Soy Milk Hot Pot!

This was my first time using my new donabe!!! I was so excited and decided to try a recipe from my Japanese Hot Pot book by Tadashi Ono and Harris Salat. If you're interested in making yummy hot pots for the cold winter months, or for any other time, I strongly urge you to check it out! You can purchase it for a very reasonable price on Amazon-Here!

I love this book! xD

The recipe that I referenced was the Chicken and Milk Hot Pot also know as 飛鳥鍋 (asuka nabe) and it turned out quite good! Here is what I used:

4 Cups Soy Milk

1 Package of Firm Tofu (Cut into cubes)

3 Chicken Breasts (Trimmed of fat and cut into small pieces)

1 Package of Shirataki Noodles

1/4 Small Head of Napa Cabbage (Cut into pieces)*

1/2 Pound of Spinach

1 Leek (Cut diagonally into small pieces)

2 Green Onions (Chopped diagonally)

About 7 Ounces of Mushrooms, I used Oyster Mushrooms and a few rehydrated Shiitake Mushrooms

2 Carrots (Chopped) 

Mitsuba (Japanese Parsley)

2 Cups of Dashi Stock

2 Tsp. Salt

2 Tsp. Sake

Shiro Miso    

First, I poured the dashi stock into the pot and carefully added the cabbage, shirataki noodles, and tofu into it. Then I added the sake and let it come to a boil over high heat.

Next, uncover the pot and add in the milk, salt, mushrooms*, and chicken and decrease the heat to medium and simmer gently for about 10-15 minutes or until the carrots are tender and the chicken is cooked through. Also, make sure to keep checking the pot as the milk may overflow a bit and spill everywhere! 

Then, add the green onion and leek and simmer for about 3 more minutes.

Now, add the spinach, cover, and simmer for another minute or until it cooks through completely. 

Before

After

I then carefully lifted the pot and set it on the kitchen table. Next, you need to add in the miso and you can do it one of two ways: You can put the miso in a small mesh strainer and set it into the post and stir the miso until it dissolves into the soup completely or you could place the miso in a bowl and ladle in some of the hot soup and stir it until it becomes smooth and then add that to your pot. I chose the first way! :)

You can bring the dinner bowls to the table and use the cooking chopsticks to pick out whatever you like out of the pot and use ladle to add in the soup. It's so much fun to enjoy a nice hot pot on a cold blistery night with friends and family! ^-^

Another thing that I wanted to mention was garnishing. Personally, I like to add a little bit of shichimi (Japanese seven-flavored chili pepper) to my soups, especially ones that contain miso! You could also garnish with grated ginger! 

*Cabbage-There is a certain method that they use in Japan for cutting napa cabbage that helps it to absorb more of the flavor of the soup or you could just chop it into bite-sized pieces...it's really up to you! "To slice Japanese style: Trim off the bottom of a head of napa cabbage, separate the leaves, and rinse well to remove any dirt, especially at the stems. Pat them dry. Place a cabbage leaf flat on a cutting board. Starting from the white stem end, cut the leaf on a sharp diagonal into 2-inch-wide pieces. (Cutting on an angle exposes more surface area for the leaf to absorb broth). Cut the green part of the leaf further, in half or thirds, to make bite-size pieces. Repeat with the remaining leaves."-Japanese Hot Pots

*If you decide to use enoki mushrooms in this recipe, you should add them after you simmer the pot for the 10-15 minutes because they are more sensitive and they might lose their flavor. 

Well, that's it! My first actual food/recipe post! Please let me know of any errors that I might have made or if anything is unclear! I am still very new at this blog thing! xD

Thank you so much and see you next time! 

~Miranda <3

My New Donabe and the Seemingly Scary Portable Gas Stove of Doom!

For my first post I decided to talk about my new donabe that my mom bought me for Christmas!!! For those of you who are not familiar with a donabe, I will do a little explaining.

My beautiful donabe!

Leaving my donabe to soak up the water...

A donabe is a clay earthen pot that is known for it's porous surface that allows for an even distribution of heat throughout the pot. They are extremely versatile, but should only be used for soup based dishes such as miso soup and hot pots. It should never be used to cook dry foods, stir-fries, or for frying with oil due to it's porous texture. It works best for dishes such as sukiyaki where the melding and blending of flavors is ideal. It simmers meat and vegetables so well that they retain all of their juices and nutrients. Even after cooking, the pot remains warm for a long period of time which can be very convenient.

You should always dry a donabe this way!

Before using a donabe, you must season it. First, I had to soak it in tap water for about three hours so that it absorbed enough water. I then left it to dry over night because if the outside of the donabe is wet and it comes in contact with a hot burner of a stove, it can cause the clay to expand and it can crack. The next day, I got my new portable butane stove ready, filled my donabe about 80% with water and 1/5 of cooked rice, and turned on the stove. I let it simmer on low heat until a sticky rice porridge was made and then I took it off the heat and let it cool to room temperature. Then I washed it lightly with a little bit of soap and water and wiped it dry.

Simmering the rice porridge on low heat

Checking the consistency of the porridge :)

Now the portable butane gas stove is a whole other story...upon receiving it, I was ecstatic and just couldn't wait to use it, but then I saw all of the warnings. I understand that these stoves can be very dangerous and must be handled with much caution so I took the time to read the entire booklet that came with the stove and then it just sat there for a few days.

The stove!

The butane that I found at a local store!

I was so terrified of using it, but then I knew that I had to use it for my beautiful new donabe and when
I finally decided to use it...I took a lot of precautions. Apparently, if you use a butane
stove indoors without proper ventilation, you could fill the room with carbon monoxide so I
opened many windows and even turned a ceiling fan on just to make sure. I even went so far as to wear my goggles and gas mask, mostly to make my grandmother laugh, but I was still a little nervous.

Now, I feel much better about using it and used it to make my first hot pot last night! As long as I do everything right and watch it, there is no problem! ^-^


Thank you for dealing with my long post! I will be posting about the hot pot that I made last night very soon! :)


  ありがとう!

My First Post! :D

Well...I finally decided to make a blog dedicated to my food adventures! I absolutely love to cook and specialize in making Japanese foods! I can't wait to start posting my renditions of recipes that I find and maybe even some of my own! I am very glad to have the opportunity to share my adventures with all of you! <3