Apple & Raisin Chutney

Apple and Raisin Chutney

Ingredients

1.75kg (4lb) cooking apples, peeled cored and chopped
4 medium-sized onions, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
900ml (1 1/2 pints)vinegar
450g (1lb)raisins
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons salt
1kg (2lb 2oz) soft brown suger

How to cook

Place the apples, onions, garlic, lemon juice, mustard seeds and 600ml (1 pint) of the vinegar in a preserving pan. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour until the mixture is soft. Add the raisins, ground ginger, salt, suger and remaining vinegar and simmer, stirring frequently until the chutney is thick.

Roast Pork and Tofu Salad with Onion Dressing

Pot Roast Pork

(Serves 6)
1 kg joint of pork, preferably shoulder
2 cloves of garlic -sliced
1 and 1/3 cup (270ml) of sake (rice wine)
70ml of suger
70ml of soy sauce
3 tablespoons of mirin (sweet alcoholic liquid, an essential ingredient in Japanese cooking.)
sunflower or vegetable oil

1. Tie the pork joint with string.
2. Stab the joint deeply with chopsticks in 6～7 places on each side. Push a slice of garlic into each hole.
3. Put the oil in a very heavy casserole pan and bring it to a very high heat.
4. Place the joint in the pan and seal on sides.
5. Remove excess of oil with kitchen paper.
6. Add sake, suger , soy sauce and mirin. Cover with the lid and bring to the boil. Then reduce the temperature to the lowest and cook for about 40 mins. Leave it in the pan overnight.

This is great for entertaining if it is served on a big plate with some fresh salad and you can use any left over for fried rice or sandwiches!


Tofu Salad with Onion Dressing

(Serves 2)

300g (1 pack) of tofu (soft silken or hard cotton)
Katsuo bushi (Very fine flakes of smoked nd dried nonito fish, you will find it in a Japanese food shop)
Salad leaves

for Onion dressing

1 onion (large)
1 and 1/2 tablespoons of suger
1 teaspoons of salt
70ml of rice wine vinegar
70ml of sunflower or vegetable oil
50ml of mirin
50ml of sake
50ml of soy sauce

Mix all the ingredients (except onion) together in a bowl and soak the thinly sliced onion into the dressing at least for 24 hours.

1. Drain the tofu and wrap it ini kitchen paper to remove ecxcess water and cut it into pieces
2. Put some salad leaves on a plate and pieces of tofu and sprinkle katsuo bushi if available.
3. Serve the tofu with the dressing just before eating.

This is our favorite dressing! It is really great for almost anything. You can pour it over just simply grilled fish or meat, and immediately make a very tasty Japanese dish.