Food

Natto

Some natto from the last 2 months or so.

2 Osato brand natto’s. Both of medium (Chu-tsubu) size bean. The taste was fairly similar for both of these, the right side one was slightly more fuller flavour with a firmer bean consistency. Mukashinagara means Old fashioned. umai ga ichiban tare karashi means something like Special sauce and mustard.

Yamada brand Hikiwari natto. Hikiwari is crushed beans. I found these more slimy but slightly less flavorful than usual, they ferment for less time and develop less flavour.

Osato brand Otsubo (large bean) natto. Far less slimy, but more flavour from extended fermentation, and much more texture to the bigger beans. yuki homare kokusan means something like Special domestic grain?

Yamada brand Kotsubu (small) natto. This has extra Dashi added and is meant to be served on rice. More slimy than the larger sizes, and a good flavour. This one had no mustard, just soy.

Yamada brand mini natto. Doesn’t say Kotsubu, it says mini instead, and I believe they are meant to be even smaller and also softer than usual (I’m not sure I noticed). They tasted pretty much same as above.

Drinks

Lemon Sour

Japanese non-alcoholic Lemon Sour. Tastes like grapefruit pith, very sour! Awesome.

Drinks

Tea.

Two teas that were pretty good.

Suntory Green Dakara Yasashii Mugicha. A standard barley tea. You can taste the seaweed which give its a nice extra taste.

Ito En Oi Ocha Bold Unsweetened Green Tea. This is really strong flavoured, and has a very pungent green tea smell.

Food

Curry & Related Sauces Part 2.

Will update the below as I get through the varieties listed in Part 1

House Foods Java Curry, Hot This is not as sweet like most Japanese curry. Nice spicyness with a mild heat. Rich very western brown gravy like flavour. I had this with sweet potato and rice and it was robust I guess is a word.

S & B Golden Hayashi Rice Sauce. Beefy and oniony sauce, rich but not too over powering and not salty. A nice flavourful gravy to have with rice. I had this with pork mince and normal potato on rice.

S & B Tasty Hayashi Rice, Japanese Gravy Mix. Similar to the above S & B Golden, but less big and beefy and more vegetable stock-like. Milder. Had this with rice, cubed beef, sweet potato and spring onion.

House Foods Kokumaru Curry. This is an interesting one, It was quite sweet when I was cooking it, but now its on the food its very miso with a fair bit of spice and a mild heat. Probably the most heat and spice of the 4 I have tasted so far. Ate this with red capsicum, potato, eggplant and pork mice,

House Foods Keema Curry, Black/Spicy.

House Foods Vermont Curry.

Food

Curry & Related Sauces, Part 1.

There’s a Part 2 HERE

I haven’t made Japanese curry in a while, and got a bunch. I’ve only had this specific House brand Vermont Curry box in the below pic, and maybe the S & B Golden Hayashi Rice Sauce? The top left box is House brand Keema curry, spicy version, its a sauce pouch and not blocks like the rest.

You can see how they are segmented into blocks/servings below. They vary quite surprisingly in total product weight and serving size. And what defines a serving?

1) House brand Keema Curry Black/Spicy – 150g, 1 serving. I believe this is one serving, you microwave/boil the pouch and pour it on rice? There’s not many instructions I can understand, though.

2) S & B Golden Hayashi Rice Sauce. 195g, 8 blocks. Instructions say “5 – 6 x 2” in one corner.

3) House Foods Java Curry. 185g, 8 blocks. It says 9 servings on the front of the box.

4) House Foods Vermont Curry. 230g, 12 blocks 12 servings. This is like the base root note 101 of Japanese curry. “With a touch of Apple and Honey” is always confusing.

5) House Foods Kokumaru Curry. 149g, 8 blocks. Says 8 servings. Not sure what style this is meant to be. “A rich yet mild curry made with a blend of two different kinds of roux.”

6) S & B Tasty Hayashi Rice, Japanese Gravy Mix. 160g, 8 blocks. Says 8 servings. Hayashi style.

I’ve only tried maybe 2 of the above. I have had others from House and S & B brands before, though, some just the Hot or Mild versions of the above flavours. Personal experience, I thinks Japanese style curry is disgusting on noodles, like curry udon is just repulsive. If there’s deep fried crispy meat involved it can only be pork in a real decent crust else its repulsive. The weird Japanese curry sauce just messes with certain stuff the wrong way, for me. Its fine if you use it in a very simple even rudimentary curry or stew, on or with a equal or larger side of rice, the sauce being the focus. A big thing is additions to the sauce itself, and as no one in real life makes this from scratch its the shit you add personally to adapt and perfect the sauce to your taste that matters.

If you think cinnamon is too spicy then Japanese curry is not for you.

There’s a Part 2 Here….

Curry & Related Sauces Part 2.
THIS IS PART 2
Drinks

Orion 75

Orion Breweries – Orion 75 Premium Series Pilsner, 5%ABV 350ml can. A bit of an oddity as you don’t generally see even normal Orion draft around here, let alone some special edition. Orion 75 Premium Series Pilsner. Smells like a Pilsner, funky but also light fruity notes, very light bready slightly toasty and caramel malts. It’s a golden amber in colour, has a nice big tan head on pouring which disappears rather quickly, carbonation is fine. The hopping is all bittering hops, standard for a Pilsner, but they are very up front and really hang around, not really any stronger than some European Pilsner hop bitterness, but I think these may be a modern hop, not like Saaz or other Pilsner standards? As it warms, and you get adjusted to the lets say bold hopping, a light but defined malt character appears that reminds me of basically eating actual Pilsner malt grains. Its all very refined and exactly what is says on the can. This is actually pretty good. 2.5/5.

Drinks

Amazake

I had one of these previously, but it seems I didn’t blog it at the time. This one is pumpkin flavour. The weird sweet-umami/mushroom thing really didnt give me any pumpkin character, but it was still anice. I like that fermenty funky thing amazake has going on. The price is stupid, but thats certain drinks from Japan in general.

(Note: Both the pumpkin and matcha green tea below are Horaiya Honten brand)

I found the first one I had, It was matcha green tea flavour, and did have a green tea light taste and tannin bitterness if I remember correctly. The Morinaga Amazake can in the picture I do not remember unfortunately.