お料理（ぶりの照り焼き）

Today, I cooked my first real Japanese dish.

Sure I had done some Cup Noodle, instant curry and the like, but now it was time to make something from scratch. I'm pretty hopeless in the kitchen, so this was going to be quite the task. I couldn't do it alone. I needed help.


And since I am indeed a nerd, that assistance came from my good friend Nintendo. The DS Cooking Navigator was just released in Japan, and when I saw the commercials for it on TV, I knew I had to have it.

This handy game is a portable, interactive cookbook with 200 common Japanese recipes. It will automatically adjust measurements depending on the number of people you're cooking for, and if you input whatever groceries you have in your kitchen, it will tell you what you can make.

It keeps a calendar of all the dishes you cook, allows you to plan weekly or monthly menus, and will even direct you in a "set menu" where you make a TRUE full meal (soup, salad, entree, and dessert).

A little animated chef gives you verbal (and written) intructions every step of the way. "Please prepare the frying pan. Pour in 1 tablespoon oil. Set heat to medium. Insert fish. Cook for 3 minutes. You need that timed? Let me time that for you!" and so on. When it tells you to chop onions or something, you can watch a video showing you the correct "checkerboard method" of cutting them. And of course, when you've finally completed your dish, you get a hearty bow and "Good job!" from the tiny Italian stereotype. I wonder if he has an Italian accent in Japanese. I can't tell, but it wouldn't surprise me.

Whenever you've completed a step, you shout "Okay!" to proceed to the next one. Though the voice recognition software could use some work. It kept advancing to the next step whenever I opened a Ziploc bag, but after I moved the DS further away, it was fine. You can go back by saying "modoru," and get further details on any step by saying "kuwashiku." This microphone capability is so that you can get intructions even when your hands are full or messy with food.

Here's what I made, though I replaced the yellowtail with cod since they were out at the store.


Yellowtail Teriyaki (for 1...*sigh*)

Ingredients:

• 2 slices Yellowtail (Japanese slices are SMALL)
• Flour (as needed)
• 1 tbsp salad oil (I think vegetable or olive oil would be fine)
• 20 g pickled ginger (I left this out since pickles are the devil's fruit)
• 2 tbsp mirin (also known as "sweet sake")
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tbsp sugar


Preparation:

In a small bowl, mix together 1/2 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp mirin, and 2 tbsp soy sauce. Set aside.

In another bowl or plate, add some flour. Coat each side of the fish evenly.


Add 1 tbsp salad oil to a frying pan and set on medium heat. Place the fish in the pan skin side down. Cook until you see a nice brownish golden color and flip over (a few minutes per side). Turn the heat to low. Soak up the excess oil with some paper towels.

Add the soy sauce mixture to the pan. Cook until the fish looks nice and coated.

Put the fish on a plate and add the ginger on the side for garnish. (I also cooked up some rice to make this more of a meal.)


As you can see, I rewarded myself with an ice cold beer for a job well done. I thought the meal tasted pretty good, but then again, I have pretty unrefined tastes. But hell, I'm just glad I managed not to burn down the apartment.

And look, Ma! No tentacles!