Happy New Year 2024 明けましておめでとう2024

Like the last year, we put the New Year’s decoration including “Kagami-mochi” 鏡餅 and dragon or “tatsu 辰” zodiac figurines shown in the picture #1 in the room we spend most of our time rather than in the tokonoma 床間 in the “tea-room”.  Upon waking New Year’s day, we learned of the magnitude 7.6 earthquake that hit Ishikwa prefecture 石川県. We hope for the wellbeing of the people affected.

On New Year’s eve, we started the evening with a plate of assorted sashimi, most of the sashimi came from “Riviera Seafood Club”, our most recent favorite source of “home freezer” sashimi or sashimi that we can store in the freezer here at home and thaw at any time we want sashimi. Since the portions are smaller than sashimi we can get from other sources, we can eat more than one kind of sashimi at a time. On the New Year’s plate (picture #2) we had chutoro tuna 中トロ, hamachi はまち, scollop ホタテ, and octopus leg タコの足 (which was from D’artagnan). I added wasabi with chopped wasabi plant stalk (from tube) and yuzu kocho 柚子胡椒 (from tube).

On New Year’s day, we had only coffee (cafe latte and macchiato with a bit of steamed cream) rather than our usual breakfast so we wouldn’t be too full for the large lunch we planned of “Ozhoni” お雑煮 New Year’s soup. As usual, I served the soup in real lacquer ware bowls (gift from my mother many many years ago) with a side of some New Year’s dishes I made (picture #3).

This year, I precooked all the vegetables and proteins that went into the soup. This included “gobo” burdock root 牛蒡, shiitake 椎茸, shimeji しめじ and wood ear 木耳 mushrooms, carrot 人参, daikon 大根, and “kinu-saya” 絹さや snow peas. The protein included sous vide chicken breast (a few slices) and poached shrimp. As usual, I encased the “mochi” 餅 rice cake in “abra-age” 油揚 deep fried tofu pouch (peaking out of the bottom right of the soup bowl). I made the broth from the dashi packs I usually use as well as by poaching the shrimp in the dashi broth. I seasoned it with x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce. By precooking the vegetables and the proteins, I had better control over cooking everything just right. It also made it possible for me to make a better arrangement of the ingredients in the final soup bowl serving. Just before serving, I added frozen yuzu zest which added a nice yuzu 柚子 citrus favor (picture #4).

The side dishes (picture #5) included the usual New Year’s dishes I like to make including: salmon kelp roll 酒の昆布巻き, salmon “Russian” marinade 鮭のロシア漬 garnished with “ikura” イクラsalmon roe, daikon namasu  大根なますand poached shrimp.

We also had a few small glasses of  sake with this as a libation to the New Year. Now, this evening we will be hitting the Sushi Taro Osechi box すし太郎お節箱. The below is a preview (pictures #6 and 7).

We expect some good New Year’s feast to come with the osechi box. Already salivating!!

Nine appetizers served in nine divided plate version 2

This is the second version of nine small appetizers served on the nine space divided plate. Although it was not intentional it turned out that I did not have even one repeat of the items I presented in the previously posted nine appetizers. But this time I did include two store-bought items that I got from our Japanese grocery store; Chinese-style octopus salad and fish cakes. But I made the remaining 7.

The top row left is blanched edible chrysanthemum or “shun-giku” 春菊 shown in detail below, dressed with x4 Japanese noodle sauce and mixed with generous amount of dried bonito flakes or “kezuri-bushi”  削り節. It has very distinct flavors which we really like.

The 1st row, middle is my ususal “dashi-maki” だし巻き Japanese omelet. This time I added dried green nori or “aonori” 青のり. I garnished it with julienne of green perila or “aoziso” 青紫蘇.

The next dish is a Chinese-style octopus salad or 中華風タコサラダ. It is pretty good and we like it.

The center row, left is hijiki seaweed, deep fried tofu and carrot stir fry or ひじきと油揚の炒め物.

The 2nd row center is one I just made this morning. Fried egg plant and mushroom simmered in broth or ナスと椎茸の揚げ浸し. The mushrooms include fresh shiitake and brown shimeji. This is served cold with garnish of blanched green beans.

The 2nd row left is my usual burdock root stir fry ゴボウのきんぴら.

The 3rd row left is a cold skinned Campari tomato. I cross cut the top halfway-through and poured on some Irizake  煎り酒 and special sushi vinegar (both from the Rice Factory). Irizake is boiled down sake seasoned with “umeboshi” picked plum 梅干し, kelp and bonito flakes. The sushi vinegar is a special kind from “Echizen 越前” or present day Fukui 福井.  It tastes milder and better than our usual (Mizkan brand). I topped this with fine julienne of  “Gari” がりsweet vinegar marinated thinly sliced ginger root (usually use to accompany sushi) and perilla. I got this idea from one of the food blogs I follow but I did not follow the recipe exactly.

The 3rd row center is store-bought fish cake which I heated up in the toaster oven and dressed in x4 Japanese noodle sauce and yuzukosho.

The 3rd row right is my usual “asazuke” 浅漬け picked (salted) vegetable which includes cucumber, carrot, nappa cabbage and daikon radish. I also added “shio konbu” 塩昆布, and ginger. The asazuke is about two weeks old but still tasted fresh (I attribute this to the fact I added a bit more salt - more than the usual 3% - and added a small amount of Vodka when I made it. While it didn’t alter the overall taste, I think this makes the asazuke last longer without becoming sour).

After enjoying these 9 small dishes both of us were quite full and did not eat anything else. All the wonderful different flavors and textures made a really enjoyable dinner.

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.

New Year’s day Evening 元旦の夕べ

So finally, we busted into the osechi box for the New Year’s day evening feast. Like we did before, I decided to use “Tsugaru-muri” 津軽塗り lacquerware two-tier lunch box (one tier for each of us) to serve the goodies. As a side, I also served the diakon-namasu 大根なます I made topped with slices of boiled Spanish octopus leg we got from D’Artagnan  and Ikura salmon roe.

I picked up most of the key items here including our favorites like “kazunoko” herring roe marinated in miso かずのこの味噌漬け, “karasumi” 唐墨 botargo and “ankimo tofu” あん肝豆腐 monkfish liver terrine. I lightly toasted karasumi, duck breast and “sawara saikyo-yaki” 鰆の西京焼き before serving.

These small items were such a treat. We enjoyed every bite along with a sip of our house sake “Tengumai daiginjo” 天狗舞大吟醸.

Happy New Year 2023 新年おめでとう御座います2023

It is morning of the first day of 2023. The past year was marked by many events; not the least of which is the still lingering COVID-19. In any case, here is the “Kagami-mochi” 鏡餅 New Year’s decoration. It is  accompanied by various rabbit figurines because this is the year of the rabbit according to the Chinese zodiac. We usually place the new year’s decoration in the tokonoma 床間 alcove  of  our “tearoom” in the basement but this year, we decided to place it in the room where we spend most of our time to maximize our enjoyment of the collection.

As usual, the highlight of our new year is the Sushi taro osechi box 寿司太郎お節箱. We drove down to Dupont circle and picked up the Osechi box and hand-cut soba noodles “toshikoshi soba” 年越しそば (which we usually enjoy the 2nd day of the new year). For many years, we traditionally have our regular breakfast of Cafe Latte with yogurt and breads and have the New Year’s “Ozouni” お雑煮 soup for lunch. I also served a few items I made. As always, we wheeled out the real Japanese laquer ware bowls my mother gave us a long time ago.

As usual, we encased the mochi in a fried tofu pouch or “abura-age” 油揚げ (in an effort to make the eating experience a bit more manageable). It is at the bottom of the bowl so you can’t see it in the picture. I cut the carrot into a flower-shape and the daikon into a ginko leaf-shape. I also added burdock root ごぼう (the white rectangular object in the picture), shiitake mushroom, shrimp, flower-shape gluten cakes or “fu” 麩, snow pea, scallion and yuzu zest (frozen). I made the broth from dashi packs, a bit of mirin and x4 Japanese noodle sauce.

The accompanying dishes (from left to right) are all listed in “Norio’s New year dishes”. They are: chicken squares with gorgonzola cheese and dried fig, salmon kelp roll 鮭の昆布巻き, datemaki omelet 伊達巻, and salmon Russian marinade. (This year I made some modifications to the marinade by adding Dijon mustard and dill). Of course it wouldn’t be an adequate celebration of the first day of the New Year without at least a token glass of sake. This year it was our house favorite Tengumai Daiginjo 天狗舞大吟醸. The soup and these items were pretty good if I do say so myself.

Although we did not tap into the osechi box, here is a preview of what to expect when we eagerly dive in this evening. The picture below shows the first tier. Although many goodies are hidden below the items we can see, we can spot our favorites like “karasumi” 唐墨,  “mushi uni” 蒸し雲丹 and “Kazunoko” 数の子.

The second tier also has our favorites such as “Ankimo tofu”, “Ikura” and duck breast.

We are repeating ourselves but it is so wonderful that we are able to get this incredible osechi from Sushi Taro. We will be enjoying these delicacies over the next few days.

New Year 2022 Jan 3 Salmon three ways 一月三日鮭尽し

We have been enjoying the items from the Sushi Taro osechi box. After indulging in a serving of wonderful dishes from the box which go perfectly with sake,  I served this plate as the “second course”.  The red and white fish cake or "kouhaku kamaboko" 紅白蒲鉾 (upper left in the picture) came from the osechi box (they were the last four slices). I made a deep pocket in each and stuffed the pink one with the leftover Maruhide sea urchin shutou 丸秀雲丹の酒盗 topped with a dab of wasabi. I topped the white one with Ikura marinated in soy sauce イクラの醤油ずけ topped with strips of nori.

The remaining items were all different salmon dishes which I prepared for New Year. Starting from right upper, clock wise, is salmon nanban 鮭の南蛮漬け、Russian marinated salmon 鮭のロシア漬け, and finally salmon kelp roll 鮭の昆布巻き. These three salmon dishes all have different textures and flavors. For the salmon nanban, the salmon was dredged in flour and fried before being marinaded in sweet vinegar which gave it a bit firmer texture. The Russian marinated salmon started out as thin strips of raw salmon marinated in sake, vinegar and oil without any sweetness. This year I something different. I added dijon mustard to the marinade and emulsified it with the “motor boat” emersion blender. As a result the oil didn’t separate or solidify. Also, the salmon did not “over cook”  and had a lovely soft texture. Finally the salmon kelp roll was simmered for sometime in seasoning broth, producing a yet different soft and moist texture. These are wonderful to enjoy with sips of sake.

Happy New Year 2022 明けましておめでとう 2022.

Happy New Year 2022! The pandemic still persists with the Omicron variant making it debut and spreading so quickly just when we thought things were starting to come under control and using a quote from the movie Jaws "it was safe to go back in the water again".  In any case, both my wife and I took all the precautions; being vaccinated and boosted. We sincerely hope we can get past this soon.

This is the year of tiger according to Chinese/Japanese zodiac signs. We thought we had a larger tiger figurine but these are what we had. The two shown below look somewhat like cats rather than tigers.

The one shown here really looks like a tabby cat. It is made of carved wood and is one of a full set of the 12 zodiac figures we got in Kyoto on one of our trips to Japan. This year, I decided not to get "Kagami-mochi" 鏡餅 new years decoration since we generally do not finish the round mochi inside. 

When it comes to traditional Japanese New Year food, we look forward to and revel in the routine (or some may call it a rut) that we've developed over the years. First off is the expectation of the wonderful goodies contained in the Sushi Taro Osechi 寿司太郎お節 on 12/31/21 or "oomisoka" 大晦日 in Japanese.  Picking it up on New Year eve is an excursion we generally look forward to, although it is a bit of an arduous drive going into town and back. It was especially so this year when we discovered various parts of the route were closed to cars that day and only open to bike traffic. But it was worth it. We will be hitting the Osechi box this evening. We established the tradition of having our usual breakfast with cappuccino and the choice of various holiday breads such as stollen or panettone for the first day of the new year or "Gantan" 元旦. Then, for lunch, we have the more traditional Japanese New Year soup or "Ozouni" お雑煮 as well as some of the auspicious foods served for the New Year as shown in the next picture.

The next picture is a close-up assortment of "good luck" foods I served.

Some came from the Osechi box such as the fish cake 紅白蒲鉾 (#3) (since I did not get any red and white fish cakes this year), small fish じゃこの有馬煮 (#1), shrimp 小海老甘露煮 (#2) and black beans 黒豆 (#5). This year I was lucky to be able to get salted herring roe or Kazuniko 数の子 from the grocery section at Tako Grill. The amount was not too much and just right. I prepared kazunoko marinated in sake lee and miso かずのこの粕味噌漬け(#4). I also served salmon kelp rolls 鮭の昆布巻き and the datemaki 伊達巻 New Year's omelet roll (#7) I like to make based on my Mother's recipe. I also served salmon "Russian" marinade 鮭のロシア漬け which again was something special my mother used to make. I made it some days ago, so it had cured enough to eat. I also served simmered root vegetables including the symbolic "renkon" lotus root, "kobo" burdock root, bamboo shoot and carrot (#9).

Now the "ozouni" New Year soup. New Year is the rare occasion when I use this genuine Japanese lacquerware bowl that my mother gave us many many years ago.

Although you can not see it, the "mochi" 餅 rice cake is placed in a deep fried tofu or "abura-age" 油揚げpouch. I usually seal the pouch with a kanpyo 干瓢 (or gourd peel) tie. But in recent years I have not been able to find kanpyo and I used up what I had for the salmon kelp rolls. So this year, I had to improvise by blanching a whole scallion and using that to tie the tofu pouch. Other items in the soup included shrimp (from Great Alaska seafood), chicken tenderloin from some sous vide chicken breast I made, and vegetables including shiitake mushroom, daikon, gobo, and carrot. For the green, I used rapini flower buds. The shrimp was particularly good. I poached them gently in the broth with the shells on for a few minutes, took them out and shelled them before placing them on the top of the soup.

As usual, I served "daikon namasu" 大根なます with "ikra"  salmon roe いくら and a slice of boiled octopus leg 茹蛸.

Another salmon dish is sautéed salmon in sweet vinegar or 鮭の南蛮漬け.

Although this was lunch, no New Year feast is complete without the symbolic libation of sake (Koshi-no-homare hiyaoroshi 越の誉　冷やおろし). We toasted 2022 with one glass each to commemorate the New Year. This was a good New Year lunch covering many good luck foods. Let's hope it portends similar fortune for the rest of the year.

Four appetizers in new small bowls 御通し4種類と新しい小鉢

We have a good number of small Japanese-style bowls and plates but for some reason my relationship with breakable dishes ends up with them getting broken every-now-and-then. So I am always on the look out for potential replacement small Japanese style dishes/bowls. (Also, since enjoyment of food is visual in addition to taste, I just like different bowls in which to present what I make to complete the entire experience). I found these small bowls on Amazon. They came in four different patterns/colors in a set of four (i.e. total of 16 bowls) . I ended up getting all 4 sets. So, this is the first time I used this set to serve 4 appetizers. The first picture, from left to right, are "salmon nanban" 鮭の南蛮漬け, "hijiki seaweed stir-fry" ひじきと油揚げの炒めのも and Japanese "dashi-maki" だし巻き卵 omelet, "Wood ear"* mushroom, cucumber and wakame seaweed sunomono" キクラゲ、ワカメ、胡瓜の酢の物, and  "shredded chicken tenderloin and asparagus in sesame dressing" 鳥のささみとアスパラの胡麻和え. 

*Wood ear mushroom is so-called because it grows out of the surface of wood like an ear sticking out. Japanese call it "ki-kurage" meaning "jelly fish of the wood" because the crunchy texture is similar to dried and salted edible jelly fish. It is interesting, however, when it is written in "kanji" ideograms, it is  木耳 which means wood 木 ear 耳. There is no way you can pronounce 木耳 as "ki-kurage" but the meaning of these two ideograms indeed mean "wood ear".

The second picture is the salmon dish I usually make, fried and marinated in sweet vinegar with vegetables. In order to serve multiple appetizers, it is necessary to pre-make a number of them and have them last long enough to serve over several days. Due to the vinegar this dish lasts a few weeks in the refrigerator. So this salmon dish is a good one to serve as an appetizer. Perfect with sake but not with wine. The pattern of this bowl is not classic Japanese but nice—also the color complements the color of the salmon.

The third picture of hijiki seaweed is a dish that also lasts for some time in the fridge. I served it with Japanese "dashimaki" omelet which goes well with the seaweed dish both visually (yellow and black) and by taste (sweet and salty). The pattern of the bowl is classic Japanese wave pattern.

This is a variation of my usual "sunomono" dish. Besides cucumber and wakame, I used wood ear mushroom. We can get this mushroom usually dried. One of the problems with hydrating the dried items like this is after hydration, the volume increases much more than expected. This was a case here and I used wood ear in several dishes including fried rice for lunch one day. In any case for this dish, I cut the wood ear into thin strips like jelly fish. I also added ground sesame and sesame oil in the dressing. The wood ear really adds crunch exactly like jelly fish.

I froze sous vide chicken breast a few months ago and decided to thaw one. It came out exactly like it was just cooked. I made the chicken salad I usually make which was really good but I kept the tenderloin part of the sous vide chicken for this "goma-ae" 胡麻和え dish. I tore the tenderloin along the meat fibers to make thin strands. I dressed this with sesame dressing ("nerigoma" 練りごま sesame paste, roasted and ground sesame, sugar, rice vinegar and soy sauce. I kept this dressing in the fridge which made it stiff. So I added small amount of warm water to loosen the dressing) with blanched asparagus (stem cut into thin pieces at a slant and garnished with tips of the asparagus). The meat was so juicy and tender.

These small dishes are nothing special but I make slight variations which make it interesting and adds to the enjoyment of sake.

Scallops "Isobe-yaki" 帆立の磯辺焼き

We recently succumbed to one of the advertising emails we frequently get from Great-Alaska seafood. This time, the deal was 2 lbs each of wild sockeye salmon filet, colossal sea scallops and jumbo shrimp. Since the deal included three different seafoods, we thought we could handle it and ordered it. When the shipment arrived, I decided to try the scallops first. The scallops were a good size (so-called diver scallops) and nicely coated with a thin layer of ice so the outside would be protected while they thawed. I defrosted 4 scallops uncovered on a plate in the refrigerator. Interestingly, the ice coating remained intact even as the scallop itself got soft and thawed. Since I only thawed 4 to try, I made a classic Japanese snack that goes well with sake and is often served at sushi-bars 寿司や called "Hotate-no-Isobe-yaki" 帆立の磯辺焼. Whenever "Iso-be", meaning  ”near the rocky beach", is used in Japanese culinary parlance, it is a dish containing "nori" seaweed, either grilled "isobe-yaki" or fried "isobe-age" 磯辺揚げ. In this case,  it was a scallop sautéed and wrapped in nori.  At a sushi-bar, sometimes this would be handed directly to you by the sushi chef. It is literally a finger food conveyed to your mouth with your fingers as shown in the picture below--then "chomp".

The scallops are usually marinaded with soy sauce based marinade. There appears to be quite a few variations on this theme. I used a mixture of mirin and soy sauce and marinated the scallops for 10-15 minutes before cooking. Since two of the scallops were rather thick, I halved them producing 3 portions per serving. I served them with sheets of nori.

Ingredients: (for two servings of small appetizer like above)
4 scallops
Nori sheet cut into small rectangles or use packaged seasoned nori.

Marinade:
1 tbs each of soy sauce and mirin.
1 tbs unsalted butter for frying

Directions:
Place the scallops and the marinade in a small Ziploc bag (I used a sandwich bag), remove the air as much as you can and place in the refrigerator for 15 or so minutes (I am sure longer marination will not hurt). Removed from marinade and blot the excess (below).

Melt the butter and cook the scallops for 1-2 minutes each until browned (below). Add 1 -2 tsp of the marinade to the pan and put on the lid for 30 seconds. When the marinade slightly reduces, coat the scallops with sauce. Try not to over cook. (If using sashimi quality fresh scallops, the center could be raw).

Sandwich between the folded nori sheet and enjoy.

This was really good. The quality of scallops are really good. they were sweet, soft and moist. Perfect drinking snack for cold sake.

Hijiki stir fry and other otoshi ひじきの炒め物と他２品

This is a starter line-up for one evening. Nothing is particularly new. From left to right are "aji-tsuke-tamago" 味付け卵 marinated soft boiled egg, hijiki seaweed and fried tofu stir fly ひじきと油揚の炒め物, and salt-broth soaked sugar snap スナップ豌豆の塩びたし.

Over the years I changed the way I make aji-tsuke tamago a bit (made it simpler and easier). As usual, I use pasteurized eggs. For some time, I have been using "boil-steam" cooking method for boiled eggs which works much better than just submerging eggs in water and boiling. I use just enough water to come half way up the sides of the eggs. (The eggs are cooked by steam). I pierce the eggs first and place them in the water that is boiling rapidly on medium high flame. I put on the lid and cook for 6 minutes 30 seconds for soft boiled eggs with runny yolk (I usually ask Siri to time the 6 1/2 minutes). I cool the eggs using cold running water and then further cool them down using ice water. This appears to make peeling the egg easier (I think). I then put the peeled eggs in a small Ziloc bag and just pour in a small amount of concentrated "men-tsuyu" めんつゆ noodle sauce from the bottle. I remove the air as much as possible and seal. I let it marinade for a few days in the fridge changing the position whenever I open the fridge door. After a few days, the runny yolk jells into an almost custard consistency. To serve I cut one in half and sprinkle with salt. This is usually a topping for ramen noodles but it is also great as an appetizer.

The dish shown below is very similar to what I posted before. I made this because I hydrated too much hijiki when I made the takoyaki variation. This is made of just hijiki, julienned carrot and thinly cut "abra-age" deep fried tofu pouch, stir fried with sesame oil, mirin and soy sauce. This can be a good condiment for rice or as we did here, a great snack.

The dish below has become our favorite way to have sugar snaps. Just blanched sugar snaps are nice but this extra step of trimming both ends of the pods and soaking in salt seasoned Japanese "dashi" broth makes it much better. The only caution is when you bite into them the salt broth that migrated into the sugar snap while it was soaking may squirt out.

So these three items with cold sake nicely started the evening. This home Izakaya is not bad if I say so myself.

Takoyaki variation with tofu and nagaimo 長芋豆腐たこ焼き

This is a takoyaki たこ焼き ("tako grill") variation made without "tako" (octopus). This recipe is from "The real Japanese Izakaya Cookbook". We made takoyaki (octopus inclusive) using an electric ebelskiver maker before. An ebelskiver maker is the closest we could come to a traditional takoyaki grill.  This recipe deviates significantly from the traditional approach because it uses grated nagaimo 長芋 and tofu 豆腐 instead of flour. Instead of tako is uses hijiki ひじき sea weed and edamame 枝豆 . Continuing on the innovative theme, instead of the usual "Takoyaki sauce", this recipe used "Gin-an" 銀餡 which is a milder and "more sophisticated" sauce.

The surface was nicely brown and crunchy.

The inside was soft and hot showing hijiki (black stringy below) and edamame (green).

Ingredients: (I tried to halve the amount of the original recipe. I ended up making some changes inadvertently, since I just did not want to use "half egg" and I did not want to leave a small portion of nagaimo).

The original recipe is as follows;

1 firm silken tofu 12oz (350g)
Handful dried Hijiki seaweed
8 oz (225g) unshelled edamame pods (then, cooked and shelled)
1 egg
4oz (125g) yamaimo
1/2 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt

The amount below are what I think I used. It made 6 balls using the Ebelskiver cooker (the balls were larger than regular takoyaki) as below.

1 small package of silken tofu, about 125gram, wrapped in paper towel with a weight (I used wooden cutting board) to drain for 1 hour.
Nagaimo, skin removed and grated, about 120g (I used up what I had left)
1 egg
Hijiki seaweed, hydrated, arbitrary amount
Edamame, frozen, cooked and shelled, arbitrary amount
Pinch of salt and sugar
"Katakuri-ko" potato Starch (because, proportionally I used more nagaimo and egg than the original recipe which made the batter runnier, I added potato starch to adjust the consistency of the batter).

For the dipping sauce; (this is the original, again, I halved the recipe when I made it)
2 tbs potato starch
2 cup (500ml) dashi
1 tbs soy sauce
1/2 sugar
1/2 tbs mirin
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:
Using a small food processor, I mixed the tofu, grated nagaimo, egg, salt and sugar until the batter was smooth. I then added the potato starch in small increments to adjust the consistency (it was the consistency of a bit runny pancake batter).
I added the hijiki, edamame and mixed (#1)
I preheated my electric ebelskiver to medium high (#2)
I poured the batter filling 6 wells (#3)
After the bottom got set and browned (it took a few minutes, I was too inpatient and started flipping too early)
After several flipping, the surface started getting evenly brown (#4)
I kept flipping until the surface is all cooked and browned about 5-6 minutes (#5 and 6).

This version of takoyaki was good and the dipping sauce went well with it but this is not really takoyaki (I am sure people from Osaka would agree). It is a dish in-and-of its own just resembling the shape of takoyaki. Making  this requires some steps and effort and I would rather make  regular takoyaki which is much easier to make.