カレー : Japanese-style Curry (1)

Have you ever seen these??



These are the condiments to make Japanese-style curry.

From the right,
辛口: Extra spicy
中辛: Spicy
甘口: Not spicy

Even though it says spicy, I don't think that it's spicy enough. So, if you like spicy dishes, I recommend that you buy extra spicy one or put chili pepper in it.

I'll tell you how to make Japanese-style curry in my next entry.
Little busy for my yoga classes, hehe.

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梅干しドレッシング(Ueboshi dressing)

Since I wrote about Umeboshi in my last entry, I made Umeboshi dressing.
Here's the recipe for you.

Ingredients;

4 pieces of Umeboshi or Umezuke
30cc of soy sauce
30cc of Japanese rice vinegar
60cc of olive oil
1 small spoon of lemon juice
1/4 piece of onion


1. Remove the seeds from Umeboshi/Umezuke and cut it into pieces. Mince onion.
2. Put all ingredients into a mixer and mix them.


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梅干し(Umeboshi: Japanese salted prune)

I found Umebohsi in a Japanese grocery store here in Manila!!
My grandmother used to make Umeboshi in June. I miss her salty Umeboshi...

Umebishi is a traditional Japanese food. It's made of Japanese plum, pickled and a little bit dried. It tastes really sour and salty. It is easily found in a supermarket in Japan.

Since it's salted and dried, it can be preserved very long. According to Wikipedia, the oldest Umeboshi they have in Japan now was made in 1576!! and it's still preserved in a very good condition. It's proved that if you make Umeboshi in a very traditional way, it can be preserved very long, really long time.

Usually, Umeboshi is pickled with salt and dried, but now we have pickled but not dried Umeboshi. Those are called "Umezuke". In Japan, we have so many varieties of Umeboshi and Umezuke.
They are pickled with reduced salt, 赤紫蘇(Akajiso: perilla), 昆布(Konbu: kelp), 鰹節(Katsuobushi: finely sliced dried bonito), 蜂蜜(Hachimitsu: honey), and so on.
Those Umeboshi or Umezuke won't last long since they don't have enough salt for long preservation.
(Traditional Umeboshi has about 22% of salt, while nowadays we usually have about 7% of salt.)

Good Umeboshi is really expensive! The famous brand 南高梅(Nankoubai) cost 10,000yen for 720g while you can find one about 1,200yen in a supermarket.

Umeboshi and Umezuke have lots of citric acid and are said good to your health.
However, it has a lot of salt. So, if you don't want to consume a lot of salt, don't eat too much of them.

Usually, we eat Umeboshi with rice, but sometimes we use it like a condiment. Paste them and put them in a sauce or dressing.



Picture of Umezuke and the special paste that I made using Umezuke:)

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Jose Rizal

Jose Rizal is a national hero in Philippines.
I was not interested in him at first, but suddenly got interested ever since my Filipino friend took me to the Fort Santiago and Rizal Shrine in Metro Manila.

I was so surprised to found out that it is required by law to read the books that he wrote.
He wrote so many books. Among them, "Noli Me Tangere" and "El Filibusterismo" are the most famous and his masterpieces.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that he was executed simply because he wrote those two books.



Currently I'm reading "Noli Me Tangere" and I found the book is very good. Interesting historical and Christianity contents full of sarcasm against the situation of Philippines at that time.
If you have a chance to read those books, please read them in Spanish because those books were originally written in Spanish.
(I'm reading English version since I cannot understand Spanish, but I will read Spanish original version someday!!)

Come to think of Jose Rizal, there are so many streets that are named "Rizal Street" or "Rizal Drive".
The place where I currently live now, its address is "corner Rizal Drive":)
He is very much respected by Filipino people.


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