Anime Recipes

Giga Pudding - That Annoying Commercial

Every since the giga puddi commercial started circulating the internet, I have wanted an excuse to try and make my own giga puddi (since it was always sold out online, and costs a bit to much for my tastes anyway).  So, since I was inviting everyone over for to try some hot pot, I figured “Why not treat them to some ridiculous, party-sized dessert, too?”  And, thus, this cheap giga puddi substitute was born.  And let me tell you, it is just as enjoyable and those office workers in the commercial make it seem.  I have the gif of my friends acting like idiots to prove it.

Oh man, was it fun.

Ingredients

• 3 boxes of Jell-o or Royal flan mix
• 3 quarts of milk
• Some sort of large bucket or pot which can hold over 3 quarts (I used a small crock pot tub)

Directions (Pretty much follow the directions on the box of flan mix, just extra carefully)

1. Empty the caramel sauce into your pot or bucket.
2. Pour the milk into a pot and mix it with 3 of the flan mix powder.  Set it on the stove on medium low heat, stirring frequently.
3. Once the milk/flam mixture on the stove start bubbling or reaches a thick consistency (almost like glue), pour it into the bucket over the caramel.
4. Let is sit in the fridge for about 3 hours.
5. Lay a large plate over the top of the bucket, then very carefully flip the bucket over, making sure to hold the plate firmly on top of the bucket.  You may want a friend to help you with this.  Hopefully, the pudding will just slide out onto the plate.  If not, you just need to whack the bucket a few times, and it should work.
6. Enjoy.

Omurice - Hanasaku Iroha

Omurice, believe it or not, is a simplistic, classic dish.  Someone once wrote that it is the Japanese answer to a grilled cheese sandwich: nostalgic, easy, and perfect for brunches and kids’ breakfasts.  So, for someone trying to be as professional with their cooking and impress their crush, it makes sense for Minko to shoot down the omurice idea for her menu. On the other hand, this filling meal is probably a perfect (and delicious) way to let a person know that you like them.  Either way, omurice is a wonderful dish to start off your morning or afternoon.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups of cooked white rice (following this recipe if you can)
• 1 small, boneless chicken breast
• 2 mushrooms
• 1/2 onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 large eggs, beaten
  
• Salt
• Vegetable or olive oil

Directions

1. Chop up the mushrooms, onions, garlic, and chicken.  I recommend cooking the chicken in the oven a bit, first, with some seasonings (I just use salt, pepper, and some curry powder), so you won’t have to worry about raw chicken.
2. Heat up some oil in the pan (USE A MEDIUM/SMALL PAN.  A little smaller than the size of your plate is good. This is important for the egg) to medium low.  Once the oil is hot, add the vegetables and the chicken with 2 teaspoons of the ketchup and 2 teaspoons of the soy sauce.
3. Once the onion becomes clear, add in the rice, and the rest of the ketchup and soy sauce.  Mix everything together.  Once the rice is hot, and thoroughly mixed with the other ingredients, put it all in a bowl and set aside.
4. Put a small amount of oil in the pan, and then pour the beaten eggs into the pan.  Lift up the pan and tilt it around in a circle so that the egg covers all sides of the pan.  Let the egg cook, occasionally lifting up the egg from the sides of the pan to make sure it doesn’t stick.  If you can manage it, flip the egg sheet over to cook on the other side.  If you can’t, then just turn the heat down to low and wait for the egg to cook all the way through.  You can try to cook the rice into the omlette before it cooks through, but I find it difficult to transfer to the plate if I do it that way.
5. Once the egg sheet is cooked, place it onto your plate.  Move it so it is only on one half of the plate (it should be falling off the edge.  Just fold it over or roll that part up for the time being).  Place the rice in the middle of the plate, over a bit of the egg sheet.  Then fold the egg sheet over the top of the rice, and tuck it under the other side of the rice.  Put some ketchup on your finished omurice.

Voila!  You’re done!  The fun thing about omurice is drawing decorations or writing things with the ketchup.  Just as a warning, it is a lot harder to do this than you would think.  Some common things written on omurice in Japan (which you might want to consider):

すき - I like you!
大すき - I like you a lot / I love you
おいしいよ - This is delicious!
おはよう - Good morning!
オムライス - Omurice!
チユー! - Mwah!

Hot Pot/Shabu-shabu - Ouran High School Host Club

Mmmmm, shabu-shabu.  Named for the sound as you swish the meat in the broth with your chop sticks, shabu-shabu is probably the best friend-get-together-in-the-cold-winter-and-all-eat food I’ve ever encountered.  And anime (especially shows like Ouran) really showcases how it is the friends who you’re eating with that are important.  Either way, this is a dinner meant for a group of friends gathered around a table, laughing and goofing off, and enjoying fun, simple food.  This recipe in particular is meant for 4 to 6 people, but you can easily adjust the proportions to accommodate more or fewer guests.

Ingredients

• A hot pot or hot plate, with a wide, deep pan (this is rather important, because without it, you can’t really prepare and eat the food at the table.  I used an electric wok, because that’s what I had, and while it was a bit too deep in the center, it worked well)
• Thinly sliced beef, preferably well marbled (if there are any big Asian markets around where you live, just look for shabu-shabu beef.  If not, then go to a butcher, or the meat department and see if they will slice some top sirloin to about 1/16 of an inch.  If you can’t find anywhere that will do that, then just pick up some cheesesteak meat as a last resort)
• 3 packages of udon noodles
• 4 cups chopped napa cabbage
• 20 or so shiitaki mushrooms
• 1 14oz block of tofu
• 1 packet of dashi powder or 1 1/2 liters of dashi stock
• Soy sauce
• Optional/Recommended Ingredients:
• 2 packages of enoki mushrooms, or oyster mushrooms
• 1 leek
• 1/2 pound jumbo shrimp
• 2 cups chopped bok choy
• Shunguki chrysanthemum leaves
• 1 daikon radish
• Ponzu sauce

Directions

1. Prepare all of the ingredients.  Cut the base off of the mushrooms (so that the enoki or oyster mushrooms are just barely connected together, and the shiitake are only the caps), and cut X’s on the top of the shiitake, chop the tofu and the radish, shell the shrimp, and slice the leek on the diagonal.  Place all the ingredients onto a plate, and move everything to the table you are eating at.
2. Mix the dashi powder with water as per the instructions to make dashi stock.  If you can’t find any dashi, just use chicken stock.  Pour the stock into the pan you are using, add some soy sauce to your taste, and let it just barely come to a boil.
3. Once it reaches a boil, you can start adding things into the pot.  Let everything cook, then take it out, dip it in some sauce, and eat.  Allow everyone around the table add in whatever it is they want to eat.
4. Party. (Entirely necessary).

Kotetsu’s Everything-But-The-Kitchen-Sink Fried Rice - Tiger & Bunny

What could be more perfect of a bachelor food than fried rice?  It’s cheap, easy, filling, and good.  So it always seemed rather fitting that Kotetsu’s favorite food would be fried rice.  That said, I’d like to imagine that Kotetsu would show no restraint when it comes to deciding what to add to the rice.  That’s where this recipe comes in.  It’s got just about any vegetable you’d want to add to a basic fried rice and a handful of different meats.  And best of all?  You can make it on the cheap with canned, frozen, and prepackaged foods.

I made up this recipe before Hero Gossips published the official recipe, but they’re pretty similar, so I figured I might as well post mine.  Also, as you probably remember from the second to last episode, Barnaby had been practicing making fried rice, too, so hopefully I can get a recipe up for his version of the dish.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup uncooked white rice (or about 3 cups of precooked white rice)
  
• 1/2 cup carrot, chopped
• 1/4 cup mushrooms, chopped
• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup celery, chopped
• 1/2 cup peas
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 egg
• 1 cup meat (I used 1/3 chicken, 1/3 canned shrimp, 1/3 sliced lunchmeat ham, but you can use whatever is handy)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce (optional, replace with more soy sauce if you don’t have any)
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ginger (optional)
• Vegetable oil

Directions

1. Cook the rice in a medium sized pot, following this recipe, if you can.  If you can cook this the day before, hours before, or use leftover rice, all the better.  While using freshly cooked rice isn’t bad, a lot of people find using leftover rice to be preferable.
2. Heat a wok or large frying pan up to medium-high.  Once hot, add about 2 tablespoons of oil.
3. Once the oil is hot, add any raw meat you might be using (i.e. raw chicken breast, fresh shrimp).  Once it has cooked through, add all of the vegetables, garlic, ginger and the pre-cooked meat.
4. Once the vegetables are cooked (the onion should be kind of clear looking), mix in the mayo.  Once you finish mixing, take the veggies/meat/mayo out of the pan, and set it aside in a bowl.
5. Quickly scramble the egg in the wok.  Once the egg is cooked, mix in the rice, the veggies/meat/mayo mixture, and add the soy sauce and fish sauce.
6. Stir everything together until all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, and the rice is hot.

Rice Bowl - Every Anime.  Ever.

I know, I know, a little lackluster after that last recipe, but it needed to be done.  Rice is such a staple of Japanese culinary culture, it’s hard to see a meal without it.  And as much as I tend to ignore it, there is a proper way to cook rice.  If you have the time, you really should cook rice this way.  There’s nothing wrong with just popping rice into a pot with some water, and turning the stove on, but the difference when you cook it this way is definitely noticeable (as my roommate will adamantly say).  Because so many dishes you find in Japan and in anime use rice, this is a really good guide to refer back to for cooking it (as I intend to do in future recipes—the main reason why I’m putting this here).

Ingredients

• Short grain white rice (Sometimes, I’m out of short grain and just use medium grain white rice, but short grain is preferable.  Don’t use long grain, unless the recipe specifically calls for it)
• Water

Directions

1. Rinse the rice.  You’ll need to do this several times.  Just put the rice (for most dishes, I use 1 cup of rice) into a bowl, add some water, and stir it around with your hands.  You’ll notice the water ends up kind of murky—that’s all just starch.  Then, strain the rice, and rinse it again.  Keep doing this until the water gets to be mostly clear.
2. Strain the rice once last time, and place it in the pot you’ll be cooking it in (unless you are using a rice cooker, then just leave it in the bowl).  Add two times the amount of water as there is rice—for example, 1 cup of rice means 2 cups of water, 1 1/2 cups of rice means 3 cups of water.  Then just let the rice soak in there for at least a hour.
3. Now we cook the rice!  If you’re using a rice cooker, just put the rice and water into the rice cooker and set to cook.  If not, were going to use the 5-5-5 rule to cook it:
4. Turn the stove top up to high and let the water come to a boil.  Once it does, turn the heat down to medium, and let it sit there for 5 minutes.
5. Turn the heat down to very low, and let it sit there for 5 minutes.
6. Then, turn the stove top off, and let it sit for another 5 minutes.
7. If the rice is still a little too moist, stir the rice a bit, and then put the rice back on low heat without the lid for a few more minutes, until the rice is to your liking.

Stuffed Rolled Omelette - Mawaru Penguindrum

To be perfectly honest, I don’t really like eggs.  I never have.  However, Kanba’s and Shoma’s rolled omelettes in Mawaru Penguindrum just looked.  So.  Good.  And I’ll eat anything once.  I’ve tried making plain rolled omelettes before, and just as a warning, it’s tricky.  You need to make sure the egg cooks through, but at the same time, is still raw enough to all stick together.  Don’t forget Kanba’s super special technique of adding chili oil to the egg!

Ingredients

• 3 Eggs
• 1/2 Cup Spinach, Chopped
• 1/3 Cup Grated Mozzarella
• 2 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
• 1 Teaspoon Chili Oil
• 1 Teaspoon Maple Syrup
• 1 Tablespoon Sugar (Optional)
• 1/4 Teaspoon Dashi Powder (Optional)
• Vegetable or Olive Oil

Directions

1. Heat up a small pan (preferably with high sides) on low-medium heat.  Once the pan is hot, add about 2 tablespoons of vegetable or olive oil.
2. Break the eggs into a small bowl, add the dashi powder, chili oil, sugar, and 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce, and beat the eggs with a fork.
3. When the oil in the pan is hot, pour half of the egg mixture into the pan.  Swirl/Spread the egg around the pan so that it fills the bottom, and  then sprinkle half of the spinach and mozzarella over the egg.
4. Let the under side of the egg slowly cook.  Then, using a spatula (or even two spatulas), lift up a 1 inch portion of the egg and fold it over the top.  Let the egg cook a little bit, and then repeat folding the egg, until it’s all rolled up.
5. Push the rolled omelette back to the other side of the pan, and pour the rest of the egg in.  Sprinkle the last of the spinach and cheese onto the egg, and repeat step 4 using the already rolled egg as the inside.
6. Let the rolled omelette slowly cook in the pan until the wider sides are nice and browned.
7. Take the omelette out, and slice it into half inch slices.  Mix together the maple syrup and the last of the soy sauce, and pour on top of the rolled omelette.