Tonight's Donabe Dinner..."Shinmai" New Crop Rice and Tonjiru (Pork Soup)

Autumn is the season for new crop rice. We call it "Shinmai".


We, Japanese people, always get very excited about cooking the shinmai in the season. I picked up a bag of "shinmai" Koshihikari rice from a Japanese store. Because shinmai tend to contain more moisture than older kind, when you cook it, you want to use a little less water for the best result. Also, because of the same reason, shinmai is not considered to be suitable for sushi (sushi rice made with shinmai tend to become too mushy). Shinmai is best served plain so that you can enjoy the real pure "fresh" flavor and texture of the new crop.


I cooked the shinmai with my donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san". It came out so shiny and nicely sticky. From the plain white rice recipe, I used a couple of tablespoons less water to cook 2 rice-cups of the shinmai.


With the soup and stew donabe, "Miso-shiru Nabe", I also made the hearty Tonjiru (pork soup). This time, I made it with also seasonal Satsuma Imo (sweet yam), instead of the regular potato. Delicious.

Donabe Kuri Gohan (Chestnuts Rice with Donabe)

Autumn is here.


It's time for making Kuri Gohan (Chestnuts Rice) with donabe! I have a lot of childhood memories with Kuri Gohan, since it was one of my favorite dishes my mom made when I was a child. I remember my mom made chestnuts rice almost every week during the season for the family, despite the labor-intensive process of peelingi the shells.

This is a very simple recipe and is always good.


First, boil the chestnuts for 5 minutes, so that the shells become softer to peel. Drain. Peel the shell (and the inner skin) with a pairing knife. Start from the bottom part. If the peeled one is very big, cut it into half.


12-15 chestnuts are enough for 2.5 rice-cups (450 ml) of rice. But since I love the chestnuts so much, I did 20 of them today.


In the donabe pot (double-lid donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san"), combine the 2 rice-cups (360 ml) of short grain rice, 1/2 rice-cup (90 ml) of sweet rice (both rinsed), 440 ml water, 1 tablespoon mirin, 1 tablespoon light soy sauce, 2 tablespoon sake, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. top the rice with a 2" x 2" piece of dashi konbu (dry kelp) and chestnuts. Close both lids and let it sit for 20 minutes. Then, cook over medium-high heat for 15 minutes. Remove the donabe from the heat and let it rest for 20 minutes.


The rice is ready! Remove the kombu (you can snack on it) and fluff the rice with a paddle.


I enjoyed this seasonal treat so much. Thanks to the donabe rice cooker, the chestnuts became really "nutty" sweet and had the wonderful texture. Rice was nicely slightly sticky with a little addition of the sweet rice.


For more information about the donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san", and recipes, please check out toiro's website.

Tonight's Donabe dish...Healthy Kurobuta Pork Belly and Daikon Hot Pot

After coming back from Cannes, I'm so happy that I'm back on donabe cooking this week.

I made this easy, yet very delicious and healthy one pot dish by using the classic-style donabe.
You can basically cook everything (except for pre-cooking the meat) in one pot and serve it at the table.


I made a broth with about 1 liter of dashi stock, 5 tablespoons of each mirin and light soy sauce in the donabe.


Once the broth is hot, I added the hakusai (Napa cabbage), tofu and shiitake mushrooms and cooked for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a separate pot, I boiled the water and blanched the pork belly slices. The meat was lightly marinated with salt and sake, then dredged with katakuriko (potato starch). Blanching the meat in a separate pot is an extra work and you could omit, if you prefer. But, by doing so, this will not only remove the excess fat of the pork but also the meat will taste very tender.


The blanched pork and enoki mushrooms were added to the pot, followed by the grated daikon. To finish, in order to thicken the broth slightly, I drizzeled in 1 tablespoon of kuzuko (dissolved with the same amount of water) to the broth.


That's it! With all the vegetables and juicy pork belly, you can enjoy the complex deep flavors. It's great with the donabe rice, cooked with Kamado-san.


The recipe for this dish will be available on toiro's website very soon. So, please check back frequently.

Tonight's Donabe Dinner...Tara Chiri Nabe (Cod Hot Pot)

The weather has been cooling down dramatically...it's becoming a perfect season for donabe hot pot dishes.

Tonight's dish requires a classic style donabe. It's a very versatile multi-purpose donabe.


We did simple Tara Chiri (cod hot pot) tonight. The broth is simply infused with the dashi kombu (dry kelp), which was removed once the broth is ready. Then, we just cooked the ingredients and dipped them in the homemade ponzu sauce with condiments.



Tara (cod) is one of the popular ingredients for the hot pot. Therefore, there is even a specific name for the cod hot pot dish. Besides the cod, we cooked the regular hot pot items, such as hakusai (Napa cabbage), mushrooms, kuzukiri, yuba, tofu, etc.

So delicious!


As a "shime" (finish), we cooked udon noodles.

For more information about the classic donabe and recipes, please check out toiro's website.

Back to Donabe Cooking!.......Chicken Tomato Curry Again

I brought back some spices from France. So, I made the Chicken Tomato Curry with the Miso-Shiru Nabe (Soup and stew donabe) again.


First, I sauteed the minced onion until they are browned and very soft.


Instead of using the diced tomatoes, I used a small can of tomato sauce today. It turned out very nice and smooth. Also, instead of Kabocha, I used potatoes.


Cumin rice was cooked with Kamado-san (double-lid donabe rice cooker), and it was so shiny and tasty. With the fresh spices from France, the flavor was more pronounced and just great. I love curry and rice.

B-Day Dinner at Elite Restaurant

My dear friends treated me to a dinner at Elite Restaurant in Monterey Park for my birthday celebration. Elite is my favorite Chinese restaurant in LA!


We had the fantastic meal with the wonderful wines.


Among the dishes were.... Roasted meat, including suckling pig. Shrimp. Minced Squab in lettuce cup. Lobster Special, Steamed Live Cod, Seafood Chow Mein, House Special Fried Rice, etc. etc.


I had such a great time with my special friends.

Fromage Night

I brought a lot of wonderful cheeses from France back home again. It's becoming a tradition to do a cheese course in the evening every time I return from France.


We had Pont l'Eveque, Mont d'Or, Beaufort, and chevre from Provence's local farm. The pain de campagne (bread) was picked up in the morning before I left Cannes.


Dessert was the macarons from L'Atelier Jean-Luc Pele!

We tasted "France" at home.

Trip to Cannes (Fall 09) Day 7...From Zurich to LAX

I was going back to Los Angeles today. From Nice Airport, I first flew to Zurich and there was just a little over 1 hour connection. I barely made it to the flight leaving Zurich for LAX.

I had a pleasant flight with Swiss Air.


For lunch, I had Veal Salad, and the main course was Fried Trout with Mint Rice.


Before the arrival, I had the Duck and Cold Thai Noodle.