Restaurant An

Last week I had a very pleasurable diner at Japanese restaurant An on the Weteringschans in Amsterdam.
It's a very plain but charming restaurant, decorated with beautiful Japanese tea pots and china pieces.
I was very hungry and also a little greedy so I ordered quite a lot. I had the Omakase Menu and my friend, who always orders some kind of crispy chicken, had the Chicken Katsu. We also had their Shojin Age (tempura veggies), spicy tuna maki and their seasonal dish Nasu Dengaku (grilled aubergine with sweet miso). Everything was super fresh and extremely tasty!

Omakase means "I leave it to you", so I had no idea what what I would be getting. The Omakase set consisted of miso soup, rice, teriyaki salmon, stewed hijiki with yuba, courgette in sesame sauce, pickled cucumber, simmered daikon with sweet miso and chicken karaage.
I loved everything! The karaage was super crispy and juicy, the daikon just melted away in your mouth and the salmon was full of flavor and cooked perfectly. A true party in my mouth :)
I didn't try the chicken katsu, having far to much on my plate already, but it looked delicious! Nice and crispy on the outside, super juicy on the inside. I didn't hear any complains coming from the opposite side of the table, so I'm pretty sure it tasted as good as it looked.
The tempura vegetables were delicious as well. I just love that moment when you bite in to your tempura and all those lovely flavors and textures come together. The sweetness of the veggies mixed with the salty dipping sauce and that crispy outside... Hmmmmm!
The spicy tuna maki really surprised me. Usually I don't like spicy tuna sushi, because they serve you some kind of spicy tuna salad full of mayo. Ugh! But this one actually had fresh tuna in it and a drop of spicy sauce on top. It was the first time I actually liked a spicy tuna maki!
I had once tried to make nasu dengaku myself, but wasn't 100% pleased with the outcome. So I was really curious to find out what I did wrong. Theirs was super soft and tender. The miso was very sweet but hearty at the same time. I enjoyed every last bit of it. Next time I try making it myself I'll be sure to keep theirs in mind.

Do have a look at their diner menu or lunch menu and be sure to visit them soon!

Kenchinjiru

Kenchinjiru is a hearty vegetable soup that originates from the Buddhist monks of Kencho-ji temple in Kamakura. If you'd like to read a little more about the soup or the temple, check out this link.

I used the recipe from Makiko at Just Hungry, but tweaked it a bit here and there.
Apparently one of the main ingredients is burdock root, but I couldn't find any so I omitted that. I also left out the tofu crumble. To compensate I added some regular potatoes and lotus root. I also added a drizzle of sake to my bowl before serving the soup. I feel this gives it just a bit of extra punch :)

I have to say, those monks were awesome, cause this is a super yummie soup! It's perfect for cold winter day's when you need a little something to warm you inside and out. I especially love the sweet taste of the carrots and taro root (satoimo). It has a great contrast with the saltiness of the broth.

I also learned a new word today: umami. This meaning something similar to "a pleasant savory taste" or a general way of describing "delicious food". Let me tell you this kenchinjiru is full of umami! So make sure you try it this winter.

Ingredients:
1200 ml vegetarian dashi
1 medium daikon
2 medium carrots
3 small taro roots (satoimo)
3 small potatoes
some frozen lotus root slices
4 medium dried shitakes (you can re-use the ones you used to make the vegetarian dashi)
2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp salt
2-3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sake

Instructions:
Peel all vegetables and cut in bite size pieces.

Heat the sesame oil in a large pot and sir fry the vegetables for 4-5 minutes.

Add the vegetarian dashi so all the vegetables are submerged. Add the salt and leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes. Top with some more dashi or water if necessary. Once all vegetables are tender add 1 tbsp soy sauce.

You can add all the soy sauce to the soup if you want, but I prefer to add 1/2 a tsp or so with some sake to my serving bowl and then pour the soup on top. This way all the vegetables retain their hearty flavor and everyone can season the soup to their own taste. Don't add the sake directly to the pot cause it will just evaporate.

Now dig in!

P.S. This was also my first time making vegetarian dashi as well. And I was amazed it was so easy!
You just leave your kombu and shitake to soak and simmer and tadaa your veggie dashi is ready.

Hakata Senpachi

The other day I went for a bite with my good friend Pascal at kushi restaurant Hakata Senpachi.

I have to say this was the first time I really resented my vegetarian resolution since I know their kushi's are really nice (perhaps this was the beginning of my downfall...). Either way I decided to take the opportunity to order some of the dishes I've been wanting to try.
So we ordered some zaru soba, negi miso onigiri, tsukemono and some quail egg, eggplant and mushroom kushi. Pascal also had the karaage chicken and some other kushi's, but I totally forgot which ones.

I've wanted to try zaru soba for a very long time and it was nice, but soba is just not my favo noodle ever. The onigiri however was delicious. You could really taste that it was freshly made and the salty miso went very well with the negi onions. The tsukemono was also very tasty and I love how they still had a bit of a bite to it. The karaage looked so crisp and yummie. Had to really restrain myself!
The kushi's were yumm as ever. I love how they serve them on a plate of chopped cabbage. It looks really pretty and absorbs all the fat from the grill (sorry forgot to take a picture).

And then Pascal totally surprised me with this super cute Hello Kitty phone sleeve he'd bought in Japan.  

 A perfect ending to a lovely evening ;)

Instant soup; the right way

Today I needed to have a quick lunch. But nothing that was ready to eat suited my mood. So after quick inspection of freezer, fridge and cupboard I used some fried tofu, forgotten soba noodles and leftover shiso cress to make a yummie Japanese like soup. The soup itself was made from instant dashi to which I added some dried bonito-flakes to give it a bit more body. Sprinkled some sesame on top and voila time to eat. Itadakimasu!

You can find my recipe here