Do you want to know the secret to our last-minute gourmet lunch in Seattle I covered in last two posts?

1. Pre-prep some versatile base, and keep it in fridge or freezer.
2. Build a efficient and versatile pantry that’s easy to mix and match to whip up different dishes.

I talked about Stuffed Tomatoes last time, so let’s talk about the rest — Bruschetta with Olive Tapenade and Farmer’s Market Salad with chickpeas.

The Olive Tapenade we used was from Trader Joe’s, but you can easily make it.  Great use of leftover olives from a jar.  If you want to know how to make it, click here. It’s packed with umami, boosts  flavor of many things, such as pasta, sauce, salad dressing, on top of meat, fish, etc etc.

Another big time-saving is that we had all the French bread pre-sliced thin, and toasted, again ready to go.  This “Ready to Go” concept is pretty powerful.  When you do have things in this state, you use them.  When you don’t, you don’t, and end up wasting it.

By just reading it, you’d think “Of course I know that, Mari!”  But when you actually pre-prep some extra, keep in the fridge (or freezer), and experience how convenient they are, you’ll really KNOW what I mean and get hooked with this method.  It’s because when our mind sees it as work we have to do, it convince us “Gosh, too much work!  I don’t wanna do this.”  However, when it’s already done, it will tell us “Oh, look!  It’s already done for me, ready to be used. I should use it!”  Shall I call it the “Convenience Factor”?

When there are more baguette rounds than you can use in a few days, they can even go in the freezer to extend their shelf life and be ready to be used for last minute appetizers and lunch.  With these, and pre-caramelized onion in the freezer, you can make a beautiful French Onion soup, just like those you have in Paris in 1o minutes, instead of hours! Thanks to this trick, I can make it throughout the year, when it’s freezing in the middle of the summer in the Bay Area.

Oh yes, the farmer’s market salad.  All you need are assortment of chopped vegetables, a can of chickpeas, and lettuce.  We used cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots, just because we had them, but it could be anything you have in the fridge.  Cherry tomatoes and baby carrots require virtually no chopping.  If you are short with time, always keep them instead of regular tomatoes and carrots.

These pre-cut cucumbers from the day before also cut our prep time.  Here’s the Kitchen Wizard Tip.  Regular American cucumber have very thick, waxy skin, and huge seeds, so both pretty much need to be removed — meaning extra time prepping.  If you use English cucumber, or better yet, Japanese or Persian cucumbers which has thinner skins and smaller seeds, you can save that time and effort.  They also have lower water content, so they seem to last a bit longer, especially after they are sliced. Because of this, you never see a regular, American cukies in my fridge.

A can of chickpeas is very handy.  All you have to do is open a can and drain.  They add good fiber and protein, and delicious. Good in salads, soups, curry…  Yes, with it, you can make hummus at home!  (I’ll post a recipe soon.)

As you see, what kind of produce you use often determine how much prep you’d end up with.  So when you go shopping, think from efficiency and versatility stand-point, and select accordingly. You’ll be glad you did.  As a rule of thumb, think small and thin when you want to save time, because they require in no (or less) chopping and shorter cooking time.  Keep these versatile produce (and of course, pre-prepped items) in your fridge, so that you can make many different things in very short notice.

For more pantry tips, check out this post.

What do produce do you keep in your fridge that save you time and effort?  Share your favorite with the world!

Cooking and eating world cuisine is fun, but when it comes to shopping for ethnic ingredients for the first time, it could be intimidating.

If you live in a large cosmopolitan area like San Francisco, and have access to many ethnic markets, there are so many varieties and brands, you have no clue which one to pick — just like in this photo!  If you live in a small town, you don’t even know where to get these things.

When I first came to the US from Tokyo over 20 years ago, to East Lansing, MI, I was faced with the latter problem. I remember I could get soy sauce, but that was about it. There were no ethnic markets, let alone Japanese markets, and the choices at supermarkets were limited in the Midwestern college town at that time. So I had to deal with substitutes, or, to be honest, I didn’t cook much Japanese food at that time.

Now it’s a different world. Thanks to internet, you can order ethnic ingredients online. And yes, wherever you live, you are now faced with this intimidation and overwhelm of “Which brand shall I buy?”

What do you do?

You ask for recommendations from those of us who knows these ingredients inside out.

Many of you have asked me what brand of ingredients I buy and where, so I put a list together on Amazon, to make things easier for even those of you who don’t have access to ethnic markets. They are mainly Japanese products for obvious reasons. For non-Japanese ingredients, I’ve asked the experts, and I tried and compared myself.

Disclaimer: Some listed are my favorite brands I’m familiar and use almost everyday, some are not, because not all of the brands I like are available online, so I chose whatever closest to what I’ve been using, based on it’s description. In that case, my criteria for choosing is if we had Amazon 22 years ago when I was in Michigan, which ones I would choose. My rule of thumb is, just try something that sounds good, in the smallest size, and see if I like it. If you do like it, you can continue buying the same one, maybe in a larger size. If not, you know what to do. : )

Aji-mirin is a good example. I normally DO NOT recommend Aji-mirin, because it’s not real mirin (sweet rice wine). Alcohol contents are much lower, if there’s any, and they have a lot of additives. But when the other alternative on Amazon is over $20 per bottle or “on the catalog, but not available now”, or a non-Japanese product that I have no clue about, I gotta go with what I know. Yes, I’ve used aji-mirin and it’s OK. Many people in Japan even use it.

Another example is wakame and nori. These are things I’d rather buy at the store, because you cannot see the quality on line, and it varies. But again, if you don’t live close to these stores, you either wait till you visit these market when you travel, or take a chance.

For some reason, on Amazon, they list the same products more than once, sometime in different quantities, ratings and prices. So shop around for the best price and quantity.

What are your favorite ingredients? Please write a short review, and I will create a “Readers Recommended” list.

Don’t forget to share your favorites with us!

Happy New Year!

Is “healthy eating” one of your new year’s resolutions?

Would you like to learn how to cook healthy, tasty meals at home with half the effort and time, and with twice as much variety?

As a New Year gift to my loyal readers, I’d love to invite you to my class ”The Fastest Path to Healthy & Exciting Home-cooked Meals!” next Saturday, January 16 at Oakland Public Library for free!  I will teach you my unique system of how to make a variety of healthy meals at home easier and faster while having fun!  

In this class, you’ll learn the first, most critical step — how to keep an efficient, flexible pantry.  After completing this step, you will be able to whip up lots of dishes and end your dinner dilemmas forever!

1. What to keep on hand & what to shop for
2. How to mix and match ingredients for maximum flexibility and efficiency
3. Demo of several easy dishes – with samples for tasting!

• When?:  January 16 (Saturday), 2010   From 11:30am to12:30pm                  
  • Optional free trip to Trader Joes (12:30 – 1:30pm) to help you get a head start
• Where?: Oakland Public Library Lakeview Branch: 550 El Embarcadero, Oakland, CA 94610    510-238-7344     
  • Click here for Map & Directions
• Questions?:  Leave me a comment!

This event is popular and expected to sell out!  Come early – seats are first come, first served (or bring a portable chair just in case).  The class starts promptly at 11:30am.

*Space is limited to first 40! Save your spot NOW and get FREE printable shopping list by signing up from Class Tab on top.

* Parking: If possible, carpool or take public transportation.  Parking could be challenging. There are a parking under 580 (right next to the farmer’s market), metered parking along main streets such as Grand, Lake Shore etc., and free street parking on side streets.

 Look forward to seeing you in person next Saturday!

It’s been a pain to be sick for over three weeks, but I got something unexpected as a gift.

We now have another sous-Kitchen Wizard at our house.

OK, he’s learning, so it’s not the same, but given that he never really cooked much for the 11 1/2 years we’ve been together, he’s far exceeded my expectations.  (OK, he wants me to add that he occasionally grills and makes crepes on weekends, and pasta with pre-made tomato sauce when I’m not around. Oh, and a very nice salmon and lentil dish when I had flu 10 years ago.)

With minimum instruction and no specific recipes, he made the following:

• Various pasta dishes (one with cauliflower, two with chicken and lamb sausages & veggies, one with seafood & veggies)
• Potato with seafood & veggie sauce
• Grated lotus root  & chicken burger (my favorite!)
• Carrot soup
• Sausage, potatoes and brussel sprouts (grilled)
• Brussels sprouts salad
• Brussels sprouts & sausage soup
• Sautéed cauliflower
• Cauliflower pasta
• Japanese style Tofu scramble with tuna
• Chicken with orange sauce
• Swordfish Kebab
• Chinese style seafood and veggie dish
• Braised lettuce
• Tuna and avocado rice bowl
• Spanish Omelet

And probably a few more I’ve forgotten.  He’s made everything from scratch, without relying on pre-made things. (We don’t have these in our house any more.)  Of course, he had a choice to go out shopping and do so, but he didn’t. I was very proud of him. No take-outs either.

Is he a genius? He’d want me to say yes, but but in reality, no, and he only had minimum cooking skills to start with. (Now definitely medium cooking skills).  I realized when you give minimum yet flexible instructions, rather than a specific recipe, keep a well stocked pantry, and give people freedom to play, anyone can cook far beyond their imagination.

Before this, as far as I know, he didn’t cook much.  When I’m out, I felt I had to make sure that he’d have things to eat. So when I got really sick with 104F fever and entered my version of Survivor Pneumonia, which had never happened in the past, I was worried that we may have no dinners. I was too weak to cook, and I didn’t even have any appetite.

On the first night, he kept asking “what shall we cook?” and I kept telling him, “I don’t know. I’m not even hungry”.  The only thing I managed to do was 1) ask him what we had in the fridge, and 2) give him some suggestions about what he could make, and based on what he said he’d want to cook, 3) I gave him a very basic instructions and guidelines, and off he went.

It probably was helpful that I had no energy or appetite to visit the kitchen to check how he was doing.

Based on this, this is what I learned.

• With minimum direction, anyone can cook.
• Use all 5 senses, especially tasting throughout the process. Stay in the kitchen, and pay attention to what’s going on.
• A well-stocked pantry is the key – you can make various dishes depending on the mood and time available for cooking.
• Sometimes, all one needs is to change the frame work. When I had a craving for pureed soup, he thought it would be way too difficult and time consuming. When I gave him basic directions, he used his creative license, and made us a nice carrot soup, and concluded that it was quite easy.
• Most important ingredient is the freedom to play, fail and subsequently succeed.

Afraid of criticism from your family? (or worse yet, yourself?)

Make sure there’s no food police allowed in your home-kitchen. Both the cook and the diners need to have adjusted expectations. You won’t be serving your dinner for $20 per plate, so if it doesn’t turn out spectacularly, no big deal. It’s only food! Focus on what went well, and if there is an area for improvement, write it down in your Kitchen Journal, so that next time, you won’t make the same mistake.

This is also a good practice for anything you do in life.  Change the way you see your accomplishments – 1. what went well, 2, what would make this even better, and how you can do that.  

Praise: Give praise to the chef. Even if you find some imperfections, praise what’s good about the dish.  Also the fact she or he took time to make that for you.  That alone is worth the praise.

Nothing says “I love you” like home-cooked food made with love.   That means no thinking about work, or fights with your family, or other concerns.  People can actually taste these problems.

Cooking time can be very therapeutic after a busy day at work, if you learn how to be present and use it as a time to be creative and have fun.

Just like driving, regular practice makes it perfect. My husband was forced to cook everyday for a few weeks. Once the first week was over, he was a lot more confident cook. And if he can do that, anyone can.

So the silver lining of my survivor pneumonia episode: 1. We have another cook in the house. (I don’t have to worry about his dinner when I’m not around!  Woo hoo!) 2. My husband found cooking is fun and easy.  3. We have another hobby which we can share. 4. Last but not least I now have a newfound respect for my husband.

Many people ask me what they need to cook Japanese food successfully at home.

Here’s the secret. If you want to cook Japanese food, you may want to invest in a few key Japanese seasonings. Don’t worry, they are not that expensive – and you can use them for other kinds of food, and they last for a while. Most large supermarkets in major cosmopolitan areas have these things. If not, try an Asian market near your house. They are most likely to have them for a cheaper price and often more variety.

• Soy Sauce: Japanese kind is preferred. Kikkoman is readily available in most supermarkets.
• Mirin: Sweet cooking wine, also called Hon-Mirin (hon means “authentic” or “real”). Aji-Mirin are not real mirin, OK as a substitute, but if there are both, get the real one.
• Sake: Japanese rice wine. Yes, similar to the one you drink at Sushi restaurant, but for cooking, the left over and/or cheap variety which you may not want to drink is fine. Do not get cooking-wine. Can be substituted with dry white wine in a pinch.
• Sesame oil: dark kind is preferred.
• Rice vinegar: Japanese kind is preferred. Mizkan is readily available. Those from Philippine etc. taste significantly different.
• Dashi: Japanese fish stock. There are powdered kinds and liquid kinds (see photo). Or you can buy bonito flakes and make it on your own. If you are vegetarian/vegan, you can use kombu (sea kelp) stock.
• Sesame seeds: There are white and black kind, roasted whole, ground kind etc. Start with the roasted, white one.
• Miso Paste: not as important, but if you love miso soup, it’s a must! (And you can eat it every day!!!) There are types that already have dashi in it.  For a typical non-Japanese house-hold, you may find this more convenient. Red ones (Aka-miso) are favored in North and Eastern Japan: saltier and more flavorful (in my opinion), white version (Shiro-miso) are used more often in the Western Japan. Sweeter and more subtle. They also have mixed that are called “Awase-miso” (meaning mixed miso), which you may want to start with.
• Wasabi: I like the tube kind better than the powder. If you don’t like that kind of spiciness that comes straight to your nose, skip it.
• Fresh ginger: I really prefer fresh kind to powdered. Totally different flavors. You can peel the skin and freeze it in the freezer, grate frozen one, if you rarely use it.
• Extra: Men-tsuyu: Japanese noodle soup base. You can make a lot tastier version of this with soy sauce, mirin, sugar and dashi. However, men-tsuyu is convenient if you don’t have time. Many Japanese in Japan use it not just for noodles, but in many dishes like Japanese style omelets, soups and stews like oden, nimono, as well as salads, and even Japanese savory egg custard which all Americans seem to love. I think this is busy cooks’ (and non-purists’) friend.

As a start these will do!  As you increase your repertoire of Japanese cuisine, you can begin to add more to your pantry.

Later this week, I will post a secret to make miso soup easily at home… If you love miso-soup, or you have ever bought those expensive freeze dried kind from a store, this is a must read!!!  Be sure to subscribe from the top right so that you will not miss it.

If you have any questions, please leave me a comment!

From top left: mango lassi, chana masala, raita, potato and swiss chard curry, keema curry

Some of you asked me for the specific recipe for each curry on the photos I used, so as the finale of series of curry related posts, here’s the recipe for Chana Masala (Chickpea curry).  Chana masala is even easier than Keema, Potato and Chard, or Eggplant curry.  All you need is the curry base from our previous post and a can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans).  A great pantry menu and it’s filling too.

To complete your Indian feast, and make it more festive, there’s mango lassi (everybody loves it, especially kids) and raita recipes, so don’t miss them!

Chana Masala (Chickpea/Garbanzo Curry)

Directions:

1. Heat the curry base (click here for recipe) in the pan.  Add a can or 1 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans). Add some stock as needed (it depends on how much moisture the vegetable has as well as your personal preference). Cook until the flavor is incorporated and heated through.  Adjust seasoning.
2. Top with chopped cilantro (strictly optional. I hate it, so we don’t!) Serve with steamed rice, saffron rice or naan.

Note:

• You can add more water, and puree it to make daal.

OK… So here’s the finale!  To make your Indian spread more authentic and festive, you need two other things… Raita and Mango Lassi!

Raita:

• Chop onion, cucumber, tomato. Mix well with yogurt. Top with paprika or chopped cilantro.

Mango Lassi:

• The easiest method is with Mango juice.  Mix Mango juice with yogurt with a stick blender.  I like about 1:1 ratio. Adjust the ratio, based on your preference.
• If using frozen or fresh mango (cut in bite size pieces), puree everything together in food processor or blender (you may need to add some liquid such as milk if using blender.)
• Optional: add sugar or honey if not sweet enough.

Since we talked about different uses of sautéed and grilled eggplants, we’ll talk about these possibilities in more details next week!

(Yup, this is the end of the curry posts…  I promise… at least for a while. : ))

Many people ask me how I can whip up variety of dishes so easily.

It’s because I have many pre-prepped food that can be used in many different things.

For example, when my sister-in-law, and her family was visiting, I was able to whip up a Turkish Eggplant dip in less than 5 min.  If you make from scratch, this would take well over 1 hour.

Yesterday, I made a spicy Spanish omelet for breakfast in less than 10 min. It would take about 45 min to one hour if you follow a normal recipe.

For lunch, I made flavorful Moroccan style Chickpea & Chorizo Chowder for quick lunch.  Time required?  To heat up the soup, about 5 min as well. If you make this from scratch, this too could take quite a while.

So why I can make these dishes that take a long time so quickly?  All from scratch!

“Is she really a wizard?”

No… I wish!

It’s all because I grilled extra eggplants when we BBQ a few days before, and saved the flesh in the fridge.

It’s all because when I was making clam with chorizo dish, I saved some sautéed onion and chorizo mixture before adding the clams, and kept it in the fridge.  All I did was adding that and (also leftover) sautéed potatoes to beaten eggs. All I did for the chowder is to add can of garbanzo beans and chicken broth (or even water!) to the chorizo mix and heat it up and puree with a stick blender.

Now you can see how many different varieties of dishes you can create by combining these leftovers and some other things you have in your pantry, fridge or freezer.

That’s why I am able to cut so much time from cooking the next time.

This is quintessence of Kitchen Wizard style cooking.

You can do the same.  Always keep leftovers to repurpose into many other dishes, so cooking & eating will be always a breeze and fun. Even when you don’t have time.  You’ll impress your family and friends for sure.

It’ll be like a magic! You too will feel like a wizard.

And never underestimate the power of leftovers!

One of my pantry item, which is a flavor booster is olive tapenade.

This is great on baguettes, crackers and veggies. 

And did you know it also turns boring dishes to something brilliant with a bright flavor? It adds a lot of umami, the 5th taste (the other five are: salty, sour, sweet, bitter).

You can use it where you use olives and more…  I love using olive tapenade in my pasta, salad dressing, and you can top it on meat and fish, even crudo…  Italian style sashimi. 

You can buy this from the store, or make it easily when you have leftover olives.  Basically it’s a mixture of good olives (I love Calamata or Nicoise olives), anchovies, a little bit of capers and garlic pureed with extra virgin olive oil.  If your capers is in brine, add about a teaspoon of that liquid… if not, add about the same amount of lemon juice or vinegar. The exact amount doesn’t really matter.  Create a spread that taste good to you.

Keep it in fridge, and it should keep about a month. You can also use this as a base, and add chopped tomatoes, nuts, herb, nuts etc. to expand the variety as you use it in different dishes.

Here are the list of resources about Umami:

• Umami Information Center website 
• Even baby likes the taste of umami!
• List from the Wall St on 10 Umami boosters famous chefs are using
• Really cool podcast about umami… how to use it at home

What are your favorite flavor boosters?  How do you used them?  Why do you like them?  Please share with us!