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.

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).

New Fitz and Floyd Japanese Crane Plates 鶴と松模様のお皿

My wife has been getting decorative figurines and china from a Fitz and Floyd overstock website (I call it Frick and Frack) for some time. In addition, since both our china and flatware patterns have been discontinued, she discovered that she could fill in missing pieces from a place called “Replacments, Ltd”. She really hit the “jackpot” when she learned that old discontinued Fitz and Floyd pieces are also available at Replacements. The convergence of these two sites materialized in the form of the beautiful Japanese plates with a crane pattern which were originally produced by Fitz and Floyd, have since been discontinued but were available at Replacements (shown in the picture below.) Since we are particularly fond of the crane motif and have several plates with crane pattern, she got them. We got “bread and butter” size since we tend to use smaller plates more often. They are beautiful; with a crane and pine pattern (both of which are auspicious symbols in Japan).

Immediately after we received them we used them for a lunch (as shown in the picture below). We made Mozzarella cheese mochiマツレラチーズ餅 served on this plate with side of couscous salad クスクスサラダ and “hoshigaki” persimmon daikon namasu 干し柿入り大根なます.

This is close up of this plate. They are labeled “made in Japan” but the exact manufacturer was not specified. They are very well made and we are delighted with them.

My wife found out that Replacements. Ltd also had three larger salad plates available (quantities at Replacements tend to be limited) in the same crane pattern. She bought them out. They are heading our way.

Couscous Salad クスクスサラダ

We tend to forget what food items we have especially those that are frozen or “hidden” in the back of the pantry. My wife found several boxes of couscous the other day. All of them were a bit past their “best-used-by” date which was 2017 for one and 2019 for the other two. We just threw 2017 out but decided to try 2019. We gave them the “sniff-test” and they passed without any rancid oil smell detected. So my wife cooked them up. But when we tasted they were clearly well past edible; they were terrible. We had been planning to make some kind of coucous salad and I had already cut up some black and green olives for it. So the next grocery delivery, we ordered several boxes of couscous so that we could finish the couscous salad.  (Ironically the whole purpose of the exercise was to clear out excess pantry goods either by using them or throwing them out. Instead, with the couscous we ended up throwing everything in the pantry out and simply replacing them). For some reason, plain couscous was not available so the boxes we got had various flavors one of which happened to be couscous with roasted garlic and olive oil. That is the one we used to complete the salad. It was remarkably good. In order to prevent the earlier problem we had with the oil in the couscous going rancid, I opened the two remaining boxes of couscous, put the contents in a separate special vacuum bag, vacuum packed them and froze them. The idea was that this should extend the “best-by” date by a few years.

My wife cooked up the couscous and by itself  it tasted really good but the salad tasted even better.

Ingredients:

One box (5oz) Near East couscous with roasted garlic and olive oil (I am sure any other flavored couscous will do)
1 1/4 cup chicken broth
2 tbs butter
Black and green olives, sliced
2/3 block of Feta cheese, crumbled
2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1/2 Vidalia (or other sweet) onion, finely chopped

For dressing:

1 tbs Dijon mustard
1 tbs honey
2 tbs rice vinegar
1/4 -1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Cook the couscous according to the instructions on the package. In this case it was heat 1 1/4 cup water (we used chicken broth) to boiling add the butter and the contents of the included flavor package. Then stir in the couscous remove from the heat, cover and let it stand for 5 minutes. Fluff it up using a fork. Let it cool to room temperature.
Add the olives, onion, celery and feta cheese
Add the dressing and mix well
Taste and if needed add salt and pepper

This is a good salad. A bit filling but the combination of olives, feta cheese and slightly sweeet and tangy dressing really makes this dish.

Fresh Wood Ear Mushroom and Chicken Salad キクラゲと鶏肉の酢味噌あえ

I am always on the look out for places where we can get good and specialized (especially Japanese) groceries. I have known about the on line service called “Weee” which does not have a brick-and-mortar location but does deliver Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Latino grocery items. I also recently found out they deliver to our area. So, I finally took the plunge and ordered mostly vegetables, (daikon, and fresh lotus root) but especially indulged in the extensive selection of mushrooms (oyster, shimeji, enjoki and  wood ear). I was surprised that the wood ear mushroom 木耳 or “kikurage” キクラゲ I received was fresh. Until now, I’ve only had dried ones. From the label, this was produced by Guan’s mushroom which seems to be a large nation-wide operation.

In any case, this is what fresh wood ear mushroom looks like.

In the past I usually used dried wood ear mushroom re-hydrated in Chinese-style stir-fry. I looked for new recipes on-line and, because of the other ingredients I had available, I ended up combining two recipes to make this woodear and chicken salad.

I served this as a appetizer one evening. It was good but fresh wood ear is not as crunchy as the dried ones.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup or more, Wood ear mushroom, washed, blanched, and cooled. Remove the hard attachment part if present and cut into strips. If using dried, rehydrate first.
1 American mini cucumber, both ends trimmed and the seeds scooped out. Cut into quarters length-wise and then obliquely
1/2 cooked chicken breast (we used breast meat from a whole chicken which was barbecued in a Weber grill, cut into similar sized pieces as the cucumber.

Karashi sumiso からし酢味噌 dressing (japanese hot mustard, miso, sugar and rice vinegar)

Directions:
Just dress all the ingredients and serve. Because of the acidity of the dressing, sake goes best.

Wood ear does not have much flavor but does have a nice crunch. Actually, the Japanese name “Ki-kurage” キクラゲ means “tree (ki) jelly fish (kurage)” because of the similar crunchy texture. The fresh one is nice but not as crunchy as re-hydrated dried ones. I may prefer the dried also because keep for a long time.

Seared Scallops on Cauliflower Puree 焦がし帆立とカリフラワーピュレー

We like cauliflower puree. Now I changed how I make it and the process is easier but the results are the same (I added the directions below).  We used the puree for quite a few dishes. Recently, we revisited one of our favorite fish dishes; Chilean sea bass (Patagonian tooth fish). We really like this fish over a bed of Cauliflower puree. Recently we tried a similar combination using seared diver scallops which we got from Great-Alaska-Seafood. I made an impromptu pan sauce which went well.

For seared scallops
Ingredients (for two small servings)
4 diver scallops, thawed if frozen, patted dry and seasoned with salt and pepper
1tsp peanut or other vegetable oil
Pan sauce:
2tbs Japanese sake for deglazing
1tbs lemon juice
1 tsp x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce
1 tbs of cold butter

Directions:
Add the vegetable oil with high smoking point to a stainless steel or iron frying pan on medium high flame. Heat the pan until the oil just starts smoking
Add the scallops and brown one side for 1-2 minutes and flip-over . Brown the other side for another 1 minute or until the scallops are just cooked in the center (expect some smoke).
After removing the scallops, add the sake and deglaze the pan. Reduce the liquid to half. Add the noodle sauce and the lemon juice. Reduce briefly and finish with pats of butter.
Place the scallops on the bed of warm cauliflower puree and pour the pan sauce over the scallops.

For cauliflower puree
Ingredients (makes at least 4 to 6 servings):
One head of Cauliflower, washed and florets separated
1 to 3/4 cup 4% milk, warm (I microwave but be careful of over boiling)
Several thin pats (2-3 tbs) of cold butter
1/2 tsp salt or to taste

Directions:
Steam the florets for 7-10 minutes or until very soft.
Meanwhile warm the milk (I microwave but be careful of over-boiling)
In a cylindrical container for a immersion blender, add the cauliflower and half of  the warm milk.
Press down the immersion blender at a medium speed, up and down several time.
Depending on the consistency add more milk and blend in high-speed until silky smooth (may take some time to attain the smooth puree).
Add the butter and salt and further blend
Taste and adjust the salt

We really like this combination. The pan sauce also worked well. If this is a main dish, I would use 4 scallops per serving and add side vegetables.

“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.)