Nabe!

On the home-cooking front, we have expanded our comfort food repertoire from Shabu Shabu to Nabe. Nabe is a popular and traditional way of communal table-top hot-pot cooking of fresh veggies, tofu (yaki tofu, i.e., grilled tofu, is best for nabe), and meats or fish. It is a great family meal; and terrific in those cold winter nights. (Or even when its not so cold.)

Ilena actually took a local Nabe cooking class to learn some of the basics, like how to make the dashi broth base (basically water, kelp, and bonito flakes), how to make ginger chicken meatballs, and some of the classic nabe vegetables (like mizuna and mitsuba). After that it is just a matter of adding the veggies, meats, and tofu and enjoying. After all is eaten, you combine rice into the remaining dashi to make a sort of porridgy risotto. Super warming finish to the meal.

Other fun food experimenting have been on the Curry front. Learning from a Singaporean friend (who is wonderful and often cooks for us!), Ilena had a very sucessful first attempt at Malaysian Chicken Curry. Yum.