Miso – Happy Donabe Life

Tag Archives: Miso

Shrimp Miso Udon

Ebi Miso Nikomi Udon

Perfect for a cold season, this is Shrimp and Udon, Simmered in Dark Miso Broth. There is something about the deep simmering sound and look of the donabe noodles in miso broth. I make this dish repeatedly in the cold season. It’s a brilliant single serving one pot donabe meal which has rich satisfying flavors and keeps my body warm so nicely. I like to coat the shrimp in katakuriko (potato starch – you can omit or substitute with corn starch), as it helps shrimp turn really nice plump texture and also lightly thickens the broth. Also, shrimp cooks fast and adds nice flavors to the broth, but you’re welcome to omit or replace with your choice of topping.

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.

Steamed Pork and Cabbage Shabu Shabu

Buta Cabbage Mushi Shabu Shabu

This steamed donabe dish is so tasty and nourishing. The thinly-sliced pork and cabbage always make a great flavor combination. The ingredients are simply steamed in a donabe steamer, Mushi Nabe for 4 – 5 minutes and served with pre-prepared ponzu and garlic miso dipping sauces. Feel free to substitute any ingredients to steam and enjoy!

Soymilk Tan Tan Nabe

Tan Tan Nabe, or Chinese-inspired miso-sesame broth with ground meat donabe hot pot is one of the most popular dishes from my DONABE Cookbook. Here is another variation of Tan Tan Nabe and it’s Soymilk Tan Tan Nabe. The soymilk adds the extra richness to the flavor of this dish, while the dish is quite healthy. The broth is so flavorful and soothing with a spicy kick. Also, it’s so easy to make. So, I love making this dish so much.

Scallop Hot Pot in Miso Broth

Hotate Miso Nabe

I love scallops so much and usually get large-size sashimi grade scallops to eat in so many different ways. One of the regular dishes is this simple miso-based hot pot in a donabe. It’s made so quickly, and the scallops release so much flavors to make the broth taste so rich and wonderful. I like blending two kinds of miso (both available at TOIRO) for extra complexity.

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.

Toban Beef with Miso Sauce

Hoba Miso

Hoba Miso is a traditional dish, originate in Hida region of Gifu, Japan. This mountainous region is situated in the northern end of Gifu and has a long snowy winter. So, many preserved foods, including miso, pickles, koya tofu (freeze-dry tofu) etc., were developed there. Hoba Miso is one of their traditional dishes and it’s basically a miso-based sauce, cooked on a dry magnolia leaf. One of the most popular toppings for this dish is beef, as Gifu is famous for its premium Hida Beef, and it’s one of my favorite dishes from Gifu! Here in LA, I enjoy making this dish cooked in Toban (donabe skillet) with local beef. Every time I make this dish, it makes me want to visit Gifu again. Hoba (magnolia) leaf is not readily available in the US, so you can be creative with a different leaf (like a banana leaf?) or simply place a parchment paper on a Toban to cook it.

Miso Butter Hot Pot with Salmon and Pork

Ishikari Nabe

I’ve made this hot pot many times this season, both for myself and many other people. And, many of them asked me to share the recipe so they can make it home. The miso broth has two kinds of miso for complexity. The addition of butter at the end gives the beautiful depth in flavor.

Ishikari Nabe is originally a regional dish from Hokkaido (the northern island of Japan), and to me, the must “rule” to be called Ishikari Nabe is that the dish has to have salmon and potato in the miso broth. They taste so good together (especially with the butter added at the end)! That being said, the broth can go well with just about anything, so you can change around the ingredients to cook in it. When I cook for my vegan friends, I use kombu and shiitake dashi, and make it with tofu and different kinds of mushrooms (and no butter).

You can make the miso base (mixture of the miso, sake, mirin and soy sauce) in advance, and when it’s ready to serve, you can simply combine the miso base with dashi, and start cooking the ingredients in it at the table (or at in the kitchen stove and serve at the table).

For “shime” (finishing course), I love making ojiya (soupy porridge) in the remaining broth. Ramen is also great, too.

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.

Nao-Jan (Naoko’s Yakiniku Sauce)

This is my regular tare (dipping sauce) for yakiniku (grilled meat), or anything grilled including seafood and vegetables. It’s rich in flavors with two kinds of soy sauce (or you can make with one kind), Hatcho miso, ginger, garlic, etc. And the addition of the pure daidai citrus juice gives the beautiful aromatic nuance. Great accompaniment for anything I cook with my Iga-yaki grills.

Black Cod Hot Pot in Saikyo Miso & Soymilk Broth

Saikyo Miso to Tonyu Nabe

Saikyo miso is a traditional white miso from Kyoto, Japan. The color is pale and it has a natural umami-rich sweet flavor due to the higher content of koji rice (malted rice) in the miso. The sodium level is also much lower than other types of miso, so you can use a good amount of it to enjoy its rich flavor in a soup, etc. without making the dish too salty. This hot pot dish has the combination of dashi, soymilk, and Saikyo miso in the broth, so the flavor is rich and complex. Make sure to use the real Saikyo Miso from Kyoto and pure rich soymilk (with no additives) such as Banrai Soymilk.

Buttery fish like cod is perfect for this broth, other types of seafood or even chicken would certainly work in this dish, too.

Miso-Marinated Cream Cheese

Cream Cheese Miso-Zuke

Super easy to make with just a few ingredients, with just a little bit of patience, this dish makes a great snack/ appetizer to easily please your guests. All you need to do is to marinade a block of cream cheese in miso+mirin mixture for a few days or longer. This is also a perfect dish to keep stock in your fridge, so you can just slice and serve when you want to quickly entertain your guest or when you need one more little dish. You can enjoy the slices with a little wasabi on the side to enjoy with your sake. Or, this can make wonderful canapés to serve on crackers at a party. And, that’s what we did at a event at TOIRO the other day…it was a big hit!

Pork and Napa Cabbage Mille Feuille

Buta to Hakusai no Mille Feuille Nabe

This dish is all about pork and napa cabbage, cooked in a minimum way. They are simply layered to pack in a donabe, with a small amount of water and sake. There is not even dashi or salt. You can top them with some sliced ginger and mushrooms, and gently simmer for 25 – 30 minutes. The result is a tasty treat rich in umami, and it looks beautiful, too. The soup is also packed with all the natural flavors from the ingredients, so make sure to enjoy it with the dish, too.

I like to serve it with Sansho Ponzu Sauce and Hatcho Miso & Black Sesame Sauce (recipe below) for flavor variations. Or, you can simply serve it with yuzu-kosho or Kanzuri, too.

Pork Belly and Asparagus Rolls with Miso-Vinegar Sauce

Mabo Tofu

This is a Japanese version of popular Chinese dish (mapo tofu), which is a spicy stew of tofu and ground pork. My Mabo Tofu is seasoned with miso, and it gives nice rich flavor to the dish. For the spicy heat and extra umami, tobanjan (Chinese chili bean paste) is usually an essential ingredient for this dish. But, I often substitute it with Kanzuri, and it works great, too! You can make this dish with any classic-style donabe, or Mushi Nabe without the steam grate. I used my Bistro Mushi Nabe in the photos in this recipe.

Chicken Meatball Hot Pot in Miso Broth

Tsukune Miso Nabe

This simple miso-flavored hot pot is always so popular among my family and friends. By adding grated ginger and egg, the chicken meatballs becomes so fluffy and flavorful. The other main ingredients are tofu and mushrooms, which complete the dish to full satisfaction. The suggested shime (finishing course) to cook in the saved broth is udon or ramen.

Rice Balls with Three Kinds of Toppings (Summer Version)

Onigiri

At our 2018 Summer Festival at TOIRO, we made hundreds of onigiri (rice balls) with freshly made rice in our double-lid donabe rice cooker, Kamado-san, and served with these summer-theme toppings. We were so happy that many of our guests kept coming back to try more. The Walnut Miso includes Fig Vinegar so it has a refreshing and soft acidity. The Slow-Roasted Tomato is rich in umami and the Smoked Soy Sauce adds an extra layer of complexity. The Roasted Corn and Yuzu-Kosho Mayo has a beautiful, sweet corn flavor with an aromatic heat from the Yuzu-Kosho. These toppings are also great to serve with cold tofu or grilled meat. We hope you will try all three kinds. The amounts of these toppings in this recipe are more than enough to make the suggested servings, so you can keep any leftover for another use.

Cold Ramen with Spicy Pork & Sesame Dipping Broth

Tan Tan Tsukemen

Cold ramen noodles with simmering hot and spicy broth with toppings create a wonderful dish to enjoy in the summer or all year round. The dipping broth is especially rich as it’s seasoned with hatcho miso (very dark miso made of 100% soybeans) with tamari soy sauce. But, if you don’t have either, you can simply substitute with quality red miso and dark soy sauce respectively and it would still be very tasty. You can also serve the broth cold, and it will be so refreshing and perfect to enjoy on a hot day.

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.

Tofu and Wakame Miso Soup

Tofu to Wakame no Miso-shiru

Tofu and wakame miso soup is such a classic Japanese soup, and it’s one of my ultimate comfort foods. Because Miso-shiru Nabe has such a high heat retention ability, the soup stays very hot for a long time after turning off the heat. Make sure to turn off the heat as soon as you add the miso, and never boil the soup, so you can really enjoy the most aromatic stage of the miso. If you have access, salt-preserved wakame (or sometimes it’s called “fresh wakame“) is recommended as it gives the nice fresh texture to the soup, and you can add it at the very end to the donabe or add to your bowl after the soup is poured into individual bowls.

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!