I made them up when I couldn't eat wheat anymore.
I still used oil flavored with onion, eggs, parsley, etc. Then, I use various meals or flours, depending. That's why they are just soup balls, since they change, depending.
The trick, is to beat the egg yolks, oil, etc., but then, in a separate bowl beat the whites to peaks, and fold them in with everything. That makes them lighter.
We cook them in boiling water until they float...that's when they are done, then add them to soup.
I add them to each person's bowl, and save the extra separately, heating them with the leftover soup the following day.
We love them. It was not easy to re-do my grandmother's recipe to make it gluten-free, without using pre-made products, but Ds and I did it quite a few years ago now. :-)
I enjoy a lot of Japanese food, as long as it doesn't involve raw things, really odd parts of things, etc.
One of my favorite brothy soups has always been pure dashi. It's much better than the sum of it's parts. I like the purest dashi...kombu, and bonito flakes. Serve with rice, soy sauce pickles, and floating green onions. All umami.
I like their soy sauce pickles, their teriyaki, and a dish called dofu, that's like a soup with meat and a little bit of veges. Dh always got that.
We used to enjoy getting vegetables that were tempura'd.
When Ds was in grade school, his class went to the local Japanese restaurant, and made onigiri there, which are just rice balls. They are a convenience food, and meant to be eaten out of hand. They can be filled, then rolled in, various things. He never forgot that.
Which reminds me to count the not-authentic California sushi. I like the nori on the outside, rice inside of that. The only difference, is that the filling is not raw. Crab, fish, chicken...whatever you like, but cooked, with strips of red pepper, baby leaf of lettuce, slice of avocado, etc.
I've made it, and it was not difficult, as long as you have a rolling mat, and the time to make your sushi rice. I made it, and fanned it to cool it. So, a little time consuming on the rice, but like any meal with extra steps, you just plan for it. Hmmmm, I wouldn't mind some sushi rice about now! :-)
Kushiyaki - grilled beef skewers, are good. The coating is soy sauce, ginger, garlic, sesame seeds, and sake. It's got less sweetness and strong flavors than the teriyaki version that I ate all the time at the family run Japanese restaurant in L.A., just at Western Ave.
There are beef and onions that they simmer in soy sauce and sake, then serve over rice. Good, but hold the tomago...poached egg, for me. I think that the dish is called gyudon.
There's a grilled eggplant that they make, which I've made a riff on since living here, many times. They serve it with a sauce, or just things like green onions, bonito shavings, etc. Theirs is creamier than mine, and I dip mine in a vege dip.
Also, I love snacking on dried seaweed, especially kombu, and my paternal grandfather introduced me to thin, seaweed rice crackers at a young age. He got on a Japanese ship when he was 17, and took it to Java, so he probably learned about Japanese food on that ship. That must have been before 1910ish?
And, of course, there's ramen! :-) I'll just skip the octopus, uni, and such, thanks.
I wouldn't care about actually eating cherpumple, either. Ddil loves the idea, so Ds will probably make it for Thanksgiving or other holiday.
I've seen turduckens, but never had it.
Yes, frying them, or just turkeys, can be really dangerous, and people get hurt every year doing it.
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