Got Canned Sardines? Make This Simple Japanese Breakfast

Today we're making a full Japanese spread in under 20 minutes. Healthy, practical and budget-friendly too. Oh, I'm also going to show you an egg technique I accidentally developed, but you likely haven't seen before. I'm Dan Martin, Japanese, British chef and nutritionist. Now to make this possible, there are two things we need. One, rice cooked and frozen in advance, something a lot of Japanese people do. And two, we need to cook everything in the right order. Simple. Now I've covered how to cook Japanese rice in detail on the channel, so we won't go into that today, but today I want to focus on the part that makes this whole meal possible. Batch cooking, portioning, freezing and reheating. So what we need to do is cook a big batch of rice. Spread it out on a large flat surface to cool quickly, food safety first, then into reusable freezer bags. Flatten it out and get as much air out as possible. Then before you put them in the freezer, press portion lines into the rice with a bench scraper or the back of a knife. And once frozen, just snap off what you need and reheat. Here's one I made earlier. And here's a little bruisy bonus. When cooked rice cools, some of the starch converts into resistant starch. Yogurt bacteria love it and it slows down how quickly the carbohydrates are absorbed. Not by loads, but it still makes a difference. The cooled rice is actually doing something different in your body than freshly cooked rice. Food science. Now let's get into the real cooking. The first thing we need on is the water for the miso soup. Today we're making the classic, wakame and tofu. Get it on over a medium heat and pop a lid on. And at whatever point you find it boiling, turn it down to a simmer. That way later on, our soup will come together in a matter of minutes. Next, we're going to get started on a classic dish in any Japanese meal setup. Japanese pickles, or as they're known here, tsukemono. These usually take time, but today we're making a quick version using cucumber. We're starting now because the salt needs a little time to draw out the moisture, leaving us with a crunchy texture at the end. First, thinly slice your cucumber. You can use a mandolin too. And salt it. And give it a little masseuse. Then leave it while we crack on. We'll dress it up just before we plate up. The salt is salting. Let's get the egg on. In Japan, eggs aren't just a breakfast thing. They show up at every meal. Raw over rice, soft-boiled in ramen and kamagoyaki. A Japanese rolled omelette which you'll see in packed lunches and on breakfast bread. Kamagoyaki is a beautiful technique, but it takes time and practice. Here's a quick version I sort of stumbled upon whilst making my son's bento. I think I just messed it up one morning and couldn't be bothered and thought, forget it, it'll do. And to my surprise, my son came back and said, Daddy, I love the egg today. I was buzzing, so I've been making it this way ever since. First, I'll show you the pan I used. It's a small stainless steel frying pan. I'll get that on a medium low heat while we prep the eggs. So when I come back to it, it'll be super nonstick. Now for the egg mix. We need a little dashi powder and a dash of mirin and a splash of water. You can add a pinch of sugar here too if you like it sweeter. Now give it a mix and blend until dissolved. Crack in two eggs. Now mix with chopsticks or a fork, not a whisk. You'll get too much air in it and it will go rubbery. That's a chef's tip. Now the rest, I'll show you in real time. Okay, at this point, the pan should be super nonstick. Just to test it out, we'll give it a little splash of water. You can see how the water kind of beads up and dances and glides across the pan. That's called the Leydenfrost effect. So now our pan is nonstick. We're going to go on with a little bit of neutral oil. You want a good amount of oil to keep it nonstick. We're not going to eat all of this in one go, so don't worry about calories. And we want to just move the oil all around the pan. Now we want to get the oil hot enough, which will take around about 20 to 30 seconds. We'll know it's hot enough when it starts to really glide and shimmer across the pan. And just as it's starting to smoke, we'll give our eggs a quick little whisk. They've been sat there for a minute. Nearly there. Turn the heat up to around about medium. I'm sure you can see that. You can probably just see something that needs cleaning. All right. And actually what I like to do here, not traditional at all, but just for the engagement, is a little stick of butter. I find butter really helps everything become nonstick here. Now we're going to go in with our eggs. And this is it. We're going to move quickly here and keep it on there. I'm going to start scrambling it just in circles. You see how it's just kind of folding the edges around us by going around in circles here. Don't worry about messing it up. There's a phrase in Japanese called wabi-sabi. It's basically the art of imperfection. And that's what this is all about today. Moving it around in small little circles and start to fold over. We can start bringing it to one side. Let's give it a couple of these. Flipping it over, flipping it over, flipping it over. And it looks like a bit of a mess at the moment, doesn't it? But it's actually exactly how we want it. Get a spatula, which you should have had prepared earlier, but I haven't. Move quickly. Bring the heat down. And look, we're just going to push it into a corner. Kind of start shaping it up now. Shaping it up, shaping it up. And then you can cut the heat off at this point because the residual heat in the stainless is going to continue to cook our eggs. And then we're just going to flip it over like this. I haven't really done anything live like this before. You can see it's beginning to get a nice egg shape. Now I'll just let it sit there for another minute on this side. And then I'll flip it back over in a minute. All right, that's had about another 30 seconds. So we'll just flip it back over again. And we'll give it another 30 seconds to a minute there. It's not going to overcook at this point, so it's OK. We can kind of leave it. If you want it softer, you can remove it now. Or if you want it done all the way through, then just leave it in that pan. And we'll come back to it in a minute. All right, so I reckon the egg is about where I want it for now. And I'll show you a little trick just to get a nice shape. Put this in here like that. And then I'm going to take a piece of kitchen towel. Obviously, you can do this on the kitchen counter. I'm just doing it here so I don't have to move the camera. And then just give it a little shape up like that. And then it should have a nicer shape. I don't know how much that did that time. But you know, if it isn't looking that great to begin with, you give it a nice shape with that paper towel and Bob's your uncle. In fact, I just want to show you quickly what the inside's going to look like. See, nice and juicy little pockets of air. Beautiful. Now that's really hot, so I'm going to put it down. It sits somewhere between a French omelette and a tamagoyaki. Like half Japanese and half Western. The egg is culturally harmless and so am I. My son loves it because it's light but still umami rich with a touch of sweetness. I think you'll like it too. You see it's got these little pockets of air, whereas tamagoyaki can be a little bit dense sometimes. Now set it aside because this doesn't need to be eaten hot. On to the fish. Today we're making use of tinned sardines. Arno, stay with me on this one. The evidence for fatty fish and heart and brain health is really strong. And most people in the West aren't getting nearly enough of it. Barrier is usually time, effort or cost. Tinned fish solves all three. This is inspired by kabayaki, a Japanese preparation where sardines are butterflied, lightly floured, pan fried and finished with a sweet sticky soy glaze. Today we're skipping the faff and using tinned sardines with just the sauce. First let's prepare our sauce. The recipe is simple as it's equal parts soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar. Although I like to add just a pinch of sugar as we get enough sweetness from the mirin. But you can do it to taste. Mix that together and set it aside. Drain your sardines then into a pan with neutral oil on a medium heat. Fry it until slightly crispy then in with the sauce. Reduce until it's glossy and glazed. It'll only take a minute or two. Sweet, sticky and rich. Perfect with rice. And if you've been looking to get into sardines, this is the recipe. Okay sardines are done. We're just a couple of minutes away from having this all together. Let's get the rice in the microwave now. Take it out of the freezer, place it onto a plate, cover with a damp paper towel and microwave for a couple of minutes. You can also steam it. Mix it halfway through for best results. Or if you're not first, you'll still get good rice. While the rice is going, back to the cucumber. Squeeze out the excess water. And for our pickle brine we just need rice vinegar and soy sauce. Mix it well, pour it over and dress the cucumber. Done. Any leftovers go in the fridge and actually it gets better after a day or two. There are so many varieties of pickles in Japanese cooking but they all serve a similar purpose. Colour, texture and contrast. A way to cleanse the palate between different dishes. In Japan it's also known as a hashiyasume. A place to rest your chopsticks so it helps you slow down at table two. If you're one of those people that eats too fast. Right, everything's nearly there. Let's finish the soup. The water's been sitting at a simmer waiting for us so the hard work is already done. Now add your dashi powder. Then we're going to add our dried wakame. One of the richest food sources of iodine you can eat. Iodine regulates metabolism, energy and cell repair. And the good thing about dried wakame, it rehydrates instantly so there's no waiting around. Next, tofu. It has a reputation for being nutritionally empty but it's one of the most nutrient-dense, budget-friendly ingredients you can buy. It's high in plant protein and rich in isoflavones. Plant compounds with good clinical evidence behind them link to heart health, bone density and hormone balance. And in Japanese cooking, it rarely needs much preparation at all. I'll show you the two easiest ways to add it. If you're not fussed, you can just spoon it straight in. Or if you want cubes, place it on your hand and use your palm as a chopping board. It's so soft that you only need to press it gently. Be careful though, yeah? If you're not confident with this, just use a chopping board or the spoon. Once the tofu is warmed through, kill the heat. And to dissolve the miso, take a ladle and add a little of the dashi stock into it. Dissolve the miso in there evenly, then mix it through. Beautiful, that's everything. Time to plate up. Now honestly, I barely broke a sweat doing this but it looks like a real labour of love. Full Japanese meal, healthy and on the table in under 20 minutes. And whether this is your breakfast, lunch or dinner, nutritionally it's hitting the pillars of a healthy diet. High in protein, healthy fats for your heart and brain, plant foods bring in micronutrients, fermented foods for your gut, and carbohydrates paired with all the macronutrient groups, which will give us a steady energy source. And best of all, if you close your eyes, it's almost like you're in Japan. You are done. This meal follows the Ichiju Sansai structure. One soup, three sides. It's one of the great meal formats in the world and if you want to learn more about it, I'll go into much more detail in this video here. また次の動画で会いましょう。 I'll see you in the next one.