Summer Cooking

 Cooking in the colder months is easy! I make big pots of stew or soup. Chicken pie or meat pie, a lovely roast with a load of vegetables. I can think of a lot of meals for the cold months, but come the summer and the heat, I'm stuck.

Cooking is hard in the heat, especially since I don't have an air conditioner in the kitchen area.  Also, I don't feel like eating anything. I want something light but filling. Something that is quick and won't add heat or humidity to the room!

A lot of go-to recipes in Japan are all the cold noodles. Somen, soba, ramen, and udon can all be served cold with different dipping sauces and toppings.  They are alright, but it gets rather boring after a while. I sometimes put out stuff for everyone to make their own sandwiches, or I do potato salad or pasta salad.

This past winter, I made a lot of donburi dishes.  Donburi are basically a one-bowl dish. Lovely hot rice with some kind of topping. Beef or pork (usually pork as it's cheaper), cooked in a mix of soya sauce, mirin (sweet sake), and sake. Or breaded pork cutlets that are deep fried, or chicken and egg cooked together.  I would make a pot of miso soup and some kind of salad to go with it, lovely Japanese comfort food.

Deep-fried pork cutlet on rice with miso soup and salad

This is so quick and easy to make. It's warming and filling. But too heavy for the summer months. I might make it once or twice during the whole of summer, but not like in the winter when this kind of meal was once or twice a week.

It looks like having a good look at the local supermarkets and checking out some of my cookbooks.  Summer cooking is hard, but I want to be able to make healthy meals. I feel that my energy is easily drained in the summer, so meals that can give me a boost really help!