By Request
GRANDMA'S COOKING is a powerful force, able to reach through the generations to yank at those taste buds. Sweet dreams are
made of theseRichard Dumancas, for example, is haunted by the memory of his grandmother's dango jiru, a dumpling soup from Kumamoto prefecture in Japan.
He wrote asking for the recipe after he read about a New Year's festival held back in January that featured this special brew. It turns out that the dango jiru served at the Kumamoto Kenjikai booth was the creation of Kengo Nozawa of Kengo's Restaurant. Nozawa remembers his own mother serving him a version of this comfort food. "When I was small, every day my mother would make this for me; that's all we eat."
Kengo's, being a buffet utopia, and Nozawa, being used to huge quantities, the original recipe had to be broken down considerably, with translation help from Ken Saiki at the United Japanese Center.
Dango, or dumplings, take many forms in Japanese soups, from dough balls made of mochi to meatballs made with shrimp, scallop mousse or even sardines. They may be served in soups with chicken stock, miso, konbu or dashi as a base.
Nozawa's version includes chicken and lots of vegetables. The dumplings are made with a mixture of mochiko and flour. "Comes out soft, easy to eat," he said. "That's the secret."
Kumamoto Dango Jiru
2/3 cup bottled tsuyu (see notes)
1/4 cup prepared dashi-no-moto
5 cups water
2 pounds boneless chicken thighs, cut in 1 1/2-inch pieces
1 small kabocha (see notes), peeled, seeds and pulp removed, cut in 1 1/2-inch wedges
5 dried shiitake mushrooms, washed, soaked and halved; reserve water for stock
4 gobo tempura or vegetable tempura fishcakes, halved
5 small araimo (about 1 pound), blanched and peeled (see notes)
1 pound Chinese cabbage, cut in 1 1/2-inch pieces
1 bunch watercress (about 3/4 pound), cut in 1 1/2-inch pieces, for garnish>> Dumplings:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup mochiko (sweet rice flour)
1/2 cup water (or less)To make dumplings: Combine flour and mochiko; add water slowly, stopping once a stiff dough forms. Knead thoroughly. Form small balls and flatten to silver dollar-size pieces. Drop in boiling water. Dumplings are done when they rise to the surface, about 5 minutes. Makes about 16. Set aside.
To make soup: Bring tsuyu, dashi and water to a boil. Add chicken; cover and cook on medium heat 10 minutes. Add kabocha, shiitake and fishcake; reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Add araimo, cabbage and dumplings; simmer another 8-10 minutes. Serve in large donburi bowl and garnish with watercress. Serves 8.
Notes: Tsuyu is a concentrate made primarily of soy sauce, sugar and mirin. It is sold in bottles for making broths and sauce for somen, and udon, and other soups and dipping sauces. Araimo, also called satoimo, is Japanese taro, smaller and color than Chinese taro. Kabocha is a small, dark green pumpkin, available at most grocery stores. Find tsuyu and araimo at Asian markets.
Approximate nutritional information, per serving: 440 calories, 18 g total fat, 5 g saturated fat, 100 mg cholesterol, 600 mg sodium, 41 g carbohydrate, 27 g protein.*
Admit it, you have yellowed newspaper clippings of recipes you've never used but that sure sounded good at the time. But could you, with minimal prompting, actually lay your hands on something you cut out back in 1987? Roll recipe rescued
Rowena Adachi, Jan Sakoda and Kay Tasaka are two such memory-intensive collectors. Both were able to dig up copies of a Feb. 18, 1987, recipe for cinnamon rolls from a baker named Bob Takata of Doughboy's.
Noreen Ohai-Daniels had asked for the recipe after her well-used copy was lost. "I think my 3-year-old grandson ran it through our new paper shredder," she lamented. Her family was devastated.
Tasaka has made the rolls a few times through the years, but neither Adachi nor Sakoda has tried the recipe. Given Ohai-Daniels' endorsement, though, they say they'll try it now. Note to Ohai-Daniels: Make copies.
Doughboy's Cinnamon Rolls
1 cup milk, divided use
1 1/2 tablespoons fast-rising yeast
1 cup cake flour
3 cups bread flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup softened margarine
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 pound softened margarine (to be worked into dough)>> Filling:
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
2 cups raisins (optional)Heat 1/4 cup of the milk to lukewarm. Add yeast and let sit a few minutes. Combine remaining dry ingredients. Add remaining milk, yeast mixture and all remaining ingredients except the last 1/3 pound margarine and the filling. Knead 10 minutes.
Roll out dough. Spread half the surface with chunks of the softened margarine, using it all up. Fold the other half of the dough over the buttered half. Give dough a quarter-turn and roll again. Fold in thirds and place in a plastic bag. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
Roll out chilled dough once, then fold into thirds. Give dough a quarter-turn and roll out again, this time into an 18-by-18-inch square.
Brush beaten egg over surface. Combine cinnamon and sugar, and sprinkle mixture evenly over the surface. Sprinkle raisins over all.
Starting at one edge of the square, roll the dough tightly. Seal the roll. Cut into 6 even slices. Cover the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Evenly space the 6 rolls, cut side down, on the parchment. Let rolls rise in a warm place until double in size, about 1 hour. Bake at 325 degrees about 25 minutes, or until nicely browned and doubled again in size. Rolls will fall slightly as they cool.
Nutritional information unavailable.
Food Stuffs: Morsels
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"By Request," Honolulu Star-Bulletin,
500 Ala Moana, No. 7-210, Honolulu 96813.
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Asterisk (*) after nutritional analyses in the
Body & Soul section indicates calculations by
Joannie Dobbs of Exploring New Concepts,
a nutritional consulting firm.
