Minced chicken donburi

We've been trying out some recipes from the amazing Harumi's Japanese Home Cooking (by Harumi Kurihara), which I found in our local library. She seems to be a cross between the sainted Delia and Martha Stewart - but her recipes are a winner.

I adapted this donburi one somewhat - she suggests garnishing with mange tout, but we ate ours with some steamed broccoli.

Makes enough for 3. You'll need:

cooked rice (we had our usual mug-ful of rice, two mugs of water)
250g minced chicken (or turkey)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons mirin (we'd run out of this, and of sherry too - so it will be interesting to try it again with some)
3 boiled eggs, quartered

Fry the minced chicken/turkey, until it is browned. Add the soy sauce, sugar and mirin, and simmer until nearly all the liquid has evaporated.

Serve the mince on top of the hot cooked rice, topped with some boiled egg and steamed broccoli.

Harumi also suggests sweetened shiitake mushrooms as an additional topping - she simmers rehydrated shiitake mushrooms in a similar soy sauce/mirin/sugar mix (6 dried mushrooms to 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 1/2 tablespoons mirin and 2 teaspoons caster sugar).

Bento

You haven't been feeling great this week, so I made you a bento box for tea - spinach and cucumber salad, some steamed rice with peanuts, a little poached salmon, and a few slices of banana. And a little lake of soy sauce for dipping in the centre, of course.

Szechuan pork

We ate this with some steamed rice and pak choi. There wasn't a lot left.

You'll need:

3 pork loin steaks/boneless chops
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 clove of garlic, squished
a little sunflower oil

Stick the oven on at about 200 degrees C.

Mix together the soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar and garlic (you could also add some dried chillies) in a bowl. Dunk the pork in the marinade, and leave for half an hour or so (the longer the better).

Decant the pork and marinade into an ovenproof dish, and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the pork is browned and any fat has become crispy. You can either leave whole, or slice thinly.

Teriyaki chicken

You've decided that this is your favourite chicken dish ever. I predict we'll be eating it again...

Makes enough for three. You'll need:

6-8 boneless skinless chicken thighs (chopped into chunks)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine
2/3 tablespoon dark brown sugar

Sling the soy sauce, rice wine and dark brown sugar into a small saucepan, and heat until the sugar has dissolved. Tip over the chicken, and leave to marinade (for half an hour or so - depends on how hungry you are).

Turn your grill up high, and leave to get hot. Tip the chicken pieces (and the rest of the marinade) into an ovenproof dish (I lined mine with foil in a bid to make it easier to clean afterwards, but the chicken just stuck to the foil, which then stuck to the dish...) and put under the grill. Turn after 5 minutes or so - and then leave for another 5 minutes. Your chicken is ready once it's glazed and browned (and no longer pink in the middle). You can make it even more fancy by sprinkling with a few sesame seeds...

We ate ours with some noodles cooked with ginger, garlic, red pepper and onion, but it would also go well with steamed rice.

Ketjap manis

Also called Indonesian sweet soy, apparently. We needed it for the Indonesian noodle salad, so Google obliged (hence the American cup measurement).

You'll need:

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons dark treacle
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Stick the water and dark brown sugar in a saucepan, and stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil, and then keep on a high heat for 5 minutes.

Reduce the heat again, and chuck in the rest of the ingredients. Stir until everything's dissolved, and then simmer for 3-4 minutes.

Decant into a jar - it'll keep in the fridge for 2-3 months. It's rather good as a dipping sauce, and it's even better if you have it with a little lime juice.

Sticky chicken with cashew nuts

We spent the day pootling about on the beach at Druridge Bay, and then came home to eat tea on the balcony in the sunshine. The cashew nuts were a big hit.

You'll need

3 or 4 skinless and boneless chicken thighs, chopped into strips
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon runny honey
50g cashew nuts
a little olive oil

Decant the soy sauce and honey into a large bowl, and tip in the chicken strips. Mix thoroughly, and leave to marinade for 10-15 minutes.

Heat a splosh of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan, and once it's hot, tip in the chicken and cashew nuts. Fry for 5-8 minutes (depending on how thickly you've sliced the chicken), making sure everything doesn't stick.

Turn the heat up, and fry for another 5 minutes, so that the honey starts to turn sticky, and the chicken browns.

We ate ours with wedges of sour lemon, and a spinach and mangetout salad. It would be lovely with a little egg fried rice on the side too.