shinju

Wow, this very cheap for 300 g silken tofu. Is this locally made near you? Thanks for this info Hiroyuki. So they do have freeze dried tofu for sale in Japan. I would love to see these sold in the US too. Maybe someone from Japan can sell these on ebay or amazon for US shipping. I would buy 10-20 right away. ← Of course, it is locally made. Fresh tofu can't be shipped long distance. You would? ← Well, in the US, I do not think tofu is locally made. There is one nearby that is locally made - San Jose Tofu. They make momendoufu, but not silken. I can easily make momendoufu, no problem, but still not happy with the silken. Absolutely, I would buy in bulk if available to cut down on shipping cost. I have purchased tea on ebay from a fellow in Japan and had good results.

Great information there. Thank you Helen for this. It's interesting that 2 of my ume cookbooks do not mention anything about using calcium/shells for karikari ume. I've been munching every day to see the progress and I am amazed by the strong ume aroma as soon as I remove the dish towel from the top. It is quite heady! The taste still seems rather wild tasting to me. Is that normal at first? Also, not as salty as the store bought although I added the required amount of salt. I have quite a bit of karikari ume and no room in the refrigerator to keep these long term. I wonder if these can be water bath processed much like regular pickling?

Wow, this very cheap for 300 g silken tofu. Is this locally made near you? Thanks for this info Hiroyuki. So they do have freeze dried tofu for sale in Japan. I would love to see these sold in the US too. Maybe someone from Japan can sell these on ebay or amazon for US shipping. I would buy 10-20 right away.

Yep, I've also had dried tofu in instant miso, but it wasn't good generally. This one is very good with 1/2 inch cubes and the texture is right on. Wish someone will market this for outside of Japan. Even in Japan, you would think that having something that is shelf stable without refrigeration is a big plus.

I just finished having acecook's spicy chige ramen スパイシーチゲラーメン and was impressed with the taste especially how the dried silken tofu turned out. I wasn't sure how dried tofu was going to come out and so I added very qood quality silken tofu to the ramen as well except my pieces were bigger. Well, surprise, the dried silken tofu turned out very good. Exactly the right texture. Have you seen any dried silken tofu being sold in Japan lately? I wish they would carry something like this in the US - less costly to ship and shelf stable. I went to the acecook's web site but they no longer carry the spicy chige ramen - I will have to go and see about buying 10-20 packages to stock from the local Japanese market nearby. http://www.acecook.co.jp/brand/super.html This is what the package looks like - sorry can't show the actual ramen (already devoured).

Thanks for this link. I wonder why calcium keeps the ume firm. I really want to make regular umeboshi, but don't feel very confident with the process. If anyone has experience with them and can give me pointers that would be much appreciated. Also, I've tried growing akajiso for the last 3-4 years and they won't come up. Very frustrating. A very nice person from a sushi group sent me akajiso seeds from their yard that flourishes in South Carolina and even that did not come up. I have two sizes of ume and this is the first year that I'm actually trying to use the smaller sized ume. The bigger ume is usually made into umeshu and umezu. I've been brining these for 4 days now.

My first attempt in trying to make karikari ume. Two of my cookbooks on ume basically follow the same procedure, but checking internet I am finding that some call for cleaned egg shells wrapped in a gauze being added to the pickling stage. I haven't been able to find out why egg shells are added like this. Does anyone know?

Besides butter, are you seeing any food hoarding by consumers in Japan? I'm beginning to read some rice and flour hoarding by businesses in the US. Not sure if this is true with consumers yet.

I feel the same way as you. I do not like them at all. It is too rich for my taste and has a very funny slimy mouthfeel.

Not new at all. In the 50's when money was tight for many people, as long as there was a bit of butter and soy sauce that went on top of rice then that was a meal. With a bit more money, I used to see some ham slices sauteed in butter and soy sauce to be devoured with rice.

Me neither.

I also think that Shizuo Tsuji's Japanese Cooking, A Simple Art is one of the best for starters. Some of his flavorings can be on the sweet side though like his method of sukiyaki.

Thanks Helen for this info. Can you do this with other herbs?

Upon further checking, I did find that tenmenjan is Beijing style as you indicated and the second kanji mien is sometimes written in traditional style (noodle). Still cannot find LKK sauce in the US similar to it (maybe I'm not looking in the right place).

Thank you Helen for your explanation. Hoisin and tenmenjan have similarities, but as you mentioned, they are not the same. Hoisin is spicier and I can also taste star anise and possibly cinnamon or some other spice not found in tenmenjan. There are more Chinese markets in the US than Japanese and I was looking for English equivalent for tenmenjan

Thank you all. Right, I can read in Japanese no problem, but do not know what it is called in English - or rather what would be the equivalent name for this in English. If I tell people to look for black "bean paste" in Chinese markets, will they find it? Thanks!

Not sure if I should be posting here on in China forum, but please help me out if you can. Whenever I use tenmenjan in my recipes I never know how to name this for people outside of Japan. I see this sometimes referred to as sweet miso paste, black bean paste, black bean sauce, brown bean sauce. It's made from soy beans right? What is the equivalent in Chinese sauces? I think by indicating it as black bean sauce it's confusing because it's not made from black beans.

this is very true lol. Cut up the ingredients while you're preparing stock (if you use stock), dump everything in, cover, wait a few min, voila. i've been known to eat nabe 5 days out of the week sometimes...add to that, since gas burners are portable, sometimes i just prepare something at my desk while working into the wee hours of the night ← Me three. I did not care for any nabemono when I was young and just recently started liking them very much. I like the idea of adding tofu and eating them when they become fuwa fuwa with ponzu sauce.

I checked my umeshu and it's still too young to drink. However, my strawberry shu (strawberry and sake) is perfect (on the left). I've already removed the strawberries about a month ago. \

Those eggs look great John. Congrats on your first try. Living in US I'm too scared to use raw eggs. One time I pickled some tofu in miso thinking mom would like it. Her expression was nothing but disgust at the taste. I loved it myself though. I may have kept them in too long - it was like 1 week. Like your eggs, my tofu also tasted similar to cheese.

Cover 6-inch square container bottom with 1-inch red miso. Make 4 depressions. Boil four 3-minute eggs (soft boil), carefully remove yolks unbroken and place each yolk in miso depressions with the large end of an egg into the miso. Cover with a layer of cheesecloth and top with more miso. Ready in 1 1/2 to 2 days.

It is a recent thing and yellowing, dropping of leaves seem to be with older leaves. My other citrus trees (lime, lemon, orange, tangerine) haven't done this so I was worried. No other discoloration just the leaves going soft, yellowing, and dropping. I did have some new shoots in the spring this year. Compared to other citrus trees, yuzu leaves are soft. But it has some wickedly long thorns!

It's a seasonal thing for me. I never think of takikomi gohan until Fall/Winter season when a greater variety of mushrooms are abundant.

Matsutake is recently inexpensive here in Bay Area - granted it it not the best kind and some are open tops, but still taste and smell great. I've been using it for the last two months in various dishes but after reading some blogs talking of taimeshi I really wanted to try it using matsutake too. Normally I make all my takikomigohan using my electric rice cooker but this time I wanted to try my hand using my small nabe dish. I never tried cooking rice this way and really had no idea if it was going to work. But I remember making rice in old days in Japan using our old kama and though I don't remember all the steps and just the vague memories from those days, I figure I may be able to wing it. Some say cook on high, turn down to medium, and finish with simmer. I may try that next time, but with my first attempt I started out with simmer and finished it with high heat until I can hear the crackle of rice. It tasted wonderful. I used 1/2 C rice, 170 cc dashi, 1 1/2 tsp each shoyu, mirin, sake, some kombu strips, matsutake strips, and grilled tai. Before cooking: After cooking. Forgot to time it and don't know how long I simmered the nabe. I peeked several times and checked the rice consistency. After letting it sit for a while and mixing. Ready to eat. I really liked this and want to again soon.

Thanks Helen. Will give it some citrus fertilizer. Hate to lose this tree since it was such a pain finding it in the US.