Rika's TOKYO CUISINE: Spicy Meatballs

Dining with the Chef!

Hello. Welcome to Dining with the Chef.

I'm Rika Yukimasa.

Today, I'm going to show you two western dishes with a Japanese twist.

Spicy meatballs that will impress even those with a discerning palate.

And everyone's favorite, a potato salad with tangy Japanese mayonnaise.

Both dishes go well with drinks.

So I might have a sip or two while cooking today.

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, dishes that go well with drinks.

Hi, Chef Rika.

Thank you for welcoming me and everyone else to your kitchen today.

Oh, you're most welcome.

Well, looks like life has given you lemons, but you're making highballs.

Yes.

So a highball in the world is any sort of spirit like gin or whiskey served in a tall glass with soda water.

The glass itself is called a highball glass.

Here in Japan, though, when we say highball, it almost always means whiskey and soda.

Yes, I love highball.

So I was really impressed once.

I went to London for my business trip and I stayed at the nice hotel and I saw at the lobby, actually at the bar, these gentleman, they were all ordering a scotch and soda.

Nice.

And I had to try because everyone was trying.

And it tasted so good that ever since then, I got hooked.

You got hooked that? Nice.

Well, here in Japan, highballs are super popular these days.

Do you have any secrets for how to make a good highball?

Mm. You just have to...

Actually, it's best If you put the whiskey in the fridge.

Really? So cool your whiskey as well as your soda.

Yes.

So you don't melt too much of the ice.

Exactly.

So the kind of soda you choose also makes a big difference.

Sure.

That's the nice thing about highballs.

It's that if you can't really stomach the sharp, bitter whiskey flavors.

You can use a little sweeter whiskey, a little sweeter soda water.

And makes the highball so much easier to drink.

And it's wonderful at cooling, especially on a hot summer day.

Exactly. And then you stir.

Well, the refreshing and mildly sweet, bitter taste of highballs go really well with all kinds of cooking.

And the dishes I'm going to prepare today result in a delicious synergy of food and drink.

Synergy cooking. Sounds great!

So what's first?

Well, I'd like to start off with a meatball.

- Woo.
- Yes.

What's special about your variation today?

Well, since Whiskey is bittersweet, so I want to make it like a bittersweet version of Meatball.

And I would combined...

This is very unusual, but in Japan, we have "aibiki."

Right. Which is pork and beef.

Both ground mixed together.

It's great. It's so easy to use.

Yes.

The most popular type of ground meat sold in Japan is aibiki, a mixture of ground beef and pork.

It's great for making hamburgers and other ground meat dishes because it combines the juicy flavor of beef and the tender texture of pork.

And so I'm going to use that.

But if you don't have it, you can just use regular beef or chicken.

Sure. Or you can mix them and make your own aibiki.

Yes.

What spices are you using?

I'm using cumin, coriander and red pepper.

- Oh, okay.
- Just spice up.

So it gives a little bit of bitterness.

And when you stew, use soy sauce, mirin and sugar.

So that gives the sweetness.

Great.

- Well, let's get started.
- Okay.

First, prep the meatball ingredients, starting with the onion.

Adding minced onion will sweeten and tenderize the meatballs.

First, we need to microwave the onion.

Okay. How many minutes?

It's about four minutes.

- Okay. So you want to make it nice and soft?
- Yes.

You know, when you make the onion softer, then it brings out the "umami" and flavor and also the sweetness out of onion.

And if you don't microwave them, your kids will probably not be able to eat them.

Too tart, too spicy. Okay.

It's one of the vegetables that changes the characteristics completely due to the heat.

That's right.

Microwave at 700 watts for about four minutes.

First I put this aibiki or any kind of meat and cooked onion.

You can put any kinds of spices, you know, like...

So when you want to have a little bit of bitterness, you just add some kind of bitter spices.

Okay.

And a pinch of salt.

Since we're going to season it later, we just add some pinch of salt.

All right.

And I love using ginger, as you may know, but if you don't have it, you can skip this.

But that's definitely a nice bitter flavor.

- Yes.
- Ginger, maybe garlic, too.

Mm hmm. Great.

And this is egg white.

- Egg white?
- Yes.

Sometimes people put whole eggs.

But in Japan, oftentimes you don't want to ruin other taste.

- Egg yolk has a strong taste.
- That's true.

Your meatball doesn't end up taste seem like an egg ball.

- It's a meatball.
- Yes.

Great.

Season with sake and sesame oil.

So meatballs are going to be a little runny at this point.

- Yes. It's kind of soft.
- Sure.

Mix well to incorporate the seasonings.

Now for the fun part.

Wash your hands and start rolling!

And then use that. This is the fun part.

You put a little bit of oil, any oil, and then start making these meatballs.

Oh, you want to squeeze them hard?

I've got a little extra man strength over here.

- I can squeeze them pretty tight.
- Yes, yes.

Well, you can do it softly, I think, because you have already mixed it quite well.

Preheat the frying pan over medium heat, coat with oil and add the meatballs.

So you're cooking on the medium heat.

You don't burn these, right?

No. You don't want to burn it.

Okay.

Cause you're only kind of like cooking the surface.

When it comes to this kind of simple movement and feel, it's really soothing, you know, whenever you have trouble at work, in school, with relationships...

You know, if you can just mix it.

- Just cook it out.
- Yes.

Cook those feelings out.

I recommend cooking as, I would say, stress control.

Sure.

Can you flip?

Okay.

Do you want to cook the sides, both sides, maybe all six, eight... I don't have any idea how many you have on meatballs.

So what I'm doing... I'm searing the surface of the meatballs so that when you start to simmer, it doesn't lose the juice from inside.

Once the meatballs are evenly seared, it's time to add the seasonings.

But first, wipe off the excess oil.

Of course, those flavors are also pretty good.

So you could, like, cook onions in there, for example, for a different dish.

So from here, I'm adding a little Japanese touch.

Okay.

So I'm going to put...

...about 100 milliliters of water and two tablespoon each of sugar, sake, if you don't have sake, don't worry about it,

and soy sauce.

Right.

And then "mirin."

Equal parts of sugar, sake, soy sauce and mirin, you use that over and over again in your cooking.

- It's the golden rule, isn't it?
- Yes.

And this is something I used to watch my mother cooking.

And I guess she's a kind of lazy person like me.

And instead of measuring everything, she used to just, almost like, dumper.

That's the exact word I want to use.

Down the seasonings almost the same, equal amount.

- Okay.
- Then I discovered; Oh, my God. Her cooking is so easy.

You just have to place same amount of everything here.

And then it becomes delicious Japanese food.

- There's a method of the math.
- Yeah.

And then if I add, like, eight times of water, then I can cook some other dishes.

16 times more I can cook some other dish.

- Right?
- Yes.

So the base is always the same.

You just change the dilution.

- That's what you're cooking.
- Yes.

And if you cook it down, you get teriyaki, dilute it more you get a nice soup base.

It's just incredible.

Exactly.

Today we're going to cook it down and make it more like a teriyaki. Is that right?

Yes, a little bit shiny.

Okay. The teriyaki, the "teri" part means shine or glaze.

So the sugar, when boiled down, becomes a beautiful glaze which makes your food look delicious and taste amazing.

Simmer the meatballs, stirring occasionally to keep the sauce from burning.

- It's looking so good.
- Yes.

Well, after simmering about ten minutes and I would say medium heat, well, you see, this sauce kind of looks shiny and glazed,

Right. Looking like teriyaki.

Nice and thick.

So easy to put.

It's should be ready.

Let's start plating.

Okay.

And if you overcooked the teriyaki to turn sort of into like candy, almost?

Sugar. It's so hard.

You definitely don't want to go there.

This looks so good.

Now you can make it "bento"...

I think that the bento boxes...

it's amazing, even if you eat cold bento, it still tastes really good.

Isn't it amazing?

Ooh. So you've got some string beans, gold.

And then I have parboiled the string beans.

I didn't cook it together because I wanted to have this bright green color stayed, if you cook, in a brownish sauce, it gets kind of brownish.

Right.

It's good to have contrast.

And also because you boil them separately, you're not going to have meatball flavored, being bean flavored beans.

You pour over this excess sauce.

Oh, that looks so tasty.

Okay. It's done.

- Oh.
- Right out of the pan. Steaming hot.

"Itadakimasu."

This is so good.

It's almost hard to believe it's my recipe.

It's hard to believe it couldn't be your recipe.

This is really the thing everyone has to try.

I need highball.

I will get you one. Don't worry.

So what's next?

Everyone's favorite potato salad.

- All right! You have your potato.
- Yes.

I didn't realize this before coming to Japan, but potato salad is pretty popular.

Yes.

And it's a really delicate recipe. Just right amount of sweetness and acidity, it's great.

Well, Japanese mayonnaise is really playing a very big, important role.

Japanese mayonnaise is made with rice vinegar, which gives it a rich umami flavor and a sweet and subdued zest.

So I'm going to share with you a potato salad recipe which maximizes the flavor of Japanese mayonnaise at the same time cut down on calories.

- Really?
- Yes.

Interesting. I can always go for a little fewer calories.

So what do we do first?

Okay, let's start by cooking these potatoes.

All right, we're going to microwave these again.

- Yes.
- I love the microwave.

I would say, one potato, it takes three to four minutes cook.

Okay.

So two potatoes, six to seven minutes.

Wrap the unpeeled potatoes in plastic wrap and microwave.

- Great.
- See you in six.

So you peel these after you cook them?

Oh, hot.

For sure they are. Be careful when you want to do this.

And it's important. You have to peel them while it's hot.

I see.

Some people try to peel first, then cook it, but I don't think that's a good idea because the skin is sealing the moisture.

Ooh, that smells good already.

If... perhaps don't have microwaves, can they boil the potatoes? Will that work, too?

Yes. It's just takes longer time, but it's the taste is very good.

Same base taste good. All right.

And then you mush the potato.

Oh, you have a nice potato mush. That's great.

Is this so easy?

If you don't have one of these, you can use a fork, right?

Yeah, fork is fine.

But use a strong fork, otherwise it bends.

- Okay.
- Oh, it's quick.

So basically everything is done.

Really? You're not going to make it any more creamy?

Well, some people want to make a really smooth potato salad, so you want to really mash them, like, into really small pieces thoroughly.

But I like it with the little crunchies inside.

- Okay, so we'll leave it a little chunkier.
- Yes.

Great.

Okay.

Now, let's prep the remaining ingredients.

Cut the onion into thin slices, massage with salt, and set aside to draw out the excess moisture.

Soak the onions in water to take out the bite.

Repeat the process for the cucumbers.

What next?

- Well, we need to mix with mayonnaise.
- Okay.

And the key for the potato salad is actually mayonnaise.

- Right?
- Yeah.

But since you want to reduce the calorie, I add a little bit of "sushisu," sushi vinegar.

- Interesting.
- Yes.

Store-bought sushi vinegar used to make sushi rice makes a great seasoning because it already contains salt, sugar, and "dashi."

It has dashi and salt and sugar in it.

- And it gives you more umami flavor. Right?
- Right.

And that allows you to cut down on mayonnaise.

By about how much?

- By half.
- By half?

- Yes.
- Wow.

And then the Japanese mayonnaise.

Did you know this Japanese mayonnaise we mixed with the egg yolk?

That's right. That's the difference between Japanese and Western mayonnaise.

Japanese mayonnaise is made using egg's yolk only, giving it a rich, tangy flavor.

Add the mayonnaise and sushi vinegar and mix well.

Then you can combine either ham or sausage.

Today I'm using this tuna, canned tuna.

Looks so good.

And then onion, sliced onion, and sliced cucumber.

Yeah. Japanese potato salad almost always has cucumber.

It's great.

It's beautiful, too.

And I noticed you're actually using quite a bit of vegetables.

Yes.

So that's another way to reduce your calories.

Right.

Fewer potatoes, starches, mayonnaise, more veggies.

Right.

And then we also serve in a small plate.

You know, if you go to "izakaya," which is a Japanese style pub, you're often served with this potato salad.

Right. They have the "otoshi," right?

Otoshi is like a little dish you get when you sit at your table.

It's included in the table charge, but it's not something you order.

So it's always nice to get surprised.

Right. So I'm going to start plating.

Sometimes I mix with what... you can mix with anything.

The shrimps or canned beans also taste good.

For me, bacon.

Bacon. Wow.

And it's pretty because the mashed potatoes themselves form this beautiful, like white canvas.

So anything with strong colors like corn or carrots or cucumber just really come alive.

Right.

- Your children must love this, too.
- Oh, yes.

Now, when you have good potato salad and maybe like roast pork or roast beef, you don't need anything.

Huh. That's true.

Potato salad, it goes well with anything, and it can actually be the main course if you have it.

And if you have pasteurize egg yolk, you can place on top.

Nice. Look at that.

Yeah, it's cute.

That's beautiful. It looks like a birthday cake, almost.

That's great.

Yes, that's it.

- What a masterpiece. And goes well with a highball!
- Yes.

No complaints here.

And now for the grand finale.

"Itadakimasu."

And today, "kanpai!" means cheers.

So good.

And now for something to go with my highball.

- I think I'll start with the meatballs.
- Yes, please.

Ooh, look beautiful.

Oh that's wonderful. Wonderful.

Thank you.

I've had many meatballs in Japan, but the strong cumin paprika flavoring.

- That's a first for me.
- Yes.

So it's like... it's an ethnic dish.

It's an Indian dish on the inside and a Japanese dish on the outside.

And you're right.

The bitterness, the sweetness definitely makes me want to have a sip of highball.

- Exactly.
- It works out perfectly.

And I really like the fact that you browned the outside of the meatballs first.

- Before you simmer them. Right?
- Right.

If you just drop meatballs in super sauce, it's also good.

But that crispy outside browned surface makes a nice texture to go with the soft inside as well.

Oh, it's wonderful.

I would like to try this for certain with rice or with bread like a baguette, maybe.

Right. Oh, baguette would be perfect.

You place the baguette and teriyaki meatball and then you have some cheese and tomato on top.

Oh, right. Or you can make, like, a submarine kind of sandwich this. Or cheese.

- So good.
- Thank you.

And now for the potato salad.

This, of course, is an American traditional potato salad we have.

We eat it on the 4th of July on Independence Day.

It's that important dish.

But I love the Japanese variation and today I'm trying Rika's recipe, which has less mayonnaise and more vinegar.

Oh. So much umami.

Oh, it's great.

It doesn't have the fatty creaminess of mayonnaise.

It has umami creaminess, which is richer and thicker.

Oh, just so good.

And these... the onions in it are very sweet.

And really, compared to the American version, this potato salad, the potatoes only about a third of it, the rest of this is vegetables.

So it's vegetable salad with, like, a potato base.

This is sort of a different animal from the potato salad that I was familiar with in America.

This is wonderful, healthy, mature, sophisticated.

- And it goes great with a highball.
- Yes.

Hope you enjoyed today's episode of Dining with the Chef.

Instead of shopping for ready-made snacks to serve with drinks, I think you'll have fun making healthy and well-balanced snacks.

I hope you'll try making today's dishes.

Just so good.

The highball, the potato salad, the meatballs, it's a perfect course for the meal.

For a meal or for what we call "banshaku," which is a late night snack with liquor.

It's just gorgeous. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you all for joining us on Dining with the Chef.

Try these recipes out in your own kitchen and then let us know how they turned out.

We'll talk to you again soon.

Right here on Dining with the Chef.

- Bye bye.
- Bye bye.

Both of Rika's dishes go very well with highballs or just usual imagination.

So, let's review the recipes, starting off with the spicy meatballs.

Microwave the minced onions and add to the ground meat.

Season with spices to add a hint of bitterness that gives the meatballs a touch of sophistication.

Use egg whites only for a binder.

You don't want too strong of an egg flavor.

Mix well to fully incorporate.

Form the meatballs and fry over medium heat.

Searing the surface will keep them from falling apart.

Once the surface is seared, simmer with Rika's original Japanese sauce.

Stir occasionally to keep the sauce from burning.

Otherwise just let them cook.

Now for the potato salad.

Microwave the potatoes and mash according to taste.

Adding rice vinegar means using less mayonnaise and fewer calories.

And it tastes so great.

Stir in the canned tuna, sliced onions and cucumber.

Garnish with a pasteurized egg yolk to serve. And that's it.

A perfect combination of delicious food and your favorite drinks.

A great way to relax and satisfy.