Tofu in warm broth ミニ湯豆腐

It is getting cold. We decided to have a hot tofu dish called “Yu-dofu” 湯豆腐.  “Yu” means “hot water” and “dofu” is “tofu*. I am surprised to find out I never posted “Yu-doufu”. I deviated from a traditional “yu-dofu” a bit by seasoning the broth lightly and adding fresh shiitake mushrooms and scallion to the broth. I also served it with “Ponzu” ポン酢 as a dipping sauce. I served individual portions in mini-donabe  ミニ土鍋 (picture #1). This is the perfect dish for a cold night. 

*This is another example of “rendaku” 連濁, “yu+tofu”  becomes “yu+dofu” when making a compound word.

Ingredients (for 2 small mini-donabe servings)
2/3 block of medium firm (you can use silken or firm as well), cut into one inch cubes
450ml Japanese broth (I used a dish pack which contains kelp and bonito and re-enforced the flavoring by using additional squares of kelp)
1-2 tbs x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce
2 scallions, white parts chopped finely and the green parts cut into 1.5 inch segments
2 caps of fresh shiitake mushroom, sliced thinly

Directions:
Add the seasoned broth to individual mini-donabe on low flame.
When the broth is warm, add the cubes of tofu, shiitake mushrooms and chopped scallions.
Simmer gently for 5-10 minutes until the tofu cubes are throughly warmed. Add the green parts of scallions and simmer for another 2-3 minutes or until the greens are wilted.
Serve with the ponzu if desired.

I think using lightly seasoned broth and ponzu as a dipping sauce made the tofu a bit more flavorful. You can add more vegetables but then it may not be rightfully called “yu-dofu”. 

I realized I have a special perforated spoon and fork for serving yu-doufi as well as the container for dipping sauce which is used  half submerged  in the cooking broth in the center of the pot. We used them long time ago but almost forgot about it. I managed to find them (picture #2). 

In the traditional/classic “Yu-dofu”, add the water and kelp in the donabe pot, fill the dipping sauce container and place it in the center of the pot. Add the cubes of tofu in the kelp broth and let it simmer so that the tofu and the dipping sauce are both warmed up. The tofu is scooped up using the perforated spoon and fork and placed in the dipping sauce in the center and then moved to the your small bowl. The condiment is  usually chopped scallion. But bonito flakes, grated daikon and Japanese red pepper powder can be added. If you omit bonito flakes (in the broth and dipping sauce), then the dish is vegan.

We like the modification I made to this dish. The broth the tofu is cooked in has a nice “dashi” favors of kelp and bonito and seasoning it with the Japanese noodle sauce makes it nice to drink. Dipping the tofu in ponzu adds an additional dimention.

“Taco Carnitas”-ish タコ カルニタもどき

This all started when my wife found a package of mini-corn tortillas at Whole Foods (picture #3). Even without opening the package, we can smell the nice corn flavor. I did not make pulled pork but since I had a 1/2 lb of ground pork (left over after making gyoza,) I decided to make something similar to “Taco Caritas”. I made the spice mixture for the pork, salsa, and guacamole. Since we did not have lettuce, I also made shredded cabbage. Instead of sour cream, we used home made Greek yogurt (pictures #1 and #2). It was a bit messy to eat but it was quite good and we liked these corn tortillas.

On the top of guacamole is the Green yogurt (mixed with olive oil and seasoned with salt).

Ingredients (made 4 small taco):
Small corn tortillas (picture #3)
1/2 lb ground pork
Shredded cheese (we used cheddar)
Shredded cabbage (optional)

Taco seasoning (since we did not have chili power I did not use it)
I just mixed; ground cumin, ground coriander, smoked paprika, onion power, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and salt. 

Salsa: (I made this several hours before)
3 skinned Campari tomato, chopped roughly
3-4 sprigs of cilantro, leaves removed and chopped (I used frozen cilantro leaves I prepared previously. This works fairly well. Much better than dried cilantro.)
2 stalks of scallions, finely chopped
2 tsp olive oil,
2 tsp lemon juice (or rice vinegar)
Salt 

Guacamole: (I made this a few days ago)
1 ripe avocado, stone and skin removed and roughly mashed using a fork
2 tsp lemon juice
1 stalk scallion, finely chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and deveined, finely chopped
1tsp chopped cilantro leaves
1/4 tsp sriracha
Salt to taste

Greek Yogurt dip: (also I made this several days ago)
1/4 cup Greek yogurt (we used the home yogurt my wife makes, strained)
1 tbs olive oil
Salt to taste

Directions:
Warm the tortillas (wrapped in aluminum foil in preheated 350F oven for 10-15 minutes).

In a non-stick frying pan on medium flame, add the pork, spread thin and cook until one side is browned. Crumble the pork and add the taco seasonings and cook until the pork fat is rendered and the meat is  throughly cooked, set aside.

Assemble taco by placing the pork, cheese, salsa, guacamole, greek yogurt and cabbage on the tortillas.
Fold the tortillas and enjoy (messy, though).

For non-authentic taco, this was quite good and filling. For us, the mild heat was just right.

Braised daikon with carrot, wood ear, and fried tofu 大根と人参の炒め物

This is a slight variation from “ kinpira daikon” 金平大根 I posted before. I made this dish since I had  the tail end of a daikon from Weee that was a few weeks old and not getting any better with age. Besides adding the usual deep fried “ther-age” tofu 油揚げ, I also added wood ear mushroom. This is a good dish for a drinking snack or side dish for rice.

The close up. The wood ear adds a nice crunch and the daikon is fully cooked but still has some crunch left. The seasoning was rather gentle. This is better than my usual “Kinpira daikon”.

Ingredients:
5inch segment of small daikon, peeled, sliced and cut into julienne.
2 samll carrots, peeled, sliced and cut into julienne.
1 “abura-age” fried tofu, hot water poured over in a colander (called “abura-nuki” 油抜き or reducing the oiliness), squeezed dry and cut into julienne.
1/4 cup (amount arbitrary and optional) wood ear mushroom, blanched, drained and cut into julienne
1 tbs vegetable oil with as splash of sesame oil

Seasonings:
2 tbs mirin
1 tbs sake
2-3 tbs x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce (or soy sauce)

Directions:
Add the oil to a frying pan on medium flame
When the oil is hot add the daikon and carrot, stir for several minutes until all pieces are coated with oil and the daikon looks slightly transparent.
Add the abura-age and wood ear and stir briefly.
Add the mirin and sake and stir until liquid reduce  for few minutes
Add the noodle sauce (or soy sauce) and stir until liquid is almost gone for few more minutes

I usually add flakes of red pepper when the oil is hot but I did not to preserve gentle sweet and salty flavors. Using the noodle sauce added a bit more sweetness and “umami” from “dashi” in the sauce.

Marinated Tofu and Egg Sir fry

Good tofu is difficult come by here.  There was a Kyoto-based tofu maker called “Kyozen-an” 京善庵 which used to produce good quality tofu we could get at our Japanese grocery store. Unfortunately, it closed their factory in New Jersey and went out of business because it was not meeting US regulation. “Otokomae tofu” 男前豆腐 is another kyoto brand of good tofu we could get but not any longer.  Currently the best tofu we can get is “House Food” ハウス食品. They make fresh tofu in the factories located in California and New Jersey from US soy beans. We found that their “medium firm” tofu is the most versatile which we get from Weee. This blog is a variation on the theme of tofu and egg stir fry. This is vaguely based on the recipe I saw on Youtube. The main idea is that the tofu is marinated before stir frying. The seasonings are oyster and soy sauce. I also added the last of  the fresh shiitake and wood ear mushrooms I had on hand. I ended up using a block of tofu cut in half for this dish and another one. I started out intending to make a whole block of tofu into “braised spicy marinated tofu”. So I accordingly marinated one block. Then I changed my mind and made half the block into the spicy tofu and the other half into this dish. This was a hearty and very filling lunch for us (picture #1).

Ingredients (2 servings):
1/2 block tofu, cut into half inch cubes and marinated overnight 
3 eggs, beaten
3 scallions, chopped fine
1 tsp garlic, finely chopped 
1 tsp ginger, finely chopped
1 stalk of garlic green* (optional garnish)
3 caps of fresh shiitake mushroom (optional)
1/2 cup wood ear mushroom (optional)
1 tbs vegetable/peanut oil
1tsp sesame oil

Tofu marinade:
1tbs soy sauce
1tbs mirin
1tsp sriracha
1tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp each grated ginger and garlic

Seasonings:
1 tbs oyster sauce
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs shaoxing cooking wine
white pepper to taste

*my wife recently learned about garlic greens. According to what she read, she took a head of garlic we got from our grocery store separated it into individual cloves and planted them in a pot of soil on the window sill. Green leaves sprouted out quite quickly.  These taste of garlic and can be used in cooking. We tasted them and they had a mild but distinctive garlic flavor. These sprouts however, will never develop garlic bulbs because a certain number of “cold units” (cold days) are needed to trigger bulb formation. (Luckily they will never get those cold units sitting on the window sill in our kitchen). Last year we planted some garlic cloves in the herb garden in October (before the first frost) and in the spring harvested a very nice crop of garlic cloves. 

Directions:
Drain the marinade from the tofu
Mix the tofu, eggs and half the chopped scallions (white part)
Add half of the oils in the wok or frying pan on medium high heat
When the oils are hot, add the egg-tofu mixture and cook until the bottom is set. Turn it over using a silicon spatula. Toss and let the eggs coat the tofu. Remove from the wok and set aside (picture #2).

Add the remaining oils to the same wok. Add the garlic, ginger cook for 1 minute until fragrant, add the mushrooms cook for another few minutes and add the remaining scallion and stir (picture #3).

Add back the tofu and egg mixture and stir and toss. Add the seasonings and stir for 1-2 minutes.
Garnish with either chopped green part of scallion or chopped garlic green.

We had this as a lunch and it was quite filling. Although the tofu did not absorb much of the marinade, the combination of seasonings, eggs and tofu and mushrooms worked well. The egg and the tofu have very similar soft textures but very different flavors. The mushrooms introduced yet another set of textures; meat-like from the shitake and crunchy-chewey from the wood ear mushrooms.  Overall a very satisfying dish. 

P.S. This is a picture of a sunset we had recently. This is what we saw outside our window. It is probably the most beautiful sunset we have ever seen here and we had to commemorate it by including it in this blog.

Chestnut olive oil bread 栗とオリーブオイルケーキ

This is a variation on the theme of  “olive oil cakes” that my wife has been making recently. Previous versions were: “almond olive oil cake” and “Hazelnut olive oil cake”. The hazelnut olive oil cake was gluten-free but since our purpose in making these cakes was to use various unusual nut flours rather than make gluten-free cakes, she added a small amount of AP flour in the almond olive oil cake which appears to make the cake more stable by preventing the center of the cake from collapsing after it cooled. This time, she added more wheat flour and the cake consistency is closer to “regular” cake. The chestnut flour gave a really nicely distinctive flavor. Next time, she said she might add chunks of prepared chestnuts.

Ingredients
2 cups firmly packed chestnut flour
1/2 cup AP flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/3 extra-virgin olive oil (medium quality is OK)

1 cup sugar
4 large eggs at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 20 cm 8" springform pan with olive oil then line with baking paper (parchment paper), then grease the paper. In a medium bowl, mix the chestnut flour, AP flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, beat the olive oil, eggs and sugar for 2 to 3 minutes on speed 7 or 8 until it becomes pale and thick (like pouring cream or runny mayonnaise). Add vanilla extract and beat on speed one for 10 seconds. Add the Dry ingredients and mix in gently using a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes. It will puff up dramatically in the oven but it collapses as it cools. (This version did not collapse as much as previous nut olive oil cakes). Remove from the oven and allow the cake to fully cool in the pan before releasing from the springform pan. This is a rustic cake that has higher edges and a flatter centre.

This is a very distinctive cake. It has a moist dense texture and a deep rich nutty chestnut flavor. (The flavor is unique, in a good way, and very distinctive.) Because of the intense rich flavor a small piece goes a long way. We found it is particularly good served with a slather of blueberry flavored cream cheese. 

Matsutake and beef cooked in an Aluminum Foil Pouch 松茸と牛肉のフォイル焼き

We got matustake from Weee for the third time this year. Compared to other sources from which we used to get matsutake, Weee provides the best in quality and the amount 0.5lb is just right for us. Our favorite way to eat the mushrooms is “Touban-yaki” 陶盤焼き, but, this time we happened to have thinly sliced beef thawed (also from Weee). In addition I saw a recipe using beef and mastsutake 松茸と牛肉のフォイル焼き (in Japanese) and so I decided to try it. It came out very nicely. The combination of lightly marinated beef and matsutake worked. I modified the marinade just to soy sauce and sake. When the foil pouch was opened the matsutake smell waft out. (One of the great treasures of working with this mushroom).

Ingredients: (made two small servings/pouches)
1 large matsutake (or 2 small ones), cleaned and sliced thin
6-8  pieces of thinly sliced beef (in our case, it was rib eye)
1tsp soy sauce
1tsp sake

Directions:
I spread the beef slices in one layer on a plate and sprinkled the soy sauce and sake on them. 
Let it marinade for 10 minutes.
I placed a rectangular piece of parchment paper on a large enough rectangle piece of aluminum foil. (I placed the rectangular piece of parchment paper just as a precaution to make sure the beef did not stick)
I placed the beef slices and then the sliced matsutake on the prepared aluminum foil. 
I folded and crimped the edges to make a pouch encasing the meat and mushroom with some spaces around (I made two pouches).
I placed the pouches in the preheated toaster oven at 400F, and cooked them for 10-12 minutes.

When we opened the pouches, a nice matsutake smell wafted out and we wrapped the matsutake in the slices of beef and really enjoyed them. The combination worked well.

“Imo-ni” Stew famous in Yamagata 芋煮庄内風

When we had “Hiya-oroshi” 冷やおろしsake this year, one of them was from Yamagata prefecture 山形県 and is called “Shounai-bijin 庄内美人” or Shounai beauty. The name is based on the geography of the area where it is brewed. This sake was  brewed by “Watarai Honten 渡會本店“ which is located in the central plane that extends to the coastal areas of Yamagata called “Shounai flat  庄内平野”, hence the name “Shounai Beauty 庄内美人” (see picture #4 for the sake label and area map). While I was checking the brewery’s website, it states that  the best dish that goes with this sake is “Imo-ni*” 芋煮 a stew characteristic of the area and referred to as “Shounai-style”. It is made from pork and seasoned with miso. Other areas of yamagata make imoni with beef and seasoned with soy sauce.  I had a bag of frozen taro or satoimo from Weee and just thawed thinly sliced beef. So I made “Shounai-style” with miso seasoning and beef.

*Digression alert: You can look up description in Wikipedia for “Imo-ni”. My understanding is that this is a stew in Tohoku 東北 northern main land Japan especially in Yamagata. It has more social aspect than just a dish. In autumn, they have a big social gathering/party often outdoor sometimes making a gigantic “nabe” 鍋 which has to be hoisted using a crane. No matter which variations, the-must-have ingredients are “imo” or “potato” specifically “Satoimo 里芋” or taro and beef or pork.

Besides “satoimo” and beef or pork, “kon-nyaku” こんにゃく, “negi” 葱 Tokyo scallion and “gobo” burdock root are the most common ingredients but it appears one can also use carrots and mushrooms. 
We really liked this dish and it naturally went very well with “Shounan-bijin hiyaoroshi” sake. 

I happened to get a fairly large (especially for us) cast iron pot with a cedar lid (picture #2) which is perfect for this dish. This is the first time we used this pot.

I sort of followed a recipe from a NHK cooking program called “Today’s dish” or  “Kyou-no-ryori 今日の料理” which is also available on-line.

Ingredients: (makes 6-7 servings)
1 lb satoimo 里芋 (I could have used fresh but I happened to have prepared frozen ones)
1/2 lb thinly sliced beef cut into small strips
1 cake of kon-nyaku コンニャク, hand torn into small bite size pieces, parboiled and drained
1/2 gobo burdock root, skin scraped off using the back of a knife and cut into small strips”sasagaki ささがき (you shave off the “gobo” into the small strips as though you are sharpening a pencil with a knife producing thin strips in the shape of small bamboo leaves). Soak in cold water and drain just before putting into the pot.
2 scallions, cut on the bias
2 large fresh shiitake, cut into a bite size (optional)

Seasonings
2 tbs miso
1 cup sake
2 tbs mirin
6 cups Japanese broth of kelp and bonito (or water)
1-2 tbs soy sauce

Directions:
Cook the beef in the pot (I used a small amount of vegetable oil to prevent sticking).
When the beef is cooked add the miso and cook for one minute until fragrant.
Take out the miso and beef and set aside
Add the satoimo, kon-nyaku, gobo, mushroom in the pot and add the sake to remove any fond on the bottom of the pot
Add the water (or broth) and simmer for 20 minutes or until the satoimo is cooked through.
Add back the beef (and miso), scallion, mirin and cook 10 more minutes (picture #3)
Add the soy sauce to adjust the seasoning.

We had Shounai-bijin Hiyaoroshi cold with the imo-ni dish. Among the two hiyaoroshi we tried this year, we like this one best. Just for your information, the pin is in the “shounai” region.