Hot Pots: Comfort Foods with an Asian Twist
by Larry Cox on Oct. 15, 2009, under UncategorizedJapanese Hot Pots: Comforting One-Pot Meals by Tadashi Ono and Harris Salat (Ten Speed Press, $25)
I’ve never been much of a fan of Japanese hot pot cooking. For one thing, most of the recipes I’ve seen have some sort of fish or sea food as a central ingredient. Some people don’t like broccoli, I don’t like fish. With that said, I approached this new cookbook with caution. I’m happy to report that hot pots are the quintessential Japanese comfort food. It is simple, fast, and easy to prepare. Best of all, the recipes are a well-balanced bounty of roots, greens, mushrooms, onion, tufu, noodles, chicken, and, yes, fish, that feature tasty layers that fill the kitchen with wonderful aromas.
Hot pots are a mingling of those layers. Whether the main ingredient is pumpkin, cod, or duck, the pot takes on a whole new presence when such things as tara root, broth, napa cabbage, and daikon are added.
This is Japanese comfort food that is wholesome, economical, and easy to prepare. Most of the recipes are flexible so that by checking your own pantry before cooking you can add you one personal twist to the dish.
Tadashi Ono, executive chef at Matsuri in New York City, and Harris Salat, a food writer who is a frequent contributor to such publications as The New York Times, Gourmet, and Food & Wine, feature 50 recipes from all corners of Japan. From favorite humble dishes to others that are rather sophisticated, this collection is certain to have a wide appeal. whether vegetarians or a meat lover, these recipes are accessible, honest, and can be prepared in just a few minutes.
One recipe was tested, the Mushroom Hot Pot. This selection originated from Japan’s far northern snow country where mushroom pickers comb the region’s rugged mountains each autumn. Since mushrooms are especially plentiful in Tucson this season, this seemed like a perfect choice but it will require a special trip to the 17th Street Market.
Mushroom Hot Pot
Kinoko Nabe
Serves 4
4 cups dashi
1 c sake
One half c mirin
One half c soy sauce
One half lb of napa cabbage, sliced
One fourth package, about one half pound, of firm tofu cut into 4 pieces
One half lb shiltake mushrooms (about 16, stemmed)
One half lb oyster mushrooms, trimmed and pulled apart
3 and one half ounces enoki mushrooms, trimmed and pulled apart
7 ounces of enoki mushrooms, trimmed and pulled apart
One half lb fresh spinach, stemmed
Schichimi togarashi, for accent
Directions
Prepare the broth by combining the dashi, sake, mirin, and soy sauce in a bowl, and reserve.
Add the cabbage and tofu to the hot pot and pour in the broth. Cover the pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Decrease the heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes more.
Uncover the hot pot and add the mushrooms, piling them randomly on top of other ingredients. Cover the pot and simmer for 5 minutes more. Uncover the pot, add the spinach, and simmer for about a minute more.
Transfer the hot pot to the dining room table. Serve the ingredients together with the broth. For those who do not like the pungent taste of dashi, you can substitute mushroom stock for it. There is a recipe for an excellent mushroom stock in this collection.
