I am a huge fan of spice, and finding a dish that I can make that delivers the spice is always a welcome affair.

This renkon (lotus root) kinpira is a recipe I made out of an awesome book that Kayoko got me during her nine-hour layover in Japan. It was luck that I had a lotus root rolling around in my fridge as I explored the pages of the book.

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Sometimes the most humble ingredients can yield some seriously satisfying results. Some days I procrastinate until the last stop on my train to plan out what I’m going to make for dinner. I mentally piece together what I have in the fridge and try to make a meal out of it… kind of like how I mentally piece together my outfit for the day in the shower.

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Forgive me, I am going to cheat a little here… like that “100 Episodes of Seinfeld” episode. I think Umami Mart has been around long enough for something like that. So this is a re-post/interpretation of another post I wrote in Tokyo 4 years ago.

The other day I got a tray of mentaiko (spicy cod roe) from my mom and all week Washi and I were dreaming of making the mentaiko rice recipe.

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The art of perfection is everywhere in Japan. In its laquerware, electronics and especially in its food. Dessert Le Comptoir in Fukasawa, Tokyo is an example of food perfection. A 10 minute bus-ride from Jiyugaoka, it’s a bit of a challenge to make it out here if you are not given specific directions, but when you arrive, it’s worthwhile. Our friends who live in Fukasawa invited us here on our last day in Tokyo before heading back to Berkeley.

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By Yuki HD

When we were little we used to watch my oba-chan (grandmother) make this seasonal treat from Kagoshima prefecture in southern Japan. We were too little to enjoy it at first, but as we grew older the dish became more and more delicious.

Oba-chan’s preparation differed from the original recipe in that she substituted shochu for water. She did this to preserve the kinkan (kumquats), and the flavor was an unexpected gift.

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Whenever I had shabu-shabu as a kid, there was NEVER ENOUGH gomadare (sesame sauce). It has all the elements that leave you wanting more: sweet, salty and savory. I was never a huge meat fan and I looked forward to dunking udon in my mom’s gomadare more than any other part of the shabu-shabu meal. So one of my “when-I-grow-up” dreams was to have a large supply of gomadare.

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Gyū-don w/ tokyo negi, chive points, tofu and shichimi 

RECIPE
Serves 2 

1/2 lb thinly sliced beef
1/2 block tofu (cut into 9 pieces)
1 stick of tokyo negi (you can use regular green onion or yellow onion)
3/4 cup of beef stock or dashi
2 tbl sake
2 tbl mirin sweet cooking sake
3 tbl soy sauce
2 teaspoon sugar
6 chive sticks
2 donburi (bowl) portion of rice

METHOD

1.

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Awabi (abalone) is a luxurious clam. When it is eaten raw, it tastes faintly like the sea, but its crispy texture is what stands out the most. It is delicious, but almost impossible to find on sushi menus as they are so hard to obtain due to strict California laws. On the Northern California coast, you must have a license to fish abalone during the open season (April to June), and even then you can only take a few at a time.

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Ladies and gentlemen, meet Keisuke aka Kid Skwid, my beloved brother. He has recently been promoted to sous chef at the famed Spago restaurant in Beverly Hills. Congrats, K! And lucky for us, he will grace the pages of Umami Mart regularly, with simple yet fancypants recipes taken from his impressive home-cooked breakfasts on his Instagram feed (@kidskwid5). Make sure to follow him, like and comment on his photos — the more popular photos will be featured here and he’ll show us exactly how to prepare the dishes.

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*Nahoko Morimoto is a Tokyo-based photographer. Her work has been featured in Brutus and Vogue Japan.

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