I Like Pot

This is my first home-made nabe ever - I have no excuse (except the usual) for never having bothered to learn how to make this most simple of dishes, but here we are with fish, veg and tofu and a big earthenware pot an hour before my friend Tamura arrives, hoping it's going to turn out alright. As it happens, I'm not the only one tackling a new diet at the moment. R. has just begun a seven-day ritual schedule at the temple and has been preparing his own meals for the first in a long time, as the ritual diet excludes all meat, fish, garlic, onion, dairy products and even - for reasons I have yet to discern - rice. It sounds somewhat stoic but his emails detailing the kitchen debutante's adventures hint at great, lavish, mouthwatering feasts. Another friend of mine has just completed a series of 108 fire rituals, throughout which he followed a similar, constant, shojin (pure) diet.

I'm not ready to go entirely pure and stimulant-free just yet as shojin requires :-D and I'm making nabe with salmon for the week's 'challenge'. Nabe is like a very down to earth sort of dish since it's normally cooked and kept bubbling at the table and shared between everyone at the table. There are so many variations, but the one I picked was a spin on Ishikari nabe from up north, with - along with the salmon - miso and dashi (staple stock ingredients), leeks, tofu, mizuna, carrots, shirataki (konnyaku) - jelly-like noodles made from the voodoo lily! And the 'dancing mushroom' - maitake. The whole thing seems rather illicit and black magic-like, especially when you are stirring your cauldron on the stove (OK, it's just a casserole dish. I like to fantasise).

Result: T was well pleased with dinner , and we had a jolly good time that cold, rainy evening, round the pot, catching up on a few months' worth of our respective lives. I've had nabe twice since then. In fact my daily diet is now largely composed of all the recipes I've been doing over the last couple of months for the blog which is a very good outcome for someone who used to exist for the most part on non-Japanese food. Meanwhile, the kitchen therapy also works wonders - refer to exhibit D to see why. And there's nothing like unwinding after a hard day with some nice pot, especially in the winter months.

A: Preparations (an English recipe can be found here)
B: In the pot
C: Yumminess on the table
D: Wading pool of documents (aka filing)