Home Cooking

BLOG , Home Cooking , Seasonal Topics

Hot pot is one of the most lovedwinter meals in Japan. You can add all kinds of ingredients- vegetables, meat, fish, and tofu- and enjoy them gently cooking together in the pot. Hot pot soups vary, from simple kelp dashi to richer with soy sauce- or miso- based broths. The ingredients themselves bring beautiful flavour to the soup.This is buta-shabu, one of our favourites. Simply cook any chopped vegetables left in the fredge in dashi, add thinly sliced pork, and let it cook until the colour changes. Then roll the vegetables together with the meat. It’s especially delicious with ponzu, a citrus and soy sauce condiment.Our tip for dashi: kelp as usual- and plenty of garlic!

BLOG , Home Cooking , Ingredients

Making dashi can be a bit tricky. In formal restaurants, water is slowly simmered with kombu kelp, then bonito flakes are added and gently strained to make a clear broth. That process is too time-consuming for everyday home cooking.Tea bag- style dashi packs are an easy way to make dashi at home. Just simmer one in water for a couple of minutes.Choose packs made from natural ingredients and without added salt. But if yours does contain salt, just remember to reduce other salty seasonings when you cook.