I made ponzu in early January. See posts dated Jan. 6 and 7 for details. So far, my family have used the home-made ponzu occasionally. Yesterday, I chopped the leftover mekabu (sporophyll of wakame seaweed) finely, and had it with katsuobushi (dried bonito shavings) and the home-made ponzu. The ponzu is good enough, has turned somewhat mellower, but to be honest, I'm not very satisfied with the flavor. I prefer my instant ponzu, made by simply combining yuzu juice, soy sauce, and dashi (that is, water + instant dashi) at a ratio of 1:1:1. Maybe I should try a 1:1:1 ratio next time, but then I suspect that the resultant ponzu won't keep so long.
１月の初め、ポン酢を作りました。詳しくは１月６日、７日付けの投稿をご参照下さい。これまで、時々、家族でこの自家製ポン酢を使ってきました。昨日は、残っためかぶを細かく刻み、鰹節とこの自家製ポン酢で食べました。このポン酢はまあまあ美味しく、またいくらかまろやかになったのですが、正直言うと、この味にあまり満足していません。柚子果汁、醤油、出汁（水＋出汁の素）を１：１：１で混ぜただけのインスタントポン酢のほうが好きです。今度は１：１：１の割合を試すべきかも知れませんが、そうしたら、今度はあんまり日持ちしないのではないかと思います。
Thanks for updating about your ponzu! I too have come to the conclusion that I prefer the same kind of instant ponzu (only I make mine with lemons or lime here). I also like about 1:1:1 for a ratio. Well, the good news is that it is relatively fast and easy to fix! Thanks again for your update.
ReplyDeleteBtw, did the ponzu keep well? Where there any other changes besides becoming mellower?
YSC: No discernable changes. Maybe I should make a 1:1 mixture of citrus juice and soy sauce, and add dashi when I want to use ponzu..., but then again, fresh citrus juice + soy sauce + dashi sounds the tastiest!
ReplyDeleteHi Hiroyuki, I just wanted to tell you about the ponzu sauce I made tonight with Meyer lemons. A friend gave me some fresh Meyer lemons from her mother's tree and I used one tonight. The fruit is small, egg-shaped, with thin rind and a wonderful sweet fragrance. It was very juicy as well.
ReplyDeleteMeyer lemons (which some say are a cross between a true lemon and a mandarin orange) are not as sour as regular lemons. To be honest, in normal cookery I prefer the sour taste of a true lemon, but the ponzu made with Meyer lemon juice tonight was truly delicious! It had a delicate, flowery aroma and was sour without being overwhelming. It smelled so good that it made my mouth water.
Because the weather is cold here, I made tori no mizutaki tonight and served it with the ponzu sauce. It was so delicious that I couldn't stop eating! Do you have Meyer lemons in Japan? I read that they are originally native to China.
YSC: Good job! Your description has made my mouth water!
ReplyDeleteI did a quick Google search and found that Meyer lemons are grown in limited areas in Japan (sigh).
Any idea what could I use instead of yuzu? No yuzu where I live.Maybe in some bigger cities, but here...
ReplyDeleteLemons?Limes?Grapefruits?A mix of all?
How about lemons and some dried yuzu peel?
I need ponzu.I really need some good ponzu.:-)
Hmm... Lemon or lime maybe... Isn't grapefruit a little bitter? Or, why not consider purchasing a bottle of yuzu juice despite the high price?
ReplyDeleteExample:
http://www.amazon.com/Yuzu-Juice-5-06-Oz/dp/B0012LGHZS
Or, why not searching for a bottle of ponzu instead of making it yourself?
Because the last ponzu I bought was very disappointing.
ReplyDeleteBut you are right, I should look in my organic food shop, there they have nice tasting food. I bought some kabocha and gobo yesterday, now I will make my first donabe. With oyster mushrooms!
Do you know champignons mushrooms, do you have this kind in Japan?
I would suggest making ponzu by using fresh lemon, lime, or some other local citrus fruit you can find, and see the results. You will never know... You may like it!
ReplyDeleteChampignon? Button mushroom in English? Yes, it's simply called mushroom
マッシュルーム
in Japan.
Fresh button mushrooms are very expensive. I usually buy canned, imported ones when I need them.
Your first nabe, with oyster mushrooms? Sounds very yummy!
The nabe was a great success! My very first one, I just bought a donabe dish.
ReplyDeleteFirst I boned some chicken legs, and made stock from these bones. Put the bones in water, piece of kombu, fresh ginger, 1 shiitake, green onion carrot, I let it cook for 2 hours. I seasoned it light with mirin, sake and shoyu.
Form chicken meat I made tsukune meat balls: chopped the meat, seasoned with sake (removed smell) and a little shoyu/salt and shichimi.
Then I put the stock in my donabe and added fresh seasonal veggies: green chard leaves, turnip cabbage and leaves, hakusai greens, oyster mushrooms, 1 sweet potato, green onions. Also some fresh grilled tofu.
I made some fresh gomashio, and we “dipped” everything in it. At the end we added cooked Japanese rice, and enjoyed it with the hot broth.
It was delicious, very light but so good. This is such a nice kind to enjoy a meal together. My next donabe will be: tsumire, sardine balls in dashi and mushrooms.
Button mushrooms (didn’t know the name in Japanese and English, thank you, I like to learn new words) are the cheapest mushrooms here. Fresh shiitake are very expensive. But you shouldn’t use canned champignons, these aren’t good. If they are expensive, replace with shiitake, this will taste much better. Shiitake with thin caps are similar to button mushrooms.
Amato: You seemed to have had a wonderful nabe! I like tsukune yakitori, and I like tsumire in oden!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your suggestion on shiitake, but when I made spaghetti using shiitake instead of buna shimeji, I found that shiitake didn't go well with ketchup!
Hiro, can you get canned tomatoes?
ReplyDeleteIf you do, and you like, I can give you very easy and tasty original Italian recipe for spaghetti sauce, Napoli and Bolognese.
A friend of mine is from Italy, she taught me how to cook "real Italian spaghetti" like her mother.
(I just can’t get over the ketchup on yours…;-))
I already left this comment few days ago, but it just disappeared.
There is a “worm” in your comment function…
Amato: Yes, I have two cans in my kitchen.
ReplyDeleteTasty, original? It's hard to resist (laugh)! Could you provide a link?
Send a email with recipe, please check your account.
ReplyDelete:-)
Amato: My account? Which account?
ReplyDeleteYour email adress, I used the adress you left on my blog for comments.
ReplyDeleteSorry, no email from you so far.
ReplyDeleteAnother bug or something??
I got failure notice, mailer demon.
ReplyDeleteI try again, right now, ok?
Please let me know, if you got it?
Failure notize again...
ReplyDeleteI used this adress(remove after you read my comment):
Sorry, we were unable to deliver your message to the following address.
:
Remote host said: 550 5.1.1 ... User unknown [RCPT_TO]
Agrrr....
ReplyDeleteStupid me!
Used wrong adress!
Now it should work.
Im sorry Hiro.:-)
I need some coffee, its early here in Germany.
Please let me know if you got the attached files.
Amato: Thanks! I got all three files.
ReplyDeleteHope I can try your recipe pretty soon and see what my children will say about it!
Pretty hina dolls!
Sorry for the late response. It's 19:17 in Japan. I have just finished washing dishes.