A beloved comfort Taiwanese dish, Lu Rou Fan is basically simmered minced pork belly over rice. I find this humble dish is a work of art! I also find donabe is really the perfect cooking vessel for this dish as the slow simmering process and cooling process after turning off the heat makes the meat extra tender and also the flavor to become more complex with rich umami! It’s also fun to serve this dish with a variety of toppings, such as soy-marinated egg, herbs, pickled ginger, bamboo shoot, radish, la-yu, etc.
Tag Archives: Garlic
Shio-Koji Chicken Wing Soup
This gentle, nourishing soup is perfect for staying healthy during winter or comforting loved ones. Chicken wings marinated in shio-koji simmer slowly with sake-kasu, white woodear mushrooms, mountain yam, sweet rice, and red jujubes, creating a soothing, porridge-like consistency.
I love using our Soup & Stew Donabe, Miso-shiru Nabe or Roast Donabe for their excellent slow-cooking properties, but any deep donabe works well. Ingredients can be omitted or substituted to fit your preferences—just let them simmer gently to bring out their rich flavors.
Sweet Garleek & Edamame Rice
Sweet Garleek is a new hybrid vegetable made by Row 7 Seed Company, and I have been loving it so much, I grill, sauté, oven roast them, etc. This time, I made a donabe rice dish with it and the result was simply fantastic! If you can’t find garleek, simply substitute it with leek (but use just the tender bottom part only) and you can enjoy the same tender sweet result.
Yuba & Daikon Mille Feuille Nabe
Made with napa cabbage, yuba (tofu skin) and daikon, this new Mille Feuille Nabe is completely plant based, and no flavor is compromised compared to the other meat versions I have introduced. It’s rather, the flavor is so rich and the combination of yuba and miso broth brings heartiness. I can enjoy this dish all year round and my body feels so nourished!
I found delicious soft yuba by Hodo at a local Whole Foods. Yuba is not only nutritious dense, but it as the great texture and flavor. So, hope you can find it near you.
Chicken & Tofu Mille Feuille Nabe
Here is a new variation to my “mille feuille” nabe recipes and this is a total keeper. It’s napa cabbage with ground chicken and tofu filling and tastes so rich and soothing. I season the dish with a Vegetable Dashi bag by simply tearing the bag and sprinkle the contents over the dish before cooking. This vegetable dashi bag is so convenient and the result is simply fantastic. The dish is packed with umami and already so tasty on its own, but I like to drizzle a small amount of soy sauce or a dab of Yuzu-Kosho.
Halibut & Daikon Hot Pot
Mizore Nabe
Here’s my healthy seafood hot pot, Halibut Mizore Nabe – Halibut (or your choice of fish) is quickly simmered with vegetables and finished with a generous amount of grated daikon on top. With the addition of the glass noodles, this dish makes a very satisfying one pot donabe meal.
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 halibut for the rich tender texture for this dish, but you can also make it with other kinds of fish such as black cod, sea bass, salmon, etc. The fish is topped on the top parts of green onions and sprinkled with garlic slices to steam for beautiful aromas. The fish is also dusted with some katakuriko (potato starch) so this way the fish can absorb more flavors and retains moisture better, but you can cook without katakuriko, too. 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.
I got the super fresh Alaskan halibut from Kai Gourmet again! They have the sustainably sourced premium sashimi quality seafood and deliver to your door, anywhere in the US. I can order by midnight and get my order overnight. I have been a huge fan of Kai Gourmet for many years.
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Garlic Black Cod
Super simple and super good. I’ve been making this dish in different kinds of donabe and the dish is always a great success. It’s a sizzling dish of generous amount of garlic etc. and oyster sauce marinated black cod, finished in the oven. Minimum effort is required to execute the dish, so it’s a perfect dish to cook for your guests at a dinner party. And everybody loves it!
The tagine-style donabe , Fukkura-san, with its flat skillet bottom, cooks the ingredients most effectively. Or, you can also use other kinds of donabe (dry-heating capable is preferred), too. For a small serving, I also like to use my compact one-handle donabe , Izakaya Nabe. Happy Donabe Life!
Tofu Shakshuka
Shakshuka, a popular mediterranean dish of baked egg and tomatoes have been one of my favorite breakfast dishes when I go out past years, and at home, I have been enjoying making different versions myself. First of all, my donabe can make the simple and delicious one-pot Shakshuka! Now, my go-to shakshuka is made with tofu, mushrooms, and cherry tomato sauce. You can enjoy with crusty bread, or pour it over roasted sweet potatoes like I usually do. I like to make a large batch to share out of a donabe , or you can transfer to small-size donabe (such as Izakaya Nabe or small Donabe Casserole) to make individual size.
Salmon Stew in Sake Miso Tomato Sauce
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.
Spicy Miso Butter Ramen
I love making this simple ramen dish for a quick one pot meal for one (or sometimes two). The broth is rich, spicy, yet not too heavy like you would experience at some ramen restaurants. I use Japanese dashi, but you can make it with chicken stock or any stock you like. A slice of butter is added to serve and elevates the flavor nicely. I like to make it so simple that my choice of toppings are rapini (broccoli rabe) and soft boiled egg. So, my dish is vegetarian, but you can enjoy with meat or any toppings you like.
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.
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.
Steamed Green Beans and Potatoes in Sesame Peanut Butter Sauce
This simple steamed dish is always a big hit when I serve to my guests, and everybody loves watching the process of making it, too. When the potatoes and green beans are steamed in donabe, they tend to retain both the nutrients and texture, while the flavor becomes so rich and pure. To make the sauce, the sesame seeds are first roasted in horoku (sesame roster) until fragrant, then they are ground in suribachi and surikogi (Japanese mortar and pestle) and mixed with seasonings. The steamed vegetables are added directly to the sauce in the suribachi and tossed together. And, you can serve it right out of it at the table. Sesame and peanut butter add nice richness to the dish. For the sauce, I normally add leftover dashi (either kombu & shiitake mushroom dashi or kombu & bonito dashi) for extra subtle layer of flavors, but you can totally go with just water, if you don’t have dashi and it would still taste delicious.
Oyster Sauce Flavored Steam-Fry Pork Yakisoba Noodle
Oyster Sauce Buta Yakisoba
Yakisoba (stir-fry noodles) is such a casual tasty dish which almost everybody in Japan loves. While there are so many variations of yakisoba, my all time favorite is the simple oyster sauce flavor with pork and cabbage. This yakisoba makes me feel nostalgic, as it’s similar to what my mom used to make for a quick lunch when I was a child. With the tagine-style donabe, Fukkura-san, the ingredients are steam-fried and the noodles have such a nice bouncy texture, while the meat and cabbage get lightly caramelized. Instead of typical karashi (Japanese hot mustard), I like serving this dish with Kanzuri.
As a variation, you can substitute soy sauce with Smoked Soy Sauce for a nice smokey and robust nuance.
Shichimi-Flavored Cherry Tomato & Mint Pasta
When the cherry tomatoes are slowly heated with garlic and blistered in the oil in donabe, the flavor becomes even more bright and perfectly juicy. Once the tomatoes are blistered, all you need to do is just add the spaghetti, and toss with some mint. Finish with shaved Parmesan cheese and a generous amount of Shichimi Togarashi to enjoy. This simple dish is so rich and flavorful. I always have a hard time to stop heating it.
Cherry Tomatoes in Garlic Olive Oil Sauce
This dish is ridiculously easy to make and always delicious. During the summer, I make this dish so often, serving it with a nice, crusty baguette. It also makes a nice topping for cream cheese on a cracker. Here, I introduce two versions of the dish and I hope you will get to try both.
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.
Chicken, Kabocha & Mochi Mugi Stew in Shio-Koji Broth
This hearty stew is so nourishing and tasty. The only seasoning is basically Liquid Shio-Koji, and this magical seasoning makes the chicken extra tender. With the addition of kabocha and Mochi Mugi barley, this dish tastes so complete and makes an ideal one pot meal. My body always feels so great after eating a big bowl of this stew. For this dish, I like making dashi (soup stock) with kombu and dried shiitake by soaking them in water for a few hours (to over night) in advance. They not only make the soup taste wonderful but also they can be sliced and added to cook in the stew to enjoy. But, you can also make this dish with chicken stock or vegetable stock and it will be delicious, too.
Lemon Butter Yellowtail and Daikon
Lemon Butter Buri Daikon
This dish is my unique donabe version of popular Japanese dish, buri daikon (simmered yellowtail and daikon in soy based broth). Daikon is first sautéed in butter, then, once the yellowtail is added along with the lemon and mushrooms, they were steamed with sake and Ayu Fish Sauce. All made in one donabe, and this versatile Fukkura-san donabe effectively steam-fry the ingredients. The result is so aromatic, savory, and delicious. If yellowtail is not available, this dish can be made with other rich-flavor fish such as cod or sea bass. Ayu fish sauce gives the elegantly rich umami flavor, but it can be substituted with regular soy sauce, too.
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.
Make Your Own Shoyu Ramen Hot Pot
Okonomi Shoyu Ramen Nabe
Making ramen is easy and fun, especially if you cook and serve as donabe hot pot right at the table. I like adding the chopped nira (garlic chives) to the ramen right before serving, but if you can’t find nira, you can substitute with thinly-sliced green onion and serve as a topping, instead. Enjoy with a couple of simple toppings or a make a platter of a wide selection of toppings to choose from for fun.
Korean-style Spicy Miso Condiment
Ssamjang
This Korean-inspird spicy miso sauce is great with grilled or steamed meat, seafood, or even as a dipping for vegetable crudités (fresh vegetable sticks). I love serving this especially with grilled kalbi (beef short ribs) or steamed pork shoulder to make lettuce wraps. Both the hatcho miso and Okinawa black sugar make the flavor so deep, but you can also make with regular miso and brown sugar, if you like.
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!
Steam-fry Shio-Koji Chicken, Green Beans, and Cherry Tomatoes
Chicken is quickly sautéed first, then steam-fried together with vegetables in Fukkura-san. Shio-koji marinated chicken has extra rich flavor with succulent texture. Drizzle some soy sauce and squeeze a generous amount of lemon as soon as the heat is turned off and the donabe is brought to the table, so they will sizzle with the residual heat in the skillet and becomes so aromatic.
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