danjou

Hello Hiroyuki and Smallworld, greetings from Manila ! Thank you very much for taking time to write down the wonderful posts, the wonderful links and the extremely valuable information. Hiroyuki, I regret that my Japanese is truly awful,... Nihongo ga sukoshi dake wakarimasu...totemo musukashi desu ! I only wish I could have learned Hiragana/ Katakana so I could decipher the Japanese text. But the pictures are worth a thousand words ( pardon the cliche); indeed it must be the yose tofu you mention !! With your help I now know what to look for. This information together with the wonderful step by step instructions so kindly written down by Smallworld and the links you both have provided bring me closer to finally making my own yose tofu . Even if I got the coagulant somehow, without the step by step method from Smallworld , I would not have known just how to add the chemical to the soymilk, or even how much to add. I am fortunate that there is a tofu shop here making artisanal soybean products, like fresh yuba, tofu noodles( a Taiwanese specialty), pressed tofu, the Chinese equivalent of Koya tofu, yuba sausage ( a Buddhist dish).dry soy miilk sheets, and fantastic fresh soy milk ( not pasteurized). I will try to order nigari from a Japanese food importer. Now I have to figure out how much coagulant I should add to the soymilk ? And whether the firmness of the resulting tofu is dependent on the amount of Nigari. I don't know if this is correct usage, but "Taihen domo" to you both for the great help ! !

Hello the " sheng yu pian" is really fascinating, as one rarely encounters raw fish dishes in Chinese food. The mention of the Shanghainese dish of Jelly fish heads reminds me that when it comes to preparing jellyfish, Shanghainese are tops. My Shanghainese friends are absolutely crazy for jellyfish and "Mao toh sher li hung" or green soybeans (edamame stirfried with salted radish greens with just a bit of lean pork). These are apparently like comfort food for Shanghainese. The best cold jellyfish I have had was at what many people in Hong Kong consider to be the best Shanghainese food in the territory, the restaurant of the Shanghainese Association in Central, " So jeet" ( as pronounced in Cantonese ). The shreds were plump and thick, almost like udon, and had no other condiment except for a simple sesame oil and salt based dressing. Yue Sang is also called 'Prosperity Salad' in Singapore. Fresh water fish was once used, but because of the higher risk of parasitic infection, farmed salmon was substituted ( Wild salmon was too risky to eat raw, as they pick up more parasites in their life cycle). The ingredients included finely shredded candied wintermelon, pickled radish, pickled scallion, crispy fried won ton skin, hand shredded fresh carrot and radish, sesame seeds, crushed peanuts, seasoned jelly fish, Chinese parsley, and a ton of other sweet, salty and crunchy bits I have yet to identify. A bit of Cinnamon powder and sesame oil are also added, and I recall the dressing as plum sauce based. There are so many variations of this salad, and the more ingredients added, the more expensive the dish. It was always better to eat this in someone's home rather than in restaurants, since the handling and slicing of raw fish requires great care and strict hygeine. A "prosperity salad" meal usually ended with congee, either Chicken congee or Cantonese plain gongee with ginko nut.

Hi, I recall it being ladled into bowls like a hot custard and eaten with a few drops of soy sauce. Unfortunately, I cannot recall the name of the place and have lost touch with the host of that wonderful dinner. Over the years, I had searched Japanese grocery stores in vain when I was back in California hoping to find our what was used, but I guess I have not searched hard enough. The dish was so simple and elegant that I thought I could try replicating the dish at home. Although high quality soy milk is available where I am, I was not sure about what coagulating agent to use. The tofu maker I have asked so far was reluctant to tell me what they used as they gave me the impression is was a trade secret....Could nigari be Magnesium Chloride? Plaster of Paris ? Is nigari easily available in grocery stores in Japan ? I hope someone might have a picture of this product. cheers

Hi , many years ago, during a trip to Japan, some friends brought me to a restaurant somewhere in Tokyo. At one point during the meal, a large container of hot soy milk was brought in, and something was added to the milk, which quickly turned it into the creamiest tofu I have ever tasted. It was so amazing ! Over the years I have been trying to recall the name of this dish and the coagulant used; can this be nigari ? Might you know the name of this type of tofu ? I vaguely recall something about "waterfall" when they described the tofu, but I might be wrong as it has been over 12 years. I do remember how wonderful it was...

Hi, in recent years, many Cantonese chefs in Asia have been adding Western condiments and ingredients to their cooking. The salad was served like this: the shredded roast duck was mixed with thick shreds of jellyfish, and then mixed with the dressing and a sprinke of sesame seeds. it was then placed in the center of a large dish surrounded by mounds of sliced fresh mango and caramelized walnuts. Before serving, everything gets tossed together. Thus, each mouthful had so many flavors and textures; crunchy, nutty and sweet from the walnuts, a chewy crunch from the jellyfish, sweet and sour from the mango, and the wonderful coarsely shredded duck with the still slightly crispy and rich skin all united by the mysterious mayonnaise dressing. I am reminded of another very popular Chinese salad, called "Yue Sang" ( literally, "raw fish") usually served during Chinese New year in Singapore and Malaysia, which uses finely sliced raw fish, and over 20 plus condiments and vegetables, as well as jellyfish....but I will probably need another thread to describe this dish. I heard there are a few restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area which occasionally serve this massive main dish salad, but because it is so hard to make, it has to be specially ordered in advance. The fish used in San Francisco is steelhead ( "soong yue") usually found swimming in tanks in Chinatown fish markets. One almost has to have the skills of a surgeon to carefully remove the succulent meat from this very bony fish. The hard part is shredding so many ingredients in addition to the fish, from jellyfish, candied and pickled vegetables, crushed peanuts, etc. Ugh, I think I am digressing too much and making myself hungry. cheers

Hi Weka, greetings from Asia, many thanks for the compliment, I just hope it helps. An important reminder: Do not buy jellyfish which is preshredded and already hydrated. One usually finds this awful product in the refrigerator in many Chinese/ Asian grocery shops. While it is convenient, the quality is usuallly poor and in most cases has an awful smell, which no amount of blanching will ever remove. Buy only the dried product ( which comes in sheets and sometimes has a granular texture because of the salt) and hydrate from scratch. Your best bet in finding the best quality is to try any large Chinese food products importer which has a track record supplying Chinese restaurants. I remember there is one called Richwell on S.Canal Street in Chicago, which sells practically everything you will possibly need in a Chinese restaurant, including a lot of hard to find spices, seafood, condiments and fresh vegetables. I had a wonderful jelly fish salad the other night, which had shredded Cantonese roast duck meat (which you can find hanging in many Chinese restaurants and each shred also had bits of the crunchy skin), shredded fresh mango and candied walnuts in a lightly creamy dressing with sesame seeds ( I suspect it was a touch of mayonnaise added to a lightly sweet soy sauce based dressing, but the Cantonese chef won't say...oh well). The possibilities are infinite indeed. Let me know if you need help, anytime.. cheers

Hi, here are some more ways to enjoy natto: Some of them are: "Maguro natto tataki tekkadon": finely chopped tuna, seasoned with soy and wasabi, mixed with stirred whole or chopped natto, topped with grated radish and raw egg, all of it placed on top of newly made sushi rice. Shredded nori ( seaweed) as garnish Ika natto donburi : fresh squid sliced into strips seasoned with soy and wasabi and mixed with natto on top of warm, newly made sushi rice. Hamachi natto don: Chopped yellowtail tuna belly mixed with natto on sushi rice. Try also:..... Natto jiru: natto in miso soup Natto soba: I recall first having this wonderful dish at a shop in Tokyo which made "nihachi soba" ( 2 /8 soba) which is artisanal soba made from 8 parts Sarashina buckwheat flour, and 2 parts wheat flour. The fantastic chilled soba, topped with stirred natto and grated radish with a quail egg in a pool of wonderful soba sauce was sheer heaven. I have my soba noodles( store bought...commercial variety) with natto often, and if you want to try to make it yourself, I can type up the recipe for you. Indeed, Natto truly is an interesting subject. I recall many years ago, a lecturer in a class on Japanese Anthropology mentioned that natto was once considered to be a lowly, provincial farmer's food frowned upon by supposedly more sophisticated and cosmopolitan city dwellers. Indeed, a Japanese friend of mine who grew up eating natto in his province was subjected to bullying ("hijime") at school because of his fondness of eating "smelly soybeans" when his family moved to the big city. Now, natto seems to have attained almost a cult status in Japan as a highly beneficial food.

Hi Weka, this is my first post on this wonderful site, hope I get it right. It seems like you have dried jellyfish, and this usually varies in terms of quality and salt content. Choose sheets that are nice and plump and of a uniform color, and do not have a stong chemical or fishy smell. Some come in sheets which you have to shred to the appropriate size, and some are already shredded. Here is how I do it: Rinse the jellyfish with a lot of cold water, and as you run the water through it, you have to rub and squeeze well to remove the salt. Rinse it as thoroughly as you can. You can shred them now to the desired size if need be. Place the jellyfish in a bowl, and cover it with cold water and soak it overnight. Rinse it again. Now, there are two ways to go next: 1.one way is to quickly immerse the shreds in a wok of boiling water ( to remove any strong smell) drain it immediarely and place them in ice water for about 15 min, and then drain in a strainer. 2.The second way is to skip the blanching and just drain in a strainer. Now, there are many ways to season and serve this dish, and most of the time, it is best served cold. There are many dressings for this dish, here are 2 of the basic variations I use. 1. vinegar based dressing: Sesame oil, red vinegar ( you can use rice vinegar if you cannot find this ), a little sugar light soy sauce, and if you like it spicy, a little hot bean paste. some chefs use fish sauce ( Chinese Yue lo, Filipino patis, or Vietnamese Nuoc mam) instead of soy which is also very nice. 2. Sesame oil, sugar, light soy, with or without your choice of chilli sauce, and you can sprinkle lightly with pan toasted sesame seeds. Seasoned jelly fish can release a lot of water if not served right away, as the salt will draw out the water from the hydrated formerly dried jellyfish. This will dilute the seasoning. Many chefs in Hong Kong therefore like to use Chicken boullion powder to season the jellyfish shreds (in addition to the sesame oil, etc.) as the resulting flavor is more stable and saltier. I myself do not use the stuff as it is high in salt and MSG, etc. Stick with simple basic seasonings, soy, fish sauce, a light vinegar, chilli paste or sauce, chilli oil, and sesame oil, and experiment with different combinations. You can serve the shreds with shredded and lightly salted (and drained ) cucumber. hope this helps....