Natto, squid sashimi and cold tofu イカ納豆と冷や奴

This was inspired by a post in an Izakaya blog I follow. The blogger Mr. Hamada 浜田さん is rather well-known Izakaya  aficionado in Japan. He frequents "tachi-nomi (Standing-up)" 立ち飲み izakaya called "Yakiya" やきや in Ogikubo 荻窪 in Tokyo.  On one such visit, he had this dish which was a combination of natto, squid sashimi and cold tofu いか納豆と冷奴 and his write-up  piqued my interest.

I bought both natto and squid sashimi frozen at our Japanese grocery store. I garnished the Squid-natto with chopped scallions and perilla from our herb garden. The cold tofu is from "otokomae tofu". It is comes in a package of three connected small squares filled with silken tofu called "san-ren-chan" 三連チャン. For this dish, I cut one of the tofu squares half and topped it with chopped scallion and bonito flakes.

I premixed the natto (one package divided among us) using my natto stirrer with the sauce that came with the natto and a bit of wasabi. I placed the squid sashimi next to it (below). I premix the natto to make it more palatable for my wife.  (A thorough mix will add air thus reducing the ripe...very ripe cheesy smell).

I then garnished it with chopped scallion and perilla (from our herb garden).

Instead of straight soy sauce, I added concentrated noodle sauce and mixed the squid-natto well. We ate the squid-natto as is but based on the advice of Mr. Hamada in his blog we mixed the natto with the cold tofu. He was right this is a good combination. My wife pointed out that the combination of round natto beans and long strips of squid made it difficult to eat with a spoon or chop sticks. (The spoon worked for the natto but not the squid while the chop sticks got the squid but made eating the beans very difficult. She suggested cutting the squid into shorter strips so that it is closer in size to the beans making it easier to eat with a spoon. According to Mr. Hamada, at Yakiya, they use a specific part of fresh squid to make their squid-natto. What I made probably is not quite up to that standard but, for us, it was still pretty good with our new house sake "tengu-mai" daiginjou 天狗舞大吟醸.