November 5, 2012

Renkon Hamburgers/レンコンハンバーグ

As part of tonight's supper, I made renkon (lotus root) hamburgers.
今日の夕飯にはレンコンハンバーグを作りました。

Ingredients: 300 g renkon
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp katakuriko (potato starch)
Oil for pan-frying 
(I used sesame oil this time.)
材料:
レンコン 300 g
塩 小さじ1/4
片栗粉 大さじ2
フライパンで焼くための油

Peel renkon, and coarsely grate it.
レンコンの皮を剥き、粗くおろします。
I used my oni-oroshi, bought at a 100-yen shop, to coarsely grate it. Oni-oroshi made of bamboo cost more than 1,000 yen.
私は、粗くおろすのに、百円ショップで買った、鬼おろしを使いました。竹でできた鬼おろしは千円以上します。

Add salt and katakuriko, and mix well.
塩と片栗粉を入れ、よく混ぜます。

I separated it into small pieces because I wanted to use some as an okazu for my son's bento tomorrow morning.
明日の朝、息子の弁当のおかずとして使えるように、小さく分けました。 

Pan-fry with some oil.
フライパンに油を少しひいて焼きます。
Done!
完成!
I also made vegetable stir-fry (bean sprouts and cabbage only; no meat), spinach ohitashi, and soboro.  We had left-over miso soup.
野菜炒め(もやしとキャベツだけ、肉なし)、ほうれん草のおひたし、そぼろも作りました。残りの味噌汁を飲みました。
The renkon hamburgers were a big hit with my family!  My daughter said, "Mochi-mochi shite te oishii" (It has a mochi-like texture and it's delicious).
レンコンハンバーグは家族にとても受けました!娘はこう言いました、「もちもちしてて、美味しい」。

Mochi-mochi means a mochi-like texture.  In general, the Japanese like a mochi-like texture.  For example, many Japanese like "mochi-mochi shita" (mochi-like textured) bread.
「もちもち」とは、もちのような食感という意味です。一般的に日本人はもちのような食感が好きです。例えば、もちもちしたパンを好きな日本人が多いです。

Some renkon hamburger recipes call for dried shrimp, naga negi, etc., etc.
乾燥海老や長ねぎなどを入れるレシピ-もあります。


5 comments:

Sissi said...

Very interesting... I have never had mochi, but if it's soft ad slightly springy I would like it a lot. (Is it a bit like dango? I really liked it...)
When I had renkon in Japan I loved it (ok, I know I'm repeating myself... but even worse will come after my second trip to Japan I'm sure!). It was served for breakfast in our hotel. The hotel was big so the buffet was big and half European half Japanese. I practically discovered a new vegetable every day. Here renkon is sold either in water in plastic bags or frozen. I must taste it one day.

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: Yes, it's like dango. You could call it renkon dango instead.

You can grate renkon with an ordinary grater, but in that case, more water will come out of the renkon, and you may have to remove some water.

Yes, yes, you must try it to see it's good enough. If it is, make renkon kinpira, renkon hasami age (or yaki), etc., etc.

Fräulein Trude said...

Reminds me a little on a recipe I once tried but the recipe called for daikon instead of renkon: chinese daikon cake with negi and dried shrimps as additional ingredients and the starch has to be replaced by glutenious rice flour, very delicious. I am going to buy some fresh renkon and try it out today.

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: Grated daikon hamburgers?! That's new to me! I must try them some day!

Sissi said...

Hiroyuki, thank you for the advice (this Japanese type grater is something I unfortunately didn't buy at 100 yen shop... I will check if it's not too expensive here).. I think I would like both the texture and taste.
Kiki, grated daikon sounds very intriguing (this is at least easily available and very cheap so experiments are easier to decide).