Midweek Madness

Wow, it's Wednesday already. Here are a few midweek odds and ends.

Kayaba

One half of the new food stands in the Mitsuwa Marketplace has revealed itself.

From what I understand Kayaba will be doing Soba, Katsu, and the like. I'm hoping for a Santoka Ramen as well. One can always hope......

The Missus had a hankering for Una-Don, so I purchased some Unagi from Nijiya, but decided to make my own quick and dirty Nitsume(Eel sauce). We've purchased the bottled stuff, and found it either to be too salty, or too sweet, or having strange flavors. So I decided to try a slight modification of an interesting recipe I found in DK Kodama's  Sushi Chronicles from Hawaii, which I purchased on my visit to Sansei a few weeks back. The recipe is pretty easy, and after seeing the amount of Sake in it I had my doubts, but it turned out to be quite good. Maybe a tad on the sweet side, but not bad at all.

The recipe uses some short cuts, like hondashi...which worked out well, since I didn't happen to have a whole bunch of Eel trimmings lying around. The recipe also calls for the Hondashi to be boiled...which made it a fishy-bitter during the first pass, so I cut the amount in half, and added it right before the reduction process, and it worked. I'd been taught never to boil anything after adding Hondashi, but in this case it worked during the low boil. Purists may just want to skip the recipe, if it hurts too much.

Easy Unagi Sauce(Nitsume)

2 Cups Sake
1/2 Cup Mirin
1/2 Coy Sauce(Yamasa or Aloha)
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Tsp Hondashi

1 - Mix all ingredients except Hondashi in a pot. Bring to a boil stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce heat to medium-low and add Hondashi.

2 - Reduce mixture by half to a light syrup.

3 - Store in a tightly sealed container and refrigerate. According to the original recipe this will keep for up to 1 month.

I still don't quite know what to do about the Missus's other current obsession:

Have you ever known anyone who craved brussel sprouts???? With Nitsume??? And Rice???

One last item - mmm-yoso's very own Cathy Doe has been recovering from illness, so I'd like to make sure to tell Her to hang in there, and get well soon. She's still posting too..what a trooper!

Comments

[Kirk]

Hi JosephE - I know that there are companies in Japan that specialize in plastic food...can you imagine a career designing plastic food.

Hi Pam, Jo, & Howie - I acutally blanch them first, than a quick saute with garlic and olive oil...(and sometimes Lup Cheong).

Hi CSB - I think first off, the Brussel Sprouts need to be very, very firm, and the leaves tightly packed. When boiling them make sure to use lots of water at a rolling boil, I also score the bottom of the sprouts, making a little 'x' in the stem portion with a paring knife...this trick actually works. Check the sprouts after 3 minutes, and stick a knife to check doneness. Should be done in no more than 5 minutes. Remove sprouts and immediately shock in iced water.

Hi Jeffrey - Hope your vacation is going well. Can't wait to hear about it!

[The Guilty Carnivore]

Oh man, no more Takara. You warned me about that a few months back. That was my favorite quick stop ramen stop in San Diego, going back to 1995. I'm glad I at least stopped by one last time in July.

[Kirk]

Hi GC - I'm glad you had a chance to stop by Takara one last time as well.

[Annie]

Hi Kirk!

I love brussel sprouts. Love the bitterness and all. It has to be cooked right though. So far, I'll only eat it roasted! Thanks for the unagi sauce recipe! I adore unagi!!

I had fun reading your blog entries again!!

[Annie]

hondashi is the powdered form of dashi? the packaged box with the blue fish on top?

[Kirk]

Hi Annie - Yes, it's the instant dashi, with the blue fishes.

[milgwimper]

Kirk,

I am sitting here laughing because, this year my Mother became a Brussel Sprouts Fiend! I had to call Jo to find out EXACTLY how she cooked them because she was in love with the way Jo cooked them.

But I live with a Brussel Sprout obsessor (is there such a word? :P ) and we have to have them at least once each month preferably A LOT more!

[Kirk]

Hi Mills - Brussel sprouts seem to be the thing this year.