I've already been asked to make this again, and I won't say no.

yuzu green beans

A lovely neighbor of ours shared the organic yuzu (Japanese citrus) and tougarashi (a kind of red chilli pepper) love. Aren't they gorgeous?

As a last-minute veggie side dish this evening, I grabbed some humble frozen green beans, sauteed them in olive oil, sprinkled on some chunky sea salt and pepper, and then finely grated some yuzu peel over all. It was as out of this world as the fireball meteor that flew over Japan yesterday!

We might not ever see a meteor like that in real life, but I'm definitely making this dish again.

imo rice

Japanese (and Munday) autumnal comfort food: freshly harvested rice (shinmai) from a friend's field cooked with just-pulled sweet potatoes.

what's for dinner

photo credit: Stephen Munday

What's cookin' in Mamatouille's kitchen? 

• steamed carrots with sea salt
• shinmai (newly harvested rice from our friends' fields) cooked in the rice cooker with chopped sweet potatoes (from another friend's garden): to turn it into the round shape you see above, just wet a bowl with water, pack the rice in, then turn it upside down (I got the idea of the sweet potatoes with rice from a restaurant lunch date we had the other day). I sprinkled a bit of sea salt on top.
• sushi-grade tuna that I bought on sale and cooked in the frying pan with olive oil--topped with salt, pepper, garlic, lemon juice, and parsley (the topping was sauteed myoga (related to ginger, but a totally different taste) and chopped green onion)
• sauteed sliced eringi mushrooms and green beans (olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic)

curried kabocha-sweet-potato salad

Picnicking? We were, with some lovely Japanese friends and some college students too. It was a gorgeous day, perfect autumn weather, and I was trying to decide what to take to share.

Here's something I kitchen-conjured.

You'll need:

• 1 large cooked and peeled sweet potato, cut in chunks
• 1/4 cooked, de-seeded, and chopped medium-sized kabocha (Japanese pumpkin; no need to peel)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries, rehydrated with boiled water
• 1/4 cup Japanese mayo (or whatever you've got) 
• 3 T. plain yogurt
• 1 T. milk (I used soy)
• 2 t. sugar
• 3/4 t. curry powder
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/2 t. garam masala
• 1/4 t. powdered ginger

Do this:

Mix it all together and chill. That's it.

Then eat (preferably outdoors with chopsticks and grilled meats and veggies).

Verdict? I took two bowls of it and it went like lightning. I managed to sneak in a few bites and absolutely loved it. Sweet and creamy from the potatoes and kabocha, a bit sour from the cranberries, and perfect fall spiciness from the curry and garam masala.

veg-full sloppy joes

Sweet potatoes in Japan are purple on the outside, pale yellow on the inside, and great for topping with sloppy joe mix!

Here's a Mamatouille original. (Feeds six easily.)

You'll need:

• sweet potatoes, cooked (I don't have an oven so I use my microwave)
• salt and pepper to taste, for the sweet potatoes
• butter, for the sweet potatoes
• 700 g ground beef
• 1 t. salt
• 1/4 t. pepper
• 1/4 c. ketchup
• 3/4 t. Japanese ground spicy mustard
• 1 1/2 t. sugar
• 3 T. apple cider vinegar
• 3 T. tomato paste
• 1 bay leaf, torn in half
• olive oil
• a puree (done in the food processor) of 1/4 sweet pepper (yellow, red, green, or orange), 2 celery sticks, 1/8 purple cabbage, 4 cloves garlic, 1/2 - 1 onion, 1 carrot

Do this:

Saute the veggie puree in olive oil till almost soft, add the ground beef and stir and cook till no longer pink. Add the rest of the ingredients, plus a bit of water if needed to make it saucy.

Serve over sweet potatoes that have been doctored with butter, salt, and pepper, and enjoy with the familytouille.

no-bake chocolate truffle cake and the green-smoothie antidote

If you want to be chocolate-happy, but you don't have an oven, what do you do? Ask a friend (thanks, Sarah!) for ideas, and make the first recipe that's suggested to you: no-bake chocolate truffle cake.

And if you want a green smoothie later, all you do is grab a blender and toss in: 2 bananas, some pineapple, a carrot, fresh ginger, spinach, 1/2 avocado, water, and okara. I love that pineapple-ginger flavor.

cut your green-onion time in half

Cut your green-onion cutting time in half while cutting your green onions.

Why didn't I think of this before? Just fold them in half!

curried deviled eggs

Piping! You've got to try it! I'm not sure I'd ever done it before for deviled eggs, but it was a heck-of-a-lot-of fun. And when the eggs are a yummy recipe from a special Seattle-neighbor-friend, it's even better. (She adapted it from a Food Network recipe.)

You'll need:

• 12 large eggs, boiled and cold
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder (taste and then add more if needed)

Do this:

I boil my eggs with a boiled egg timer till hard (and put plenty of salt and vinegar in the water to help them peel easier), then add ice cubes to the water when finished. I then peel under running water, and they usually come out nicely. (I also use a trick from an American fiction author, Debbie Macomber: when you start to peel the eggs, first tap the widest end where there's a bubble underneath the shell, and it makes it easier.)

Put the peeled eggs in the fridge a few hours or overnight.

After the little babies are chilled, cut them in half lengthwise and mash the yolks with the rest of the ingredients listed. Did I mention piping is a hoot? I also sprinkled a bit of dried parsley on the ones above for a July 4th/friend's birthday party celebration.

Enjoy the curry kick!

anything-goes hamburger fried rice + gingery green smoothie

It's lunchtime! What are you gonna make? Gather all your leftovers from the fridge, cook some rice, grab a frying pan, and you've got yourself a mean fried rice.

Plus a green smoothie: one apple, two bananas, grated ginger, 1/2 lemon, a bit of veggie-fruit juice, okara (soy pulp leftover after making tofu, or you could just use tofu), 1/2 avocado, 1/2 zucchini, spinach, and a bit of water.

For the fried rice, you'll need (or actually, you'll need whatever is leftover in your house):

• cooked rice
• chopped ham
• sliced pork, chopped small
• leftover hamburger, chopped tiny
• leftover chopped cooked carrot and broccoli
• a puree of okara (soy pulp) or regular hard or soft tofu, onion, garlic, and celery (I do this in the food processor)
• 4 eggs, beaten
• salt and pepper
• sesame oil
• tomatoes for garnish

Do this:

Heat some sesame oil in a frying pan, add the rice, ham, pork, hamburger, cooked veggies, and the okara puree. Stir and cook till a little bit crispy, then add your eggs and salt and pepper. Fry until the eggs are cooked, then serve with tomatoes and a gingery green smoothie. Eat it in a bowl with a spoon like Japanese folks would do.

no-cooking-required tropical fruit and ginger compote

I was in a hurry for an easy-to-assemble dessert to end a shrimp curry meal, and quickly wrote "frozen mango" and "ice cream" on my grocery list. Well, something steered me down the baking aisle at Aeon, my local Japanese grocery store, and the baking aisle just happens to have canned fruit on it as well.

A can of pineapple and papaya jumped into my cart, and the rest is yummy-tummy history.

You'll need:

• one 425 g/15 oz. can of pineapple and papaya (or other tropical fruit) in light syrup
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
• one blender

Do this:

Pop the top of the can (I'm not sure why I even brought a can opener with us to Japan--all the lids are poppable with that little convenient ring), dump the contents (including the syrup) into the blender with the lemon juice and ginger. I have a Blendtec, so I just used the sauce setting.

Makes 1 1/2 cups compote.

I can't decide whether I liked this better over chocolate or vanilla ice cream, so I'm going to have to do some more taste tests to really nail it down. 

UPDATE: I've made this again and added 4 t. fresh lemon juice and 1 t. ginger. Much better. Zingier.

dairy-free sugar-free easter cranberry rice pudding

This post (and the kitchen-dabbling that brought it forth) is a welcome relief from planning, packing, and organizing (yet another) international move. This time we're bound for Kanazawa, Japan, on the Japan Sea western side of the country. (Hello, friendly North Korea!)

I loosely based the pud on this recipe from Whole Foods. Feel free to make it your own as well!

(By the way, happy Jesus-Resurrection Sunday!)

You'll need:

• 1 cup long-grain white rice
• 3 cups unsweetened almond milk 
• pinch of sea salt
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• a few shakes of nutmeg
• 7 drops stevia
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries 
• a few dabs of Bonne Maman four fruits preserves, or jam of choice

Do this:

Over medium-high heat, stir the rice, milk, salt, and cinnamon sticks till bubbling. Turn down to simmer (my rice took about 13 minutes), and halfway through the cooking time, add the nutmeg, stevia, vanilla, and cranberries.

When it's nice and softened and the milk has cooked down quite a bit, take it off the heat, serve in your favorite Denby teacups, and top with some jam.

Enjoy with your favorite peeps, and be prepared for those peeps to ask for several more helpings.

paleo salmon cakes

I've been riffing on salmon cakes for yonks and I've finally hit upon a version that's Paleo, gluten free, and dairy free. And boy, it's yum. All four of us had happy mouths and tummies.

You'll need:

• 2 16-ounce cans wildcaught salmon (I mash it up with my fingers and crush the bones - great calcium!)
• 1 onion, minced
• 1 stalk celery, minced
• 1/4 red pepper, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 eggs, beaten
• enough sifted coconut flour for binding, about 1/4 to 1/2 cup
• Chinese mustard powder, to taste
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 4 T. mayo (suggested on can of salmon)
• 4 t. lemon juice (suggested on can of salmon)
• plenty of coconut oil

Do this:

Saute your onion, celery, and red pepper in coconut oil till almost tender, then add garlic and finish browning. Watch that the garlic doesn't burn.

In a big honking bowl, combine the salmon, eggs, sauteed veggies, coconut flour, Chinese mustard powder, salt, pepper, mayo, and lemon juice. Form into patties and brown on each side in coconut oil. Drain on paper towels and serve with your favorite homemade coleslaw.

Devour. I know you won't be shy.

And I'm not even fishing for compliments.

balsamic beef stew

Come closer. Closer. A leetle too close! OK, now can you see the bed of mashed cauliflower under the stew? It's a soft heavenly pillow for this sweet-savory balsamicky concoction. Mmmmm.

  
I make beef stew all the time (and I never make it the same way twice). My slow cooker is my friend, and beef stew just works for me--whatever the season. Summer stew? No problem.

In fact, one of our little beans saw me putting the ingredients in this morning and asked if we could have something different--my response is that it was going to be different! With the addition of two new ingredients (balsamic vinegar and butternut squash), it did end up tasting entirely new. It was gorgeous, especially served on pureed cauliflower.

For the cauliflower mash, you'll need:

• one head of cauliflower, chopped into small florets, and steamed
• a few pats of butter, plus salt and pepper, dried parsley, onion and garlic powder, and a few sprinkles of Chinese mustard powder

Do this:

Just take the steamed cauli and toss it into a food processor with the other ingredients. Pulse till smooth and lustrous. Use this as a bed in the bottom of the bowl to spoon your beef stew over.

For the beef stew, you'll need:

• 1 pound (about 450 g) grassfed stewing beef
• 1 sprig rosemary, leaves pulled off the stem and finely chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• a few shakes Chinese spicy mustard powder 
• salt and pepper 
• a few sprinkles onion and garlic powder
• 2 onions, chopped into segments
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
• 2 small sweet peppers, chopped into strips (I used one orange and one red)
• several carrots, peeled and chopped
• 4 small white potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped bite sized
• 1 small can (6 oz. or 170 g) of tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon of beef bouillon paste (or you could use a couple of cubes)
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil 

Do this:

Put all the ingredients into the slow cooker except for the water, tomato paste, and bouillon paste. Whisk those last three ingredients together and pour over the rest in the slow cooker. Stir all ingredients well. I set mine for 5.5 hours on high, and it was perfect.

Here's a tip for you: To clean your slow-cooker insert, pour hot water and baking soda in, let it set for awhile, then wash as usual. Baking soda's great for zapping those stuck-on bits. 

ground beef and broccolified quinoa curry

Let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. {Name that film.}

Let's just eat!

A Mamatouille original...

You'll need:

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa, any color (rice would work here, too)
• olive oil
• one head of broccoli, cut into tiny deciduous-treelike florets
• kosher salt
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 peeled and grated carrots
• pinch of saffron threads
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• black peppercorns, for grating
• 2 t. curry powder
• 1 t. powdered cumin
• 1 t. powdered coriander
• 1/2 t. onion powder (or 1/2 chopped onion--if you use chopped onion, add in with the ground beef and garlic at the beginning of browning in the frying pan)
• sprinkle of Saigon cinnamon (or regular cinnamon)
• 1 t. turmeric
• sprinkle of spicy Chinese mustard powder
• 1 lb. ground beef
• juice of 1/2 lemon

Do this:

Tell your rumblin' tum to simmer down, 'cause you're gonna love the outcome!

Toss your broccoli with some olive oil and roast in a 400-degree oven until soft and fox-colored (as they say in Japanese), about 20-25 minutes. Sprinkle some kosher salt over all.

Meanwhile, rinse your quinoa in a mesh strainer until it stops foamin' (at the mouth), then scrape into a pot on the stove and add two cups of water. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer about fifteen minutes, till soft.

As the quinoa and broccoli are doing their thang, brown the ground beef and minced garlic in a frying pan, then add the grated carrots till softened up a bit.

Throw in a pinch of saffron and crumble in a chicken bouillon cube. Continue stirring, and then add freshly grated pepper, curry powder, cumin, coriander, onion powder, a sprinkle of cinnamon (Saigon has a lovely flavor), turmeric, and a sprinkle of Chinese mustard powder. Simmer a few minutes.

Turn the beef mixture down to low, add the broccoli and quinoa, and squeeze the juice of half a lemon over all. Stir, serve in bowls with spoons and little colorful organic heirloom maters.

Generously serves four.

Use your broccoli-roasting oven heat for a good cause: We had a Paleo mixed-berry crumble for dessert. Mmmm, mmmm, deeeeeeeeelish.

kimchi-rockin' breakfast

Come and listen to a story about a breakfast named Eggs...

Poor Eggs was lonely--he never liked to be solitary. So he went to his mama and asked her to help him find some friends.

This is her answer.

Eggs, you'll need:

• A dollop of bacon fat
• 2 of your kind
• A slice of ham
• Organic dandelion greens, washed and torn into small pieces
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• Kimchi 

Do this:

Grab your favorite frying pan, heat her up, melt some bacon fat, and crack yourself and another Egg in. Mama says break the yolks, then put half a piece of ham on top of each egg plus some dandelion greens. Put the lid on and partay! Wait till the Eggs set a bit, then flip the Eggs, ham, and greens. Season and then consume with kimchi.

It was a friend-match made in heaven, and Eggs was so ecstatic about the kimchi that he wrote a little haiku about it:

Crimson, white, and green:
The food flag of Korea
waves joy in my tum!