Japanese yuzu & shochu cocktail

A refreshingly sweet and tangy cocktail. This is my twist on the White Lily cocktail that I had at Morimoto restaurant in Manhattan.  It's a perfect cocktail with Japanese cuisine. 

Ingredients:
2 servings
Ice cubes to chill
1/3 cup barley shochu spirits 
1/3 cup Calpico / please see the photo below
1 1/2 Tbs. freshly squeezed yuzu juice (1-2 yuzu)
1 Tbs. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup water
2 Tbs. sugar
2 yuzu peel strips


Directions:
Making citrus juice: In a small bowl, combine the yuzu & lemon juice, sugar and 1/2 cup water and stir well until the sugar has dissolved.
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the citrus juice, shochu and calpico. Shake for 5-10 seconds and strain the mixture into glasses.
Garnish each glass with yuzu strip.

CALPICO: available at Japanese market

sweet potato sushi roll

It's Autumn, sweet potato season! Yummy sweet potato roll has a crunchy surprise inside.

Instead of making sweet potato tempura, I just steam the sweet potato and add some tempura flakes. You can purchase tempura flakes at any Japanese market.  They can be kept in your refrigerator for future use.

Makes 2 rolls


Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups prepared sushi rice 
1/2 lb. sweet potato, peeled and sliced (1/3 inch each)
4 Tbs. Mirin
2 Tbs. sugar
1 1/2 Tbs. soy sauce
1 Tbs. roasted sesame seeds
1 full sheet of nori, cut in half along the line
1 Tbs. tempura flake 


Prepare the sweet potato and sweet soy sauce:
In a medium saucepan, combine 1 cup water, the Mirin and sugar and bring to boil.
Add the sweet potato and cook until it's softened. 
Remove the sweet potato from the saucepan and set aside. Add soy sauce to the saucepan with remaining liquid and simmer until it becomes syrupy.
How to roll:
Cover a bamboo mat with plastic wrap.
Place a sheet of nori rough-side up on the bamboo mat. Moisten your hands with water and scoop a 2/3 cup of sushi rice on nori. Spread the rice evenly and sprinkle the sesame seeds. Carefully flip over the nori so it's rice-side down on the bamboo mat.
Arrange a few slices of the sweet potato evenly equally in a middle of the nori.
Place the tempra flake right below of the sweet potato. Firmly roll up from the end nearest to you. Cut the roll into 6 pieces. 

apple cider teriyaki chicken

Enjoy the Autumn flavor of Teriyaki chicken. 

Serves 2 - 3
Ingredients:
1 lb. chicken thigh
1/2 cup apple cider
1 small apple, sliced
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. soy sauce


Directions:
Season the chicken with salt and pepper and coat lightly and evenly with flour. 
In a medium frying pan over medium heat, warm the butter. Add the garlic and chicken to the pan and brown one side. Flip the chicken and add the apple, apple cider and soy sauce.
Reduce the heat to low, cover with a sheet of aluminum foil. Poke a few holes in the foil with a folk to release the steam. Simmer about 10 - 15 minutes.
Take off the aluminum foil and increase the heat to medium high. Scoop the liquid with a spoon and poor over the chicken.
Repeat this a couple times until the liquid is completely reduced and thickened.
Serve immediately.