washoku

Book review and giveaway: Izakaya, the Japanese Pub Cookbook

maki — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:48:04 +0200

When a Japanese person dreams of quitting his or her rat-race job and opening a restaurant, the type of restaurant they usually envision is either a kissaten or kafe (a café-restaurant) or an izakaya. An Izakaya (居酒屋）is a small traditional pub that serves food, rather like a Spanish tapas bar. Many are quite tiny, with just the counter and maybe a few tables. The best ones are run with a lot of passion and love, and have fiercely loyal customers.

Izakaya, the Japanese Pub Cookbook conveys the atmosphere and love of food and good sake that are hallmarks of good izakaya perfectly. Written by Mark Robinson, an Australian journalist who fell in love with izakaya establishments in Tokyo, with gorgeous photography in both color and black and white by Masashi Kuma, it is part cookbook and part ode to the cult of the izakaya. You don’t just get recipes here, even though it’s called a cookbook. There are profiles of izakaya masters, useful advice on izakaya etiquette, notes on sake types, anecdotes and a lot more. I think it can reside as happily on a bedside table as in the kitchen - a quality I look for when I buy cookbooks.

The recipes themselves vary in difficulty. The main difficulty you will encounter is the availability of ingredients. But the photos and descriptions are so enticing, that you’ll want to try them out anyway. And there are plenty of simple, home-cooking type recipes here, since izakaya cooking is nothing fancy. It’s really a refined form of good old ‘mom’s’ home cooking, as opposed to the haute cuisine that is served in formal restaurants - friendly and accessible.

Some recipes that caught the eye of The Guy, who just loves this book (and loves sake more than I do):

Japanese Style German Potatoes (potatoes with onion and bacon, flavored with soy sauce and butter)
Motsu Nikomi (Beef intestine stew)
Ichiyaboshi (Overnight dried fish)
Simmered Eggplant and Pork Loin
Gomadare Udon (Udon noodles with spicy sesame sauce)

Another likely outcome of reading this book is that you’ll start researching airfares to Tokyo right away. I’m scheduled to go to Japan for a long-delayed satogaeri (homecoming) in the new year, and it reminded me to make some time for a little izakaya-hopping, even though I’m not much of a sake drinker.

Izakaya: the Japanese Pub Cookbook

Author: Mark Robinson
Photography: Masashi Kuma
Book web site
Publisher: Kodansha International
Amazon link; Amazon UK; Amazon DE; Amazon JP

And…of course there’s a giveaway!

Yes my friends, I have one copy of the book to give away, courtesy of the publisher. If you would like to get your hands on this lovely book, just leave a comment here. Make sure to include your email address in the comment form section that says email address (not sure why many people miss it…but well, don’t). And, to make it more fun, tell us what your favorite tipple is, and what you like to eat with it (doesn’t have to be Japanese)!

The deadline for getting your comment in is 23:59:59 CET on Friday, September 18th. (Note: There was a problem with the spam filters protecting this site yesterday which preventing people from commenting, so I’ve extended the deadline by a day.)

The giveaway is now closed. The winner will be announced next week. Thank you for entering!

Vegetable Tempura

maki — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:24:41 +0200

I’ve never really been good at making tempura, the quintessential Japanese deep fried dish. My mother’s tempura has always been terrific - crispy, light, and not greasy at all. So, taking advantage of her extended vacation here this year, I drilled her properly on how she makes tempura.

Her method does not rely on special tempura flour (cheap in Japan but expensive or hard to get a hold of elsewhere), or other recently touted additions like vodka or other high-alcohol liquor, so anyone should be able to do it. Just follow the key points listed below.

Point no. 1: Use the freshest ingredients you can find

The light tempura batter is meant to enhance the flavors of the vegetables or shrimp or squid and so on that is being fried, not mask it. So the fresher your ingredients are, the better your tempura will be.

Point no. 2: Dry the surface of the ingredients completely

This is a point often missed in other directions for tempura. In order to keep the tempura batter crisp, it’s important to make the surface of the things you’re frying very dry. My mother cuts up her vegetables at least half an hour beforehand, and spreads them out in a single layer on kitchen towels or paper towels and puts them near a sunny window. (Since this article is about vegetable tempura I’ll leave the subject of how to prep shrimp or squid for another time, but squid is actually allowed to dry out for several hours in the refrigerator, and shrimp is patted dry with kitchen or paper towels.)

Point no. 3: Use ice cold water for your batter, and don’t mix it much

The flour in tempura batter is just there to hold the other ingredients together. It should not be allowed to develop gluten, which leads to heavy, doughy batter. Therefore, you should always use ice cold water with ice cubes in it for the batter, and not mix it too much. A few ice cubes and lumps of flour floating in the batter are fine - they won’t stick to the food you’re dipping in the batter anyway.

Point no. 4: Don’t overcrowd your oil

You should keep the frying oil at a constant high temperature. If you put too much in at once, you will lower the temperature, which can make the tempura soggy and oil-logged.

Point no. 5: Don’t make too much at one time

At a tempura-specialist restaurant, your tempura is fried right in front of you and served immediately. They only fry a little bit at a time. That’s the ideal way to do tempura. At home, you could stand at the stove making individual portions for everyone else, but if you don’t want to do that just make a small batch at a time and try to eat it immediately, even if you have to stand up again to fry another batch. (This is why I think tempura is really ideal as an appetizer, rather than a main course, in Western-style meal structures. It’s easier to make appetizer-sized portions and eat it right away.)

Point no. 6: Don’t fuss with the tempura once it’s in the oil

There’s not need to keep flipping over your tempura over and over. This just lowers the surface temperature unnecessarily. Let the hot oil do its work! Just flip over once if needed.

Point no. 7: Drain the oil very well.

If you hold the tempura piece for a few seconds just above the oil, with a bit of the end still in the oil, the oil will drain off a lot better. Then transfer the tempura piece to the draining setup that is explained later. Some people transfer the tempura to a second draining setup (with fresh paper, etc.) to drain off even more oil

With these points in mind, here is my mother’s tempura recipe.

Recipe: Vegetable Tempura

For 2 main dish or 4 appetizer portions

Use whatever seasonal vegetables you have. These are what we had in late June in southern France. See the end for some other vegetable suggestions.

1 small sweet potato
2 small eggplants/aubergines
About 9 baby zucchini, or 2 regular sized zucchini
8 green shiso leaves
1 medium carrot
A handful of green beans

For the batter:

1 egg
A jug of ice water
3 Tbs. cake flour or all-purpose flour (not bread flour)
1 Tbs. corn or potato starch

Oil for frying (My mother prefers rapeseed oil (natane abura 菜種油). You can also use sunflower, corn or peanut oil.)

Cut the sweet potato into rounds with the skin on. Take the blossom end off the eggplants, and slice into wide strips lengthwise. (If you have a fat Western style eggplant, cut into rounds as with the sweet potato.) Leave the baby zucchini whole, just cutting off the blossom ends; cut regular zucchini into wide strips. Leave the shiso leaves whole. Cut the carrot into matchsticks. Leave the green beans whole, just cutting off the tops and tails.

Spread out the cut vegetables into a single layer on kitchen or paper towels, and leave to dry out on the surface for at least half an hour. The uncut baby vegetables and so on should not need to be dried, but should be totally dry on the surface.

Just before you are ready to start frying, mix up the batter. If your egg is a ‘small’ size, use 250 ml of ice water (or 5 times the amount of egg). If you have a ‘large’ egg you’ll need a tad more water. Mix the egg and water together, then add the flours, mixing rapidly with chopsticks or a fork. Do not try to get rid of all lumps, and floating ice cubes are fine - they’ll help to keep the batter cool.

Pour the oil into a suitable container, no more than 1/3th of the way full for safety. A tip here: Use a heavy pot that retains heat well. A cast iron enamelled pot such as Le Creuset is ideal. In Japan, most people deep fry in a wok - a proper wok made of iron is good because it retains heat well. Don’t use a cheap thin pan. For very small amounts you can also use a frying or sauté pan with fairly high sides. (Neither of us owns a dedicated deep fat fryer nor do we want to make the space for one in our kitchens.)

Heat up the oil. You can use a thermometer if you like, in which case you should heat up the oil to about 175°C or 350°F. Otherwise you can see if the oil is hot enough by dropping a bit of batter in the oil. If the batter blobs drop down and them come shooting up to the surface immediately, the oil is hot enough.

Make ready a large plate or tray lined with newspapers covered with kitchen towels, or a draining rack.

Larger pieces or whole vegetables should be dipped in the batter individually; smaller pieces like the matchstick carrots or the green beans are usually fried in little bundles, dipped in the batter and then into the oil with chopsticks. Start with the more delicate vegetables first, such as the shiso leaves, which only take a few seconds. Proceed to the harder vegetables, ending up with things like the sweet potato slices. Don’t overcrowd the oil pot - be patient, and only do 3 to 4 pieces at at time!

The amount of time each thing should be cooked depends on the vegetable. As mentioned, very delicate thin things only need a few seconds, while hard vegetables need a few minutes. You’ll learn how long things need to be fried by experience, but if you’re not sure just take a piece and cut or bite into it.

Drain each piece on the prepared draining plate or try. Don’t stack the pieces on top of each other, or the pieces underneath will just soak up the oil from above!

Serve tempura when it’s piping hot, for maximum crispiness.

How to present tempura

Tempura is often served on a piece of absorbent paper called a kaishi (懐紙), folded attractively. You can use a piece of plain, unprinted paper with absorbent qualities, such as untreated drawing paper (which is what I used in the photo above), plain white paper napkins, and so on. Otherwise, just arrange it attractively on a plate.

What to serve with tempura

For vegetable tempura, my favorite condiment is just some sea salt, sprinkled on. You could add a few drops of lemon juice too, though this isn’t traditional. You can also use tentsuyu, which is just a slightly thinned out version of soba tsuyu or soba dipping sauce (thin out with a bit of dashi stock). Grated daikon radish is often added to tentsuyu.

Leftover tempura

Leftover tempura can be crisped up in a toaster oven or regular oven. Just spread out in a single layer and bake for about 5 to 10 minutes until it’s a slightly darker shade of brown.

Japanese people love soggy-on-purpose tempura too, especially in the form of tendon, which is just tempura on top of rice with some mentsuyu poured over it in its simplest form. Tendon is best made with freshly fried tempura, but you can use leftover tempura too.

What vegetables can you use for tempura?

Basically, anything that is in season can be used. Harder vegetables should be cut thinner or smaller so that they cook faster. Some examples, both traditionally Japanese and not so traditional:

Traditional:

Sliced onions
Green onions, cut into about 1/2 inch / 1cm pieces (fry in little bundles mixed with matchstick carrots)
Green shiso leaves (red shiso is too bitter)
Chrysanthemum leaves and shungiku
Green beans
Snow peas
Sweet potatoes (the white or orange kind)
Eggplant/aubergine
Kabocha squash
Shishito peppers (slightly spicy)
Burdock (gobo)
Carrots
Fava beans (soramame)

Not very traditional:

Green asparagus - cut into about 2 inch / 4 cm lengths
Parsley leaves
Sage leaves
Thai basil
Watercress
Arugula (rucola/rocket)
Green peas
Zucchini
Slightly unripe, firm tomatoes (cut into wedges and deseed)
Potatoes (cut into rounds or wedges)
Sweet peppers (cut into strips)
Jalapeño peppers (whole or cut into half and deseeded)
Firm banana (cut into chunks) - I’ve never tried plantain but that could work too

Inarizushi (sushi in a bean bag) Redux: Cooking your own inarizushi skins

maki — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 07:02:50 +0100

Four years ago I posted a very basic recipe for inarizushi, homely sushi that is stuffed into a fried tofu skin or aburaage. It’s been one of the most popular articles here on Just Hungry ever since. That only gave instructions for stuffing pre-made (canned or vacuum packed) skins, so I thought I’d update it with instructions for making your own inarizushi skins from scratch. These instructions will be particularly useful to vegetarians and vegans, since most if not all premade skins are cooked in a fish-based traditional dashi stock. And, for all of you who have had problems making Eggs in Treasure Bags with those small, thin canned skins: You’ll find that making the eggs from your own, sturdy skins is so much easier.

Preparing aburaage (fried tofu skins)

Aburaage (油揚げ) are made from plain tofu that’s been sliced and then deep fried. When the slices are deep fried, they turn crinkly and form an air pocket inside. You can find aburaage in the refrigerated or freezer section of a Japanese grocery store. They are made in the same way as Chinese ‘tofu puffs’ or ‘bean curd puffs’, except they are large and flat instead of small and puffy.

This is how plain aburaage look.

They usually come packed 2 to 3 to a bag. I always keep aburaage in the freezer until I need them.

In Japan, aburaage are mostly used in stewed dishes, soups, and so on. Before it’s cooked, you must blanch and de-oil it. This process is called aburanuki (油抜き) or yudoushi (湯通し); any Japanese cook knows how and when to do this, but it’s one of those details that can get forgotten in translation so to speak. Anyway, it’s very easy to do. Just put the whole aburaage in boiling water to cover for a couple of minutes.

Then drain the boiling water off. This gets rid of some of the surface oil. Let the aburaage cool down before handling further. You can wipe off even more surface oil by patting the aburaage down with paper towels. (Untreated aburaage is about 80-100 calories each, depending on the size; the de-oiling treatment gets rid of 15-20 calories worth of oil.)

At this point, you can use the aburaage as-is, cut into strips and put into miso soup for example, or just cut into half and simmered for a bit in udon noodle soup for kitsune udon. But do remember: When simmering aburaage, always de-oil it. It makes all the difference.

Recipe: Inarizushi skins

Once you have de-oiled your aburaage, making inarizushi skins from them is easy. I like to cut them in half first so that they are ready to stuff once they’re cooked. I’m finding that the aburaage I can buy these days have nice big air pockets inside, so I don’t have to do anything for them to naturally form bags. But if you find yourself with skinny aburaage where the sides ‘stick’ inside, you can loosen them up by rolling a chopstick over the surface before de-oiling. Then after de-oiling, you can gently pry the sides apart to form the bag.

Once you have your cut-in-half aburaage ‘bags’, it’s time to cook them. This amount of poaching liquid is enough for 12 skins, or 6 (2 packs) of aburaage cut in half.

About 1 1/3 cups (350ml) vegan dashi stock, traditional dashi stock, or plain water with 1 tsp. of dashi granules, OR just plain water
3 to 4 Tbs. sugar (depending on how sweet you want them to be), or an equivalent amount of alternative sweetener
2 Tbs. sake
2 Tbs. mirin
3 to 4 Tbs. dark soy sauce (depending on how salty you want them to be)

Combine all the ingredients in a pan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer, and put in your de-oiled and cut in half aburaage skins. Simmer for about 15 minutes, until the liquid has evaporated down to about half the original amount. Turn off the heat and let the skins cool down in the liquid.

You can store them in the cooking liquid, well covered, in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. I haven’t really tried freezing them, but you could try it out.

When you’re ready to use the skins, just squeeze them out lightly so they aren’t dripping. These skins are bigger (not to mention sturdier and easier to handle) than the canned kind, so you’ll need more sushi rice per inarizushi, about 1/3 to 1/2 cup. Here is my basic sushi rice recipe; optionally add a teaspoon extra of sugar to the sushi vinegar mix. You can also try the lower calorie mix with hijiki seaweed, or mix in some toasted sesame seeds, shelled edamame, salmon flakes or furikake - whatever strikes your fancy.

You can present the inarizushi with the open end tucked under and down, as I described in the original inarizushi article. Note that the homemade inaruzushi skins are much lighter in color than the sometimes rather virulently reddish-brown canned kind. They are subtler in flavor too - you can really taste the tofu skin itself.

You can also present the inarizushi with the open end up (optionally fold down the edges for neatness). This is especially nice if you have colorful mixed rice as a filling. Here I’ve used some chopped up umeboshi in the rice, as well as as decoration. The umeboshi gives a subtle pink tint and pleasant sourness to the rice. (I used brown rice to make the sushi rice, which is why it’s beige-ish.)

Another inarizushi stuffing technique, not shown here, is to turn the skins completely inside out, and then stuff as normal. This gives the inarizushi a sort of lacy look, which gives a nice contrast if you line when up with regular outside-in brown inarizushi on a plate or in a bento box.

For people who live outside of Japan, the only drawback to making your own inarizushi skins (besides the slight bother of actually cooking them) is that fresh or frozen aburaage can be rather expensive, compared to the long-shelf-life canned skins. (In Japan aburaage is a great budget protein!) Still, the flavor and texture are so much better, so if you can get a hold of aburaage, I hope you give it a try!

Classic Sukiyaki, The Quintessential Japanese Beef Hot Pot

maki — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:36:58 +0100

Sukiyaki (すき焼き）is a Japanese word that is widely known outside of Japan, but very few people have actually had the real thing　unless they’ve been invited to a Japanese person’s home for dinner - or gone to a traditional inn or ryoutei (high end traditional Japanese restaurant) where it is cooked for you at the table. This is because, like tori nabe, this is really another nabe that is cooked at the table, at home, rather than eaten at a restaurant. You may encounter ‘sukiyaki’ on some restaurant menus, but if it’s been cooked in advance in the kitchen, it really isn’t sukiyaki. (I’m not sure why there are dedicated shabu-shabu restaurants but no sukiyaki restaurants, but I think it’s because sukiyaki is so strongly associated with home cooking.)

Unlike tori nabe, sukiyaki is not inexpensive, since you need top grade steak-quality meat. If you have access to a Japanese grocery store or a butcher that is familiar with the ‘sukiyaki’ cut, you can buy ready-cut meat there. (In New York, I used to get sukiyaki meat from Schaller and Weber on the Upper East Side). If you can’t get sukiyaki meat, get a piece of sirloin with a good amount of marbling and a thick piece of fat attached. Allow for about 100 grams / 3 1/2 ounces of meat per person. You do not need to use wagyuu or Kobe beef - that would be overkill. In Japan, sukiyaki is the quintessential gochisou (御馳走) - feast or treat, because good beef is the most expensive kind of meat. It’s what you have for a special occasion, or just after payday.

Sukiyaki can be enjoyed at any time of the year, but any kind of nabe seems to be best suited to the winter, when the family can gather around the dining table helping themselves from a fragant, steaming pan of food.

There are two basic methods of making sukiyaki: Kanto, or Tokyo-area style, and Kansai, or Kyoto/Osaka area style. Since I’m from the Tokyo area I’ll show you how to do the Tokyo style, with a recipe for the Kyoto method below.

Recipe: Classic Kanto Style Sukiyaki

Feeds 4 adults

1 lb / 450g well marbled sirloin or similar, with a chunk of fat on the outside; OR about 1 lb of sukiyaki beef with a small chunk of beef fat
1 block of firm tofu or yakidofu (firm tofu that has been lightly grilled on the outside, available at Japanese grocery stores), cut into chunks (allow for 2 chunks per person)
1 small or 1/2 large chinese/napa cabbage, cut up into chunks
a bunch of green leafy vegetables - I used pak choy here (traditional green is shungiku; use what you have)
4 large or 8 small/medium raw shiitake mushrooms, stems cut off (you can use portobello mushrooms instead, sliced - 1-2 big ones)
The white of 1 leek, sliced
2-3 packs of fresh or frozen udon noodles
1 pack of rinsed and blanched shirataki noodles

For the sauce, called warishita (割り下）

1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup dark soy sauce
1/4 cup sake
1/4 cup mirin
1/4 cup sugar

Optional:

4 raw eggs, to serve as the dipping sauce

Equipment:

A tabletop burner (see the tori nabe article)
A sukiyaki pot (a flat cast iron pot), or a large sauté pan or frying pan with fairly high sides so that you can pile in the vegetables and so on
Long chopsticks or a long fork or tongs
Smallish bowls for serving, one per person. Breakfast cereal sized bowls are good.

If you got the hunk of steak meat, put it in the freezer until it’s half-frozen and stiff. This makes it easier to slice. Cut the outer fat off and reserve. Slice the rest against the grain into thin slices. Arrange neatly on a plate.

Cut up the vegetables and put into bowls, ready to go. Take the udon noodles out of their packets Rinse and briefly blanch the shirataki noodles. (The amount of udon noodles depends on whether you will be having rice with the meal or not. If yes, then you only need 1 or 2 packs of udon; if not, then go for more udon.)

Mix all the liquid ingredients for the warishita together and put into a jug or something. Have the sugar ready. (Note: my stepfather just pours each ingredient directly into the pot, but pre-measuring things will probably be easier for beginners)

Set out the burner, the pan, the bowls and utensils We’re ready to go now!

Heat up the pan on the burner, with the reserved piece or pieces of beef fat. Rub the fat around the pan a bit until it’s melting.

Once there’s a good film of melted fat all around the pan, pour in the sugar and mix around a bit. Then add the liquid ingredients. If the pan is hot enough it should boil up almost immediately.

Let it simmer for a bit to evaporate the alcohol in the sake and mirin. Then, add around a quarter or so of the beef slices. (Take out the beef fat pieces at this time.)

These first beef slices plus the beef fat provide the base flavor for sukiyaki, together with the warishita ingredients. Once the beef is cooking, you can start adding the other ingredients. Start with the vegetables and shiitake mushrooms, then add the tofu and shirataki. Remember to scoop out the beef slices and eat them!

Keep eating the vegetables and things as they cook. About halfway through, add the udon (if you add it earlier it can get a bit overcooked, though it will still be very tasty). Now, this is optional, but the standard dipping sauce for sukiyaki is a raw beaten egg. But only do this if you are sure of the quality of your eggs - they should be farm fresh, maybe date-stamped, or pasteurized.

Keep on taking out cooked stuff and putting more stuff in to cook. If the pan gets too dry, just add a bit of water and maybe a bit more soy sauce. Near the end of the proceedings, this is how the pan looks - everything a mellow light brown, having slurped up the goodness of that sauce.

Leftover sukiyaki, mixed with some egg and cooked, is delicious over hot rice. (You could also simmer it in a pan until the liquid is almost evaporated and use it in a bento the next day.)

Variant: Kansai Style Sukiyaki

With Kansai style, you pan fry all the meat before adding everything else. Melt the beef fat in the pan as per the Kanto style, then add the meat slices. Add the sugar to the pan and let it coat the meat. Then add the warishita, and proceed as for the Kanto style. I prefer the Kanto style because I think the meat can get a bit tough with Kansai style - and besides, that’s the method I grew up with. In Kansai style, you often add fu to the pan (reconstitute the fu in water first, squeeze out well, and add to the sukiyaki pot).

Extra: The Sukiyaki Song, which has nothing to do with sukiyaki

In 1963, a Japanese song named The Sukiyaki Song became a no. 1 hit in the U.S., even though it was sung in Japanese by a singer unknown to the west, called Kyu Sakamoto (坂本九). It was called Sukiyaki because some record executive decided that that word would sound Japanese. As the Wikipedia entry says, the original lyrics have nothing to do with sukiyaki - it’s actually a rather sad song about someone walking alone at night with a broken heart. And the original title is 上を向いて歩こう (Ue o muite arukou) - Let’s Walk Looking Upwards. Here are the original lyrics, with my translation:

上を向いて　歩こうよ Let’s walk looking upwards
涙がこぼれないように So that (my) tears don’t fall
思い出す　春の日 (I) remember that spring day (with you)
一人ぽっちの夜 A lonely night

上を向いて歩こう Let’s walk looking upwards
にじんだ　星をかぞえて Counting the blurry stars in the sky
思い出す　夏の日 (I) remember the summer day (with you)
一人ぽっちの夜 A lonely night

幸せは　雲の上に Happiness is above the clouds
幸せは　空の上に Happiness is above the sky

上を向いて　歩こうよ Let’s walk looking upwards
涙がこぼれないように So that (my) tears don’t fall
泣きながら　歩く (I) walk while crying
一人ぽっちの夜 A lonely night

思い出す秋の日　 (I) remember that autumn day (with you)
一人ぽっちの夜 A lonely night

悲しみは　星のかげに Sadness is in the shadows of the stars
悲しみは　月のかげに Sadness is in the shadow of the moon

上を向いて　歩こうよ Let’s walk looking upwards
涙がこぼれないように So that (my) tears don’t fall
泣きながら　歩く (I) walk while crying
一人ぽっちの夜 A lonely night

一人ぽっちの夜 A lonely night (I am alone tonight)

Here is the original singer, Kyu Sakamoto, singing Ue o muite arukou when he was 22 years old in 1963:

Kyu Sakamoto, known affectionately as Kyu-chan, was very popular throughout his lifetime in Japan as an all around entertainer. I was too young to know him during his singing heyday in the ’60s, and when I did become cognizant of him I rather disliked him because he was known as a do-gooder and self-promoter (he did a lot of charity work (much of it well publicized) which was not really that common for Japanese celebrities). Besides, his singing was considered awfully old fashioned by us kids.

He died tragically in the Japan Airlines Flight 123 crash at the age of 44. Since then, I’ve come to appreciate his unique singing style as well as his persona a lot more. His best songs were those with upbeat music and rather sad or wistful lyrics. Here’s another one of his big hits in Japan, 見上げてごらん　夜の星を　(Miagete goran yoru no hoshi o : Look Up At The Stars In the Sky):

I think he was so popular, especially in the 1960s, because the combination of youthful bravado and cheerfulness tinged with a sadness, even tragedy that he was able to convey, perfectly fit the mood of the times, when Japan was growing as a nation at an alarming pace while experiencing the side effects of such growth such as environmental disasters, stress and alienation. I’m not sure if he’d still be a hit in today’s more cynical Japan though.

Tori Nabe: Japanese Chicken and Vegetable Tabletop Hot Pot

maki — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 19:17:04 +0100

Nabe (鍋, pronounced NA-beh) is the Japanese word for a pot or pan. But it also means a one-pot dish where several ingredients are cooked together in a broth. While nabe can be cooked in the regular way on the stovetop, the most popular kind of nabe are cooked at the table on a portable burner. The quintessential image of a Japanese happy family is one that gathered around the dining table eating a nabe. (Nabe cooked at the table is also called yosenabe (寄せ鍋), which just means a nabe where the ingredients are gathered together (寄せる、yoseru). Because a nabe is piping hot, it’s a great winter meal, with very little preparation.

A lot of Japanese nabe recipes call for ingredients that are only widely available in Japan, but this is a recipe for a nabe that you can recreate wherever you are. It uses chicken and a lot of vegetables, so it’s very healthy and frugal - perfect recession cooking! The only special equipment you need is a tabletop cooker of come kind, that can sustain a boiling heat. See more about tabletop cookers in the Notes at bottom.

Recipe: Torinabe (鶏鍋), Japanese Chicken and Vegetable Tabletop Hot Pot

To serve 4 hungry adults

1 large piece of dried konbu seaweed, or about 1 Tbs. of dashi stock granules or 1-2 regular chicken stock cubes
400g / about 12 oz. boneless chicken, dark or white meat (I used dark meat) cut into cubes
1 block of firm tofu or yakidofu (firm tofu that has been lightly grilled on the outside, available at Japanese grocery stores), cut into chunks (allow for 2 chunks per person)
1 small or 1/2 large chinese/napa cabbage, cut up into chunks
a bunch of green leafy vegetables - I used spinach
1 pack of enoki or staw mushrooms, separated into small bunches
4 large raw shiitake mushrooms, stems cut off (you can use portobello mushrooms instead, sliced - one big one should do it)
The white of 1 leek, sliced
1 pack of fresh or frozen udon noodles, or 2-3 cups of cooked rice, or 1 pack of rinsed and blanched hirataki noodles, or any combination of the three

Condiments:

Soy sauce
Ponzu or yuzu or lemon

Equipment:

Tabletop cooker (see Notes below)
A stable, heavy bottomed pot, ideally one that’s attractive enough for the table (I used a medium size powder blue Le Creuset pot)
Long chopsticks or a long fork or tongs
Ladle
Smallish bowls for serving, one per person. Breakfast cereal sized bowls are good.

Put the piece of konbu seaweed in the pot and fill up halfway with water. (Ideally you want to soak the konbu for a while, so if you can plan ahead put the water and konbu in the pot in the morning or something.) Bring up to a boil. If you can’t get hold of konbu, dashi granules like Hondashi are ok. Or you could even use regular stock cubes or stock powder, though of course it won’t taste as nice. You could even use canned chicken or vegetable stock. Here I’ve used a generous piece of konbu.

Make your ingredients ready in the meantime. Here you see the cut up Chinese cabbage, spinach and enoki mushrooms. (The traditional nabe green vegetable is shungiku (edible chrysanthemum leaves), but that’s not that easy to get outside of Japan, or if you can get it it can be expensive - though look for them at you Asian grocery store. Any green will do though - here I’ve used plain old spinach, but pak choi /bok choy is good, as is Chinese broccoli, Swiss chard, and so on. Use what’s available to you. And the mushrooms can be switched around too - if you can’t get enoki or shiitake, use something else, though white button mushrooms are not that nice in this. Portobellos, chestnut mushrooms, shimeji, maitake - all are good. )

And here’s the chicken. I did leave the skin on but you can take it off if you prefer. 3 ounces / 100g may not seem like much but people will be full! Not pictured: tofu, shiitake, and the sliced leek. (The photographer forgot them.)

When the pot comes to a boil, lower the heat a bit and just start putting the ingredients in. You may want to start with the leeks, then the other vegetables - but really, there are no hard and fast rules. All you need to do is to simmer until done. The tofu and the shiitake benefit from being in the pot longer, so they can soak up the flavors from the broth, which will get more and more flavorsome as the meal progresses. Note: skimming off any scum that rises to the surface will make the broth taste better.

When things get cooked, take them out into the individual bowls with the chopsticks or tongs and the ladle. (In Japan they sell nice short wooden ladles for nabe. See if your local Japanese grocery store carries them.) Each person then adds the condiments to their taste. The traditional ones for tori nabe are ponzu and soy sauce. You can get ponzu at a Japanese grocery store or even at many regular grocery stores in the U.S. these days. If you can’t get it, fresh lemon juice will do. (If you’re in Japan, you can go one step better than ponzu and get a fresh sudachi (すだち, a greenskinned citrus fruit) and squeeze that on. Yuzu juice is nice too.)

Here’s a helping of the hot pot. Lots of vegetables, a little chicken, tofu, and some of that broth.

As the pot gets depleted, just keep adding things until you run out, or until everyone is almost full. Don’t throw out the leftover broth though - that’s the tastiest part of the meal! Usually you would cook some udon noodles in that flavor-packed broth, and serve that to end the meal. I didn’t have any udon noodles on hand, so I just put in some rice. Other things you could put into that last broth: dumplings, shirataki noodles (for the low-carb or dieting crowd), etc. - anything that can slurp up that flavor.

Nabe are great for parties, but they are really easy on the cook too since all you have to do is to cut things up and take out the burner and the pot.

Notes

Tabletop burners are not that expensive, and can be great fun. This type of gas burner is perfect. I use an electric burner since gas cooking is almost unheard of here. It’s similar to this one. The burner has to be able to sustain a boiling heat in the pot. (See if your crockpot can do this.)

Do be careful of little kids around a hot pot and burner on the table! Remember to use a heavy pot that can’t easily be tipped over.

Toshikoshi Soba or Year-End Soba: A bowl of hot soba noodles to end the year

maki — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:20:23 +0100

Revised and updated: This recipe for Toshikoshi Soba, or Year-End Soba, traditionally eaten in Japan on New Year's Eve, is one of the earliest recipes posted on Just Hungry. I've expanded the directions so that you can use various methods for making the soup. Originally posted December 30, 2003.

Even though Christmas has become big business in Japan in recent years, the real holiday at this time of year is New Year's Day. The end of the old year, called 師走　(しわす　shiwasu), is a hectic time, as people are busily celebrating with friends and colleagues at 忘年会　(ぼうねんかい　bounenkai), "forget the year" parties - besides wrapping up things at work and getting ready to go home for the holidays.

New Year's Eve itself (大晦日　おおみそか　oh-misoka), however, is celebrated rather quietly by many people. There isn't the big urge to go to a party, to send off the old year with champagne and fireworks and tooting horns. In a way Japanese people do things the opposite of how people in the West celebrate Christmas or Hannukah vs. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day: Christmas is an excuse to have a party (it also happens to be a big 'date' day, when couples stay for the night at a luxury hotel for a romantic party of two). New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and the few days afterwards are when you spend time with family at home. On New Year's Eve, you'll stay home and reflect on the old year, watch some year-ending entertainment programs on TV, and perhaps go to the local temple at midnight, while hearing the 108 rings of the bell to "ring away" the evils of the old year.

The traditional evening meal to have while waiting to greet the new year is a bowl of hot soba noodles, called 年越し蕎麦 (としこしそば　toshikoshi soba), which roughly means "end the old year and enter the new year soba noodles". There is no one set recipe for this soba - they are probably as many varieties as there are households. At our house my mother simply prepared a straightforward bowl with hot soup, something on top such as a slice of kamaboko, a rather rubbery fishcake; perhaps some spinach or othe green leavy vegetable, a raw egg dropped on top just before serving. When a raw egg is used like this in a bowl of hot noodles, whether it's soba or udon, it's called 月見　(つきみ　tsukimi) - moon-watching.

Hot soba noodles can be enjoyed at any time of the year of course, but since I usually prefer cold soba, New Year's Eve is usually the only day I have this. It is quite good and comforting.

When I originally wrote this article 5 years ago, soba (buckwheat) noodles, were generally only available at Japanese grocery stores. How times have changed! Now you can buy them at many general supermarkets, health food stores and such. There are many different brands, at all price ranges. Look for one that has smooth, mostly unbroken (a few strands may break) noodles that are fairly thick. Avoid the very cheap brands; with soba you really do get what you pay for.

Recipe: Toshikoshi Soba: Year-End Soba Noodle Soup

Note that the toppings are not that important here. What is important is properly prepared noodles, and a good flavorful soup. I've given three methods for making the soup, ranging from best (using kaeshi) to ok (using storebought readymade sauce).

Per 1 large bowlful:

About 60 g / 2 oz. dried soba noodles
basic dashi stock
Kaeshi, or soy sauce, mirin and sugar
OR instead of the dashi and ingredients above, a bottle of tsuyu or mentsuyu (readymade noodle sauce), available at Japanese grocery stores
Toppings such as kamaboko, spinach leaves, egg (optional)
Green onions, finely chopped
Nanami or shichimi tohgarashi- seven-ingredient red pepper spice (see notes)

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Put in the soba noodles and lower the heat to a simmer. Cook until the noodles are not quite al dente - it should be cooked through. (Dried soba noodles, unlike dried semolina pasta, is rather delicate so you don't want to cook it in a rolling boil.) As soon as it's done, drain the noodles, and plunge it a bowl of cold water. Change the water frequently as you rinse the noodles. The objective is to get rid of any sort of starchy service on the noodles. Once this is done, drain the noodles and set aside in a colander. (See the very detailed instructions on how to cook and rinse soba noodles here.)

Make the basic dashi stock, and use an extra handful of bonito flakes. (You can also use vegetarian dashi stock if you prefer.)

If you are using kaeshi, mix 1 part kaeshi to 5 parts dashi stock. Vary to your tastes (don't make it too weak or too strong, but remember that you'll be putting soba noodles in it, so make it just a bit stronger/saltier than you think is necessary).

If you are using soy sauce and mirin straight, first mix the soy sauce and mirin in a 2 to 1 ratio (e.g. 2 Tbs. soy sauce and 1 Ts. mirin). Add a little sugar (for 2 Tbs. soy sauce add 1/2 tsp. or so of sugar). Add dashi to taste, at about the same 1 (soy sauce + mirin + sugar) to 5 (dashi) ratio.

If you are using store-bought tsuyu or mentsuyu (noodle sauce) in a bottle (such as this one), add plain water to the until it tastes right to you. The ratio depends on the brand and type. Note that even ones that say they are 'straight' (as in, not concetrated) will need to be thinned out for hot noodle soup, since they are meant to be used 'straight' for cold noodle dipping sauce, which is a lot stronger.

Heat up the soup. Put in the rinsed soba noodles, and gently simmer until the noodles are heated through.

Put noodles into serving bowls. Add soup, and any toppings. If you're adding a raw egg (be sure you're only adding a 'safe' egg!), add it at the last moment.

Garnish with a little of the chopped green onion and/or shichimi tohgarashi on top. You could also add a dab of wasabi, a small sheet of nori seaweed, and so on.

Notes

七味唐辛子　（しちみとうがらし　shichimi tohgarashi or nanami tohgarashi) is a mixed ground spice, containing red pepper, dried citrus skin, sesame seeds, etc. It's a commonly used table spice. You could use ground up red papper flakes as a substitute, though it won't have the same complex flavor and aroma. It's quite inexpensive and lasts a long time, so look for it at a Japanese food store. (Or you can buy it from Amazon Groceries.) I consider it to be a very important ingredient in my Japanese pantry.

Soup made with dashi, soy sauce and mirin is used for most Japanese noodles. The saltiness or strength of the soup is controlled by the ratio of soy sauce to dashi - the more dashi, the thinner the soup.

See this kitsune udon recipe for a vegan topping alternative (simmered aburaage or tofu skin). Of course, you could just enjoy the noodles with no topping, just the green onion and shichimi tohgarashi.

Japanese people usually don't do much drinking on New Year's Eve, because it's considered to be a good thing to greet the New Year bright and early. (Drinking during the New Year's festivities is another matter.)

Konnyaku no Tosani and Konnyaku Kinpira

maki — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:41:52 +0200

I have talked about konnyaku before, the almost zero calorie, rubbery-jellylike food that makes me really wonder at the ingenuity of people of the past. Why would they think that an almost flavorless, almost nutrient free substance would be edible?

Well, konnyaku is not about its innate flavor - it’s all about texture. And since it really has so little calories, it’s a great addition to meals for the dieter, giving a feeling of fullness.

I tend to make konnyaku dishes when I want to really watch the calories, but still have a hearty appetite.

Recipe: Konnyaku no Tosani (Konnyaku with bonito flakes)

Tosa (土佐）is the name of the region that is currently Kouchi prefecture, known for katsuo or bonito fishing, hench the name.

1 large block of konnyaku
2 Tbs. soy sauce or tamari
1 Tbs. mirin
1 Tbs. sake
1/2 cup dashi or water (or water with a pinch of dashi granules)
1 Tbs. sugar
2 small packets, or a large handful of katsuobushi (bonito flakes)
Optional: 1 tsp. dried red chili flakes

Drain and rinse the konnyaku. If you have a thick block (about 5cm/ 2 inches thick) cut in half lengthwise, then cut into thin strips.

This is optional, but if you cut the strips into tanzaku they are quite pretty. Take a look at this diagram:

Make a cut in the middle of each slice, leaving a little bit uncut at both ends. Then, turn one end into the cut slit.

They turn into little twisted rope-like shapes, like these.

(Alternatively you can just cut the konnyaku into cubes or strips, or even tear the konnyaku into chunks with your hands and a spoon. For this bento I used cubed konnyaku no tosani.)

Boil the cut konnyaku shapes in plenty of water for about 5 minutes, then drain well.

Put the rest of the ingredients except for the bonito flakes in a pan and bring to a boil. Put the konnyaku in, and simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is almost all gone.

Add about half the bonito flakes and mix well - the bonito flakes should absorbe any remaining liquid. Top up with the rest of the bonito flakes and mix again. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe: Konnyaku and Atsuage Kinpira

The world kinpira indicates that it’s a spicy stir-fried dish with chili and sesame. (See carrot kinpira on Just Bento.) I’ve combined konnyaku with thick fried tofu (atsuage) here, but you could make it with just konnyaku too.

1/2 large or 1 small (thin) konnyaku block (about 200g)
1 small block (about 200g) atsuage or thick fried tofu
1 Tbs. sesame oil
2 Tbs. soy sauce
2 Tbs. mirin
1 Tbs. sugar
2 Tbs. sesame seeds, black or white/brown
1 tsp. dried red chili pepper flakes or 1 Thai chili pepper, finely chopped

Cut the konnyaku into thin strips. Boil in plenty of water for about 5 minutes, and drain well.

Cut the atsuage into thin strips.

Put 1/2 of the sesame oil into a large frying pan. Put in the atsuage strips, and gently fry until brown and firm. Take out the atsuage.

Put the rest of the sesame oil into the pan and add the konnyaku. Stir-fry until the konnyaku strips get a bit lighter in color all over. Add the atsuage strips back in the pan, and add the soy sauce, mirin and sugar, and toss around well to coat everything. Add the chili pepper and sesame seeds and toss toss toss.

Either dish makes a nice space-filler in a bento box, and will last for a few days (well covered) in the refrigerator.

Just one caveat about konnyaku: be sure to chew it well before swallowing. You will likely not choke on konnyaku strips, as the shape does not lend itself to clogging up your esophagus like fruit-flavored konnayku jellies can. But if you don’t chew, the pieces will just travel down your gut..more or less whole. Which, in some people, may cause some distress. The same goes for the popular shirataki noodles by the way.

Slimy slimy goodness all together in a bowl

maki — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:08:11 +0200

I have to confess that I do get tired sometimes of people describing Japanese food as ‘weird’ ‘odd’ ‘disgusting’ and so on. It’s a very ethnocentric way of describing things, is it not? What is disgusting and horrible to one set of people is normal and delicious to another.

Anyway, recently JH reader Sylvia sent me the link to this Wall Street Journal article, which had the heading “Where the Slimy Things Are: In Japan, an expat family’s love affair with ‘gross’ dishes”. Yeah yeah, to your average white American I suppose maguro natto, a mixture of raw tuna cubes and our old friend natto, is ‘gross’. What can I say - Japanese people in general love slimy food, even if quite a few don’t like natto (the reason for their dislike is usually the smell rather than the slime).

You want slime? I’ll give you slime!

In any case, the article gave me a craving, not for maguro natto, but for something way slimier. I’m not really sure it has a proper name, but I know it as yamaimo okura natto nebaneba bo-ru (山芋オクラ納豆ネバネバボール）- loosely translated as Sticky-slimy yamaimo, okra and natto bowl. The name just about describes it. (I’ve also seen it called yama no ue no okura (Okra on top of the mountain - yama means mountain).

This is what it looks like.

Pretty, yes? Okra, despite its belittled slime, is really one of the prettiest vegetables out there. The slices look like little stars, and the green on white with the red of the ikura or salmon caviar is really nice.

However, looks can be deceiving. If you are timid of nature, or are adverse to slimy textures, you may want to avoid this. Let’s take a good look at it close up:

See the glistening gooey stuff? That is slime: the combined slimy goodness from grated yamaimo or nagaimo, natto and okra, with the option of adding a raw egg. Mmmm.

If, on the other hand, you are a bit adventurous, give it a go! The most difficult thing about making it is assembling the ingredients, and I was able to do so even in Zürich. If you live in an area with Japanese groceries, you should have no trouble.

Recipe: Sticky-slimy yamaimo, okra and natto bowl - Yamaimo okura natto nebaneba bo-ru (山芋オクラ納豆ネバネバボール）

This is enough for 2-4 slime-loving people or about 30 timid people who want just a taste on a dare, then run away screaming.

300g / about 10 oz nagaimo (available at Japanese grocery stores. You need about a 20cm/7inch or so cut piece)
1 50g packet natto
2 fresh okra
2 Tbs. ikura or salmon caviar
1 very fresh raw chicken egg (optional)
soy sauce
1/2 tsp. wasabi (optional)

Rub a little salt onto the okra. Blanch for a couple of minutes in boiling water, then drain. Cut into small rounds and set aside.

Peel the raw nagaimo. Grate on a coarse grater, or smash it up in a suribachi. Wash your hands well, and set aside.

Add a pinch of salt to the natto, and mix very well with a spoon until it gets sticky and slimy.

Put the grated or mashed nagaimo in a bowl, and mound the natto on top. Sprinkle on th okra slices and ikura or salmon caviar. Top with the optional wasabi.

To serve, add the optional raw egg.

Drizzle on some soy sauce.

Now, take a pair of chopsticks and mix very well.

Keep mixing vigorously. You want an amalgamated bowl of slime!

Serve spooned on top of hot rice. You may want to add a bit more soy sauce and/or wasabi at this point. Mix well with the rice, and eat with a spoon, or by bring the rice bowl to your mouth and shoveling it in with your chopsticks.

My stepfather absolutely loves this, and so do I. Will you? That I cannot say.

[Edit:] We had this for dinner last night actually (before I took the pics). This morning I was reminded of how, eh, regular it makes you. It is after all just full of fiber - the sliminess of the nagaimo and the okra is indeed that, and natto is packed with beneficial bacteria that makes your intestinal flora happy. Hey, a natural constipation remedy! ^_^

washoku

Book review and giveaway: Izakaya, the Japanese Pub Cookbook

And…of course there’s a giveaway!

Vegetable Tempura

Point no. 1: Use the freshest ingredients you can find

Point no. 2: Dry the surface of the ingredients completely

Point no. 3: Use ice cold water for your batter, and don’t mix it much

Point no. 4: Don’t overcrowd your oil

Point no. 5: Don’t make too much at one time

Point no. 6: Don’t fuss with the tempura once it’s in the oil

Point no. 7: Drain the oil very well.

Recipe: Vegetable Tempura

How to present tempura

What to serve with tempura

Leftover tempura

What vegetables can you use for tempura?

Inarizushi (sushi in a bean bag) Redux: Cooking your own inarizushi skins

Preparing aburaage (fried tofu skins)

Recipe: Inarizushi skins

Classic Sukiyaki, The Quintessential Japanese Beef Hot Pot

Recipe: Classic Kanto Style Sukiyaki

Variant: Kansai Style Sukiyaki

Extra: The Sukiyaki Song, which has nothing to do with sukiyaki

Tori Nabe: Japanese Chicken and Vegetable Tabletop Hot Pot

Recipe: Torinabe (鶏鍋), Japanese Chicken and Vegetable Tabletop Hot Pot

Notes

Toshikoshi Soba or Year-End Soba: A bowl of hot soba noodles to end the year

Recipe: Toshikoshi Soba: Year-End Soba Noodle Soup

Notes

Konnyaku no Tosani and Konnyaku Kinpira

Recipe: Konnyaku no Tosani (Konnyaku with bonito flakes)

Recipe: Konnyaku and Atsuage Kinpira

Slimy slimy goodness all together in a bowl

You want slime? I’ll give you slime!

Recipe: Sticky-slimy yamaimo, okra and natto bowl - Yamaimo okura natto nebaneba bo-ru (山芋オクラ納豆ネバネバボール ）

Recipe: Sticky-slimy yamaimo, okra and natto bowl - Yamaimo okura natto nebaneba bo-ru (山芋オクラ納豆ネバネバボール）