Donabe cooking classes...December dates are announced!

*Photo Credit: All the pictures of this posting were taken by Mr. Antonis Ricos. Thank you so much for all the wonderful photos, Antonis-san!

Last Saturday, we hosted another donabe cooking class. The theme was Donabe Shojin Dishes: Holiday Detox Meal. "Shojin" cuisine is Japanese Buddhist-style vegan food, but it's not just for Buddhist or vegan people. Shojin cuisine runs in the core of Japanese traditional everyday diet, and (whether you are vegetarian or meat eater) we all enjoy these vegan dishes naturally in Japan.

And now, I am happy to announce that we have 2 more donabe cooking classes in December...yes, our last classes of the year!

December 3 (Sat) 11.00 am: We added another date of Donabe Shojin Dishes

December 17 (Sat) 11.00 am: Japanese New Year Dishes

For more details (including menu), and to sign-up, please visit the Donabe Cooking Class page of toiro's website.

We hope you can come!

Happy donabe life.

New hobby...Making sun-dried mushrooms

I've been so crazy about drying mushrooms lately.

In different (Japanese) publications, I'd read about home-dry mushrooms. But, it wasn't until I watched a Japanese science TV show recently that I decided to make my own dried mushrooms. The show was introducing how much the flavor and texture will improve by drying mushrooms under the sun.

The process is very easy. You put mushrooms in baskets and leave them under the sun for 1-3 days. After one day, mushrooms will be only slightly dried. After two days, you can make nice "semi-dry" mushrooms (my favorite stage). Three-day process will make them even dryer. I did Enoki (cut off the bottom and separate into small bunches by hand), shiitake (sliced), eryingi (sliced), and maitake (cut off the bottom). During the process, I simply turn them over sometimes to make sure the even result.

By sun-drying mushrooms for a couple of days, the umami level will multiply...for enoki, the umami flavor will be 13 times as much compared to fresh enoki.

My two-day sun-dried mushrooms. You can put them in tight-sealed bags and keep in the refrigerator for a week or so. When you want to use them, just rinse them lightly before cooking.

I've been making sun-dried mushrooms almost every day lately...I'm so crazy about it! The flavors turn so deep and so amazing. I've been making a lot of hot pot donabe dishes with my sun-dried mushrooms. They are incredible. I'm serious.

My Donabe at home

Here is my donabe collection at home...

Iga-yaki donabe are not only amazing cookware, but also they are so beautiful to look at. I often just like to admire each donabe's wabi sabi beauty.

Each donabe has its own character. You can find more about authentic Iga-yaki donabe at our website. www.toirokitchen.com These donabe are available to order online.

Happy donabe life.

Making miso-marinated tofu

Here’s my miso-marinated tofu…it’s always so good.

Medium-firm tofu was cut into half and its excess moisture was drained (with a weight on top) for over night. Tofu was then pat-dried with paper towel. For the marinade, I mixed ½ cup miso (I use my almost 2-year-old homemade), 1.5T agave syrup (can be substituted with honey), and 1.5T kefir (can be substituted with yogurt).


For a piece of tofu, ¼ amount of miso-marinade is spread on a plastic wrap. Tofu was placed over it, then another ¼ amount of miso-marinade was put on the top. Miso was spread all over the tofu. Then, wrap it tightly. Do the same with the other piece of tofu.


They were put in a Ziploc bag, then kept in the refrigerator. It’s ready to enjoy after 3 days, but after 1 week is even better. After 2 weeks, tofu becomes dense and creamy like cream cheese, and the flavor is so deep! To taste, you can gently wipe off the miso marinade from tofu and slice into desired size pieces.

My favorite is 2-week-old kind. It’s quite addictive (especially for sake lovers). Here's the 2-week-marinated tofu. The miso marinade was gently wiped off and tofu was sliced to serve. The condiment of choice was simple wasabi paste. The texture of tofu was exactly what I expected. So dense and creamy. And the flavor was massive umami paradise! Sake please!

You can also serve it with crackers. It makes a nice passed hors d'oeuvres.

Asian comfort foods in LA

Last week...

Lunch at Tsujita LA on Sawtelle Blvd. They finally started serving ramen for lunch. I had tsuke-men (ramen with dip). The sauce was really deep. For the leftover dipping sauce, they added some dashi stock to it to drink.

Lunch at Olympic Cheonggukjang in Koreatown. Now they have menu with pictures...how sweet. I had their signature Cheonggukjang (3-day fermented soy bean stew). I loved the slightly "natto-ey" smell of the soup.

Last Saturday, we were invited to our friend's birthday party in Marina del Ray. After the party, we were hungry and had a late-night "snack" at Pho Cafe in Silverlake. We barely made it before their closing time at 12.00 am. I had the vermicelli noodle with tofu and vegetables. It certainly satisfied my hunger.

Donabe cooking class report...Izakaya dishes with Fukkura-san at Tortoise General Store in Venice

My first donabe cooking class since coming back from Europe was at Tortoise General Store last Saturday.

The theme was Izakaya dishes with tagine-style donabe, "Fukkura-san". We made 4 different dishes (all one-pot dishes!) by using Fukkura-san.

I was having fun getting ready before everybody arrived.

After making donabe steam-roasted potatoes (served with creamy yuzu-kosho dip), I showed how to make crunchy lotus root with soy-black vinegar sauce.

I also made steam-fry curry yakisoba, and sake lover's kurobuta pork sukiyaki.

These pictures were taken from the rehearsal...crunchy lotus root, steam-fry curry yakisoba, kurobuta pork sukiyaki.

What a fun group we had. I was so glad everybody enjoyed the class and tasting these donabe dishes.

Happy donabe life.