Picnic Day

Yesterday was 'Picnic Day' for me =)

I spent a total of 4 hours (yes, shows how much of an inexperienced cook I am) to prepare, cook and pack everything- My theme was Japanese Food (with an exception of 1 item), and my parents said that it turned out pretty good =)

So, I thought I would share the recipes with my readers =) The items I prepared were:

• Baked Potato
• Rice Balls (I'll just be sharing the sushi & steamed rice recipe. The rest of it is up to your imagination)
• Teriyaki Chicken
• Crabstick (I will not be posting the recipe as it just requires dropping the crabsticks in boiling water) <-- This didn't come out the way I wanted it to anyway due to a lack of time

I hope these recipes help if you ever decide to do up a Japanese meal!

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Baked Potato

INGREDIENTS:

• Large Potatoes (such as Russet Potatoes)
• * Salt
  
• * Butter

* These items are optional

PREPARATION:

• Adjust the rack in your oven to the middle position and preheat oven according to your preference from the chart below.
  
• Wash and scrub each potato under running water, as these are the skins that you will be eating with the potato later. Dry the potatoes.
  
• Pierce each potato with a fork or sharp knife, four times on each side at approximately 1 inch intervals. This allows the potato to let the steam escape during baking.
• For a soft skin (and taste), rub the potato skins with olive oil or butter. You can also roll the potatoes in coarse salt instead. What I did was to mix salt and butter and apply that on the potato.
  
• You can choose to wrap each potato in aluminum foil (which will produce a soft skin instead) or just bake it like that to produce a light, flaky texture instead =)

Temperatures/Times for baking
(for potatoes approximately 150g/5oz each)

These timings are for the conventional or regular oven:

45 minutes at 400 degrees F (204.44°C). 60 minutes at 350 degrees F (176.67°C). 90 minutes at 325 degrees F (162.78°C).

• When baking with a higher temperature (and with a shorter cooking time), the skin will turn out more crispy. Do take note that larger potatoes will take longer to bake. Adjust the baking time appropriately.
• Turn the potatoes over halfway through the baking time to prevent browning/wetting of the undersides. (I forgot this step so the bottom of my potatoes turned soggy -_-")
• When finished, slit across the top with a sharp knife and gently pinch in each end towards the middle so that the fluffy interior will be loosened from the skin. I did it the non-conventional way, however, by cutting a 'cap' out, and placing butter and bacon bits in the hole. Then I replaced the cut-out piece in a slightly slanted position.

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Teriyaki Chicken

INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 pounds chicken breasts or thighs
• 2 tbsp sake (rice wine)
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 4 tbsp mirin (sweet rice wine)
• 2 tbsp sugar
• * grated ginger

PREPARATION:

• Poke chicken with a fork.
• Mix the rest of the ingredients (except for the ginger) in a bowl. Place the chicken in the mixture marinate it for 15 minutes in the refrigerator.
• Heat some vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry the skin side of the chicken on medium heat until the skin turns brown.
• Turn the fire down to low heat and fry the other side of the chicken.
• Pour the marinate into the pan with the chicken and cover the pan. Allow the chicken to steam until done.
• Remove the lid and simmer until the sauce becomes thick. (Do not overdo it as the chicken and sauce may become burnt)
• Turn the heat off once the sauce is done and remove the chicken to slice.
• Pour the thickened sauce over the chicken.
• If you wish to, you may garnish the teriyaki chicken with grated ginger.
  

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Steamed Japanese Rice

This recipe is good for 4 - 6 servings (For me, it was enough for at least 5 or 6)

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 cups Japanese rice
• 3 1/4 cups water

PREPARATION:

• Put the rice in a large bowl and wash it with cold water.
  
• Repeat washing until the water becomes almost clear.
  
• Drain the rice and set aside for 30 minutes. (I missed this step but the rice still turned out really good)
  
• Place the rice in rice cooker and add water.
• Soak the water for AT LEAST 30 minutes. The best timing is an hour.
• Start the cooker.
  

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Sushi Rice (Continued from Steamed Japanese Rice)

This recipe is good for 4 - 6 servings (For me, it was enough for at least 5 or 6)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt

PREPARATION:

• After cooking the steamed japanese rice, prepare the sushi vinegar (sushi zu) by mixing the rice vinegary, sugar and salt in a pan. Put it on low heat until the sugar dissolves.
• Let the vinegar mixture cool.
• Spread the hot steamed rice into a large non-metallic plate or bowl (to prevent chemical reactions between the metal and rice vinegar). Sprinkle the vinegar mixture over the rice over a few times, and fold the rice with a rice spatula quickly. Be careful not to smash the rice.
• To cool and remove the rice moisture well, let a fan blow the rice as you mix it. This will give the rice a nice shiny finish.

# Sushi Rice is best used straightaway

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The below pictures are my end-product. I particularly like my onigiris (rice balls) that are shown in the 2nd picture.






Signing off... ...
In love with my onigiris