Mole Chili Portuguese Bean Soup Conglomeration

My first ever attempt to make chili from scratch wasn't very guided. I made it on the principles of spaghetti sauce, soup, and Indian food, coupled with all the lore I'd heard from the frequent chili cookoff contests in the media. I get the idea that chili elitists hate beans, and use only meat. Then there's the meatless vegetarian chili enthusiasts. I hear the latest chili contest winner made pumpkin chili, which sounds like something up my alley. Another cook swears by chocolate as the secret ingredient. Many believe you need to let the chili "rest" for a day or two in the fridge for perfect flavor. I made a combination of all these floating ideas through a very complex process spanning several days. It began with a trip to the store to get all the vegetables on sale. I used:

A whole head of garlic (10 cloves?)
1 yellow onion
2 ears fresh corn kernels
2 packets mushrooms (shiitake and that flatter flowery one...?)
cilantro (5 stems)
1 carrot
1 bag (about 4 cups?) dried kidney beans, soaked overnight
297yen worth of lean ground beef (maybe a cup?)
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 can whole stewed tomatoes
1 can Japanese spaghetti sauce base

I believe I added these spices at various intervals throughout the cooking process:
3 cubes bullion (chicken and beef)
2 cups chicken soup (from yesterday)
4 cups water
4+ tablespoon salt
4+ tablespoon maple syrup
1/2 cup (maybe more?) sugar
2 t. cumin
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (it scared me at first because it made the whole place smell like dessert)
whole red hot chili pepper
1 teaspoon red chili powder
2 teaspoon paprika

At least a teaspoon each of:
cinnamon
coriander
nutmeg
clove
allspice
parsley
black pepper
white pepper
tumeric

I honestly probably don't remember everything I put in the pot. My basic method:

1. sweat minced garlic in olive oil on lowest flame. Add diced onions. Add lots of cumin, paprika, less coriander, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, clove. Add meat. Brown meat on medium heat. Add tomato products. Add sugar. Cut carrots into small pieces, add. Add quartered mushrooms. Add beans. Add everything else, tasting as you go. Next time I will probably use a more even meat to bean ratio. It's harder to make things tasty when you have SO many beans and not so much meat, especially since chili kind of lacks the strong spice base of Indian food...I didn't want my chili to taste Indian. Still pretty tasty, but I did have to keep adding salty seasonings at the end like bullion and salt. I didn't know I would end up with so many beans! Add cilantro near the end.
   

Serve over white rice with plenty of grated cheese.


To concentrate the flavor, next time I will not add as much water or broth. I will use more tomato product, and also real tomatoes. as well as cannned corn, which I believe is sweeter than fresh corn, which really is best eaten as buttery corn on the cob. I might not add the chocolate in as great a quantity. I will use more onion if I'm going to make so much. Perhaps some bacon. Cooking is still a big experiment, and I need experience. I'm glad it came out tasting good, but it was missing something. That something was satisfied by a sprinkle of grated cheese (the only type of cheese they sell in Japan, I might add). With cheese, perfectly acceptable, even good enough to be eaten very slowly, savored, and enjoyed. Tried it out on a few friends tonight because I made so much. They ate it, so it must be all right!

Peanut Butter Banana Cream Cheese Honey Toast

Toast and slightly warm bananas. Half with chunky natural peanut butter and honey. Half with cream cheese and cinnamon sugar. Something I frequently enjoy variations on for breakfast and snacks. Also popular with small children.

Chicken Winter Vegetable Soup

Feeling a bit sick, so I made chicken soup with winter vegetables. Chicken Vegetable soup is really just about the easiest things you can make. I don't know why anyone would want a can of soup full of preservatives and lacking in vegetably nutrients when they can just throw a bunch of ingredients in a pot, add some salt, and serve. It's bound to make you much better than anything from a can with a shelf life of several years.

Seriously, it really is that easy.

Hot and steamy chicken winter-vegetable soup with chicken breast chunks, celery, kabocha (Japanese Pumpkin), carrot, fresh corn kernels, crimini mushrooms, garlic, onions, and cilantro.
I cut all the ingredients into small pieces, threw it in the pot, added enough water to cover everything, and let it simmer for a long time. You can add rice if you want to make juk/chuk/congee. Oh, and add some salt and whatever spices you want. I personally like miso, basil, and black pepper. I may also have added a bit of cinnamon, nutmeg, 2 bay leaves, and coriander. However, the natural goodness of the chicken and vegetables makes it unnecessary to add anything but salt if you're not in an herby mood.

Just after adding the mushrooms to the pot:
There is literally an entire wall of miso at every grocery store. I have no idea how to choose the "good" miso, but this one tastes pretty good, even if it doens't taste like your typical US restaurant dissolved-powder miso soup. Miso is very versatile and very healthy. Many Okinwans swear by it for breakfast. They also sometimes serve a spoonful of miso with rice for lunch. Add a scoop of it to stir-fries, or use some in your next marinade. Very versatile.I like this miso:

I was so excited to see fresh corn on the cob! This is the first time I've ever seen it on the shelves in Okinawa! At 100 yen/ear I got two. I like the way it's wrapped, with a peekaboo exposure so I can check the quality of the kernels on the ear I want to buy:





In conclusion, Join me--Let's boycott canned chicken soup as a cure for colds!

Japanese School Lunch PICTURES

Finally, some pictures of my much-talked-about obsession:　

brown sugar bread in plastic:


ポタト　コロケ　Potato Croquette:

白花まめ汁　White Bean Soup (surprisingly lacking white beans! lots of potatoes and carrots, though!):

春豆と　ほれんしょと　しいたけと　にんじんと　牛肉　サラダ　glass noodle, spinach, shiitake mushroom, carrot, and beef salad:

Cutting Garlic and Onions

Once you dice garlic this way, you never go back. It's much faster and more precise than doing the mad dance with the knife I used to do. It seriously takes less than a third of the time, and the diced pieces come out more uniform and organized than my old method. How do you do it?

With a sharp knife (I use my giant kitchen knife), slice the garlic, not cutting all the way through to the root end. I find it easier to hold the garlic on its side between my left thumb and forefinger, bringing the knife down between them to slice. Try to start with the "round" side (there is usually at least one flat surface you can lay the garlic down on).


Then, place the garlic down on one of its flat side. Make slices the other way, not going all the way through the root end, kind of like a checkerboard. I find this easiest while squeezing together the already sliced parts so that they don't fray when you slice the other way.

Then, dice, beginning from the end:

Voila! Beautiful pieces of diced garlic!

If you're picky or if you're not in a rush, you can cut the garlic in half first, then remove the green sprouty part by digging it out with your fingers or a knife. Proceed as before, using the sliced edge as the flat side.

This technique also works well with onion, but cut them in half and remove the rooty ends first. With onions, you can also eliminate step 1. Just go straight to making the cross-ways slices, since onions already have natural layers that act as your hatch-ways slices.

May your chopping and dicing be forever faster and more precise, henceforth!

Mister Donut

One of the few, if not the only, places in Nago one can buy a donut as Westerners know it. They have a high-traffic location at the entrance to Jusco, and they keep changing up their donuts. This month the featured donut appears to be the Easter Egg donut:

I haven't personally tried it, but I am personally not a fan of Mister Donut. There are much better desserts out there, if you ask me. The donuts look pretty, and they appear to be the donuts you grew up with, but they are usually too dry and cake-like for me. I guess I'm not a fan of dry, dense, donuts. They offer an assortment of 6 donut holes in a cute little box for 210yen. Dry. I've also tried their matcha-frosted donut that looks like a baby's teething ring. Mister Donut appears to be the premier donut source in Okinawa food courts and the like, so I've had it a number of times, but I've never been impressed. I'd rather go to a bakery and eat a pastry or something.

Despite my unenthusiastic opinion, quite a few of my American friends regularly patronize Mister Donut. They even have point cards, which allow you to win prizes in return for loyal patronage. Real food is also on the menu. They have ramen, won ton, and soup. I personally would not eat real food from a donut shop. The dishes I saw looked rather plain and uninteresting.

I do like it that they give you real glasses of water, with ice cubes. And if you eat your donut there, they will put it on a pretty white ceramic plate. And they'll come clear your dishes for you before you have a chance to get up and put it in the trash can yourself. Yeah Japanese service.

They also greet you from behind the racks of donuts with "Irrashaimasse, dozo!" Irrashaimasse is the standard welcome greeting from store workers, and dozo can be translated as, "please help yourself," "after you," "please go ahead of me," "here you are" (when serving a drink or giving someone something). I found it especially warming to hear, even if the donuts aren't stellar. Don't get me wrong, the product isn't bad. It just isn't good.

Overall: D
If you're a donut shop, mediocre donuts don't cut it

Thai-Inspired Omlette

I'm not entirely sure why this omlette is Thai-inspired, but I definitely beat in an enormous dollop of that sweet reddish-orange chili sauce they put on Thai BBQ Chicken. Doesn't everyone love that sauce? I've been so excited about it since I picked it up at JUSCO, and this is the first opportunity I've had to make it. So, omlette and soup for dinner!

It came out tasting much better than omlettes I've made in the past, possibly because I added a lot more flavor than my usual breakfast omlettes. Omlettes are usually one of those foods that I can eat a few bites of before getting turned off and stopping because it's not tasty enough. Fried egg by itself just isn't that interesting. This one was different. And very quick to make, especially considering that it normally takes me at least an hour to cook my dinners.


Thai-Inspired Omlette with Bacon and Bell Pepper:
Total time: 5 minutes
(serves 1)

half slice bacon (they sell it that way in Japan)
olive oil
2 eggs
thai sweet chili sauce
chinese soy sauce
dried basil flakes
1 mini green bell pepper, about 1/4 cup (again, Japan-sized!)
white pepper

1. Chop up half a slice of bacon and sautee in a bit of olive oil on low heat.
   
2. While bacon is cooking, beat two eggs with thai sweet chili sauce, chinese soy sauce, basil flakes, and white pepper. Chop up one small green or red sweet bell pepper.
   
3. Add chopped bell pepper to cooked bacon and olive oil. Cook about a minute. Pour egg mixture over all. Cook. Push back edges of omlette and tilt pan so that egg runs to exposed pan surface. Fold into a nice omlette shape when egg is mostly cooked. Serve.
   

I ate it with a bowl of Sweet Potato Carrot Ginger Miso soup I had saved in the freezer. Hit the spot.