Thanks for the Meal

Tag: bamboo shoots

  • Jibuni: Kanazawa-style simmered duck stew

    Jibuni: Kanazawa-style simmered duck stew

    Kanazawa boasts a special regional cuisine called Kaga no aji. In general the taste is mildly sweet, like most Japanese country cooking. Visually, it is not as sophisticated or ornate as Kyoto’s kaiseki haute cuisine, since it’s based on the food of the samurai – substantial and hearty, with taste, not looks, being paramount.

    Jibuni is one tasty example, a special regional recipe of duck (or chicken) and vegetable stew eaten not only as a seasonal daily dish in Kanazawa but also served on many special occasions. We don’t know the precise origins of jibu, but ni means “to simmer.” Some people say that jibu jibu is the sound the stew makes while cooking. Others believe that the stew was invented by a samurai named Jibu. Since it is one of the few dishes that uses flour as a thickener, many suspect that it has Portuguese origins from the early days of the Edo period (1603-1867).

    Jibuni duck stew

    Jibuni: Kanazawa-style Duck Stew Recipe

    Jibuni is one of my favorite Japanese winter comfort dishes, but please don’t limit yourself to consuming it only during that time of year. Based on the season, there are many variations around. It’s fun to play with the basic recipe, replacing ingredients according to your tastes or what’s available at the market. For example, you can try fresh spinach; dried, reconstituted shiitake mushrooms or other Japanese mushrooms; Japanese parsley (seri); or Japanese leeks (negi).

    My variation of jibuni is based on a recipe from Tsubajin, one of Kanazawa’s oldest (two hundred seventy years plus) and most famous restaurants.

    The ancient castle town of Kanazawa, located on the Japan Sea side of Honshu in Ishikawa Prefecture, was ruled peacefully for over three centuries by one of the country’s richest daimyo families, the Maedas. It retains a rich cultural heritage and old-world charm, and also remains one of the true gourmet meccas of Japan.

    Other Delicacies from Kanazawa

    Many of Kanazawa’s delicacies, such as gori (singing bird fish), come from the Saigawa and the Asanogawa – two large rivers running through the center of town.

    The Omicho Market, which is at least two hundred and fifty years old and is often referred to as “Kanazawa’s Kitchen”, continues to be one of the most notable food markets in Japan. The market is filled with more than two hundred open stalls selling a variety of fresh seafood and local produce, including game and a small, sweet coldwater shrimp called ama-ebi.

    And since Kanazawa produces nearly all of Japan’s gold leaf, it shouldn’t be surprising that a local custom involves drinking green tea, coffee, or sake with edible gold leaf floating on the surface. It remains one of my favorite towns to revisit over and over.

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    Jibuni duck stew

    Jibuni: Kanazawa-style simmered duck stew

    Lucy Seligman
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    Servings 4

    Ingredients
      

    • 6 cups dashi fish stock
    • 8 tbsp soy sauce
    • 9-10 tbsp mirin (sweet sake)
    • 4 slices bamboo shoot, 2 inches by 1 inch
    • 4 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed
    • 8 snow peas, trimmed
    • 4 4 Kanazawa-style sudarebu (fresh wheat gluten – may be replaced by broiled tofu or dried wheat gluten) cut into 1-inch squares
    • 4 slices boned & skinless duck breast*, 2 inches by 1 inch each,
    • All-purpose white flour as needed

    Garnish

    • Freshly grated wasabi horseradish

    Instructions
     

    • Heat the dashi stock and season it with the soy sauce and mirin. Boil the vegetables until crisp but tender. Turn down the heat to a high simmer and add in the sudarebu or tofu. Add in the duck (or chicken), which should be generously coated in the flour, at the last moment. This flour coating creates a thicker dashi broth and is a key element to the success and tastiness of this dish. It will take less than three minutes to cook each ingredient.
       
    • To serve, pile the vegetables and duck (or chicken) separately in small mounds in a shallow bowl, pour a little of the remaining sauce over them, and place a dab of wasabi in the center. Serve immediately.

    Notes

    Notes:
    If you’re using tofu, first press some of the water out by putting it between two plates for 10 minutes. Drain.
    You may replaced the duck with boneless, skinless chicken breast.
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
  • Bamboo Shoot, Chicken and Fried Tofu Mixed Rice Recipe

    Bamboo Shoot, Chicken and Fried Tofu Mixed Rice Recipe

    Bamboo Shoot rice japanese recipeWe know spring is here when fresh bamboo shoots start popping up from the ground. In keeping with the traditional Japanese concept of enjoying food during its peak season, why not try this tasty and easy version of bamboo rice to celebrate spring, the season of renewal. I know I am ready for spring….aren’t you?!

    My very first blog posting two years ago was a bamboo shoot recipe, and so is today’s.  This is one of my favorite mixed rice recipes. And if you can’t buy fresh bamboo shoots, this can still be delicious using precooked peeled and or canned bamboo shoots.

     

    Bamboo Shoot rice japanese recipe

    Bamboo Shoot, Chicken, and Fried Tofu Rice

    Lucy Seligman
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    Servings 4

    Ingredients
      

    • 1 piece of abura-age (fried tofu)
    • 7 ozs. fresh*, precooked peeled or canned bamboo shoots, thinly sliced
    • 3 ½ ozs. chicken breast, skinned and cubed
    • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
    • ½ cup dashi (fish stock)
    • 3 tablespoons low-salt soy sauce, or to taste
    • 4 tablespoons sake
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • 3 cups Japanese white rice, washed and drained
    • 1 piece of kelp, wiped with a damp cloth

    To garnish:

    • Dried seaweed, cut into thin strips

    Instructions
     

    • Before starting, immerse the fried tofu in hot water for 10 minutes to get rid of the oil. Squeeze out excess water and slice into strips. If using canned bamboo shoots, boil for a minute or two and then rinse.
    • Sauté the cubed chicken and fried tofu in oil. Add the sliced bamboo shoots, dashi stock, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of sake. Cook until all the liquid evaporates, roughly 10 minutes. Set aside.
    • Place the rice in an electric rice cooker or large saucepan. Add the remaining soy sauce and sake, and salt. Place the piece of kelp on top. Add water and cook according to rice cooker directions or, if using a saucepan, until the water is fully absorbed. When the rice is done, remove kelp, add the chicken and vegetables and stir well. Cover and let sit a further 10 minutes before serving.
    • Place in rice bowls and top with a generous amount of dried seaweed. Serve immediately. Clam soup makes a nice accompaniment.

    Notes

    *If using canned or precooked peeled bamboo shoots, drain and rinse them thoroughly in cold water before preparation. If the shoots are fresh, cut off the hard bottom part and boil them in their husks – water left over from washing rice or rice bran is best for this – with a dried red pepper for about one and a half hours to remove bitterness. Let cool, then peel off the husks. Wash well in cold water and continue with recipe preparation.
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

    Leave a note in the comments section and let me know if you made this recipe and how it turned out!

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  • Bamboo Shoots: A Kyoto Spring Specialty

    Bamboo Shoots: A Kyoto Spring Specialty

    Bamboo Shoots

    Bamboo shoots are often seen as a seasonal treat so it’s worth having recipes on hand to know what you’re going to make should you come into fresh shoots. (Don’t forget to check out my other equally popular bamboo shoots recipe too Bamboo Shoot, Chicken and Fried Tofu Mixed Rice Japanese Recipe.)

    Boiled Bamboo Shoots Recipe

    “Kye no kidaore Osaka no kuidaore.” If we’re to believe this old adage, the people of Kyoto go bankrupt because of their love of fine clothes, while Osakans spend all their money on food. The saying also implies in passing that Kyoto’s cuisine is less than spectacular – an assessment that clashes with all my dining experiences in the city.

    Kyoto, after all, was the capital of Japan for 1,000 years. Along the way it developed a rich array of culinary offerings, including yusoku ryori (“imperial food”) and a singular vegetarian cuisine called shojin ryori that was a mainstay at the city’s Buddhist temples. Kyoto was also the center of the tea ceremony, so we can credit the genesis of dishes for tea ceremonies – known as kaiseki ryori – to the city as well.

    By the middle of the Edo period (1603-1867) the lower classes in Kyoto were better off financially and could afford to vary their diets as the upper classes did. The special dishes served to high society became the inspiration for obanzai, the Kanzai style of home cooking.

    We can trace the term obanzai to a book entitled Nenju banzairoku, published in 1849. Ban here means “poor” or “unsophisticated”; for example, a low-quality green tea is called bancha. Banzai came to mean poor-quality side dishes in Kyoto. Perhaps to compensate for this, the ordinary people of Kyoto commonly celebrated many yearly occasions and events with better-quality dishes. For example, on the first day of the month, they would eat herring with kelp and red beans mixed into rice. Every day that had the number eight in it, for instance, would be feted with something special like seaweed with fried bean curd. On the fifteenth of each month, beans and rice with potato and dried cod would be eaten, and so on.

    Takenoko no kakani

    In the spring, freshly dug-up bamboo shoots are sold everywhere in Kyoto, and remain a special seasonal treat. For the following obanzai dish, precooked or canned bamboo is an acceptable replacement if fresh bamboo is unavailable.

    Bamboo Shoots

    Takenoko no kakani (Boiled Bamboo Shoots with Dried Bonito Flakes)

    Lucy Seligman
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    Ingredients
      

    • A 4-inch 10cm square of konbu (kelp), wiped with a damp cloth and lightly slashed to release its flavor
    • 18 ounces 500g takenoko (bamboo shoots), boiled* and cut in half lengthwise, then into thick, half-moon slices
    • 2 ¼ cups water
    • 1/3 ounce 10g katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
    • 2 tablespoons mirin sweet rice wine
    • 1 to 2 tablespoons white sugar or to taste
    • 3 tablespoons soy sauce

    Instructions
     

    • Place the kelp, prepared bamboo shoots, water, and dried bonito flakes in a deep saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Add the mirin and sugar, and continue to coil over medium-high heat a further five minutes. Next, add the soy sauce and continue to boil until the liquid has reduced to half – approximately eight minutes.
    • To serve, place the bamboo shoots and remaining liquid in a decorative serving bowl. Sprinkle with either additional dried bonito flakes, a few sprigs of kinome, or both. Serve hot or at room temperature.
    • *If using canned or precooked peeled bamboo shoots, drain and rinse them thoroughly in cold water before preparation. If the shoots are fresh, cut off the hard bottom part and boil them in their husks – water left over from washing rice or rice bran is best for this – with a dried red pepper for about one and a half hours to remove bitterness. Let cool, then peel off the husks. Wash well in cold water and continue with preparation.

    Notes

    Garnish: Additional dried bonito flakes to taste, sprigs of kinome (Japanese prickly ash) or both
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

    Leave a note in the comments section (see below) if you make this dish!

    Takenoko no kakani boiled bamboo shoots

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