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!!

Tofu and Shimeji Mushroom with Oyster Sauce 豆腐としめじのオイスターソース

We had two packages of tofu 豆腐 and one package of shimeji mushroom しめじ which I needed to use fairly soon. I remembered seeing a YouTube episode of a tofu and shimeji dish.  I winged it from my memory so this may not be exactly the same dish. In any case, it was a good dish. It could be on rice but I seasoned it lightly and it is perfect as a drinking snack.

Ingredients:
1 package of tofu (I used house-brand semi-firm tofu which is currently our favorite tofu), cut into small rectangles, blanched, and drained well.
1 package (150gram) of brown shimeji mushrooms, bottom cut off and tops separated
2 tbs finely chopped shallot or onion
1 tbs finely chopped ginger
1 tbs finely chopped garlic
2 scallion, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbs vegetable oil with 1/4 tsp dark sesame oil
1tbs oyster sauce
2 tsp soy sauce (I used x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce)
2 tbs sake
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tsp potato starch mixed with 1tbs sake or broth or water (slurry)

Directions:
Add half of the oil in a non-stick frying pan on medium heat. Add the tofu and brown one side (3-4 minutes) and turn over and brown the other side for 2-3 minutes, set aside
Add the remaining oil to the same pan, add the shallot, ginger and garlic. Sauté for a few minutes until fragrant. Add the shimeji mushroom and sauté until the mushroom become soft (a few minutes), season with salt and pepper. Add back the browned tofu and mix gently.
Add the sake, oyster sauce, soy sauce and mix.
Add the chicken broth and simmer. Taste and adjust the seasoning (more oyster sauce or soy sauce)
Stir in the potato starch slurry and mix well until it starts boiling.
Add more sesame oil if so desired (optional)
Add the scallion

I prefer the seasoning for Mapo tofu. I can make the same dish with the seasoning of Mapo tofu. As to the browning the tofu, I am not sure it is a great improvement. The time and effort to brown the tofu, this process may not be worth it. But this is a good dish in its own right.

11 (or 12) Appetizers 11種類の酒のつまみ

This is another version of multiple small appetizers dishes. I used the divided plate with space for 9 dishes. But I had more than nine to serve so I doubled up in the divided space.  But I still needed to add two more small bowls for a total of 11 small dishes. If you count each part of the doubled up item (lotus root tsukune 蓮根つくね was divided and served with quail eggs and ginko nuts) (bottom row left and center), it would be 12 appetizers. None of them are new recipes. Even though the single portion is small, we were quite full after working our way through 12 of them.

To highlight a few the one shown below is Name-take mushroom なめ茸 (top row right),

simmered taro “satoimo” 里芋 potato and carrot with “Kouya-dofu” 高野豆腐* and sugar snap スナップ豌豆の塩びたし (middle row right)

and two small bowls; tofu and shimeji with oyster sauce 豆腐としめじのオイスターソース(top),

simmered shirataki and deep fried tofu 白滝と油揚の煮物 (bottom).

*Kouya-dofu is freeze dried tofu (for preservation I suppose) which creates unique texture and absorbs whatever liquid it is cooked in.

These appetizers are mostly comprised of vegetables and provide so many different textures and tastes. We really like this type of classic Japanese multiple appetizers.

Simmered “Shirataki” Konjac Noodle and Deep-fried Tofu しらたきと油揚の煮物

A few days ago, we had sukiyaki すき焼き. I thought the whole bag (400 gram or 14.1 oz) of “shirataki” 白滝 (meaning white cascade) or noodle form of konnyaku (or konjac) was too much to use all of it for sukiyaki. So after I preparing it (i.e. washed, boiled, washed again and cut into convenient length) I kept 1/3 in water in the refrigerator. I was pondering how I could use this and came across this recipe on-line and decided to make it. This appears to be Kyoto “o-banzai” おばんざい style home cooking and has nice gentle and comforting flavors.

Ingredients:
1/3 package (about 100 grams) of “shirataki”, washed, boiled, washed again and cut into convenient length
1 small carrot, peeled and julienned
1 abura-age, hot water poured over (to thaw and remove excess oil), water squeezed out and then cut into thin threads
1 scallion finely chopped
300 ml Japanese dashi broth
30 ml sake
15 ml mirin
20 ml soy sauce (I used x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce)

Directions:
Add, the shirataki, carrot, and abura-age in a pot add the broth and cook for 5-10 minutes.
Add the seasonings and cook until the liquid is reduced by 1/3.

The original recipe calls for sugar but I did not add it. Japanese noodle sauce does have some sweetness which compensated for not having any sugar. This could be a side dish for rice but it is also perfect for a drinking snack.

“Atsu-age” Fried-tofu with Mapo Eggplant 厚揚げの麻婆茄子かけ

“Atsu-age” 厚揚げ or “Nama-age” 生揚げ is fried tofu with a surface like “Abura-age” but the inside remains as soft tofu. We used be able to get good quality atsu-age from our japanese grocery store. I have posted quite a few dishes I made with this but the best dish, as far as we are concerned, and particularly if the quality of the atsu-age is good is simply grilled (in the toaster oven) served with soy sauce and chopped scallion. But, for some reason, the ones we have gotten recently are not really good.  This was the case with the one I got the other day. I decided to make something different using this not-really-good atsu-age. Since I had leftover mapo eggplant, I decided to use it as a topping for the atsu-age.

Because of the spicy mapo eggplant sauce, the atsu-age was more palatable but still not great.

I first cut the atsu-age into cubes and heated it up in the toaster oven on high toast mode.

This ws not bad and made a nice appetizer but I hope at some point we can get better quality atsu-age.

Mapo (mabo) Tofu 麻婆豆腐

Mapo tofu 麻婆豆腐 is a very popular dish in Japan and is called “Mabo tofu”. The Japanese version with which I am familiar is quite different from the original Sichuan 四川 dish. Now, however, even in Japan, authentic mapo tofu appears very much appreciated using Sichuan peppercorn 花椒 and touban-jan or douban-jan 豆板醤 as the main spices. These spices produce a “spicy hot” and “numbing” taste—we are not great fans of “spicy” and “numbing”. I have not made this dish for some time. Since I got a fairly decent medium firm tofu from Weee, I decided to make this dish. It is sort of an amalgamation of the authentic and Japanese styles. I used a small amount of touban-jan so that it is not too spicy for my wife and I added more to my serving later. Instead of using Sichuan peppers, I just sprinkled Japanese pepper powder or kona-sansho* 粉山椒 just before serving. I think this turned out OK and we had this over rice for lunch one day.

*Digression alert: Sansho 山椒 or Japanese pepper is from a shrub closely related to but different from the Sichuan pepper plant. Japanese use the young leaves from this plant as a garnish/herb called “kinome” 木の芽 which has a very nice almost citrusy smell. The unripe fruit is used in many Japanese simmered dishes but does not have the tongue “numbing” characteristic of the mature plant. The mature and dried fruit from the Japanese pepper plant is ground into a powder called “Kona-sansho” 粉山椒 which is available in a small jar in Japanese/Asian grocery stores. It is regularly used on grilled eel dishes with sauce or “unagi-no-kabayaki” うなぎの蒲焼. It is not spicy hot and imparts a very unique flavor but, in large quantities, sansho powder does have a “numbing” effect similar to its Chinese counter part.

Ingredients:
One tofu block (I used medium firm), cut into small cubes, blanched for a few minutes and drained
2 tbs peanut oil
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced shallot
1 tsp touban-jan
1 tbs miso mixed with 1 tbs mirin (in lieu of tenmen-jan 甜面醤, Chinese sweet soybean paste)
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/3 tsp dark sesame oil
2 stalks of scallion, chopped
150 grams ground pork (I used hand chopped trimming of pork)
Japanese sansho powder, to taste
1/2 tsp potato starch mixed with 1 tsp water or sake (potato starch slurry)

Directions:
Place the wok on high flame and add the oil. When hot, add the ginger and shallot. Stir for 30 seconds, add the garlic stir for another 30 seconds. Add the touban-jan and stir for another 30 seconds or until fragrant.
Add the pork and cook for one minute or until done.
Add the drained tofu and gently toss
Add the chicken broth, miso mixture. Add more chicken broth if needed.
When the mixture starts boiling add the scallion and sesame oil. Stir for 30 seconds
Mix in the starch slurry and cook until bubbly
Sprinkle the sansho powder and serve

This was just right for us. I added a bit more touban-jan to my serving. The power of Japanese pepper added its unique flavor without numbing the tongue. A few days later, we had the leftover mapo tofu as a rice bowl or donburi. Since I had a pasteurized egg, I made a slightly undercooked scrambled egg as a topping. I also added blanched sugar snaps.

In this dish, since it had been a day or so after the dish was made, the spices further melded together and got more tame and multi dimensional. Overall the flavors were great.

Sukiyaki Made with Beef and Edible Chrysanthemum from Weee すき焼き

We have not had “sukiyaki” すき焼き for a long time. One of the reasons is that two of the main ingredients “shungiku” 春菊 edible chrysanthemum (edible mum)*  and thinly sliced beef for sukiyaki or sukiyaki-meat すき焼肉 are generally not readily available. Although frozen sukiyaki meat is available at our Japanese grocery store, it is rather expensive and appears to be just thinly sliced rib eye steak. I considered getting a meat slicer which could slice a frozen block of beef so I could make my own sukiyaki beef but decided it was not worth it. Every-now-and-then, our Japanese grocery store has shungiku but it is “ hit or miss” with mostly miss.

Recently, we started getting Asian groceries from Weee, and found a leafy green vegetable called “Tang Ho 茼蒿, chrysanthemum green”. In addition, I also found they had a product called “Little Sheep Marbled Beef Sliced for Hot Pot”. So we got both to try them for sukiyaki. The package indicated the beef was sold by a company called Little Sheep Company (子羊). We learned that this company runs Mongolian hot pot chain restaurants and also sells meat like the one we just got. The Chinese writing on the package indicated the meat was “Wagyu 和牛” or Japanese beef but did not indicate what country the meat actually came from. Nonetheless it was just the right thickness for sukiyaki and had some marbling, (although not as much marbling as shown in the Weee website picture).

*Although spinach can be substituted for edible chrysanthemum it does not have the unique flavor which characterizes shungiku and is such an integral component of the sukiyaki taste experience. Shungiku is relatively easy to grow from seeds and we were able to raise it for some years in our herb garden. Then the rabbits discovered they liked it too. They ate not only all the edible mum out of the herb garden but every other chrysanthemum related plant we had in the yard edible (for us) or not. As a result we have not been able to raise mums of any kind.

The below are the ingredients I prepared for the sukiyaki. From 12 O’Clock clockwise are sliced onion, Tofu, “fu” 麩 gluten cake (flower-shaped), shira-taki*, shimeji and shiitake mushrooms and the center is enoki mushroom, beef and the green is chrysanthemum.

*Thread form of  konnyaku, washed and blanched and cut into shorter segments.

The picture below shows a detail of the meat. It is frozen in rolls. I served half of the package (about half a pound).

For the chrysanthemum green, I removed the leaves from the stem, washed and blanched them. Although the plant looked slightly different it tasted exactly like Japanese “shungiku”.

Using these ingredients we had sukiyaki using a cast-iron sukiyaki pot and our new table-top induction cooker. The seasonings were  my usual sugar, soy sauce, and sake (Kansai style 関西風) as opposed to using the premixed seasoning liquid “warishita” 割下  (Kanto style 関東風).

We really enjoyed this sukiyaki. The meat was not the best but certainly much better than what we had been previously getting. In addition, the price was very reasonable. Although the shungiku looked different, it tasted the same as the Japanese version and was very good. The assorted mushrooms (all came from Weee) are also very good. So, we are happy that the ingredients essential for making good sukiyaki can be bought at Weee.

New Induction Cooker Compatible Do-nabe IH 対応、銀宝花三島万古焼土鍋

Japanese “Nabe” 鍋 hot pot is a dish that is cooked at the table while you eat.  Classically, a portable butane-canister gas cooker is used with a “Do-nabe”  土鍋 earthen-ware pot. We used to have a butane table top cooker for nabe and sukiyaki すき焼き but because of safety concerns, which mainly stemmed from the age of our canisters and cooker, we looked for an alternative which turned out to be a table-top induction cooker (or the Japanese term is “IH”, short  for induction heater). For this to work, you have to use IH compatible pots and pans. Traditional Japanese nabe earthen-ware pots are certainly not IH compatible. We eventually found an IH compatible nabe from Kinto which worked great. Only complaint (which may not be important to many) is that while the pot worked well it is a very modern-appearing ceramic and does not have the traditional look of nabe. (I missed the homey nostalgic feel of a nabe which just the sight of the traditional design pot can evoke for me.)

Recently, I found an IH compatible nabe which is made of traditional “Banko-ware” 万古焼 pot called “Gipo Hanamishima Banko-yaki pot” 銀宝花三島万古焼土鍋 in an on-line store called “Japanese taste”. This is where we got dried persimmon or “hoshigaki” 干し柿. The “Japanese taste” ships items directly from Japan but it comes relatively quickly*. In any case, we got this “IH compatible do-nabe” pot last year but did not have a chance to use it until now. In the picture below, the left is “Kakomi” IH donabe from Kinto and the right is new Ginpo IH compatible donabe.

*We later learned that this pot is available at Amazon USA.

To make a donabe IH compatible, a magnetic metal disk needs to be present between the induction cooker surface and donabe.  Both these induction compatible donabes took a bit of a different approach.

Kinto donabe has a metal disk embedded into the bottom of pot as seen below. It can be used on gas, induction, and or halogen (electric heating element) cook tops. But not in a microwave oven.

Gipo comes with a stainless steel perforated disk which snaps into the inside bottom of the pot (apparently Ginpo has a patent). There are metal hooks and the inside bottom of the pot is formed to accept and secure this disk. It can be removed for cleaning and using the pot in a microwave. We initially tried it on our old induction cooktop (at least 18 years old which works with our cast iron sukiyaki pot and  Kinto donabe). The Gipo donabe, however, did not work with the old induction cooker. The cooker issued an error message which essentially read “NO-CAN-DO”. I read the instructions that came with the Gipo donabe and found out that it may not be compatible with older IH cookers. Great. Which meant we would be getting a new table top induction cooker to complete the set. It was not too expensive.

The new one is much better; the surface is completely covered with glass and easy to clean and the controls are more advanced. The new cooker worked with the Ginpo donabe. Actually, it boiled the liquid inside much quicker. I assume that because the metal disk is in contact with the liquid.

We enjoyed our nabe dish.  The main protein was cod and oyster. The cod was great. The oysters, however, were a different story. Digression alert: We are having a difficult time getting good oysters, especially Pacific oysters. For this dish we got small (eastern) frozen oyster but they tasted terrible. Luckily they did not ruin the flavor of the rest of the nabe. We ended up throwing out the remainder of the oysters in the package.

The other items in the nabe included nappa cabbage, tofu, diakon, mushrooms (enoki, oyster, shiitake and shimeji). I also added “fu” 麩 gluten cake. I made a broth with dried kelp and a dashi pack and, and for a change, seasoned the simmering liquid with miso (miso, mirin and sake).

Somehow, this new do-nabe is esthetically more pleasing (at least for me) and works great. Since this is a genuine earthen ware pot, you should not keep the contents in the pot over night.

Cabbage stir fried Japanese style 日本風キャベツと油揚の炒め物

This is a simple Japanese family-style cabbage dish which my mother used to make. I thought I must have posted this before but obviously I did not. When we celebrated St. Patrick’s day this year we had a sort of Irish dinner with Shepherd pie, Irish soda bread, and I contributed this cabbage dish to complete the meal. This is a vegetarian dish since instead of meat, deep fried tofu or “abura-autge” 油揚げ is used. I also added onion but it was most likely not included in the original recipe. The seasoning is a typical Japanese one; soy sauce and mirin. This can be a drinking snack or accompaniment for rice (in that case, more soy sauce is called for). 

 I made. this with the center portion of cabbage I had left in the refrigerator. Since I was trying to use up the last of the cabbage, I made a bit more than I intended.

Ingredients: (The amount of the ingredients are arbitrary)
Cabbage, thinly sliced, soaked in water for 10 minutes and then moisture removed in a salad spinner (#1).
Deep fried tofu (abura-age), rinsed in hot water to remove excess oil, cut in half and sliced into thin strips (#2).
Onion, cut in half and thinly sliced (#3).
Vegetable oil with a dash or dark sesame oil for stir flying (#4)
Soy sauce and mirin as seasoning.

Directions:
Add the oil to a wok on medium-high flame
Stir fry the onion for a few minuets and then add the cabbage and continue cooking or few more minutes or until the cabbage softens.
Add the mirin and then soy sauce. Add the seasoning to taste.

This is a nice side dish and a nostalgic reminder from my childhood. 

Sir-fried "kinpira" Astuage tofu 厚揚げのきんぴら

Atsuage or Nama-age 厚揚げ、生揚げ is a type of deep fried tofu which has only the surface fried; the center remains as basically uncooked tofu. I have posted a few dishes using Atsuage. If the quality is good, just grilling it making the surface crunchy and inside soft and hot with soy sauce and chopped scallion is the simplest and best way to cook it. This time, the atsuage I got from the Japanese grocery store was a U.S. made brand I had not used before and not being sure of its quality I came up with this quick stir-fry dish. Since I did not have the appropriate greens such as asparagus or snow peas, I used the sugar snaps I prepared.

Ingredients:
1/2 atsuage, cut into thin slices and cut in half length-wise making thin strips.
1 tsp vegetable oil
2 tsp concentrated noodle sauce or 1 tsp each of mirin and soy sauce
10 blanched sugar snaps or snow peas.

Directions:
Heat the oil on a medium flame in a frying pan. When the oil is hot, add the atsuage and stir several minutes until the surface gets crisp and the interior raw tofu parts browns slightly.
Add the seasoning, the sugar snaps and stir for an additional minute.
Garnish with chopped scallion and serve immediately.

For a quick impromptu dish, this was quite good. Since all the sides of the tofu strips are crispy and seasoned, this is better than just toasted with soy sauce.  

Tofu and egg stir fry 炒り豆腐もどき

 I have been making small Izakaya dishes recently but nothing new to post for a while. One evening, we wanted one more small dish. When I surveyed the fridge, I found somewhat fragmented silken tofu which was leftover from  making “Age-dashi tofu” 揚げ出し豆腐 the other day. Also I found the remainder of “name-ko” ナメコ mushroom after I made “nameko and tofu miso soup”なめこの味噌汁. So, I came up with this dish.  I got the idea from a standard Japanese tofu dish called “Irido-fu” 炒り豆腐 but added an egg and the seasoning is more for drinking snack than a side dish you have with rice.

It came out better than I expected. I topped this dish with chopped chive since I had some. 

Ingredients:
1/2 silken tofu, water partially pressed (fragmented tofu works)
1 egg, beaten
Mushroom, arbitrary amount, sliced large ones such as shiitake (any mushrooms will work such as shimeji, shiitake but I happened to have name-ko mushroom from a can. I rinsed them in a colander to remove viscous liquid).
1 tsp neutral oil such as Canola.
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp concentrated noodle sauce (or soy sauce)
1/4 tsp grated ginger root
1 tbs chopped chive

Directions:
In a frying pan, add the oil and tofu. Stir. The tofu will further fragment and get somewhat dry (at least no exuding moisture), add the salt and the egg and the mushroom, stir until egg is cooked. Add the ginger and noodle sauce and stir until no liquid remains. Serve with the chopped chive immediately. If not adequately seasoned add soysauce or more noddle sauce,

The consistency of the tofu and scrambled egg is similar and the tofu assumes the taste of the egg. This is  a good way of enjoying egg taste without much egg. This went rather well with cold sake we were enjoying.

Warm tofu with mushroom sauce 豆腐のキノコあんかけ

This was a dish I made sometime ago but somehow I did not post it. I made this dish one day to use up ingredients which need to be used quickly. I had portions of silken tofu which I kept in a sealable plastic container with water in the fridge, shimeji mushroom and fresh but pre-sliced shiitake mushroom (We specified whole fresh shiitake but we got a package of presliced shiitake mushrooms through the Instacart.) So, I came up with this dish which is a rather standard Japanese dish but I did not follow any recipe.

The sauce is thickened with potato starch slurry.  Dishes made with this kind of sauce are often called “an-kake” 餡掛け. This is a warm and soothing dish. It is basically vegetarian except for bonito in the dashi broth.

Ingredients (2 servings):
Half silken tofu divided into two portions
1 cup Japanese dashi broth (I made this from kelp and bonito flakes).
1/4 cup (or to taste) concentrated Japanese noodle sauce (from bottle)
1/2 scallion finely sliced
1 tsp potato starch or “Katakuri-ko” 片栗粉 make into “slurry” by adding 1 tbs water or sake.

Directions:
Heat the tofu in the simmering broth until warm (5-6 minutes).
Place the warmed tofu in bowels
Add the mushrooms to the broth and cook for 3-4 minutes
Add the noodle sauce and the starch slurries and thicken the sauce.
Add the scallion.
Pour the “ankake”sauce over the tofu and serve.

This is best served in cold weather but this is a very gentle smoothing dish with soft tofu and gentle taste of broth and mushrooms.

Warm tofu with shiitake sauce 豆腐の椎茸あんかけ

 For some reason, it is getting more and more difficult to get fresh whole shiitake mushrooms. Our regular grocery store used to carry them but now only pre-sliced shiitake are available.  Whole foods used to have them regularly but it is now hit or miss. This time, we tried Hmart, Korean grocery store, through Instacart. Despite  the specific instruction that we wanted only whole fresh shiitake, we got pre-sliced. I decided to cook them so that they would keep longer and if needed I could also freeze them. So I just sautéed the mushrooms with olive oil, finely chopped red onion (I happened have extra finely chopped red onion left over from another dish). Several days later, I made this warm tofu dish from silken tofu (right, in the first picture). I also served fried salmon in sweet vinegar 鮭の南蛮漬け topped with ikura (left in the first picture)

I garnished it with chiffonade of perilla.

This is our stand-by dish but the ikura was soaked in a mixture of Japanese bonito broth and concentrated noodle sauce which makes the individual ikura swell up and give a nice snap with more flavor. 

Ingredients:(two small servings)
1/4 silken tofu, cut into two cubes
1 inch long dried kelp (for making broth)
Water

For "ankake" 餡掛け sauce
1/2 cup (arbitrary) sliced fresh shiitake mushroom (in my case mixture of finely chopped onion and pre-sliced shiitake sautéed in olive oil)
1/2 cup dashi broth (I used bonito broth using dashi pack)
1 tsp potato starch ("katakuri-ko")
1 tbs sake
1-2 tsp of concentrated noodle sauce (from bottle) to taste.
1/4 tsp grated ginger
chiffonade of perilla (optional)

Directions:
Wipe the kelp with a wet towel. Put in a pan and add water. When it comes to boil turndown the flame to simmer and add the tofu cubes to warm (5-10 minutes)

In a small sauce pan, add the bonito broth and the shiitake. Let it come to boil then turn down the flame to simmer. Cook for a few minutes. Add the concentrated noodle sauce to taste. Thicken the sauce by mixing in the potato starch slurry (with sake) and cook for few more minutes. Add the grated ginger and cut the heat.

In a bowl, carefully scope up the warm tofu cubes with a slotted spoon draining water. Pour over the "ankake" sauce and garnish with chiffonade of perilla (if using).

This is a nice, very gentle dish with soft and warm silken tofu with mild flavors of soy sauce, broth and shiitake. Although the day was not cold, we enjoyed this with cold sake.

Kitsune Udon and Inari-sushi 狐うどんといなり寿司

When our refrigerator went kaput, some of the Japanese frozen items thawed almost completely. One of them was "Abura-age" 油揚げ or deep fried tofu pouches. These were rectanglar-shaped full sized ones called "Ganko-oyaji-no-abura-age" がんこおやじの油揚げ (meaning "stubborn old man's abura-age*"). I decided the best way to save them was to cook them in soy sauce and sugar or/or mirin which is called "Ama-Kara" 甘辛 meaning "sweet and salty". Once cooked, they would last longer and also could also be used to make "Inari-sushi" 稲荷寿司 (right below)  and "Kitsune udon" 狐うどん (left below) which I did a week or so later and served as a lunch one weekend. I served Inari-sushi (or more accurately, Inari-zushi) with cucumber "asazuke" 浅漬け and sweet vinegar-dressed ginger (store-bought).

*This is a Japanese way of saying that this product was made with a stubborn determination of an old man who upholds a tradition of making the best product without any compromises.

Classically, Kitsune Udon is simply topped with seasoned abura-age and chopped scallion (this is a famous dish in Osaka 大阪 and they typically used the green part of the scallion as opposed to Tokyoites who uses only the white part. Since I made home pasteurized eggs in that morning, I added a poached egg as well. That makes this as "Kitsune Tsukimi udon" キツネ月見うどん. "Tsukimi" 月見 means "moon gazing" and the egg yolk is equated with the moon.

Cooking and seasoning Abrura-age:
2 rectangular abura-age, thawed, intentionally (or otherwise), if frozen, cut in half (square).
Place the abura-age in a colander and pour boiling water over it to remove any excess oil (this process is called "abura-nuki" 油抜き).
Place four squares in a single layer in a pan and add the seasoning (Japanese broth 100ml, mirin 20ml, and 20ml, add sugar if you like it sweet).
Place a "otoshi-buta" on top and simmer for 15-20 minutes until only a small amount of seasoning liquid remains on the bottom. Then let it cool.

I did this some days prior to using them and kept them in a sealed container in the "back-up/emergency" fridge.

Making "Kitsune udon"
Soup: Heat Japanese broth made from a dashi pouch (kelp and bonito), seasoned with sake, mirin and light colored soy sauce. I seasoned  it lightly and added the seasoned abura-age pouch to warm. The seasoning from the pouches leak out into the soup and when I tasted it the soup was just right.

Udon noodle:
I had cooked dried thin udon noodle. I warmed them up in boiling water for 30 seconds, drained and put it into bowls.

I poured in the warm soup, topped it with the seasoned abura-age, poached egg and thinly sliced scallion.

Assembling Inari-zushi (four square pouches):

Filling the pouches with cooked rice: the simplest would be sushi rice, which is what I basically used,  but the rice can be mixed with other ingredients such as seasoned gourd peel or "kanpyo" カンピョウ and shiitake mushsooms 椎茸. The variations are endless. I used frozen white rice (this happened to be rather expensive Japanese grown "Koshihikari" コシヒカリ rice). I microwaved it to warm it up and dressed it with sushi vinegar. I did not mention it earlier but among the thawing victims of the refrigerator's demise were two small packages of small whitebait fish called "shirasu" しらす. (At the same time I rescued the abura-age I braised these fish in mirin, sake and  soy sauce until almost dry and placed them in a small sealed container in the "emergency" fridge.) I mixed this seasoned "shirasu" into the sushi rice mixture. I prepared the pouches to be filled with the rice by pressing the abura-age pouches between two identical plates to remove any excess liquid. I then stuffed them with the rice mixture. Since the seasoning of the pouches and "shirasu" were essentially similar, this combination worked very well.

I cut the stuffed pouches in half to serve. Here you can see small fishy mixed into the rice.

For impromptu lunch with "Inari" theme**, this was quite good.

** Digression alert!:
"Inari" 稲荷 is a Japanese deity (or one of many Japanese gods) who promotes industrial and agricultural prosperity. There are some 30,000 Inari shrines that exist throughout Japan. These Inari shrines are guarded by statues of foxes (wearing red bibs for some reason). Although the fox is often confused to be the God, it is not. It is simply the Inari god's messenger. In addition, these foxes are said to be very fond of "abura-age". So, any dish made with abura-age is called "Inari" or "Kitsune (fox)".

This picture was taken by my wife when we were traveling in Kyoto 京都 and visiting  "Fushimi Inari Taisha" 伏見稲荷大社 in 2015. This is famous for numerous red torii gates 赤鳥居. This is the main or "parent" Inari shrine among the many in Japan.

When we visited there, it was very crowded. Later, we learned that visiting there at night may be less crowded.

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.