Corn Consumption in Japan

I dedicate this post to 0tarin, who thinks I made up corn 'cup-a-soup'.

Many foreigners have posted about the odd uses of corn in Japan, particularly the preoccupation with putting it on pizza. I have to admit that one of my earliest fast food dining experiences resulted in a similar appalled reaction. I was at Shakey's pizza where they offered an "all you can eat" buffet which included corn pizza. It was more of a "nothing you can eat" experience for my husband and I.

I'm not much of a fan of corn but I have become really attached to 'corn cream soup', especially when I can toss a ton of American Cardini's croutons in it (from Costco in Japan). I'm sure that makes it doubly bad for me; a real carbohydate-loaded treat.

Rumor has it that the Japanese have been known to put corn on ice cream but I've never actually seen that. I have seen my fair share of buns at convenience stores and bakeries that lovingly cradle a generous bed of mayonnaise studded with corn in the center. I'm too scared and disgusted to brave eating one but I have to admit that these buns represent overuse of two of the most oddly-used western foodstuffs in Japan.

I did a little research and apparently the Japanese corn growers can't keep up with the insatiable demand for canned and frozen sweet corn in Japan and most of it is imported from the U.S. Eighty percent of Japan's corn is from imports but very little of it appears to be fresh. Its' relatively rare to see ears of fresh corn at local shops and it's usually pretty expensive.

Incidentally, the cup in the picture was part of a set of dishes I was given when I left my company after working there for 12 years. All of them are largely white with a swirly pattern.

Icebox Chicken "Doria"

About 8 years ago, my husband and I used to go to a "Mexican" restaurant a very short distance from our apartment. It was only Mexican in that tacos were included as part of the menu. Other than that, the entire menu consisted of various steak dishes (small steaks, smaller steaks, small steaks with an egg, even smaller steaks with an egg, hamburg steak, small steak with rice, etc.) and one chicken dish, chicken doria.

When we went there, it was very unusual to find more than one other patron in the establishment. In fact, it wasn't the least bit uncommon for us to be the only two people there. The restaurant seriously reminded me of the type of place I mentioned in a recent post which doesn't appear to do much business but stays in operation regardless. In fact, they continue to have very few patrons but are still going.

Since I actively dislike steak, I'd always have the chicken doria. It was expensive but rather nice and the place was quiet and spacious. The only other non-steak option, the tacos, were very anemic things. It was a soft corn tortilla filled with what seemed like beef paste, a bit of tomato, a bit of onion, and some overly tangy sauce pretending to be salsa.

Eventually, the restaurant installed a large screen television and a big karaoke set-up. This resulted in them closing off the place for general patronage sporadically so we couldn't eat there just any time. At some point, they completely changed the menu to a Korean barbeque and all the food we liked, such as it was, was gone and we never went there again.

This evening I was sitting around with leftover chicken from a whole bird we'd baked last night trying to think of some tasty way to use it up. While I enjoy chicken in general, I tend to find baked chicken really boring as leftovers. I remembered the doria that I used to have and decided to give making something similar a shot.

I researched doria recipes on the Internet but mainly found seafood recipes or recipes that included things I didn't have or couldn't buy because I live in Japan. In the end, I raided the refrigerator and my pantry to come up with something which I really enjoyed and was similar to what I used to have though I'd guess one wouldn't technically call it a true "doria".

Icebox Chicken "Doria":

• 400 grams cooked rice (about 4-5 cups)
• 1 very large chicken breast (cooked and cut into small pieces)
• 1 can of Campbell's condensed chicken soup
• 1 cup of white wine
• 1 cup of low fat milk (or full fat if you prefer)
• 1/2 small onion (diced finely)
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1 cup shredded (mild) cheese ("mixed cheese" in Japan is fine)
• pepper (to taste)
• one small can of mushroom slices (optional)
  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F./175 degrees C. Spray a glass baking dish (or metal if that's all you have) with cooking spray or grease very sparingly.

Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Melt the butter in the pan then add the diced onion. Cook the onion until it is soft and starts to caramelize just a bit. If you want mushrooms, drain the canned mushrooms, rinse them, pat them dry and stir them into the butter and onion mixture and cook for a short while.

Stir in the diced chicken. Add the wine, milk and soup. Heat until hot but not boiling. Stir in the rice until it is warmed and evenly mixed (heating cold cooked rice will break it apart). Pepper to taste and stir. Pour the rice mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the top with cheese. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes on a center rack. It should be bubbling hot but the cheese should not be browned except perhaps at the very edges. Serve with Tabasco sauce if desired.

Note that the rice should be slightly wetter than you're going to want it to be in the finished dish. If it seems too dry while you're heating the mixture in the saucepan, add more milk. You don't want the final dish to be dried out. It should be creamy but still hold it's shape to a large extent when served. It's better to err on the side of making it too wet than too dry.

You can use any type of cheese you like but something with a milder taste (Gouda, for instance) is better than something overbearing like cheddar.

Shari's Swedish Meatballs

The point of making Swedish meatballs originally was to use up all the little bits and pieces that are left around the kitchen. Of course, these days, people tend to make them because they taste good rather than because they want to be frugal and use up whatever is lying around. I make them because they're cheap and tasty and pretty much the only way I will eat any sort of beef. I have a rather intense dislike of beef because, to me, it just smells like blood. Since we eat chicken 4-5 nights a week, it gets tedious eating the same thing, so this is a nice change of pace.

Using this recipe, the main portion of the meal (the meatballs) costs about 120 yen per serving if you can get ground beef as cheaply a I can (which is about 70 yen per 100 grams). This is also a dish which doesn't require any specialty (import) shopping. All of the ingredients can be purchased at an average Japanese supermarket and it is cooked on the stove top and requires no special equipment.

Shari's Swedish Meatballs:

• 500 grams (approx. 1 lb.) ground beef
• 1/2 small onion
• 1 medium green pepper or 2 small Japanese piman
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 3/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 cup bread crumbs (dried or fresh)
• 1 cup near-boiling water
• 2 beef bouillon cubes
• 1/3 cup cold milk
• 1-2 tbsp. corn starch
• 1 tbsp. sour cream (optional)
• ~1 tbsp. olive oil (for cooking)
  

Put the ground beef into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle the garlic, pepper, salt, and nutmeg over the beef. Process the onion in a small food processor (or dice very finely by hand). Add the green pepper and pulse to process into relatively small pieces or dice it by hand. Add 3/4 cup of milk and stir until thoroughly mixed. (Note: I've pureed the onion to mush before and that is fine - chopping too finely is better than too coarsely since the vegetables have to cook completely inside the meatballs. You can click on the picture above to see a larger one that should give you an idea of how finely I process them.).


Add the bread crumbs and stir until well-mixed and the meat mixture starts to clump up (as pictured above) but is not hard to stir (which would mean it's too dry). The mixture shouldn't be soupy. If it seems too wet, throw in more bread crumbs 1/4 cup at a time.


Form small (about 1"-1.25" in diameter) meatballs inside the same mixing bowl. This next step isn't absolutely necessary but it's a good idea to cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for an hour or more (up to a day ahead of time). This will allow the spices to permeate and for the meatballs to firm up and be less likely to fall apart while cooking.

Heat a large skillet and spread just enough olive oil over the bottom to coat it (to keep the meatballs from sticking). Place the meatballs one at a time over the bottom of the pan. It's okay if they touch but they should not be crowded. Cover and cook over medium heat, turning over when they are half-cooked and brown on the bottom. If you don't keep it covered, you won't have enough liquid for making the sauce.

Remove the finished meatballs and keep warm in a covered plate (using the lid you covered the skillet with to cover the plate works well). Skim the fat from the edges of the juices (or leave it if you don't care). Dissolve the bouillon cubes in the near-boiling water and add to the juices in the pan. Stir to mix. Dissolve the corn starch (use 1 tbsp. for thinner sauce and 2 tbsp. for thicker sauce) in the 1/3 cup of cold milk and add to the juices and bouillon. Stir constantly over medium heat until thickened. Stir in sour cream if desired. Skim the fat from the edges again if necessary or use a soup skimmer to remove it.

Spoon the sauce over each serving of meatballs and serve as a main dish. Alternately, add the meatballs back into the sauce and serve over whole wheat pasta as a sauce. The sauce also makes a great gravy for potatoes.

In Japan, I use standard dried breadcrumbs used for tempura that you can pick up almost anywhere and Maggi-brand beef bouillon cubes (as pictured above). I recently picked up a bag with a ton of tiny piman for 99 yen which served me well (though I doubt I'll be able to use them all up before they go off). This recipe will make 4 generous servings or 5 smaller ones and can be frozen for future meals. You can also make sandwiches from the meatballs if you've kept the sauce separate (it gets too messy with the sauce).

In researching this recipe, I found a lot of variations and the common element is the nutmeg. It may seem strange to add a spice generally associated with cakes, pies and cookies to meat but it works extremely well and should not be omitted. My recipe mixes and matches components of various recipes but the main thing I do differently is add in green pepper and prepare the sauce with bouillon. Even if you don't like green pepper (my husband doesn't care for it), it adds in a distinctive and enjoyable flavor and I recommend giving it a try. This was the first time I added sour cream to the sauce and I found that it didn't add much to the flavor but it did give it a super smooth, silky texture.

One of the reasons I like this recipe is that it allows me to pre-prepare the more involved part (the meatballs) far ahead of time then cook later. My husband's work schedule has him coming home at 10:30 pm so we eat dinner at 11:00 and I'm generally pretty tired and not in the mood to do elaborate dinner preparation.