Umani – Japanese Stew Root Vegetables

Umani is Japanese stew root vegetables with chicken. I had it in a small Japanese family restaurant recently and I fell in love with it immediately. So I tried to imitate the dish at home. My family liked it very much.  

Traditionally the main ingredients used are radish, carrot, lotus roots and burdock. Since the portion will be too big for my small family so I didn't add burdock. I also replaced chicken with pork belly as I need to “clear stock” in my freezer. If I were to cook again I would prefer to use chicken wings. 

Here is my version of Umani.

Ingredients: (serve 4)

300g-500g chicken thigh/wings/ pork belly

1 radish

2 lotus roots

1-2 carrots (depends on size)

6 shiitake mushrooms (pre-soak in water)

+/- 2 cups bonito flavoured dashi stock*

*I used water + 1 sachet (4g) of bonito dashi powder bought from Daiso

Seasonings:

3 tbsp shoyu

3 tbsp mirin

2 tbsp sake

Sugar to taste

Method:

1. Cut all ingredients into big chunks.
2. Heat a deep pot with little oil; add meat and sauté till fat is released.
3. Add mushrooms, sauté till fragrant.
4. Add the rest of ingredients (see note), stir to mix and add stock to about the height of ingredients, add seasonings to taste.
5. Bring to a boil and simmer over medium low heat, stir occasionally, until all ingredients are fork tender and stock reduced by half or more.

Kitchen notes:

1. You may want to add the lotus roots first to cook for a while before adding other ingredients as it takes more time to cook.
2. Place a piece of baking paper/grease-proof paper on the ingredients helps to keep the moist and ingredients will be cooked faster.
3. Suggest cooking this in advance and let it sit in the pot to allow all ingredients especially the radish to fully absorb the stock. 

Blueberry Chocolate Mille Crêpe Cake with Chocolate Crisp Ball 蓝莓巧克力法式千层蛋糕

八月份可以说是家里的生日月，第一个星期是Angel的生日，第二个星期是姑姑的生日，第三个星期是Al堂弟的生日。

姑姑生日的Mille Crêpe Cake得到大家的喜爱，所以堂弟的生日家人也要求Mille Crêpe Cake。我用了同样的食谱，只是把内馅换了。

Blueberry Mille Crêpe Cake 蓝莓法式千层蛋糕

风靡一时的千层蛋糕到现在我才第一次尝试制作，因为做过的人都说这个蛋糕很花时间，要有罚站的心里准备，所以我被吓倒了。这是做给姑姑的生日蛋糕，很高兴第一次做就得到了好评，可能大家都没吃过正宗的吧？！

花了50分钟来煎饼皮，比我想像中好。没有功夫煎到很薄，只煎了19张。其实我觉得煎饼皮和组合饼皮还蛮好玩的。

夹层我只用了简单的打发鲜奶油和市售的蓝莓酱，还不错吃。

Steamed Egg with Cheese 乳酪蒸蛋

This is a dish I created for my son after he turned one. He likes it a lot. I didn't add any seasoning because the cheddar cheese is already salted and I also try to avoid adding seasoning when cooking for young kid.

近况 ~ 史上最软蛋糕？Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcake

大家好！感觉离开了好久，其实也差不多一个月而已。有没有人想念我? :P

之前去了趟曼谷小旅行算是冲了电。回来后就开始忙新工作，放下熟悉的领域，重新开始需要莫大的勇气，庆幸在自己还不算太老时给了自己另一个机会。离开comfort zone 像是一场赌局，是赢是输现在还不知道，但是至少踏出了第一步。