Simmered Shad Roe with Vegetables シャッドロウの煮付け

I usually make this from “tarako” cod roe たらこの煮付け. Since we got some shad roe, I figured the same recipe should work and tried it. I also added daikon and carrot and garnished with salt broth soaked sugar snap  スナップ豌豆の塩びたし. I served this as a small appetizer dish. It is good but tasted very similar to the tarako version. The vegetables are good as they soaked up the flavor of the broth.

Ingredients:
Half sac of shad roe, roe sac (membrane) cut lengthwise only on one side and then cut across to bite size.
1 tsp ginger root, peeled and julienned
Precooked daikon and carrot (optional)

Cooking liquid
1/2 cup Japanese dashi broth (from dash packs, bonito and kelp)
1 tbs mirin
1-2 tbs x4 Japanese noodle sauce or soy sauce

Directions:
Add the ginger to the cooking liquid and heat up to simmer
Add the roe and gently simmer for 10-15 minutes (roe will “blossom” since one side is still connected to the roe sac membrane)
I also added precooked (boiled) daikon and carrot to the simmering broth

This is a good appetizer dish.

Beef with Kon-nyaku and Vegetable “Kimpira” Stir-fry 牛肉と蒟蒻の金平

We were having some very extremely cold and snowy weather recently. One of the best dishes for this kind of cold weather is sukiyaki すき焼きand similar nabe 鍋 dishes. We recently got thinly sliced (2mm in thickness) beef rib eye for sukiyaki from Weee. This is not top quality beef but it is very reasonably  priced and quite good. So, one very cold evening, we cooked sukiyaki at the table and had it with hot sake 燗酒.  The package included 1lb of beef, which was more than we could eat in one sitting so besides the leftover sukiyaki, we had leftover uncooked beef as well. Thinly sliced beef is used in many Japanese dishes but we usually do not have beef (we usually have chicken or pork and occasionally lamb) so I did not have a favorite “go-to” recipe to use the beef.  I looked through some beef recipes on the web but ended up with my own variation (picture #1). We had a cake of kon-nyaku (konjac) 蒟蒻, and an end piece of daikon 大根. So I included those in this dish. Many Japanese dishes call for small Japanese green pepper called “pea-man” ピーマンwhich is quite different from American green pepper. Instead I used, seeded and deveined Jalapeño pepper.  For the seasonings, I added “Douban-jang”. 豆板醤 to add slight heat. For an impromptu dish, everything came together rather nicely. This is a just note to myself so that I can recreate it in the future.

Ingredients:
150gram thinly sliced beef, cut into thin strips (picture below, this was rib eye) (picture #2)
One cake  of kon-nyaku 板コンニャク, washed, par-boiled
One small carrot
2 inch of daikon
One large Jalapeño pepper, seeded and deveined
1 tbs vegetable oil and 1 tsp dark sesame oil

Seasonings:
1 tsp douban-jang (or more if you like spicy)
2 tbs sake
1 tbs mirin
2 tbs soy sauce (I used x4 Japanese noodle sauce)

Directions:
I tried to cut all the vegetables in the same, thin rectangular pieces. I halved the  kon-nyaku cake in thickness, added shallow criss-cross cuts on both sides and cut into the similar rectangular shape but some came out a bit thicker and larger. (Picture #3 from left to right are kon-nyaku, carrot, Jalapeño pepper and diakon).

I added the oil in a non-stick frying pan on medium flame (vegetable plus sesame oil). I added the beef and cooked until almost done and added the remaining vegetables and the kon-nyaku and stir fried for 2-3 minutes.

I added the sake, mirin, and soy sauce. When coming to the boil I added douban-jang (picture #4) and mixed well. Placed the lid on and let it simmer for 5-7 minutes.

I removed the lid and turned the flame to medium high and stirred until the liquid was almost gone. I tasted and adjusted the seasoning. In this case, it came out slightly sweeter than I intended but it had a nice sweet and salty flavor and a mild spicy kick. Certainly, the beef added more flavor. I could have cut the daikon into thicker pieces since it became very soft. The kon-nyaku absorbed the seasonings and added nice texture. We like this dish. It will go with rice or drinks. In our case, probably the latter.

Burdock Root and Mushrooms 牛蒡とキノコの煮物

This is another dish I made to use up the mushrooms (Shimeji and shiitake しめじ、椎茸). I also had “gobou” 牛蒡  burdock root. I got the idea of cooking burdock root and mushroom together from a recipe I saw on line but I just made it in my own way. Burdock root can be very fibrous but this was a good one and the the combination of simmered burdock root and mushrooms worked very well. The shimeji was good but the shiitake caps worked well imparting very meaty texture and nice flavor.

The gobou gave a very distinctive flavor and nice crunchy texture but not fibrous. I seasoned it on the light and slightly sweeter side (than I usually do) and is a perfect drinking snack. As a side dish for rice, I would season it more strongly.

Ingredients: (The amount is arbitrary, I just used up all the mushrooms I had left)
10 inch long, medium-sized (diameter wise) “gobou” burdock root, skin scraped off using the back. of the knife, slice on angle 1/4 inch thick and immediately soak in acidulated water for 5- 10 minutes.
I package (100 gram) of shimeji mushrooms
4 caps of fresh shiitake mushrooms, quartered
300-400 ml Japanese dashi broth
2 Tbs. mirin
3 tbs x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce (or soy sauce with 1 tbs mirin)

Directions:
Drain the gobou and cook in a fresh water for 10 minutes and drain again
In a pan on medium low flame, add the broth, seasonings, the gobou, mushrooms and with a silicon otoshibuta, simmer for 20-30 minutes
Let it cool to the room temperature in the simmering broth
Serve at room temperature or warmed in a microwave oven especially after the refrigeration.

This is quite a robust dish. The mushrooms give it an almost meaty context. Especially the shitake mushroom which were very thick but tender and well seasoned. They tasted like a tender piece of meat. The burdock root was very tender and its distinctive flavor really came through. This is perfect for a cold evening with a warm cup sake.

11 (or 12) Appetizers 11種類の酒のつまみ

This is another version of multiple small appetizers dishes. I used the divided plate with space for 9 dishes. But I had more than nine to serve so I doubled up in the divided space.  But I still needed to add two more small bowls for a total of 11 small dishes. If you count each part of the doubled up item (lotus root tsukune 蓮根つくね was divided and served with quail eggs and ginko nuts) (bottom row left and center), it would be 12 appetizers. None of them are new recipes. Even though the single portion is small, we were quite full after working our way through 12 of them.

To highlight a few the one shown below is Name-take mushroom なめ茸 (top row right),

simmered taro “satoimo” 里芋 potato and carrot with “Kouya-dofu” 高野豆腐* and sugar snap スナップ豌豆の塩びたし (middle row right)

and two small bowls; tofu and shimeji with oyster sauce 豆腐としめじのオイスターソース(top),

simmered shirataki and deep fried tofu 白滝と油揚の煮物 (bottom).

*Kouya-dofu is freeze dried tofu (for preservation I suppose) which creates unique texture and absorbs whatever liquid it is cooked in.

These appetizers are mostly comprised of vegetables and provide so many different textures and tastes. We really like this type of classic Japanese multiple appetizers.

Simmered “Shirataki” Konjac Noodle and Deep-fried Tofu しらたきと油揚の煮物

A few days ago, we had sukiyaki すき焼き. I thought the whole bag (400 gram or 14.1 oz) of “shirataki” 白滝 (meaning white cascade) or noodle form of konnyaku (or konjac) was too much to use all of it for sukiyaki. So after I preparing it (i.e. washed, boiled, washed again and cut into convenient length) I kept 1/3 in water in the refrigerator. I was pondering how I could use this and came across this recipe on-line and decided to make it. This appears to be Kyoto “o-banzai” おばんざい style home cooking and has nice gentle and comforting flavors.

Ingredients:
1/3 package (about 100 grams) of “shirataki”, washed, boiled, washed again and cut into convenient length
1 small carrot, peeled and julienned
1 abura-age, hot water poured over (to thaw and remove excess oil), water squeezed out and then cut into thin threads
1 scallion finely chopped
300 ml Japanese dashi broth
30 ml sake
15 ml mirin
20 ml soy sauce (I used x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce)

Directions:
Add, the shirataki, carrot, and abura-age in a pot add the broth and cook for 5-10 minutes.
Add the seasonings and cook until the liquid is reduced by 1/3.

The original recipe calls for sugar but I did not add it. Japanese noodle sauce does have some sweetness which compensated for not having any sugar. This could be a side dish for rice but it is also perfect for a drinking snack.

Root Vegetable Stew 根菜の煮しめ

“Nishime” or “Nitsuke” 煮付け, 煮しめ is a type of traditional Japanese cooking method in which food items are simmered in seasoned broth. I have posted many variations mainly based on what was simmered in the seasoned broth. I understand that there are differences between “Nishime” and “Nituske” but that is too esoteric for me. The broth can be based on either vegetarian (kelp, dried mushroom and vegetables) or more commonly including  bonito flakes, kelp, and other dried fish. The basic seasonings are soy sauce, mirin, sake or sometimes sugar. Food items in nitsuke could be vegetables especially root vegetables, mushrooms, fish cakes, tofu, chicken or fish. I made this because I had a package of boiled renkon lotus root 蓮根 which I needed to use. I also got assorted frozen fish cakes for oden and boiled frozen “satoimo” 里芋 taro root (this is the first time I got this, I usually get fresh ones and prepare them myself) and also a package of “shirataki” noodles tied into a knot called “musubi-shirataki” 結び白滝.  Using these ingredients, I made this without much effort. It was nothing special but a homey, gentle and comforting dish. The picture below shows daikon (left), renkon (center), satoimo (bottom left), fish cake (bottom righ). I also added blanched green beans and carrot.

The layer below shows three different kinds of fish cakes (straight chikuwa ちくわ), chikuwa with squid ika-chikuwa イカちくわ, ganmodoki がんもどき(all cut in half) and a knot of shirataki “musubi-shirataki 結び白滝”. Please notice, the taro “satoimo” is perfectly shaped since this is frozen packaged one.

Using prepared vegetables and assorted fish cakes, makes it much easier to make this dish. Beside using prepackaged items, the recipe is essentially the same as I previously posted.

Tako rice and Matsutake soup for lunch タコ飯と松茸のお吸い物昼食

 This was a lunch we had one day. We had leftover frozen octopus rice or “Tako meshi” たこめし made from a kit we got from the  Rice factory. Although the original was not bad, the amount of octopus was rather small. Since I made tender simmered octopus タコの柔らか煮 a few days ago, I added slices of octopus legs to the previously made rice. Also we had matsutake mushroom 松茸 from Maine and made clear matsutake soup 松茸のお吸い物. I added a dish of salted vegetable or “asazule” 浅漬け and simmered root vegetables and chicken similar to “Chikuzen-ni” 筑前煮.

I  just microwaved the rice to thaw it then added slices of tender simmered octopus with a small amount of the simmering liquid and further heated it. I also garnished it with fresh “myouga” 茗荷 from our garden. The addition of the simmered octopus made the Tako rice much better than the original.

I made this clear soup from broth made from a dashi pack (kelp and shiitake), with mirin みりん and light colored soy sauce 薄口醤油. I also added shrimp (sunk in the bottom), scallion and flower-shaped “fu” 花麩 gluten cake. I also added frozen zest of yuzu 柚子 citrus. This is a lidded soup bowl and when the lid was opened the subtle but distinctive aroma of matustake and yuzu wafted out. (The aroma of matustake is one of the joys of the matusake season).  I think Maine matsutake appears to have a better aroma than the ones we used to get from Oregon.

The below are basic simmered root vegetables including daikon 大根, carrot 人参, bamboo shoot 筍, shiitake mushroom (I used dried) 椎茸, lotus root 蓮根, kon-nyaku 蒟蒻 and sugar snap スナップ豌豆 (for garnish). This time I also included chicken thigh.

This is my usual “asazuke” 浅漬け. I just made myouga in sweet vinegar 茗荷の甘酢漬け. I thinly sliced and served next to the vegetables.

For a lunch, this was quite good. 

Chicken and chestnuts stew 鶏肉と栗の煮込み

For some years we have gotten fresh North American chestnuts from California. It is a lot of work to peel/clean chestnuts. It is particularly hard to remove the internal brown membrane or “shibukawa” 渋皮 that extends into the meat of the chestnut and is a particular characteristic of North American chestnuts.  The chestnuts we got from California last year were a bit disappointing. They were kind of dry and chalky. So this year we got prepared chestnuts in a jar. According to the label they appear to have been packaged/processed in France but the chestnuts themselves originated in unspecified EU countries. It said “roasted chestnuts” but in fact they were steamed. When we opened the jar, many of the chestnuts were fragmented with a few whole intact chestnuts tucked in at the top. They were not sweetened and tasted fairly good with nice texture**. So I decided use the chestnuts for this stew dish I saw on line. Since I had leftover daikon and burdock root I need to use up this recipe was a perfect choice. Although the recipe calls for “renkon” 蓮根 lotus root, I did not have it. I made this one weekend morning and served this as a lunch with kinpira-gobou 金平牛蒡 and rice.

**Interestingly, my wife discovered while eating the dish I made that several of the chestnuts indeed had the internal  brown membrane. These membranes were left in the nut and the nut was just processed as if they weren’t there. It was a rather unpleasant surprise to bite down unexpectedly on the hard shell-like substance. After that she recommended checking the chestnuts as they come out of the jar and if necessary dismantling them to remove any membrane left. We saw this as a sloppy element of the processing. 

Not all the items I put in the dish are seen in the picture. I also put in konjack or konnyaku こんにゃく．The seasoning is typical Japanese but the kobou flavor comes through strongly. While simmering, the chestnuts broke into large chunks but tasted good.

According to the recipe the chicken was to be cooked in water with sake and scallion before adding to the rest of the ingredients. I would have just put the cut up chicken into the stew. I suppose this extra process would reduce “chicken-ness”.

Ingredients (at least 4 fairly good size servings).
For pre-cooking of the chicken
Two chicken thigh, bone removed (I left the skin on) .
2 tbs sake
2 scallions
several slices of ginger
12000 ml water

For stew
2-3 inch daikon, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch thick rounds and then quarters
2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces (“rangiri” 乱切り cut at 45 degree angle as you rotate the carrot)
1/2 “gobou” burdock root, skin scraped off using the back of the knife and also cut into bite sized pieces using “rangiri”
2 inch long renkon, skin peeled and cut into 1/4 inch thick half moon (I did not have renkon).
1/2 Konnyaku, torn into small bite sized pieces by hand (irregular shapes increase the surface areas), parboiled and drained
10-15 parboiled green beans
12-15 chestnuts (original recipe calls for roasted and sweetened chestnuts called “Tenshin amaguri” 天津甘栗.

For cooking liquid
250ml of the water in which the chicken was cooked
250ml dashi broth
100ml sake
3 tbs mirin
3 tbs soy sauce
1-2 slices of ginger cut into julienne

Directions:
For pre-cooking the chicken
Add the sake, ginger and scallion to the water and let it come to a boil then place the chicken into the water.
Turn down the flame to simmer and let it cook for 5 minutes and then turn off the flame. Let it stand for 15 minutes (the original instructions said cook for15 minutes but I thought that would be overcooking especially since the chicken will be simmered again with the vegetables).
Take out the chicken and cut into bite sizes pieces.
Keep the water which was used for cooking the chicken to  cook the vegetables.

For stew
Add the chicken cooking liquid to a pan
Add the chicken, vegetables and konnyaku
Cook them on medium high flame
Once it starts boiling, turn down to simmer, add the chestnuts and cook for 20 minutes.
Add the green beans in the last 5 minutes.

This has a typical Japanese flavor profile. I am not sure pre-cooking the chicken is necessary. The prepared chestnuts had a natural sweetness and the entire dish was really nice if not outstanding. The quality of the jarred chestnuts was not the best we have ever had but it was still a lot easier then trying to process the raw chestnuts and tasted better too. 

Simmered yellowtail head ハマチの兜煮

For many non-Japanese (and even for some Japanese I suppose), this may not look attractive but stewed fish head is a classic Japanese dish and does have a quite good amount of meat to enjoy. Even my wife likes stewed fish heads. I made this from the yellowtail fish I bought recently from Hmart and was part of my effort to make sure none of the fish went to waste.  The classic fish used for this dish is perch or “Tai” 鯛. I have made this using salmon head which was very good. This yellowtail head was not very big (I should not have removed the collar or “kama” which I froze for later use. It would have added more meat). I simmered the head in seasoned broth with daikon.

Ingredients: (for two servings)
One yellowtail head, cut into two lengthwise (requires a heavy chef’s knife)
Daikon, peeled and cut into 4 one inch thick rounds
Ginger, 4-5 slices
100ml sake
100ml water
2tbs mirin
2tbs soy sauce
1 tsp sugar

Directions:
Place the two halves of the fish head in a sauce pan (they should fit snuggly).
Add the sake and water and simmer for 10-15 minutes with folded aluminum foil as an inner lid or “otoshi-buta” until cooked through. 

Add the mirin, soy sauce and sugar (I also added rounds of daikon which were precooked in water with some rice grains). I cooked until only a small amount of liquid remained (15-20minutes).

I served the fish heads with daikon and added sugar snaps cooked in salt broth スナップ豌豆の塩びたし. This was quite good. The seasoned broth was a flavorful part of the serving as were the daikon which absorbed the flavor or the broth and were nice and tender. The fish cheek meat, as is the case with other meat sources such as beef or pork was the best part of the stew. Next time I will not remove the collars since they would have provided a bit more meat.

Simmered bamboo shoots and chicken

This is a small dish commemorating spring that I made recently. Since we cannot get fresh bamboo shoots, I made this from packaged boiled bamboo.

As a substitute for "nanohana" 菜の花 I used blanched rapini. For protein, I used chicken drumettes leftover from making "Teba-gyoza" 手羽餃子.

Ingredients:
1 package of small boiled bamboo shoots, cut into small wedges.
6 chicken drumettes
Blanched rapini tips for garnish
1 cup dashi (made from kelp and bonito flakes)
3 tbs light colored soy sauce
3 tbs mirin

Directions:
In a non-stick dry frying pan, I placed the drumettes on a low flame until the oil came out. Then I turned up the heat to medium and browned all surfaces. I transferred the drummettes from the frying to a sauce pan and added the bamboo shoots, dashi broth and seasoning. I simmered it with a "otoshi buta" 落し蓋 for 30 minutes or longer or until the liquid reduced somewhat, mixing several times. I refrigerated it overnight (although it could have been served immediately). Before serving, I warmed it up (either in a microwave oven or in a pan).
I garnished it with blanched rapini tips.

The bamboo shoots absorbed all the flavors but were still crunchy in texture. The addition of chicken added a nice umami flavor. The drumettes were tender enough that the meat fell of the bone and could be eaten with chopsticks. This is a nice small side dish/appetizer.

Appetizer snacks 4 kinds酒の肴4種類

We have been enjoying Izakaya food as appetizers but I have not posted them since I have not made anything new for a while. Although nothing shown here was new, this was the starting lineup one evening . From left to right are Spanish mackerel simmered in miso sauce 鯖の味噌煮, cold silken tofu cube 冷奴 and cold simmered Japanese eggplant and shishi tougrashi 茄子とシシトウの揚げ浸し. Since we harvested myouga 茗荷 from our backyard a few weeks ago and made sweet vinegar pickled myouga 茗荷の甘酢ずけ, I used it to garnish the tofu and eggplant dishes.

The fresh Spanish mackerel came from Whole Foods.

You can have so many garnish variations for cold tofu cubes. This time I used perilla leaves, pickled myouga and chives with wasabi. After the picture, we added soy sauce.

This eggplant dish is usually deep fried first and then simmered in broth. I sautéed the eggplant in light olive oil, instead. Since I had Japanese "shishito" green pepper, I also cooked it in the same manner. I garnished it with pickled myouga and threads of ginger root.

Here is another view with a better look at the eggplant. The skin is scored so it is easy to eat. Even the myouga has the back cut into strips for easy eating.

The 4th snack was my regular "teiban" 定番 pork belly simmered in soy sauce and sugar 豚の角煮. The pork belly also came from Whole Foods. This time, I bought almost 3 lbs. Although I did not change the way I cooked it, this batch came out extremely well. Even the red meat layers were extremely tender and not dry at all. Making a bit larger quantity is more efficient in terms of my effort and we can enjoy this dish longer.

This was served warm (microwaved) with green beans (previously blanched) and a dab of Japanese mustard.

I think we had our house sake Daiginjo sake "Mu" 大吟醸　”無” with the first three dishes and then switched to Cabernet for the pork (I don't remember which red wine we had). This was a mighty good start of the evening.

Blue fish simmered in misoブルーフィシュの味噌煮

The other day, we were in the near-by Wholefoods store. We always look to see what kind of whole fresh fish is available. My wife wanted mackerel since she really like mackerel in miso sauce (サバの味噌煮) but they did not have it. Instead, we saw two relatively small blue fish which were the last they had. I am not sure if there is any Japanese name or similar fish in Japan. The meat is soft and has a slightly blueish tinge. It also has a rather strong taste and is considered a fairly "low-class" fish and is often used as bait for larger fish by game fishermen. We have smoked this fish before which made it rather palatable. We thought these characteristics were somewhat similar to mackerel and decided it may be good to cook it in miso sauce.

I garnished it with chopped chives and thin julienne of ginger.

It looks very similar to mackerel as we hoped it would.

It is essentially cooked the same as mackerel.

Ingredients:
Bluefish, two, about 10 inches, gutted and head off (#1)
300 ml water
100 ml sake
5tbs miso
3tbs sugar
4 slices of ginger

Directions:
Scale and cut two fillets removing the center layer of bone (#3). this is called "Sanmai-ni-orosu" 三枚におろす.
Remove the belly portion and any bones especially under the dorsal fin  (#3).
Cut the filet into 3 pieces and score the skin to prevent the skin from breaking while cooking (#4).
Put the sake, water, and ginger in the pan and add the fish with the skin side up when the liquid starts simmering(#5).
Cook for few minutes and mix the miso, sugar and loosen it by adding the simmering liquid and then add the miso mixture (#6).
Covered it with a silicon "otoshibuta" and cook 30-40 minutes.
Remove the lid and reduce the sauce for 5-10 minutes until the miso sauce become think and clingy.

So, we found out, bluefish can be substituted for mackerel for this dish. It tasted almost identical and if you were not told, you could not tell the difference.

Bamboo shoot Tosani 筍の土佐煮

Spring and early summer are the season for fresh bamboo shoots or takenoko 筍 in Japan but I have never seen fresh takenoko on sale at the grocery store here in the US. So, I have to use the pre-boiled and packaged variety. I have posted few bamboo shoot dishes in the past. This one is called "Tosa-ni" 土佐煮. Tosa is southernmost prefecture in the island of shikoku 四国 which is famous for bonito or katsuo 鰹 and dried and shaven bonito flakes called "katsuo-bushi" 鰹節.  Simmered vegetable especially bamboo shoot in broth made of bonito flakes seasoned with soy sauce is often referred as "Tosa-ni". I also added additional bonito flakes after the bamboo shoots were cooked and seasoned.

Ingredients: (for two small serving as a drinking snack) and directions:

1. Bamboo shoot, pre-boiled and vacuum packed (#1). I used only the bottom 1/3 for this dish and the rest was used to make something else.
2. Bonito broth, I made about 3 cups with two dashi packs with bonito and kelp which is much stronger than usual broth.
3. I sliced off the bottom 1/3, quartered and sliced into 1/2 inch quarter rounds (#2).
4. I cooked it in plain boiling water for 3 minutes and drained.
5. I put them back in a dry pan and added the bonito broth just covering the bamboo shoot (around 1/2 cup).
6. I added light colored soys sauce (1/2 tbs) and a splash of mirin (or you could omit the mirin).
7. Simmer with lid on until most of the liquid has evaporated (#3).
8. I added two small packages (or whatever amount you like) of bonito flakes and mixed to coat. If the moisture is not enough, you could add a splash of the broth or soy sauce depending on the taste of the cooked bonito (I added the broth).

Although I took several shortcuts (not using fresh bamboo shoot and not making broth from freshly shaven bonito flakes), it tasted very good. The bonito flavor combined with the savory saltiness of the soy sauce permeated the bamboo shoot and was further boosted with the additional bonito flakes on the surface. The bamboo shoot was tender but some firmness still remained. This is a perfect small "otoshi" dish to start the evening.

Simmered Taro and bamboo shoot 里芋とたけのこの煮物

Before we started getting Sushi Taro's New Year's osechi box, I used to make a three tier osechi box myself. I filled the bottom layer with simmered vegetables and chicken dish called chikuzen-ni 筑前煮. The type of potato used in that dish is sato-imo 里芋  which was always available in my old Japanese grocery store. I see sato-imo at our new Japanese grocery store very rarely. The other day, when I was in our regular grocery store, I saw sato-imo which was labeled as "Malanga" and "Eddoe" (its scientific name Colocasia esculenta) from Costa Rica (#1 in the composite picture below). Taro is slightly different but the most common variety in the US. Common among these variations is that it is taste like potato but it is a thickened underground stem called corms. I am sure different cultures have different cultivars and names other than those I just mentioned but whatever the name, they appear to be essentially similar in texture and taste. Even in Japan, there is another variation of sato-imo called ebi-imo 海老芋 , ("ebi" means shrimp. It is long and curved resembling the tail of a shrimp). This is famous for its use in traditional Kyoto cuisine 京料理.  Actually, the one I got this time is more similar in shape to ebi-imo than Japanese sato-imo.

I made this classic New Year simmered vegetable dish. This time, I did not include any protein such as chicken.

I also added bamboo shoots or takenoko 竹の子, kon-nyaku こんにゃく, carrot and garnished with blanched snap peas or sugar snaps.

Ingredients: (for 10 small servings like shown in pictures above).

Taro (sato-imo): 10 (see directions below for preparation).

Bamboo shoot: one package, previously boiled and packed in a plastic pouch, cut into 4 pieces lengthwise, then the bottom thick portions cut into half inch thick cross pieces and the top cut lengthwise.

Kon-nyaku (Konjac): 1 cake, hand torn into small bite sized pieces and par-boiled and drained (#5).

Carrots: 2-3 large, peeled and cut in bite size ("Ran-giri" 乱切, cut on the bias as you turn 90 degree).

Bonito and kelp broth (3-400ml, enough  to cover the vegetables).

Sake

Mirin

Soy sauce (I used light colored soy sauce or "Usukuchi" 薄口醤油).

Sugar snap peas: ends trimmed, blanched, for garnish

Directions:

The classic Japanese satoimo is usually shorter than the one I got this time. This "Malanga" or "Eddoe" from Costa Rica (#1 in picture below) may more closely resemble "Ebi-imo" 海老芋. If this is more uniform rounder Japanese sato-imo, you could remove the skin by rubbing against each other in water which makes a nice rounded shape but I removed the skin by cutting off the top and the bottom and making hexagonal cylindrical shapes (making 6 faceted cylinders, a bit similar to making "tourne"). This is  called "Roppou-muki" 六方むき meaning six facet peeling in Japanese culinary parlance (#2, I now realized this one only has 5 facets!). 

I soaked them in cold water and washed them changing the water few times (#3). 

I made broth from a dashi pack (bonito and kelp), seasoned with sake, mirin and light colored soy sauce (#4). Some may add sugar and the amount of soy sauce could be variable depending on your preference. I made it more Kyoto style or "usu kuchi" meaning mildly seasoned. I added soy sauce in several increment as I tasted.

I placed the satoimo in the broth (#4) when it started simmering I added the carrot, bamboo shoot and kon-nyaku (#5 and #6). I let it gently simmer with a lid on for 30 minutes or until sato-imo is cooked.

This is a very subtle dish but has so many different textures. Sato-imo has very unique texture (creamy slightly viscous), which is difficult to describe.  The small serving in the picture is perfect for a drinking snack for us.  For a side dish eaten with rice, I will served at least twice as much and probably add more soy sauce and/or salt.

Simmered Nagaimo and Fried tofu 厚揚げと長芋の煮付け

I bought atsu-age 厚揚げ at our Japanese grocery store one weekend thinking I would either add it to oden おでん or just grill it in the toaster oven but neither happened.  I realized "the best tasted before date" was a few day AGO. So, instead of grilling, I switched to “emergency mode” and quickly made this dish which is like oden but has only a few items.



Again, I made this with what I had on hand.  I had half a nagaimo 長芋 in the refrigerator left over from when I made yamakake  山かけ more than a week ago. I also had some nice thick shiitake mushrooms which I also bought at the Japanese grocery store sometime ago that needed to be used.



So this is the dish I came up with.

Broth: I made broth from dashi pack (dried bonito and kelp), added sake, mirin, light colored soy sauce. I supplemented the soy sauce with salt added in increments as I tasted. I used the salt because I did not want the nagaimo to become too dark as it would have if I used all soy sauce but I also wanted properly seasoned simmering broth. (I ended up using about 1/2 tsp of Kosher salt).

Atsu-age: I placed them in a colander and poured hot water over them (from the instant hot water dispenser which is connected to Culligan reverse-ososis filtering system) to remove excess oil. I then cut them in half.

Nagaimo: I peeled and cut into 1 inch-thick rounds and then halved them. I immediately soaked in water with a splash of rice vinegar.

Shiitake mushrooms: I removed the stems and cut into half inch slices (this was rather large and thick shiitake, possibly from Japan).

I placed the nama-age, nagaimo and shiitke in the broth and gently simmered it for 40-50 minutes. I served it in a bowl with a bit of the simmering broth and garnished it with chopped scallion.

This was a good combination. When cooked, the nagaimo looses it's sliminess and has a nice crunchy texture. This was perfect for cold sake.

Myoga flower ミョウガの花

This year we were a bit late in harvesting myoga (myouga) ミョウガ.  The area of our backyard where the myoga is growing is solidly in the domain of mosquitoes and requires some resolve and protective gear on our part to enter their territory without paying inordinate “blood tribute” (literally).  Usually, my wife bravely volunteers for the task but that was slow in coming this year (I do not blame her).  This year, we kept postponing the harvest until my wife pointed out she could see little white flowers surrounding some of the myoga plants (meaning that the myoga, which is best used before it flowers, was moving past its prime). So, one weekend we donned protective clothing and together we harvested the myoga. Of course, my wife is a much better myoga harvester than I am (it is not easy to find the myoga buds that have not yet-flowered since they are buried below the surface of the soil and the soil can be almost hard as rock). Many of the ones we (especially "I") found had already blossomed. In previous years we discarded those. This year, however, my wife advised that once we had suited up and were scrabbling with our noses in the dirt we should retrieve every myoga we could find regardless of its condition and we could sort them out later. As we sorted through our haul we realized that even if the myoga has blossomed, we could eat it as long as the bud was still solid; once the bud becomes "hollow" or soft, it can not be used. Since we usually discarded the myoga with blooms, we never really paid any attention to how the flowers might be used. Although the flowers generally wilt quickly, this year we had more flowers than usual and many of them had just opened so we decided to eat them rather than discard them.

Here I used myoga flower to garnish my cold simmered vegetables. This time the cold veggies included daikon, carrots, renkon (lotus root) and konnyaku (devil's tongue). I garnished it with blanched haricoverts  and myoga flower.



Here are two flowers open from a single bud.



We removed the flowers and washed them in cold water.



The below are "good" myoga before blossoming.



The myoga flowers are usually not available in stores even in Japan since they are very perishable and probably not worth harvesting or selling. The flowers do have a nice ethereal quality. They have a distinctive myoga taste but are very delicate in texture without the somewhat hard or fibrous texture of the buds. They may also be slightly bitter. They can be used as a garnish or just eaten as a part of a salad.

Pork and Potato 豚肉じゃが

Nikijaga 肉じゃが is traditionally made from thinly sliced beef and potato which I posted some years ago. As usual, when I prepared pork tenderloins, I hand-chopped trimmings into ground pork. After consulting with my wife, I made two dishes; mapo tofu 麻婆豆腐 (which I will posted soon) and nikujaga made from ground pork. Either using beef or pork, this is a Japanese version of meat and potato comfort food.



For green, I added steamed green beans at the very end and the noodle is "shirataki" 白滝 or threads made of konnyaku コンニャク (devil's tongue).



The amount of ingredients is arbitrary but these are the estimates.

Potato: 4 large Yukon Gold potato, peeled, eyes removed and cut into 1 inch chunks.
Onion: 2 medium, cut into small wedges.
Pork: about 150grams or 1/3 lb (you can use whatever amount and also thinly sliced rather than ground).
Green beans: Either boiled or steamed, still crispy.

Seasoning:
Dashi broth: 250-300ml or about 1 cup, just enough to cover the ingredients. I used one I previously made from a dashi pack (Bonito and kelp).
Sugar: 1 tbs
Mirin: 2 tbs
Sake: 2tbs
Soy sauce: 2-3 tbs, I added in several increments as I tasted.
Vegetable oil: 1 tbs

In a pot, I added the vegetable oil on medium flame. When the oil was hot, I added the ground pork and cooked until the color chanced (2-3 minutes) and it was done. I added the onion and sautéed until soft (3 more minutes), then added the potato, mixed and added the broth to cover.  When the broth came to a boil I turned down the flame to simmer and added the seasoning. I added the soy sauce in several increments tasting the broth each time. I cooked with a lid on for 20 minutes until the potato was cooked through. I removed the lid and reduce the broth a bit, gently shaking the pot for 5-7 minutes. I added a small amount of soy sauce to give a fresh taste and then added the green beans. After a few more minutes, I turned off the fire and served warm.

I think this is perfect for a small dish served with either wine or sake. I must say, I rather like the pork version of this dish since that is how my mother used to make it and I generally like pork more than beef.