2014 A to Z Blogging Challenge - D is for Donburi rice

There is rice under there honest! I made this for a Japanese theme menu at a hen party November 2012. If you've only ever had sushi rice in sushi - you should try it in this as well. 

Donburi is a bowl of white rice with toppings - from there you can take off and make your own version with what you have. 

This is another one where I mashed a few recipes and came up with something else - the flavours of this with a whole load of other vegetables added in with the rice including okra then topped it with raw veg - shiitake and enoki mushrooms, carrots, spring onion, coriander which you can stir into the rice at the table to take the raw edge off slightly. Either way the cooked rice and vegetables and the raw or just off raw topping is a nice mix! You can add other things - cooked pork or prawns. Lots of variations of this have a whole egg on top too. 

Sushi from the Japanese night

Sesame tuna from the Japanese night

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Japanese theme menu

 So back from a Scandinavian theme dinner party in London at 4am the day started again at 7:30 with last minute shopping at the Ranee supermarket in Cheltenham and then a lunch party, then finishing setting up another 5 evening parties as well as this one. As the rain set in it was a quick race down to Berkeley with one dinner party for the guests to serve themselves before going back up to Blockley to serve this one. Epic day!

Menu

We served these on large dishes at the table for guests to share between themselves - great for an informal hen party celebration!

 Sweet potato and prawn tempura with dashi dipping sauce [I was partially dressed in tempura batter after this. As was the kitchen work surface. And floor. Messy, but rather moreish!] - from this recipe

Chicken yakitori with tare sauce

Selection of sushi: salmon, tuna, avocado

Sushi doesn't come much fresher - made, cut and straight to the table. Forget the nori wrapping - you've had that everywhere else surely - the tuna was wrapped in cavalo nero leaves (trim out the middle stem), avocado wrapped in sesame seeds and salmon sushi coated in chives & coriander - interesting tastes!

 Tuna tartare and avocado salad with sesame soy dressing

 Beef tataki and raw vegetable rolls with chilli, soy and lime dressing - inspiration from this recipe. Sadly no shiso leaves at the Ranee supermarket.

The hens had decorated the table before we got there. I was obviously so busy getting everything ready I didn't notice till the end of the night the shape of the table confetti they had sprinkled all over. Oh you have to love hen parties!

 Just in case this wasn't enough there was a main course as well......

Chicken katsu curry - from this recipe - so delicious!

Japanese beef and shiitake mushrooms with soba noodles and crispy nori

Sesame crusted tuna with caramel soy dressing

 Crispy duck with edamame beans, crispy shallots and ponzu

Crossed 2 recipes and came up with something different - this one and this. The second is certainly an  interesting way  of cooking duck  - steaming (after marinading for 2 days) then deep frying in a wok to get the crispy skin.

 Pak choi with garlic, ginger and oyster sauce and Japanese kabocha pumpkin

 Vegetable doburi rice - there is rice under there honest! If you've only ever had sushi rice in sushi - you should try it in this as well. Another one where I mashed a few recipes and came up with something else - the flavours of this with a whole load of other vegetables added in with the rice including okra then topped it with raw veg - shiitake and enoki mushrooms, carrots, spring onion, coriander which you can stir into the rice at the table to take the raw edge off slightly. Either way the cooked rice and vegetables and the raw or just off raw topping is a nice mix!

Dessert? Skip dessert and move straight on to cocktails - it's a hen party darling!
They had a cocktail barman for the latter part of the evening who served from the front room, allowing us time to clear up. Job done.


Related posts
Other theme menus we have served
Marmite farfalle poached in miso with shiitake and kale

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Smoked haddock kedgeree - just what you need for Sunday brunch!

"So what do you do the rest of the week then?" Common question lots of people ask when we're chatting as we're preparing their dinner party. I was asked it last Saturday too as I was in the middle of making beef wellingtons - it does actually make you lol inside. There is actually quite a lot of preparation behind what we do. Organising packing lists, shopping lists, prep lists, to do lists, lists of lists. And emails, quotes, accounts, VAT, the odd weekday corporate event, seemingly endless laundry.... and somewhere between that you have to do a bit of cooking - it's amazing how the week fills up from one weekend to the next :) I long to live in Hogsmeade and the food would magically appear on the table, only I don't and it doesn't. Wouldn't be any fun anyway! 

I was making this around 4am on Saturday morning - as you do - for a brunch delivery before setting off do to a hen party cookery session.

Curry rice pilaf - a variation on this recipe & using basmati rice. Add whole spices too - cloves, all spice berries, bay leaves, cardamon - whatever you've got on the shelf. I used the rice cooker.  Perfect  rice every time - it really is a life changing piece of equipment in the kitchen. 1 cup rinsed rice = 1 cup of water.

Smoked haddock poached in milk. Milk is then used to make the curry sauce that goes with it.  It's the curry sauce which makes it so delish!

Wait - something's missing. Oh yes - hard boiled eggs.

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Meat Free Monday #16 - Red rice salad with grilled asparagus (and garlic mushrooms, grilled aubergine and avocado with walnuts)

What's this - a Meat Free Monday post actually on the day?
This was 8 hours ago. Finally found the camera lead. I have a whole load of Meat Free Monday posts to catch up on - the last few weeks have just been so busy.

I had wanted to try a red rice salad for a while (big rice fan). Between emails and lists I fixed a quick lunch utilsing the last of the asparagus stalks (tips were used for a canape) and an avocado left from a chicken and avocado salad.
Garlic mushrooms too - with garlic butter left from making garlic bread and some grilled aubergines and butternut squash with mint and lemon juice.
I tried out the electric health grill. It's sloped so the oil drips out and is caught. No smoke too.




Red rice salad

Cooked red rice
Sliced black olives
Sliced sundried tomato
Diced raw fennel
Lemon juice (lots)
Olive oil
Mint
Parsley

But you could add what you liked really.

Maybe enough for 2 but I had walked up an appetite in the Malvern hills the day before.

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Meat Free Monday #8 - Sweet and sour chinese leaf with egg fried rice

Another meat free Monday where I was so busy (now writing this a whole week later) - this time after trawling through the backlog of enquiries I was making a start on the lovely VAT return, but there was just some time to make some fast food in between.

I found some great chinese leaf (US - napa cabbage) recipes from the January beet n squash you that I had been far too busy to even contemplate. The sweet and sour idea is quite simple - you can add beansprouts, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots etc or whatever you like. I made a simple sweet and sour with homemade tomato sauce, soy, rice wine vinegar, dark brown sugar, sesame oil and added this later.

Egg fried rice - rice boiled with turmeric. Drained and mixed with softened onion, peas, soy, cumin, ground and fresh coriander and beaten egg.

More info on Meat Free Monday here.

Related posts

Other Meat Free Monday dishes

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Beans on toast

I stopped off on the way back to base after my Sunday brunch deliveries to pick some nettles. At last there would be a little time to try making this bread.......

Gluten free nettle soda bread

I used the soda bread recipe I had used before (buttermilk version). As I was using rice flour rather than wheat flour though, I added 1 teaspoon of baking powder and an egg as well to help things along.

Sauteed nettles chilled and pureed with buttermilk. Then just stirred in the nettle-buttermilk mix with flour, soda etc.

I kept some to make a nettle pesto to spoon over the beans.

This went with beer baked beans (last of the frozen left overs)

The verdict - tasty bread. Next time definitely use a mix of rice and tapioca flour - the tapioca being so starchy will help it be less crumbly.

Related posts:

Soda bread - water & vinegar vs. buttermilk

Nettle potato pancakes

Nettle picking tips

Cooking with nettles

Beer baked beans

Provencal (tomato) baked beans

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Kitchen tips #19 - Nice rice

You always want your culinary creations to look good in front of your guests. Curry can be one of those dishes that while tasting amazing, can look a bit like a dogs dinner. Less is always more.

To turn out your rice pilaf as a tower, pre-cook the rice earlier in the day, and once cool keep in the fridge. To re-heat pack in to tea cups and cling film the top. Microwave for 2 - 3 minutes or more, depending on how many cups you have there at once. Leave to stand for a minute, then press down on top of the cling film, pressing the rice into the cup.
Turn your plate upside down on top of the cup, then turn the cup and plate over and remove cup, leaving you with a dome of rice.

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