japanese vegetable hotpot (mizutaki)

serves 10 (generously)

SAUCE

2/3 cup lime juice (5 limes)

1 1/2 cup tamari

2 tbsp sake / sherry

1 cup finely grated daikon

4 tsp grated ginger

1 cup chopped green onions

TO DIP

2 md cabbage, cut in to ½ by 2 inch pieces (we used a variety of greens)

4 green onion bunches, cut in to 2 inch pieces

2 leeks, rinsed, narrow rings (discard dark green)

1 kg mushrooms, halved (use normal and all shitakes that we bought)

0.5 kg spinach, washed

1 tofu cake, ½ inch cubes

1 pound shrimp (should be raw, but we used cooked)

BROTH

3 cups water

8 inch konbu

Sauce: combine sake, tamari and lime juice (start with 2/3 and then add more to taste) and heat on low. Put dry ingredients in individual bowls. Add some of the sauce.

You need strong heat for this, stronger than the fondue we tried on the night. We have since done it with a table top hotplate and that rocked.

Start hotpot. Add konbu to cold water and boil, simmer for 2 minutes. Discard konbu.

With guests seated, add a little bit of each ingredient in the specified order. Then serve some people. Then repeat process. Order: leeks and tofu, then cabbage and mushrooms, then green onions, when nearly ready spinach (one minute only). Raw shrimp would have gone in first, cooked shrimp go in when serving. You can add rice to your bowl if you want to.

Sushi

We made way too much on the day, so I tried to adjust the recipe for about 4 people. In the end, it is hard to guess the right quantities with sushi because it all depends on how yummy you make it, and whether you have any substantial sides.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of Sushi rice (do not use normal rice, it won't work). You need approx 1/4 cup dry rice per roll of sushi.

Sushi dressing: 3 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp suger, 1 tsp salt. Slowly heat vinegar and dissolve sugar and salt, do heat too much.

Step 1 (Early)

• Wash sushi rice, drain in sieve and let stand for 1h

• cook sushi rice, let stand for an additional 10 min
  

• mix vinegar in and cool rice by spreading it out on a flat surface (cookie tray) and fanning it

Step 2 (Pre cooking)

• make dashi (broth) from a 7 inch piece of konbu (japanese seaweed), simmer for 20 min
  

• Cut 1 box of Portabello mushrooms in strips and fry with some garlic on medium heat.

• make sushi style omelet, see below
  

• cook edamame (young soy beans): Dump 1/2 bag frozen edamame in lg pot of boiling water, heat for 3-4 min, drain and sprinkle with salt
  

Step 3 (Cutting for sushi)

• cut 2/3 cucumber in 4 inch strips

• cut pickled 2 or 3 peppers in strips
  

• cut 1 carrot in thin strips

• cut 2/3 box of surimi (crab sticks) into strips

• avocado: half, destone, strips, you probably need only half for the sushi but the rest tends to disappear anyway
  

• cut some pickles into thin strips

Rolls that we will make:

California	Portabello	Veg	Edamame
avocado, surimi, cucumber, (sesame)	Portabello strips, (pickled bell pepper)	pickles, cucumber, avocado, daikon, sesame seeds, smoked salmon	surimi, edamame (whole)
NY - Smoked salmon	Carrot	Omelet
cucumber, cream cheese, smoked salmon	cucumber, carrot (cream cheese)	omelet, cucumber (mushrooms)

Sushi style omelet -Tamago yaki
Yield: 1 roll or sheet.

Beat four large eggs, 4 Tablespoons dashi (stock, see below), 1 Tablespoon sugar (or more to taste), 1 teaspoon mirin (sweet rice wine), 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce, and salt to taste. Strain as before. In a well-oiled tamago pan, pour in about a quarter of the mixture and spread as if making a crepe. As the mixture cooks, and as it bubbles and sets, roll it and move to the back of the pan. Reoil the pan and add more mixture, being sure to get some under the roll. Again, as it cooks, roll the roll to the front of the pan, then move to the back. Repeat until all the mixture is cooked. Remove the roll from the pan and roll as if for a sushi roll and squeeze out excess liquid. It can be rolled into a round or rectangular shape, then is sliced when cooled.

Gyoza (Japanese dumplings)

Ingredients

500g / 1 pack mince pork

Half white cabbage (par boiled)

3-4 carrots (par boiled)

garlic

ginger

gyoza wrappers (defrost as usually come frozen)

Season;

1tsp sesame oil (optional)

2tsp soy sauce

Dipping Sauce;

White Vinegar

Soy Sauce

Chili oil

• Combine all ingredients and seasoning well (in blender if possible)
  
• Place a teaspoon of filling in the centre of the gyoza wrapper
• Dip fingers in water and put the water around the edge of wrapper
• Make a semi circle by gathering front side and sealing the top
• Heat oil in frying pan
• Put gyoza in pay and fry for 5/6 mins / until bottoms become brown

• 

• Add 1/4 cup water and cover pan steaming the gyoza on a low heat

• Make sure to check the meat is cooked through