Rika's TOKYO CUISINE: Rika's Squid Dishes

Dining with the Chef!

Hello, I'm Rika Yukimasa.

Welcome to Dining with the Chef.

Today I'm going to show you two recipes featuring squid.

Squid is not only delicious, it's rich in protein but low in calories, making it an ingredient well worth trying.

If you're wary about eating squid, you can use other seafood, such as shrimps or scallops.

I hope you'll try making today's recipes at home.

Tokyo, an Asian city with the largest metropolitan population in the world, the boundaries between old Japan and futuristic Japan are blurred in this metropolis.

The food here is a fusion of cuisine, not just from around Asia, but around the globe.

In this program, Tokyo-based culinary artist Rika Yukimasa demonstrates the current trends from her own kitchen near Tokyo Bay.

Our co-host is Patrick Harlan, widely known in Japan as Pakkun.

Rika's Tokyo Cuisine.

Today, two dishes featuring squid.

When I think of squid, I think of fried calamari like we had back home.

While I came to Japan, I had pasta which made in squid ink sauce.

- Yes.
- Which really surprised me.

It's black!

- Well, that's actually famous dish in Italy.
- Right.

Here in Japan, we have many other ways to prepare squid, too.

Right. Because Japan is the world's largest consumer of squid.

Really?

My favorite way would be sashimi. Sashimi is really soft.

Put it on little bit of sushi rice.

- Fresh squid sushi is awesome.
- That's my favorite. Always good.

- If you think about it, squids are low in calories and high in proteins.
- Right.

So it's a very good ingredients for someone like you. For a bodybuilder.

Oh, yeah, that's me! Bodybuilder.

But it is super healthy. And also super delicious.

What I want you to learn is, you know, it's a good ingredients to try.

Something that you've never tried, then you have to watch this program and learn about it.

Sure.

- We're all about trying new things.
- Yes.

So what kind of squid should we use today?

Well, today we're using this very popular "Surumeika."

Pacific flying squid, or Japanese flying squid.

Yeah, it's basically standard squid.

Pacific flying squid is the most common species in Japan.

It has a chewy texture and can be cooked in all kinds of ways.

Frozen squid has to be thawed properly.

Avoid using the defrost setting on your microwave to thaw rapidly.

It will lose moisture and flavor.

Instead, use a plastic bag to thaw the squid slowly under running water.

- When it comes to squid, I recommend you thaw only partially.
- Really?

- Because it's easier to cut with not sharpen knife.
- I see.

- If you have a sharp knife, no problem.
- You're fine. Right.

So here's hint number one.

When using frozen squid, keep it a little bit frozen so it's easier to handle when you cut.

Squid is slippery.

Now that squid is partially thawed, we are ready to start making the dressing.

- Oh, you make a lot of different dressing.
- Yes.

And they're always fun and versatile. You can use them in different foods.

I have over 100 recipes for dressing, but today I'm going to introduce you a very basic one using soy sauce.

Okay.

The key point is to use soy sauce and sushi vinegar and sesame oil.

- Same amount.
- Okay.

Sushi vinegar is designed to make sushi rice, right?

The sushi vinegar, I use this so often for mostly sushi vinegar for dressings because it contains little amount of sugar, salt and vinegar, Japanese vinegar.

- And it's very mild.
- Right.

So when you try to make the dressing out of like white wine vinegar, and you almost cough right?

It happens.

- So with the sushi vinegar, it's milder.
- Right.

And everybody likes.

And you mix well and that's it.

Nice. Could you use wasabi instead of...?

Yes. Wasabi dressing is really good.

Yeah, I love wasabi dressing.

- All right. That's the dressing.
- Yes.

So what's in the salad?

- We're going to use celery, avocados and tomatoes.
- Oh, wonderful.

You know, I don't think we use celery as much in Japan as we do back home in Colorado.

We used a lot of celery in America.

Japanese people started to like savory flavor of celery.

- So instead of only eating raw, we cook with meat or some other dishes.
- Right.

And then you cut into, like, cucumber.

- If you don't have celery, you can have a cucumber.
- Okay.

Not as crunchy, necessarily, but that's definitely a different texture than the avocado or the tomato.

I love the sound of a knife on a cutting board.

Cut the tomato into 8 wedges.

- Avocado.
- Okay.

How ripe do we want the avocado?

Avocados, depending on how ripe they are, they get more and more squishy.

More and more sort of oily as well.

But that's good for some, but not all dishes.

How ripe do we want the to make the avocado today?

- I don't want it to be too squashy.
- Okay.

- But I don't want it to be too hard either.
- Haha okay.

- So you want the Goldilocks avocado?
- Yes.

But it's kind of difficult.

Even if I go to grocery store, and I ask the salesperson.

"Which one do you recommend?" He said, "I don't know."

I've been dealing with avocado for years, but I don't know.

- Well, it looks like you got a good one today.
- Yeah.

Avocados turn brown when exposed to air, so it's important to coat immediately with dressing.

The vinegar will slow down the enzyme activity and prevent discoloration.

The vegetables are all set.

- So let's boil the squid.
- Let's boil the squid!

Well, one thing, it's very important.

- You can only cook squid for a short period of time.
- Okay.

- Or long period of time.
- Okay.

Nothing in between.

- No medium period of time.
- Yes. No medium.

You either have to cook quickly, then keep the softness or cook until it's very soft over a long time.

So if you cook for a medium length, you're going to get tough, chewy squid.

That's probably happened to you before.

You've been to a restaurant where you had not well-prepared squid.

The idea is you cook it quickly on high heat or for a long time a low heat.

Nothing in between. Sounds good.

And today, because we're preparing only salad, we're going to cut this into thin slices.

- Okay. It looks like a couple of millimeters.
- Yes.

If you're using thick squid, cut through into 5 millimeter slices before cutting into 1 centimeter wide rings.

Nice. Oh you can use the entire squid then.

Yes.

Great.

- So for 600 milliliter of water, I put one teaspoon of sea salt.
- Okay.

And then turn off the heat.

Before you add the squid? Interesting.

Place it.

So you're not cooking it in boiling water?

That's right. So I'm not boiling.

- Just cooking. Heating through.
- Interesting.

Once the squid turns white, take it out before it becomes rubbery.

- That was quick.
- Yes. That was quick.

So this is the trick of this.

I have witnessed many times overseas, that people do cook a little too much.

On high heat.

Then it gets kind of rubbery.

- That's why people don't like cuttlefish dishes.
- Right.

It's amazing.

There are many foods that I didn't really like until I came to Japan, and had them when they were prepared well, that made to all the different.

And place in the cold water.

When the squid has cooled down, drain and pat dry.

And before you adding on top of vegetables, you want to sprinkle a little bit of salt and sesame oil to taste.

Interesting.

Because you want to give a little bit of strong flavor to the squid.

Okay.

And then put it on top of here.

If you have a party, then just put the plastic wrap and put it in the freezer.

- At this stage?
- Yes.

Before you mix it. Okay.

You always have the most beautiful dishes.

I love the plates themselves.

- In Japan, we use various dishes in different shapes and sizes.
- Right.

- So right before you plate it. This is when you mix it.
- Right.

And it's nice because these slices are fairly big.

- So you didn't have that much cutting to do.
- No.

And you try to make like a finely cut salad, the chopping is kind of a tedious chore.

- Yeah.
- But you didn't do all that much cutting today.

- No.
- It's nice.

It's just mixing it.

- And I see you're trying to get a balance of the ingredients.
- Yes.

And you're topping it with the squid?

So this is something we would always have if you go to kind of like the "Izakaya."

- Then you have this "Otooshi," which is a little appetizer.
- Right.

So, just like, I plate it as if I'm making the mountain.

And sprinkle a little bit of grinded sesame.

- The sesame oil goes really well with grinded sesame.
- Sure.

And then sprinkle a little bit of Japanese "shiso" on top.

- Shiso leaves.
- Yes.

Gorgeous.

So this is the Japanese style.

However, if you don't have this kind of dish, you may use the regular white plate.

Then what you do is, instead of plating all over the plate, try to plate in the center.

- And also vertically?
- Yes.

Intersting.

When serving on a platter, make a mound in the center, leaving plenty of empty space.

This creates an aesthetically pleasing look.

Pour over a little bit of sauce.

And then sprinkle a little bit of grinded sesame.

Okay.

Beautiful.

The exact same dish, but plated so differently, it looks like a whole different angle.

- That's wonderful.
- Thank you.

So what's next?

Well, I thought it would be nice to make "yakisoba."

Woo! "Yakisoba" is a stir-fried noodle dish.

- It's universally popular. And it's super easy to make.
- Yes.

Great.

Usually we use Chinese "yakisoba" noodle.

- Chinese style with wheat flour.
- Of course.

But today I want to introduce you to this soba buckwheat noodle.

Japanese soba is of course, a super popular noodle dish made with buckwheat, but I've never heard of Japanese soba noodles being used in "yakisoba."

- Is this a Rika's original?
- Yes.

All right.

When using fresh squid, you need to remove the entrails and cartilage.

To improve the texture, Rika recommends going the extra mile.

If we want to have your squid texture softer, It's best to get rid of the skin.

So it's either you have a lot of time or not have time.

But this will definitely make the texture smoother.

By using this paper towel. Rounded like this.

- Interesting. So it's easy to grab with a paper towel.
- Yeah.

So it is slippery.

So this would be very nice. It won't be chewy.

And if you go to the Japanese sushi restaurant, they definitely take off the skin.

There is no skin on sushi squid, for sure.

- So now I'm going to cut into thin slices.
- All right.

- Okay. So you're not going to make rings this time?
- Yes.

And to make it even softer, you can make incisions.

- But not all the way through.
- No.

It's just lightly scratching the surface.

Lightly score the surface at 1 millimeter intervals.

Scoring the squid in a crisscross pattern will make it even more tender.

Now, cut into bite-size pieces.

And this tentacles, they're kind of like it's similar to the ones of octopus.

- It's kind of chewy, but it has more flavor to it.
- Right.

- My kids love the tentacles.
- Yeah.

- I never imagined as an American parent, I would say.
- Haha.

- Okay. So the squid is ready.
- Perfect.

Before we start stir-frying the ingredients, we should boil the soba buckwheat noodles.

Okay. Is there a trick to boiling noodles? If we're going to stir-fry?

No, we don't.

We just have to read the instructions well in the back and then cook "al dente" because you are stir-frying later.

Right.

Which means don't cook as long as it says on the package.

"Al dente" means noodles, which are served firm like they do in Italy.

So if you cook it the the number of minutes it says on the package and then stir-fry it, it's going to become soggy and mushy.

And then you drain and then put it in a running water, first.

Under the running water, you wash thoroughly, then you drain it, then you stir-fry.

Okay.

So you cook it a minute and a half shorter than it says on the package.

Then wash it in the cold water. Then drain it.

And then set it aside so you can use later. And stir-fry.

Got it.

- So let's start cooking.
- Okay.

Turn the heat to high and pour a little bit of sesame oil only to cook the squid.

Okay.

- I don't think we generally cook "yakisoba" in sesame oil, do we?
- No.

- Okay. So it's just to flavor of the squid.
- Yes.

And I had placed a pinch of salt with two fingers and then mix this to do "shitaaji."

"Shitaaji" is kind of like prep seasoning.

- And you want to do this shortly before you cook it, right?
- Yeah.

- If you leave it too long, it will drain the water out of the squid, right?
- Right.

So what I'm trying to do is, instead of cooking all together, I cook the squid first, and take that from the heat.

- So that you don't overcook.
- Right.

I will see if the pan is ready.

- Not quite?
- No.

It's a good way. You listen to the sound of the oil and once it sizzle, it's ready.

And what you want to do is just quickly coat.

- Oh looks good.
- It does.

And this is half done.

And then you want to take out and put it in a plate.

So you don't overcook.

For me, you could serve that with a cold glass of sake.

I'm done. That's perfect.

Once you remove the squid, you're ready to stir-fry the other ingredients.

Rika is going to go with the standard "yakisoba" ingredients, cabbage and "naganegi."

Cut both into bite-size pieces.

Add more sesame oil before stir-frying the vegetables.

This is "naganegi" onion.

Garlic.

And if you don't have "naganegi" onion, you can just use regular onion.

Cabbage.

Cabbage is crucial for "yakisoba." Gatta have cabbage.

Yes.

This way you can intake a lot of cabbege.

I love cabbage, but it's kind of difficult to use the whole thing.

- It's pretty filling.
- Yes.

But all you have to do is cook it down a little and you need a lot more.

I love the trick of Rika's secrets.

Then you can pour some water to soften the cabbage.

Are there any ingredients you don't want to use with soba noodles that you would with ordinary "yakisoba?"

No. Anything you have, you can put it like red pepper or a paprika.

That would be really good.

Asparagus, green beans, anything you have in the fridge.

Right. That's the way I treat "yakisoba" ordinarily.

I say anything that's in my fridge is going in the "yakisoba."

It's the leftover noodle dish. And it's always good.

When the cabbage has been cooked down to about half, season with salt.

Mix everything together, add the soba, and combine.

And from here, you add "nampula" and soy sauce.

So you add fish sauce and soy sauce.

- What's that?
- "Rayu."

Stir-fry the vegitables and "al dente" soba with chili oil.

- It was soy sauce, fish sauce and... "rayu."
- Yes.

Once the ingredients are coated evenly, turn off the heat and add the squid.

And then cook and mix with the residual heat.

Nice.

- Okay, so let's plate it.
- Okay.

So you use your tongs vertically and go like this.

Interesting.

Then put it like pasta.

Rotate the plate while you do it.

To give it like a vertical spiral.

It's a cool trick. You should try it.

Beautiful white squid. The skin turns red and the meat turns white.

Exactly.

Garnish with cilantro to give the dish a kick.

Beautifully done.

Thank you.

So I hope you like squid dishes.

I cannot wait.

Itadakimasu!

- It looks beautiful.
- Thank you.

I love the white wine over there. That would be perfect.

Anything would go well with this. Just gorgeous.

Mmm. Oh that's very, very good.

It's light and refreshing.

The "shiso" leaves at the end are a nice little spark.

They're sharp, they are crisp.

But then you have all this rich umami flavor under it.

You have the squid, you've got the avocado which is also very umami filled, you've got the right tomatoes and also the "gomaabura," the sesame oil,

all of this rich, and good umami flavor.

- What a wonderful salad.
- Thank you.

And what's great is that squid in there has so much protein and so few calories.

- It's super healthy.
- Yeah.

- And isn't it soft?
- It is.

It's not chewy at all.

It's that turning off the heat before you had the squid, cooking short time, not anything in the middle, right?

Very well done.

I never thought that I'd be a big squid eater growing up in Colorado, a land of beef, but it's wonderful.

And it doesn't fill you up. It doesn't make your tummy feel heavy.

You know, it just is healthy and light and yummy.

- It goes with anything.
- Yes.

- Especially the salad.
- Thank you.

But let me try it over here, the "yakisoba?"

Wow! I've never had a soba like this before.

- That's very good.
- Yes.

It's a little bit different from the ordinary sauce or soup that you eat soba with.

And we've got "gomaabura," which is also not a very common flavor for soba, but it's wonderful.

Thank you.

It's not like regular yakisoba. It's not like regular soba.

- It's soba "yakisoba." It's a whole new genre.
- Yeah.

- It's wonderful.
- Thank you.

- I once had this "yakisoba" with soba in Yamaguchi, which is a southern part of region.
- The prefecture? Right.

And it was so good. So the minute I went home, I just started to mimic.

Yes, it's wonderful.

And I really like the cilantro on top, too.

Also an unusual flavor for soba. But this is great.

- If our friends can't find soba, could they make this with pasta?
- Mm-hmm.

Just regular old spaghetti, for example.

What other things could we use squid in?

I would say sushi, tempura, fried with the breadcrumbs.

And also, if you stew them with soy sauce and sugar, it tastes really good, too.

Right.

And what else? Well, there are so many.

Never thought I'd say that as a Colorado born beefeater.

But squid, it's just amazing.

Squid may be an unfamiliar ingredient to some of you.

But it's easy to prepare and can be used in all kinds of dishes.

Trying new ingredients is part of the fun of cooking.

So I do hope you'll try making today's dishes at home.

I'm going to keep eating, but first I want to say goodbye and thank our chef for an amazing meal.

And thank you all for joining us on Dining with the Chef.

We will see you again very soon right back here.

Bye bye.

Okay, let's review today's recipes.

First, the squid salad.

When using frozen squid, place in an air-tight bag and thaw under running water.

Slice into 5 millimeter strips.

Bring a pot of water to a boil and turn off the heat before adding the squid so it cooks in residual heat.

Blanch in cold water.

Mix the squid and vegetables with Rika's special dressing, made with sushi vinegar, Plate in an appetizing way,

and you have a low-calorie salad, full of protein.

Next, a one-of-a-kind "yakisoba" made with soba noodles.

Peeling and scoring the squid will produce a tender texture.

Extra effort goes a long way.

Keep the stir-frying to a minimum to avoid overcooking.

Stir-fry the vegetables and "al dente" soba, with soy sauce, fish sauce, and chili oil.

Mix in the squid, stir, plate and it's done.

Please try some of these recipes with squid... you don't know what you are missing.

You'll be glad you did.