Now's the chance to try authentic Japanese comfort food.Byline: The $10 Gourmet by Jim Boyd Jim Boyd may refer to:
EIKO TREDER, the owner of the Sushi Cubicle food booth at Saturday Market and other events, offers recipes in today's edition of The $10 Gourmet for Shu-Mai (steamed dumplings), Suno-Mono (vinaigrette salad), Chinese Sour Mustard Soup and Apple Pockets for dessert. She served the meal with steamed rice prepared in an electric rice cooker For the car modification term, see . A rice cooker or rice steamer is a self-contained electrical appliance, used primarily for cooking rice. There are also microwave, gas, and open flame variants. . Treder was born in Japan and came to Eugene to attend the University of Oregon The University of Oregon is a public university located in Eugene, Oregon. The university was founded in 1876, graduating its first class two years later. The University of Oregon is one of 60 members of the Association of American Universities. . She is married to Matt Treder, editor of the Cottage Grove Cottage Grove, village (1990 pop. 22,935), Washington co., SE Minn., near the St. Croix River; inc. 1965. There is farming (cattle, sheep, corn, and soybeans) and manufacturing (chemicals and machinery). Sentinel. They live in Eugene with their two daughters. "This is pretty authentic, but the ingredients are all accessible here and you don't have to compromise anything," Treder said of the meal she was about to prepare. "And it's pretty filling. Inexpensive. It has meat, which people enjoy, usually, but at the same time, there are a lot of vegetables. So if you cook the whole meal, you can have pretty much a well-balanced meal. And it tastes good." The $10 Gourmet is a feature designed to allow professional cooks to give menu ideas to home cooks. The professional is asked to cook a meal for two that costs $10 or less, not including small amounts of kitchen staples. While she didn't cook all the dumplings to prove the point, Treder said the ingredients she purchased and the recipes she has provided would feed not just two people but a family of four. Treder spent $9.24 on ingredients while shopping at Market of Choice, Sunrise Oriental Market and Albertsons. From her kitchen pantry, she used 3/4 cup rice, an essential component of a Japanese meal; 1/2 cup oil for frying the Apple Pockets; and small amounts of soy sauce, oyster flavor sauce, hot mustard, vinegar, honey, cinnamon, sake, sugar, salt, pepper and corn starch, plus a bouillon cube bouillon cube n. A small cube of evaporated seasoned meat, poultry, or vegetable stock, used in making broth or to flavor soups or stews. Noun 1. . The Shu-Mai dumplings are a favorite with children, she said, describing the meal as an example of Japanese "comfort food." The soup is made with Chinese pickled mustard greens Noun 1. mustard greens - leaves eaten as cooked greens Indian mustard, leaf mustard, mustard cruciferous vegetable - a vegetable of the mustard family: especially mustard greens; various cabbages; broccoli; cauliflower; brussels sprouts instead of a Japanese brand because the Chinese product is easier to find and much cheaper, she said. She added that the two types of greens taste much the same. Shu-Mai wrappers weren't available in Eugene, so Treder substituted some thin won ton skins. Rather than have won ton skins left over from a meal for two, she used the extras to make Apple Pockets, a fried dessert. Shu-Mai (Steamed Dumplings) 3 or 4 cabbage leaves 1/4 to 1/2 of a small green bell pepper, pith pith, in botany, core of the stem of most plants. Pith is composed of large, loosely packed food-storage cells. As the stem grows older the pith usually dries out, and in some it disintegrates and the stem becomes hollow. and seeds removed 1/2 small onion 1/2 teaspoon finely minced ginger 3/4 pound ground pork 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce 1/8 teaspoon mixture of finely ground white and black pepper black pepper or pepper Perennial, woody climbing vine (Piper nigrum) of the family Piperaceae, native to India; also, the hotly pungent spice made from its berries. (or, for simplicity, black pepper alone) 1 tablespoon sugar 1 tablespoon sake, white wine or sherry 1 tablespoon sesame oil Noun 1. sesame oil - oil obtained from sesame seeds vegetable oil, oil - any of a group of liquid edible fats that are obtained from plants benniseed, sesame seed - small oval seeds of the sesame plant 2 tablespoons corn starch 1 package Shu-Mai wrappers or thin won ton wrappers Frozen green peas, optional Soy sauce and hot mustard for dipping sauce Bring pot of water to a boil. Place cabbage leaves in water to wilt, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Remove and cool under cold tap water. Drain. Chop leaves very fine. Squeeze moisture from the chopped leaves and set aside. Place sections of green bell pepper in boiling water to blanch blanch to become pale. , about 1 minute. Remove and cool under cold tap water. Chop very fine. Squeeze moisture from the chopped pepper and set aside. Chop onion very fine and set aside. Mince the ginger and set aside. In a bowl, combine ground pork, salt and soy sauce. Add pepper. Mix until the mixture becomes pasty and holds together. (Hands are the best tool for doing the mixing.) Add sugar, sake (or other wine), sesame oil, corn starch, minced ginger and the other minced vegetables. Mix well. Form each dumpling by placing 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of a Shu-Mai wrapper or thin won ton wrapper held on top of your thumb and forefinger forefinger /fore·fin·ger/ (-fing-ger) index finger; the second finger, counting the thumb as first. fore·fin·ger n. See index finger. . Press down gently with your other forefinger so the dumpling slide down into your hand, with the wrapper forming an open-top bag with a flat bottom. As they are formed, place the dumplings on a plate or in a steamer basket to await steaming. Place a green pea in the center of each dumpling, if desired. Steam for 8 to 10 minutes. Serve with individual dishes of dipping sauce, each containing soy sauce and a small dollop of hot mustard. Chinese Sour Mustard Soup 1 cake tofu tofu Soft, bland, custardlike food product made from soybeans. Believed to date from China's Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220), tofu is today an important source of protein in the cuisines of East and Southeast Asia. 1 package Chinese sour mustard greens (pickled mustard greens) 1 quart water 1 cube soup base (chicken or vegetable bouillon Bouillon, town (1991 pop. 5,468), Luxembourg prov., SE Belgium, in the Ardennes on the Semois River, near the French border. It is a small manufacturing and tourist center. ) 1 large tomato, diced Chicken breast, approximately 1/2 cup, cut up 3 tablespoons sake 2 tablespoon oyster flavor sauce Slice tofu cake into small squares and set aside. Remove the Chinese sour mustard greens from their package. Squeeze to reduce moisture. Roughly chop and set aside. Heat water in a pot. Add bouillon cube, tofu, mustard greens, tomato and chicken. Bring to boil and reduce to simmer. Add sake and oyster flavor sauce. Serve. Suno-Mono (Vinaigrette Salad) 1/2 cucumber 1 teaspoon julienned ginger 1 teaspoon soy sauce 1 teaspoon sugar 3 teaspoons rice wine vinegar Noun 1. wine vinegar - vinegar made from wine vinegar, acetum - sour-tasting liquid produced usually by oxidation of the alcohol in wine or cider and used as a condiment or food preservative (or clear distilled vinegar) Partially peel the cucumber, leaving alternating strips of peeled and unpeeled Un`peeled a. 1. Thoroughly stripped; pillaged. 2. Not peeled. surface the length of the cucumber. Cut in half lengthwise length·wise adv. & adj. Of, along, or in reference to the direction of the length; longitudinally. Adj. 1. lengthwise and remove the seeds. Cut half the cucumber diagonally into a julienne ju·li·enne n. Consommé or broth garnished with long thin strips of vegetables. adj. also ju·li·enned Cut into long thin strips: julienne potatoes; julienned pork. . Mix the cucumber and ginger together. Dress with a vinaigrette made from the soy sauce, sugar and rice wine vinegar. Apple Pockets 1 tart apple 2 tablespoons honey Pinch cinnamon Drops of lemon juice Pinch cornstarch cornstarch, material made by pulverizing the ground, dried residue of corn grains after preparatory soaking and the removal of the embryo and the outer covering. It is used as laundry starch, in sizing paper, in making adhesives, and in cooking. Shu-Mai or won ton skins left over from making Shu-Mai dumplings 1/2 cup oil for frying Powdered sugar, optional Peel and core apple. Chop 1/2 very finely and chop the other 1/2 into a small dice. (This gives the filling a contrast in texture.) In a bowl, combine chopped apple with honey, cinnamon, lemon juice, and cornstarch. At this point, you may either cook the apple mixture briefly to ensure that the filling of the Apple Pockets will be soft, or you may fill the Apple Pockets with the uncooked mixture. If cooked, allow the apple mixture to cool before proceeding. To assemble, place a spoonful of the apple mixture in the center of a Shu-Mai or won ton skin. Wet the exposed area of skin around the filling. Place another skin on top. Press the two skins together (much like making a large ravioli). Press out all the air so no bubble remains between pieces of dough. An air bubble can cause pastry to explode when fried. Fry the apple pockets, browning both sides. Place on a paper towel to absorb excess oil. Serve with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, if you wish. Settling the bill Ground pork: $1.73 Green bell pepper: 79 cents Yellow onion Yellow Onion is a variety of dry onion with a strong onion flavor and layers of papery skin, which has a yellow-brown color. It provides a rich onion taste and good choice for food dishes requiring a strong onion flavor, like French onion soup. References : 24 cents Cucumber: 79 cents Cabbage: 54 cents Tomato: 24 cents Granny Smith apple: 51 cents Ginger root: 8 cents Chicken breast: $1.05 Tofu: 69 cents Won ton wrappers: $1.79 Sour mustard: 79 cents Total: $9.24 CAPTION(S): THE $10 GOURMET Thomas Boyd Thomas Boyd may be
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