Asian Party Dish, Nabe

Are you ready for the holiday? It's getting chilly out, For a lot of us, Japanese, (or Asian), it's time to enjoy Nabe. We cook vegetable and meat, fish on a table and dip on a favorite sauce. Once you prepare ingredients, you can cook as you eat, sitting around the table, we would take turn to cook, serve, and eat with favorite drink such as sake. I recently enjoyed Thai style nabe. The recipe is for about 4 people.

Ingredients are simple. You'll need half of a whole Chinese cabbage, green onion, next to Chinese cabbage is called "Shungiku" (garland chrysanthemum) You can find those vegetable at Asian market, but you can skip some ingredients if you can't find them.

On this Thai Nabe, I used Cilantro, if you have Asian market near you, you can buy Shirataki (konnyaku noodles), Enoki mushroom, and Tofu (may be you can get all over nowadays).

Chop all vegetables/tofu into bitable size, boil over konnyaku noodles and chop.

For meat and fishes, thin sliced meet (beef in pic and shrimp devined and peeled or any kind of fish or meat as you like. I added fish ball, and made some shrimp wan ton.

Make dipping sauce. For Thai dip sauce, you'll need
6 table spoon lemon juice
6 table spoon fish sauce
2 tea spoon sugar
1 or 2 clove of garlic, chopped
5 stems of cilantro, chopped

Just mix them.

For Japanese nabe, you can use ponzu (soy sauce plus some lemon juice) for the dipping sauce.

You can add chopped cilantro, garlic, and Chinese chili sauce on your dipping sauce as you like.

On a portable stove on the table you are gathering at, put a pot, you can use usual pot.
The soup is one litter of chicken broth, chopped lemon grass stem, and cilantro stems.

For usual Japanese nabe, we would use kelp broth (a 1 inch square dry kelp with about an litter of water) with a few table spoon of soy sauce, sake, and so on.

You don't need to make it salty since you'll dip the food to your dipping sauce later.

Put a lid and wait for boiling soup..

Once the broth is boiled, put tofu, shirataki, Chinese cabbage, green onions, fish ball, but not the meat or fish.You don't have to put all the meat, or vegetable at once. cook as you eat.

Add some meat and fish to the boiling pot. put lid and wait for a while.

It's cooked! Add soup on nabe when it seems little low later on before you add more vegetable or meat. you can add some water since it's already flavorful.

Serve on individual bowl and eat with dipping sauce and topping.

After you scoop up all the meat and vegetable, add some cooked Udon noodle or cooked rice and boil and serve. This is called Shime in Japanese. (means finishing up)

This burner is handy for camping too!

This is similar to what I have.


More recipes!

Handmade Minecraft Steve Halloween costume

I made Handmade Minecraft Steve costume two years ago.

When I saw this guy, I thought "I can make this easily!!" I went to walmart to buy some paints, draw some straight line, and filled grid. I saw similar thing sold at Target around $20.00, and I spend roughly 5 bucks on paint. Too bad my son doesn't want to wear it again this year.

Tilapia Saute Recipe : Easy & Delicious

Easy Tilapia Saute Recipe

Tilapia is relatively cheap fish in the U.S. I found a good recipe from cookpad and I arranged some. You can use any fish filet! 

1) Season fish with sprinkle of salt, white wine (about 1 table spoon) beforehand. Keep in the refrigerator about 30 min.

2) Dry fish with a paper towel and season with old bay or any seasoning you like,  then coat with flour. 

3) Heat the pan and melt about 2 table spoon of butter or coconut oil. After pan is heated enough, put the tilapia until bottom is nicely brown and crunchy.

4) Flip the fish, brown the other side half way and add 1/3 cup (80ml) of white wine and cook until wine is evaporated.

Done! Serve with rice / potato / vegetable and enjoy!

PFOA Free Non Stick Pan with Lid! Luxury, but may be it worth it!

All-Clad 41135 NS R2 Stainless Steel Tri-Ply Bonded Dishwasher Safe 13-Inch PFOA-free Non-Stick French Skillet with Loop Handle and Lid / Cookware, Silver

2015 has started already!

Happy belated new year!

Our new year has been very very bitter. My daughter had serious medical emergency already. I really hope rest of 2015 will be healthy, happy year!!

Today is Martin Luther King day. My son's school is off today. He woke up in a good mood, and just a few hours later, he says he doesn't feel good and he threw up (Thank you halloween bucket!)

My new year's resolution is : Health of my whole family.

I'll prepare good nutritious meal and study about homeopathy.

...Processing New Year's Resolution Tees and goods! 

Gyoza : Dumplings Recipe

Gyoza is my favorite. I guess it called dumplings in English. You can find in the frozen food area, but I make these every now and then. It is a lot of work to make but when I eat them, it worth the trouble.

Ground pork : 150 gram
Cabbage : 200 gram
Green onion : 2 or 3 strings
grated ginger : about 1 tea spoon
Chinese chive (if available) : 50 gram

Soy Sauce 1/2 tea spoon
Salt 1/2 tea spoon
Sake (Japanese rice wine) 1 table spoon
Sesame Oil 1 tea spoon

Gyoza Skin : 1 pack

1) Boil cabbage for a few minute, drain and squeeze off the liquid and chop into mince. chop all other vegetables. throw in meat and all the seasonings in a bowl and mix well with your hands (yack!)

2) Put spoonful of the mixture above on the gyoza skin.

Wet the half end and fold in to make a gyoza.
You can make about 30 gyoza with ingredients above.

3) heat the pan with oil, put gyoza on the pan and put a nice brown mark on a side.

Flip the gyoza and add 1/4 cup of the water and put a lid on a pan. simmer for 3 to 4 minute. let the water evaporate and make gyoza  crunchy with a golden mark. Serve and enjoy with a soy sauce!

Some people make gyoza skin but I've never made them.

Get a PFOA free pan!!

I make peace t-shirts. Check out at Peace Wings Apparel 

Burrito for picky eater

At least once a week, we have burritos for dinner.  I don't know about authentic recipe, but this is my recipe for my son, who doesn't eat vegetables otherwise.

Cut garlic, half onion, chicken, may be green pepper, cilantro, and stir fly until everything is nicely cooked. season with spices like paprika, cumin, garlic powder, coriander powder, etc..  salt and half of lemon juice.

I usually wrap with rice, refried bean, meat (above) guacamole (if available) salsa, cheese sour cream..

Yummy! Improved Bread Machine Recipe

I bake bread with Panasonic Bread Machine that I bought 3 years ago. I struggle to find a good recipe and I was using this recipe from the blog I wrote while ago but I wasn't totally satisfied with that and now, I think I am settled with this one.

Bread Flour : about 200g
Gluten Flour : about one Table Spoon or 10g
Whole Grain flour : 40g

The total flour should be 250g

Sugar : 2 table spoons
Salt : 1 tea spoon
Butter : about 10g
Milk : 170 cc

Yeast : little less than 1 tea spoon

I use brown sugar, sea salt and almond milk for healthier option. I sometimes use coconut oil instead of butter.

I like this recipe more because you don't have to use scale when you put sugar and salt. Even butter doesn't have to be exact. I used to use powder milk and water but since I don't bake bread overnight because it's too noisy in this little apartment. It takes 4 hours in a usual setting so you need to plan but short setting makes it done in 2 hours though it makes the bread a little less fluffy. The gluten is the key to make bread little more fluffier.

I love the smell of the baking bread.

I have this one! Works good.