There is a new grocery story in my neighborhood.  H-Mart is a chain of Korean grocers that adds an exciting new angle to my repertoire of cooking.  I love exploring the sauces, the frozen goods (there are amazing frozen dumplings), and produce (they have an amazing array of mushrooms at reasonable prices!)  The labels challenge my self-image as a literate person — I can make little sense of the Korean, Chinese, and Japanese writing on the labels. And in a different way they challenge me to become more adventurous in the kitchen.

This weekend, I decided to try my hand at Japanese food.  Years (nay, decades) ago, I was an eigo-no sensei — an English teacher — in Tokyo.  (The picture at the top was a subway ad for the school.  One time I was riding in a practically empty subway car. A man came and sat across from me and looked at me, then looked up, then looked back at me. I had inadvertently sat under this ad.)  I took advantage of the opportunity to travel around Japan, study pottery and karate and learn some calligraphy.  I didn’t cook much.  There was no need. There were plenty of exciting places to eat and new food to try.  If nothing else, a bowl of noodles or a bento of oyako-don would satisfy me. Before I left Tokyo, I bought a cookbook, Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art by Shizuo Tsuji with an introduction by M.F.K Fisher.  I still have this book and used it to good effect this weekend.

We had hiyyako, spinach with sesame dressing, kinpura gobo, and oyako-don.

Hiyyako

Silken tofu topped with scallions, grated ginger, dried bonito flakes and traditional, Japanese soy sauce.

Spinach with sesame dressing (Horenso no Goma-Ae)

1 pound fresh spinach, washed and par boiled.

• 4 T white sesame seeds
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2tsp dark soy sauce
• 3 T dashi. I used instant Ajinomoto Hon Dashi (bonito soup stock).

Make the dressing. Toast the sesame seeds until golden .

Put the seeds into a mortar and crush with a pestle. Add the sugar and stir. Add the soy sauce and dashi. Blend well.

Chop the spinach into 1 ½ inch pieces. Put the spinach in a bowl with the dressing. Mix together, bruising the spinach lightly so that the sauce penetrates. Do not crush. Serve at room temperature.

Kinpura gobo (burdock) or nin-jin (carrots)

• 1 medium burdock root or 3 medium carrots.
• Few T of vegetable oil.
• 2 T sake
• 2 T dark soy sauce
• 1 scant T sugar
• Shichimi (Japanese 7 spice mixture) or ¼ t red pepper flakes

Cut burdock and carrots into julienne. Put in water to prevent discoloring.

Coat the bottom of a frying pan with the vegetable oil and add vegetables. Stir fry for a few minutes until it softens. Add the sake, soy sauce, and sugar to the pan. Continue stir frying until the liquid has been almost completely reduced.

Flavor to taste with shichimi or red pepper.

Serve hot or at room temperature.

Oyako-don

• 6-8 cups hot, cooked plain white rice, preferably Japanese short grain.
• 4-5 eggs
• ¼ pound chicken
• 2 long onions (naganegi) or 4 scallions

Sauce:

• 2 ½ cups dashi or chicken stock. I used instant dashi that I bought at H Mart. The brand is Ajinomoto Hon Dashi (bonito soup stock).
• 6 T dark soy sauce (traditional, Japanese soy sauce.)
• 3 T light soy sauce, known as usukuchi in Japan. This is slightly saltier and sweeter than traditional soy sauce. It has rice wine in it.
• 2 T sugar

Mix the eggs lightly in a bowl.

Cut boneless, skinless chicken into ¼ or 1/3 inch pieces. Raw chicken is best (it is going to get poached in the dashi sauce), but you can also use left overs.

Wash and clean onions. Cut diagonally into 1 inch pieces.

Combine ingredients for sauce in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Add chicken and simmer for 5 minutes. Add onion pieces and simmer for 1 minute.

Stir the eggs and pour gently in a steady stream around the chicken in the simmering sauce. Let the eggs spread naturally. Do not stir. Keep heat at medium until the egg starts to bubble at the edges. At this point, stir once. The egg will have almost set. Do not let the eggs cook hard.

Put portions of hot rice in deep soup bowls. With a large spoon, scoop a portion of egg and chicken mixture and put on top of the rice. Some sauce will seep into the rice but will not make a soupy dish.

Gochisou sama deshita (What a feast!)