Happy New Year 2017!

Osechi Dinner at Home (Photo by Emiko)

Happy New Year! I wish everybody a wonderful year of 2017!


I had such a busy final month of last year. So, I didn't really get to prepare anything for Christmas including even a gift for Jason, my husband! On Christmas eve, I could finally start to relax and actually enjoy the holiday season. We were invited to our friends' home for Christmas dinner. Peggye made rotisserie whole ducks!


Kabocha soup by Jody.


The duck was so delicious!


I made mixed mushroom rice with double-lid donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san". Then, Peggye sprinkled a generous amount of shaved white truffles and folded into my donabe rice dish. Such a decadent holiday version rice! It was a really nice fun dinner party.


On the very Christmas Day, Jason and I enjoyed very relaxed home dinner. I roasted chicken in my classic-style donabe, "Hakeme", and it came out really fantastic. This is a recipe I contributed to Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop.


What's great about living in LA is we can enjoy outdoor BBQ cooking in the middle of the winter. Another evening, we grilled 30-day dry-aged T-bone steak in our Santa Maria BBQ Grill.


It was sooo good.


Then, of course, we did a lot of donabe hot pot dishes during the holidays. With black cod and oysters, I made sake-kasu nabe (sake lees hot pot). On New Year's Eve, I made kamo nabe (duck hot pot), and ended the meal with the shime (final) course of soba (I used black bean soba, made from buck wheat and black beans from Tanba, Kyoto), cooked in the remaining broth. Eating soba on New Year's Eve is a Japanese tradition and we call it "Toshikoshi Soba". We eat soba to pray for good luck and longevity. For kamo nabe, I used my Kyoto-style shallow donabe, "Kyoto Ame-yu".


On New Year Day, I spent busy time making "Osechi Ryori", traditional Japanese New Year dishes. Among many dishes, I made a couple of dishes in donabe. Chikuzen-ni is a root vegetable stew, and I made it in my classic-style donabe. Then, I also made roasted beef in my soup & stew donabe, "Miso-shiru Nabe". I should write the recipe for this dish sometime in this blog.


The following evening, we invited a few friends over for our big Osechi Ryori dinner to celebrate the new year.


I couldn't take any good photos, but luckily Chago and Emiko sent me some photos they took.

Here's the menu.

1. Hoshigaki, stuffed with moshio-butter and roasted pine nuts
2. Kurikinton (puree of satsuma sweet potato, topped with sweet chestnuts
3. Kamaboko (fish cake) with homemade ponzu and wasabi
4. Datemaki (rolled omelet with fish cake)
5. Smoked salmon with ikura (salmon roe) and yuzu yogurt topping
6. Tazukuri (roasted dried fish with walnuts)
7. Karasumi Daikon (daikon radish slices, stuffed with bottarga and shiso)
8. Buri (Japanese winter yellowtail) carpaccio with ao-nori seaweed sauce
9. Kuromame-ni (premium black beans from Tanba, Kyoto, in sweet broth)
10. Shichi-fuku Namasu (a variety of root vegetables, sautéed and tossed in walnuts-vinegar sauce)
11. Sukiyaki of beef and pork belly
12. Udon "shime"

Hew, I did make many dishes! I go crazy every new year.


Then, Yuko, who is a professional pattisiere made a special dessert for everyone. It was matcha "chou cream" cream puffs. It was so delicious.

I had such a wonderful New Year celebration with friends and feel all the good luck for 2017!

Happy donabe life.

Smoked Ocean Trout Chirashi Sushi - New Recipe Video on YouTube!

Smoked Ocean Trout Chirashi Sushi

I've been having such a busy summer this year. But, I'm happy to announce that my new recipe video is released on Naoko's Happy Donabe Life YouTube channel!

It's Smoked Ocean Trout Chirashi Sushi, made in double-lid donabe rice cooker, Kamado-san!

The recipe link is here.
The recipe can be made with smoked salmon or other ingredients of your choice for topping.

With Kamado-san donabe, you can make the really tasty sushi rice in such an easy preparation. This recipe is also great for a party. Wonderful one-pot rice dish!

Happy donabe life.

Independence Day 2016

My asparagus & hijiki donabe rice (Photo by Jeni Afuso)

Last year, we hosted a pretty big July 4 BBQ party at home. I cooked all the dishes and we had a great time.

This year, Jason and I were playing with the idea of hosting again, then we realized there was no way, considering the crazy schedules we had been in and we had been quite burned out.

Then, our friends, Dylan and Jeni (they came to our BBQ last year) invited us to a BBQ at their home. Asami and Steve, who just returned to LA from 2-year residency in Nagoya, Japan, also joined. We all cooked and it became a fantastic gourmet July 4th BBQ dinner with friends.


Appetizers...I made watermelon salad (with Kyoto shichimi peppers and vinegar) and Thai-style grilled eggplant salad. Asami's kiriboshi daikon (dried daikon strips) and spinach salad was so tasty.


Skillet corn and crab meat by Dylan. The dish was seasoned with beer, nan pla and a dash of dukkah.


Grilled sausages and turmeric chicken by Asami & Steve. I loved the chicken so much.


Shichimi Chimichurri marinated skirt steak by Dylan. Wonderful texture and flavor.


I made asparagus and hijiki mochimugi rice with double-lid donabe rice cooker, Kamado-san. (Photo by Jeni) I was glad everybody loved it! I added a packet of mochi mugi barley (considered to be a superfood: even more health benefit than conventional barley) to the rice, because I love its texture and flavor. But, you can make it only with the rice, too. Please find the recipe below.


Such a fun evening of celebrating America's birthday with wonderful friends! (Photo by Asami)


Asparagus & Hijiki Rice
(Serves 4 - 6)

Equipment: Kamado-san (3 rice-cup size)

Ingredients:
5 ounces asparagus, tough bottom trimmed
Generous 1 tablespoon short dry hijiki seaweed
2 rice-cups (1 1/2 US cup or 360 ml) short grain rice, rinsed and drained
1 1/3 cups (320 ml) vegetable stock
2 tablespoons sake
1 tablespoon usukuchi shoyu
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Procedure:

1. Shave off 1/3 end of the asparagus skin. Cut the asparagus into 1/4" (6 mm) thick pieces, except for the tips.
2. Soak dry hijiki in a bowl with generous amount of water for 30 minutes. Rinse, drain and gently press out excess moisture. Set aside.
3. In Kamado-san, combine the rice with the stock, sake, and soy sauce and sea salt. Let the rice soak for 20 minutes.
4. Spread the hijiki over the rice. Cover Kamado-san with both lids and cook over medium-high heat for 13 - 15 minutes, or until 2 - 3 minutes after the steam starts puffing from the top lid.
5. Turn off the heat and let it stand, undisturbed, for 15 minutes.
6. Quickly open both lids and spread the asparagus over the rice. Cover with both lids again and let it rest for additional 5 minutes.
7. Uncover and fluff with a spatula. Serve into individual bowls.

***For mochi mugi barley version, add a packet (2 oz/ 60 g) of mochi mugi and 1/2 cup (120 ml) stock in step 3. Increase the amount of salt by a pinch.

Happy donabe life.

Kumamoto Relief Event and Dinner at Paley

Last weekent, at my friends beautiful shop, Tortoise General Store in Venice, there was a charity sales event to support the Kumamoto earthquake recovery efforts. I had a pleasure to be part of the event along with other local vendors and artisans to sell products to raise fund for Kumamoto relief.

I made matcha onigiri (green tea rice balls) topped with pickled cherry blossom flowers (recipe from my DONABE Cookbook). This is the same onigiri as I made at the Sakura Matsuri (cherry blossom festival) in DC last month and was very popular. So, I wanted LA people to taste these rice balls, too. I started prepping a night before and woke up very early in the morning to make 110 onigiri! Of course, all were made in my double-lid donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san"! Rice made in Kamado-san taste just so special and it makes really delicious onigiri. I used nice Uji matcha (green tea powder) from Kyoto and plum-flavored "Amabito no moshio" seaweed salt from Hiroshima, and Sakura no Shiozuke (pickled cherry blossoms) from Okayama, and put tons of love from me!


My husband, Jason, who was finally back from work travels joined me to help the event.


There were also Chef Kuniko's dan dan mein, Chef Shiho's matcha ice cream bonbons, Chef Yuko's graham crackers, and arts and crafts from many other artists/ vendors. Kuniko's dan dan mein was so delicious!

The event lasted two days (I joined Sunday), and about $6,500 was raised! All the proceeds will be donated to Kumamoto earthquake relief fund. I had a great time and am thankful to everybody who came to support Kumamoto!


After working full day (and spending all afternoon under the sun at the shop's patio), I was pretty tired and also hungry for a nice dinner. We had a reservation at Paley, a brand new stylish restaurant in Hollywood. We started with seafood plateau, which made a wonderful start of the night.


Butter lettuce and English peas salad. Beef tartare (seasoned with miso and gochujang). Both were so fresh and tasty. I loved the flavor combination of tartare and grapefruit.


Since my body needed a lot of energy, for my main course, I had dry-aged Manhattan steak. It was perfectly cooked to rare and the flavor was so rich in umami and delicious! The winner dish of the night.


Dessert was dark chocolate cremeux tart with yuzu gelee and blood orange compote. Very nice.

I really enjoyed the dinner and look forward to coming back again. I would love to try their brunch next time, too.

It was a wonderful day and I felt so fulfilled!

Happy donabe life.

DONABE Cooking Demonstration at Sakura Matsuri in Washington DC

(Photo by Motoko Oshino)

I arrived in Washington DC last Thursday to do a donabe cooking demonstration at Sakura Matsuri, annual Japanese street festival, as part of Cherry Blossom Festival on Saturday there.


On Friday, prior to the Saturday main event, I was invited as a speaker at JAPAN Bowl meeting for high school teachers who teach Japanese language in the US. It was such a pleasure to talk about my "happy donabe life" journey, and I was glad they enjoyed my presentation.
(Above two photos courtesy of the Japan-American Society of Washington DC)


In the afternoon, I started prepping for the cooking demonstration the next day. I made a test batch of rice with my double-lid donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san" to check the stove's condition in the prep kitchen. The donabe rice came out really perfect, just like in my kitchen, and I was so happy. (Above two photos by Masako Morishita)


On Saturday, the day of Sakura Matsuri, the the weather was so gorgeous with the beautiful blue sky. There was a huge line of people even before the venue opened at 10.30 in the morning. Every year, tens of thousands of people attend this event. (Photo courtesy of Reiko Hirai)


I spent busy hours cooking tasting samples of my dishes for the attendees before my demonstration. (Photo by Masako Morishita)


My demonstration was scheduled at 4 pm. When I arrived there, the event was in full swing and packed with people!


They are the audience for my donabe demonstration. All the seats were completely full and there was even a big standing crowd going outside of the tent! (Photo by Motoko Oshino)


I was ready! (Photo by Motoko Oshino)


My donabe cooking demonstration started. (Above two photos by Motoko Oshino)


I made Matcha Onigiri (green tea rice balls) and Shira-ae (vegetables, mixed in tofu cream). (Photo by Motoko Oshino)


(Above two photos by Yentzu Chen)



Tasting samples were passed around to the audience. (Above two photos by Yentzu Chen)



I had a great fun! (Above two photos by Motoko Oshino)


The demonstration was followed by book-signing session. There was a long line of people who came to talk to me and gave me such generous compliments about my demonstration. It was such an honor to do the presentation and meet so many wonderful people at this hugely popular and important event for Japan-US cultural exchange. (Above three photos by Motoko Oshino)


Wrapping the final night at a very local cool bar. I enjoyed DC-style BBQ!


I would like to thank Reiko (left), Masako (3rd from left) and Motoko (right), who realized my participation in this event and gave me all the help to make the presentation a big success!

Happy Donabe Life.