Renkon balls レンコンまんじゅう

This dish is the result of an unexpected “silver lining” derived from the Covid epidemic. Because of Covid, we decided as a safety precaution, not to go to the grocery store but rather have groceries delivered. This forced us out of our usual routines and by necessity introduced us to new options. One of which was buying groceries from HMart Korean grocery store via the Instacart. As a benefit, we are now getting items which were not available from our usual grocery stores. One such item is fresh “reckon” 蓮根 or lotus root. (It is the floating stalk, not the root of a water lily). Even at our Japanese grocery store, the only reckon we could get was cleaned, boiled and sold in a package. It is easier to use than fresh renkon but it limits the dishes that can be made from it. For example, I could not have made this renkon ball or dumpling  dish レンコンまんじゅう shown below from packaged prepared renkon. But with fresh renkon available I could. I served the dumplings in a very gentle broth, with garnishes of edamame 枝豆, and simply fried reckon slices.

Reckon is an interesting vegetable. Even after cooking, it remains crunchy but grated and made into dumplings, the consistency changes completely into the consistency of “mochi-mochi” もちもち or like-fresh rice cake. I added shrimp and edamame to the dumpling. As a garnish I added simply fried renkon  which gave a nice contrasting  crunchy texture.

The other evening, I served three renkon dishes. From the left, Nitsuke 煮付け, the center is this renkon ball or dumpling dish but I added one fish ball made from blue fish, the right is renkon salad れんこんサラダ. 

In this nitsuke dish, renkon remains crunchy.

Boiled  renkon (again remains crunchy), blanched broccoli and skinned Campari tomato dressed in Yuzu mayonnaise. Since we used up the store bought Yuzu mayonnaise, I made my version by mixing Hellman’s mayo, yuzu juice (from the bottle) and a pinch of sugar . This really emulated the commercial Yuzu mayonnaise we got earlier.

Instructions for the renkon balls

Ingredients:
One segment of fresh renkon (#1) (after grated, #4, it was slightly more than 700grams)
2 tbs potato starch
3 large shrimp, thawed, shell removed and cut into small chunks then salted
10-15 shelled edamame

For broth
1 cup kelp and bonito broth (I used a dashi pack)
1 tbs of white dashi “shirt-dashi” 白だし seasoning or 1tbs each mirin and light colored soy sauce (or to taste).

Directions:
One segment of fresh renkon (#1).
Remove the ends of the segment of renkon and peel the skin (#2 and #3)
Finely grate the renkon and drain to remove excess moisture (#4)
Mix in the corn starch, shrimp and edamame. Make small balls about one inch in diameter.
Deep fry at 300-320 F for 7-10 minutes (#5)

I also fried sliced and quartered renkon
Drain (#6)

Assembly:
I cut one renkon ball in half and placed the halves in a bowl. I added the fried renkon and edamame and poured in the hot broth. You can also reheat everything in the broth and serve.

This is a very good dish. The contrast of elastic texture of the renkon balls and crunchy fried renkon is wonderful. The shrimp has similar texture to the renkon ball and since it was salted, it imparts briny salty burst of flavors. I made the broth very gentle and light which also went well.

Lotus Root Ball Soup 蓮根団子スープ

When I get fresh “renkon” 蓮根 lotus root, I have more choices as to what kind of different dishes I can make than when I just have boiled packaged renkon. Fresh renkon is usually available during the winter months. We can now get fresh renkon from Weee but the amount is rather large. So I have to come up with different ways to use it before it goes bad. Unlike boiled renkon, fresh renkon can be grated producing a starchy puree which  makes a good base for dumpling-type dishes, either boiled or fried. This dish is one of those grated/starchy/puree dishes and can be done only with fresh renkon. Actually, this is the second time I made this dish. The first time, I followed the recipe but the renkon balls did not hold together especially when I put them in the soup. So this time, I made it following my own (culinary) instinct which included using more ground chicken than what the original recipe called for. The renkon balls formed nicely and were very tender.  I made the rest of the soup with ingredients I had on hand. We had this as a lunch and it was rather filling and great.

Ingredients:

For renkon balls (made 8 small balls)
One segment of fresh renkon, peeled and grated, extra-moisture squeezed out (about 200 grams)
200 grams of ground chicken
2 tbs chopped scallion (3-4 stalks)
2 tbs potato starch
1 tsp soy sauce


For soup
300 ml Japanese dashi broth (I used two kinds of dashi packs, one was kelp and shiitake mushroom, the other with bonito for this)
3 tbs or more x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce (or soy sauce and mirin) to taste
1/2 package of shimeji mushroom, root end removed and separated (any mushroom will work)
5-6 blanched green beans, cut on the bias
2-3 tbs dried wakame seaweed,
(optional) (freeze dried)mistuba and (frozen) zest of Yuzu citrus.

Directions:
Mix all renkon ball ingredients in a bowl and mix well until it sticks together. Using a small ice cream scope, make small balls. Heat up the broth, put in the renkon balls and simmer for 5 minutes or until done. Take out the cooked renkon balls and set aside.
Meanwhile, add the mushrooms to the remaining broth and simmer for 4-5 minutes, add the renkon balls (I added 4 for 2 servings), the green beans and season with the noodle sauce to taste. I added the wakame, some yuzu zest and mitusba to the bowls. Place two renkon balls in each bowl and distribute the soup and remaining ingredients.

This was a really good soup. I think the amount of ground chicken the original recipe calls for too little. I made the balls with about the same amount of ground chicken as grated renkon which worked much better. Anything can be put into the soup but the mushroom and wakame seaweed worked well.

Renkon "hasami-age" with avocado and cod roe アボカドとたらこのレンコンはさみ揚げ

My wife found an interesting YouTube series called "Kimono Mom".  A former geisha retired early got married, had a daughter, and now became a YouTuber showing Japanese cooking. She has many followers. In any case, we watched some of her episodes. One of the dishes she showed was "Hasami-age" はさみ揚げ meaning stuffing sandwiched between two slices of renkon 蓮根 (lotus root). The “sandwich” is then battered and deep fried. This is a common way of using renkon and I have previously posted such a dish.  The stuffing is usually meat especially chicken. Kimono Mom used a mixture of avocado and spicy cod roe called "mentaiko" 明太子. I happened to have a fresh renkon which I got from Tako Grill (besides packaed and frozen Japanese grocery items, Tako Grill grocery section now has some fresh Japanese vegetables and even sashimi blocks). I did not have "spicy" tarako but I did have frozen tarako. I could make tarako spicy by adding Sriracha. So I have everything to make this dish.

I also had fresh Japanese "shishi togarashi" 獅子唐辛子 pepper. So I just fried it as a side. I served the renkon dish with a wedge of lemon and green tea salt.

This is a rather unique and good dish. The renkon remains crispy and the avocado creamy with salty and lightly spicy (I did not add too much Sriracha) tarako flavors come through.

Ingredients: making 6.
One segment of fresh renkon, peeled and sliced (about 1/2 to 2/3 inch thick, I got a total of 12 slices).
6 perilla leaves
One sac of tarako, roe scraped out from the sac (#1)
One ripe avocado, stone and skin removed (#2)
Sriracha or other hot sauce to taste

For tempura batter
1/4 cup cake flour plus a bit more for dredging the renkon slices
1/4 cup carbonated water

Oil for deep frying

Directions:
Mash and mix the avocado, tarako with the sriracha hot sauce to taste (#3 and #4).
Lightly dredge the renkon slices. Put on a perilla leaf and then 1/6 (2-3 tsp) of the stuffing (#5).
Top the stack with another slice of renkon. Press lightly to secure (#6).

Heat the oil to 320F.

Mix the cake flour and cold carbonated water to make a relatively thin (like crepe batter) tempura batter.

Dip and coat the renkon “sandwich” and deep fry (#7) for fa ew minutes on one side. Turn it over and cook another few minutes then drain (#8) and serve.

I served this cut in half with a wedge of lemon and the green tea salt. We really like this dish. This could be good with beer but since we do not drink beer, we had it with cold sake.

Chicken kara-age and lotus root nanban 鶏の唐揚げピリ辛南蛮漬け

I bought bone-in chicken thighs one weekend, thinking I would make something with it but it did not happen. A week later, when I checked the chicken, it was still good (some chicken we buy at our grocery store goes bad very quickly). So I decide to try this recipe which I saw on-line. It is essentially chicken nanban 鳥の南蛮漬けwith some interesting variations.

The marinade is a bit more assertive than my usual marinade for nanban but the high acidity cut through the oiliness of the fried chicken. The crispy renkon slices were also nice but, next time I will not marinade the renkon chips because they became soggy. I'll serve them crispy on the side.

For onions, I used Vidalia onion.

The marinade clung to the crust on the chicken which created an interesting surface that delivered layers of flavor.

Ingredients (4 servings):

Chicken thighs, 4, deboned and excess skin and fat removed. Cut into a bite sized pieces.

Seasoning for chicken; Soy sauce  (1 tbs), sake (1 tbs) and roasted sesame oil (1 tsp)

Potato starch for dredging 

Oil for frying ( I used peanut oil)

Renkon (Lotus root), one package cleaned and boiled. cut into thin (2-3mm thick) rounds, excess moisture blotted out using paper towel.

For Marinade:

Lemon juice (2tbs), rice vinegar (2tbs), soy sauce (2 tbs)

Dried small Japanese hot red pepper (赤唐辛子), seeds removed, 2

Sugar (2 tsp)

Garlic, grated 1/2 tsp

Ginger, grated 1/2 tsp

Black pepper for taste

Onion, one small, halved, then sliced thinly, salted and kneaded and left for 5 minutes and then soaked in water (I used filtered water) for 10 minutes, drained and moisture squeezed out

Directions:

1. I placed the chicken in a Ziploc bag, added the seasonings, massaged it, and removed as much air as I could and let it marinade for at least 30 minutes at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator.

2. I mixed all ingredients for the marinade and added the onion in a flat sealable container.

3. Fried the renkon rounds in 350F oil for 1 minutes each side or until the renkon rounds got brown and crispy (it is a great snack as is with some salt, see below).

3. I removed the chicken and blotted the excess moisture from the surface. I dredged it with potato starch or katakur-ko 片栗粉 and fried in 350F oil (I used a shallow frying method. Some believe, this method will let the moisture evaporate more easily and make a crispy surface but I did it just because it uses less oil). This time I double fried the chicken using a higher temperature for the second frying but this is probably not necessary. Of course, we snacked on the chicken immediately after it came out of the oil and hit the draining rack.

4. I added the fried chicken and renkon to the marinade while they were hot and gently mixed (I just turned the sealable container upside down to make sure the marinade make contact with all the surfaces.)

This is a good dish, although frying the chicken is a bit of work. I will definitely not put the renkon chips in the marinade next time to keep them crispy. This dish will go well with beer or cold sake but the marinade is too acidic for wine.

P.S. Few days later, I served the remaining chicken with renkon chips which were not soaked in the marinade. The renkon chips were crisp and much better than the marinated soggy chips. Then, my wife said we should enjoy the chicken and renkon separately. I agree. The renkon chips are a great snack by them selves and we do not see the point of combining them with chicken nanban.

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.

Fried lotus root sandwich 蓮根のはさみ揚げ

Lotus root or "renkon" 蓮根 is a floating stalk of the lotus plant but is not really a root. It has air channels which makes it float on the water. Japanese (and Chinese) are fond of renkon which has a nice firm texture and is rather starchy. In the past, I could occasionally get fresh renkon in the Japanese grocery store but now only ones I can get are pre-boiled in a vacuum pack. That's  just fine with me since it is always difficult to clean the insides of the air channels. The vacuum packed variety has a nice firm texture and can substitute for fresh ones for any dish which calls for renkon.

Pork: We had a whole pork loin which I made into three different kinds of roasts (Sino-Japanese pot roast, brined and non-brined pork roast cooked in the Weber with hot smoking) for Thanksgiving (we gave up on Turkey some years ago). I had some trimmings which I chopped by hand and made into ground meat. I decided to make this dish as a drinking snack. I am not sure about the amount but it was not a lot (may be less than 1/2 pound), just enough to make 7 sets of renkon sandwiches as see below.

Other ingredients for meat stuffing: I mixed in scallions (finely chopped, 3 stalks), grated ginger (1/2 tsp) and garlic (1/2 tsp), soy sauce (1/2 tsp) and mirin (1/4 tsp) and back pepper. I just kneaded the mixture together by hand until it became rather sticky. If it had too much moisture, I could add potato starch. I sliced the renkon into thin rounds (1/4 inch thick). I took a small amount of the meat mixture and made miniature hamburger patties the same size as the renkon rounds to form a sandwich (left in the image above).

Batter: I made a relatively thick tempura batter; a mixture of cake flour and potato starch (3:1) and ice cold water.

I coated the renkon sandwiches with the batter and deep fried in 340F peanut oil for 2-3 minutes turning once or until the meat was done.

I served this with green tea salt. The renkon retains a nice crunchy texture which combined with the juicy meat stuffing is very nice. This dish will go with any drink including cold beer. Other variations could use chicken or shrimp for the stuffing. Of course, you can serve more than just one per person.

Renkon "lotus root" mochi 蓮根餅

This is on the theme of what you can make from fresh lotus root. This is similar to renkon ball レンコンまんじゅう but instead of deep frying, this was pan fried. I also sautéed shimeji mushroom in the same pan as a side. The Japanese name for this is "renkon mochi" レンコンもち.  This is called “mochi” because it has the consistency of freshly made "mochi" 餅 cake made from rice. 

Ingredients:
Grated fresh "renkon" lotus root, skin peeled and grated and excess moisture drained out (about 100grams for 8 small discs).
2 tbs potato starch or "katakuri-ko" 片栗粉
2 tsp butter
2 tps each of soy sauce and mirin

Directions:
Mix the grated renkon and potato starch in a bowl, divide into 8 small balls.
Melt the butter in a non-stick frying pan. Flatten the renkon balls into small disks and cook a few minutes on both sides until brown.
Add the mirin and soy sauce.

Cook both sides and continue until the liquid is almost all gone.

Grated renkon cooked this way has an interesting elastic consistency with a crunchy crust. This is very pleasant and different preparation of renkon. Perfect for a small drinking snack.

Braised "kinpira" lotus root 蓮根の金平

When I made chicken "tsukune" つくね patties with chopped lotus root or renkon 蓮根, I made this dish from whatever lotus root was leftover. I usually slice lotus root across so that it looks like a round with multiple concetric holes. I decided to cut it differently this time to make it really crunchy and made "kinpira" 金平 or braised lotus root. 

Lotus root or renkon: Since it is nearly impossible to get fresh renkon, I usually get cleaned and boiled lotus root which is vacuum packed. Actually, it is much easier to prepare and the texture remains quite good and crunchy. I first cut the lotus root across in 2 inch or so segments. Then cut the segments into thick (1/2 inch) pieces along the long axis. I then cut, again, along the long axis to make thick battons like you see above. I used about 3/4 of the one package of renkon which yielded 2 servings.

Kinpira reparation is the same as before. I first sautéed the rekon for few minutes in a vegetable oil (1/2 tbs) with a splash of sesame oil. I sprinkled on Japanese 7 flavored red pepper powder 七味唐辛子．I then braised it by adding sake (1 tbs), mirin (1 tbs) and soy sauce (1-2 tbs) until the liquid was almost all gone. I garnished it with roasted white sesame seeds. 

Compared to the more classic burdock root kinpira, this has a better nice crunchy texture but burdock root has a more nutty earthy flavor. This was served with tsukune with chopped renkon. 

Renkon salad 蓮根サラダ

This is a simple salad made using renkon. This is not even a recipe. 

Besides the renkon, I added blanched broccoli and skinned Campari tomato and dressed them with Yuzu mayonnaise which I concocted from Hellman’s mayonnaise. 

Ingredients: (amounts are all arbitrary)
Fresh renkon, skinned and cut into wedge-shaped bite-size chunks (called “rangeri” 乱切りby cutting on bias,  turn 45 degree again cutting on bias.
Boil it in water with a splash of rice vinegar for 10 minutes, drain and let cool.
Blanched broccoli floret and skinned Campari tomato.

Dressing:
1tbs Hellman’s mayonnaise
1 tsp of Yuzu juice (from the bottle)

1/4 tsp. sugar

This dressing tastes really similar to the commercial Yuzu mayonnaise we bought recently. This combination of vegetables works well—the nice crunchy texture of renkon and slightly less crunchy broccoli.

Another otoshi threesome 又々お通し三種類

These are, again, an otoshi threesome I served one evening.

One of the times I made  cold simmered vegetables which we like to have on hand in the summer, I  included renkon  レンコン or lotus root and kon-nyaku コンニャク or devil's tongue. Both were too much to use in the vegetable dish so I made a small dish of kinpira of renkon and konnyaku.  The konnyaku was par boiled and I cut it into small long strips. The renkon was just sliced thinly. I put a small amount of vegetable oil with a splash of dark toasted sesame oil in a frying pan on medium heat and added flakes of dried red pepper. Then I added the renkon and konyaku and sautéed them until the oil coated the surface. I then braised by adding mirin and soy sauce. I braised it until only a small amount of liquid remained in the pan. I added white roasted sesame seeds and cut the fire. This is a variation of kinpira but the contrast of texture between renkon (firm and crunchy) and the konnyaku (soft but elastic) was perfect.

Since I had pork loin barbecued in my Weber grill (trussed, seasoned with salt, black pepper and finely chopped fresh rosemary and hot smoked/barbecued to the internal temperature of 145F) and also my potato salad, I made rolls. This combination cannot go wrong.

Since I prepared (boiled) harcoverts over the weekend, I just dressed it with sesame paste/mayo dressing (Mayonnaise, white sesame paste, and soy sauce) to complete my threesome.

These were good starters for the evening.

Steamed renkon balls 蒸し蓮根まんじゅう

This is on the theme of fresh renkon lotus root. This is another renkon ball 蓮根まんじゅう but instead of deep frying, this was steamed/microwaved (hence healthier). The original recipe calls for "ginnan" 銀杏 ginko nuts but we did not have it. So I used shelled edamame 枝豆.

I added gentle broth made of kelp-bonito dashi pack and shirodashi 白だし seasoning. I garnished it with more edamame and blanched snow peas.

Ingredients:
200 grams grated fresh renkon, skin peeled, excess moisture drained
1 tbs potato starch
4 shrimp, thawed, shelled and cut into bit size chunks
20 shelled edamame, cooked

For broth.
200 ml kelp and bonito dashi (made from dashi pack), heated
2-3 tbs shirodashi 白だし or 1tbs mirin and 1 tbs light colored soy sauce

you could thicken the broth by adding potato starch slurries (optional)

Direction:
Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
Made 6 small balls.
Using a microwave safe silicon container, I microwaved for about 2 minutes or until done.

Place one ball in a small bowl, add hot broth and garnish.

The texture is very different from the deep fried version. Much softer and gentler. We like this variation and it is easier to make. Some recipes suggest wrapping the balls in plastic wrap and microwave but I did not like the idea of microwaving in plastic wrap. That’s why I used a microwave safe silicon container instead.

Tsukune with Lotus Root and Perilla 蓮根大葉つくね

This is a hybrid of “Renkon Tuskune”  蓮根つくね and “Tsukune with perilla” つくねの大葉焼き. Since our perilla is growing profusely in our herb garden, we are using perilla leaves whenever we can.  This is also the last segment of fresh lotus root we got from Weee asian grocery delivery service. We found that we could make the lotus root last longer by separating the fresh lotus root into its individual segments, wrapping the segments in paper towel and vacuum packing them. With this preparation they last for a long time under refrigeration (at least 1 mouth or more). Beside using a slice of the lotus root as a base for the Tuskune, I also included chopped up lotus root in the tsukune itself to give it nice crunch without using chicken cartilage. The perilla leaves add an additional unique flavor.

I served this with “kinpira” braised lotus root 金平蓮根 I made to finish up the last of the renkon. I also served simmered “kabocha”  かぼちゃの煮物 Japanese pumpkin.

Ingredients:
8 slices of lotus root, skin peeled and sliced into (4-5mm) thick plus two or three slices chopped up (to mix into the tuskune itself)
8 perilla leaves (if too large cut in half to make 8 pieces)
4 oz (114 gram) of ground chicken (this was low-fat breast meat ground chicken)
1/2 tsp ground ginger root
1/2 tsp ground garlic
1 tsp mayonnaise (optional, to compensate low-fat ground meat)
1 tsp miso
1 tbs “katakuri-ko” potato starch
1 tbs vegetable or olive oil

Directions:
In a bowl, mix the chicken, ginger, garlic, mayonnaise, miso and chopped up lotus root. Mix well by hand until the mixture is elastic and binding together (if too loose, you could add potato starch, if too stiff, you could add a beaten egg)
Coat the slices of lotus root with the potato starch thinly (to improve the adhesion of the meat mixture)
Place 1/8 of the chicken mixture onto the lotus root on the cutting board and press lightly so that the mixture will go into the holes of the lotus root.
Place the perilla leaf on and press lightly so that it adheres to the meat mixture (see below)
Add the oil to a non-stick frying pan on medium heat, and start cooking the lotus root side down first (see below) and cook a few minutes or until the lotus root browns a bit
Gently turn it over and turn down the heat to low and cook a few more minutes with the lid on for the last 2 minutes to make sure the meat mixture is cooked through.
Optionally you could add a mixture of mirin and soy sauce at the end but I did not.

Drain excess oil on a paper towel.

This tsukune is seasoned enough for us but you could add “Yakitori sauce (equal mixture  of mirin and soy sauce) ” as mentioned before. This re-heats nicely in a toaster oven. It is a nice contrast in textures and taste. The chicken portion is almost fluffy in texture which is a nice contrast to the crunch of the renkon on the bottom layer and distributed through out the meat. The perilla adds a nice fresh minty spiciness.

Chicken and chestnuts stew 鶏肉と栗の煮込み

For some years we have gotten fresh North American chestnuts from California. It is a lot of work to peel/clean chestnuts. It is particularly hard to remove the internal brown membrane or “shibukawa” 渋皮 that extends into the meat of the chestnut and is a particular characteristic of North American chestnuts.  The chestnuts we got from California last year were a bit disappointing. They were kind of dry and chalky. So this year we got prepared chestnuts in a jar. According to the label they appear to have been packaged/processed in France but the chestnuts themselves originated in unspecified EU countries. It said “roasted chestnuts” but in fact they were steamed. When we opened the jar, many of the chestnuts were fragmented with a few whole intact chestnuts tucked in at the top. They were not sweetened and tasted fairly good with nice texture**. So I decided use the chestnuts for this stew dish I saw on line. Since I had leftover daikon and burdock root I need to use up this recipe was a perfect choice. Although the recipe calls for “renkon” 蓮根 lotus root, I did not have it. I made this one weekend morning and served this as a lunch with kinpira-gobou 金平牛蒡 and rice.

**Interestingly, my wife discovered while eating the dish I made that several of the chestnuts indeed had the internal  brown membrane. These membranes were left in the nut and the nut was just processed as if they weren’t there. It was a rather unpleasant surprise to bite down unexpectedly on the hard shell-like substance. After that she recommended checking the chestnuts as they come out of the jar and if necessary dismantling them to remove any membrane left. We saw this as a sloppy element of the processing. 

Not all the items I put in the dish are seen in the picture. I also put in konjack or konnyaku こんにゃく．The seasoning is typical Japanese but the kobou flavor comes through strongly. While simmering, the chestnuts broke into large chunks but tasted good.

According to the recipe the chicken was to be cooked in water with sake and scallion before adding to the rest of the ingredients. I would have just put the cut up chicken into the stew. I suppose this extra process would reduce “chicken-ness”.

Ingredients (at least 4 fairly good size servings).
For pre-cooking of the chicken
Two chicken thigh, bone removed (I left the skin on) .
2 tbs sake
2 scallions
several slices of ginger
12000 ml water

For stew
2-3 inch daikon, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch thick rounds and then quarters
2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces (“rangiri” 乱切り cut at 45 degree angle as you rotate the carrot)
1/2 “gobou” burdock root, skin scraped off using the back of the knife and also cut into bite sized pieces using “rangiri”
2 inch long renkon, skin peeled and cut into 1/4 inch thick half moon (I did not have renkon).
1/2 Konnyaku, torn into small bite sized pieces by hand (irregular shapes increase the surface areas), parboiled and drained
10-15 parboiled green beans
12-15 chestnuts (original recipe calls for roasted and sweetened chestnuts called “Tenshin amaguri” 天津甘栗.

For cooking liquid
250ml of the water in which the chicken was cooked
250ml dashi broth
100ml sake
3 tbs mirin
3 tbs soy sauce
1-2 slices of ginger cut into julienne

Directions:
For pre-cooking the chicken
Add the sake, ginger and scallion to the water and let it come to a boil then place the chicken into the water.
Turn down the flame to simmer and let it cook for 5 minutes and then turn off the flame. Let it stand for 15 minutes (the original instructions said cook for15 minutes but I thought that would be overcooking especially since the chicken will be simmered again with the vegetables).
Take out the chicken and cut into bite sizes pieces.
Keep the water which was used for cooking the chicken to  cook the vegetables.

For stew
Add the chicken cooking liquid to a pan
Add the chicken, vegetables and konnyaku
Cook them on medium high flame
Once it starts boiling, turn down to simmer, add the chestnuts and cook for 20 minutes.
Add the green beans in the last 5 minutes.

This has a typical Japanese flavor profile. I am not sure pre-cooking the chicken is necessary. The prepared chestnuts had a natural sweetness and the entire dish was really nice if not outstanding. The quality of the jarred chestnuts was not the best we have ever had but it was still a lot easier then trying to process the raw chestnuts and tasted better too. 

Sushi Taro Osechi Box 2017 寿司太郎おせち ２０１７

Once we got used to having a Sushi Taro Osechi Box, it is difficult to cerebrate New Year's without one. We started getting the Osechi box from Sushi Taro in 2012.

This is the top box. It was nicely packed with all kinds of goodies. I just wanted to share the excitement we had enjoying this box and provide some trivia concerning Japanese "Osechi" dishes. These Japanese New Year's dishes are traditionally prepared as auspicious dishes to have at the beginning of the year. They are for the family to eat during the first 3 days of the year which are considered the most auspicious and are called ”Shogatsu Sanganichi" 正月三が日.

Each of the dishes through their color, shape and number, among other things have symbolic celebratory meaning often in multiple layers or as puns/plays on words. For example, red combined with white is considered an auspicious color combination.  Thus, red and white is a traditional color motif for New Year's dishes as exemplified by the red and white fish cakes (#2 in the annotated picture below). Red snapper is an example of a dish that has multiple layers of symbolic meaning; not only does it incorporate the venerable color red but also includes a play on words because it is called "Tai" which in Japanese rhymes with "Omede-tai" おめでたい commemorating "celebration" (#6). Many small fish and roe are symbols of prosperity and numerous offspring and are represented multiple times through out these boxes by such things as salmon, cod, mullet and herring roe. Herring roe incorporates an additional layer of meaning since it is also "gold" in color and gold would be considered the color of fortune in almost any culture. Dishes rolled in kelp represent a pun on words since "kelp" or "Kobu" rhymes with "Yoro-kobu" 喜ぶ which means "to rejoice". So cod roe wrapped in kelp (#17) incorporates the symbolism of numerous offspring and rejoicing. Black "kuromame" beans are eaten because "beans" in Japanese are called "mame" 豆  another play on words because it sounds similar to the word which means  being "attentive, truthful,  and helpful".  (All this symbolism gets complicated but the degree of thought that goes into the choice of these particular dishes becomes evident). All these auspicious foods are thought to set the tone for the upcoming new year. Of course, many of these dishes are great with sake which flows more readily during New Year and what would a celebration be without it?

1. Kuromame 黒豆 black beans, 2. red and white fish cake "Kamaboko" 紅白蒲鉾 3. Bottarga "Karasumi" 唐墨 (our favorite!) 4. "Jako" hatchling fish simmered in "Sansho" 山椒 Japanese pepper flavor 雑魚の有馬煮 (In a plastic container wrapped in white paper) 5. Pickled "renkon" lotus root cut in a decorative flower shape 花輪酢蓮根 6. Grilled whole small red snapper "tai" 子鯛姿焼 7. Stem lettuce or celtuce marinaded in miso チシャトウ西京漬け (this is new this year. Crunchy and sweet miso flavor is nice) 8. Soy sauce marinated salmon roe いくら醤油漬け 9. Daikon julienne picked in sweet vinegar 錦なます.

10. Herring roe marinated in miso 数の子味噌漬け 11. Mustard stuffed burdock からし牛蒡 (our favorite, the best way to enjoy gobo as far as we can tell) 12. Steamed sea urchin 蒸しウニ 13. Steamed fish cake with matsutake mushroom 松茸真蒸 14. Simmered small whole shrimp 小海老艶煮 15. Burdock root in sesame dressing たたき牛蒡 17. Cod roe wrapped in kelp タラコの昆布巻き 18. Kumquats simmered in syrup  金柑蜜煮 19. Simmered chestnuts with brown skin 栗の渋皮煮 (We had inside information that these are North American chestnuts and only the ones without deep creases are chosen for this dish) and underneath are "scallop braised in sweetened soy"  ホタテの甘煮.

"Karasumi" is our favorite and really encourages sipping sake with each nibble. This was prepared in house at Sushi Taro. We like the Japanese preparation of this, especially Sushi Taro's, as compared with Bottarga from Italy. As previously mentioned, the Japanese preparation goes especially well with sake. Although not the best with sake, grated on the pasta, Bottarga is mighty fine.

Of course, ikura salmon roe marinated in soy sauce is another dish that goes so well with sake.

I made salmon kelp roll this year and this dish is similar but uses cod roe "tarako" wrapped in kelp instead of salmon. It was a very nice variation.

Of course, raw sea urchin is the best but steaming is a good way to make sea urchin last longer.

Small red snapper is peaking through.

This is the bottom box.

1. Monk fish liver terrine あんきも豆腐 (Another of our favorites) 2. Mashed sweet potato with chestnuts 栗きんとん 3. New Year Omelet roll 伊達巻 4. Pickled renkon with decorative flower cut 花輪蓮根 5. Yellow tail sushi wrapped in picked turnip 鰤かぶら寿司 6. Grilled pompano marinaded in sweet miso まながつお西京味噌焼 7. Steamed head-on prawn 長寿海老 (this is the first time we had head on prawns. The bent "back" of the shrimp symbolizes longevity as represented by the bent backs characteristic of the venerable elderly in Japan in the old days) 8. Grilled Japanese snapper with "kinome" miso paste 真鯛の木の芽焼き  9. First spring harvest bamboo shoot 新筍土佐煮  10. Duck breast teriyaki 鴨照り焼き and other wonderful simmered vegetables. I think I may have left out a few items.

The prawns were really good with firm texture and sweet taste. Since these were head-on prawns, we could "suck" out the tamale from the head (which we did).

The grilled fish was best heated up in the toaster oven before enjoying. "Kinome" miso (green stuff) has a very distinctive flavor. This is the young shoot (leaves) of Japanese "sansho" (or Chinese) pepper tree.

The duck breast was great. I think that, underneath the duck, there may have been small dumpling made of edible lily bulb and grated renkon.

These vegetables are good but especially unique is "Kuwai" くわい, best seen bottom right, which is an unusual vegetable for Westerners and has very interesting texture. This is mostly served as a New Year dish because of the shape, it was equated with "me-ga-deru" 芽がでる meaning "sprouting" that sounds like "me-de-tai" めでたい meaning "auspicious' or "celebratory", another "pun".

In any case, I may have gone on longer than I probably should have but I just wanted to convey what a joy it is to delve into these boxes. All the multiple layers of symbolism and meaning entailed in these celebratory New Year's dishes are given justice through the attention to detail and careful execution by the chefs at Sushi Taro making it especially memorable.  Luckily, we will be feasting on these boxes for some days to come.