November 30, 2012

Dried Enoki Kakiage/干しえのきのかき揚げ

In early October, I got a bag of dried enoki from a neighbor.  I added some of it to miso soup, fried rice, and some other dishes.  Yesterday, I decided to add the rest of it to kakiage.
I first microwaved it for 20 seconds or so to bring out the dried squid-like flavor.
10月初め、近所の人から干しえのきをもらいました。味噌汁やチャーハンなどに入れました。昨日は、残りをかき揚げに入れることにしました。
まず、電子レンジで20秒ほど加熱して、するめに似た風味を出しました。
Then, I added it to the carrot and onion.
次ににんじんと玉ねぎと混ぜました。
I first made gyoniku (fishmeat) tempura, followed by kabocha tempura and sweet potato tempura.  
最初に魚肉ソーセージ天ぷら、次にかぼちゃの天ぷらとサツマイモの天ぷらを作りました。

The tempura batter was a little too thick for kakiage, so I added some water.  When making kakiage, make sure you leave extra batter in the bowl when scooping up some of the ingredients (using a spoon, a slotted ladle, a pair of chopstick, or something similar) to put in the fryer, because no one wants to have heavy kakiage.
天ぷらの衣はかき揚げにはちょっと濃すぎたので、水を少し足しました。かき揚げを作る時は、鍋に入れる具を(スプーン、穴あきのお玉、箸などで)すくう際に余分な衣をボールに落とすようにします。重たいかき揚げを食べたい人はいないので。 
I don't care about kakiage of varied shapes and sizes.  If you do, use some kind of mold (used can, for example).
私自身はかき揚げが色々な形や大きさになっても気にしませんが、気にするなら、何らかの型(使い終わった缶詰の缶など)を使ってください。
A quarter of a carrot and a quarter of an onion result in this amount of kakiage.
にんじん1/4本と玉ねぎ1/4本でこれだけのかき揚げになります。
This is all the tempura I made last night.  We had cold soba with it.
昨晩はこれだけ天ぷらを作りました。蕎麦と一緒に食べました。
Some of the leftover tempura will be frozen to be put in my son's bento.
残りの天ぷらの一部は冷凍して、息子の弁当に入れます。 

7 comments:

Fräulein Trude said...

Dried Enoki - this also something new to me. Looks very tempting.

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: Believe it or not, dried enoki is new to many Japanese, too!

On October 2, an NHK TV program featured dried enoki
http://www.nhk.or.jp/asaichi/2012/10/02/01.html
(Japanese only)

The neighbor learned the health benefits of dried enoki from the program, and decided to make it herself.

(The number of accesses to my blog increased immediately after the program was aired.)

To tell you the truth, the reason why I used dried enoki when making kakiage was that I forgot to buy some dried shrimp (laugh).

Fräulein Trude said...

Thanks for the link, those dried mushrooms in sweet sesame-soy sauce on tofu look very good too.

Next time, when I buy too many Enoki I am going to put them in my electronic food dryer. I think the weather is not good enough to put them outdoors (snowy rain falls soon to come).
We often use dried mushrooms. My mother usually sends me dried capes, autumn trumpets and such whenever she had a very good mushroom hunting season (she is in the forests allmost everyday doing her 10 km each day walk).

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: The one you mentioned is tsukudani, so it can also be eaten with hot rice.

The Japanese tend to prefer fresh mushrooms, I suppose. I don't know why. I guess that we are obsessed with this idea: The fresher, the better. Anyway, I think salting mushroom for preservation is more common than drying.

I envy you for having such an active mother. My mother has pain in her knees, and can't walk much.

Fräulein Trude said...

Yes the old folks, as long as they stay healthy and energetic, we are lucky. My mother still works in local politics as committee and board member and she is in her seventies. It is hard to contact her: no time, no time (laugh) and that is good...

Sissi said...

So you do dry mushrooms in Japan, other than shiitake! In certain European countries dried mushrooms are a staple (Central and Eastern Europe).
I must make kakiage soon I think! I have never tried this method, but have always found it very appetising.

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: Yes, kakiage, if properly made, is light and crispy, and delicious! I hope you try it soon!