June 14, 2011

My Nukadoko as of June 14/私のぬか床、6月14日現在

On June 12, after I pickled some daikon, my nukadoko became soggy. I made a dent at the center of the nukadoko, using a measuring cup.
6月12日、大根を漬けた後、ぬか床が水っぽくなってしまいました。計量カップで、ぬか床の真ん中にへこみを作りました。
Then, I placed a paper towel there to absorb excess water.
そして、余分な水を吸い取るため、キッチンペーパーを置きました。
The next morning, I got more water in the dent than I had imagined.
次の日の朝、へこみには想像以上に水が溜まっていました。
I haven't yet described the container that I use. It's a lidded plastic container with a capacity of 3 liters that I bought at the 100-yen shop. Maybe I should have bought a larger 4-liter container for 400-500 yen.
使っている容器のことをまだ説明していませんでした。100円ショップで買った、蓋付きの、容量3リットルのプラスチック容器です。400~500円する、もっと大きな4リットルの容器を買うべきだったかも知れません。
I made a deep hole all the way down to the bottom to remove more water. Later I absorbed the water with some tissue paper.
もっと水を取るため、穴をずっと底まで開けました。後で、テッシュペーパーで水を吸い取りました。
My nukadoko is one week old, and is now fully fermented, giving off the smell that I was familiar with when I was a child. My mother had nukadoko then.
The room temperature is over 25C, and I have decided to put my nukadoko in the fridge before it gets sour.
ぬか床は作ってから一週間経ち、完全に発酵しました。子供の頃に慣れ親しんだ匂いを出しています。母はその頃はぬか床を持っていました。
室温は25度を超えたので、酸っぱくなる前に冷蔵庫に入れることにしました。
Before I did so, I pickled two cucumbers and some daikon leaves.
その前に、きゅうりを2本と大根の葉っぱを漬けました。
Daikon leaves, pickled for about 4 hours:
約4時間漬けた大根の葉っぱ:
I used to like rice bran pickled daikon leaves when I was a child. Very natsukashii flavor!!
子供の頃、大根の葉っぱのぬか漬けが好きでした。懐かしい味です!!

Note: It is common practice to rub cucumbers with salt before pickling them to retain their vivid green color. You can do so with your hands only, or you can use a cooking board as shown in this video. Rolling with salt on a cooking board is called itazuri. After rubbing cucumbers with salt, rinse them under running water to remove salt and pat dry. (Some people recommend not removing salt so that you can add the salt to the nukadoko.)
注: きゅうりを漬ける前に、鮮やかな緑色を保つため、塩もみするのが一般的です。手だけですることもできますし、またこのビデオのように、まな板を使ってもいいです。まな板で塩と一緒に転がすことを板ずりと言います。塩もみした後は、流水で洗って、塩を落として、水気を取ります(ぬか床に塩を足すため、塩を落とさないことを薦める人もいます)。

I will post some additional notes on nukadoko and nukazuke later.
後でぬか床、ぬか漬けの注意点を載せます。

28 comments:

Fräulein Trude said...

I think I would like to use a traditional pickling pot for Nukadoko (germans use pickling pots for sour cabbage, cucumbers)
http://www.google.de/search?tbm=isch&hl=de&source=hp&biw=1092&bih=559&q=G%C3%A4rtopf&gbv=2&oq=G%C3%A4rtopf&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=3004l5310l0l7l7l0l1l1l1l345l1317l1.2.1.2

Can be bought new or used on fleamarkets, basement sell out or Grandma hands them over. I know my mother has some - should go and pay a visit...

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: Thanks for the link. The images remind me of the Japanese traditional pots for tsukemono like these:
http://item.rakuten.co.jp/c-mania/4933168010948/

It was my initial idea to put my nukadoko in the fridge once it is fully fermented, and I had to choose a small, rectangular plastic container to save space.

The pots for sour cabbage should be great for their intended purpose, but I wonder if they are good for nukadoko because, as you know, you have to mix nukadoko thoroughly every day.

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: I visited your blog and found that you seemed to like your yogurt zuke.

There is another type of tsukemono I'd like to tell you about:
Pan zuke (bread zuke)

Pan zuke uses bread, beer(!), and salt.
Recipes vary. Examples are:
http://www.issaydo.com/pandoko_tukurikata/
http://www.tukeru.com/tukemono/recipe_50524.htm
(Japanese only)

And, there is okara zuke, too!

Sissi said...

Hiroyuki, I was planning finally to make my nukadoko today and then I saw the daikon leaves! I have a lot of those on the balcony, so it would be a great way to use some. Do I prepare them the same way you did with the cucumbers?
Beer and bread sound intriguing. Maybe for my further adventures. I will stick to your recipe at first.

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: Yes, wash well, and bury in the nukadoko. I didn't do the itazuri.

I have no idea what the temperature is like in your area. I hope it's in the range of 20-25C.

Anyway, once you decide to have nukadoko, you have to treat it as a pet! (laugh) Otherwise, you won't succeed... Daily maintenance is the key! Well, I know you can do it!

Hiroyuki said...

Not Kiki but Sissi. Sorry, I'm drunk.

Sissi said...

Thank you, Hiroyuki for the advice. You are lucky! I still have to wait a couple of hours (it's 1:20 pm only here) and you made me feel like having a glass of shochu in the middle of the day ;-)

Sissi said...

Hiroyuki, I have just started the pickling process. The first stage with cabbage etc.. I used a smaller container and tomorrow will start a second batch, a bit different. It's so exciting! Thanks to your explanations everything seemed very easy!

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: Two batches?! I can't wait to see them!

Sissi said...

Hiroyuki, finally I am making only one batch. It looks weird, but doesn't smell bad, so maybe it will work (only second day today).
By the way, I went to buy a big aji today and of course there were only small ones. I have bought several and followed your advice: I made them in tempura. I have no words to describe how good they were and apart from the spinal bone removal (they were not very tiny and I thought I had to do this), the tempura was quite easy! I had them with a tomato-shiso salad I recently discovered and it was one of the best meals of the year! Thank you for the advice!

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: The initial nuka smell will gradually change into somewhat sour, distinctive nukazuke smell in 5-10 days. I hope you keep mixing your nukadoko twice a day and replacing the vegetables with new ones.

I know you showed in your blog a combination of chicken, shiso, and bainiku (umeboshi paste), which is of course good, but I can argue that shiso and umeboshi go very well with other ingredients. One of my favorites is shiso + umeboshi paste + squid or fake crab meat in temaki (hand-rolled) sushi, and another is aji/iwashi (sardine) + shiso (+ umeboshi paste) tempura.

I think that small aji are good as tempura, slightly bigger ones as fries, and big ones as shio-yaki (salt-grilled). Do you remember that in episode 1 of Shinya Shokudo, Master was making aji fries before the two yakuza came in?

Sissi said...

Hiroyuki, thank you for reminding me. Yes, I mix the nukadoko and replace the cabbage leaves. Now it still smells a bit nutty (the roasting I did made it smell like this).
Thank you for visiting my blog! I really enjoyed shiso, chicken and bainiku and was surprised to see how good it was together (for us, foreigners, some things are so surprising while for you maybe obvious...). Thank you for other suggestions. I have fake crab often at home, so I will try it soon. Maybe in maki rolls? I make these quite often and I like changing the filling. However, my husband doesn't like bainiku (its sour taste), so I will make one roll just for me :-) Maybe today...
I have to write down the other ideas too. I will certainly try bainiku with aji tempura.

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: Temaki, like this:
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Temaki-Sushi
You just let each diner choose whatever they want to roll in a sheet of nori.

I have two shiso plants in a planter. I will post about them in the near future, together with other plants I grow.

Sissi said...

Hiroyuki, thank you for the link. I don't know why, but I have never made temaki. I always make maki rolls, which are quite long to prepare. Temaki seem easier.
I'm looking forward to read about your plants!
I haven't managed to grow any shiso (Kiki advised to put the grains in the fridge before, but even with this trick it didn't work, the grains are really stubborn). Luckily my Japanese shop sells now small shiso plants in pots, so I have bought one and it grows very easily!
Thanks to your advice mitsuba grows very well. I have it very often with oyakodon and really like the taste.
Yesterday I have bought some mizuna at my Japanese shop. It was very expensive and I must say its taste doesn't differ a lot from Europeans types of lettuce and similar salad-like plants, so I'll never buy it again (though the form of the leaves is original).
Another plant I saw in the Japanese shop were chrysanthemum leaves. Do you have any advice how to use them? They were cheaper.
My nukadoko started smelling sour finally. I have buried daikon leaves today instead of the previous cabbage leaves. I hope it works....

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: Temaki has another advantage: Enables you to have crisp nori.

Mizuna is popular in Kansai, especially Kyoto, and I wasn't familiar with it when I was in my 20s. Now I like it, and put in salad and miso soup.

Chrysanthemum leaves?! I've never had them before! Do you mean shungiku 春菊? If so, it's an indispensable ingredient of sukiyaki. It's also good as tempura, ohitashi, etc. As I said somewhere in my blog, I'm not a big fan of shungiku, but my wife likes it very much.

Check to see what the pickled vegetable tastes like before you throw it away. For the first few days, it will be just salty, but as days go by, it will take on nukazuke flavor.

Sissi said...

Hiroyuki, your previous comment about Shinya Shokudo makes me think I'd like to see it once more. All the episodes. I'd like to remember more details.
I have looked at shungiku photos and I think this is the chrysanthemum I have seen in the shop.
I will buy it next week if they still sell it!
I will keep on tasting then the vegetables. Nukadoko pickling is so much fun, a bit like having a small laboratory in the kitchen (of course it will be less amusing if I spoil it). Thank you again for the detailed instructions and advice.

Fräulein Trude said...

Sissi: Chrysanthemum - look here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garland_chrysanthemum

There are different cultured forms for eating purpose available. I bought seeds of one called "tiger ear" with extra big tasty leaves and another japanese called "Oedo". They grow very fast. 2 weeks ago I started a new patch in the garden and seedlings are up to 3 cm already. I mixed them on the patch with a special edible tagetes, red american salad and Nasturtium (I will have some great colourful salad bowls). I like tiger ear in shabu shabu, chinese hotpot and salads. You could grow them in plant pots too.

They remind me a little bit of rukola without the mustard note but a little bitterness.

Sissi said...

Kiki, thank you. This is the one I saw in the Japanese shop, but of course I would prefer to grow it on my own!
Thank you for the idea: it means that I can still start growing it now! Maybe it's not too late (last year I started to grow chilies on my balcony and had fruit from September until the end of October). I will go and see if I can buy here the other varieties you mention.

Hiroyuki said...

Anyway, I will put mizuna in my nabe rather than shungiku (laugh).

Sissi: If your husband hates umeboshi, consider purchasing honey umeboshi. If you can't get it where you live, just make it yourself.

1. Remove salt from 10 umeboshi by soaking them in cold water for 3 days (not hours but DAYS). Change water as required.
2. Put 100 ml honey and 50 ml water in a pot, bring to a boil, let cool.
2. Pat-dry umeboshi, and soak in the honey-water mixture for 2 weeks (not days but WEEKS).
from here:
http://www.tukeru.com/tukemono/recipe_50043.htm

You can also make ume gatsuo (< katsuo = bonito):
2 umeboshi
5 g katsuobushi shavings
1 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp dashi
1 tbsp soy suace
Mix them all together.

We like to use it as a dressing for daikon salad.

And, ume bishio:
20 umeboshi
3 tbsp mirin
50 g sugar
Directions:
1. Remove salt from umeboshi by simmering in a pot of a large amount of water .
2. Finely shred umeboshi, add sugar and mirin, and turn into paste.

Use it as a condiment.

Sissi said...

Hiroyuki, thank you for these excellent ideas. I am sure I'll use the recipes very soon (I have bought a big box of umeboshi). Do you use ume gatsuo with cooked daikon or raw?
By the way, yesterday night I managed to buy one big aji. I salted it, dried and grilled and it was delicious!!! (Not like the small ones.) I think I'll post it in a couple of days. The only thing that didn't work was that during the tortures to empty the fish and cut it through I destroyed partly the head, so I finally carried on without the head. It was maybe not traditional, but wonderful! Without your instructions I would have never dared making it. It seemed so difficult... In fact it is quite easy if the fish is big! Thank you once more.

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: Raw. You can see a photo here:
http://hiro-shio.blogspot.com/2008/11/our-first-daikon.html
The last one. I once made similar salad with microwaved daikon for my children, who hated pungent daikon, but it was just terrible!

And, you threw the head away? You can grill the head with the rest, or you can make ara jiru.
ara = fish trimmings
jiru < shiru.

http://egullet.org/p1424138

Aji ara jiru is not so popular, though.

Tai (sea bream), maguro (tuna), and buri (yellowtail) ara jiru are popular.

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: Forgot to mention:

To make daikon salad, cut daikon into sticks, put them in a bowl, add 1 tsp salt, mix well, leave 5 min. or so, and squeeze. Then, add ume gatsuo.

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: And, I found this ume bishio recipe:
http://www.chefslittlehelper.com/node/14080

If you use a pot to make ume bisho, be sure to use an enamerel one. Don't use a metal pot!

Sissi said...

Thank you, Hiroyuki, for the links and the advice. I absolutely love the daikon salad idea (especially since there is katsuobushi in it... I like it so much I eat some dry shavings every time I open the package).
Your cut daikon looks a bit like chips (or French fries in American English) ;-) Or maybe I'm just hungry?
Unfortunately I threw the head away. I was furious because I was hurt by the fish (afterwards I had to take out pieces of small thorns, it was under my skin... and because I haven't managed to cut it as I did with the smaller aji, that I haven't even thought of using the head. Next time I shall remember. Thank you.
I think I should go and buy some daikon today and make the salad!

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: I hope the injury was not serious.

The best part of a fish is usually the one that is usually thrown away... That's what always occurs to me when I have a salt-grilled kama (collar).

Sissi said...

Hiroyuki, thank you for asking. The two small thorns looked like wood. I was sure it was wood! But then I remembered it hurt a bit when I was cleaning the fish (and I haven't touched any raw wood this day). It didn't hurt, but I hurt myself with the fish fin, there was even a bit of blood ;-)
I am really clumsy... and aji defends itself very well even after its death!
I must say i preferred the very fleshy parts, but when I fry a fish the part I am crazy for is the... tail! My husband can't even look at me when I take it! He says it's disgusting :-)
(In the meantime I have bought a nice big daikon and will serve it tonight with the ume gatsuo you kindly advised me...).

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: Come to think of it, I don't have the tail of a fish! I have the tail of an ebi ten and ebi fry, though.

Sissi said...

Hiroyuki, first of all thank you for commenting on my blog and thank you for your approval. Your compliments mean a lot to me. I am very proud you liked the way my ajitan looked. I will make it very often in the future.
I had the the daikon salad with ume gatsuo yesterday and it was delicious! The combination is very original in taste. It's another of your recipes I must post soon!