February 9, 2011

Tsukune Nabe, Udon Suki, and Tomato Nabe in a Single Nabe/つくね鍋とうどんすきとトマト鍋を一つの鍋で

For supper tonight, I made what I would call a "dream nabe". I mean, I wanted to have tomato nabe for supper, but I also wanted to have udon suki, and I also wanted to have tsukune (ground meat balls). I thought for a while, and hit upon a good idea: First make udon suki with tsukune, and then add some canned tomato to turn the udon suki into tomato nabe. I thought it was a fabulous idea, and I told my daughter about it. My daughter replied, rather dryly, "Anyone could think of that."
今日の夕飯には、「夢の鍋」と言うべき鍋を作りました。夕飯にトマト鍋を作りたかったのですが、うどんすきも食べたいし、つくねも食べたいと思いました。しばらく考えて、いい考えが浮かびました。まずは、つくね入りのうどんすきを作って、それからトマトの缶詰を入れて、うどんすきをトマト鍋に変える、ということです。素晴らしい考えだと思って、娘に話すと、娘は、冷淡に「それは誰でも考えつくね」と答えてくれました。

I made six kinchaku (purses), also called takara bukuro (treasure bags), using these high-quality kiri mochi (rectangular, pre-cut rice cakes).
次の高品質の切り餅を使って、巾着(宝袋とも言う)を6個作りました。


The "I-wrap" bag contains frozen enoki. Enoki freezes very well. I used ground pork, not ground chicken, to make tsukune this time.
アイラップには冷凍えのきが入っています。えのきはよく冷凍が効きます。今回は、鶏の挽き肉ではなく、豚の挽き肉でつくねを作りました。

I first simmered daikon, carrot, and thick portions of Chinese cabbage, like I usually do.
まずは、いつもの通り、大根とニンジンと白菜の厚い部分を煮ました。

First, my family enjoyed having udon suki. The udon was frozen Sanuki udon.
まずは、うどんすきを味わいました。うどんは冷凍の讃岐うどんです。

Then, I declared that I would put one can of whole tomatoes.
そして、私はホールトマトを一缶入れると宣言しました。

My serving bowl:
私のお椀:

Needless to say, I was very satisfied with my "dream nabe".
言うまでもなく、自分の「夢の鍋」にとても満足しました。

Edited to add: My daughter commented that she preferred chicken tsukune, and I agreed with her.
追記: 娘は鶏のつくねのほうがいいと言いましたが、私もそう思います。

4 comments:

Kiki said...

Dear Hiroyuki-san,
how do you manage to open the tresure bags properly?
I bought them once and it was quite a challenge not to harm the tofu-skin during the opening and stuffing (I stuffed them with sushi rice and salmon). Maybe my asia market doesn't sell the best tresure bags known in this universe but there is no other product available.

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: No trick or magic, simply open it carefully.
Some people suggest rolling a cooking chopstick over each sheet of abura age. Others suggest a rolling pin.
One person suggests wrapping a sheet of abura age in a paper towel and pressing it with your palms evenly.
http://cookpad.com/recipe/865782
(Japanese only).
I can't say whether these tricks are effective or not because I have never tried any of them.

Note that kinchaku (purse) and takara bukuro (treasure bag) are the names for this dish, which uses abura age (deep-fried bean curd) as a bag or pouch.

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: I asked my wife about your question, and she replied that she pounds the abura age with the back of the knife if it's difficult to open it.

Kiki said...

Dear Hiroyuki-San thanks for the information. So it is called abura age. I could not read the text on the packages properly: unknown Kanji, unknown Kanji, no (Hiragana easy..), unknown Kanji (english text: fried tofu bags). But I am still learnig japanese.