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.
Tag Archives: Vegan
Umeboshi Corn & Hijiki Rice
My summer obsession of donabe corn rice has so many variations and this one is my new favorite! I never thought the combination of umeboshi (Japanese pickled plum) and corn make such great combination in flavors. I love making onigiri with this rice to take to picnic!
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.
English Peas & Hijiki Mochi Mugi Rice
Mame Hijiki Gohan
I can’t get enough of fresh English peas in the spring time. Here’s a slightly different version (and I would say even easier version) of my original English Peas and Hijiki Rice recipe, and this is equally delicious! Instead of using dashi stock, I add a content of a Vegetable Dashi packet directly to the water. The result is really umami rich and aromatic rice. Mochi Mugi barley adds nice texture and flavor, too. If you can’t find shelled fresh English peas, you can use frozen kind by thawing them before adding to the donabe.
Roasted Purple Sweet Potato and Shio-Kombu Salad
Yaki Imo to Shio-Kombu no Salad
Can’t get enough of donabe roasted purple sweet potatoes! Here’s an ultimate “non-recipe” recipe I make all the time. Super simple and super tasty always. The sweet potato becomes so rich in flavor and creamy texture when roasted in Roast Donabe, and this magical condiment, Shio-Kombu (salt seasoned shredded kelp) totally complements the flavors along with evoo and roasted walnuts. You really don’t need anything else!
Shio-Kombu & Sweet Potato Rice
Shio-Kombu to Satsuma-Imo no Gohan
Shio-kombu is one of the staple items in my pantry. It’s shredded seasoned kombu (kelp), and I like to toss them in a simple salad or use as a topping over rice, tofu, add to stir-fry, etc. It’s so versatile. My Ginger Shio-Kombu Rice recipe in the DONABE Cookbook is one of the most popular recipes among the donabe fans.
Here’s another donabe rice dish using shio-kombu. It’s Shio-Kombu & Satsuma-Imo Gohan. It’s a simple and delicious donabe rice, cooked with shio-kombu and Japanese sweet potato. As a “guilty pleasure”, after scooping the rice into a bowl, I like to top it with a small slice of butter (this time, I used this special cultured seaweed butter from France) Super good.
Spinach and Daikon Porridge
This is quick Spinach & Daikon Porridge I have been making often lately. It requires minimum prepping/ chopping. Instead of starting with cold water and rice, I boil vegetable dashi and add rice to cook. The texture of the rice turns smoother this way, and the flavor is amazing. The combination of daikon and spinach makes the dish taste even better.
Eggplant & Shiitake Linguine
This donabe dish is something I can whip up with ingredients I can usually find in my kitchen on a regular night. Eggplant and shiitake mushrooms are simply cooked in a donabe and finished with canned cherry tomatoes (you can use regular canned tomato or tomato purée). It’s rich in umami as I use sake and shio-koji for seasoning for a little Japanese kick, but you can do without also. I love to use my Roast Donabe, which is dry-heating capable and also equipped with extra-thick body and sturdy flat lid. With these features, this donabe promotes extra pressure and steaming effect and the ingredients can cook faster and very effectively with minimum liquid. This is a hearty and delicious vegan dish if you go without cheese (or use vegan cheese). I love adding the Parmigiano Reggiano at the end!
Cold Somen Noodle with Soy Dipping Sauce
Hiyashi Somen
Perfect for a hot summer day. Here’s one of my most basic cold noodle dishes which I never get tired of all my life. Donabe can make a perfect serving vessel, and it also makes a wonderful presentation, along with a variety of toppings.
For the dipping sauce, I have this staple soy-based sauce, Kaeshi, always in handy. Kaeshi is a multi-purpose sauce I use for so many things. I pour over noodle by mixing with water/ dashi, chicken, fish, salad, etc.
Corn & Hijiki Rice with Olive Oil
This donabe dish is a variation of my other corn rice recipes and has been a big hit! This is 100% vegan and its flavor is really rich with corn, and fresh and aromatic with the addition of the extra virgin olive oil and mixed herbs. This dish makes a great one plate meal and tastes great at a warm or room temperature. Happy Donabe Life!
3-3-3 Corn Salad
Only 3 ingredients, 3 minutes steaming, and 3 steps – this simple “no-recipe” recipe showcases how our donabe steamer, Mushi Nabe can quickly cook the corn and brings out its natural sweetness while retaining its crispness. You can embellish the dish with additional ingredients if you like, but I really love this simplicity and savor the beautiful flavor combo of sweet corn, Yuzu Salt, and olive oil. Perfect appetizer/ side dish for your summer BBQ dinner!
English Peas and Hijiki Quinoa
This is a variation of my donabe rice recipe, English Peas and Hijiki Rice. Instead of rice, I am useing quinoa and mochi mugi barley and cook in vegetable stock in a donabe .To finish, I season simply with salt and pepper, and drizzle good amount of extra virgin olive oil! Feel free to elevate the dish with addition of different herbs or seasonings, if you like. You can serve it on its own or this can also makes a wonderful side dish served with grilled fish, vegetables, etc. I used Bistro Donabe for this dish, but any donabe with enough depth can work for this recipe. Happy Donabe Life!
Mixed Mushroom and Hijiki Rice
Kinoko to Hijiki no Takikomi Gohan
This is one of my regular donabe rice dishes. Mixed mushrooms, hijiki, and edamame – I love the combination of these flavors when they are mixed with rice. I use kombu and shiitake mushroom dashi, so this is a vegan dish but feel free to use your choice of dashi, stock or even just water. The dish come out aromatic and so satisfying every time.
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.
Hatcho Miso Udon Hot Pot
Hatcho Miso Nikomi Udon
This dish can be made so quickly and create a balanced one-pot meal. I love the deep flavor of hatcho miso which is a dark miso. The flavor is almost chocolaty. Once the udon noodles are par-cooked, all the ingredients are cooked in one donabe. I like vegetables and tofu in this dish, so this dish is completely vegan. But, if you like, you can also enjoy this dish with an addition of meat. Chicken or duck slices are particularly good.
Roasted Sweet Potato
Yaki-Imo
My favorite way of eating Satsuma-imo (Japanese sweet potato) is a simple yaki-imo (roasted sweet potato). When I was a child, there were many Yaki-imo trucks which drive around the neighborhood to sell piping hot yaki-imo out of the stone roaster in the back of the truck. It’s no longer a common site in Japan, but you can still spot these driving vendors in the winter time.
I find Roast Donabe is the best tool for roasting sweet potatoes. I’m obsessed with this! Its extra-thick body and sturdy flat lid effectively seal the moisture inside while intensely cooking the ingredients to the core, and takes the roasted sweet potato to a whole new level. The potato becomes nicely caramelized and skin comes right off. I like to put a little butter to enjoy this, but this tastes so good without anything.
You can also make roasted potatoes with Ibushi Gin or Fukkura-san (cooking time may vary).
Daikon Porridge
Daikon Kayu
Steamed Tofu & Mushrooms with Black Sesame Sauce
Mushi Tofu
It feels like I have been making this dish all the time. It’s something I can make without even thinking and love it every time. Yes, it’s really the simplest dish you can think of. Just steamed tofu and mushrooms in a donabe steamer, Mushi Nabe. At the same time, this dish really showcases how a simple ingredients can taste so good when cooked in Mushi Nabe and makes me re-appreciate the beauty of minimalism.
I like to serve it with my Black Sesame Sauce, but they can obviously go well with many other types of sauce/ condiments, including ponzu, sea salt & sesame oil, etc.
Black Sesame Sauce
Kurogoma Tare
This is a very healthy and tasty all-purpose sauce, and made with all “black” ingredients. All you need to do is just whisk together black sesame paste, black sesame seeds, black vinegar, soy sauce, and black sugar. My regular way to use this sauce is to serve with simple steamed tofu and mushrooms. You can also enjoy it with steamed vegetables, fish, etc.
Matcha Almond Milk Kudzu Jelly
Matcha Almond Milk Kuzu Mochi
This is one of my favorite cold desserts. It’s very simple to make and the flavor is so rich and elegant. The key is a high quality matcha and kudzu powder (plant based starch – the kind I use is considered to be among the top quality kind from Yoshino region of Nara, Japan). The texture is nicely bouncy and the flavor is so rich, although there is no butter or cream used. In fact, it’s completely vegan. Kuzu mochi is a traditional Japanese dessert, made of simply kudzu powder and water. And, this is my variation which has matcha and almond milk. You can make it one day in advance, so this makes a nice dessert when you have a dinner party.
Slow-Roasted Tomato Rice
Tomato is one of my favorite summer vegetables (or technically it’s a fruit), and make a lot of slow-roasted tomatoes for various recipes. One of them is Cold Somen Noodles with Slow-Roasted Tomato, and here is another one! Once you have the slow-roasted tomatoes ready, all you need to do is basically make plain rice with Kamado-san, then top the rice with the slow-roasted tomatoes. You can gently break the tomatoes to mix with the rice. The umami of the tomatoes are so condensed after the long slow roasting, the rice itself doesn’t need any other flavoring or seasoning.
I love it with chopped Japanese herbs and chunky la-yu (recipe is found in my DONABE Cookbook), but commercial la-yu (spicy chili oil) or any hot sauce can work, too.
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.
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.
Homemade Silky Tofu
Kinugoshi Tofu
Avocado Sashimi
It takes no time to prepare this dish, and this appetizer is quite addictive. Just slice up a ripe avocado, drizzle high quality extra virgin olive oil, and serve with Kanzuri paste and Coarse Nori Crumbles from Ariake Sea. The nori crumbles give such a nice sweet ocean aroma and delicate crunch, but high quality sheet nori can work also, by coarsely breaking it by hand. With this dish and a nice sake, I’m just happy.
Curry & Tamari Flavored Steam-Fry Vegetable Yakisoba Noodle
Enjoy this one-pot dish made with fresh yakisoba noodles and a lot of vegetables. I’ve been making this dish for years and had so many people turned on to this dish. The curry and tamari soy sauce flavors make a great combination. The noodles become nicely spicy and robust. This is a completely vegan dish with layers of flavors and textures. The sauce and sun-dried tomatoes bring out the rich umami, too.
Soymilk Porridge with Turnips
Kabu no Okayu
I eat a lot of porridge especially in the winter time, as the dish is not only so gentle to your stomach, but is also a great way to keep your body warm. In Japanese tradition, on January 7, we eat Nanakusa-gayu (7-herb rice porridge), and it’s a custom to to bring health and longevity. It also has a meaning to clean your body with this simple porridge after consecutive days of feast during the New Year holidays.
Outside of Japan, including Los Angeles where I live, it’s not easy to source all the 7 kinds of Japanese herbs locally, so I actually enjoy making my own version with just kabu (Japanese turnips; its’ leaves are one of 7 herbs in Nanakusa-gayu) and use pure soymilk, in addition to kombu infused water, to cook the rice. It’s rich, creamy, really flavorful, and still light in your stomach.
It’s totally fine to cook it only with water (for more plain version), or use your choice of dashi such as kombu and bonito dashi for slightly deeper flavor. And, you can enjoy with your choice of condiments.
Green Beans and Nori Salad
Ingen no Nori-ae
This quick salad dish is very easy to make, and I love how the nori brings a beautiful aroma to this dish. The roasted and ground sesame seeds, yuzu juice, and sesame oil adds extra layers of flavor, and go well with the tender green beans steamed in Mushi Nabe. You can substitute the golden sesame seeds/ golden sesame oil with black sesame seeds/ black sesame oil for a variation. The tamari soy sauce not only gives the rich umami to the dish, but makes the dish friendly for those on a gluten-free diet.
Japanese Sweet Potato Rice
Satsuma-Imo Gohan
This is one of my favorite fall-to-winter rice dishes since I was a child. This is such a simple dish, as the main ingredients are just the rice and satsuma-imo (Japanese sweet potato), and they are seasoned very lightly only with salt. The natural sweetness of the satsuma-imo is fully brought out after cooked with the rice, and the texture is nicely soft to work great with the shiny chewy rice. I also love making onigiri (rice balls) with this dish. They taste great hot or room temperature. If you want to add more flavor, you can cook the rice with dashi or even consommé works nicely, too.
Homemade Tofu
Sukui Tofu
Authentic fresh tofu can be made at home very easily, once you have a donabe and high quality soymilk. All you need to do is to heat soymilk, stir in nigari liquid, turn off the heat, and rest until the mixture sets to become tofu. Iga-yaki donabe is perfect for fresh tofu making, because the porous body achieves the gentle and even heat distribution. It also cools down very slowly after turning off the heat, so the tofu can set to ideal stage during the resting time. The fresh warm tofu right out of donabe is simply a joy and I always have my first few tastes without any seasonings or condiments. It’s so fluffy, delicate, and pure. Then, I enjoy it with different toppings. Sometimes simply with shaved katsuobushi (shaved dried bonito flakes) and soy sauce, or wasabi, sea salt (such as moshio sea salt), and sesame oil. Ponzu is great, too.
Premium quality Banrai Soymilk and Banrai Nigari Liquid are both available at our shop. So, hope you give it a try. You can make a full-size sukui tofu to share or a small individual-size tofu in a mini-size donabe for everyday breakfast.
The recipe introduced in this page is calling for 1-liter soymilk. For the half amount, you can use a small-size classic-style donabe (approx. 0.8-qt/ 800 ml size). The photos below are made with small-size Rikyu-Tokusa donabe.
For an idividual-size silky tofu making method, please see Banrai Soymilk and Banrai Nigari Liquid product page.
Sansho Ponzu Sauce
Combination of soy sauce, daidai citrus and sansho powder (did you know sansho also belongs to citrus family?) create such refreshing bright aroma and kick in this quick dipping sauce. Adjust the amount of sansho powder according to your taste (or tolerance to its numbing heat). Originally introduced to serve with Shiso Chicken Meatball and Grated Daikon Hot Pot, this sauce is good for any hot pot dishes, or as a dipping sauce for gyoza dumplings.
Earthy Burdock Root Rice
Gobo Gohan
Gobo (burdock) has a natural sweet earthy aroma, and I love the combination of minced gobo with rice for its hearty taste. Daikon leaves add a layer of earthy flavors and texture. If you can’t find daikon leaves, kale can work nicely, too. With this rice dish and a bowl of miso soup, it will make a happy donabe meal for me.
Soup Udon with Steamed Vegetables
Mushi Yasai Udon
This vegan treat is so easy to make and very satisfying. You just prepare the dashi broth for the udon in the bottom bowl of the Mushi Nabe, set the steam grate on top to steam the vegetables first. Once the vegetables are ready, remove the grate and cook the udon in the broth. Because the vegetables are steamed, they tend to retain more nutrients and taste very pure. The ginger-scented broth stays also very clear and the flavor is so rich in kombu‘s umami. So, this is a win win dish. In this recipe, I used Bistro Mushi Nabe, but you can make this dish with any donabe which is equipped with a steam grate. Adjust the recipe amount according to your size of donabe.
Japanese-style Simmered Kabocha
Kabocha no nimono
This is a classic Japanese home-style dish, and we love the full flavor of nutty kabocha with light seasoning of soy sauce, etc. This dish is almost ridiculously easy to make. Once you arrange the cut kabocha pieces with seasonings in a donabe, you heat it and let the donabe do the work for you. You don’t even need to stir the contents. With Miso-shiru Nabe, the delicate kabocha can cook so tender without falling apart.
Tofu & Spinach Hot Pot
Yu-Dofu
Yu-Dofu (tofu hot pot) is a very simple and popular home dish in Japan. This version has addition of spinach and enoki mushrooms to boost nutrients and flavors. Yu-Dofu‘s best accompaniment is ponzu, and my quick daidai citrus ponzu tastes so refreshing and aromatic. Then, you can top the tofu with a generous amount of freshly-ground toasted sesame seeds in suribachi and surikogi (Japanese mortar and pestle), which is so nutty and aromatic. Kanzuri (chili condiment from Niigata, Japan) is another great condiment.
Mixed Mushroom Rice
Kinoko Gohan
I love the earthy treat. I like to use a few kinds of mushrooms such as shiitake, king oyster, and shimeji. You can try with your choice of mushrooms. By adding sweet rice, the dish becomes nice and slightly chewy texture, but you can also make it only with short grain rice and it will taste very nice, too. For seasoning, I love white tamari, for its mellow and slightly sweet aroma, but you can substitute with usukuchi shoyu or regular soy sauce, too.
Tomato Ginger Rice
Tomato to Shoga no Takikomi Gohan
Half-cut tomatoes are cooked together with rice in the donabe and becomes an extremely luscious dish. Tomatoes break so easily with a rice paddle and once you gently mix the contents, the beautiful red color coats the rice and imparts the sweet aroma of tomatoes and ginger. While this dish is completely vegan, even my meat-loving friends go crazy over it. (And, they fight over Naosco, the Yuzu-Kosho flavored hot sauce I make as a condiment for this dish.)
I love making this dish while the tomatoes are in season during summer. But, tomatoes don’t have to be very ripe to make this dish, so you can enjoy making this dish any time of the year.
Cold Somen Noodle with Slow-Roasted Tomato
Hiyashi Roasted Tomato Somen
Here’s another variation of my recipe using slow-roasted tomatoes. After 4 – 5 hours in the oven, the tomatoes become so rich in umami flavors and very soft. So, I like to serve it very simply by topping them over the cold somen noodles and pouring a soy-flavored dashi broth over it. I like breaking the tomatoes with chopsticks and gently mix with the noodles as I eat, or you can coarsely chop the tomatoes before topping over the noodles, too.
The best thing is that both the tomatoes and broth can be prepared up to a few days in advance. So, once I make them for the next days, all I need to do is just boil the somen noodles and assemble them for a quick delicious meal.
Kanzuri Yuzu Sauce
Just mix equal parts of the hot and umami-rich Kanzuri and Yuzu Juice, and it becomes a perfect aromatic condiment with a kick. I like it with any rice dish (like my Corn Rice), noodle, or grilled meat (great with yakitori, too).
Corn Rice
Tomorokoshi Gohan
Corn rice is one of my favorite summer dishes to make. It’s simple and full of summer flavors. I like to cook with my cold-infused Kombu and Shiitake Mushroom Dashi, so I just let the dashi infuse half-day to overnight in the fridge and it’s ready to use. This dish is completely vegan, but you can cook with your choice of other stock (kombu & bonito dashi, chicken stock, etc.), too. For this recipe, I also added a packet of 16 Multi Mixed Grains (it’s so good), but if you would like to make it without it, you can reduce the amount of the dashi by a tablespoon or so. To add some kick to the dish, I like adding the Kanzuri Yuzu Sauce to the dish. You can top the rice with a small amount of the sauce or mix it in to the rice to enjoy. It’s quite addictive.
Japanese Plum Liqueur
Ume-Shu
Ume-shu is a traditional Japanese plum liqueur and one of the most popular alcoholic drinks to make at home in Japan. My late mother used to make a few large batches when plums were in season (May – June) every year, and now I’m taking over the tradition in my home in LA. She used to sip it o the rocks after dinner (or sometimes before dinner). I like it on the rocks or sometimes enjoy it mixed with sparkling water. Rich in vitamins, minerals,, and citric acid, ume-shu is also known for its health benefits. A small glass of ume-shu every day can help remove fatigue from your body and rejuvenate it.
Sansho Hummus
I served this dish with donabe-steamed vegetables during a Summer Festival at the shop and it was such a big hit among the guests. You can (literally) just whip it up with all the high quality pantry ingredients to create this creamy, high-protein dip with rich sesame flavors and aromatic kick from the Stone-Ground Sansho Powder. Besides the steamed vegetables, this dip is also great with sandwiches, steaks, or simply with crackers.
Cold Corn Tofu
Tomorokoshi Tofu
This dish is especially simple to make, as the ingredients are just corn, water, sea salt and kudzu (arrowroot starch). Really, that’s it, and every time I make this dish, everybody becomes crazy about it. The texture is nicely jiggly and the flavor is packed with rich natural flavors of fresh corn. Enjoy with a little bit of wasabi paste, if you like. In the photo below, I used sliced, blanched okra for decoration. This dish is such a nice summer treat.
English Peas and Hijiki Rice
Ao-Mame Hijiki Gohan
During the spring time when the English peas are in season, I make this dish often. The shelled fresh peas are added to the donabe after turning off the heat and cooked only with the carryover heat. When the dish is ready, the peas are nicely cooked through while they bring the beautiful fresh sweet aroma and retain the beautiful color and texture. This dish is also great for onigiri (rice balls) to take to picnic, as it tastes delicious at a room temperature, too.
Kombu and Shiitake Mushroom Dashi
Shojin Dashi
This is an easy cold-steep vegan dashi (Japanese stock). All you need to do is just combine the kombu (dry kelp) and dry shiitake mushrooms in a bowl and pour water. After infusing overnight, the rich vegan dashi is ready.
Cherry Blossom & Tofu Skin Rice
Sakura Yuba Gohan
In the spring time, Japan is all about sakura (cherry blossoms). People go out to see the beautiful sakura trees in full bloom and also enjoy both sweet and savory treats using sakura flowers and leaves. With thin and tender yuba (tofu skins), this dish is full of spring flavors! The additional Mochi Mugi barley also adds the nice texture. Salt-preserved (pickled) sakura can be found at some Japanese markets and online specialty stores.
Japanese Kumquat Liqueur
Kinkan-shu
Bright and sweet-tangy ripe kumquat makes the beautiful liqueur in very easy steps. All you need is the patience, as once the ingredients are assembled, it takes several months for it to be ready to drink.
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.
Taro and Konnyaku Stew
Sato-Imo to Konnyaku no Nimono
Sato-imo (Japanese taro) is one of my favorite ingredients in the fall to winter seasons. When it’s simmered in broth, it becomes creamy inside and flavor becomes rich. This goes well with konnyaku (yam jelly) and makes such a hearty healthy treat. I used ball shape konnyaku in this recipe, but you can just get a block of konnyaku and tear into bite-size pieces by hand, so they will absorb the flavors from the broth well. This dish tastes delicious right when it’s ready, but I like it even more after a few hours of resting. If you let it rest for a few hours or longer. You can reheat it or serve at room temperature.
Steam-roasted Purple Sweet Potatoes
Yaki-Imo
Simplicity at its best, when a sweet potato is steam-roasted in Fukkura-san, the texture becomes rich and creamy, and the flavor becomes so sweet. The glaze in the lid gives the effective FIR (Far-Infrared Rays…same effect as how a glowing charcoal heats to the core of ingredients) and moisture from the lid gives the perfect steam effect. I used purple sweet potatoes in this recipe, but you can use Satsuma-Imo (Japanese sweet potato with pale color interior) or other types of sweet potatoes or yams. Serve with simple sea salt & butter, or Shio-koji Mascarpone Dipping Sauce, suggested in this recipe below.
Quick Daidai Citrus Ponzu
Daidai Ponzu
This is a super simple ponzu, made by equal amount of Japanese daidai citrus (aromatic citrus, which is a type of orange) juice and high quality soy sauce. Great with tofu, grilled fish, etc.
Mochi Mugi Barley & Rice
Mochi Mugi Gohan
Mochi Mugi is a type of barley and it is considered to be a “super food”, as it contains much higher amount of fiber than brown rice or regular kinds of barley. For me, Mochi Mugi simply tastes so good and I really enjoy its nice bouncy texture. By adding a small amount of Mochi Mugi to your rice, your rice becomes not only more nutritious but it adds another nice dimension in the flavor. For each packet of Mochi Mugi, 1/2 cup (120 ml) water is needed to cook.
Sweet Potato & Walnut Rice
Satsuma Imo to Kurumi no Takikomi Gohan
Satsuma-imo (Japanese sweet potato) and roasted walnuts bring rich earth and sweet flavors to this dish.
Salt Roasted Fingerling Potatoes
Simplicity at its best, these salt-roasted fingerling potatoes always make my guests go crazy whenever I serve them at a dinner party. The potatoes are lightly salted and cooked in Fukkura-san over medium-high heat until done. It gives both the roasting and steaming effects during the cooking, and the result is always the best roasted potatoes I’ve ever tasted! The skin gets delicately crispy and the interior becomes almost creamy. Just be careful with the heat, as the donabe gets extremely hot during cooking and even for a while after the heat is turned off. I love to serve it with simple Yuzu-Kosho Mayo Dipping Sauce which I can whip up in seconds.
Bamboo Shoot Rice
Takenoko Gohan
Spring is the high season for freshly foraged bamboo shoots and they taste really wonderful. They are crisp tender and full of sweet spring flavors. In Japan, people enjoy so many different kinds of bamboo dishes while the fresh shoots are in season. Bamboo shoot rice used to be my favorite bamboo dish my mom made when I was a child. This dish also tastes great at room temperature or even cold. If fresh bamboo shoots are not available, pre-cooked bamboo shoot can be found at Japanese grocery stores and they are sold all year round.
Egg-topped Garlic Chives & Shiitake
Nira Shiitake Tamago-toji
Nira (garlic chives) and shiitake mushrooms are quickly simmered in kombu & shiitake dashi-based broth, then finished with eggs. I like the very soft and slightly runny stage of the eggs, so let it cook for a short time once the eggs are added. This dish is great as an appetizer (served as a soup), side dish, or I also like to pour over rice. If you can’t find nira, you can substitute it with spinach or pea shoot. You can also add rehydrated dry shiitake used to make the dashi for extra flavor and texture.
Mushroom & Mizuna Hot Pot
Hari Hari Nabe
This simple vegan hot pot is so rich in flavor and satisfying. I like to slice the abura-age very thin, as these slices soak up the broth and taste like juicy noodles. If you don’t have access to abura-age, thinly-sliced tofu can work, too. The key for the rich broth flavor is to add the mushrooms before heating up the kombu-soaked water, so the mushrooms release all the umami flavors during the slow heating process. For the shime (finishing course), I like to add udon noodles to the remaining broth, but soba is also good, too.
Plain Brown Rice
Genmai Gohan
For whole grain (unpolished) brown rice
Plain White Rice
Shiro Gohan
Basic white rice cooking method with Kamado-san
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