料理の時間

Yesterday was my second cooking class, we made nabe, chuwanmushi (egg custard), cucumber and radish tsukemono, and milk mochi for dessert.

We met at the community center and then walked to a nearby grocery store to shop for the ざいりょう (ingredients). We walked through the small store and our instructor explained to us why she was choosing the vegetables, meats, etc. She also pointed out different products we might not understand and answered our questions. After we finished purchasing our ingredients we headed back to the community center to start cooking.

First we prepared the tsukemono, which is a common Japanese side dish. It is like freshly pickled vegetables. We chopped the cucumber wagiri which means in rounds, just thin slices. And we chopped the radish into triangles pieces. We put them in bags, sprinkled salt on them and then massaged the salt into the flesh for a few minutes.

While letting the tsukemono sit, we prepared the chuwanmushi. Chuwanmushi is a savory egg custard that is made by beating eggs and mixing them with broth, which is then poured into cups over the other ingredients. In our cups we layered chicken pieces, mushrooms, seaweed, and fish cakes. Then the cups are steamed in a big pot for twenty minutes.

Next we prepared the nabe, which was surprisingly simple to make! We made a winter nabe with hakusai cabbage and pork. I've eaten nabe in a restaurant once, and it was not nearly as beautiful as what we created! The specific type of nabe we made is called ミルフィーユ鍋, because the cabbage and pork are made in layers. So we layered cabbage and thin pork slices five layers thick, then cut that into the three pieces and stood the pieces up in the nabe pot to look like a flower. After that, we sprinkled a small package of instant dashi seasoning over the top, and poured in two cups of water and then put the nabe pots on the burner to cook!

Lastly we prepared the milk mochi for our dessert. The dessert we made was actually based on potato starch, not rice, but it has the texture, appearance and stickiness, as well as the name! We made a mixture of sugar, milk, and potato starch and then slowly cooked it with continually stirring. Our teacher encouraged us to keep an eye on it, because when it would just thicken out of nowhere and is interesting to watch. So while one person stirred the rest of us gathered around to watch without a blink! After a few minutes, like she said it would, it went from totally liquid to all of the sudden thick and gel like! After it was solid enough we took it off the heat to cool. Later we kneaded it and then cut it into pieces which we dusted with kinako and sugar. Kinako is a powder made from soy beans, and is often dusted on bread or mochi desserts.

At around 8:30 we were finally ready to serve the food and eat, and by that time everyone was starving! So we squeezed around one of the counters, laid out dishes for everyone and dug in. After eating the first round out of the nabe, we put in tofu, mushrooms, and udon; let it cook for a bit and ate the next round! Again, the food was delicious!