Baked tofu namerou 豆腐のなめろう

This is an interesting recipe I saw in the new Izakaya cookbook called "The real Izakaya cookbook". This is supposedly "namerou" but instead of fish (usually blue skinned fish like mackerel), this recipe uses tofu--not raw but baked. I served this with warm sake. Recently, I am fond of having "Hakutsuru" junmai sake 白鶴純米 as warm sake.

This "namerou" is, as I said, actually baked. The original recipe just said "spread on aluminum foil and bake". I thought it would stick to the foil, so I put it on parchment paper which turned out to be a wise move. I was able to remove it from the pan just by using the edges of the paper to lift it.  I cut it into the two portions, still on the paper, as seen below. (The edges of the parchment paper are just visible.)

With this, I served my ususal mackerel simmered in miso. I also served marinated spicy tofu.

This recipe came from an Izakaya cookbook I recently acquired. The book has mostly standard Izakaya recipes but there are some interesting and unique dishes. I will make some more dishes and will include the description of this cookbook the Izakaya cookbook section of this blog. Again, I changed the amounts and made some modification since I did not have myouga)

Ingredients: (For two small servings, the original recipe used a 12 oz block of tofu, and myouga. I didn't have myouga or any thing I thought I could use as a substitute. I added Italian parsley)

Silken tofu 5oz (140g)(#1) To remove excess moisture I wrapped it in a paper towel and put it between 2 cutting boards to weight it down. The upper cutting board was heavy and wooden. I left it that way for 1 hour (#2).
Ginger root, grated (or from tube) 1/4 tsp
One egg yolk (#3)
1 tbs miso (#3)
1/2 tsp soy sauce (#3)
1 spring onion, finely chopped
1 sprig Italian parsley, stem removed and finely chopped (optional, if available use myouga)

Direction:
Using a knife, I chopped and mixed all ingredients (#4).
Spread thinly on parchment paper (this was my addition, without it the namerou would most likely stick to the aluminum foil) on aluminum foil covered baking sheet.
Bake at 400F for 10 minutes (#5, I used my toaster oven on convection mode).
Lift the baked namerou using two ends of the parchment paper, cut into two squares and serve hot with the parchment paper still attached (#6)

This is indeed a very unique and interesting dish. I could have seasoned it a bit more aggressively (more miso) and a hint of sweetness (maybe mirin instead of soy sauce) may have worked better. This is not like "nameous" made from raw fish like mackerel but still, a quite good small dish that goes well with sake.

Japanese "Satsuma-imo" Sweet potato muffin version2

My wife likes to bake bread and she also likes Japanese "Satsuma-imo" 薩摩芋 sweet potato so she is always looking for ways to combine the two. She made "sweet potato" rolls using Japanese sweet potato roasted in the Weber grill and then mashed and seasoned with butter and soy sauce. She used the mashed Japanese sweet potato in the bread dough and also as a filling. In this variation she used the recipe for "refrigerator potato bread" but substituted mashed sweet potatoes for the white potato called for in the recipe. The result was this wonderful rolls/muffin. It has a very tender delicate texture and you can definitely taste the mild sweetness of the Japanese sweet potato. This muffin does not have a sweet potato filling because all mashed the sweet potato went into the dough.

Ingredients:
1 pkg. yeast
1/2 cup sugar (plus 1/2 tsp additional to proof the yeast)
1/2 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk
1 1/2 sticks ( 3/4 cup butter softened)
2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 cup mashed Japanese "Satsuma-imo" sweet potatoes (make link to my potato recipe) run through a food mill to eliminate any chunks that may remain after the potatoes have been mashed #1.
4 cups bread flour (with more as needed)

Directions:
Day1:
1. Proof the yeast in the warm water and 1/2 tsp. sugar.  Warm the milk with the butter in it. Dissolve the sugar in the milk mixture.
2. Using a mixing paddle on the stand mixer add the warm milk butter mixture, eggs and mashed potatoes blend thoroughly. Add the proofed yeast and salt. Mix completely.
3. Switch to a dough hook and add the flour one cup at a time until the dough clings to the hook and is smooth and springy to the touch. Knead on speed 2 for 7 to 10 minutes.
4. Form into a ball and put into a bowl with a small amount of vegetable oil turning the dough to cover with a coat of the oil. Cover tightly and place in the refrigerator overnight (or as the recipe says up to 16 to 18 hours).

Day2:
1. Next morning punch down the dough. (It will extremely cold and dense so "punch down" may not be the process that is actually possible. Just flatten the best you can) #2. Let rest for about 5 minutes (picture below) #3. Cut off pieces weighing 2 1/4 oz. #4. Form into rolls and place in a heavily greased baking dish several inches apart so they can rise #5. Cover and let rise until doubled. Cook in a 400 degree oven for 18 to 20 minutes until they sound hollow when tapped #6.

These muffins were amazing. The slow rise overnight in the refrigerator resulted in a very fine texture. The flavor was very delicate but clearly tasted of the sweetness of the sweet potato. The combination of the delicate texture and flavor almost felt like we were actually eating fluffy cooked sweet potato rather than bread. So the substitution of sweet potato for regular potato in this recipe worked very well and the end result was equally as good but distinctly different...well worth the variation.

Chestnuts in syrup and sweet potato with green tea お茶請け

The North American chestnuts we got this year were not as good as usual. They were kind of dry and chalky. We made our usual chestnut rice  栗ご飯 using the fragmented ones and made "kanro-ni" 栗の甘露煮 or chestnuts simmered in syrup. Since I also made "sweet" Japanese sweet potato, we had both as a snack with green tea which is called "Ocha-uke" 御茶請け.

The tea was sold by Hibikian 響庵 and came from Uji 宇治 . With green tea, something sweet goes well. Although both the chestnut and sweet potato are not "sweet tea cake", they are sweet enough to be "ocha-uke".

As before I boiled the chestnuts after soaking them for a few hours in water. I removed the outer and inner skins while they were hot. I simmered the peeled chestnuts in a simple syrup (equal amounts of water and sugar) for 30 minutes and cooled in the syrup.

Once in a syrup, the chestnuts will last for a while in the refrigerator. As I said, this year's batch was not the best but still, the chestnuts brought an autumn taste.

Japanese "Satsuma-imo" simmered sweet potato さつま芋の甘煮

Since my wife is a big fan of Japanese "Satsuma-imo" sweet potato 薩摩芋, she got three when we were at our near-by Whole Foods.  We cooked them in our Weber grill when I did my our usual pork roast. My wife put "dibs" on two of them. She made mashed sweet potato with butter and soy sauce and we enjoyed it with the roasted pork. The leftover mashed sweet potato became sweet potato rolls. So, I got one potato to use to my heart's content. I made this simple sweetened simmered sweet potato (making sweet potato even sweeter appears to be common in Japan).

I garnished this dish with black sesame 黒胡麻. For some reason, black sesame is often used with sweet potato. I am just following the tradition.

The sweet potato we got was "organic" and had some (read: a lot of) dirt on them. Maybe a thick coating of mother earth is part of the "organic" appeal. My wife would not allow them anywhere near the refrigerator until I scrubbed them with a brush. (below).

Ingredients:
1 Japanese "Satsuma-imo" sweet potato, scrubbed clean, skin on, cut into 1/4 inch thick rounds and the larger round cut in to two or four.
Water just enough to cover (sweet potato in one layer)
1-2 tbs sugar
A pinch of salt
Black sesame seeds for garnish

Directions:
In a large frying pan (large enough to hold the sweet potato in one layer), add the potato and water to just cover.
Place the pan in medium-low flame.
Simmer for 10-15 minutes with a lid on until a bamboo skewer goes thorough easily.
Sprinkle on the sugar and keep simmering for 1-10 minutes, add a pinch of salt.
Remove the lid and turn up the flame and shake and cook until the liquid is almost all gone.
Sprinkle the black sesame and serve hot or at room temperature.

Japanese almost always add sugar to already sweet Japanese sweet potato. This recipe was no exception. It is a bit sweet as a side dish but it is good as a snack and also surprisingly goes well with a sake or even wine.

Brazilian corn cookie ブラジル風コーンクッキー

Some time ago my wife got corn flour  (instead of cornmeal) for one of her baking projects. I assume that "cornflour" is just more finely milled than "cornmeal". In any case, the one she got was called "Bob's Red Mill" brand. Since she had much more corn flour that she needed for the original project and the package had a recipe for "Brazilian Corn Cookies", she made this cookie.

Ingredients:
1 cup Corn Flour (Bob's red Mill)
1/2 cup White Rice Flour (Bob's red Mill, which is different from Japanese varieties)
1/2 cup Corn Starch 
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 cup Shredded Coconut 

1/2 cup Sugar

1 Egg

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter


Instructions:
Mix dry ingredients together; set aside.
In a separate bowl, cream together the butter, egg and sugar.
Add the dry ingredients and blend until smooth.
Make 1 ½ inch balls with the dough and place on greased baking sheet.
Flatten the balls gently with the palm of your hand.
Bake at 350°F for 12 minutes, or until golden brown.

This is a gluten free cookie. It is a bit on dry side and very crumbly in texture but has a nice corn flavor. (Accompanying liquid is recommended to prevent choking on the crumb dust). My wife asked a Brazilian acquaintance about this (supposed ?) Brazilian cookie but she did not know anything about it?!

Capelin "nanban" シシャモの南蛮漬け

This is another frozen item forgotten in our freezer. My wife drew my attention to a package of frozen capelin or shishamo シシャモ. Although I was not sure how old this was, it did look and smell OK. I usually serve this grilled but I thought "nanban-zuke" 南蛮漬け may be better since deep frying and marinating in sweet vinegar may eliminate any off tastes if they existed.  We tasted just it after it was deep fried and it tasted good but I went ahead and made the nanban.  I served this as a small appetizer with blanched broccoli rabe (rapini).

Along with this dish, I served store-bought "satsuma-age" fish cake 薩摩揚げ, "dashimaki" omelet だし巻き卵, sugar snap スナップ豌豆の塩びたし, simmered kabocha かぼちゃの煮物(center square plate) and boiled octopus leg with rapini. This was quite a big starter.

Ingredients:
One package (10) "shishamo" capelin thawed
2-3 Tbs potato starch "katakuriko" 片栗粉 for dredging
One sweet onion, halved and cut into thin strips
One medium carrot, peeled and cut into small julienne
Few dried Japanese "nanban" togarashi 南蛮唐辛子 red pepper, cut into small rings
One cup sweet vinegar (one cut rice vinegar, 1/2 cup sugar and 1tsp Kosher salt, boiled to dissolve)
1/2 vegetable or peanut oil for "shallow" frying

Direction:
Dredge shishamo with the potato starch (#1)
Add the onion and carrot in a sealable container and pour the hot sweet vinegar and let it cool to the room temperature (#2)
Shallow fry (or deep fry if you so prefer) in 1/4 inch deep oil (#3) for a few minutes and then turn over and cook another minute or two (#4)
Remove half of the vegetables from #2 and add the fried shishamo (#5)
Add back the vegetables to cover the fish (#6)
Put the lid on and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.

As a rescue dish for old frozen shishamo, this was quite good. Frying and marinating in sweet vinegar really made it more than edible. Because of the preservative nature of the marinade, we kept enjoying this dish for a week (one small fish at a time). This dish is perfect for cold sake but not great with red wine because of the acidity.

Pork belly chasu and miso ramen 三枚肉チャーシュー と味噌ラーメン

Although we can get ”pork belly” or "Sanmai-niku" 三枚肉 (meaning "three layer meat" referring to alternating layers of fat and red meat) at  specialty grocery stores such as Whole Foods, it has not been available at our usual grocery store. But the other day, I found a large package of pork belly (probably 2-3 lb). I could not resist getting one. It was rather large and I made  "Kakuni" 角煮 from half and made pork belly chasu 三枚肉チャーシュー from the other half.  Since this is usually served as a ramen topping, I made miso ramen with pork belly chasu as a lunch one weekend.

I also made "ajitama" 味玉 or seasoned soft boiled egg. I also opened a jar of store-bought "Menma" メンマ seasoned bamboo shoot. I added nori seaweed and finely chopped chives as toppings.

As before, the ramen noodle is  American-made frozen  ones from "Sun Noodle". I also used "miso" seasoning that came with the noodles but instead of hot water, I used Japanese broth made from a "dashi pack" to make the soup.

Pork Belly chasu

Ingredients:
1 lb pork belly (half of the piece of pork I got), thinner portion (I assume this is  towards the front) which I rolled tightly and trussed.
3 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs mirin
1 tbs sake
1 scallion, bruised with back of the knife
2 cloves garlic, crushed and skin removed
5 black pepper corns
3 star anises (optional)
Water to cover

Directions:
Place the pork in a pot (in which the pork snuggly fits), add the soy sauce, mirin, sake, scallion, garlic, black pepper corns, and star anise. Marinate for a few hours at room temperature turning a few times.
Add water so that the pork is just barely covered. Cover the pork with either a silicon "otoshi buta" 落し蓋 or aluminum foil.
Put on the lid and simmer for several hours turning a few times.
Let it cool in the simmering liquid and then put into the refrigerator for overnight.
Skim off fat.

To serve:
Remove the pork from the now congealed marinade (#1 and #2).
Slice it to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick (#3)
Meanwhile, soft boiled egg was marinated in Japanese concentrated noodle sauce in a Ziploc bag for overnight or longer in the refrigerator (#4).
Cut the egg in half (#5).  After 24 hours, the yolk is still liquid but the more you marinate, the more yolks will jell.
I have "pork belly chasu", "menma" seasoned bamboo shoots, "ajitma" seasoned boiled egg and chopped chives for toppings (#6).

I boiled one serving of the ramen noodle as per the instructions and drained (this is half ramen 半ラーメンfor each of us).
Divide the miso seasoning package into two portions and place it in the bowls. Pour in hot dashi broth and dissolve the miso seasoning.
Add half of the package of noodles into each bowl.
Garnished it with the toppings above and the nori sheet.

This was rather decadent ramen. Compared to pork loin or even shoulder version of chasu, this is much more unctuous.  On other occasion, I made "chasu and egg" チャーシューエッグ using this which was also really good. We have to be careful that all this lovely pork belly will be "too much of a good thing"...Not likely!