J-Food Day 12- Lots of Dishes

Japanese Food Project Day 12 meant LOTS of dishes because I was slacking throughout the week for numerous reasons. Today I ended up making 5 dishes before 1pm- don't mess with this determined girl!

Dish 10. Veggie Curry from scratch (not cubes)- I was determined to make curry without the cubes sold in stores, so this was trial #1. I thought I had all the spices for the "make your own garam masala" mix but it turned out I didn't... but it was okay despite that! I put onions, potatoes, and carrots into my curry and thickened it with a roux (which I messed up a little so it didn't thicken as much). I also wanted to add some grated apple for added depth of flavor but I clearly didn't plan well enough to follow the recipe to a tee. I started the curry yesterday and finished it today- don't try to squeeze in cooking when you have to be somewhere for dinner that night! Overall, Jeremy had seconds so that must mean it wasn't too bland!

Dish 11. Baked Chicken Katsu- I know it is never going to taste as good as fried chicken katsu but it was worth a try. I needed to pre-season it a little better also since it would have tasted better if it were flavored more ahead of time. Since it went in for katsu curry though, it wasn't so bad! If we were to eat it alone, I would've made some tonkatsu sauce for it too, so either way, I guess it's not so bad! It wasn't as crispy as it would have been fried, so lesson learned!

Dish 12. Rolled Cabbage (dashi style)- The usual rolled cabbage I have made many times before is a tomato sauce type, which I didn't think was super Japanese so I tried the simple dashi type. The cabbage didn't stay together for the rolling as much as I had hoped, so there were 4 fully rolled cabbage pieces and the remainder were meatballs with cabbage pieces on top. For some reason there was a bit of a buttery flavor to it (there was no butter added), but it was simple and good. I still think I personally prefer the tomato version but again, this project is a learning experience!

Dish 13. Braised Hijiki- Hijiki is dried seaweed that needs to be soaked in water for about 15-20 minutes to return it to cooking shape. I added carrots, shiitake mushrooms, and a few sugar snap peas for color. I braised it in dashi, soy sauce, mirin, brown sugar, and sake until the liquid was practically gone. That would be the one dish today that I think turned out just as I hoped! My Mom's is still better, but for my first time, it was pretty close!

Dish 14. Mixed Hijiki Rice- I cheated a little by combining the hijiki I was braising and the hijiki I was going to mix into the rice, because the braising liquid was only slightly different. After making so many other dishes, I thought "not worth the minor change, combine it!" I cooked them together, then mixed it in to the freshly cooked white rice. This is the first time I made mixed rice, not to be confused with takikomi rice, because mixed rice is adding flavors after the rice is cooked. Takikomi rice cooks the flavor in during the rice cooking process. I would say this rice was fairly successful too!

I'm going to a 4 year old's birthday party tonight so pizza and cake doesn't allow for more Japanese cooking. I'm still well within reach of the 30 dishes in 30 days!