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.

Tsukune with renkon 蓮根つくね

This is a variation of Japanese chicken patty, tuskune つくね.  Generally tsukune in Japan contains chopped up "soft bone" (cartilage or "nankotsu"  軟骨).  My wife does not like this, since  it reminds of her childhood when ground meat always had some bone fragments mixed in.  Instead, I chop up lotus root ("renkon" 蓮根) to add some crunchy texture to tsukune. This time, instead of including chopped up lotus root in the patty, I used a slice of lotus root as a base and pressed tsukune on the top. The combination of ground meat and lotus root is rather common and I posted deep fried lotus root sandwich 蓮根のはさみ揚げ,  previously.  I got this idea from "Sakaba hourouki 酒場放浪記 on YouTube which we saw one evening. In one of the episodes, this dish was served to the always somewhat inebriated host.



To show how this is constructed, left is the patty side and right is lotus root side on the top, respectively. I took a shortcut and I cooked this in a frying pan. Instead of making "tare" sauce, I just made a quick pan sauce to coat the tsukune.



There are many variations on what can be included in tsukune.  The only consistent ingredient is ground chicken.  One of the reasons I had for making this dish was to use barbequed chicken left over from the previous weekend. So, I mixed finely chopped cooked breast meat with store-bought ground chicken breast. I am not sure about the amount as usual but both the cooked and ground chicken were about 1 lb each. The idea here is that the cooked chicken adds texture and the raw ground chicken binds the tsukune together.  You could add anything you like but this time, I added finely chopped scallion (5 stalks including green parts), grated garlic and ginger (about 1/2 tsp each but whatever amount you like), and 1 tbs of miso. Since the mixture was a bit stiff, I also added one whole egg beaten. I made 1/3 for this dish and 2/3 for usual tsukune. For the usual tsukune, I added coarsely chopped lotus root. I made 8 tsukune on lotus root as you can see below. I pressed the meat mixture so that some went into the holes of the lotus root.


With a small amount of vegetable oil (or dark sesame oil if you so prefer) on medium heat,

I cooked the meat side first for 1-2 minutes until the surface was nicely browned. I flipped them over and cooked for another 1-2 minutes. I then added mirin, sake and soy sauce (1tsp each) into the pan. I shook the pan, until a viscous sauce developed and flipped them over so that the sauce coated all surfaces.

I served hot with a sprinkling of powder “sansho”  山椒. Because I used only breast meat, it was a bit on the dry side especially when it was reheated later. But this is another good way to use up cooked chicken.

Chicken "tsukune" with lotus root; two ways 蓮根入り鶏のつくね、２種類

I posted two versions of chicken patties or "tsukune" before. There are many variations to the recipe. Some put egg, grated nagaimo or yamaimo, chopped up chicken cartilage, shiitake mushroom etc. We do not particulary like having bits of cartilage in the meat. Instead, to add an interesting texture contrast, I added finely chopped lotus root or renkon 蓮根. The renkon bits do give some crunch but not like cartilage or bone bits.

Tsukune mixture: I hand chopped to make ground chicken from thighs (2 large) but of course you could just buy ground chicken or use a food processor. I like to use thigh meat with a bit of fat. I mixed in finely chopped onion (1/2 small), ground ginger (1/4 tsp), sliced and chopped lotus root (1/4 of vacuum packed pre-boiled), yuzu-kosho (1/2 tbs or more). As I mentioned, one could add more ingredients such as ground nagaimo or yamaimo, tofu, beaten egg etc. Using the same mixture I cooked it in two ways.

In the first version, I spread the meat mixture on the square (1/4 of full nori sheet) of nori and fried it--meat side first and then nori-side. Dishes with nori involved often include a word "seashore" or "Isobe" 磯辺. So this is "Isobe" grilled chicken patty. I made an equal mixture of mirin and soy sauce and added it to the pan towards the end of cooking and coated the chicken patties. After removing the patties from the pan, I further reduced the sauce until it was rather thick and put back the patties to coat. I sprinkled Japanese "sansho" 山椒 powder. I served this with "kinpira" or braised lotus root (This was made from the remaining lotus root, a subject for another post). I should have taken pictures with this dish turned over to show the piece of nori.

 The next day using the same mixture, I made the tuskune in the regular way (pan fried and then braised in mirin and soy sauce) and served it with celery salad with powdered kelp or "kobucha" 昆布茶 and olive oil.

The Addition of lotus root and yuzu-kosho made this tsukune pretty good. I like grilled yakitori style tsukue best but when you cannot grill, pan frying like this is also excellent.

Root Vegetable Stew 根菜の煮しめ

“Nishime” or “Nitsuke” 煮付け, 煮しめ is a type of traditional Japanese cooking method in which food items are simmered in seasoned broth. I have posted many variations mainly based on what was simmered in the seasoned broth. I understand that there are differences between “Nishime” and “Nituske” but that is too esoteric for me. The broth can be based on either vegetarian (kelp, dried mushroom and vegetables) or more commonly including  bonito flakes, kelp, and other dried fish. The basic seasonings are soy sauce, mirin, sake or sometimes sugar. Food items in nitsuke could be vegetables especially root vegetables, mushrooms, fish cakes, tofu, chicken or fish. I made this because I had a package of boiled renkon lotus root 蓮根 which I needed to use. I also got assorted frozen fish cakes for oden and boiled frozen “satoimo” 里芋 taro root (this is the first time I got this, I usually get fresh ones and prepare them myself) and also a package of “shirataki” noodles tied into a knot called “musubi-shirataki” 結び白滝.  Using these ingredients, I made this without much effort. It was nothing special but a homey, gentle and comforting dish. The picture below shows daikon (left), renkon (center), satoimo (bottom left), fish cake (bottom righ). I also added blanched green beans and carrot.

The layer below shows three different kinds of fish cakes (straight chikuwa ちくわ), chikuwa with squid ika-chikuwa イカちくわ, ganmodoki がんもどき(all cut in half) and a knot of shirataki “musubi-shirataki 結び白滝”. Please notice, the taro “satoimo” is perfectly shaped since this is frozen packaged one.

Using prepared vegetables and assorted fish cakes, makes it much easier to make this dish. Beside using prepackaged items, the recipe is essentially the same as I previously posted.

New Year's day evening with Sushi Taro Osechi 元旦の夕, すし太郎のおせち

We were wondering how long we have been getting Sushi Taro's Osechi box to celebrate New Year. We went back to our blog and it appears we started getting Sushi Taro Osechi on 2012.  In any case, we got the box on the afternoon of New Year's eve and started indulging in its contents the evening of the New Year's day.

We were delighted to see our favorite "karasumi" 唐墨 or "bottarga" or sun-dried mullet roe this year as well (right upper corner) along with the other usual goodies.

This is the second layer. Miso-marinated beef tongue  (right upper corner) is new this year. We like beef tongue but this is quite different from how we prepare it. Another one of our favorites "Monkfish liver terrine" or "ankimo tofu" あん肝豆腐 is peaking out on the right upper corner of the third (bottom) row.

Since I got frozen bluefin tuna sashimi block form Catalina Offshore products last December in preparation for the coming new year, we had some on New Year's eve and finished it New Year's day evening.  The tuna was very good and it was between chu-toro 中とろand ko-toro 小とろ.

On the sashimi plate, we had tuna, steamed sea urchin, karasumi, boiled shrimp (leftover from making ozouni), white and red fish cake, salmon Russian marinade, marinated herring roe (this is one I prepared) and burdock root stuffed with mustard. This year, karasumi was sliced a bit thicker than usual so I grilled it lightly in the toaster oven before enjoying it.

The second small plate had my "Chicken matsu-kaze yaki" 松風焼 (left in the picture below, I used toasted walnuts instead of pine nuts so it is not really "matsu-kaze" or "wind over the pine"). The green vegetable is from the osechi box called "pickled Chishatou" ちしゃとう or celtuce. This is a food item I am not familiar with but it is a stalk of a type of special lettuce. It has a nice crunchy texture. This "Date-maki" egg roll is from the osechi box and the meat behind it is miso marinated beef tongue. It is firmer than I make it but it had a nice beef flavor.

The third small plate had "renkon" lotus root cut in flower-shape dressed in vinegar, marinated (I assume in miso) egg yolk with walnut (another of our favorites), smoke salmon rolled in thinly peeled radish and cumquat in syrup. Behind the renkon is steamed fish cake with matsu-take mushroom or "matsutake shinjou"松茸しんじょう(cut in half).

This is an octopus leg I dressed in mustard miso vinegar タコ足のぶつ切りの芥子酢味噌和え.

We had the same sake (the last bottle) as last year which we brought from Japan two years ago. Jurakudai daiginjou from Kyoto.

We thought these are the starter but after eating these and drinking, both of us were quite full and called it quits. It was a nice evening to start 2019.

Sushi Taro "regular" kaiseki box "普通”の寿司太郎会席弁当

We have gotten several "Special" kaiseki boxes 特別会席弁当 from Sushi Taro which we enjoyed immensely. This time because of a large catering job in which Chef Kitayama was involved, they could not provide us with a "special" version but a "regular" kaiseki box was available. Since we never had a "regular" kaiseki box we went ahead and ordered it. This was quite good but also quite different from the "special" kaiseki box we had been getting. Everything comes in elegant one-time-use paper boxes and plates which closely emulate Japanese lacquer ware boxes and china dishes as you can see below. In contrast to the special Kaiseki, instead of all kinds of little different dishes, this one focused more on sashimi and sushi. Each of the two boxes were identical and each contained 4 pieces of sashimi, as well as 9 nigiri plus one half “negitoro” roll and one half rainbow roll equaling the equivalent of one whole roll . The kaiseki part of the box contained 3 dishes.

The Sashimi assortment was composed of "akami" red meat of wild bluefin tuna, flounder, arctic charr and sweet shrimp, all excellent in taste and quality.

One of the 3 kaiseki dishes shown below was "Goma-dofu" 胡麻豆腐 sesame tofu topped with blue crab and "ikura" salmon roe and I think small cubes of "ankimo monkfish liver. This was lovely with a smooth texture and the salmon roe and monkfish liver really added an elegant touch.

Another was shrimp cream croquette in lobster sauce which also contain small chunks of crunchy cauliflower accompanied by crunchy deep fried sweet potato and "renkon" lotus root. There is no way one could go wrong with this crowd pleaser. What is not to like about the smooth creamy texture and sweet taste of crab wrapped in golden crunchy crust accompanied by crunchy renkon and sweet crunchy sweet potato?

Grilled miso-marinated "Gindara" 銀鱈 sable fish or black cod topped with mushrooms and chestnuts. This one was "off the charts". The fish was succulent, melted in the mouth and was covered with a wonderful sauce surrounded by complementary mushrooms.

The sushi section of the box shown below included Nigiri-zushi 握り寿司 included ikura, Maine uni, "anago" sea eel, "aji" horse mackerel (upper row, left to right), "kohada"gizzard shad, bluefin tuna "chutoro", " madai" Japanese snapper, King salmon, and kampachi  (middle row, left tp right), Negitoro roll and rainbow roll with spicy tuna in the center (bottom row, left to right). All of it was excellent. It was also quite a substantial meal. No one would walk away from this hungry; it would satisfy even the heartiest eater in the crowd. (remember we got two sets of this since we ordered boxes for two which is a minimum order).

The regular kaiseki box is quite different from the special kaiseki box but we really quite enjoyed it. Nonetheless, although it is a bit more expensive, our absolute favorite and top choice remains the "tokubetsu" or special kaiseki box. The regular Sushi Taro kaiseki box, however, would, definitely be the next runner-up.

Happy New Year 2011 明けましてお目出度う御座いました 2011

Saying the New Year's greeting in the past tense must be Hokkadio dialect. My father used to say it this way and my wife somehow picked this up as the correct way to say Happy New Year. Most people, however, will say the greeting in the present tense "明けましてお目出度う御座います".

It seems I have made excuses concerning the New Year feast for 2 years running. Last year, I said I had to work until December 31 and could not make the New Year Boxes or "Juubako" 重箱. This time, I have two major excuses both of which led to a paucity of food products; First one of our favorite Japanese grocery stores closed unexpectedly this year and second because of the recent package bomb scare, my mother's annual New Year's "care package" exceeded the new restrictions to be sent by air--it had to be sent by sea and even though it was sent over a month ago it did not arrive in time. In addtion, we are remodeling our house and the Japanese tea room we usually use to celebrate is not available. In any case, I essentially made everthing in one day on December 31. Although I had to "punt" and use frozen premade vegetables for "Umani" New Year stew (left upper) and used a boiled packaged lotus root "renkon" 蓮根 for sweet vinegared renkon 酢蓮根, the rest is homemade (except the fish cakes and black beans).

Here is our new year soup or "ozouni" お雑煮. We used a hybrid broth of vegetable chicken broth my wife made and kelp and bonito stock.

In any case, we started the new year with a good new year breakfast. Happy New Year!

Scattered sushi cooked in Donabe 炊き込み寿司

This is a variation of scattered sushi "chirashizushi or chirashi sushi" ちらし寿司. Scattered sushi can have many different toppings including raw fish (in that case, it is called nama-chirashi 生ちらし or kaisen-chirashi 海鮮ちらし) but the most original form is made with mostly vegetables such as shiitake 椎茸, kanpyou 干瓢, renkon 蓮根, and gobou 牛蒡. The common way to make chirashizushi is to make white rice first, dress it in sushi vinegar and mix in or top with the seasoned cooked vegetables, other items, and garnish. 

In this version, I cooked rice and seasoned vegetables together as though I was making flavored rice. After the rice was cooked, I dressed the rice with sushi vinegar and garnished. There is not much difference between this and usual method but this tastes more like flavored rice than classic chirashizushi. I decided to make this after I made "ganmo" since there was excess dried shiitake mushroom and a last bit of gobou remained.

The following amount is for 2 Japanese cups of rice (360ml). The first thing I did was  "mis en place" as you can see on the left of the image below. The black thing is "me-hijiki" 芽ひじき about 1/3 cup after hydration, hydrated and sliced shiitake mushrooms (3-4 medium in size), shredded carrot (1/3 medium), gobou (1/4), and abura-age or deep fried tofu pouch (one regular size, cut in small strips).

I first put dark roasted sesame oil (1 tsp) in a frying pan and sautéed all the ingredients for one minute and added the soaking liquid from the shiitake mushrooms (about 1/2 cup), mirin (2-3 tbs), sake (2-3 tbs) and soy sauce (2 tbs) and simmered it for 20 minutes. I then separated the solids from the liquid (right in the image above). Whatever liquid I collected in the bowl below, I added water (or dashi broth) to make it 400ml.

Meanwhile, I washed the rice (2 Japanese cups, 1 cup=180ml) until the water was no longer turbid and strained it with a strainer.

In Kamado-san donabe rice cooker (or you could use an electric rice cooker), I put the washed rice, the seasoned vegetable mixture and seasoning liquid plus water (400ml) and mixed. As per the instructions that came with the donabe rice cooker, I set the inner and outer lids properly and cooked for 14 minutes on medium flame, turned off the flame and let it stand from 20 minutes without opening. 

While I was waiting for the rice to steep, I put about 1/2 cup of sushi vinegar (from the bottle) in a Pyrex measuring cup and heated up by microwaving. After 20 minutes of steeping, I mixed the rice, remove it to a mixing bowl, and dressed it with the sushi vinegar (use as much as the rice could absorb without getting too wet). I let it absorb for 5-10 minutes and served. I made thinly sliced cucumber (American mini-cucu, salted, kneaded and extra moisture squeezed out) and scrambled egg (for two small servings you see here, one large egg seasoned with salt). I also used thin strips of nori as a garnish. On the side, I served asazuke  浅漬け of cucumber, daikon, and carrot.

This was a nice ending dish for the evening.  The rice was still warm and has many more flavors in the rice than the regular scattered sushi. I used the leftover rice for lunch boxes the next. Even so, we have a lot left. (Just a head-up that you may be seeing more of this rice in the near future.)

Kinpira lotus root レンコンのキンピラ

One evening, I opened a package of cleaned and boiled lotus root or renkon レンコン.  I used a portion of the package for another dish but I had some left over. I decided to make kinpira of lotus root. レンコンの金平.  Although I have posted lotus root kinpira before, this one is cut differently and cooked for a much shorter time which gave it a different texture from the other one I posted. I also have posted many variations of kinpira with burdock root or gobo 牛蒡 as the most popular. "Kinpira" is a Japanese style of braising. First the food is sautéed in vegetable oil with dark sesame oil added, then seasoned with mirin and soy sauce.



To retain a nice crunchy texture, I cut the lotus root (2/3 package) in half length wise first and then sliced rather thinly in half moon shapes. Since this packaged lotus root has already been cleaned and boiled, I did not have to do any other preparation such as soaking in water with vinegar. I removed the excess moisture from the slices by spreading them on a sheet of paper towel and blotting them dry. I put vegetable oil (1 tbs) and dark sesame oil and red pepper flakes (amount arbitrary) in a wok and then added the sliced lotus root and sautéed for a few minutes until the oil coated the surface (see below).



I then add mirin (1 tbs) and soy sauce (1 tbs) and braised it until liquid was almost all evaporated.

This is quite different from burdock root or daikon kinpira especially in texture. The lotus root had a nice crunchy texture. This was a good small dish to have it with sake. If I seasoned it more strongly, this would go well with white rice as well.

"Kazunoko" Herring roe 数の子

This year, my mother's "care" package for New Year was delayed because she could not send it by air due to the package bomb scare (which is now lifted according to my mother). In any case, her package finally came rolling in after almost one and half months at sea. We fully expected the package to be a complete "write-off" but surprisingly, everything she sent including the salt-preserved kazunoko 数の子 or herring roe was still in good shape and edible. This was probably because the majority of the "goodies" consisted of some form of dried or otherwise preserved fish. Although the kazunoko did not make it to the new year's day feast, I decided to prepare it for a post-New Year's feast to celebrate its belated arrival.

Nishin 鰊 or herring was abundant in Hokkaido in the past and some master fishermen or "amimoto" 網元 made fortunes from them. They built large buildings on the beach called "Nishin goten" 鰊御殿 or "Herring castle". After the world war II, over-fishing and changes in the cold currents almost totally decimated the once abundant herring fisheries on the coast of Hokkaido. In those hay days, herring and their roe were cheap and abundant. Once the schools of herring disappeared from waters of Hokkaido, both herrings and, especially, herring roe became luxury items. Since it is golden in color and made of numerous eggs, it is a symbol of prosperity and wealth and considered good luck food for new year.

I served kazunoko as a part of a starter dish this evening. In the image below, the left is kazunoko, the center ankimo with grated daikon and ponzu soy sauce and the right is boiled octopus leg sliced with vinegared daikon and renkon garnished with salmon roe.

Since I did not post how I prepared kazunoko last year, I decided to post it this year.

First, I have to remove the salt from the kazunoko (called "shionuki" 塩抜き) by soaking it in weak salted water (I taste the salted water; just a nice salty taste you can drink if you wanted to). Although you could start with water and then finish "shionuki" with salted water. I prefer to use salted water from the beginning and change it several times in 3-4 hour periods. The reason is that if you remove the salt completely, kazunoko will taste "bitter". So, you need to leave some saltiness behind. Using salted water prevents the complete removal of the salt even if you forget and soak it too long. While soaking, I removed the thin white membrane which covers the roe by rubbing the surface with my finger tips under water. After "shionuki" and removing the membrane, herring roe is ready as shown in the lower left image. I tasted a small piece from the edge to make sure it is not too salty. I sometimes thinly slice this and serve it like sashimi with wasabi and soy sauce but I usually marinate it.

For the marinade, I make dashi broth from a kelp and bonito dash pack. I season with light colored soy sauce (to preserve the golden color) and sake. The amount of sake (or mirin if you like it sweet) and soy sauce are up to your taste but I tend to make a strong dashi packed with "umami" and go light on soy sauce. I gently boiled the mixture for few minutes to make sure the alcohol has all evaporated and tastes amalgamated. I let it cool to the room temperature and then refrigerate. I marinated the prepared herring roe for, at least several hours or over night in the refrigerator (The right lower image shows the roe after marinading). You should eat this in few days.

I sliced it into small bite sized pieces and then mixed them with dried bonito flakes or kezuribushi 削り節 and served. It has a very interesting crunch and is an excellent drinking companion for cold sake. After eating it, my wife asked, "Why does it suddenly feel like New Year?"