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.

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.

Simmered Dried Daikon Threads 切り干し大根の煮物

I realized that I posted this same dish 14 years ago. Although the statute of limitation may have passed I am re-blogging this recipe. This is because in the intervening years additional sources of Japanese food items which previously were not available have become available and I recently got a new package of “kiriboshi daikon” 切り干し大根 (*digression alert) or “threaded and dried daikon” from “Japanese Taste”. So I decided to make this traditional dish (picture #1).

*”Kiriboshi” is an example of  Japanese language form referred to as “rendaku” 連濁 or “sequential voicing”. In sequential voicing, when two words are combined to make a compound word, the first consonant of the second word which would generally be “unvoiced” which is called “seion 静音” in the combination becomes “voiced” i.e. when pronounced you can feel your vocal chords vibrate. In this example, kiri 切り(is an adjective for the state of being cut) and hoshi 干し is an adjective for dried. In the process of making a compound word meaning cut and dried “kiri+hoshi” becomes “kiri-boshi” i.e. the h in hoshi remains silent or unvoiced so it becomes b which is voiced which is called “dakuon 濁音”. This is a common thing in combined words in Japanese. (This is Japanese grammar 101/102 the short course—enjoy). 

I served this as a part of starting appetizers. This is a very gentle slightly sweet (from the dried daikon. The drying process makes the daikon sweeter) taste was enhanced with “Umami” of kelp and bonito broth. In the picture below, the dish on the right is salmon kelp roll, blanched sugar snaps and skinned Campari tomato. The kelp for the salmon kelp rolls is called “Hidaka kelp” 日高昆布 from Hokkaido. It has a nice texture. I got this also from “Japanese taste”.

Ingredients:
1 package (30gram) of “kiriboshi daikon”, washed and soaked in water to hydrate for 30 minutes and drained. The excess water (the daikon) squeezed dry.

One sheet (a full size one) deep dried tofu or abura-age 油揚げ, soaked in hot water and squeezed dry, cut in half lengthwise and cut into thin strips.
One medium carrot, peeled, sliced thin on bias and then julienned.
Kelp and bonito broth, enough to cover the above ingredients, about 200ml.
2 tbs x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce (or 1 tbs each soy sauce and mirin).
1 tsp vegetable oil and a splash of roasted sesame oil
Green beans, blanched in salted water for 3-4 minutes, the amount arbitrary

Directions:
Add the vegetable oil with a splash of roasted sesame oil in a sauté pan on medium flame.
Add the carrot and stir for a minute, add the daikon and abura-age, stir briefly
Add the broth to cover the ingredients and simmer
Season it with the noodle sauce (or the soy sauce and mirin), simmer for 30-40 minutes until the liquid is mostly reduced
I did not cook green beans with the rest of the ingredients because they were very good green beans and I did not want to over cook them. I just boiled them for 3 minutes to cook them but keep them crunchy. Before serving, slice the green beans on bias and garnish.

This is a nice seemingly simple dish which actually has fairly complex combination of flavors and textures. The daikon is slightly chewy and the abura-age has a rough texture and almost tastes like meat. Perfect for a small appetizer. 

Tofu, Egg and Garlic Chives Stir Fry 豆腐ニラ玉、木耳入り

This is one of the left-over control dishes. I had a package of “medium firm” tofu 豆腐 which just reached “BUB” (Best Used By) date, the last of garlic chive ニラand wood ear mushroom 木耳. So, I made this dish for lunch one day. I sort of got an idea from some of the recipes I saw on the Web and YouTube. Based on my memory and CCK (Common Culinary Knowledge) I  winged it. The seasonings could be improved but overall this was a quite good satisfying dish and fairly healthy and nearly vegetarian (I am not sure if oyster sauce really contains oysters or their derivatives). Depending on how much seasoning you add, this could be a side dish for rice but I seasoned it lightly and we had it as a main dish for lunch.

Ingredients:
One package of tofu (I used medium firm but firm would be good), drained and cut into cubes (#1 in the composite picture).
Two eggs, beaten and seasoned with a pinch of salt (#2)
Wood ear mushroom (optional, this was leftover, I blanched, washed it previously and cut into small trips, the amount is arbitrary) (#4)
Garlic chive, washed and cut into short segments, the amount arbitrary (#4)
2 tbs vegetable oil or peanut oil and a splash of dark sesame oil

Seasonings (#2): (premix, #2)
2 tbs oyster sauce
2 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry or mirin, which makes it sweeter, or sake)

1 tsp Ponzu sauce

Directions:
Add the oil to the non-stick frying pan on medium high flame and cook turning once or twice until the surface is lightly browned (2-3 minutes) (#1 in the composite picture)
Reduce the flame to medium and pour in the egg mixture (#3) cook until the edges are set and gently turn and coat the tofu cubes
Add the seasonings and cook for 30 seconds mixing gently
Add the garlic chive and wood ear mushroom (#4)
Mix and toss to combine for 30 seconds to 1 minute
Splash the ponzu sauce and a small amount of sesame oil and mix to finish

I felt a bit self righteous finishing up the tofu, garlic chive and wood ear mushrooms by making this dish and nothing wasted. But better yet it was pretty good. The tofu went extremely well with the egg coating. The tofu and egg had similar texture but each brought a slightly different taste which was interesting in the same bite. The wood ear mushroom brought its own element to the dish in the form of a slight crunchiness that offset the tofu/egg texture. The garlic chive contributed a distinctly but mild garlic taste. Not a bad left-over control dish which can bear repeating. 

Daikon Steak and Two Appetizers 大根ステーキ

This was the second set of appetizers we had one evening. From right to left are “daikon steak” 大根ステーキ, “charred broccoli” 焦がしブロッコリー　and “braised spicy tofu” ピリ辛豆腐.  These appetizers are vegetarian and none of them is completely new but these versions included some changes. 

This is just notes to myself.

The daikon steak (left) was first precooked in simmering water with some raw rice grains for 30 minutes and then cooked in melted butter on both sides until the edges turned brown. I added a small (off heat) amount of soy sauce to finish.

The broccoli was parboiled (I freeze parboiled broccoli in small batches). I cooked the broccoli with the daikon steak until the sides became blackened and then seasoned it with salt and pepper.

The spicy tofu was marinated (Sriracha, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, sake, grated ginger and garlic) overnight and then drained. This time I dredged it in flour (mixture of AP flour and potato starch) and cooked until nicely brown on four sides. The dredging process made a nice crust.

So, this was nice second set of appetizers of the evening.

Happy New Year 2024 明けましておめでとう2024

Like the last year, we put the New Year’s decoration including “Kagami-mochi” 鏡餅 and dragon or “tatsu 辰” zodiac figurines shown in the picture #1 in the room we spend most of our time rather than in the tokonoma 床間 in the “tea-room”.  Upon waking New Year’s day, we learned of the magnitude 7.6 earthquake that hit Ishikwa prefecture 石川県. We hope for the wellbeing of the people affected.

On New Year’s eve, we started the evening with a plate of assorted sashimi, most of the sashimi came from “Riviera Seafood Club”, our most recent favorite source of “home freezer” sashimi or sashimi that we can store in the freezer here at home and thaw at any time we want sashimi. Since the portions are smaller than sashimi we can get from other sources, we can eat more than one kind of sashimi at a time. On the New Year’s plate (picture #2) we had chutoro tuna 中トロ, hamachi はまち, scollop ホタテ, and octopus leg タコの足 (which was from D’artagnan). I added wasabi with chopped wasabi plant stalk (from tube) and yuzu kocho 柚子胡椒 (from tube).

On New Year’s day, we had only coffee (cafe latte and macchiato with a bit of steamed cream) rather than our usual breakfast so we wouldn’t be too full for the large lunch we planned of “Ozhoni” お雑煮 New Year’s soup. As usual, I served the soup in real lacquer ware bowls (gift from my mother many many years ago) with a side of some New Year’s dishes I made (picture #3).

This year, I precooked all the vegetables and proteins that went into the soup. This included “gobo” burdock root 牛蒡, shiitake 椎茸, shimeji しめじ and wood ear 木耳 mushrooms, carrot 人参, daikon 大根, and “kinu-saya” 絹さや snow peas. The protein included sous vide chicken breast (a few slices) and poached shrimp. As usual, I encased the “mochi” 餅 rice cake in “abra-age” 油揚 deep fried tofu pouch (peaking out of the bottom right of the soup bowl). I made the broth from the dashi packs I usually use as well as by poaching the shrimp in the dashi broth. I seasoned it with x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce. By precooking the vegetables and the proteins, I had better control over cooking everything just right. It also made it possible for me to make a better arrangement of the ingredients in the final soup bowl serving. Just before serving, I added frozen yuzu zest which added a nice yuzu 柚子 citrus favor (picture #4).

The side dishes (picture #5) included the usual New Year’s dishes I like to make including: salmon kelp roll 酒の昆布巻き, salmon “Russian” marinade 鮭のロシア漬 garnished with “ikura” イクラsalmon roe, daikon namasu  大根なますand poached shrimp.

We also had a few small glasses of  sake with this as a libation to the New Year. Now, this evening we will be hitting the Sushi Taro Osechi box すし太郎お節箱. The below is a preview (pictures #6 and 7).

We expect some good New Year’s feast to come with the osechi box. Already salivating!!

Tofu and Shimeji Mushroom with Oyster Sauce 豆腐としめじのオイスターソース

We had two packages of tofu 豆腐 and one package of shimeji mushroom しめじ which I needed to use fairly soon. I remembered seeing a YouTube episode of a tofu and shimeji dish.  I winged it from my memory so this may not be exactly the same dish. In any case, it was a good dish. It could be on rice but I seasoned it lightly and it is perfect as a drinking snack.

Ingredients:
1 package of tofu (I used house-brand semi-firm tofu which is currently our favorite tofu), cut into small rectangles, blanched, and drained well.
1 package (150gram) of brown shimeji mushrooms, bottom cut off and tops separated
2 tbs finely chopped shallot or onion
1 tbs finely chopped ginger
1 tbs finely chopped garlic
2 scallion, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbs vegetable oil with 1/4 tsp dark sesame oil
1tbs oyster sauce
2 tsp soy sauce (I used x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce)
2 tbs sake
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tsp potato starch mixed with 1tbs sake or broth or water (slurry)

Directions:
Add half of the oil in a non-stick frying pan on medium heat. Add the tofu and brown one side (3-4 minutes) and turn over and brown the other side for 2-3 minutes, set aside
Add the remaining oil to the same pan, add the shallot, ginger and garlic. Sauté for a few minutes until fragrant. Add the shimeji mushroom and sauté until the mushroom become soft (a few minutes), season with salt and pepper. Add back the browned tofu and mix gently.
Add the sake, oyster sauce, soy sauce and mix.
Add the chicken broth and simmer. Taste and adjust the seasoning (more oyster sauce or soy sauce)
Stir in the potato starch slurry and mix well until it starts boiling.
Add more sesame oil if so desired (optional)
Add the scallion

I prefer the seasoning for Mapo tofu. I can make the same dish with the seasoning of Mapo tofu. As to the browning the tofu, I am not sure it is a great improvement. The time and effort to brown the tofu, this process may not be worth it. But this is a good dish in its own right.

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.

“Atsu-age” Fried-tofu with Mapo Eggplant 厚揚げの麻婆茄子かけ

“Atsu-age” 厚揚げ or “Nama-age” 生揚げ is fried tofu with a surface like “Abura-age” but the inside remains as soft tofu. We used be able to get good quality atsu-age from our japanese grocery store. I have posted quite a few dishes I made with this but the best dish, as far as we are concerned, and particularly if the quality of the atsu-age is good is simply grilled (in the toaster oven) served with soy sauce and chopped scallion. But, for some reason, the ones we have gotten recently are not really good.  This was the case with the one I got the other day. I decided to make something different using this not-really-good atsu-age. Since I had leftover mapo eggplant, I decided to use it as a topping for the atsu-age.

Because of the spicy mapo eggplant sauce, the atsu-age was more palatable but still not great.

I first cut the atsu-age into cubes and heated it up in the toaster oven on high toast mode.

This ws not bad and made a nice appetizer but I hope at some point we can get better quality atsu-age.

Mapo (mabo) Tofu 麻婆豆腐

Mapo tofu 麻婆豆腐 is a very popular dish in Japan and is called “Mabo tofu”. The Japanese version with which I am familiar is quite different from the original Sichuan 四川 dish. Now, however, even in Japan, authentic mapo tofu appears very much appreciated using Sichuan peppercorn 花椒 and touban-jan or douban-jan 豆板醤 as the main spices. These spices produce a “spicy hot” and “numbing” taste—we are not great fans of “spicy” and “numbing”. I have not made this dish for some time. Since I got a fairly decent medium firm tofu from Weee, I decided to make this dish. It is sort of an amalgamation of the authentic and Japanese styles. I used a small amount of touban-jan so that it is not too spicy for my wife and I added more to my serving later. Instead of using Sichuan peppers, I just sprinkled Japanese pepper powder or kona-sansho* 粉山椒 just before serving. I think this turned out OK and we had this over rice for lunch one day.

*Digression alert: Sansho 山椒 or Japanese pepper is from a shrub closely related to but different from the Sichuan pepper plant. Japanese use the young leaves from this plant as a garnish/herb called “kinome” 木の芽 which has a very nice almost citrusy smell. The unripe fruit is used in many Japanese simmered dishes but does not have the tongue “numbing” characteristic of the mature plant. The mature and dried fruit from the Japanese pepper plant is ground into a powder called “Kona-sansho” 粉山椒 which is available in a small jar in Japanese/Asian grocery stores. It is regularly used on grilled eel dishes with sauce or “unagi-no-kabayaki” うなぎの蒲焼. It is not spicy hot and imparts a very unique flavor but, in large quantities, sansho powder does have a “numbing” effect similar to its Chinese counter part.

Ingredients:
One tofu block (I used medium firm), cut into small cubes, blanched for a few minutes and drained
2 tbs peanut oil
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced shallot
1 tsp touban-jan
1 tbs miso mixed with 1 tbs mirin (in lieu of tenmen-jan 甜面醤, Chinese sweet soybean paste)
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/3 tsp dark sesame oil
2 stalks of scallion, chopped
150 grams ground pork (I used hand chopped trimming of pork)
Japanese sansho powder, to taste
1/2 tsp potato starch mixed with 1 tsp water or sake (potato starch slurry)

Directions:
Place the wok on high flame and add the oil. When hot, add the ginger and shallot. Stir for 30 seconds, add the garlic stir for another 30 seconds. Add the touban-jan and stir for another 30 seconds or until fragrant.
Add the pork and cook for one minute or until done.
Add the drained tofu and gently toss
Add the chicken broth, miso mixture. Add more chicken broth if needed.
When the mixture starts boiling add the scallion and sesame oil. Stir for 30 seconds
Mix in the starch slurry and cook until bubbly
Sprinkle the sansho powder and serve

This was just right for us. I added a bit more touban-jan to my serving. The power of Japanese pepper added its unique flavor without numbing the tongue. A few days later, we had the leftover mapo tofu as a rice bowl or donburi. Since I had a pasteurized egg, I made a slightly undercooked scrambled egg as a topping. I also added blanched sugar snaps.

In this dish, since it had been a day or so after the dish was made, the spices further melded together and got more tame and multi dimensional. Overall the flavors were great.

Sukiyaki Made with Beef and Edible Chrysanthemum from Weee すき焼き

We have not had “sukiyaki” すき焼き for a long time. One of the reasons is that two of the main ingredients “shungiku” 春菊 edible chrysanthemum (edible mum)*  and thinly sliced beef for sukiyaki or sukiyaki-meat すき焼肉 are generally not readily available. Although frozen sukiyaki meat is available at our Japanese grocery store, it is rather expensive and appears to be just thinly sliced rib eye steak. I considered getting a meat slicer which could slice a frozen block of beef so I could make my own sukiyaki beef but decided it was not worth it. Every-now-and-then, our Japanese grocery store has shungiku but it is “ hit or miss” with mostly miss.

Recently, we started getting Asian groceries from Weee, and found a leafy green vegetable called “Tang Ho 茼蒿, chrysanthemum green”. In addition, I also found they had a product called “Little Sheep Marbled Beef Sliced for Hot Pot”. So we got both to try them for sukiyaki. The package indicated the beef was sold by a company called Little Sheep Company (子羊). We learned that this company runs Mongolian hot pot chain restaurants and also sells meat like the one we just got. The Chinese writing on the package indicated the meat was “Wagyu 和牛” or Japanese beef but did not indicate what country the meat actually came from. Nonetheless it was just the right thickness for sukiyaki and had some marbling, (although not as much marbling as shown in the Weee website picture).

*Although spinach can be substituted for edible chrysanthemum it does not have the unique flavor which characterizes shungiku and is such an integral component of the sukiyaki taste experience. Shungiku is relatively easy to grow from seeds and we were able to raise it for some years in our herb garden. Then the rabbits discovered they liked it too. They ate not only all the edible mum out of the herb garden but every other chrysanthemum related plant we had in the yard edible (for us) or not. As a result we have not been able to raise mums of any kind.

The below are the ingredients I prepared for the sukiyaki. From 12 O’Clock clockwise are sliced onion, Tofu, “fu” 麩 gluten cake (flower-shaped), shira-taki*, shimeji and shiitake mushrooms and the center is enoki mushroom, beef and the green is chrysanthemum.

*Thread form of  konnyaku, washed and blanched and cut into shorter segments.

The picture below shows a detail of the meat. It is frozen in rolls. I served half of the package (about half a pound).

For the chrysanthemum green, I removed the leaves from the stem, washed and blanched them. Although the plant looked slightly different it tasted exactly like Japanese “shungiku”.

Using these ingredients we had sukiyaki using a cast-iron sukiyaki pot and our new table-top induction cooker. The seasonings were  my usual sugar, soy sauce, and sake (Kansai style 関西風) as opposed to using the premixed seasoning liquid “warishita” 割下  (Kanto style 関東風).

We really enjoyed this sukiyaki. The meat was not the best but certainly much better than what we had been previously getting. In addition, the price was very reasonable. Although the shungiku looked different, it tasted the same as the Japanese version and was very good. The assorted mushrooms (all came from Weee) are also very good. So, we are happy that the ingredients essential for making good sukiyaki can be bought at Weee.

New Induction Cooker Compatible Do-nabe IH 対応、銀宝花三島万古焼土鍋

Japanese “Nabe” 鍋 hot pot is a dish that is cooked at the table while you eat.  Classically, a portable butane-canister gas cooker is used with a “Do-nabe”  土鍋 earthen-ware pot. We used to have a butane table top cooker for nabe and sukiyaki すき焼き but because of safety concerns, which mainly stemmed from the age of our canisters and cooker, we looked for an alternative which turned out to be a table-top induction cooker (or the Japanese term is “IH”, short  for induction heater). For this to work, you have to use IH compatible pots and pans. Traditional Japanese nabe earthen-ware pots are certainly not IH compatible. We eventually found an IH compatible nabe from Kinto which worked great. Only complaint (which may not be important to many) is that while the pot worked well it is a very modern-appearing ceramic and does not have the traditional look of nabe. (I missed the homey nostalgic feel of a nabe which just the sight of the traditional design pot can evoke for me.)

Recently, I found an IH compatible nabe which is made of traditional “Banko-ware” 万古焼 pot called “Gipo Hanamishima Banko-yaki pot” 銀宝花三島万古焼土鍋 in an on-line store called “Japanese taste”. This is where we got dried persimmon or “hoshigaki” 干し柿. The “Japanese taste” ships items directly from Japan but it comes relatively quickly*. In any case, we got this “IH compatible do-nabe” pot last year but did not have a chance to use it until now. In the picture below, the left is “Kakomi” IH donabe from Kinto and the right is new Ginpo IH compatible donabe.

*We later learned that this pot is available at Amazon USA.

To make a donabe IH compatible, a magnetic metal disk needs to be present between the induction cooker surface and donabe.  Both these induction compatible donabes took a bit of a different approach.

Kinto donabe has a metal disk embedded into the bottom of pot as seen below. It can be used on gas, induction, and or halogen (electric heating element) cook tops. But not in a microwave oven.

Gipo comes with a stainless steel perforated disk which snaps into the inside bottom of the pot (apparently Ginpo has a patent). There are metal hooks and the inside bottom of the pot is formed to accept and secure this disk. It can be removed for cleaning and using the pot in a microwave. We initially tried it on our old induction cooktop (at least 18 years old which works with our cast iron sukiyaki pot and  Kinto donabe). The Gipo donabe, however, did not work with the old induction cooker. The cooker issued an error message which essentially read “NO-CAN-DO”. I read the instructions that came with the Gipo donabe and found out that it may not be compatible with older IH cookers. Great. Which meant we would be getting a new table top induction cooker to complete the set. It was not too expensive.

The new one is much better; the surface is completely covered with glass and easy to clean and the controls are more advanced. The new cooker worked with the Ginpo donabe. Actually, it boiled the liquid inside much quicker. I assume that because the metal disk is in contact with the liquid.

We enjoyed our nabe dish.  The main protein was cod and oyster. The cod was great. The oysters, however, were a different story. Digression alert: We are having a difficult time getting good oysters, especially Pacific oysters. For this dish we got small (eastern) frozen oyster but they tasted terrible. Luckily they did not ruin the flavor of the rest of the nabe. We ended up throwing out the remainder of the oysters in the package.

The other items in the nabe included nappa cabbage, tofu, diakon, mushrooms (enoki, oyster, shiitake and shimeji). I also added “fu” 麩 gluten cake. I made a broth with dried kelp and a dashi pack and, and for a change, seasoned the simmering liquid with miso (miso, mirin and sake).

Somehow, this new do-nabe is esthetically more pleasing (at least for me) and works great. Since this is a genuine earthen ware pot, you should not keep the contents in the pot over night.

Cabbage stir fried Japanese style 日本風キャベツと油揚の炒め物

This is a simple Japanese family-style cabbage dish which my mother used to make. I thought I must have posted this before but obviously I did not. When we celebrated St. Patrick’s day this year we had a sort of Irish dinner with Shepherd pie, Irish soda bread, and I contributed this cabbage dish to complete the meal. This is a vegetarian dish since instead of meat, deep fried tofu or “abura-autge” 油揚げ is used. I also added onion but it was most likely not included in the original recipe. The seasoning is a typical Japanese one; soy sauce and mirin. This can be a drinking snack or accompaniment for rice (in that case, more soy sauce is called for). 

 I made. this with the center portion of cabbage I had left in the refrigerator. Since I was trying to use up the last of the cabbage, I made a bit more than I intended.

Ingredients: (The amount of the ingredients are arbitrary)
Cabbage, thinly sliced, soaked in water for 10 minutes and then moisture removed in a salad spinner (#1).
Deep fried tofu (abura-age), rinsed in hot water to remove excess oil, cut in half and sliced into thin strips (#2).
Onion, cut in half and thinly sliced (#3).
Vegetable oil with a dash or dark sesame oil for stir flying (#4)
Soy sauce and mirin as seasoning.

Directions:
Add the oil to a wok on medium-high flame
Stir fry the onion for a few minuets and then add the cabbage and continue cooking or few more minutes or until the cabbage softens.
Add the mirin and then soy sauce. Add the seasoning to taste.

This is a nice side dish and a nostalgic reminder from my childhood. 

Sir-fried "kinpira" Astuage tofu 厚揚げのきんぴら

Atsuage or Nama-age 厚揚げ、生揚げ is a type of deep fried tofu which has only the surface fried; the center remains as basically uncooked tofu. I have posted a few dishes using Atsuage. If the quality is good, just grilling it making the surface crunchy and inside soft and hot with soy sauce and chopped scallion is the simplest and best way to cook it. This time, the atsuage I got from the Japanese grocery store was a U.S. made brand I had not used before and not being sure of its quality I came up with this quick stir-fry dish. Since I did not have the appropriate greens such as asparagus or snow peas, I used the sugar snaps I prepared.

Ingredients:
1/2 atsuage, cut into thin slices and cut in half length-wise making thin strips.
1 tsp vegetable oil
2 tsp concentrated noodle sauce or 1 tsp each of mirin and soy sauce
10 blanched sugar snaps or snow peas.

Directions:
Heat the oil on a medium flame in a frying pan. When the oil is hot, add the atsuage and stir several minutes until the surface gets crisp and the interior raw tofu parts browns slightly.
Add the seasoning, the sugar snaps and stir for an additional minute.
Garnish with chopped scallion and serve immediately.

For a quick impromptu dish, this was quite good. Since all the sides of the tofu strips are crispy and seasoned, this is better than just toasted with soy sauce.  

Tofu and egg stir fry 炒り豆腐もどき

 I have been making small Izakaya dishes recently but nothing new to post for a while. One evening, we wanted one more small dish. When I surveyed the fridge, I found somewhat fragmented silken tofu which was leftover from  making “Age-dashi tofu” 揚げ出し豆腐 the other day. Also I found the remainder of “name-ko” ナメコ mushroom after I made “nameko and tofu miso soup”なめこの味噌汁. So, I came up with this dish.  I got the idea from a standard Japanese tofu dish called “Irido-fu” 炒り豆腐 but added an egg and the seasoning is more for drinking snack than a side dish you have with rice.

It came out better than I expected. I topped this dish with chopped chive since I had some. 

Ingredients:
1/2 silken tofu, water partially pressed (fragmented tofu works)
1 egg, beaten
Mushroom, arbitrary amount, sliced large ones such as shiitake (any mushrooms will work such as shimeji, shiitake but I happened to have name-ko mushroom from a can. I rinsed them in a colander to remove viscous liquid).
1 tsp neutral oil such as Canola.
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp concentrated noodle sauce (or soy sauce)
1/4 tsp grated ginger root
1 tbs chopped chive

Directions:
In a frying pan, add the oil and tofu. Stir. The tofu will further fragment and get somewhat dry (at least no exuding moisture), add the salt and the egg and the mushroom, stir until egg is cooked. Add the ginger and noodle sauce and stir until no liquid remains. Serve with the chopped chive immediately. If not adequately seasoned add soysauce or more noddle sauce,

The consistency of the tofu and scrambled egg is similar and the tofu assumes the taste of the egg. This is  a good way of enjoying egg taste without much egg. This went rather well with cold sake we were enjoying.

Warm tofu with mushroom sauce 豆腐のキノコあんかけ

This was a dish I made sometime ago but somehow I did not post it. I made this dish one day to use up ingredients which need to be used quickly. I had portions of silken tofu which I kept in a sealable plastic container with water in the fridge, shimeji mushroom and fresh but pre-sliced shiitake mushroom (We specified whole fresh shiitake but we got a package of presliced shiitake mushrooms through the Instacart.) So, I came up with this dish which is a rather standard Japanese dish but I did not follow any recipe.

The sauce is thickened with potato starch slurry.  Dishes made with this kind of sauce are often called “an-kake” 餡掛け. This is a warm and soothing dish. It is basically vegetarian except for bonito in the dashi broth.

Ingredients (2 servings):
Half silken tofu divided into two portions
1 cup Japanese dashi broth (I made this from kelp and bonito flakes).
1/4 cup (or to taste) concentrated Japanese noodle sauce (from bottle)
1/2 scallion finely sliced
1 tsp potato starch or “Katakuri-ko” 片栗粉 make into “slurry” by adding 1 tbs water or sake.

Directions:
Heat the tofu in the simmering broth until warm (5-6 minutes).
Place the warmed tofu in bowels
Add the mushrooms to the broth and cook for 3-4 minutes
Add the noodle sauce and the starch slurries and thicken the sauce.
Add the scallion.
Pour the “ankake”sauce over the tofu and serve.

This is best served in cold weather but this is a very gentle smoothing dish with soft tofu and gentle taste of broth and mushrooms.

Warm tofu with shiitake sauce 豆腐の椎茸あんかけ

 For some reason, it is getting more and more difficult to get fresh whole shiitake mushrooms. Our regular grocery store used to carry them but now only pre-sliced shiitake are available.  Whole foods used to have them regularly but it is now hit or miss. This time, we tried Hmart, Korean grocery store, through Instacart. Despite  the specific instruction that we wanted only whole fresh shiitake, we got pre-sliced. I decided to cook them so that they would keep longer and if needed I could also freeze them. So I just sautéed the mushrooms with olive oil, finely chopped red onion (I happened have extra finely chopped red onion left over from another dish). Several days later, I made this warm tofu dish from silken tofu (right, in the first picture). I also served fried salmon in sweet vinegar 鮭の南蛮漬け topped with ikura (left in the first picture)

I garnished it with chiffonade of perilla.

This is our stand-by dish but the ikura was soaked in a mixture of Japanese bonito broth and concentrated noodle sauce which makes the individual ikura swell up and give a nice snap with more flavor. 

Ingredients:(two small servings)
1/4 silken tofu, cut into two cubes
1 inch long dried kelp (for making broth)
Water

For "ankake" 餡掛け sauce
1/2 cup (arbitrary) sliced fresh shiitake mushroom (in my case mixture of finely chopped onion and pre-sliced shiitake sautéed in olive oil)
1/2 cup dashi broth (I used bonito broth using dashi pack)
1 tsp potato starch ("katakuri-ko")
1 tbs sake
1-2 tsp of concentrated noodle sauce (from bottle) to taste.
1/4 tsp grated ginger
chiffonade of perilla (optional)

Directions:
Wipe the kelp with a wet towel. Put in a pan and add water. When it comes to boil turndown the flame to simmer and add the tofu cubes to warm (5-10 minutes)

In a small sauce pan, add the bonito broth and the shiitake. Let it come to boil then turn down the flame to simmer. Cook for a few minutes. Add the concentrated noodle sauce to taste. Thicken the sauce by mixing in the potato starch slurry (with sake) and cook for few more minutes. Add the grated ginger and cut the heat.

In a bowl, carefully scope up the warm tofu cubes with a slotted spoon draining water. Pour over the "ankake" sauce and garnish with chiffonade of perilla (if using).

This is a nice, very gentle dish with soft and warm silken tofu with mild flavors of soy sauce, broth and shiitake. Although the day was not cold, we enjoyed this with cold sake.