Warm sake and oden on a cold winter's evening 厳寒の冬の夕燗酒とおでん

Since we had some very cold wintery days recently, we enjoyed warm sake several times. One such evening, we had the Japanese classic of hot sake with oden. After I found Hakushika junmai and junmai ginjo 白鹿純米、純米吟醸 (sake in a box) at our Japanese grocery store, these have become our favorite sake served warm or "kanzake" 燗酒. The sake sold this way is usually not the best sake but is still good quality as is the case with these two. Also sake sold in a box costs significantly less than the same sake sold in a bottle. For these reasons, we think these are a good buy. (Other packaging variations may include "cup-sake" or "sake-in-a-can". Cup-sake could be even daiginjo class).

Of course on a cold winter evenings, warm sake is best paired with either oden おでん or nabe 鍋dishes. This time, I made oden. Usually boiled eggs in oden end up hardboiled even if they are soft boiled when put in the broth. So this time I made soft boiled eggs with runny yolks which I kept separate from the rest of the oden, then just 5 minutes before serving I warmed them in the broth.  I put mochi in the deep fried tofu pouches or "abura-age" 油揚げ. Instead of regular potato I used "sato imo" 里芋 or taro.

Although the eggs did not absorb the broth's flavor, the runny yolks were nice for a change. The cylindrical item is fish cake stuffed with burdock root or "Kobo-ten" ごぼう天.  The rest of the items were tofu, shitake mushroom, blanched broccoli and carrot.

On a cold winter evening, this is very warming and comforting.

Onion, shirataki, and pork pouch 豚肉と白滝の巾着

This is a variation of a dish called "Kin-chaku" 巾着, which is the name for a Japanese-style pouch with a string tie. When this word is used for a dish, it is referring to a deep fried tofu pouch stuffed with different items. One popular variation is mochi-kin 餅巾着 which I posted many years ago as a part of "oden" おでん  Japanese winter stew in which "mochi" rice cake was stuffed in a fried tofu pouch and simmered in seasoned broth. This time, I stuffed fried tofu pouch with seasoned onion, ground pork, and shira-taki noodles 白滝. I am not sure where I learned this variation. I imagine I got it from either an oden place I used to frequent in Sapporo or from my mother. The pouch could be stuffed with other items. Your imagination is the limit. I served this as part of an abbreviated oden dinner that included a boiled egg, fish cake with burdock root or "gobo-ten" ゴボウ天 and carrot.

I cut the egg and the pouch to show the inside. This combination is quite good and it is rather filling although not as much as the ones stuffed with "mochi" rice cake.

Ingredients:
1. Deep fried tofu, 5 full-size cut into half making 10 pouches (use as is but just cutting open one end if using the half size "Inari-age" 稲荷揚げ ) (#1). If frozen, thaw and pouring hot water over it in a colander which removes excess oil.
2. Ground pork (I used hand cut trimming from pork filets), the amount is totally arbitrary (#2).
3. Shirataki-noodle, 白滝, 1 package rinsed, parboiled, rinsed again and drained (it has a peculiar smell) (#3)
4. Onion, 1 medium, cut in half and sliced (#4).
5. Oil (vegetable oil with splash of dark sesame oil) for cooking (#5 and 6).
6. Soy sauce and mirin for seasoning, one tbs each (#7).

Directions:
1. Sauté the onion in vegetable oil, and add the shirataki-noodle (#5) and the pork (#6) for several minutes until the onion softens and the pork turns color.
2. Add the soy sauce and mirin (1 tbs each) (#7) and braise until most of the liquid evaporates.
3. When it cools, stuff the pouches and close it with tooth picks (or tie it with kanpkyo 干瓢).
4. Add the stuffed pouch in oden broth with other items and simmer.

This is a quite filling dish and certainly add to the variation in the oden items.

Hanami 2017 花見 2017

This year the cherry blossoms were an on-again, off-again, on-again event. We had unseasonably warm weather in February and the trees started to bloom early.  The smallest of our three cherry trees was in full bloom in early March. We celebrated the little tree's valiant effort with a pre-hanami or cherry blossom gazing. The warm weather continued and a few days later, it was clear the largest trees started blooming to about 20%. Then, (and you knew this was coming) there was a cold snap complete with a late season snow storm and these flowers were zapped. We were concerned that even the buds might have been destroyed and hanami would be a non-event this year. Not only the trees in our backyard were at risk but there was some concern that for the first time in 40 years even the trees at the Tidal Basin would not bloom. The cold weather held for a while and the cherry blossoms were put into a type of suspended animation until the cold spell broke the last week of March. We were out of town that week but when we arrived home we were pleasantly surprised to fine our backyard awash in cherry blossoms. Unfortunately, since we were out of town we missed the peak and the largest and second largest trees were slightly past full bloom. Since we arrived home in the late afternoon and the sun was still warm, we sat outside on our deck admiring the display and the fact that despite the vagaries of the weather there were  cherry blossoms this year.

Although some browned remnants of zapped flowers were visible, it was still spectacular.

the ski was blue and there was no wind.

Since we did not have a chance to go grocery shopping, I tapped into our frozen cache of tuna. I made marinated tuna sashimi or "Zuke" of tuna マグロのずけ. This time, I managed to marinate the tuna long enough to attain a dark red color and the "nettori" ねっとりor "soft" texture. Since I did not have any fresh greens, I served this as is. Initially, I thought this would go well with red wine like beef tartar but it did not so we switched to cold sake.

I also found leftover oden おでん in the fridge, which I had made before we went out of town. I reheated it and served it. The shiitake mushrooms were dried ones that I re-hydrated for a few days in the refrigerator before putting them in the oden. They were packed with umami.

Finally we had leftover tonkatsu of pork filet ヒレカツ. I just warmed it up in the toaster oven; Not as good as if it had been reheated in hot oil but certainly we could enjoy it.

The weather after this mini-hanami was really rainy and we had to wait until the following weekend for Hanami. By then, the cherry blossom was way past their peak but it was still beautiful.

Cold salmon and simmered vegetables 冷製サーモンと野菜の煮付け

This was a starter dish for one evening made up of leftovers. Cold salmon was leftover from pan fried and oven finished salmon filets. Straight out of the oven,  the skin was nicely crispy and we preferentially ate all the skin leaving good sized chunks of meat behind as leftovers. I simply served these salmon chunks cold with baby arugula dressed with honey mustard dressing.



On the right are simmered vegetables which started life as "oden" おでん. I served the oden several times stretching it out by adding boiled eggs, tofu, and fish cakes. These carrots, daikon, and konnyaku コンニャク were the remaining survivors of this never ending oden, I added a top portion of boiled bamboo shoot (leftover from when I made mu shu pork). I seasoned the oden broth further by adding soy sauce and mirin and made the remaining veggies to "Nitsuke" 煮つけ (compared to oden, nitsuke usually has much stronger seasoning).

Finally all the leftovers have been accounted for and served. I do not remember what we drank with this but either red wine or sake would be just fine.

Egg in a pouch 卵の袋煮

In general Japanese are fond of hen's eggs (or for that matter any kind of eggs either bird or fish). This ranges from "raw" eggs on rice 卵かけ御飯, omelet (either Western style or Japanese "Dashimaki" 出し巻き卵),  onsen egg 温泉卵, "tamago-toji" 卵とじ (binding topping items with beaten eggs which was lightly cooked like in Donburi どんぶり) and so on.  We like eggs but try not to eat too many. When it comes to eggs the one thing we do not like is hard boiled eggs which have been boiled to the point where a green layer of sulfur appears around a very hard egg yolk. One way to avoid this is to make a soft- or medium boiled egg, peel it and then simmer it in a broth such as in oden おでん. The yolk gets totally cooked and becomes creamy with no sulfa-rings. The same thing happens with this dish "egg-in-a-pouch" or "Tanago no fukuro-ni" 卵の袋煮.

"Fukuro" means "pouch" which in this case is made of deep fried tofu or abra-age. It is made by cracking a raw egg into the deep fried tofu pouch, sealing it with a tooth pick and simmering it in broth. The result is a creamy egg yolk without the sulfur ring but with the added texture and flavor of the deep dried tofu. Besides, busting into it is like opening a surprise package particularly if you do not know what is inside the pouch.



This dish is usually cooked in "nitsuke" 煮付け but I made  it as part of oden this time. The above are daikon, carrots, "chikuwa" 竹輪 fish cake and the "egg in a pouch" served with Japanese hot mustard.



When you cut into it, you can see the totally cooked and creamy yolk without the green sulfa ring. My wife said, that, although this is very good, she prefers a simple boiled egg in oden.

Japanese winter stew with octopus legs たこ入りのおでん

I posted that we got 2lb whole octopus for the New Year. I made this Japanese winter stew or "oden" おでん with the octopus. The way oden was made is exactly the same as my previous post, but I added the tips of the octopus legs on skewers to the oden. When octopus legs are cut for sashimi or other use, the tips remain. I usually cut the tips into small chunk or "butsu-giri" ぶつ切りand dress them with "sumiso" 酢味噌. I serve them as contrast in texture with the sliced octopus. This time, I decide to use the tips of the legs in oden.

As I add items to the oden pot, I usually end up having too much oden. So I restrained myself and did not add any fish cakes just the octopus legs, boiled eggs, tofu, daikon, konnyaku 蒟蒻, and shiitake mushroom.


This one small serving with a dab of Japanese hot mustard. Since I left the octopus legs for long time in the pot, they were rather tender and also imparted a nice “fresh ocean” flavor to the broth.


The picture below shows how I cut the tips of the legs and then skewered them. You do not have to skewer them but it looked nice and it prevents them from curling up when they cook.


This is a very good way of using tips of the octopus especially on a cold winter day.

Japanese winter stew おでん

"Oden" おでん is classic Izakaya food. Yakitori 焼き鳥 and oden are the two main pillars of drinking food in Japan.  Although any given Izakaya may serve up oden and/or yakitori among other items,  there are drinking places specialized just in "oden" or "yakitori".  Often I used to go to a drinking place that specialized in oden, "oden-ya" おでん屋, in Sapporo, called "Katsu-ya" かつや.  The original and name-sake proprietor has passed away, and it has moved from a quaint blind alley off the Oodouri 大通 to the basement floor of a building near Sapporo train station. One of her daughters has taken over the business. It appears that the quality of the oden and atmosphere are unchanged. It is still a very cosy welcoming place and always very crowded with salary men on the way home. I found the image of inside Katsuya on the Internet in one of the blogs (hope the author will not mind my using his picture here). Once, my wife and I visited Katsuya in this new location long time ago when we visited Sapporo. This picture really brings back memories.

"Oden" was said to be derived from "dengaku" 田楽 which I posted before. Dengaku is skewered squares of tofu, konnyaku and vegetables grilled and then eaten with miso-based sauce. Later, after the invention of soy sauce, instead of grilling, skewered items are cooked in a soy sauce flavored broth. Eventually, it lost even the skewers (some oden items, such as meatballs-- two or three skewered together, still keep their skewers). There are many variations including regional differences in oden. My oden is definitely influenced by the types of oden Katsuya served. In commercial establishments like Katsuya, they have a large stainless steel vats with multiple segments so that different items will not mix and cook properly as seen above, but at home, it is most common to use a large donabe 土鍋 or earthen pot like the one I used (below). You could use any pot with a wide opening. You could place a portable cooker on the table, place the pot on the cooker and let diners serve themselves. I ususally cook oden on the stove and serve whichever items I like on a plate returning frequently for a subsequent selection of different items. One of the reasons for this is that we rarely sit at the table to eat. I cut some of the items such as eggs and "Kinchaku" (see below) using a pair of kitchen scissors to make it easier to eat with chopsticks.

I usually prepare oden in the order below at least several hours before serving.

Broth: I used a piece of kelp (2x8 inches) which was first soaked in water for 30-40 minutes or longer (4 cups or about 1 liter) or whatever amount is appropriate for your vessel. I then put the pot on a medium low flame. When it comes to a boil, I reduce the flame to very low and add dried bonito flakes or "Kezuri (katsuo)bushi" 削り(鰹)節. I use a special large teabag-like bag called "Dashi bukuro" だし袋 in which the bonito flakes are placed and the opening sealed (about 20 grams). This is just for convenience so that I do not have to filter the broth later (I usually take out the bag with bonito flakes when the vegetables are all cooked). You could just put the bonito flakes in the pot and simmer for 10-20 minutes and then strain using a fine mesh strainer. You could also set aside a portion of unseasoned broth just in case the broth get too salty.

Daikon 大根: Daikon is a must in any oden and requires some preparation. I peel the skin and cut the peeled diakon into 1 to 1.5 inch thick rounds and bevel the sharp edges, mentori 面取り. I pre-cook the daikon in a separate pot with enough water to cover the daikon and one pinch of raw rice grains for 20-30 minutes and then transfer to the oden pot.

Carrot and potato: These items may not be most common items in oden but "Katsu-ya" served them and we like them very much. Just peel and cut into the size you like (not too small) and bevel the sharp edges and place it in the oden pot.

Boiled eggs: This is also the must-have item. I just boil eggs for 10 minutes, peel and place them in the oden pot.

Konnyaku コンニャク: It does not have much taste on its own and it is mostly for texture.  most of Westerners will not appreciate this item but it is nonetheless a classic oden item. I make multiple shallow crosshatch cuts on both sides so that the broth will penetrate better. I then cut it into bite sized pieces (I cut this into a triangle which is traditional) then, par-boil it in plenty of water for one or two minutes. I drain the konnyaku and then place it in the oden pot.

Seasoning: At this point, I  season the broth. I use soy sauce, mirin, sake and salt (I use salt to prevent the broth from becoming too dark which would happen if I added too much soy sauce to get the desired saltiness especially because I usually use a reduced salt soy sauce. Alternatively, you could use "light colored" soy sauce or "usukuchi shouyu" 薄口醤油. You may even like a dark broth, in that case, just use soy sauce. I cannot give you an exact amount but I will err on the side of under seasoning and go light on mirin (Vegetables add some pleasant natural sweetness). You can always adjust the seasoning later.

Now, I put on the lid and let it simmer about 1 hour. It really should not boil at any time. After the vegetables are cooked and soft, I add more items listed below which do not require long cooking. If they were frozen, thaw first and the items which have been previously deep fried should be treated by pouring hot water over them in a colander (called "abura-nuki" 油抜き) to remove any excess oil and off flavor before adding to the pot.

Chikuwa 竹輪: Cylinder-shaped fish cake (ground white fish meat with some binder and seasoning is boiled and lightly grilled and is sold frozen here in the U.S.) with a hole in the center shaped like a bamboo. Cut diagonally in the center (in the picture above it is shown in the center of the pot above the Daikon.  In the picture below it is shown on the lower right).

Ganmodoki がんもどき: Deep fried oval patty made of tofu, egg white, black sesame seeds and other shredded vegetables (tan oval item with black specs -sesame seeds- in the picture below). Often, this is shortened as "ganmo".

Mochi in fried tofu pouch or mochi kinchaku 餅巾着: "Kinchaku" is a transitional Japanese purse. If you stuff anything in a tofu pouch or "Abura-age" 油揚げ, it is called "Kinchaku". Mochi 餅 is a rice cake made of pounded cooked rice.  I cut one end of a small rectangular abura-age and place mochi inside and close the pouch with tooth picks (This pouch is shown between the eggs and kelp in the picture above). This is the same type of preparation I do for the new year soup. (If you are an oden officinado, you would order this item using its short form name "mochikin"). After 5-10 minutes, the mochi will become soft and sticky but contained in the tofu pouch it is easier to eat. (They are seen in the picture above between eggs and kelp.)

Tied kelp 結び昆布: I happend to find this kelp preparation in a bag (cut in small size, tied in knots, steamed and dried) called "Musubi Konbu" or tied kelp at a Japanse grocery store. I put them in the pot after hydrating for 15 minutes. It does not taste that good and disintegrated after some time so this is the first and will be the last time I use this.

In the above picture, the dark triangles are konnyuku, tan oval ones with black specks (sesame seeds) are ganmodoki and tubes on the right are chikuwa. In the back, you see potato, kelp,  and carrot.

Just 10 minutes before serving, I add large cubes of tofu. Tofu should just be warmed through.  As seen in the above picture, I garnish the tofu with chopped chives (or scallion). the daikon here is very soft and you can cut it with just chopsticks. The yellow stuff at the far right corner is Japanse mustard which is very hot but a necessary condiment for oden.

Eggs are wonderful especially the egg yolks mixed into some of the broth and mustard. In the above picture, on the right is "mochi kinchaku", which is cut and showing the mochi inside. Between the eggs is chikuwa and the center front is potato.

This is a perfect dish for cold winter days with sake. Warmed sake is the classic accompaniment but we like cold sake even with oden. Depending on what you like, you could use many other items in oden such as tough sinewy parts of beef, "Gyu-suji" 牛筋 cooked for long time, octopus leg "Tako" 鮹 (these are Kansai 関西 or West of Japan items), thick Japanese omelets with crab meat ("Kanitama" かに玉), many other types of fishcakes especailly white soft square ones called "Hanpen" はんぺん, and satsuma-age 薩摩揚げ. A bit unusual are "tara no shirako" タラの白子, which is the sperm sac of cod fish (It does not sound appetizing but it does taste very good), a Japanese style stuffed cabbage ロールキャベツ, a type of small conch or sea snail called "Tsubu" つぶ and so on. We really like oden but only problem for us is that there are so many goodies in one pot and it fill us up too quickly.