this and that

How cute are these teeny anpogaki from Fukushima prefecture?!

Where most anpogaki are gelatinous, this was more dried and firm.

Still delicious though.

On one of my trips to Shinagawa that I wrote about earlier this month, I had bought a small bag (33 grams) of these snackaballs made by Tom & Luke, a New Zealand company and had posted a picture on Instagram.

They contacted me and sent me two large bags (88 grams) of their snackaballs.

These are made from dates, cacao, almonds and coconut. 

They are gluten free and vegan, are great as snacks and I'm sure it will be nice with wine.

Thank you!

1st time making chikuzeni, which is similar to nishime.

It was pretty easy and fast to make because you cook everything in a shallow pan.

Chikuzeni adapted from "Aiba Manabu" : serves 4

100 grams gobo (burdock root)

150 grams renkon (lotus root)

1 carrot

250 grams boneless chicken thighs

150 grams konnyaku (devil's tongue jelly)

60 grams dried shiitake mushrooms

400 milliliters katsuo konbu (bonito & kelp) dashi (stock)

100 milliliters stock from reconstituted shiitake mushrooms

2 tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce)

2 tablespoons sake (rice wine)

2 tablespoons mirin (sweet rice wine)

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon oil

Cut the gobo and carrot into bite sized, rangiri style (which means random cutting), here is a link to show the rangiri cutting technique.

Cut the renkon into bite sized pieces.

With a spoon, cut the konnyaku into bite sized pieces.

Reconstitute the dried shiitake mushrooms, then cut into bite sized pieces.

Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces.

In a pan, heat the oil and then toss everything in to coat with the oil.

Add the stock, reconstituted shiitake liquid, shoyu, sake, mirin, sugar and bring to a boil.

Put an oshibuta (drop lid) on, turn the heat down to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes, longer if you want your veggies more tender.

NOTES: super easy! I didn't have dried shiitake, so I just used the shiitake stems I had in the freezer.

I didn't read the directions well and cut the konnyaku with a knife instead of using a spoon...oops!

Will definitely make this again.

Our numbers have sort of taken off, there is talk of another state of emergency “shutdown” but the main government wants to wait 3 weeks to see if our numbers can come down a little (they do not want to pay for another state of emergency)...for now Satoshi still goes into the office but on weekends and the weekdays he is off, we try to lay as low possible...take care everyone and have a safe weekend.