Chikuzenni (Nishime) – Simmered Rooster and Greens 筑前煮 • Simply One Cookbook

To Put together the Components

★ Dried Shiitake Mushrooms

• Add 6 dried shiitake mushrooms and 1 cup water to a small bowl and soak for 20–half-hour, or till tender and rehydrated.

• After half-hour or so, squeeze out the liquid from the shiitake mushrooms (reserve the soaking liquid).

• Lower off and discard the stems. Lower the shiitake mushroom caps right into a hexagon, which resembles a turtle form and symbolizes longevity.

• Pressure the shiitake soaking liquid by a fine-mesh sieve. That is known as shiitake dashi. It yields roughly ¾ cup. Put aside.

★ Japanese Taro Root (Satoimo)

• Lower off the ends of 5 taro (satoimo). Then, peel the powerful pores and skin from one finish to the opposite utilizing a pointy knife. Tip: For taro, it’s really useful to peel the pores and skin thick. It’s not thought-about wasteful to take away pores and skin with extra flesh hooked up.

• Ideally, taro ought to resemble a hexagon (with six sides) from the highest view.

• Lower the taro in half and soak in water. You possibly can rub them with salt to do away with the sliminess if that bothers you.

★ Bamboo Shoot

• Lower ½ boiled bamboo shoot into 4 items lengthwise.

• Lower the bamboo shoot items in half widthwise. If every bit continues to be larger than bite-size, you’ll be able to lower lengthwise in half once more.

★ Burdock Root (Gobo)

• Scrape the pores and skin off ½ gobo (burdock root) with the again of the knife. After rinsing, lower it into skinny slices.

• Put together a bowl of 2 cups water and ½ Tbsp rice vinegar. Soak the burdock root within the vinegared water for quarter-hour.

★ Lotus Root (Renkon)

• Peel off the pores and skin of 1 lotus root (renkon) with a vegetable peeler or knife. Then, lower the foundation in half crosswise. (Non-obligatory) Should you want to make Hana Renkon (Flower Lotus Root), you should utilize my tutorial.

• The lotus root ought to resemble flowers after chopping the perimeters off.

• In any other case, to make easy slices, lower the lotus root crosswise about ¼ inch (6 mm) thick. Put together a bowl of 2 cups water and ½ Tbsp rice vinegar. Soak the lotus root within the water for quarter-hour.

★ Carrot (Nejiri Ume)

• Right here, I‘ll present you tips on how to lower the carrot into plum flowers utilizing the Japanese chopping method Nejiri Ume. First, peel 1 carrot and lower into ½-inch (1.3-cm) rounds.

• Use a flower-shaped vegetable cutter and punch out a plum flower form from the carrot rounds. Then, make a shallow incision (roughly ¼ inch or 6 mm deep) from the middle of the flower to in-between the 2 petals.

• Maintain a knife parallel to 1 petal and make a diagonal lower from proper to left in-between petals.

• Repeat this course of for all of the petals and on the opposite aspect of the carrot slice.

• Subsequent, make the Tazuna Konnyaku: Lower ½ block konnyaku (konjac) crosswise into slices about ¼ inch (6 mm) thick. On the heart of every slice, lower a lengthwise slit 1½ inches (3.8 cm) lengthy.

• Tuck one finish of the slice by the slit. Push it in; then, pull out the top from the opposite aspect. The konnyaku will now be twisted on both aspect of the slit. Pull gently on each ends so the slice lays flat. Repeat with the remaining slices.

To Blanch the Greens and Konnyaku

• Boil water in a saucepan over medium-high warmth. Blanch half of the carrot flowers for two minutes and take away. Put aside.

• In the identical boiling water, add ⅛ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt and blanch the snow pea pods for 30–60 seconds, till crisp however tender sufficient to eat.

• Take away the snow peas from the water and switch to a bowl of ice water to cease the cooking and put aside.

• In the identical boiling water, add the konnyaku. Deliver it to a boil once more and prepare dinner for two–3 minutes to take away the odor.

• Diagonally lower the blanched snow peas in half and put aside.
  

To Make the Chikuzenni

• Warmth a big pot over medium warmth. When it’s scorching, add 1 Tbsp of 1½ Tbsp toasted sesame oil. Then, add the rooster.

• Prepare dinner the rooster till it turns white. Switch the rooster to a plate.

• Add the remaining sesame oil and prepare dinner all of the elements (apart from the snow peas and the blanched carrots that you’ll reserve for garnish).

• Stir and coat the elements with the sesame oil.

• Subsequent, add 2 cups dashi (Japanese soup inventory) and the shiitake dashi you made earlier.

• Deliver it to a simmer over medium warmth. Use a fine-mesh skimmer to skim off the fats and scum that accumulates on the floor.

• Add 3 Tbsp sake, 3 Tbsp mirin, 1 Tbsp sugar, 3 Tbsp usukuchi (light-colored) soy sauce, and ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt.

• Add the rooster again into the pot. Deliver it to a simmer. As you see, the inventory ought to cowl about 80 p.c of the elements.

• Put an otoshibuta (drop lid) on the elements and prepare dinner for 10 minutes. Should you don‘t have one, you’ll be able to make an otoshibuta with aluminum foil.

• After about 10 minutes, take away the otoshibuta and prepare dinner for one more 10 minutes.

• Insert a bamboo skewer into the powerful greens (taro root and lotus root) to see if they’re tender. Style and alter the seasonings if wanted.

To Retailer

• Hold the leftovers in an hermetic container and retailer it within the fridge for as much as 5 days. The flavour will intensify as time passes, so should you plan to serve it later, chances are you’ll think about lowering the quantity of seasoning. Nishime additionally freezes effectively, however the konnyaku texture will change, so I like to recommend eradicating them earlier than freezing. Defrost in a single day and reheat in a pot.