Recipes from Maori Murota's Japanese Home Cooking

Karen Hardy
August 2 2022 - 12:00am
Pork and vegetable gyozas. Picture: Supplied
Pork and vegetable gyozas. Picture: Supplied

Author Maori Murota grew up in Tokyo and was inspired to write this book by her mother's cooking and memories of growing up in Tokyo, cooking at home, eating out. Her mission is to demystify Japanese food, to make it accessible and understood by anyone and everyone interested in learning about a food culture and eating well.

  • Japanese Home Cooking, by Maori Murota. Murdoch Books. $49.99.

Pork and vegetable gyozas

Japanese Home Cooking, by Maori Murota. Murdoch Books. $49.99.
Japanese Home Cooking, by Maori Murota. Murdoch Books. $49.99.

Ingredients

400g plain flour

1 tsp salt

200ml hot water

Pan-fried gyoza:

neutral vegetable oil

100ml water

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

For working the dough:

potato starch or cornflour

filling of your choice to prepare in advance

Method

1. Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Pour in hot water and mix with chopsticks (or a fork). The dough should have the texture of a crumble topping. Once the dough has cooled slightly, knead by hand until the crumbs can be combined and form a ball. Place it on the work surface and knead for 10 minutes until the dough is completely smooth. Make a ball. Work the folds with your fingers to smooth the ball. Turn the dough upside down with the closed side underneath. Wrap it in a damp tea towel and leave to rest for 30 minutes to one hour at room temperature. Divide the ball into two logs, then cut each log into 20* small pieces. Cover the remaining dough to prevent it from drying.

2. On a work surface floured with starch, flatten each piece with your hand. Then hold the dough with your left hand and the rolling pin with your right hand. Roll once, turn the dough 90 degrees, roll again, turn the dough 90 degrees again, and so on until you form a nice round shape. The centre of the round must be thicker (2mm) than the edges (1mm). Flour both sides with starch and set aside under a tea towel. Repeat the process with all the pieces of dough.

3. Place one teaspoon filling in the centre of each gyoza wrapper. Wet the edge of the wrapper with your finger. To close the gyoza, fold the wrapper in half over the filling and press the middle of the two edges between your thumb and middle finger. Between the pinched middle and one side, fold to form a pleat and continue sealing the dough between your two index fingers, pinching to the end.

4. Repeat to seal the other side. You should get five or six pleats. Place the gyoza on a plate and press the gyoza lightly to flatten the bottom.

Pan-fried gyoza:

1. Bring 100ml water to the boil. Oil a frying pan (with an airtight lid) with one tablespoon oil using a piece of paper towel and heat over medium heat. Brown the underside of the gyoza, making sure they don't touch, cooking in batches if necessary. Then pour 100ml boiling water into the pan and cover.

2. Cook for seven to eight minutes over medium-low heat. If the water evaporates before the end of cooking, add a little more. Remove the lid and drizzle one teaspoon toasted sesame oil over the gyoza and cook for another one minute until the bottom of the gyoza is nicely golden.

Boiled gyoza:

Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Drop the gyoza into the water. Once the gyoza rise to the surface, leave to cook for four to five minutes. Drain.

Whichever cooking method you choose, serve the gyoza immediately.

Serves 4-6 (40 gyoza)

Pork filling:

Ingredients

7g dried shiitake mushrooms

150g pointed cabbage or wombok + 1/2 teaspoon salt

300g minced pork shoulder

1 garlic clove, grated

5g fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

1/2 small onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

pepper

Method

1. Rehydrate the dried shiitake mushrooms by soaking in 300ml water for three hours. Drain, remove the stems and finely chop the mushrooms. Finely chop the cabbage, season with salt, mix and leave for 20 minutes to disgorge, then squeeze with your hands to remove excess water. Mix the pork with the garlic and ginger until it becomes pasty. Mix in the cabbage and onion, then add the soy sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil. Season with pepper. Mix well and set aside in the refrigerator.

Tip: If you do not make home-made dough, make sure you buy gyoza wrappers (round and white) not wonton wrappers (square and often yellow).

Vegetable filling:

Ingredients

7g dried shiitake mushrooms

1 large zucchini + 1 tbsp salt

1 carrot

150g pointed cabbage, curly kale or wombok

250g firm tofu

1 tbsp neutral vegetable oil

1 red Asian shallot, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

5g fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp malted or nutritional yeast

1 tsp raw sugar

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

2 tsp potato starch or cornflour

Method

1. Rehydrate the dried shiitake mushrooms by soaking in 300ml water for three hours. Drain (but keep the soaking liquid), remove the stems and finely chop the mushroom caps. Coarsely grate the zucchini using a box grater, season with salt and leave for 15 minutes to disgorge, then squeeze with hands to remove excess water. Coarsely grate the carrot using a box grater. In a large pot of boiling water, blanch the cabbage leaves for one to two minutes, remove and drain well by squeezing between your hands, then chop. Heat the neutral oil, shallot, garlic and ginger in a frying pan. When the aromas start to release, add the zucchini and the carrot. Saute for two to three minutes until the carrot is cooked. Add the cabbage and shiitake mushrooms and saute for two minutes. Add the soy sauce, malted yeast, sugar, sesame oil and starch. Mix and allow to cool completely.

Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake)

Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake). Picture: Supplied
Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake). Picture: Supplied

Have fun experimenting by adding ingredients of your choice to okonomiyaki. In Japanese, okonomi means "as you like" and yaki means "grilled". Restaurants offer a wide choice of toppings. Feel free to invent your own version of this recipe!

Ingredients

200g pointed cabbage (or white cabbage)

2 spring onions

100g peeled prawns

100g yam or potato

16 oysters

200ml water

2 eggs

200g plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 handful katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)

4 tbsp sunflower oil

Garnish:

okonomiyaki sauce (or tonkatsu sauce)*

mayonnaise

4 generous pinches katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)

a few dill leaves (optional)

Method

1. Cut the cabbage into thin strips, spring onions into thin rounds and prawns in half lengthways. Grate the yam. Open the oysters and remove them from their shells.

2. In a bowl, mix the grated yam or potato, water and eggs. Add the flour and salt and mix. Stir in the cabbage, spring onion and katsuobushi (crumbled between your fingers). Add the prawns and oysters, then mix.

3. Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Pour in one tablespoon oil and wipe the excess with a paper towel. Pour a quarter of the batter into the hot pan. Cook for about three minutes.

4. Turn the okonomiyaki over, cover and cook for five minutes. Flip the okonomiyaki back and cook for another two to three minutes, uncovered. Repeat the process until all the batter is used. This will make four okonomiyaki.

5. Serve the okonomiyaki on individual plates with a generous amount of sauce spread on top. Add the mayonnaise. Sprinkle with some katsuobushi and decorate with a few dill leaves.

To replace the tonkatsu sauce:

In a small saucepan, mix 4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 2 tbsp ketchup, 1 tbsp mirin and 1/2 tsp soy sauce. Heat over low heat, stirring until the sauce thickens.

Vegan version:

Replace the seafood with 150g mushrooms (oyster, shiitake, etc.) sauteed in 1 tbsp oil and seasoned with 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tbsp malted or nutritional yeast. Add an additional 100g yam.

Serves 4.

Kara-age (fried chicken with sweet-chilli sauce)

Kara-age (fried chicken with sweet-chilli sauce)
Kara-age (fried chicken with sweet-chilli sauce)

Ingredients

600g boneless chicken legs (2 thighs)

3 tbsp plain flour

3 tbsp cornflour

oil, for frying

Marinade:

6 tbsp sake

1 garlic clove, grated

5g fresh ginger, grated

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp raw sugar

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

pepper

Sauce:

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp apricot jam or marmalade

1 tbsp toasted sesame oil

1/2 tbsp miso paste (brown or red)

1 tbsp mirin

1/2 garlic clove, chopped

1-2 tsp chilli powder

1 tbsp rice vinegar

2cm leek (white part), finely chopped

Method

1. Cut each chicken leg into about 6 pieces (the top into 4 pieces and the drumstick into 2 pieces).

2. Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a bowl. Add the chicken pieces and massage the marinade in a bit. Marinate for one hour.

3. Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

4. Mix the flour and cornflour together on a plate. Put the chicken on the plate and flour the pieces well. Heat a 3cm depth of oil to 170C in a deep frying pan. Drop the chicken pieces into the oil and fry for about four minutes. Increase the temperature to 180C and cook for a further two minutes or so. Check if the chicken is cooked by piercing it with a skewer; if the liquid that comes out is transparent, the chicken is cooked.

5. Drizzle with sauce and serve.

Tip: It is very important to use the chicken leg and not the breast. It is the fat and the skin that make this dish so tasty and moist. Also, the result is much better with free-range chicken.

Vegan version: Replace the chicken with rehydrated soy protein (large pieces) or seitan, marinating it the same way as for the chicken

Serves 4.

Tonkatsu (crumbed pork cutlet)

Tonkatsu (crumbed pork cutlet). Picture: Supplied
Tonkatsu (crumbed pork cutlet). Picture: Supplied

Ingredients

4 pork cutlets, 1.5-2cm thick

2 pinches salt

pepper

oil, for frying

tonkatsu sauce

finely chopped cabbage or coleslaw

lemon wedges

Crumbing:

2 tbsp plain flour

2 tbsp plain flour + 3 tbsp water

50g panko breadcrumbs

Method

1. Take the pork out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking. Season each piece with salt and pepper on both sides.

2. Prepare three plates for crumbing: one with the flour, one with the flour and water mixed, one with the panko breadcrumbs, and arrange them in that order. Dip each piece of pork in the flour plate, then in the flour-water mixture and finally in the panko, pressing the meat lightly with your hand to make the panko stick.

3. In a large frying pan (the pieces of meat must not overlap; cook in two batches if needed), heat 3cm of frying oil to 180C. Fry the pork for two minutes on one side, turn over and cook for another three minutes, until the meat is nicely golden brown. When the bubbles around the meat become smaller, it means the pork is cooked. Drain on paper towels and leave to rest for three minutes before serving with tonkatsu sauce, finely chopped cabbage or coleslaw and lemon wedges.

To replace the tonkatsu sauce:

In a small saucepan, heat 4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 2 tbsp tomato sauce, 1 tbsp mirin and 1/2 tsp soy sauce and mix together until the sauce thickens.

Vegan version:

Replace the pork with 4 slices cauliflower, cut into 1.5-2cm thick slices. Steam for three to four minutes, until tender inside, but not too soft to prevent breaking. Sprinkle each side of the slices with 1/2 tsp malted or nutritional yeast, a pinch of curry powder and a pinch of salt. Crumb and pan fry as for the pork.

Serves 4.

Karen Hardy

Karen Hardy

Canberra Times lifestyle reporter

I've covered a few things here at The Canberra Times over the years, from sport to education. But now I get to write about the fun stuff - where to eat, what to do, places to go, people to see. Let me know about your favourite things. Email: karen.hardy@canberratimes.com.au