In the winter months I have it fairly easy because a common meal is NABE. Nabe actually means "pot" and there is an infinite number of nabe recipes for the cold winter evenings. Practically anything can be thrown in a pot and simmered together to make a steaming main dish to serve alongside the ever-present bowl of rice. Actually all you absolutely have to have is the nabe! The pot itself! And I suppose any pot would work (preferably not a pasta pot... too deep).
Our nabe is an inexpensive pottery one... large enough to put almost anything in it. I love these pottery pots and have thought that if and when my children ever settle into their own home I really need to bring them a Japanese nabe. (It probably can't be shipped though.. Too heavy and too easy to crack in shipping.)
Okay... here are my ingredients for last night's nabe. You will notice that I do a lot of cheating. Well, better that than dinner out every night.
Starting at the top right:
A carrot (and hidden behind that is a Daikon radish.)
A chinese cabbage. I used about a quarter of this. (This particular cabbage was from Y-kun and I've been peeling leaves off for various meals this week... That's why it no longer looks green.)
Maitake, a type of mushroom.
Two blocks of grilled tofu. Regular tofu can be used as well but the grilled ones add texture and color.
Pre-made chicken meatballs. The meat-balls are just meatballs with onion and carrot in them. I thought the Styrofoam plate that they are sold in was very pretty... A Japanese red and gold leaf pattern.
Green onions. I used one.
And pre-made nabe soup! My lifesaver! I didn't have to think about putting various ingredients together to make the soup. This is probably fish and chicken stock with flavoring. There are COUNTLESS nabe soup packs that I use constantly because I am too lazy to figure out my own variations of nabe flavors. See.. I told you I cheated.
So I started simmering the soup in my pot, I cut up all the vegetables and I set the whole thing on our kerosene stove to simmer.
Uh-hum. Thanks to Tricia, I got fancy (have to show off a bit for my blog) and made carrot flowers. My one cooking skill? Even Tetsu noticed.
"Did you make the flowers? Wow! Pretty good for an American!"
We ate our nabe with rice and a side dish of pickles. Clean-up was pretty easy too.
13 comments:
Tanya, thanks for the cooking lesson. It does look very tasty...I never get tired of reading your blog...always interesting..that Y-kun is sure a special little fellow!!!! Hugs, Pat in IN..
Looks delicious! I use lots of pre-made shortcut type stuff too--For me, cooking is just a necessary thing and not something I enjoy that much! The flowers are adorable. I'll have to remember that :)
Ah yes, we have nabe in different sizes and they all come from your neck of the woods, Mashiko! And as long as you are heating the house, why not use that space heater for cooking? You can even put a little stove on the table and serve from there, adding noodles to the left-over broth. Yum ... and the whole house smells so good too!
Oh yes, blog about cooking more often please. I think I wll give that a try after I have been to my Asian grocers to get a big pot like that.
Mmmm.... your nabe looks good! I want to try making it. :) :)
It looks scrummy. We eat fairly simply most of the time too, though English style, meat or fish and vegetables. I bought mooli yesterday, but I've no idea what to do with it. Any suggestions? And I'd love to see a picture of your pickles, they're often mentioned in Japanese recipes. Do you pickle them yourself or buy them?
I'm interested....do you have a lid for your pot? how long does it take to cook? do you eat it like soup or stew or do you pour it over rice?
Thanks for the great post. I think your meal was much healthier than much of what we eat. I may get out my Japanese cookbook and see what I can do with a nabe.
Ana usa
Your nabe looks so good! I would say that you are an excellent cook!
We love tofu but I've never seen grilled tofu. I can only find it in a block in water or cubed. sure would like to find it pregrilled!
And now we're all inspired to make Nabe tonight! Thanks!
Domo arrigato for such lovely meal... I just love Japanese cuisine and quilts.. I am very greatful that you write this blog, it brings a little Japan into my life.. If I ware there I would help with the quilts for hospital and ... with the food..Ewa from Achim/Bremen (Germany)
Those carrot flowers are so cute! I'm going to have to try making them at our next family gathering.
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