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.

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. 

Vegetables in Cold Broth 冷製のトマトの煮浸し

Cold vegetables soaked in broth is the perfect dish for summer. I have posted cold simmered tomato and sugar snap soaked in salt broth before. I made a tomato dish similar to the one I made before but it differed because I did not simmer the tomato (Picture #1). I skinned the Campari tomato (by briefly blanching) and then soaking (but not cooking) it in the hot broth. I let it cool to room temperature and then refrigerated it. I blanched the Sugar snap then soaked it in the broth. I topped it with very briefly blanched “mitsuba ミツバ”. This preparation allows you to taste a fresher tomato flavor. The broth is also slightly sweet containing mirin and soy sauce in addition to kelp-bonito broth.

A few days later, I added simmered daikon and shiitake mushroom (picture #2, right). I also served salmon kelp roll 鮭の昆布巻き and seasoned egg or “ajitama 味玉” (left). The green is arugula sprouts which were growing in the window pot but needed to be thinned. I dressed with truffle oil.

Directions:

Vegetables I used are simmered daikon and fresh shiitake mushrooms, skinned Campari tomatoes and blanched sugar snaps. The daikon was first simmered in water with added one pinch of raw rice for 30 minutes. The seasoning broth is my usual kelp and bonito broth (I made it stronger with two dashi packs with 500ml of water) which was seasoned with mirin and soy sauce (not too strong to bring out the natural flavor of the vegetable). I did not cook the vegetable further, just placed in hot seasoned both and let it cool down and then refrigerated.

This is a very light refreshing dish to serve on a hot summer evening. The veggies have a very fresh flavor but a slightly cooked texture that make them a bit easier to eat. This is the essence of summer.

Nine “Otoshi” Appetizers お通し九種類

This is another installment of 9 “otoshi” appetizers. I managed to fill all 9 spots with small dishes I made. Three fish dishes and 6 vegetable dishes but no meat.

A1: Wood ear mushroom dressed in Japanese hot mustard soy sauce 木耳の芥子醤油和え.  Blanched fresh wood ear cut into strips and dressed in a mixture of Japanese hot mustard, sugar and soy sauce. I also added small amount of roasted sesame oil and garnished with white sesame seeds..
A2: Cucumber and sweet onion salad 胡瓜と玉ねぎのサラダ
A3: Pickled daikon and cucumber. 大根と胡瓜の漬物 with Campari tomato.
B1: Salmon kelp roll 鮭の昆布巻き. I started making this not just for New Year. This one was particularly good because of the good quality kelp.
B2: Pickled herring (from a jar in wine sauce) in sour cream dill sauce, ニシンのサワークリームソース, which makes it much better.
B3: Marinated “ Russian ” Salmon “ 鮭のロシア漬け.
C1: Blanched asparagus dressed in sesame mayonnaise アスパラのスリゴママヨあえ. The dressing is a mixture of roasted and  ground white sesame, mayonnaise and soy sauce.
C2: Garlic chive in broth (“Ohitashi” お浸し) topped with golden thread egg (“Kinshi-ran” 錦糸卵), ニラのお浸し金糸卵のせ. The broth is half and half mixture of Japanese “dashi” broth and x4 Japanese noodle sauce. The golden thread egg is thin omelet julienned.
C3: Braised daikon, carrot, daikon green, fried tofu pouch or “abura-age” 油揚げ. 大根, 大根葉と油揚げの炒め煮. This is my impromptu dish since we got daikon with some green top attached.

Although each dish is small after having 9 of those filled us up considerably. It takes some efforts but we like many small dishes with many different textures and tastes rather than one or two large dishes.

Ice Breaker “Summer” Sake 玉川アイスブレイカー酒

Some days ago when we did our usual take-out sashimi and sushi from Tako Grill, I spotted a sake called “Ice Breaker”. I immediately recognized the distinct blue label with the penguins on it. This is the sake we had at Kyoto Izakaya “Kura-Kura” 蔵倉 in 2015. At that time, this is what we posted:

“ Although I never tasted this sake, I remember reading about it on the Internet. I remember reading that it was brewed by the first and only foreigner (British) sake master Philp Harper at Kinoshita Shuzou 玉川木下酒造 in Kyoto. Seeing the distinctive blue label with the Penguin on it, I had to taste this one as the next sake. The sommelier/wife (?) commented "Oh, you like summer sake". This is junmai ginjou genshu, non-filtered 純米吟醸無濾過生原酒 made from Nihonbare 日本晴 sake rice. I think this was a new sake just released. We tried it first like regular cold sake. It was OK but not great. Then I remembered that the idea behind this sake is that it can be drunk on the rocks which would be particularly refreshing in the hot Kyoto summer. Since it is genshu (not diluted and of high alcohol content), it would withstand the ice. (And how could anyone be hot after seeing that label?) My wife provided some ice cubes from her oolong tea to test my theory. We thought it actually tasted much better so we requested more ice and drank it frosty cold. This was a rather clean sake and we did not notice the high alcohol.”

Since the weather was getting a bit warmer I decided the time had come to open the bottle. Out of curiosity I went to the Japanese Tamagawa brewery web site which interestingly is in English (which makes sense given the brew master is British). I noticed several differences between the description on the web site and the bottle I had in the refridgerator. According to the website the sake is available in both the 500 ML and the usual 1.6L size (1 shou-bin 一升瓶) bottles in Japan. As far as I know, only the 500ml size is available in the U.S. which is a rather unusual size (usual size is 720ml). In addition, while the sake in the fridge and described on the web site were both summer sakes; available between May and August, the brew years were different. The brew year for the sake sold in Japan was advertised as 2023 which means it was brewed from the winter of 2023 to spring 2024 making it a newly released sake. In contrast, the brew year for the bottle we had was listed as 2022 meaning it was brewed from winter 2022 to spring 2023 making it one year older than the ones advertised on the Japanese web site (see addendum below).  I do not know how this sake was aged; whether cold aged like “Hiyaoroshi” ひやおろし or room temperature aged. However it was aged, when we opened the year old bottle, the sake was clear and very fresh tasting (Not like “ko-shu” 古酒 which can be darker colored and funky tasting). We had it first chilled and then on-the-rocks. Chilled it tasted dry but not bone dry. It had nice assertive flavors but was not yeasty or too fruity. On-the-rocks, many of the assertive forward flavors became muted but interestingly more flavors appeared to emerge making the overall flavor much more complex. This characteristic moved this sake straight to the top of our list of favorite sakes. This is the sake we will serve for those “special occasions” which require something extra. Ice cold sake is perfect for hot humid summer (we have our share of those kind of days in Washington DC area but nothing comparable to a Kyoto summer.) In any case, we really enjoyed this sake.

The night we tasted the sake we had a small amount of toro トロ and tai 鯛 (sea bream) sashimi. I also served Russian marinate salmon ロシア漬け and salmon kelp roll 鮭の昆布巻き along with pickled daikon, cucumber and blanched sugar snap.

The next time, I went to Tako Grill, this sake was not available any longer. It was available from our trusty “Tippsy sake” so we ordered a few bottles for coming summer.

Addendum: While I was looking at Japanese food blogs, I came across the description and picture of “Ice Breaker” sake. The picture clearly shows “2022BY” in the label (the blog post is dated as “5/18/2024). So, it is likely that all Ice Breaker sake, either in Japan and US, available this year is “2022BY”. One year aging may be attributable for the flavors of this sake.

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.

Pickeld Micro Cucumber and Daikon 小さなキュウリと大根のピクルス

The other day while we were shopping at the near-by Whole Foods, my wife found a new item which is called “Teeny Tiny Cucumber” (picture #3). They are much smaller than “American Mini-cucumbers” and about the size of cornichons. I decide to use them to make a Japanese style pickle along with a daikon pickle. I would have used Japanese citrus “Yuzu” but we do not have any access to fresh yuzu so instead, I used Myer lemons (#1). The cucumbers were not crunchy but the daikon was nicely crunchy. It was a bit too sour/acidic for my wife so next time, I will dilute the marinade with some water.

The marinade is a standard Japanese sweet vinegar (one part rice vinegar,1/2 part sugar, small amount of salt). This is essentially a variation of “Daikon Namasu” 大根なます.

Ingredients:
1 package (9oz) teeny tiny cucumbers (picture #3)*
1/3 medium daikon, peeled, cut into 3-4 mm thick rounds and then cut into tick match sticks
1 Meyer lemon, sliced (or yuzu if available).
1 tsp of salt to “sweat” the cucumber and daikon to remove some internal moisture. 

Marinade:
1 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup water (optional)*

Directions:
Mix the marinade ingredients in a sauce pan and heat on medium flame until sugar and salt melt and start the liquid starts simmering. Let it cool for 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a bowl add the cucues, daikon and salt, mix well and let it stand for 10-15 minutes until water comes out.
Drain the excess moisture that came out, add half of  the lemon slices to the bottom of a mason jar, add the cucues and daikon and top with slices of the lemon (picture #2). Pour in the marinade. Once cooled to room temperature, place the jar in the refrigerator. The pickles will be ready in 2-3 days.

* Picture #3 is the package of this tiny cucues. I am not sure if this is a special kind of cucumber or just a young and small cucumber. It is grown in Canada.

We like this pickles. The cucumbers are a bit soft and not crunchy but the daikon was nicely crunchy. Over all, this was nice refreshing dish. May be we should have eaten it raw with a dip as suggested in the package. Next time.

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.

Grated Lotus Root and Tofu Ball レンコンと豆腐まんじゅう

This is a variation of “renkon ball” (renkon manju レンコン饅頭) I posted before.  Besides grated renkon lotus root, it also uses tofu. Since I had the last of the lotus root and half of the tofu, this was a perfect dish to make. I got the idea watching one of the YouTube cook shows. This is a basic version but I could add more items to make it more interesting. I could have made some kind of broth or sauce but this was pretty good as is. Picture #1 shows the cut surface with small chunks of tofu. This has nice soft interior and crunchy crust. When I made this dish I also made “nagaimo” fries which turned out really good and will be the subject of separate post (picture #1 right lower).

Ingredients:
200 grams lotus root, peeled and grated, moisture drained out naturally
300 grams tofu, moisture drained
3 tbs Potato starch
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp miso (original recipe calls for 1/2 tbs soy sauce, I used miso since the dough was bit runny)
Flour for dredging.
Oil for deep frying.

Directions:
Add the grated lotus root, tofu, potato starch, ginger and miso and mix well until smooth. Add more starch if too watery/soft.
Using the ice cream scoop, make equal sized balls, dredge in the flour and deep fry at 160-180F oil for 3-4 minutes turning a few times until the outside is nicely brown (picture #2).

Initially, I served these hot but it can be heated up nicely in the toaster oven. It is seasoned but you could add soy sauce with grated ginger or some type of hot broth. If I make this again I could add chopped scallion, cut up shrimp, ginko nuts, mushrooms etc to make it more interesting.

A few days later, I tried to make a dish (soup) with the leftover renkon balls (picture #3). I made this for lunch. I made it a few hours ahead and re-heated just before serving. The idea was good but the execution was not so great. While the renkon balls were sitting in the broth they absorbed the broth and mostly disintegrated as you can see in the picture #3. It still tasted good.

This is mostly leftover control and there is no recipe but this is how I made it.

Ingredients: (for the soup)
4 Renkon balls, cut in half
Half package of brown shimeji mushroom, root end removed and separated
1 inch daikon, peeled and drained
1 spring onion, finely chopped
Cooked udon noodle, amount arbitrary, this was leftover

For broth:
2 cup Japanese broth (from dashi pack)
1 tbs each of  sake and mirin
1/4 cup of x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce (or taste)

Directions:
Add the ingredients for the broth in sauce pan and heat to simmer
Add the grated daikon, renkon balls and mushroom and simmer.
Add the noodles and scallion
Serve while hot*

* as I mentioned, I made this ahead of time and reheated before lunch. That was a mistake, the renkon balls absorbed the broth and mostly disintegrated. Nonetheless it tasted good and the addition of grated daikon added flavor and cut the oily taste from the renkon ball.

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.

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!!

Sweet Potato and Chestnut Rice サツマイモ、栗ご飯

My wife got three relatively small Japanese sweet potatoes or “Satsuma-imo” さつまいも from Whole Foods.  She was vaguely thinking of making sweet potato muffins but the amount was not really enough. I suggested making sweet potato rice instead (I ended up using all three potatoes for three different dishes). Since we also had prepared chestnuts, I made sweet potato chestnut rice. To extend the autumnal theme, I also made miso soup with mushrooms and lily bulb. Since I also made new batches of pickled daikon and “asazuke” 浅漬け cucumber, I served those on the side.

This is a close-up of sweet potato chestnut rice. I sprinkled “goma-shio” ごま塩, a mixture of black sesame and salt.

For the miso soup, I added shimeji しめじand shiitake mushroom along with lily bulb 百合根 which sank to the bottom. We picked the lily bulb up with the chopsticks so they got their place in the photo op.

Ingredients:
2 cups (using the cup came with out rice cooker) of short grain rice (we used “Yumepirica” ゆめぴりかHokkaido rice we got form NY rice factory).
1 inch square kelp
1 Japanese sweet potato, peeled, diced and soaked in cold water
10 prepared chestnuts
1 tbs x4 concentrated “Mentsuyu” Japanese noodle sauce

Directions:
Wash the rice, place it in the rice cooker, add the specified amount of water, add the seasoning, sweet potato and chestnuts and turn on the switch.
When it is done (see below), remove the kelp and gently mix.

This is a very autumnal and nice rice. Nice sweetness from both the sweet potato and the chestnuts with contrasting texture of soft and somewhat crunchy. I just sprinkled the “goma-shio” and my wife, as usual, added butter and soy sauce. The soup also went very well. The nice sweetness and crunchy texture of the lily bulb and mushrooms worked well together. We were also pleased with the daikon tsukemono.

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.

“Name-take” as a part of 9 Appetizers 自家製なめたけ

This is another installment of 9 appetizers served on 9 divided plate. There are a few repeats but no store-bought items.  Among these 9 items, the new ones are home-made “name-take” なめ茸* (in the center) and seasoned and grilled quail eggs 味付けうずらの卵 (in the bottom row, center). 

The top row from left to right are fig and edible chrysanthemum イチジクと春菊の和物 (I added sesame dressing this time), sugar snaps in salt broth スナップ豌豆の塩びたし,  simmered mushrooms “tsukudda-ni” キノコの佃煮.  The he middle row left to right are “hoshigaki” dried persimmon with daikon namasu 干し柿大根なます, nametake なめ茸, “kinpira gobo” burdock root 金平牛蒡.  The bottom row left to right are grilled “ginnan” ginko-nuts with salt 銀杏**, grilled seasoned quail eggs 味付けうずらの卵   lilly bulb with ikura salmon roe 百合根のイクラ載せ.

*I thought I have not posted home-made Name-take but when I searched my blog I found two enoki mushroom dishes one is home-made name-take in 2011. I will list the recipe again for my own convenience. Nametake is most commonly available as a rice condiment in a jar.

** It may be spelled as “gingko”. We used to be able to get a small can of boiled ginko nuts but in recent years, it has disappeared. This may be due to the fact that ginko nuts contain a small amount of toxin called MPN, or 4'-methoxypyridoxin. If consumed in a large quantity, especially among children, could produce intoxication. We could harvest ginko nuts since ginko trees are around, the preparation (to remove the meat of the fruit) is messy and smelly which I am hesitant to do). Very recently, however, we could get boiled and packaged ginko nuts (China product) from Weee.

Nametake:

Ingredients: (the seasoning can be more stringer/salty (more soy sauce)
I package (200 gram) Enoki mushroom
2 tbs sake
1 tbs mirin
2 tbs soy sauce (or x4 concentrated Japanese “mentsuyu” noodle sauce

Directions:
Cut off the end of the enoki, cut in half, separate the bottom parts
Place it in a small pot and add sake on low heat with a lid on. After 5 minutes, stir to mix. The consistency changes and thickens. Add the seasoning and increase the heat, stir until no free liquid remains.

Imitating the commercial products, I put  the home-made nametake in a jar (below) after sterilizing the inside of the jar with 50 proof Vodka.

The way this is cooked and seasoned are identical to mushroom tsukuda-ni but the difference is that “Enoki mushroom” cooked this way produced unique texture on the surface of the mushroom (somewhat slippery coating).

Seasoned quail eggs: (I think we figured out how to boil and peel)

How to boil and peel the quail eggs
In a pan add enough water and boil. When the water started boiling, add small mount of cold water to stop rapid boiling and add the cold (refrigerated) quail eggs using a slotted spoon. Gently stir in first 1-2 minutes so that the egg yolks center. Cook in gentle boil for 4 minutes then soak the eggs in ice water (mixture of ice cubes and cold water).
After 10-15 minutes, make multiple cracks on the shell (I used the back of the knife) and put them back to the ice water for 10-15 more minutes.
Peel the shells using a thin stream of cold water could help peel the shells.

Marinading the eggs:
I simple marinate the eggs in x4 Japanese concentrated “Mentsuyu” 麺つゆ noodle soup. Alternetively mix equal amount of mirin and soy sauce as a marinade.

Before serving, I toaster oven for 5-6 minutes.

We like these small dishes. The quail eggs have delicate seasoning from the marinade and creamy yolk. The grilled ginko nuts with salt is unique texture and taste for autumn and a quintessential drinking snack in Japan.

Marinated “Tsukemono” Daikon 大根漬物

We got 2 medium size daikon from Weee. From half of one daikon I made two dishes; tuna and daikon ツナ大根 and dried persimmon and daikon in sweet vinegar 干し柿の大根なます. I made this dish from the other half. This is a type of tsukemono 漬物 (salted/pickled vegetable) but it uses quite a large amount of sugar besides salt and vinegar. When I saw this recipe on-line, I was a bit skeptical about the result but this is surprisingly good and we finished half a daikon in two sittings. I used frozen Yuzu citrus zest as well (see below).

I have seen similar recipes in which both salt and sugar were used but this one appears simplest.

I converted the Japanese tbs=15ml and tsp=5ml to grams but this may have increased both the sugar and salt amount as compared with the original recipe but it still came out OK.

Ingredients:
1/2 medium-size daikon radish, peeled, cut in half,

Marinade
25ml rice vinegar
15grams salt
120grams sugar
10 ml sake
Yuzu zest

Directions:
Mix the marinade. The amount of sugar is quite large and the marinade is slush rather than liquid
Add the marinade and the daikon into a Ziploc bag, remove the air as much as possible
Put it in the refrigerator, turning once or twice a day. After a few hours, the moisture from the daikon made the marinade completely liquid and clear (see below)

This dish was subtly very appealing; slowly growing on you. The daikon had a very pleasing crunch; not the hard not too soft. The slight sweetness of the sugar contrasted with the slight sourness of the vinegar and completely permeated the daikon. The original daikon spicy flavor peeked through at the very end of the bite. The added Yuzu zest was like icing on the cake adding yet another dimension of citrus. No wonder we consumed the whole thing in only 2 sittings.

Tuna and Daikon salad ツナ大根

We found two cans of albacore tuna in our pantry. We are not a fan of canned tuna and I am not sure why we have it; something to do with the start of COVID and the various food shortages, particularly of protein that occurred at that time. In any case, I saw a recipe on YouTube which combined daikon 大根 and canned tuna ツナ缶. I was not sure how this would work but I had just got two whole daikon from Weee. So I had to try this recipe. We first tasted the tuna as is. It was very dry and not great tasting but my wife said the only way to save this tuna was with the addition of mayonnaise.  This made me think that  this recipe could work after all. I slightly deviated from the original recipe.

Ingredients:
1 can of tuna (I used albacore tuna in water but the original recipe used tuna in oil)
1/4 daikon, peeled, sliced and julienned
salt

For dressing
2 tbs mayonnaise
2 tbs Greek yogurt
1-2 tsp soy sauce or x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce
1/4 tsp yuzu kosho (optional)
1/2 tsp “aonori” dried sea weed flakes (optional)

Directions:
Add salt to the daikon, knead and let it stand for 10 minutes
Squeeze out as much moisture as possible
Add the mixture of the mayo and Greek yogurt
Add the soy sauce and taste. If needed add more.
Add aonori and yuzu kosho if using..

This is a surprisingly good dish. If you are not told you couldn’t guess it has daikon in it. Even the tuna added some flavor helped by the dressing. This is definitely a very easy dish to make as well. Perfect for a drinking snack or a small side dish.

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.

Marinated Camembert Cheese カマンベールチーズのかえし漬け

I was browsing one of the Japanese food blogs I follow when my wife stopped me and asked what the picture on the screen was showing. It happened to be slices of Camembert cheese marinated in “Kaeshi” かえし*. Although the blog was about a “soba” Japanese noodle restaurant in Tuskiji 築地長生庵 their menu included a selection of sake and dishes that go with sake in addition to soba. (Judging from the blogs, it is a popular watering hole among sake drinkers).

*Kaeshi: Kaeshi is the concentrated soba noodle sauce made of soy sauce, mirin and sugar. It is transformed into soba noodle sauce by diluting the kaeshi with dashi broth. So since this was a soba noodle restaurant, good kaeshi must have been readily available.

Since we had just gotten a wheel of Camembert cheese and we also had a bottle of concentrated noodle sauce which is equivalent to Kaeshi, we decided to try to make the cheese dish shown in the blog. The original dish was topped with freshly grated horse radish. Although we had prepared horse radish in a jar, in general we find it too harsh in flavor. So my wife suggested the next best alternative; grated daikon. I thought that was a great idea since the spiciness of both daikon and horse radish comes from the same/similar chemical substance called “allyl isothiocyanate (AITC)”. Usually daikon is not as spicy as horse radish but sometimes grated daikon can be extremely hot (atomic) which we have experienced in the past.

Since Camembert cheese is fatty and does not easily absorb liquid marinade, we sliced the cheese and marinated it in x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce. We marinated it in the refrigerator for several hours. It came to be rather firm.

Fortunately, the grated daikon had a just right amount of spiciness and went very well with the marinated Camembert. This is an unusual West/East hybrid dish akin to miso-marinated cream cheese. We really like this. (And it does go very well with sake).

“Hoshigaki” Dried Persimmon “ Daikon-namasu 干し柿入り大根なます

Last year, we got “Hoshigaki” 干し柿 or dried persimmon from “Japanese taste”.  Since “kaki” 柿 persimmon is harvested in the fall and processed during the cold winter to make “Hoshigaki”, it usually becomes available in January. I requested that they notify me when it became available and they did recently. I ordered it immediately and (surprisingly) it came directly from Japan within only 4-5 days. This is again one of the best quality hishigaki called “Ichidagaki” 市田柿 from Nagano 長野 or “Shinshu” 信州 (old name of Nagano). It came in a nice box containing 24 or 2 dozen.

The surface is all coated with what appears to be powdered sugar but I am sure this is a natural sugar from the hoshigaki.

You can pull the fruit apart by hand revealing the pudding-like very sweet inside with concentrated persimmon flavors. Some have almost no seeds but others have large seeds like this one below. (See arrow). We enjoyed them straight out of the box at first then my wife suggested it may make them even better to warm them up a little bit. She microwaved one for 10 seconds. I agree it was much better. It got a bit softer and the flavors were enhanced.

I made “daikon-namsu” 大根なます with hoshigaki. I was thinking of using the left-over daikon-namsu from the new year’s dishes I made but by the time, I got around to it, we had finished all the daikon-namasu. So, I made a small new batch with finely cut strips of hoshigaki. I did not add any carrots. The sweet hoshigaki and crunchy daikon with sweet vinegar all worked well.

I served this dish with two other dishes to start the evening. The left side is dashi-maki だし巻きomelet I made. As an innovation I added small pieces of pre-seasoned herring roe or kazunoko 数の子 which I got from our Japanese grocery store for the new year. It happened to be rather too spicy to eat “as-is”. So I added some to the omelet which really toned it down and made it much more gentle and palatable. The center is left-over Russian salmon marinade 鮭のロシアずけ topped with ikura.

Although “hoshigaki” is excellent as is as a snack or dessert, I may explore other ways to incorporate it into other dishes. (That is if any are left by that time.)