Beauty(?) Drink

I don't know what to call it, but I make and drink it every day. I feel this drink is helping my healthy body and skin.

I never measure...but it's about 1C soymilk (unsweetened), 1/2 scoop protein powder, some kinako (Japanese roasted soy powder), some ground black sesame seeds, some powdered green tea (it's powdered "sencha", which has more health benefits than matcha powder), some drops of nigari (extracted sea water). I just put them in a container and shake briskly. I also often mix them with fruits in VitaMix.

It tastes so good and I consider it as a "reward" after jogging and some workout in the morning. When I'm jogging, I tell myself, "once it's over, I can drink it!"

Here's "The Works" version, with fresh strawberries and frozen blueberries (so the drink comes out cold). VitaMix is great as it makes them into very smooth drink (it even grinds sesame seeds finely). After drinking it, I felt like a winner!

Saturday "Farmers Market" Home Dinner

It was such a beautiful day last Saturday. So, we drove down to Torrance for shopping at their farmers' market.

We bought a lot of vegetables as well as seafood.

Then, we drove up to Gardena to pick up some tofu at Meiji Tofu. After the shopping, we had lunch at Otafuku. They make very good soba. I had their Kikouchi Soba (made of 100% buckwheat) with tororo (grated mountain yam) in the dipping sauce. Nice.

With all the ingredients from the farmers market, I made a simple meal. Roasted beet salad, oven-baked herb barramundi (wild-caught from New Zealand), and steam-fry kale and dry chanterelle mushrooms (made with my tagine-style donabe, "Fukkura-san").

Very satisfying.

Mini donabe recipe...Simple "Nabe-yaki" Udon

I love my new mini donabe collection, which flew straight from Iga, Japan recently.

This is my new small-size classic-style donabe, "Rikyu-Tokusa". The details are the same as the regular (medium) size Rikyu-Tokusa. It's, of course, also handmade.

One of the dishes I always wanted to make with a mini donabe was single serving udon noodle. In Japanese, it's called "Nabe-yaki Udon" (udon, cooked and served in the same pot). So, I made it! I made the broth in the mini-donabe, added abura-age (fried tofu pouch...which soaks the broth so nicely) and wakame seaweed. Udon was partially cooked separately and added to the donabe and cooked longer to finish. (Or, if you use frozen udon, you can add it directly to the donabe.)

It's such a simple dish and so easy/quick to make, and I never get tired of it!

Here's the basic udon recipe. To apply it to single-serving "Nabe-yaki" style, simply cut the recipe amount into half, and cook the broth in the small donabe.

Happy donabe life.

Mini donabe recipe...Shrimp Wontan and Daikon Soup

I've been eating out more than I've been cooking lately...so, I'm sorry that I haven't been able to post recipes as often as I would like. In the past 7 days, I've dined at more than 10 restaurants including lunch. I've been too busy to take food pictures...but maybe I can give some local resto report sometimes.

But, back to donabe cooking, which is what I truly LOVE.

My new mini donabe pots are really great. They are perfect for single-serving meal, or a small dish to share. Here's my super cute small-size classic-style donabe, "Yu Kizeto".

With this donabe, I made quick Chinese-style soup with shrimp wontan and daikon slices in it. This is perfect for 2-3 appetizer servings. The shrimp filling itself is the same recipe as the filling for previous post's "Shrimp-stuffed abura-age". So, you can make some extra filling and use it to make both dishes, if you like.

Well, I like making my own chicken stock from scratch, but if you are in a rush, you can use an instant chicken stock powder (make sure there is no MSG!). This recipe is so easy, once you have the chicken stock. As soon as everything is cooked through (it takes just a couple of minutes for the shrimp wonton to cook), garnish the soup with minced scallion. You can serve as is, or...

I like topping the soup with Korean seaweed. It adds the nice extra flavor.

You can find the recipe on toiro's website. Hope you will try it.

Happy donabe life.

Toban (donabe skillet) cooking 2...Shrimp stuffed crispy abura-age

I was in a mood for Izakaya-style small dishes.

One of the dishes I made for the night was another quick dish with my brand-new Toban (donabe skillet). I made Shrimp-stuffed crispy abura-age (fried tofu pouch). This is another super simple dish.

I made shrimp filling (minced shrimp, ginger juice, egg white, etc.), then stuffed it in abura-age (fried tofu pouch). The stuffed abura-age pieces were arranged in Toban and cooked both sides until crispy.

The finished stuffed abura-age was garnished with grated daikon, soy sauce, cilantro, and scallion. That's it! The sizzling sound and aroma of soy sauce was quite irresistible. And the texture of abura-age was crispy and so nice. It was so easy to make and so delicious.

I have posted the recipe on toiro's website. Hope you will try it sometimes.

Happy donabe life.

Toban (donabe skillet) cooking...Quick Tofu Steak

I'm already in deep love with my new black TOBAN (Iga-yaki donabe skillet).

Here's my brand new black toban with handles. I hope you can see the rustic "wabi-sabi" beauty, which is an inherent characteristic of authentic Iga-yaki donabe. It's so beautiful that I can't keep my eyes off it.

My first dish with this toban was simple Tofu Steak! I simply seared sliced tofu with enoki mushrooms and drizzled soy sauce to finish. Tofu was so hot and fluffy inside. It made a great izakaya-style dish.

You can find the recipe on toiro's website.

Happy donabe life.

Donabe News 2...New Products "mini" classic-style donabe collection

Our collection is now growing bigger and even better.

We now have selections of "mini donabe", which a small-size classic-style donabe pots. Small-size donabe can hold over 3 cups (750 ml) of liquid inside, so it's perfect for single serving hot pot, stew, or for making a small side dish for a group dinner.

This is small-size "Yu Kizeto". It's a extreme light-weight donabe. The design is so unique and beautiful.

This one is small-size "Rikyu-Tokusa". The detailed design is the same as the regular (medium-size) Rikyu-Tokusa...this one is just smaller!

I couldn't wait to start cooking with these cute new additions to my collection. So, as soon as I opened the boxes, I started to "season" both donabe pots by making rice porridge in them with some leftover rice. This process is very simple and easy (it's a one-time process). As soon as the seasoning is done, both donabe are ready to go.

And, yes, our first mini-donabe, "Hakeme" is also available. I think in this new shipment, the brush work of mini Hakeme is slightly bolder than before and gives the great impact in the kitchen.

Every donabe is hand-made by skilled craftsmen at Nagatani-en in Iga, Japan, and it takes about 2 weeks to make each donabe. So, even under the same design category, each one of them has slightly different details from each other. Yes, each donabe of Nagatani-en is one-and-only in the world.

Above donabe products are available to order on toiro's website.

Happy donabe life.

Donabe News 1...New Product "Toban" (Donabe skillet)

The new shipment from Iga, Japan has arrived finally.

With the arrival, now Kamado-san (3 rice-cup size), and other out-of-stock items are available again! Please check out toiro's Products Page for more info/ order.

We also have some new additions to our lineup! One of the new items is TOBAN (donabe skillet). This is a ceramic skillet which is works on gas stove-top, oven, or even microwave. No pre-seasoning before the first usage is necessary. You can cook in this beautiful toban and bring it right to the table to serve. This handy skillet is great for quick Izakaya/ tapas-style dishes, such as steak, stir-fry, quick simmered sukiyaki, a la plancha, etc.

I've already made a few easy delicious dishes with this toban, so I want to post the pictures soon.

You can find more information about this toban in its product page on our website.

I'm so excited.

Happy donabe life.

(*Top photo...serving image of toban, by Nagatani-en.)

Sake-kasu marinated cod in coconut lemongrass sauce

I marinated cod in sake-kasu (sake lees paste).


One pound of cod filets were seasoned with salt and refrigerated for about 30 minutes beforehand. For the marinade, I blended about 6 oz sake-saku (hard paste) and enough amount of mirin (about ¼ cup?) to make the paste smooth to spread. Each piece of fish was coated all over with the marinade, covered, and let refrigerated for 24 hours. When the fish was ready, I wiped off the marinade with papertowel.


The marinated fish is great to serve by simple grilling or baking, but this time, I made one-pot donabe steamed dish with my tagine-style donabe, “Fukkura-san”.


First, in the skillet of Fukkura-san, I sautéed shallot, ginger, garlic, and lemongrass in olive oil. Added some wild chanterelle mushrooms (gift from my friend who picked them). When the mushrooms became soft, curry powder was added and stirred, and some kabocha and top parts of lemongrass were added.

　
Sake, coconut milk, soft sake-kasu and some water were added, then topped with sake-kasu marinated fish (marinate was already wiped off). It was covered and cooked for about 10 minutes.


An easy one-pot tagine-style donabe dish was ready. The aroma was so beautiful! The entire donabe was served at the table and served with some cilantro and scallion.

The taste was really nice. The addition of sake-kasu in the sauce made a big difference. You can also make this dish without marinating the fish (just season the fish with salt and pepper) and it would still taste nice, but I love the sake-kasu marinated fish in this dish, since it gives nice deep flavor.

Here’s my recipe.

Sake-kasu marinated cod in coconut lemongrass sauce

Ingredients – 2 hearty servings
(for large-size “Fukkura-san”)

1 pound cod filet
salt
6 oz sake-kasu (hard paste)
¼ cup mirin

1 clove garlic, minced
½ tablespoon minced ginger
1 shallot, thinly-sliced
1 lemongrass, inner bottom part only, lightly pounded and thinly-sliced (keep the remaining part for infusing the sauce)
1 tablspoon sesame oil
4 oz chanterelle or your choice of mushrooms, sliced
½ tablespoon curry powder (optional)
2 tablespoons sake
1/8 medium-size kabocha, cut into small slices

1 cup coconut milk
1-2 tablespoons sake-kasu (“Ginjo” soft paste)
2 tablespoons nam pla (Asian fish saue)
1 teaspoon raw brown sugar
¼ cup water

Condiments…some cilantro, thinly-sliced scallion and la-yu (hot chili oil)

Procedure
1. To make the marinade, by using a food processor, blend 6 oz sake-kasu and mirin. Add more mirin if the paste is too thick.
2. Cut the fish filet into smaller pieces and season lightly with salt (both sides). Let rest in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Pat dry with papertowel.
3. In a shallow container, spread all over the fish with the marinade. Cover and let rest in refrigerator for 24 hours.
4. Wipe off the marinade from the fish (or you can lightly rinse with cold water), pat dry with papertowel and set aside.
5. Whisk together the coconut milk, soft sake-kasu, nam pla, sugar, and water. Set aside.
6. In the skillet of Fukkura-san, sauté the garlic, ginger, shallot, and lemongrass. When they are soft and aromatic, add the mushrooms and continue to sauté. Add the curry powder and sauté until aromatic.
6. Deglaze with sake. Add the kabocha and remaining lemongrass (stalk). Arrange the fish on the top.
7. Add the sauce mixture to the skillet and cover. Cook over medium to medium+ heat for about 10 minutes or until everything is cooked through. Turn off the heat and let sit for 3-5 minutes.
8. Serve at a table with the condiments.

Happy donabe life.

Donabe English Pea Rice (“Ao-mame Gohan”)

Spring is here.


So I made Ao-mame Gohan. Rice was cooked with fresh English peas. It's so simple to make...just combine the rice, water, sake, salt, dry kelp, and fresh peas. Then, you just cook it in double-lid donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san", just like making regular plain rice.


What a nice seasonal treat. Donabe rice was perfect. Simplicity becomes beauty.
You can find the recipe on toiro’s website.

Happy donabe life.