November 13, 2013

Kounago and Walnut Tsukudani, etc./小女子とくるみの佃煮など

Today, I made kounago (Japanese sand lance) and walnut tsukudani.
Koonago is written as "small girl" in Kanji. Don't be surprised when you notice a flyer saying "Small girl for xx yen per 100 g".
今日は、小女子(こうなご)とくるみの佃煮を作りました。
小女子で「こうなご」と読みます。チラシに「小女子100 g XX円」と書いてあっても驚かないでください。
 
I tasted the kounago, and found them slightly salty, so I decided to use less soy sauce.
小女子を味見すると、少し塩辛かったので、しょう油の量を少し減らしました。
 
100 g kounago
70 g walnuts
25 ml mirin
12 ml soy sauce (instead of 25 ml)
小女子 100 g
くるみ 70 g
みりん 25 ml
しょう油 12 ml(25 mlではなく)
Simply heat the kounago and walnuts in a pan, with no oil, for a few minutes.
Add soy sauce and mirin.
Turn off the heat in several tens of seconds.
小女子とくるみをフライパンで、油なしで数分、加熱し、
しょう油とみりんを入れ、
数十秒後に火を止めます。 
I tasted some, and decided to add some (1 tsp) sugar.
味見して、砂糖を少し(小さじ1)足すことにしました。
 
Transfer to a container.
容器に移します。 
This particular ceramic container comes with a lid.
この陶器の入れ物には蓋がついています。 
A gift from an insurance company.
保険会社からもらったものです。
 
I boiled some sweet potatoes. They were quite dirty, and I had to scrub them with a tawashi.
サツマイモを茹でました。すごく汚いので、束子(たわし)でこすりました。  
A tawashi is very effective in doing this job.
こんな場合、束子はとても効果的です。
I boiled them in a big pot over very low heat for 50 minutes.
大きな鍋でごく弱火で50分茹でました。 
Snack for my family, especially my wife!
家族の(特に妻の)軽食です。
 
I also cooked some taro.
里芋も調理しました。 
I rinsed them with water, put them in an I-Wrap bag, and microwaved for 3 minutes, so my hands wouldn't get itchy when peeling them.
水で洗って、アイラップに入れ、3分電子レンジで加熱しました。皮をむく時に手がかゆくならないようにです。   
It took me about 20 minutes to peel them all...
全部皮をむくのに20分くらいかかりました...。 
I boiled them in a pot of
200 ml water
25 ml mirin
25 ml soy sauce
1/3 tsp instant dashi
(1:1:8 ratio)
for 6 minutes or so.
水 200 ml
しょう油 25 ml
みりん 25 ml
出汁の素 小さじ1/3
(割合1:1:8)
入れた鍋で6分程度煮ました。 
I also made kabocha soup and saba no miso ni (mackerel simmered with miso).
かぼちゃスープとサバの味噌煮も作りました。

10 comments:

Fräulein Trude said...

Baby Eels? I had these tiny little fish in Shinjuku. Thinking about to bring a bag full of semi-dried fish home. Guess they will keep without cooling? The fish monger told me they are very good mixed with egg and fried in a pan.

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: I'm not sure what you mean by baby eels. Whitebait?
Shirasu しらす or シラス (baby sardines) is semi-dried, so requires refrigeration.
Chirimenjako ちりめんじゃこ, on the other hand, is completely dried baby sardines, and does not require refrigeration.
The former is popular in Kanto (Eastern Japan), while the latter is popular in Kansai.

Talking of dried fish, why not bring home some dried sardine for making tazukuri (or tatsukuri) 田作り?
http://hiro-shio.blogspot.jp/2011/12/osechi-ryori-4-tazukuri.html

Hiroyuki said...

I guess I was wrong.

Chirimenjako (and kounago) must be refrigerated or frozen.

This site
http://www.ojyako.com/hozon.html
says:
Chirimenjako can be stored for about 1 week in the fridge and about 3 weeks in the freezer.

Kounago must also be stored in the fridge.
This site http://www.kosaka-suisan.co.jp/item/1020/
says that their sun-dried kounago can keep for 90 days at 10C or below.

As I said in the post, kounago = Japanase sand lance.

Eel = Unagi
(Conger eel = Anago)
Sardine = Iwashi
Dried baby sardines = Chirimenjako (popular in Western Japan)
Semi-dried baby sardines = Shirasu (popular in Eastern Japan)

Nippon Nin said...

佃煮おいしそうです。クルミを入れるところが斬新。
小女子がここで手にはいるかなというところが疑問ですが。 私もこの字は読めませんでした。日本でも見たことない商品ですよ。

Hiroyuki said...

Nippon Nin: ”くるみ 小女子”でググると色々なレシピや商品を探せます。是非試してみて下さい!美味しいですよ。

Sissi said...

I've been travelling a lot lately, so now I'm catching up with your last posts (so much to read and discover!). I have heard there are special walnuts in Japan. Is it true? Are they different from foreign walnuts? Actually walnuts are one of the rare dried products which is forbidden to bring to Japan.

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: I knew from your blog that you had been travelling.

Special walnuts? No idea. The variety common in Japan is oni gurumi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juglans_ailantifolia
which is hard to crack.

Sissi said...

Thank you, Hiroyuki.

My Life said...

Trying to find inoue tsukudani koonago. I live in Louisiana. There aren't any stores nearby that sells a decent selection of Japanese food. I used to get it at Daido in Houston. Now they no longer sell them. I've tried online without any luck. If anyone can help, I would truly appreciate it.

Hiroyuki said...

My Life: Thanks for your comment, but I really don't think this is the right place to ask that question of yours. There should be some forums or sites where you can post your question and get answers. I do hope you find the tsukudani!