Sake-Shochu-Manual.today Recipes-p1 Home Books Recipes-p1 Recipes-p2 Health
Benefits 4Wellbeing Glossary ReachUs Shio-koji and shoyu-koji
are amazing cooking materials and condiments. They tenderize meats and induce
umami in many foods. Some recipes using Shio-koji are written below. Uses of shoyu-koji
Shio-koji are interchangeable. Koji is
available at Japanese groceries or online (can be found easily in Amazon).
Koji, however, can be made at home by following the instruction in Handbook
of Making Sake, Shochu, Koji, Amazake, Miso, Natto, Mirin and More:
Foundation of Japanese Foods. How to Make Shio-koji (salt
koji) Materials Dried
koji 1 cup (130g, 4.5oz) Water
1 cup (220 cc) Salt
2 tablespoon (40g, 1.4 oz) Mix
well all the materials and save in a glass or plastic container. Wait for 7 to
10 days. Thereafter, Shio-koji is ready to use in cooking. The left photo on
the top of this page illustrates the Shio-koji made in this way. If
a small high speed food processor as illustrated above is available, put all
the material in the food processor, and turn it by a few strokes. The result
is much smoother as shown in the photo below.
Any
different amount of Shio-koji may be made as long as the ratio of the three
materials is kept the same as above. Shoyu-koji (soy sauce koji)
Materials Dried
koji 1 cup (130g, 4.5oz) Soy
sauce 1 cup Mix
well the materials and save in a glass or plastic container. Wait for 7 to 10
days. Then, shoyu-koji is ready to use in cooking. Shoyu-koji may be prepared
using a small high speed food processor. Cooking recipes using shio-koji and shoyu-koji Shio-koji fried chicken
Materials
for 2 servings Chicken
breast 1, cut to bite size Shio-koji
1 tablespoon Grated
jinger ¼ teaspoon Corn
starch 2 tablespoon Cooking Put
chicken pieces, jinger and shokoji into a plastic bag. Rub chicken pieces
with Shio-koji and jinger well. Leave
the plastic bag at room temperature for 4 hours. Take the chicken pieces from
the bag and coat with cornstarch. Fry
the chicken pieces in vegetable oil slowly at medium oil temperature until
brown. Garnish the fried chicken with cresson or parsley. Shio-koji boiled eggs Put
a few raw eggs in a ziplock bag. Add 1 teaspoon of Shio-koji per one egg, add
1 tablespoon of water per one egg. Seal the lock and leave in refregirator
for 3 days (rotate the eggs once a day) and boil. Shio-koji pork Materials A
block of pork (round, belly, or loin ) 1 Lb Shio-koji
2 tablespoon Mustard
seeds 1 tablespoon Put
all the materials in a ziplock bag which is twice as large as the pork block.
Rub the pork with Shio-koji and mustard from outside of the bag. Keep the bag
in refrigerator for a few hours. Put
bag into a rice cooker and set it for warming. Keep the top of the
ziplock at the top so no water of the rice cooker comes in. Pour hot water to
the rice cooker around the bag, and turn on the cooker. Ziplock bags are safe for this way of
cooking. The temperature must be around 140 ~ 160 degrees F. Keep heating for
4 hours. If
no rice cooker is available, the low temperature cooking is possible on the
smallest ring of an electric kitchen stove at the lowest setting. Make sure
the temperature of water with a thermometer. Another
approach is to use a slow cooker if available. At the low setting of heating, the
temperature should be around 140 ~ 160 degrees F. If the temperature is higher than this
range, remove the lid but cover the top partially by aluminum foil. By
adjusting opening of the aluminum foil, the desired temperature can be
achieved.
The
photo on the left above illustrates a double boiler using metal bowls placed
on the smallest kitchen stove. The 1 LB pork belly marinated with Shio-koji
in a ziplock bag was soaked in the inner bowl with the ziplock unlocked. The
stove was set at the lowest temperature. The double boiler was covered with
an aluminum sheet as a lid. Temperature inside the inner bowl was about 160
degrees F. The finished Shio-koji pork
is illustrated on the right photograph above, which was delicious with right
saltiness. Instant
radish-carrot pickles with Shio-koji Cut
white radish (daikon) and carrot to bite size cubic sticks. Put one cup of
mixed radish and carrot sticks in a serving dish. Add one teaspoon of Shio-koji.
Serve immediately. It can be preserved in refrigerator for a few days. If too
salty, add more radish and carrot sticks.
Shio-koji samon sauté
Cut
red salmon to bite size or about 3 oz each. Coat each of salmon piece with ½
teaspoon of Shio-koji, and keep in refrigerator at least four hours. Then
sauté. Marinating beef steak
with shio-koji Why
is cheap beef cheap? It is not because cheap beef is less tasty, but it is
hard. If the hard beef can be tenderized, it can make a good steak at a low
cost. One effect of koji is to induce umami. Another effect is to tenderize
meat because koji has enzymes named proteases and amylases, the latter of
which break down collagen. Collagen is a connecting tissue in the meat and
makes the meat hard. To marinate meat
with Shio-koji, add 2 tablespoon Shio-koji per LB of beef in a plastic bag
and run and keep in refrigerator for 1 to 2 days, and then cook to make a
steak. However, do not cook immediately after taking out from
refrigerator. Before cooking any
steak, raise the temperature of the meat to 80 ~ 100 degrees F and keep at
that temperature for a few hours. This
works to any beef including an expensive beef of course. For a tender beef, the time of marinating
can be shorter just to give umami. Shio-koji burger Burger
is essentially steak of ground beef. Therefore marinating beef described in
the prior section applies. Mix 1 tablespoon Shio-koji with 1 Lb ground beef
and keep at 80 up to 100 degrees for a few hours before cooking as a
burger. Shio-koji chicken
sauté Put
two chicken thighs and 2 teaspoons of Shio-koji into a plastic bag. Rub the
surface of chicken with Shio-koji, and leave the bag at the room temperature,
or at 80-100 degrees F if possible, for a few hours. Saute the chicken in a
frying pan with medium heat until brown Recipes of using shoyu-koji All
the recipes described above using Shio-koji applies to shoyu koji by
substituting Shio-koji by shoyu-koji, giving another good flavor. Shoyu-koji Boiled
Eggs Exactly
same as Shio-koji boiled egg, except shoyu-koji is used in place of Shio-koji. (See
the rightmost photo of sakekasu at the top of this page.) Sakekasu contains high
concentrations of vital amino acids, proteins, minerals, and vitamins. Sakekasu exfoliates and hydrates skin. The
major beneficial components of sakekasu are as follows. It contains vitamin
B6 which is antioxidant, relieves muscle and arthritis pain, skin protectant. It contains folic acid
which promotes cell division and repair, particularly skin and reproductive
cells, anti-anemic, stimulates immune function. For skin care, soften
sakekasu with the same amount of water, and smear on the face, or, other skin
with scratches and freckles. When sakekasu is eaten, it lowers the risk of diabetes, heart disease,
and gastrointestinal disorders, improves nutrient absorption, and promotes
immune function. Eating small amount of sakekasu
( 1Tsp) a day will make you longevity much longer. How to eat is a good
question, but there are some basic thoughts to answer. First, try to cook
foods passively with sakekasu, for example, marinating fish and meats with
sakekasu, second, eat sakekasu positively by mixing small amount of sakekasu
as a part of ingredient in any cooking, for example, mixing sakekasu in
cheese cake, mixing sakekasu in salad dressing, and making a sweet drink with
sakekasu. Quick sakekasu
amazake (hot drink) Materials 1 oz (30g) sakekasu 3/4 cup (150 ml ) water 1 tablespoon sugar A pinch of salt (optional, helps to draw out the sweetness) A pinch of grated fresh ginger to taste If a small fast speed food processor is available, put all in it
and turn until sakakasu is well solved
in the water. Heat the mixture in the microwave for 40 seconds. Without the food processor, put sakekasu and water in a cup,
heat in the microwave for 40 seconds, then break sakekasu until it becomes
well solved in water. Add the rest of materials. Sakekasu marinade Materials 1
cup sakekasu ½
cup sake 2
taablespoon brown sugar ½
cup miso ½
cup water The
best way of mixing sakekasu in sake is to put both in a small high speed food
precessor, and turn with short strokes. Otherwise, add sakekasu to a bowl and
warmed sake. Using a folk, cut sakekasu into small pieces and melt using a
hand mixer. After sakekasu is well mixed with sake, add all other materials
and mix well, and the marinade can be used immediately. Marinate
fish, pork, beef, and chicken by coating each side with 1/8 inch thick
sakekau marinade. Keep the marinated material for a few days in refrigerator,
Then, saute them, or broil. The taste of the meats sill be amazing. Salmon Sakekasu Soup The best way to serve this dish is to cook
in casserole (ceramic or terra cotta, or metal) pan on a portable electric
heater placed at the center of dining table. It can be also cooked on the
kitchen stove top and served as a bowl of soup. Materials Main ingredients 1 Lb salmon fillets lightly-salted salmon cut to about 2 Oz each (16 pieces) 4 inch long large white radish (daikon ), cut to bite
size 1 medium sized carrot, cut to bite size 1/2 burdock root,
cut to bite size 4 inch long white part of a Japanese green
onion, cut to bite size 1+ ½ pound package Sakekasu (1 pack), chopped
into small pieces before cooking 1200 cc dashi stock ( or 6 cup water with 6 tsp of
dashino-kona, Hondashi) Soup topping 1 Green onion, finely
chopped Put all the materials
in the pan and cook at medium heat until the vegetables become tender. If foam floats on the top of the soup,
remove it gently by a radle. The
left photograph illustrates the materials for sakekasu soup (1/3 portion of
the recipe), where no gobo and konyaku are used because they were not
available at the time but bamboo shoot and shiitake are added. Also shio-koji-marinated
salmon is used instead of salted salmon.
The materials can be changed flexibly. |
