Table of Contents 2026

January 2026
January 1     Happy New Year 2026 明けましておめでとうございます
January 2    “Ozoni” New Year’s Soup お雑煮 2026
January 5    Osechi from Sushi Taro 2026 すし太郎のお節
January 8    Chocolate Brownie Pudding チョコレートブラウニープディング
January 11    Japanese “Kabu” Turnip Simmered in Broth 蕪の煮物
January 14    Japanese Sweet potato Blini さつまいもビィリニ
January 17    Simmered “Satoimo” taro with squid 里芋とイカの煮物
January 19    Grilled Beef Tongue 牛タンの焼肉
January 20    Persimmon in Tofu Dressing 柿の白和え
January 23    Cauliflower-puree Blini カリフラワーピュレー　ビィリニ
January 25    Gingerbread Pancakes with Date Sauce ジンジャーブレッドパンケーキ
January 26    “Bento” Lunch Box 弁当
January 29    Chestnuts and Apple Blini 栗とリンゴ味のビリニ

February 2026
February 1    Warm sake on a cold night 寒夜の燗酒
February 4    Cranberry sauce muffins クランベリーソースマフィン
February 7    Appetizers; one with Shad Roe 酒のつまみ
February 10    Custardy Apple Cake カスタードアップルケーキ

Lotus root salad with Yuzu-kosho Mayo 柚子胡椒マヨ蓮根サラダ

This is the second dish I made from fresh renkon (lotus root) we received recently from Weee. This a simple renkon salad. I have posted several renkon salads and this is a variation of renkon salad dressed in yuzu-mayonnaise. I think I saw a recipe on line from which I got the idea for this but could not locate it again. In any case, the dressing is made with mayo plus yuzu-kosho* 柚子胡椒 so in addition to yuzu flavor it has some heat from the yuzu-kosho. This was a really good dish. The renkon is crunchy. It absorbs the yuzu flavor which gives it a bright citrus taste. The mayo mutes the spiciness of the yuzu-kosho but it is still there. Just for green color I added blanched green beans.

* Japanese condiment/ paste made from chili peppers, yuzu peel and salt, which is then allowed to ferment. Usually made of green pepper but also made with red pepper.

Again this is not really recipe. Just for my notes:

Ingredients:
3 inch renkon, peeled, blanched and cut into small bite sized pieces.

Some green for color (blanched green beans, broccoli etc)

Dressing:
1 tbs mayonnaise 
1/2 tsp yuzu-kosho (more for spicier dressing)
1 tsp ponzu shoyu ポン酢醤油
(Because the ponzu also has yuzu juice in it the dressing gets a double dose of yuzu Japanese citrus flavor)

Directions:
Boil the renkon in salted water with a splash of rice vinegar for 10-15 minutes.
Let it cool to room temperature.
In a bowl, add the renkon and dressing and mix.
Add the green beans cut diagonally in a bite size. 

This is a very refreshing salad. The crunchiness of the renkon combined with the bright citrus taste and slight spiciness of the yuzu-kosho provide lovely contrast of flavors for any meal. 

Roasted Bone-in Leg of Lamb 骨付き子羊脚ロースト

Christmas and New Year are approaching. Since my wife likes lamb, we splurged and got a large bone-in (or as they described it, “minimally boned and halal”) leg of lamb from Whole Foods. Clearly this is too much meat for us but we figured once it is cooked we can eat it in several sittings and use it to make other dishes such as lamb stew. I thought about making a special dry rub for it but decided to go with the natural flavor of the meat and used only olive oil, salt and pepper. We hot smoked it using mesquite wood chips in the Weber grill. I soaked the wood chips and added them directly on the hot coals which were separated on either side of the center in a metal baskets so the lamb roasted on indirect heat. I maintained the temperature at 400F. The lamb was done in almost one and half hours cooking time. I set the meat temperature probe in the middle of the thigh fairly deep but not touching the bone and cooked it to an internal temperature of 140F. The meat came out really nice (#1). We let it rest covered loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil for 30 minutes while we cooked some Japanese sweet potatoes to go with it.

The doneness ranged from well-done (close to the shank) to medium rare (middle of the thigh meat). Close to the boned (or de-boned) end (the largest diameter potion)  was medium which I served (#2). I made a quick pan sauce and served it with mashed sweet potato.

This was a simple meat-and-potato affair but very satisfying. We had a Joseph Phelps 2022 Syrah.

This is a very good American Syrah that went perfectly with our lamb dinner.

”Boti Gosht” Indian style Meat Cubes インド風の豚肉キューブ

Whenever we get a large bone-in, skin-on, hind-or fore-quarter pork (called picnic cut), I do secondary butchering to produce one large and one small roast. We cook the large roast in the Weber grill and make the small roast into Chinese-style simmered pork using the InstantPot pressure cooker. I cut the remaining trimmings into small chunks and cook them in the InstantPot. We usually use these to make some kind of curry but this time my wife used them to make scrapple. After all this, we found ourselves with leftover roasted pork. My wife decided we should use it to make something interesting that we hadn’t made before. She came up with this Indian-style meat (pork) cubes dish based on a recipe in Madhur Jaffrey’s cookbook “Quick and Easy Indian Cooking”. (The original recipe called for uncooked cubes of goat/lamb/pork.) This is a highly seasoned dish but does not include the extra sauce characteristic of a regular curry. In any case, this turned out to be quite good. It was quite spicy (but not too spicy, at least for me). (My wife ate it topped with yogurt to mute the spiciness a bit and she said it was very good), with lots of flavors. 

Ingredients
3 tablespoons vegetable oil 
1 or 2 onions roughly diced
½-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and very finely chopped 
4 cloves garlic, peeled and very finely chopped
15 fresh or dried curry leaves, if available
1 pound boned shoulder of lamb or pork, cut into 1-inch cubes (We used the left over roasted pork cut up) 
2 teaspoons store-bought garam masala
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 fresh, hot green chile, finely sliced
½ teaspoon salt or to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
1½-2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Directions:
 Saute the onion in a frying pan until soft and lightly browned. Add the ginger, garlic, and curry leaves and stir until wilted. When the garlic is wilted add the spices to bloom their flavor.  Add the meat. Add enough chicken broth so the ingredients in the pan do not scorch. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes. Remove the lid and cook, uncovered, until all the liquid has gone. Stir as you do this and be careful it doesn’t scorch. Then stir in the lemon juice.

Chilean Sea bass with Steamed with Japanese Turnip 蕪蒸し

When we got some Japanese “Kabu 蕪” turnips from Suzuki Farm, I made this dish called “Kabura-mushi 蕪蒸し”. This is a Kyoto cuisine specialty for winter time. The main component is grated turnip mixed with whipped egg white which is then steamed. The classic, as I understand it, uses a type of lightly salted “amdai 甘鯛 snapper called Guji ぐじ” . I suppose you could use shrimp or other white fish or you do not have to use any seafood. I used the tail portion of Chilean sea bass since that was available. I also added shiitake mushroom. This was a really good comforting dish. The Japanese “kabu” turnip adds an interesting slightly pungent (in good way) taste and nice soft consistency. The  “ankake 餡かけ” sauce is gentle and thickened with potato starch (the classic version uses “Kudzu” 葛 starch)*. We like this dish very much. For a good measure, I also added a small dab of wasabi.

*Yes, this is starch derived from the roots of dreaded kudzu plant. It is often used in Kyoto cuisine.

Ingredients (for 2 servings)

1 medium (about 180 grams) Japanese “kabu” turnip, skin peeled, grated and drained of excess moisture

1 egg white whipped to hard peak

1/4 tsp salt

Two pieces of white fish (I used the tail portions of Chilean sea bass)

2 fresh shiitake mushrooms caps sliced

other optional items may include  edible lily bulb, “gin-nan 銀杏” ginko-nuts.

For sauce

1/2 cup Japanese “dashi 出汁” broth

1 tsp x4 Japanese noodle sauce

1 tsp mirin

1 tsp potato starch mixed with 1 tsp water or sake (for thickening the sauce)

Directions:

Place the fish filet in the bowl, place the kabu-egg white mixture on the top, scatter the mushroom in the periphery, steam for 10 minutes in strong steam (see picture 2)

For sauce:

Heat up the broth add seasonings, taste and adjust, add the starch slurry and mix until thickened. Make sure the sauce comes to a boil (otherwise sauce will revert to watery state quickly).

Pour over the steamed dish and top with a dab of wasabi.

Amazingly, my wife really liked this dish. I may make it again when we get some more “kabu”.