Meat and potatoes: nikujaga

Written by: adekun on 27 August, 2008 9:33 pm - Filed under: japanese — 3 Comments »

Nikujaga or nikujyaga is a typical Japanese comfort food. Even the preparation is typical in that it is opposite to the usual strict conventions.

Nikujaga was invented by chefs of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 19th Century. It was inspired by beef stews served in the British Royal Navy which Japanese naval legend Tōgō Heihachirō encountered while studying naval science in Portsmouth, England. Upon his return to Japan, he commissioned a Japanese version of the dish for use in the Japanese Navy because of its nutritional value.
Source: Wikipedia The link to the recipe at the bottom is worth checking.

On asking a couple of people what goes in they said “just guess”. Pressing them further got differing answers. It’s up to personal taste and may need some perseverance. The amounts below should cover six people. (more…)

Tags: onions, potatoes, recipes

Garden imp

Written by: adekun on 11 August, 2008 9:26 pm - Filed under: blog — 3 Comments »

I’ve been meaning to post some photos of Kento taken before the summer vegetables went in. He’s quite adept at sticking on a pair of shoes and going for an amble.

We are now down to the last bunch of white onions. If they were bigger we could have looked forward to onion soup. Below, Kento managed to pull a couple of the tiniest by himself - and a smile.

Tags: garden, kento, onions

Okayish onions

Written by: adekun on 30 June, 2008 6:53 am - Filed under: blog — 1 Comment »

Over the past month the small and sometimes misshapen onions have been harvested. Early on, those that had bolted were taken a used in curries and soup. There were quite a few of these; I think the cold may have stressed them. Kento heaved several out in the manner rather like in the story of the Giant Turnip. A little out of character Ritsue, spent the majority of two days weeding. With the onions gone the garden had the appearance of a chemist’s dimple tray. I practised tying a few red onions up, leaving me with purple fingers and what looked like a bunch of giant grapes.

Tags: garden, kento, onions, weeds

Off Down The Lot

Written by: adekun on 9 June, 2007 12:14 am - Filed under: blog — No Comments »

We are about to leave to go south to the Lot region. Yesterday remained cloudy, but it did warm up considerably. The cows wandered up the adjoining field to seek shelter under the trees.

Although there will be another short hiatus, I received an update from Miho this morning. The rainy season has reached the island of Kyushu, having travelled north from Okinawa. I imagine this to take another week or two to reach the plot. The main reason for the message was to mention that the garlic and the rest of the onions had harvested!

Tags: france, garden, garlic, onions, travel