Japanese Cooking - Contemporary & Traditional (21 page)

Read Japanese Cooking - Contemporary & Traditional Online

Authors: Miyoko Nishimoto Schinner

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BOOK: Japanese Cooking - Contemporary & Traditional
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Yield: 1 serving
To serve Chilled Tororo Soba
 
Per serving:
1 to 1½ cups cooked soba noodles, chilled or at room temperature (If they have stuck together slightly, rinse them under cold water and drain momentarily.)
½ cup Rich
Tsuyu
(Dipping Broth) for
Zaru-Soba
(Cold Noodles), page 116
-½ cup tororo
Chopped scallions (optional)
Wasabi horseradish (optional)
 
Mix the tsuyu and the tororo together, or add a little tororo to your dipping sauce as you eat. You may also add scallions and a hit of wasabi if you please. Dip, slurp, and enjoy!
 
If the consistency of the grated vegetable does not seem appealing (although I personally love it), try just eating a crunchy, raw slice; it’s not as slimy that way. (See the recipe for Mountain Yam with Plum Sauce on page 107.) With soba noodles, nagaimo is always grated into tororo. The noodles can be served either hot or cold, depending on the season.
 
Meals in a Pot
 
Nabemono
 
T
hese dishes favored by the Japanese are easy to prepare and fun to eat. They are designed for communal eating, as all the ingredients are cooked together in a large pot (usually earthenware), often at the dinner table over a flame. The hungry diners dive in together, eating the mélange of vegetables, tofu, noodles, and whatnot with their bowls of rice. Often there is a sauce for dipping.
Most of these dishes are perfect for cold wintery days, although some can be enjoyed year round. A savory broth results from cooking the cornucopia of ingredients.
Daikon, Atsu-Age and Spinach in a Miso Broth
 
Daikon to Atsu-Age No Nabe
 
1 large daikon radish (approximately 2 pounds)
4 cups
Konbu Dashi
(Konbu Stock), page 54
2 to 3 tablespoons miso
2 to 3 tablespoons soy sauce
12 ounces
atsu-age
(deep fried tofu), cut either into triangles with 1½-inch sides or 1-inch cubes
12 ounces fresh spinach
2 teaspoons sesame oil
 
Peel the daikon and cut it into 1-inch circles. Cut each circle in half to form semi-circles. Place in a pot with the dashi, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the miso, soy sauce, and
atsu-age
(deep-fried tofu), and simmer for another 15 minutes. The daikon should be very tender.
 
Clean the spinach thoroughly and trim the bottoms but do not throw them away; these will be used in the stew, as well, to add a little pink color and sweet flavor. Add the spinach bottoms, cook for a minute, then add the leaves and simmer until just wilted. Remove from the heat and add the sesame oil. Serve immediately with hot steamed rice.
 
Definitely cold weather food, thick slices of daikon, atsu-age (deep-fried tofu), and spinach (including the rosy end of the spinach stem usually discarded, but very sweet) are featured in this savory one-pot dish. Atsu-age (deep fried tofu) is available in Japanese markets.
 
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Sukiyaki
 
Sukiyaki
 
2 tablespoons oil (optional)
1 pound firm tofu, sliced
inch thick
½ pound seitan, sliced as thinly as possible (¼ inch thick or less) (optional)
¾ pound mushrooms, preferably some or all fresh shiitake mushrooms and enoki or
shimeji
(oyster mushrooms)
½ kabocha or butternut squash, cut into
-inch slices
2 zucchinis, thickly sliced, or ½ bunch broccoli, cut into spears
1 pound shirataki noodles (sometimes referred to as konnyaku noodles)
1 cup soy sauce
½ cup granulated sugar, FruitSource, or ¾ cup brown rice syrup
cup mirin
6 cups roughly cut napa cabbage, mustard greens, or kale
4 bunches green onions, cut into 3-inch lengths
4 cups mung bean sprouts (optional)
1 to 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger (optional)
 
Some of you may remember a pop tune called the “Sukiyaki Song” that hit the airwaves here some years ago. Whether or not you understood what sukiyaki was from the song, you will understand after tasting this why sukiyaki is so popular in Japan, as well as in Japanese restaurants here in the States.
 
Yield: 6 servings
Heat the oil in a deep, large skillet, and saute the tofu and seitan on both sides until browned. Push the tofu and seitan over to one side of the pan, add the mushrooms, and saute for another minute until browned. (These steps can be omitted if you would like to eliminate the oil. Simply place the tofu and seitan in the skillet, and follow the rest of the recipe).
 
Push the mushrooms to another part of the skillet, then add the squash, zucchini, and shirataki noodles, separately and in neat piles in the skillet. Combine the soy sauce, sweetener of choice, and mirin, and add to the skillet. When the contents have come to a boil, turn down the heat to a gentle simmer. Add the greens, green onions, and bean sprouts, all in separate piles, and continue simmering for a few minutes until the vegetables are tender. Add the ginger, cook another moment, then taste. If the broth is too salty, add some water. (The vegetables themselves will exude water; thus, the additional water is a matter of taste).
 
Each diner helps himself to the delectables in the skillet, eating them with an ample supply of rice. It should be noted that the sodium content is not as frightfully high as it would seem, since most of the liquid in the pot is not consumed.

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