Ask Maki anything, well almost anything (or just say hi)
posted on 13 Jan 2008 by maki ::
94 comments
Thanks to you (yes, I’m looking at you!) Just Hungry and Just Bento have really grown in popularity recently. This has also meant that I’m getting more emails. I do very much appreciate getting your emails, but there’s a couple of disadvantages to email.
- It’s a one on one communication so your question will only benefit you. It might just benefit a lot of other readers. I do actually end up answering the same thing several times.
- I may not know the answer but someone else might!
- I’m really bad at email. Don’t ask me why. I try to answer things as fast as possible but sometimes emails languish in my inbox for days, or I forget about answering them. Then you get mad at me and think I’m ignoring you, etc.
- Answering lots of individual emails takes time away from me writing new posts, not to mention spending time with my family/friends, exploring new foods, and all that kind of thing.
Hence, this is Ask Maki (almost) Anything. comments here will remain always open, to ask me anything that doesn’t fit into the context of a particular post. Unless it’s something that must remain private, please post here before emailing. Thank you!
[Edit:] Do not use this post to pimp your refrigerator parts, miracle diet, whatever site. Such comments will be deleted.
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And visit our new sister site Just Bento - all about bento!
And visit our new sister site Just Bento - all about bento!
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Just Hungry is a site about food. There are 
Hi Maki!
Thanks for keeping up with this great site. I really enjoy the recipes section as well as your other site Just Bento. Aloha!
thanks!
hi Lori and thanks for visiting!
hi! I was wondering, how do
hi! I was wondering, how do i broil something if i dont have a broiler? what temperature would i have to set my convecture oven to?
broiling
Broiling means applying a very high heat at close range from above, so if your convection oven has an upper heat source you can try setting your rack as close to the top as possible. If not, you can try some alternate ways of applying a very high heat at close range:
Hello Maki!
Hello Maki….
great website dear….
I thought this piece in
I thought this piece in today’s NY Times about the origin of the fortune cookie might interest you. It raises several interesting questions, for example the role & history of the various kinds of food businesses that thrive next to Japanese temples, and the expat story of Chinese food & restaurants in the USA.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/16/dining/16fort.html?ref=dining
yes i saw it
Yes I saw that article..interesting! I’m not quite sure if there is a direct relationship between fortune cookies as we know them now that were supposed to have been invented in San Francisco, and those cookies in Japan. It’s an intriguing theory though. And the researcher is right in that there are lots of cookies or snacks in Japan with that kind of flat, crispy form, whether made of wheat flour or rice or something else.
Also the comments to that
Also the comments to that NYT article about memorable fortunes is hilarious.
dangers of soy
The main danger besides depressing your thyroid function & causing non ability to assimilate minerals in the unfermented types, is that all soy is estrogen loaded & when used in soy formula for babies may not allow the young baby that should be a boy to properly develop & the girl to develop secondary sex characteristics very early. See dr.wong.us I wish it wasn’t so. Was hoping you could give some real evidence contrary to my first statement.
lfaithb
I remain a skeptic
You are free to believe what you want about soy, but I remain a skeptic about such claims, especially for traditional soy products. I will continue to eat tofu and edamame etc. Of course it’s a personal choice for anyone.
Rice cooker help!
Hi, Maki!
Great website, recently found it by accident and now I’m a frequent visitor!
I have a question about rice cookers/ rice steamers. A couple of questions:
Oh! And i tried the zucchini miso recipe and it was wonderful.
Thanks!
rice cookers
Steamer vs. cooker? Probably no difference. It should have an inner removable bowl or pot inside, and no steaming rack on which the rice rests or something like that.
For brands, I like Zojirushi the best though I don’t know what ‘moderate’ means to you in terms of price. The Zojirishi ones tend to be in the $150 and up range I think in the US, though they last forever.
Have you seen this post yet? Some people recommend various brands that they use in the comments.
http://www.justhungry.com/answering-some-rice-cooker-questions
Away from home--- I hear you
Maki,
I’ve just found your site by googling hakusai pickles… I feel like I know you.
I was born in Nagasaki and lived in NYC for 20+ years. I’ve never realized how much I love Japanese food until I moved to Boca Raton, Florida. In NYC, there are tons of Japanese restaurants & grocery stores. Here in Boca, there are Japanese restaurants but the menu are limited and when it comes to Udon noodle soup or even Sukiyaki, they don’t seem to get it right… And I terribly miss China Town and a grocery store in Korean district in NYC.
Q: Is there a good site for Oriental grocery shopping in East Coast?
Q: Have you ever been to Barcelona & Marbella in Spain? Can you recommend me restaurants??
asian groceries
Hi Etsuko! Unfortunately I’ve never been to Barcelona or Marbella, though I keep making plans to. Maybe I can correct that this year (at least for Barcelona)
For places that ship on the East coast…Katagiri does, though their website sort of sucks. There aren’t as many good online Japanese or east Asian groceries as might be expected in the US somehow… KOA Mart and Uwajimaya are both on the West coast (but they ship nationwide).
Also I found this page - it’s in Japanese, but at least the addresses are in English…I know Tampa is not that close to Boca Raton but it’s a start! Japanese/Asian groceries in Tampa.
Hope that helps a bit!
PERFECT RICE >:O
hi maki!
well. first and foremost, i am a regular visitor to both, justhungrya nd justbento. during all my visits in the past 6 months or so, my cullinary knowledge has increased three-fold! however, aside from all this new knowledge and the new recipies ive learned, i still am having a problem with the basics. i cant get my rice to stop burning onto the bottom of the pot! >:O it makes me very frustrated. ive followed your directions, the packaged directions and a thousand others multiple times and i cant seem to shake the burnt-bottom syndrome.
lately ive been using nishiki rice-which is very tasty, and also the best thing i can find at the local grocery store-and a large pot with a lid. your directions say to lower heat every so many minutes which i have done, repeatedly, but i cant see the rice through the lid because it gets too steamy. and i know you arent supposed to open the lid and stir the rice, so what do you suggest i do?
and also, what happens when the rice starts to boil over?
please answer!!
loveandthanks.
burnt rice bottom
Hi Tony,
Actually you shouldn’t worry about the burnt or crispy rice bottom - it’s sort of inevitable if you are cooking rice in a pot on the stove. As long as it’s just brown and crispy and not charcoal, you are ok. As a matter of fact most rice cooking cultures regard that crispy part as a sort of delicacy! In Japanese it’s called okoge. I know Latin/Spanish people love the burnt bit too. And it happens with all kinds of rice. I think the only way to totally avoid the okoge forming is to use a rice cooker, or to steam the rice (which is a pain to do really). So..don’t worry! If you are getting charcoal though that means your heat is too high.
If the rice starts to spill over, take the pot off the heat and sprinkle a bit of cold water over until the foaming subsides. When it does return to the heat set at low.
Hope that helps!
Cooking rice in a regular pot - foolproof
I make rice without a rice cooker on an almost daily basis (always have a 5kg bag of Nishiki rice at hand)
Here’s my suggestion for fool proof rice.
Make sure you have a pot with a heavy lid (if you have a hole in the lid, plug it up with wet tissue paper or something - should be air/steam tight)
Use two heat sources - one gets turned to high, the other to the very lowest setting (if using gas you might have a big ring and a small ring, use both - same with electric hot plates)
Add one measure of rice and one and a quarter measures of water. Put the lid on the pot and heat the rice on the high heat setting. Listen out for when it starts to fully boil. Until you recognise the sound of boiling rice water you’ll need to check - but try to take the lid off as little as possible. Avoid all unnecessary peeking - the rice needs the lost steam to cook in.
Once it has begun to boil/bubble move the rice to the lower/smaller heat source (which is at minimum) and switch off high heat source.
(If it starts to boil over before you get there - just leave the lid alone, hold the pan in the air for a few seconds so it settles, then put it on the low heat source)
Leave it to cook on minimum for 10 minutes (use a watch). Turn off the heat after 10 minutes (a little residue heat is fine so no need to move the pan) and let the rice sit for a further 10 minutes.
No need to stir, no need to do anything. Rice will now be done.
If you are fastidious, another tip is to very quickly replace the lid with a clean moist kitchen towel at the point where you turn off the low heat (or just insert a paper towel under the lid). This stops water from the lid dripping back onto the rice. But the rice is still fine without this (I rarely bother anymore).
If the minimum heat you can apply means that the rice still boils over… this might be a problem - should be rare though.
If the rice remains uncooked - the minimum heat source is too low. Try it at a slightly higher setting - do please persist, you will be able to make this method work.
….
I like browned rice too, but I never get it with this method - the plus is that the pan cleans very easily.
Also a very economical way to cook rice - helps keep the fuel bills down! Hope this helps.
Iranian rice?
Have you ever made/eaten traditional Iranian rice? It has a thick, buttery crust on the bottom. Sometimes, potatoes are involved. I’ve had it once- it’s basically a nutritional black hole, but so good. Apparently, you can buy a rice cooker (that only has one switch- on/off), or make it at home using a pot and some dishtowels. Sounds complicated.
hmm yes
I went to a Persian restaurant once in Boston and I had some delicious rice like that. Loretta’s points about creating an airtight environment are good in any case - pressure cooker rice rarely develops a crust in my experience for instance.
I do hope that
no-one sees my comment as detracting from your excellent advice about cooking rice.
http://www.justhungry.com/2003/11/japanesebasics1.html
The apartment I live in in London has old fashioned electric hobs in the kitchen that I can’t change. They take ages to heat up and ages to cool down. Casually turning the heat from high to medium isn’t really an option like it would be with a better cooking range or with gas. The method I posted helps deal with this, I’m in no way suggesting it’s the best way.
…
I’ve still got a lot to learn about rice. I grew up eating stunning paellas (cooked outdoors on burning orange-wood where the smoke envelopes the paella pan making a virtual seal that keeps in and adds to the flavours - a paella is never the same cooked on gas… and yes! The browned rice scraped from the bottom is the most revered part for true paella lovers)
One thing I have noticed about Japanese rice - when I’ve eaten out in Tokyo there have been times that the plain rice has been exceptional. On complimenting the cook I’m usually told (through my husband) that they used a gas fired rice cooker rather than an electric one. Kenji also recalls discussions with his grandmother who has talked about rice cookers in the way most men talk about electric tools - she views “lots of power!” as important.
You are obviously passionate about rice, Maki. Do you have any opinions on cooking temperature during the initial stages?
=]
im so happy! not only do i get to tell my brother that he has to eat the burnt part too (and sound really awesome and overly-knowledgable when i tell him the bit about okoge) but i learned another way to cook rice! yea woo.!
thank you much maki (and loretta)! =D
Recently I’ve been hoping
Recently I’ve been hoping that there’s such a thing as home-made yakisoba sauce? I haven’t had any luck in trying to find a recipe, and the yakisoba sauce at my grocery store has a ridiculous amount of sodium, I swear it’s nearly 100% daily value for one tablespoon…
The only recipe I’ve been able to find is here, but I don’t know if it would provide the same flavor or not. Your help is greatly appreciated! :) Thank you!
Oops, I forgot to ask if
Oops, I forgot to ask if soba-tsuyu is an acceptable substitute, but from what I understand yakisoba sauce is thicker and maybe has more of a “fruity” flavor, but I’m probably wrong, haha ^^
yakisoba sauce is actually
yakisoba sauce is actually based on that steak sauce-like sauce used for tonkatsu and such (Bulldog is a commonly available brand). It’s sold as chuunou sauce or (a slightly thicker variety) tonkatsu sauce. You can substitute a steak sauce like A-1, or use Worcestershire sauce for the flavor. For a “sauce yakisoba” try a mix of Bulldog sauce (or equivalent) an Chinese oyster sauce….it’s pretty yummy. (though i guess it would still be high in sodium…) Soba-tsuyu would make a nice soy-sauce-ish sauce but wouldn’t taste like yakisoba sauce.
Japanese cooking appliances
Hello Maki, ever since I found your page I come here almost every day, I love it. I have just recently left Japan after being over there for 4 years. The one thing I regret not buying is a multi-purpose cooking appliance I saw every where I shopped. It allows you to grill and stew and comes with around 3-4 different interchangeable metal attachments/containers. I was wondering if you knew of any websites that would sell these. It is a table top cooker w/ ajustable heat.
tabletop cookers
I’m not sure of the exact model you are looking for, but you can find such things usually at Asian or Japanese stores that carry housewares. Start here and see if there’s a store near you that might carry it. If you have a Mitsuwa store near you, either they or a store installed in their side malls usually carries Japanese kitchen appliances.
Also Amazon carries a lot of kitchen appliances - I’m not sure if this kind of thing is what you were looking for, or this, but it’s somewhere to start.
New in Bento Land
Hi I just received a care package from my sister who is in the us ( I am currently in Greece) and she sent me everything needed to get into Bento mode!! Could someone please offer info or advice on recipes ? and portions? Actually any help would be appreciated!!
tnx.
E
egalinou [at] hotmail [dot] com
please no spam just bento info!!!!
just bento
Eleftheria, check out the siste site for Just Hungry, Just Bento, which about bentos only!: http://justbento.com It should get you going.
just hungry and just bento
Hi Maki! I wanted to show my appreciation for your sites. I just found them through my friend Hannah (cooking with chopsticks blog) and you are awesome! Thank you so much for doing this!
I spent a year in high school as an exchange student in Japan and ate homemade bento everyday (made by my host mums), and I am always trying to recreate them. I use cookpad.com sometimes but it’s nice to be able to read directions and explanations in English with measurements I’m more familiar with :)
My boyfriend is Japanese and I know secretly he wants me to be able to cook all the recipes that seem to be ubiquitous in Japanese households… I’ve got down the basics but I need more side dish ideas. Also, the instant pickle recipes are a great idea! I can’t wait to try them!
☆☆☆
thanks!
That’s such a nice comment Morgan..thanks! :) I’m glad you like the sites!
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