Grilled “Tai” Perch Seasoned Rice 鯛飯もどき

Among the items in the Sushi Taro osechi box, was a grilled small “Tai” perch 小鯛の姿焼き that looks very nice and makes the osechi box festive and special. In the past, I used it to make a bowl of rice (a type of donburi 丼) by removing the meat and making it into “Soboro そぼろ ‘or finely crumbled seasoned fish meat topping the rice along with “Braised small ice fish seasoned with Japanese pepper じゃこの有馬煮” from the box. This year, in the Japanese menu or “Oshinagaki お品書き” accompanying the osechi, Chef Kitayama suggested cooking the Tai over rice. I thought this was a great idea. It immediately reminded me of “Tai-meshi 鯛飯” we had in Matsuyama, Shikoku 松山、四国.

This worked very well. It was much easier to remove meat since it was sort of steamed while the rice cooked. The resulting rice was flavorful and, as far as we can tell, this is the best way to enjoy the grilled Tai perch fish from the osechi box (picture #1).

I did not follow any recipe but just made it like I make seasoned rice or “maze-gohan 混ぜご飯”. You may not like to add any other items or add more items to the rice beside the perch.

Ingredients:
1 grilled small Tai perch (from the Sushi Taro osechi box).
1 small carrot, peeled and julienned.
1 inch square of Dashi Kelp, surface cleaned with dump paper towel.
3-4 small fresh shiitake caps, thinly sliced
2 cups of Japanese short-grain rice. I used “Nanatsuboshi ななつぼしfrom Hokkaido” (a cup came with the rice cooker which is smaller than US cup)
2 cups or a bit more of water including 1 tbs x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce (or light colored soy sauce) and 1 tbs mirin (see directions below how to determine the liquid amount).
Thin strips of nori or “Kizami-nori 刻み海苔” for garnish.

Directions:
Wash the rice and drain.
Add the washed rice to the rice cooker.
Add the noodle sauce and mirin.
Add water to the mark in the rice cooker for 2 cups of rice and gently mix to distribute the seasonings.
Top the rice with the kelp, carrot and mushroom and place the grilled fish on the top and start the rice cooker in the normal white rice mode (#1 in the composite).
Remove the fish and the kelp. Remove the meat from the bone. I did not remove the skin which has good flavor. Carefully inspect for the bone (#2 in the composite)

Mix and fluff up the rice (#3 in the composite). You could mix the fish meat at this time or just top the rice in the serving bowl (#4 in the composite).

Garnish with the nori strips (#1 picture).

Making this rice was a great suggestion. The flavor of the fish permeated the rice with a rich umami. the mushrooms added yet another umami dimension. Great end to the New Year’s osechi box. 

Sushi Taro New Year Soba 手打ち蕎麦

When we got the Sushi Taro osechi box, we also got two orders of hand-made soba or “teuchi-soba 手打ち蕎麦” (Chef Kitayama is into making soba—which is our gain). As usual, we did not eat it on New year’s eve as “Toshikoshi Soba” 年越し蕎麦 or “Good luck going-over-the-year soba”. Instead, we had the soba as a lunch January 2 as our good luck new year soba. We have had this either cold or warm depending on the year. Since it was cold outside, this year we chose to have warm soba.

The soba kit included the dipping sauce, condiments (thinly sliced scallion and fried tempura batter or “age-dama/ten-kasu” 揚げ玉・天かす), wasabi, and cumquat in syrup. The wasabi is for cold soba with dipping sauce. So I preserved it for other occasions.

I first diluted the dipping sauce with the kelp-bonito broth I made for the new year “ozouni” soup to taste (about the same amount as the sauce), added fresh shiitake mushrooms (caps only), wood ear and oyster mushroom (since I had all these mushrooms) and heated it up and gently simmered while I was preparing  the soba. I also “borrowed” two slices of duck breast from the osechi box. I placed them in the warm soup for just 30 seconds before serving.

As per the instructions, I boiled the soba for 1 and half minutes, drained and washed gently in running cold water. I added the soup through the sieve in a pot on low flame so that the toppings would be separated (for better presentation). I added the cold washed soba into the soup and warmed it up for 30 seconds or so.

I placed the noodles and soup in the individual bowls, arranged the duck breast, mushrooms and garnished it with the age-dama and scallion. I served the cumquats as a side.

This was a very satisfying warm soba bowl. It is an upgraded version of “kake-soba” かけ蕎麦 or “tanuki-soba” たぬき蕎麦.

Sushi Taro Osechi box 2025

So, in the evening of January 1, we opened the osechi box. Picture #4 is the first layer. We quickly spotted our favorites; karasumi 唐墨 (right upper corner), kazunoko 数の子 herring roe and steamed uni 蒸しウニ.

Picture #5 is the second layer. We spotted  monk fish liver terrine or “ankimo tofu” あん肝豆腐 in the upper center. Another of our favorites.

The first serving of the evening is shown in picture #6. From right to left are cured Spanish mackerel 鰆喜鮨, caramelized crispy baby shrimp 小海老の甘露煮, steamed sea urchin 蒸しウニ, miso cured herring roe 数の子味噌ずけ, burdock root 叩きごぼう, behind the vegetables is steamed ground shrimp wrapped in “yuba” tofu skin 海老真蒸湯葉巻き, monk fish liver terrine あん肝豆腐, and karasumi 唐墨. Two small ones are bottarga for comparison. Everything was excellent. The karasumi is wonderful. By comparison, Sushi Taro karasumi was slightly saltier (not in a bad way) but we enjoyed both the karasumi and bottarga

Since we had cold sake with our ozouni お雑煮 (picture #3), for a change, we had scotch and bourbon (picture #7, Ballantine’s 17 year old and Maker’s Mark). We have not drunk hard liquor in ages. (We generally go for wine or sake). So, we added a lot of water and ice to make the drink not too strong. I had the Scotch and my wife had the bourbon.

The second serving of the evening (picture #8) included sake steamed shrimp 長寿海老, red and white fish cake 紅白蒲鉾 (we had it with wasabi and soy sauce), beef and duck (I warmed them up in the toaster oven, which made them fantastic) and other things.

This was a wonderful start of 2025. We will be enjoying and indulging for a few more days until we finish the osechi box.

Happy New Year 2025 謹賀新年2025

Happy New Year! This is the year of  the snake 巳年. We put out a small Japanese “Kagami-mochi” 鏡餅 decoration with three snake figurines. The center is actually a “netsuke” 根付 we purchased some years ago from a shop in Nakamise, Asakusa 仲見世、浅草.  They specialize in miniatures (the shop is also very small almost a miniature itself.)

As usual, we started the day with our regular breakfast of Cafe Latte and some bread/muffins. We have our new year’s soup or “Ozouni” お雑煮 for lunch with a few side dishes I made. (We will wait until evening to open up the Sushi Taro Osetchi Juubako 寿司太郎の御節重箱). The picture below, shows the dishes I served for lunch. They include ‘datemaki” 伊達巻, salmon kelp rolls 鮭の昆布巻き, “kazunoko” 数の子 herring roe (store bought*), wakasaki わかさぎ (store bought), Russian marinated salmon 鮭のロシアずけ folded into the shape of a rose with marinated ikura on top, and daikon namasu 大根なます with slices of octopus leg.

The “ozouni” お雑煮 “new year soup” is our usual. I added daikon, carrot, shrimp, shiitake mushroom and gluten cake or “fu”. In addition, I added chopped renkon to the tsukune balls 蓮根つくねだんご　 which worked well. We like this better than pieces of chicken meat.  It goes without saying that we had a ceremonial glass or two of sake to celebrate the new year 2025! Nice beginning of the new year.  We will open up Sushi Taro Osechi Box this evening.

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 dimension.

P.S. Merry Christmas

“Taco Carnitas”-ish タコ カルニタもどき

This all started when my wife found a package of mini-corn tortillas at Whole Foods (picture #3). Even without opening the package, we can smell the nice corn flavor. I did not make pulled pork but since I had a 1/2 lb of ground pork (left over after making gyoza,) I decided to make something similar to “Taco Caritas”. I made the spice mixture for the pork, salsa, and guacamole. Since we did not have lettuce, I also made shredded cabbage. Instead of sour cream, we used home made Greek yogurt (pictures #1 and #2). It was a bit messy to eat but it was quite good and we liked these corn tortillas.

On the top of guacamole is the Green yogurt (mixed with olive oil and seasoned with salt).

Ingredients (made 4 small taco):
Small corn tortillas (picture #3)
1/2 lb ground pork
Shredded cheese (we used cheddar)
Shredded cabbage (optional)

Taco seasoning (since we did not have chili power I did not use it)
I just mixed; ground cumin, ground coriander, smoked paprika, onion power, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and salt. 

Salsa: (I made this several hours before)
3 skinned Campari tomato, chopped roughly
3-4 sprigs of cilantro, leaves removed and chopped (I used frozen cilantro leaves I prepared previously. This works fairly well. Much better than dried cilantro.)
2 stalks of scallions, finely chopped
2 tsp olive oil,
2 tsp lemon juice (or rice vinegar)
Salt 

Guacamole: (I made this a few days ago)
1 ripe avocado, stone and skin removed and roughly mashed using a fork
2 tsp lemon juice
1 stalk scallion, finely chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and deveined, finely chopped
1tsp chopped cilantro leaves
1/4 tsp sriracha
Salt to taste

Greek Yogurt dip: (also I made this several days ago)
1/4 cup Greek yogurt (we used the home yogurt my wife makes, strained)
1 tbs olive oil
Salt to taste

Directions:
Warm the tortillas (wrapped in aluminum foil in preheated 350F oven for 10-15 minutes).

In a non-stick frying pan on medium flame, add the pork, spread thin and cook until one side is browned. Crumble the pork and add the taco seasonings and cook until the pork fat is rendered and the meat is  throughly cooked, set aside.

Assemble taco by placing the pork, cheese, salsa, guacamole, greek yogurt and cabbage on the tortillas.
Fold the tortillas and enjoy (messy, though).

For non-authentic taco, this was quite good and filling. For us, the mild heat was just right.

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.