the past couple of days

The weekend was forecast for the coldest front in many moons.

The weather dude even forecast that Okinawa may even get some snow!

Whoa?!

We bought some water for drinking, just in case the power went out.

My survival skills go only as far as for hurricanes, so this blizzard thing was new to me.

Luckily (read disappointedly), we didn't have ANY snow.

In fact, the sun came out for the most part of the day.

Still, we didn't go outside, the wind was pretty icy.

Oh well, at least I got to finish a book I was reading.

Dinner was a nabe (hot pot) of pork belly, hakusai (chinese cabbage), a can of diced tomato, dashi (stock) and curry powder.

We also had some really pale gyoza...I still need to get the hang of cooking gyoza...

To end, we made ojiya and added some rice and cheese.

Hope your weekend was a good one.

sunday dinner

Awhile back, I made mille feuille in my frying pan with a cover.

On a recent trip to visit MIL, I asked Satoshi to look for a donabe (clay pot) amongst her "stash".

She had several and Satoshi brought home this one made by Ginpo. These are made in Japan and are very sturdy (and heavy!). They hold heat well.

Last night we had mille feuille for our Sunday dinner, made in the donabe.

I had to adjust my recipe because this pot holds more liquid.

Instead of 1.5 cups of water, I used 6 cups. The flavors were a lot lighter but since Satoshi is watching his sodium, it was just right.

We had this with beer.

And at the end, I re-heated the soup, added some rice and egg to make a dish called Ojiya (which is also known as Zosui--a porridge of rice and veggies).

You might be wondering what the difference between zosui/ojiya and okayu is? Well, Okayu is just the porridge of rice (plain, if you will). Zosui/ojiya is a rice porridge that is seasoned with condiments like miso, shoyu or salt.

Dinner was easy to put together and I can see why lots of families like to make this during the winter.

I think we'll try other dishes in this donabe (clay pot) for our Sunday dinners in the coming weeks.

Have a nice week!

millefeuille

You won't find many nabe (hot pot) dishes on this blog for three reasons...on weekdays, most times Satoshi and I eat at different times. On weekends, we mostly eat out. And I don't have a proper donabe (doe-nah-bay = deep ceramic pot).

After seeing a similar dish on television, I was itching to try this, but not wanting to go out and buy a donabe, so I made do with what I had...a 10-inch non-stick pan with a cover.

Millefeuille means a thousand leaves in French and is usually found as a dessert with layers of puff pastry and custard cream.

This recipe is a savory version.

Kat's Pork Kim chee MilleFeuille Style "Nabe"

300 grams pork belly, thinly sliced
100 grams kim chee
1/4 hakusai (chinese cabbage)
1 pack maitake (hen of woods mushroom), broken up into pieces
1 pack eringi (oyster mushroom), sliced thinly
1 chicken consomme cube
1.5 cups water

Cut the core of the cabbage and wash each leaf, leaving it as much intact as possible
If the base of the rib of the leaf looks thick, use a peeler and shave off some of it
Also, if the leaf is too wide, cut it to a 3-inch width

Layer cabbage and pork, then slice to about 3-inch squares.
Arrange the layers into your pan or deep pot
Add maitake, eringi and kim chee into the gaps.

On low heat, add part of the water and cover.
Cook for 10 minutes then add the consomme cube.
Add more of the water then cover and cook for another 10 minutes.

Check to see that the rib of the cabbage is at least a little cooked through, it doesn't have to be limp.

And as long as the soup comes up to near the top of your layers, the pork should be cooked through after the 20 minutes.

NOTES: this was so good! If I had a deeper pot or larger frying pan, this would have been easier to cook.

I know this blog has a lot of pork and kim chee combination recipes but the two go so well together.

The last picture is of what was leftover in a 4-cup Ziploc container, by the way, Satoshi had 4 servings and 2 bowls of rice.

I'm making this again.

It's Friday here, hope you have a good weekend!

yudofu

I made this dish awhile ago, but I thought I would post about it today since it is raining and the temperature has started to drop here.

This dish is another great way to use ponzu. It is called yudofu, which translates to tofu (soy bean curd) boiled in a pot of hot water. Doesn't sound too appetizing, yeah? But, it is actually a nice, light way to warm up on these cold nights.

I don't have the donabe (ceramic pots) that you will usually see this dish cooked in in restaurants.

First make your stock. In a shallow pot, put 500 cc (about 2.5 cups) of water and a 2 inch piece of dashi konbu (kelp that you use to make stock), bring to a boil. If you are serving more than 2 people, increase the water and konbu.

While the broth starts to warm up, get your veggies and tofu ready. I used shiitake, carrots, hakusai (chinese cabbage) and a semi-firm tofu. You could also add leeks, I didn't have any.

To cut the star/cross on top of the shiitake, take your knife and cut the top at an angle from right to left, not cutting all the way through. Take your knife again and cut at an angle from left to right. Repeat until you get the design you desire, just don't cut through the mushroom. Throw the bits from the cut-out design into your broth.

Cut your carrots and hakusai to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness, this will help for them to cook quickly. Cut your tofu into cubes. If you use leeks, cut them at an angle to about 3 or 4 inch pieces.

When the broth starts to boil, turn heat to simmer and put in the veggies that will take the longest to cook--carrots and hakusai (and leeks). When those veggies get soft, add the tofu and shiitake.

Take out and splash some ponzu on and add a little more stock to your bowl.

Enjoy!

Hope you are keeping warm where you are.