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.

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.

Donabe Sushi Rice for Chirashi Sushi

My Tasmanian Ocean Trout Chirashi Sushi

I was invited to my friend's birthday dinner.

My friend and her husband import premium seafood to the US, and they generously provided all the seafood for us to cook for the dinner party.

I was assigned to Tasmanian ocean trout. It was freshly filled, packed, and delivered to the kitchen just a day after the fish arrived to LA. So, I made sashimi of this super fresh fish, first.


White gloves on! Jody and Jimmy took these silly looking photos of me, as well as the top photo...thank you!


I made sushi rice with my double-lid donabe rice cooker, Kamado-san, and spread half of the sliced ocean trout over the sushi rice (garnished with thinly sliced omelet and chopped red shiso). You can find the basic chirashi sushi recipe in toiro kitchen's website here. Just change the toppings to make variations. The dish was a huge hit at the party! Of course, the quality of the fish was outstanding, and people were also just so amazed by how delicious the sushi rice itself was. I received comments from many people that they could actually taste each grain of the rice and the flavor was so delicious. I must say, it's because the rice was made in Kamado-san! It's the donabe magic.


I also made crab salad.


There were so many dishes and also wines...9 to 10 seafood courses and a dozen wines (among 10 people)! What a feast!

Happy doanbe life.

Back in LA...First Home Supper

I came back to LA after a fun 2-week stay back in Japan.


Every 3-4 months, this is the scene after I return from Japan and unpack. This time, on top of what's on the table, I got a big box of 3 sets of nice summer bowls and plates, which was shipped from Kyoto to LA.

Jason said he missed my Japanese cooking so much while I was away. I was also ready for a humble home dinner after all the eating outs past couple of weeks.


This "suribachi" (mortar) is the same kind the shojin cooking teacher was using at her 350-year-old temple in Tokyo. She told me where I can find it, so I bought it and hand-carried all the way back to LA. It was really heavy! But, it's just so gorgeous. So, the first thing I made with was, of course, Goma Tofu (sesame tofu). I got Jason's help to ground the sesame...we kept grinding non-stop for 50 minutes. The Goma Tofu was served in the new summer bowls.


I steam-roasted asparagus in my tagine-style donabe, "Fukkura-san", to make a simple side dish with sesame miso sauce. Yes, I used my brand new mortar again for this dish. Another side dish was baby potato and edamame in peanut sauce.


Two kinds of fried dishes...Corn and okra "kakiage" tempura, and "Shinbikiko" chicken tender "kara-age".


Junmai Ginjo "Hokushinryu" Nigori sake from Nagano prefecture was so mellow and soft. We also had "Matsuba kombu" (thinly-sliced braised kelp, seasoned in ground sansho peppers) from Kyoto, and miso soup, plus of course, donabe rice!

Happy donabe life.