Good Morning Everyone, hope that you are having a great week. Last night on the way home from having a little bite at our favorite Tachinomiya (Stand up Bar), it was snowing!! It’s the month of March and it was snowing and in that city Takatsuki it rarely snow even in the winter time. Yes, the weather was very cold and windy “Snow”?? Very unusual for that to happen. It looks like the weather will be the same for the next couple days.
Well, back to the topic. This pass weekend the hubby went shopping and he brought home some Kentucky Fried Chicken for lunch. It was one of those lazy afternoons. KFC had another monthly special on chicken, which they called Pari Pari Umami Chicken(Crispy Delicious Chicken). We usually try their monthly special cause the family are chicken eaters, and the specials are either crispy with honey or crispy with chilly pepper.
Now lets go back a little here, KFCs in Japan doesn’t have the same choice as I notice back in the US. Where the US KFCs has Original Spice and Crispy, here in Japan we only have one choice and that is Original Spice. So every once in a while they have a monthly special to make some kind of crispy chicken. This month is Pari Pari Umami Chicken.
ReviewUps I have to say after tasting all their monthly special this has to be their best one they have ever made. I think they marinated in a special shoyu sauce and deep fried it, to make it crispy and added a pepper spice coating on top of it. The chicken meat was very very juicy in the inside and crunchy on the outside. The is reasonable to I think it goes for about 260 yen for one chicken, but more then one it sells for 250 yen.
Downs The Pari Pari Umami Chicken has a daily limit, they only can sell or make limited amount of the monthly special. This usually sell out before the evening comes around, since they have only one regular choice of chicken(Original Spice). The crispy always sell out fast, so I don’t think this is a great campaign for KFC if they are trying to make an extra buck or so. They should just make it a regular menu order instead of having a daily limitation.
Well, I hope you enjoy my first review and I will have more to come. If you have a chance to taste this KFC special, I totally recommend you try it.
Did you know the Different Types of Sushi?
As some may know there are a lot of different types and style of Sushi. Heres a list of them I will share with you, these are Sushi style that most people have heard of. In Japan each prefecture have their own style of making Sushi, I’m still researching this information and be added in a different post. I also have written recipes on some of the Sushi recipes I have listed, so if you would like to try them your self. I have easy to follow step on each Sushi recipe.
Nigiri zushi (握り寿司): Is a sushi formed from the palms of ones hand, which the rice is gently squeezed to make an oval shape. Wrap with thin strip of nori(seaweed) and topped with many different type of seafood. Most commonly known salmon, different parts of maguro(tuna), tako (octopus), unagi (freshwater eel), anago (sea eel), ika (squid), and tamago (sweet egg). Just to name a few, but the list goes on.
Maki zushi (巻寿司): Is a sushi rolled and wrapped with a thin layer of nori. The sushi is rolled with a bamboo mat which we call “Makisu”. Inside of the rolled sushi has many different types of combination. Some example are “Kappamaki” (Fresh cucumber filling), “Futomaki” (Variety of many different ingredients), and “Tekkamaki” (Fresh raw tuna filling), just to name a few.
Temaki zushi (手巻き寿司): Is a hand rolled in to a cone like sushi wrapped around with a thin layer of nori. The tamakizushi has many different kinds of combination for its style also. There are all kinds of seafood, vegetables, and meats. (I have heard people trying pork, steak, and even chicken being used as fillings). It all depends on your taste buds and what you prefer to try.
Inari zushi (稲荷寿司): Is one of the easies sushi to make, the rice is stuffed into a aburage (deep fried tofu bag). Most people like to mix their rice by adding vegetables like carrots, Japanese mushrooms. Just to add a little bit of a different flavor.
Bara-zushi (ばら寿司) or Charashi zushi(ちらし寿司): Is a sushi, where you add seafood, vegetables, and Japanese mushroom to fresh made rice in bowl or bamboo style bowl and its spread on top of the rice. This is also served in smaller bowl which we call bonburi(rice in a bowl) to make it easier to eat. We usually make this on Special Holidays or Special Event.
Oshi zushi (押し寿司): Is a little different from the others, this is a pressed sushi. For this we use a wooden block like mold. We usually add different types of seafood to make this, I like to add salmon to mines. You add the ingredient that you are going to use first, add the rice on top of that and with the wooden block mold you would gently press down. Once done, you will get a perfectly rectangle shape sushi. Just in rectangle bite size and serve.
So, there are the main types of sushi that we have here in Japan. There many many more, but will fall under one of the main topics that I have mention above. I be going over each sushi topic in more details with the recipes, in the weeks to come. I hope that this information was usefully, I also have linked on the “How tos” for some of the Sushi listed. Sorry, I just realized that I didn’t have a recipe for Oshizushi which is one of my families favorites. I will have that up this weekend for you. If you have any question on my list please feel free to leave me a comment and I will get right back to you soon.
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What is Japanese Nabe or Hot Pot?
Hello Everyone,Today Topic is “What is Japanese Nabe or Hot Pot?” Japanese Nabe is a recipe made in a Hot Pot, which consist of many different vegetables, meats, and fish. We usually have this during the cold seasons, like the ending of Aki Season(Autumn) and Fuyu Season(Winter). This is placed on the main dinner table and served, while adding ingredients at the same time.
There is not just one way of making this recipe all over Japan, each Prefecture has their own way or style to prepare this dish. I have shared a couple Japanese Nabe dish in my Site. Pork Nabe, Chicken Balls Nabe, and Duck Nabe to name a few. I will be adding more in the up and coming weeks.
Here is a list of what vegetables you can find in a Japanese Nabe: - Chinese Cabbage - Japanese Leek or Green Onion - Shitake Mushrooms - Shimeji Mushrooms - Carrots - Japanese White Radish - Garland Chrysathemum - Enoki Mushrooms
This is just a basic list of vegetables, you may see other vegetable in the Japanese Nabe, that I have not listed Also.
The Japanese Nabe uses a Basic soup base called “Dashi Stock” or Soup Stock. You may click on Dashi Stock to see the recipe for this. As for the main ingredient for Japanese Nabe there are many different varieties you see in a Japanese Nabe. Here’s a small list of different types you can find or make:
- Kimchi Nabe - Buta Nabe (Pork) - Kani Nabe (Crab) - Chanko Nabe (Sumo Wrestlers usually their main daily dish) - Tori Nabe (Chicken) - Kamo Nabe (Duck) - Kaki Nabe (Oysters) - Ebi Nabe (Japanese Lobster) - Shabu shabu (beef) - Tori Dango (Chicken Balls) - Tsumire Nabe (Sardine/ Japanese Horse Mackerel) - Fugu Nabe (Japanese Tiger Puffer)
This is just a few of them I have listed, there are many many more different ways of Japanese Nabe Style. I hope you have enjoyed this short information on Japanese Nabe, this is one of many topics I will share with everyone. This is my first time to write something this, usually my hubby does this type of post writing. I figure I should it out for my self and see how it goes. I’m still learning how to write like this and I know I have a long ways to go. Feel free to give any feed back on how I can improve my writing skills.
