Video summary

Low Income Life in Japanm🇯🇵・Budget Cooking&Finding Peace

Main summary

Key takeaways

Cooking

Presenter / Channel

  • Hachisuke (Japanese single worker and YouTuber)
  • Video title: “Low Income Life in Japan・Budget Cooking&Finding Peace”

Cooking Overview

A quick budget dinner featuring:

  1. Low-temperature seasoned chicken breast (finished in the microwave for safe doneness)
  2. Chinese-style komatsuna stir-fry with a thickened sauce
  3. Avocado with salt + olive oil
  4. Rice topped with kimchi, nuts, and fried eggs (a hard-boiled egg attempt failed)

Ingredients (with quantities / substitutions when mentioned)

Low-temperature chicken breast marinade

  • Chicken breast (quantity not specified)
  • Soy sauce (in zip-lock bag)
  • Mirin (in zip-lock bag)
  • Sake (in zip-lock bag)
  • Sugar (in zip-lock bag)

Technique note: He pokes the chicken all over with a fork first.

Hard-boiled eggs (failed) → substitution

  • Eggs (quantity not specified)
  • Planned: hard-boiled eggs using a hot-water method
  • Replacement served: fried eggs (hard-boiled eggs didn’t cook through properly)

Komatsuna side dish (Chinese-style stir-fry)

  • Komatsuna (quantity not specified)
  • Water + sake + sugar + katakuriko (starch) for sauce
  • Chicken stock powder to finish

Soaking step: Komatsuna soaked in water for ~15 minutes to draw out bitterness.

Avocado topping

  • Avocado (1 cut by him)
  • Pinch of salt
  • Drizzle of olive oil

Rice toppings / serving

  • Kimchi
  • Nuts
  • Fried eggs (instead of boiled eggs)

Equipment & Prep Steps

  • Zip-lock bag (for chicken marinade)
  • Fork (poking chicken)
  • Hot water soaking/cooking method (used for chicken; also tried for eggs)
  • Microwave (used to finish chicken)
  • Bowl/batch for komatsuna soaking (~15 minutes)
  • Stir-fry pan/pot (implied by “stir-fry”)
  • No proper lid: he tried using a plate as a lid once and dropped it into the water (“disaster” moment)

Step-by-Step Method (key technique cues & timings)

1) Season and cook chicken breast (low-temperature method)

  1. Poke the chicken breast all over with a fork to help seasoning soak in and make the meat more tender (as stated).
  2. Put soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar into a zip-lock bag, then massage to coat the chicken.
  3. Soak/cook the chicken breast in hot water as a simple low-temperature method.
  4. During this time, he also put eggs in hot water to try making hard-boiled eggs (but this later failed).
  5. Plate-lid mishap: used a plate as a lid (no proper lid), then dropped it into the water.
  6. After hot-water cooking, he noticed the chicken was still a little pink inside.
  7. Microwave to finish cooking it through (he didn’t want to eat undercooked chicken).

Technique cues: fork-poking → zip-lock marinade massage → hot-water low-temp cook → microwave finish if the interior isn’t fully cooked.

2) Prep komatsuna (remove bitterness)

  1. Soak komatsuna in water for ~15 minutes to draw out bitterness.
  2. While soaking, prepare the quick sauce.

3) Make komatsuna stir-fry sauce and cook

  1. For the stir-fry sauce: combine water + sake + sugar + katakuriko (starch).
  2. Stir-fry the komatsuna and incorporate the sauce until it turns thick (described as “thick sauce”).
  3. Finish with chicken stock powder.
  4. Result highlighted: chicken-stock flavor, perfect saltiness, spot-on texture.

4) Eggs: fix by switching to fried eggs

  • The hard-boiled eggs didn’t cook through properly, so he gives up for tonight.
  • He serves the meal with fried eggs instead.

5) Avocado prep

  1. Slice/cut the avocado.
  2. Season with a pinch of salt.
  3. Drizzle with olive oil.

Plating / Serving Suggestions (as described)

  • He eats with rice topped with:
    • kimchi
    • nuts
    • fried egg (boiled egg attempt replaced)
  • Avocado is served alongside the rest: “clean, simple, delicious.”
  • Overall meal impact cue: “everything makes the rice disappear.”

Chef Tips / Important Takeaways & Common Mistakes

  • Fork-poke the chicken: helps seasoning soak in and supposedly improves tenderness.
  • Low-temp method check: chicken was still pink, so he corrected by microwaving to finish rather than eating it undercooked.
  • Hard-boiled eggs may fail with the hot-water approach; he switched to fried eggs.
  • Komatsuna bitterness control: ~15-minute water soak improves taste.
  • Sauce thickening: katakuriko creates the thick sauce texture.
  • Lid mistake warning: using a plate as a lid didn’t work; he dropped it into the water (“Disaster”).

Closing Note

After eating: he takes an early bath, dries hair, finishes dishes, writes his journal, and goes to bed.

Original video