Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Donabe catering project...6 Healthy Japanese Dishes for 50 People



Last Sunday, I did a big catering project for a wedding party.
In the past, I only specialized in catering for small groups, so it was going to be an exciting challenge to serve at a big party.

The wedding party was going to have about 100 invited guests, and I was requested to make 50 servings of assorted Japanese appetizers.  Besides my dishes, there was also going to be burger catering truck and Japanese takoyaki station.  What a great concept!

Most of last week until the wedding day were spent on shopping and prepping.
Then, the day of the service, I had the super helpers...Asami and Jason.  We worked non-stop from early morning on Sunday.  Asami and I cooked, and Jason cleaned.  We made a great team, and I can't thank them enough for all the professional help (including Asami taking nice pictures) they gave me!!

Here's the menu...4 vegetarian dishes (of which 3 were vegan) and a fish dish.


Japanese Appetizers
Menu


“Shira-ae” Creamy Tofu Salad
-Haricot Vert, Roasted Walnuts, Mix Seaweed,
in Creamy Paste of Meiji Tofu, Saikyo Miso & Kyoto Tamahime Vinegar-

Long Hijiki Seaweed & Lotus Root Salad
-Quick-braised with Abura-age and Carrot-

Cauliflower & Caramelized Sweet Onion with Soy Sesame Sauce

Cinnamon-scented Kabocha Pumpkin & Mozzarella Croquettes

Roasted “Shio-koji” marinated Scottish Salmon
-Topped with Tangy Lemon & Ume Salt Yogurt-

“Satsuma” Sweet Potato & Azuki Bean “Onigiri” Rice Balls
-Cooked in Donabe Rice Cooker, Kamado-san, from Iga, Japan-


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We never compromised in details.  Every piece of ingredients had our attention and care.  We also made multiple batches of donabe mixed rice for onigiri rice balls with the double-lid donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san".  I can't do catering without Kamado-san...I'm that attached to this donabe!  Some lucky people got to taste the onigiri with nice "okoge" crust.

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In the evening, we got to the venue and set up our station.  We originally wanted to take photos of the entire set-up before the service.  However, as we were getting the dishes out, it was too late...guests were ready to eat already!  (That's why we didn't even have a chance to take pictures of the hijiki and onigiri dishes with decoration.)

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Most of the dishes were gone in a matter of short time...I mean, really fast.  Can't ask for better compliment than that!  I was so happy that the guests seemed to like the flavors, and I could even hear some of them commenting nice things about the dishes.

It was such a beautiful party, and it was my honor to be part of it!