Donabe recipe...Miso-lime Jumbo Shrimp in Iga-yaki Toban

When I don't have time, this dish saves so much time and makes a very nice savory main course.  I love it!  You just quickly marinade the shrimp and cook in the Iga-yaki donabe skillet, "Toban".  Once it's ready, you can take the toban right to the table to enjoy.

Miso-lime Jumbo Shrimp in Toban

1. To make the marinade, whisk together 2T miso, 1 clove garlic (grated), 1tsp grated ginger, 2T lime juice, 1tsp sake, 1/2T sesame oil, and 1.5T olive oil.
2. Peel 8 jumbo shrimp and marinade in the miso sauce for 10-15 minutes.


3. Pan-sear the shrimp in the oiled Toban both sides until cooked through.


4. Serve with cilantro and some la-yu (hot chili oil)

Happy donabe life.

Donabe Goulash...best kind I've had.

From Budapest, I brought home some ingredients for Goulash.


These were sold together as a "Goulash set". Hungarian paprika powder (hot), gulyas cream (paste of paprika, tomato, and some spices), and cumin seeds. If paprika is Hungary's national ingredient, Goulash is its national dish. Goulash is a stew of beef in paprika-based soup.

And, I made it with Japan's finest, Iga-yaki donabe! I used my medium-size classic-style donabe, "Hakeme", to make this dish.


Meat: 2 pounds of beef shank (I got very fine grass-fed organic beef shank). Cut the meat into large cubes, season with salt & pepper, dust with flour, and sear in olive oil in a pan, just until the meat is browned both sides. Set aside.


In the donabe, sauté 2 onions (minced) and 2 cloves of garlic (thinly-sliced) in 2T olive oil until the onion is very soft. Add 1/2 medium-size carrot (small-diced).


Add 1tsp cumin seeds, 2 bay leaves, 1/4C paprika powder, 1/4C gulyas cream, 2T tomate sauce, and browned beef. Stir. Deglaze with 1/4C white wine.


Add 2 potatoes (diced), 2.5C water, and a dry paprika (optional). Bring to a boil, and reduce to simmer.  Line the surface with a drip lid (or a piece of parchment paper). Cover with a lid and simmer for 1 hour. Add half can of white beans and continue to simmer for 30 more minutes.


Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. The authentic donabe goulash is ready.


To serve, you can top the soup with sour cream, which Hungarian people love very much!
It became the best goulash I've made...the flavor was so deep and the meat was so tender. And, the best part was the bone marrow...my cheeks felt so perky the next morning (psychological? haha.) I used the gulyas cream for the first time and liked it very much. But, once I use it up, I think I can still make a very good goulash without it.

Happy donabe life.

Roasted whole arctic char and mushrooms

This past visit in Italy was a great one. Foods from near coastal areas of Friuli were full of fresh vegetables and seafood, and I especially enjoyed their simple preparations.

As soon as I returned to LA, the first dish I wanted to do was a simple roasted fish with olive oil! So, the morning after I came back from Italy, I drove to LA Fish Market to pick up a whole arctic char from New Zealand. It weighed 3 pounds, and so shiny fresh.


The preparation was very easy. I drizzled olive oil on parchment paper, put a couple of long twigs of rosemary, and the cleaned arctic char on the rosemary. I stuffed a few twigs of rosemary inside the cavity and rubbed more olive oil on the fish skin. Fish was lightly seasoned with salt. The tail was coated with extra salt to prevent it from burning during cooking.


Shimeji and shiitake mushrooms were arranged around the fish and tossed in some salt, pepper, and olive oil. Then, I just roasted the fish at 425F in the oven for 25-10 minutes.

To serve, fish was deboned and served into individual plates, and seasoned with salt, pepper, a little squeeze of lemon, and good drizzle of olive oil.

Totally pure and delicious. Reminded me of Friuli!

Trip to Europe (Hungary) Fall 2012...Going Home

(Tuesday, October 23)

After 3 nights in Budapest, it was finally time to go back to LA. I didn’t want to leave!


Koroko and Ryosuke took me to the airport to see me off. They are moving to Moscow in a few weeks, so I want to visit them there next time. I will miss them until then! Koroko gave me the most generous hospitality in this stay and I can’t thank her enough.


The journey back to LA was long but pleasant again, because I got to fly first class. On the Budapest-Frankfurt flight, I had small bites from a light meal of mysterious items.


Flight going back from Frankfurt started with Vegetable spring roll and ginger prawn skewer with chili sauce. It was followed by Wild mushroom and asparagus soup, and Fresh seasonal greens.


For the main course, I normally choose fish, but the choice was tilapia, which I think is a boring fish generally. So, I picked Tenderloin of beef with port wine sauce, fried onions, asparagus-filled pasta, spaetzle, carrots and zucchini. The tenderloin turned out to be very good! To finish, I had cheese and port, then I got too full to do dessert.

Wines were pretty nice, too. I had the following selections.

2006 Nicolas Feuillatte, Champagne Brut
2008 Bouchard Pere & Fils, Beaune du Château 1er Cru Blanc
2009 Chateau Fourcas Dupre, Listrac-Medoc, Cru Bourgeois
2009 Paul Jaboulet Aine, Crozes-Hermitage, "Les Jalets"


Before arrival, there was mysterious chicken wrap...

At LAX, Jason came to pick me up. It was so happy to see my most wonderful husband in 2 weeks!

Trip to Europe (Hungary) Fall 2012...Central Market Hall of Budapest

(Monday, October 22)

After lunch, we took a tram for a few stops.


We went to Nagycsarnok (Central Market Hall) of Budapest. It’s the largest indoor market in Budapest and is like a “kitchen” of the local people there. Koroko said that since it was Monday and also a day before the national holiday (“National Day”), there were not as many venders open as on a regular day. Also, the selection of the fresh produce and meat was smaller today.


Nevertheless, I was so excited to check out all the local ingredients. They eat a lot of meat in Hungary, so there were many butchers and salami venders. And, of course, tons of paprika!


We walked around the neighbor area again and did some shopping.


We took a break at a historic café called, CENTRAL. The café is more than 100 years old, and they are famous for a variety of traditional cakes and pastries. I had a tart , it’s made of shortbread, plum jam, poppy seeds, walnuts, apple, steamed in white wine. It was not too sweet and very nice taste.


We also stopped by at another very old bakery and standing bar.


For dinner, we had dinner at home. Koroko put together a very nice meal! We had two Hungarian wines, and a variety of both Hungarian and Japanese dishes. Miso-marinated Hungarian pork was great. What a delicious fun night!