All The Small Things

Lately, I’ve been wanting to make my dinners super Japanese. It’s not in the way that you may think. My food already tastes delicious and authentic according to my Japanese audience/family. No, it’s in the type of dishes I give them. I was raised on and slightly prefer the one dish meal with little to no side dishes other than bread/pita/tortillas. However, that is not the Japanese way and probably contributes to why they are not as heavy as us Westerners. Small dishes are the epitome of a Japanese meal where not one takes precedence over the other. There is also a way to eat and place each plate which I learned from the little Elementary School students I taught. It’s something about eating in a triangle and it’s supposed to improve digestion.

Each meal consists of rice (grains), soup (miso mostly), fish or meat (protein), vegetable (braised) and vegetable (pickled). Almost all meals, including breakfast, follow this pattern. Here is one of my attempts at making some of the dishes.

Again, the main dish extravaganza is my jam and so I am still trying to learn how to do all this. However, I have some bomb dishes that I think have made their way to my Yagi hall of fame of small eats.

My first is my homemade takuan or pickled daikon. I borrowed this recipe from a Japanese American Facebook post but I changed some things since I thought it was a bit too sweet and sour.

Ingredients (takuan)

Daikon (peeled and sliced in 1/4 in circles) 1

Rice Vinegar (unsweetened) 1/2 c

Soy Sauce 2 c

Sugar 2 c

Salt 1 tbs

Water 3 c

First, place the daikon slices in a plastic bag with the salt and massage it so that all the pieces absorb the salt. Place the bag for 2-3 hrs in the refrigerator. After the 2-3 hrs have passed you can remove the water and blot each piece with a paper towel to further remove any moisture. Place the daikon back in the bag and add the other ingredients but only 1 c of the soy sauce and 2 c water and then place in the refrigerator. You will need to let this stand for 2 days. After two days, remove the liquid and add the remaining soy sauce and water. After 4-5 hours you can eat the finished takuan. Make sure to taste as the days pass as you may need to adjust sweet, salty or sour depending on your preferences.

Next on my list is kinpira gobo or carrot and burdock root sauté. Burdock root is not widely used in some parts of the US. However, it is very common in Japanese and Korean cooking. It’s actually quite delicious and is worth the experience.

Ingredients (kinpira gobo)

Carrots (peeled and chunked) 3

Gobo (peeled and chunked) 6

Sesame Oil 1 tbs

Soy Sauce 1 tbs

Mirin 1tbs

Cooking Sake 1 tbs

Sugar 1tsp

Sesame Seeds (garnish) 1 tsp

Sautee over medium heat the carrots and gobo with the sesame oil. Add the mirin and sake first so that the alcohol can evaporate. As the carrots become softer add the soy sauce and sugar. You still want a little crunch so you don’t have to cook it that long. Toss with sesame seeds as you plate. You also can make this into a kinpira gobo salad by adding and tossing with extra sesame oil and kewpie mayonnaise.

The next one I do if I have made miso soup with my homemade dashi so I don’t waste the konbu (kelp) that I used. It is called konbu tsukudani. Oddly enough, tsukudani doesn’t need to be made only with konbu. It magically makes anything into a rice topping from katsuo bushi (bonito flakes) to daikon. So, if you have any ingredients or veg looking to almost go bad you can tsukudani it!

Ingredients (konbu tsukudani)

Konbu (kelp) (leftover from your dashi and julienned)

Soy Sauce 1 tbs

Sugar 2 tbs

Water 2 tbs

Sesame Seeds 1 tsp

You want the konbu to carmelize and soften if it hadn’t already in the prior cooking process when making dashi. Let the sugar and soy eventually evaporate on a medium heat. Stirring only occasionally. Again you want the liquid to caramelize and the konbu to be completely softened, not like a gummy bear consistency. This is really great on top of rice, btw.

The next is my favorite if you don’t want to fuss too much. It is also great during the right time of year. It’s kabocha nimono or sweetly braised pumpkin. A good kabocha during the right season is amazing for tempura but even better braised as it is buttery and sweet in it’s own right. The Japanese kabocha can be found at most supermarkets and is unique because you can eat the rind if it is fried or boiled, soooo good.

Ingredients (kabocha nimono)

Kabocha (chunked and seeds taken out) 1

Mentsuyu 3 c

Water 3 c

Ginger (sliced for garnish) 1 tsp

Mentsuyu is basically noodle soup stock and is used so you don’t have to make a soba or udon soup from scratch. It is time consuming if you do so this is just an easy way for you not to have to think about the dashi, soy sauce, mirin, sake ratio which makes up mentsuyu.

Anyways, what you are going to do is cut and chunk the entire deseeded kabocha which is fairly small. You can then drop it in the pot with the tsuyu and water and let it sit on a medium heat until the rind gets soft and edible. Remove the liquid before plating and add the sliced ginger on top.

There are still many things that I just buy rather than make and they mainly have to do with the pickles which take time. Salads are an easy way to add a healthy veg to the mix.

The Asian supermarket has so many treasures that can take your dishes to new heights. So, don’t be afraid and try them out! And, as always, お召し上がれ！

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