Month: June 2020

The broth for Chanko Nabe is usually dashi and/or chicken broth soup, seasoned with sake and mirin to add more flavor. There are various flavors added to the broth. The most common choices are miso or soy sauce.

Common ingredients that are thrown into Chanko Nabe include:

Chicken meatballs
Fish fillet
Fishballs
Crab
Shrimp
Sliced pork belly
Bacon
Sausages
Tofu
Sesame seeds
Vegetables (daikon, onion, carrot, napa cabbage, green onion, chives)
Mushrooms (shiitake, enoki, maitake, shimeji, etc)
Udon noodles or Chuka noodles (Chinese style noodles)

Leftover Chanko Nabe broth can also be used later as broth for noodle dishes, as it has so much flavor from all the hot pot ingredients.

Ingredients

For the broth:
1L chicken broth
40ml sake
50ml mirin
2 tbsp ginger juice (use grater and squeeze grated ginger to get the juice)
1/3 cup miso (preferably white miso)

For the chicken meatballs:
250g ground chicken
1 large egg (beaten and halved)
2 tsp ginger juice
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp corn starch
6 tbsp panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
3 tbsp green onions (finely chopped)

For the stew:
Chicken meatballs (follow instructions)
450g cod fillet
8 shrimp
100g sliced pork belly
1/2 head napa cabbage
1 medium leek
4-6 shiitake mushrooms
1/2 carrot (for decoration; sliced and cut out with a vegetable cutter)

For serving:
ponzu
2 cups cooked Japanese short-grain rice
2 cups udon or chinese noodles

Instructions

To make the broth:
Gather all the ingredients for Chanko Nabe Broth. To make the broth, in a Dutch oven or other large pot over medium heat, combine the broth, sake, mirin, and ginger juice and bring to a simmer. Spoon several spoonfuls of broth into a small bowl, add the miso, and stir until smooth. Gradually add the miso mixture to the broth in the pot, stirring to avoid lumps. Once the miso has been incorporated, do not let the broth boil.

To make the chicken meatballs:

Gather all the ingredients. In a large bowl, combine the chicken, 1/2 beaten egg (reserve the remaining egg for another use), the ginger juice, soy sauce, corn starch, panko, and green onion. Using your hands, mix all together. Once the mixture becomes a little bit white and well combined, shape the mixture into a ball. Sprinkle with panko as needed. Refrigerate until final assembly.

To cut all the ingredients:
Cut the cod fillet into 2-inch chunks, peel and devein shrimp, cut the sliced pork belly into 2-inch pieces, and separate the leaves from napa cabbage and cut them into smaller pieces. Slice the carrot and cut out with a flower-shaped vegetable cutter.

Cut Leek diagonally into 1/4-inch-thick discs, and remove stems of shiitake mushrooms and make a decorative cut on the caps if desired.

To set up the table:
To prepare the stew ingredients, place the meatballs, seafood, pork belly, carrot slices, napa cabbage, leeks, and mushrooms on the platter.

Pour the ponzu sauce into individual dipping bowls at each place setting along with chopsticks, a soup spoon (optional) and a soup bowl.

Place a portable gas burner and the nabe, and the stew ingredients on the table.

To cook Chanko Nabe:

If cooking the stew ingredients on the stovetop, cook in batches. Add some of each of the ingredients to the broth, simmer (do not boil) until cooked, and serve them, returning to the stove to start a new batch as each previous batch is eaten. The vegetables cook more quickly than the meatballs and seafood.

Keep the broth at a simmer the entire time. If the liquid gets low, add a little water or chicken broth to have enough liquid to heat the noodles or rice at the end (even though you are thinning the broth, the flavorful ingredients you are cooking in it continue to enrich it).

When diners are ready, remove any solids in the broth and add the noodles or rice. Simmer until heated through, then ladle into the soup bowls and serve.

330ml (1 bottle or 1 can) Guinness Extra Stout
175g unsalted butter
225g semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped*
250g granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
125g all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp espresso powder

In a small saucepan, bring the Guinness to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, reduce to medium heat and allow to simmer until reduced down to 2/3 cup, about 20-22 minutes. Set aside to cool for at least 10 minutes. You will use 1/2 cup in the brownies.

Preheat the oven to 350F/175C and grease a 9×9 inch pan or line with aluminum foil or parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the sides to lift the finished brownies out (makes cutting easier!). Set aside.

Place the butter and chopped chocolate in a large microwave-safe bowl. Melt in 30 second increments, whisking after each, until completely smooth. Whisk in the sugar and 1/2 cup of reduced Guinness until completely combined. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract. Finally, whisk in the flour, salt, and espresso powder. The batter will be thick and shiny. Pour/spread evenly into prepared pan.

Bake for 30 minutes, then test the brownies with a toothpick. Insert it into the center of the pan. If it comes out with wet batter, the brownies are not done. If there are only a few moist crumbs, the brownies are done. Keep checking every 2 minutes until you have moist crumbs.

Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely before cutting into squares.

Cover and store leftover brownies at room temperature for up to 1 week.

250 g plain full fat Greek Yogurt
250 g self raising flour
Pinch of salt/pepper
Pinch of cumin powder
Oil for rolling out

Mix the Greek yogurt, flour, salt, pepper and cumin together in a large bowl, then leave to rest for 20 minutes at room temperature.

Divide the dough into 8 and roll into 8 balls.

Heat a small non-stick frying pan over a high heat and roll out your first flatbread to about the side of a side plate – use a little oil on the work surface to stop the dough sticking.

When the pan is really hot, lay the flatbread in the pan and cook for 30 seconds, or until the flatbread is covered in brown spots (but not burnt!!)

Flip the flatbread over and cook on the other side for a further 30 seconds, or until covered in brown spots and cooked through.

While the first flatbread is cooking, roll out the second flatbread so it is ready.

Put the cooked flatbread on a plate and repeat the process, until all the flatbreads are cooked.

Cut 6-8 peppers in half. Remove stem, seeds and membranes. Place skin-side-up on a foil-covered roasting tray.

Broil for 15 minutes at 200C. Alternatively, grill on bbq. Once the skins are blackened remove the peppers from the oven.

Cover the peppers and let the peppers cool for a few minutes until comfortable enough to handle and then peel the skins off and discard them.

While the peppers are cooling, bring 1.5 cups of white wine vinegar, 2 tsp sugar and 1 tsp salt to the boil and remove from heat.

Put the pepper halves in a wide-mouth kilner jar and cover with vinegar. Top with olive oil and store in the fridge for up to a month, if they last that long.

2 1/2 cups Old Fashioned Oats
1 1/2 cups rice crispies
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup honey
3 tbsp dark chocolate cocoa powder
1 packet instant espresso or coffee powder (1 tablespoon)
1/4 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F/175C

Combine coconut oil and honey in a medium size mixing bowl. Microwave 45 seconds or until coconut oil is melted. Add cocoa powder and espresso powder, stir mixture until well dissolved.

Add oats and stir mixture until all oats are completely covered in the chocolate coffee mixture.

Grab a large baking sheet, line with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.

Spread oats mixture thinly and evenly across the baking sheet.

Bake 10 minutes, stir mixture, bake 10 more minutes.

Remove oats from oven, let them cool about 10 minutes, and while still warm sprinkle half of the chocolate chips over the granola mixture (it will melt onto the granola and make these fantastic clusters) when the granola is completely cool add the rest of the chocolate chips.

Store in an air tight container.