This quick donabe dish is packed with umami. The combination of the miso, tomato paste and sake brings rich and aromatic flavors, and kanzuri adds the nice spicy nuance (you can make it without kanzuri if you want it to be more mild). This sauce is very versatile, so you can use it for other protein, etc. The thick-body and compact Roast Donabe is my choice of donabe for this dish (and see how the contents continue to simmer a while after it’s brought to a table) but classic-style donabe or any other donabe with enough capacity can work also.
Tag Archives: Carrot
Baked Foil-Wrapped Seafood
Kaisen Hoiru-Yaki
Foil-baked seafood is such an easy-prepping and delicious dish. It also requires basically no cleaning of the cooking equipment. I always make it in my tagine-style donabe , Fukkura-san, as not only it distributes the heat perfectly without getting the bottom burned quickly but also it makes a very nice presentation at the table. The dish is flavored simply with sake, butter, and a drizzle of soy sauce and it’s so perfect! When the foil is gently cut open and the dish is revealed, it brings so much excitement, and also the aroma of butter-sake infused ingredients is so irresistible. Smoked soy sauce makes the dish so special but a regular soy sauce can work just fine, too.
Sake-Steamed Black Cod and Vegetables
Gindara to Yasai no Saka-Mushi
Here’s a simple steam-fry fish and vegetable dish made in Tagine-style Donabe, Fukkura-san. With only minimal seasoning, the dish always comes out so flavorful. Once the sake is infused with vegetables and has fish cooked in it, the flavors become quite complex. This dish is also an homage to Basque regions I visited this summer, so I seasoned the seafood with the herb salt mix I picked up from Ile de Re island in France, and served the dish with homemade creamy garlic sauce. This sauce is also inspired from the trip, and it’s quite addictive. You can use just plain sea salt or your choice of spice/herb salt mix to achieve wonderful flavors, so you don’t need to worry about getting the most specific ingredients. Also instead of the garlic sauce, you can serve with aioli or even ponzu.
Rapini in Sesame Karashi Sauce
Rapini (broccoli rabe) has a nice light bitter flavor and makes a good combination with the hot kick of karashi (Japanese mustard). I also add some sesame paste and it tastes really wonderful. This can be served either cold or cool and makes a nice appetizer or a side dish. The sauce is quite versatile, so you can enjoy it with different kinds of vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, etc.
Shio-Kombu Carrot
I love Shio-Kombu (salt-seasoned kelp) so much and always keep it in my pantry. I mix it with rice, salad, add to hot pot, etc. Shio-Kombu is so versatile!
This quick Shio-Kombu Carrot has great flavor and texture, and I can easily eat a whole large carrot myself this way. In order to release excess moisture of the raw carrot, sliced carrots are lightly seasoned and left with a weight for about 15 minutes or so. I used Jukusei Meijin (small fermentation jar), but you can also use the Glass Pickle Maker or just a small bowl with a weight.
Sizzling Shoyu Chicken & Cabbage
Kei-chan
Kei-chan is a very popular local dish from Gifu, Japan. In my past visits to Gifu, I was really fascinated by this homy chicken dish. The main ingredients are chicken and cabbage, and they are sit-fried together in either miso or soy-based sauce. I especially love the soy-based version, so I now have my own version and it’s so good. Because it’s stir-fried, tagine-style donabe works especially great with its flat skillet bottom. But, you can also improvise the dish with other types of donabe which can be heated empty.
Salmon and Daikon in Garlic Butter Miso Sauce
Garlic, miso, and butter…they make a brilliant combination of flavors. The main ingredients to cook in the sauce are salmon (or you can use your choice of high quality rich flavor fish) and daikon, and they are piled up with a few other ingredients and quickly simmered in the sauce. The dish has a nice rich flavor with refreshing accent with the yuzu juice. I used cilantro and daikon sprouts as a garnish for this recipe, but dill is also a nice alternative.
Classic Chicken and Root Vegetable Stew
Chikuzen-ni
This is a traditional stew called Chikzen-ni, and is often served in a Japanese New Year meal, and one of my favorite New Year dishes since I was a child. The root vegetables such as burdock, lotus, carrot and sato-imo (taro) are cooked with konnyaku (yam jelly), dry shiitake, and chicken in dashi, and seasoned with soy sauce and black sugar. The flavor is so rich and you can really enjoy the nice earthy flavors.
When I serve this dish in the New Year, I cut the lotus and carrot into decorative shapes, but for any regular occasion, that’s not necessary.
Although I love the flavor of the chicken in Chikuzen-ni, this dish can easily be converted into a vegan dish by simply omit the chicken and use vegan dashi (i.e. kombu and dry shiitake dashi). You can also make it gluten-free by substituting the soy sauce and white tamari with tamari soy sauce.
Steam-Fry Carrot in Oyster Mayo Sauce
Ninjin no Oyster Mayo Kimpira
This simple dish brings the wonderful natural sweet flavor of the carrot with the umami nuance from the oyster sauce and mayo. I also love the hint of nutty sesame aroma coming from the Golden Sesame Oil. I can make this dish so easily and it always feels like a treat. This dish is great either hot, right when it’s cooked, or at a room temperature. So, you can bring it to a picnic, too.
Chinese-Style Steamed Fish
Sakana no Chuka-Mushi
This colorful treat is an easy one-pot dish with a lot of flavors. I like to use black cod for its fatty texture for this dish, but you can also make it with other kinds of fish such as yellowtail, sea bass, salmon, etc. The sizzling sound and aroma of the smoking sesame oil when it’s poured over the fish stimulate your appetite so much. With the umami-rich sauce and aromatic toppings, this dish can become a healthy and satisfying main course.
Egg Drop Vegetable Soup
Kakitama-jiru
This soup is full of flavors and very satisfying. The addition of the black vinegar gives the nice umami-rich accent to the dish. The fluffy egg with vegetables make wonderful layers of textures, too. I like to sprinkle some sansho powder to the soup for extra kick, but it’s totally optional.
Salt Butter Chanko Hot Pot
Shio Butter Chanko Nabe
Japanese sumo wrestlers cook and eat chanko nabe at their stable every day. That’s the source of their strength. While chanko nabe refers to any types of hot pot eaten by sumo wrestlers, the most typical style is chicken as a main protein and cooked in chicken broth. It’s because chicken stands on two legs like human beings, so it is considered to bring good luck (in sumo, you lose if your hands touch the ground). Chanko nabe typically makes a very nutritious and balanced meal, as you cook a wide variety of healthy ingredients in one pot. The sumo wrestlers are big, because they eat so much of it every meal! In my version, I cook chicken meatballs and vegetables in simple salt-flavored chicken broth, and add butter cubes right before serving. The aroma is so irresistible and the flavor is superb. As a shime (finishing course), I suggest ramen noodles to cook in the remaining broth.
Spicy Pork Sesame Hot Pot
Buta no Goma-Suki
The marinade has such a rich flavor, and the creamy sesame paste makes it so aromatic. Once you have all the ingredients ready, all you need to do is just piling up the ingredients and build your excitement while waiting for the dish to cook. I love that I can taste so many different ingredients in this one dish, but you can always substitute or omit most of the ingredients as you like.
Steamed Vegetables (Basic Steaming)
When I first tried simple vegetables steamed in Mushi Nabe, I was so surprised how pure and delicious they tasted. Mushi Nabe cooks vegetables fast and really brings out their natural flavors well. All I need to do is just get the seasonal high quality vegetables I like and steam in Mushi Nabe. Try those vegetable simply with a quick dipping sauce of some sea salt and extra virgin olive oil, or your choice of dipping sauce.
Nao Man Gai (Chicken Over Rice)
Naoko-style Asian Chicken Rice
This dish is inspired by kao man ghai, a very popular Thai-style chicken rice dish, (or the Singapore-style is known as Hainanese chicken rice), and I made it in my donabe Japanese version with mostly Japanese ingredients. So, I call it Nao Man Gai! The rice is cooked with rich Japanese chicken stock with chicken on top, so the rice tastes really special even on its own. The chicken is sliced and served on top of the rice along with two kinds of special sauces. Don’t forget to make non-boiled “boiled eggs” by placing eggs on the inner lid of Kamado-san when cooking the rice. The eggs are ready when the rice is ready, and they taste so good with the dish!
Japanese Beef & Potato Stew
Nikujaga
This hearty beef and potato stew is such a popular Japanese home dish among people from little kids to elders. While there are countless variations, for my nikujaga, I like to caramelize the onion before adding other ingredients. The onion gives nice rich layer of umami flavor to the dish. Miso-shiru Nabe always makes the perfect caramelized onion without having to constantly sauté it. I also add a lot of thinly sliced gingers for the accent.
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