Tekka Don is a rice bowl with marinated tuna Sashimi on top

Tekka Don is a rice bowl with marinated tuna Sashimi on top.  It is an extremely easy dish to make if you have good Sashimi grade tuna (raw tuna that is sold to be eaten raw).  Even though the dish is not complicated, Tekka Don tastes really good and is much more special than typical Donburi (rice bowl) dishes such as Oyakodon.

The bright red color of raw tuna is said to give this the name Tekka (“hot iron”) and it’s also very pretty.  Raw tuna can be a little pricey to have for everyday lunch, but it’s great for more special occasions.  With Miso Soup and some vegetable side dishes, you’ll have a perfect meal for your family.

It may be a little hard to get good Sashimi grade tuna from your local market in some area.  Japanese markets are still the best bet to get it, but you may have good fish markets who carry Sashimi.  Also, stores like Catalina Offshore Products have an online store that can ship all over the country (USA).  Their tuna is shipped frozen, but the taste after defrosting is so good you may not tell the difference.

We used pre-cut tuna Sashimi, but a block of tuna works the same.  You just need to cut it into 1/2″ (1cm) thickness (or thinner).  (Best to sharpen your knife before cutting.)  If you already have Mentsuyu in your fridge, skip the step 1.

Tekka Don Recipe

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients :

1/2 lb (225g) sliced tuna, Sashimi grade

6 Tbsp Mentsuyu or

2 Tbsp soy sauce

2 Tbsp Sake

2 Tbsp Mirin

Steamed Rice

sesame seeds

Wasabi

Roasted Seaweed, thinly cut

Instructions :

If you are not using Mentsuyu, combine and boil soy sauce, Sake, and Mirinin a small pan, remove from heat immediately, and let cool.

If the tuna is in a block, cut tuna sashimi into 1/2"(1cm) thick pieces.

Marinade Tuna pieces in cooled soy sauce mixture (or Mentsuyu) for 10-15 minutes.

Serve rice in a bowl, and top with marinaded tuna, sesame seeds, wasabi, and Roasted Seaweed. Pour some of the marinade sauce over rice if you want.

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Kinoko Gohan is a kind of Takikomi Gohan

Kinoko Gohan is a kind of Takikomi Gohan, seasoned steamed rice with meat and vegetables. For Kinoko Gohan we use mushrooms (kinoko).  The Umami savory taste and aroma from mushrooms are absorbed into the rice while it cooks, which makes the dish so delicious.

There are a lot of foods that are in season in the fall in Japan.  Fish like saury pike (sanma), chestnuts, egg plant, and fruits like pears and persimmons.  Japanese people enjoy so much the tastes of autumn, and mushrooms are one of the favorites.  There are a lot of mushrooms in Japan, but popular ones are Shiitake, Shimeji, and Enoki.  There are other varieties too, but they may be hard to get at local markets outside Japan.  Today you can find mushrooms that are cultivated all year round and may not need to wait to make mushroom dishes until fall; however, we still want to feel the season through different foods.

We used Shiitake and Shimeji in this recipe, but you can also use different mushrooms.  Enoki will work too and also Maitake and Eringi if you can find them at Japanese or Asian markets.  You can add protein, like some chicken if you want some meat or Aburaage, thin fried tofu.

Kinoko Gohan is easy to make using simple ingredients.  Make it for dinner, and you too can enjoy the taste of Japanese autumn wherever you are!

Kinoko Gohan Recipe

Ingredients :

1 package Shimeji mushrooms

5 Shiitake mushrooms

2 cups rice (180 ml per cup)

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp Soy Sauce

2 Tbsp Sake

2 Tbsp Mirin

water

2 green onions, chopped

Instructions :

Separate Shimeji mushrooms into pieces. Slice Shiitake thinly.

Wash rice and put in the rice cooker's removable bowl.

 Add salt, Soy Sauce, Sake and Mirin and stir.

 Add enough water to reach the line for 2 cups of rice, and then add mushrooms. 

Cook like white rice (according to the rice cooker instructions).

After the rice is done, mix in green onions.

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Tako Sunomono (Octopus Salad) is yet another variation of Sunomono

Tako Sunomono (Octopus Salad) is yet another variation of Sunomono, sliced vegetables soaked in sweet vinegar sauce.  While the Sunomono can be as simple as a small dish of cucumber with some sesame seeds, we often mix in seafood such as Tako (octopus) or crab.

Tako Sunomono, or Tako-su for short, can also be seen as an appetizer at many Japanese restaurants.  If you have made Sunomono before, you can simply add some slices of boiled or sashimi grade octopus (you can find them at Japanese supermarkets.)  We like to add some thinly sliced fresh ginger for a refreshing flavor.  Feel free to add sesame seeds or squeeze lemon juice if you like!

Tako Sunomono (Octopus Salad) Recipe

Ingredients :

2 Japanese or 3 Persian cucumbers

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 - 1/2 lb octopus

1 tbsp dried Wakame seaweed (rehydrated in water)

3 Tbsp rice vinegar

1 Tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp soy sauce

ginger (peeled and thinly sliced)

Instructions :

Slice cucumbers thinly and place them in a bowl. Stir in salt, and let it sit for 5 minutes. Squeeze water out from cucumbers.

Slice boiled or sashimi grade octopus thinly.

In a bowl, mix rice vinegar, sugar, and soy sauce together until sugar dissolves. Add cucumbers, sliced octopus, and wakame seaweed. Mix in (or top with) sliced ginger.

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Shabu Shabu is a Japanese hot pot dish

Shabu Shabu is a Japanese hot pot dish, Nabemono, with paper-thin sliced beef.   It is cooked at the dinner table using a portable gas stove and we eat it as we cook.  There are a lot of Shabu Shabu speciality restaurants in Japan, but you can prepare it at home too.  The single most important ingredient of the dish is beef.  If you can get good quality meat, the rest is not hard at all.

The origin of Shabu Shabu is said to be when a restaurant in Osaka started serving it in the 1950s.  It is like Mizutaki and it is still cooked and eaten at the dinner table, but you don’t pack the pot with meat or fish and vegetables like other Nabemono.  You dip very thin slices of beef in hot Kombu broth and swirl them around a few seconds. Then you eat the hot meat with sauce.  Other kinds of thin meat or fish can be cooked in the same way (and still called Shabu Shabu), such as pork, crab, and blowfish, but beef Shabu Shabu is the most popular one of all.

The cuts of beef could be sirloin, rib eye, chuck eye roll, etc.  It depends on how much you would like to spend. The key of choosing the meat is whether it’s marbled well with fat.  You may like to eat beef without fat for your steak, but for Shabu Shabu, you need some fat in the meat for tenderness and flavor.  Because the beef is barely cooked by dipping in hot broth, meat quality should not be compromised.  There are many kinds of branded beef in regions throughout Japan, such as the famous Kobe beef, that could cost $20 or more per 100g (3-4 oz – that’s over $80 per pound!).  Now imagine how expensive it would be to eat at good Shabu Shabu restaurants with their mark-ups!

If you have access to Japanese grocery stores, that’s great, they usually carry sliced beef prepared just for Shabu Shabu.  You could ask local butcher shop for special cuts, but it may or may not work.  You can also try cutting at home by slicing half-frozen beef with a meat slicer or by hand.  Cut slowly and be careful not to cut yourself!

We made sesame dipping sauce here, which is a  typical sauce for Shabu Shabu.  This rich and deep flavor from ground sesame complements well the somewhat simply prepared meat and vegetables.  However, you can use Ponzu Sauce for a more refreshing taste if you prefer.  We used only a few kinds of vegetables to focus more on beef.  If you would like to have more vegetables, just add to it.  Read our Mizutaki recipe to know more about Japanese vegetables for a hot pot.

If you have any special occasions or just want to celebrate an everyday dinner, get nice beef and have tasty Shabu Shabu at home!

Shabu Shabu Recipe

Ingredients :

10cm Kombu (dried kelp)

1500 ml water

3 Tbsp Sake

300g beef, sliced very thinly

6 leaves nappa cabbage

3 white long onions

6 Shiitake mushrooms

1/2 bunch Kikuna or Shungiku (edible chrysanthemum leaves)

Shabu Shabu dipping sauce :

4 Tbsp ground sesame seeds

2 Tbsp Soy Sauce

2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp Rice Vinegar

1 Tbsp Miso Paste

2 Tbsp water

Instructions :

Mix all the ingredients of the dipping sauce. Set aside.

In a pot, put dried Kombu in the water, and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Cut meat into the size you like. Cut cabbage into 2" width pieces, slice white long onion diagonally, cut off the stems of Shiitake mushrooms, and cut Kikuna (Shungiku) into 2" length pieces.

Heat the pot at medium high heat until the water boils, then take the Kombu out. Turn down the heat to medium low. Add Sake.

Dip the meat in the simmering broth until the color turns pink. Cook meat and vegetables as you eat.

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Gratin originated from French macaroni gratin

Macaroni Gratin is a casserole dish with macaroni and creamy white sauce that is a popular western style dish in Japan.  Piping hot Macaroni Gratin is a perfect food for warming up during a cold winter.

Gratin originated from French macaroni au gratin, but today it is eaten widely at restaurants and home in Japan.  The dish has been “improved” to Japanese people’s taste over the years, and it may not be so French any longer.  It is often found on the menu at old fashioned cafes that serve light food.  Just like Spaghetti Neapolitan, this gratin is also a staple western style Japanese dish at those cafe restaurants. Frozen gratin is also a very popular and convenient choice in Japan.  Only thing you need to do is pop it in the oven, and done.

While making Macaroni Gratin is not as easy as having the frozen one, still it is quite simple to make it at home.  Baking gratin in individual dishes is the Japanese style since Japanese ovens are often pretty small.  You could even bake it in a toaster oven.  However, you can make it in a big dish, more of an American casserole style, if you like.  The cheese they use in Japan is usually a processed melting cheese for cooking rather than natural cheese.  It tastes very mild, and the closest substitute may be mozzarella cheese.  We used chicken in the recipe, but you can also use shrimp.  Add more vegetables if you wish.

It doesn’t contain seaweed or rice, but Macaroni Gratin is still a Japanese food Japanese people normally eat, and you should definitely give it a try!

Macaroni Gratin Recipe

Ingredients :

5 oz (150g) macaroni

1/2 lb (225g) chicken thighs

1 brown onion

1 tsp oil

4 Tbsp butter

4 Tbsp flour

2 1/2 cup (600ml) milk

1/2 tsp salt

white pepper

mozzarella cheese

Instructions :

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Cook macaroni in boiling water with salt according to the package.

Cut chicken into bite-size pieces, and slice onion thinly.

Heat oil in a frying pan at medium heat, and cook chicken until brown. Add onion and a little bit of salt and pepper. Cook further until the onion softens. Set aside.

In a different pot, melt butter at medium heat, add flour, and cook for a couple of minutes until the sauce bubbles. Add milk and whisk well so there are no lumps. When the sauce gets thicken, season with 1/2 tsp salt and pepper.

Set 1/3 of the sauce aside. Add chicken and drained macaroni into the 2/3 of the sauce and mix. Put it in a baking dish, and pour the remaining 1/3 of the sauce over the macaroni. Cover with mozzarella cheese, and bake in the oven on the upper rack for 13-15 minutes.

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