Healthy Lunch Box Cookery Class June 11th

Are you bored with your work lunch, or need inspiration for your children’s school lunchbox?

On Saturday June 11th (10:30am -1:30pm) in Miele Gallery Citywest I'm hosting a hands on cooking class focusing on creating Japanese inspired lunch boxes to give your work or school lunch an interesting twist.

During the classes I will introduce you to the simple steps to creating a lunchbox that is time friendly yet healthy and tasty. I also make an effort to use every day ingredients so they can be easily sourced by families across Ireland.

Tickets are priced at €65. For enquiries email fiona.uyema@gmail.com or call 0860704052. For bookings go to fionauyema.com/booking-japanese-cooking-classes. This class is parent and children friendly, with reduced rates are available for children.

Experience Japan Festival 2016

All year I've been looking forward to this Japanese festival and I'm delighted to be able to say this year it was even bigger and better. Although the Irish weather can be unpredictable in April, the sun was shining the whole day and the temperature was higher than an average spring day. The first Japanese street food/ Japanese festival food I tried was curry udon garnished with bonito flakes, it was delicious and I got it from the WACAFE

There were more food stalls this year due to the growing demand for this Japanese festival every year. One of my favourite food stalls was the takoyaki and okonomiyaki. 

These are typical Japanese street foods/Japanese festival foods and always taste amazing when freshly made and served like this. 

The queue for this stall was particularly long even at the end of the day.  

I was delighted to see a Japanese gift shop called "Cactus Dublin" at the festival with a fantastic selection of Japanese gifts and they also stocked my cookbook "Japanese Food Made Easy".

There was plenty of opportunity to absorb Japanese culture with displays of marital arts such as kendo and karate. 

It was great to see Irish children embracing marital arts and tentatively listening to their Sensei!  

Asia Market Dublin had a stall again this year with a fantastic selection of Japanese ingredients and their stock of my cookbook sold out! 

 

I really enjoyed my talk on "Japan through the Eyes of Fiona Uyema" in the Cabinet Kitchen. There were so many questions at the end of the session and thanks to everyone who came up to say hello. It always motivates me to hear that people are following my journey and enjoying my recipes and adventures through my blog and online.

I had an information stall in the Cowshed on Japanese food & culture. My little boy came along to help me! 

I bumped into these two beautiful ladies again this year. Every year they wear costumes to the festival, I love them :)

Although the cherry blossom trees are not in full bloom across Ireland yet we found a few that had blossomed.

Notes:

If you 're interested in attending Japanese festivals around Europe you should also look at Hyper Japan in the UK and Japan Day in Germany. I hope to attend these wonderful festivals one day too. 

I want to say a special thanks to Natalia from Smiles!Photography for allowing me to use her photos for this blog post. Her photos are much nicer than mine!!

To see more about Experience Japan festival go to www.experiencejapan.ie

DISCOVER THIS YEAR'S TOP THREE FOOD TRENDS AT KILDARE VILLAGE LOUNGE WITH FIONA UYEMA

On Saturday April 2nd I gave a talk about this year's "Top Three Food Trends" with seaweed expert Tom Jones from Sea of Vitality.

We spoke about seaweed, matcha and fermentation. During the talk I prepared tastings and drinks for the guests to demonstrate how easily these ingredients can be included in everyday dishes i.e matcha granola, freshly made sushi rolls. miso soup, seaweed pickled salad and matcha flavoured smoothies.

I really enjoyed this event and the lounge at Kildare Village is stunning!

I've linked some of the recipes from my blog at the start of this post, You can also find most of these recipes and much more in my cookbook "Japanese Food Made Easy".

Top 5 Japanese Street Foods You Have to Try

On my return trip to Japan last November my family and I got to experience authentic Japanese street food, here's our top 5 Japanese street foods. You can see our return trip which was broadcast on NHK TV if you click on this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BYgg28I9fQ

1. Salted Sweet Potato

There was an elerly Japanese lady at this stall making salted sweet potato sticks, she was so delighted to meet a foreigner that she wouldn't let me pay. My 4 year old and I loved these!!

2. Taiyaki

These fish shaped pastries are freshly made with various fillings such as sweet bean, custard and chocolate. They are absolutely delicious. I was so excited when I stumbled across this local taiyaki stall and got the chance to taste one after 10 years.

Here is a photo of the lady putting the different fillings in the taiyaki while they're baking in the fish shaped moulds.

3. Dango

These are sticky rice balls made from mochi (rice flour). 

4. Yakisoba

See my yakisoba recipe on the link below:

http://fionasjapanesecooking.blogspot.ie/2013/09/vegetarian-yakisoba-recipe.html

5. Okonomiyaki

I didn't come across okonomiyaki on my last visit to Japan, but I have to share it here as one of the top 5 streets foods from Japan. Here's the link to my okonomiyaki recipe. I've really simplified it so it'll work for you at home.

http://fionasjapanesecooking.blogspot.ie/2014/03/okonomiyaki-japanese-pancake.html

Now, decide which Japanese street food you'd like to try ccoking at home! Fiona :)

Fiona Uyema YouTube Channel - subscribe for recipes

Thanks for all your messages over the past year asking me to start posting recipe videos on YouTube.

I've finally dedicated time to this project and I've started to post some content. I'll add new recipes to this every week so please SUBSCRIBE to my channel.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtHdgAxEmF1cO_I457qWLow

Check out my new MATCHA video.

https://youtu.be/tD2fnTruCzI

Let me know what type of recipes you like me to post for you.

Fiona x

Kakiage Mixed Vegetable Tempura by Fiona Uyema

I want to share another favourite recipe from my Japanese cookbook "Japanese Food Made Easy". I recently tried this recipe with Irish Wild Garlic instead of kale and it was so refreshing and delicious! 

I was lucky to learn the secret to a light and crispy tempura batter while living in Japan and it’s simple – don’t overmix the batter and use ice-cold water. Overmixing the batter will activate the gluten, leaving the batter heavy and doughy, so lumps are OK.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

vegetable oil for deep-frying
lemon wedges to serve
freshly ground sea salt to serve (optional)
For the vegetable mix
80g sweet potato, cut into matchsticks with the skin still on
80g carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks
50g kale, stalk removed and roughly chopped
100g onion, peeled and cut into thin strips
2 tablespoons cornflour
For the batter
1 egg yolk
200ml ice-cold water
a few ice cubes
150g flour, sieved
50g cornflour, sieved
For the dipping sauce
100ml dashi stock (home-made dashi stock (pp. 52–54) or 100ml water and a sprinkle of dashi instant granules)
20ml mirin
20ml soy sauce
grated ginger/daikon (optional)

Method:

1. Put all the ingredients for the dipping sauce into a saucepan and let them simmer for a few minutes, then set aside and let cool.
2. Mix all the vegetables in a large bowl and, using your hands, evenly coat them in cornflour, then set aside.
3. Beat the egg yolk and ice-cold water in a large bowl. Toss in a few ice cubes to keep the water cold.
4. Gradually add the flour and cornflour to the water/egg mix and then lightly mix. It’s OK to leave lumps in the batter.
5. Toss all the vegetables into the batter mix and ensure they are all equally coated.
6. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan to 170ºC (medium/high heat). Drop a bit of batter in the oil to check the temperature. If the batter rises slowly to the top of the oil, starts to sizzle and slowly turns a golden-brown colour, then the temperature is right.
7. Put a large tablespoon of the tempura vegetable mix on a large wooden spoon and slowly place in the oil against the side of the saucepan. Use a large spoon or chopsticks to slide the tempura mix off the wooden spoon and into the oil. Remove the wooden spoon slowly once the tempura mix is secure and firmly bound together.
8. Deep-fry the tempura until it is golden brown, turning a few times.
9. Drain on kitchen paper to absorb any excess oil.
10. Serve with either the dipping sauce or lemon wedges and a sprinkle of freshly ground sea salt.

Tips 
For vegetarians use a vegetarian-based dashi stock using seaweed and/or shiitake mushrooms (see page 54).
Make sure none of the ice cubes are caught in the kakiage before you place it in the hot oil.

don't diet, change your lifestyle - 7 Japanese secrets

Photo courtesy of thetaste.ie
I'm delighted to be joining the fabulous team at TheTaste.ie (Ireland's fastest growing online food magazine) as a food writer. 

My articles & writing will focus on Japanese food and my foodie adventures across Ireland and further afield. 

You can read my first article now live on the website "don't diet, change your lifestyle - 7 Japanese secrets". I hope you enjoy it and let me know if there's anything in particular you'd like me to write about :)
http://thetaste.ie/wp/dont-diet-change-your-lifestyle-7-japanese-secrets/

Fiona Uyema in the Sunday Independent Home Feature

I thought it would be nice to post this article on my blog in case you live outside Ireland. This article was published in the Sunday Independent around the time of my book launch for my first cookbook "Japanese Food Made Easy". There are some nice photos of my kitchen and home so have a look. By the way my house is NEVER this clean!!! Fiona :)

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/a-yen-for-adventure-peek-inside-japanese-cookery-authors-home-31602034.html

Salmon Teriyaki recipe from my cookbook "Japanese Food Made Easy"

 My cookbook is available to buy on Amazon. 

I want to share one of the most popular recipes from my cookbook SALMON TERIYAKI. The homemade teriyaki sauce works really well with other meats too including steak and chicken. If you are vegetarian it works beautifully drizzled over steamed vegetables or added to a tofu and vegetable stir fry. This is the perfect dish (Japanese recipe) to bring Japanese cooking into your home!

Without exception, everyone loves this salmon teriyaki recipe – it’s one of the most talked about recipes at my cooking classes. The perfect combination of flavours in the salmon and the sweet teriyaki sauce make this an all-time favourite in households across the world and on menus in both Asian and non-Asian restaurants.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

- vegetable oil
- 2 fillets salmon
- handful of sesame seeds to garnish

Teriyaki sauce 
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons sake
- 2 tablespoons mirin
- 1 teaspoon sugar/honey

Method:

1.  Combine all the ingredients for the teriyaki sauce, mix well and set aside.
2.  Pour a little vegetable oil into a non-stick frying pan on a medium to high heat.
3.  Place the salmon fillets (skin-side down) on the frying pan and sear both sides of the fish.
4.  When the fish is nearly cooked (place the salmon fillets skin-side down at this point) pour the teriyaki sauce over it.
5.  Use a large spoon to continually pour the sauce over the fish fillets while continuing to fry.
6.  Fry until the teriyaki sauce is reduced to the consistency of a syrup.
7.  Garnish with sesame seeds.

Tip
Keep a close eye on the teriyaki sauce as it can quickly reduce on a high heat and start to burn.

Corporate Events/ Team Building/ Workshops by Fiona Uyema

In 2016, I'm very excited to announce I'm providing customised and unique corporate team building experiences through a talk, demo, hands-on cooking experience or a health & well being programme.

For more details see my website or get in touch fiona.uyema@gmail.com

http://fionauyema.com/workshops-team-building/