Iga-yaki Grill...Yakiniku Temaki (Grilled Meat Handroll)

I'm deeply in love with my Iga-yaki grill, "Yaki Yaki San". Is this turning into obsession?

This ancient clay table-top grill is not only beautiful to look at, but also cook the ingredients nicely with the effect of the natural Far Infrared Radiation (FIR). And, yes, it's made of the same Iga clay as the other donabe pots we have.

I was home alone tonight, but I did the yakiniku dinner for myself. Here's how I set the table-top grill dinner for one.

The main protein for the grill were jumbo shrimp and American Kobe beef kalbi (short rib). I also had asparagus, shiitake mushrooms, abura-age (fried tofu pouch), and garlic cloves (sliced in half).

Sauces and condiments...Salt ponzu, tosa shoyu (my homemade sashimi soy sauce), grated daikon, sliced scallion, daikon sprouts, mizuna, roasted nori seaweed. There were also ground toasted sesame seeds and la-yu (hot sesame oil). I love eating the grilled items with a lot of vegetables.

Shrimp was really nice with the salt ponzu with scallion.

The beef was seriously amazing. For the first batch, I just dipped the grilled meat in the Tosa shoyu (sashimi soy sauce). It was so tender and almost melted in my mouth.

Then, I also made temaki rolls with the grilled beef. I did two versions, one was just the meat with vegetables in the nori seaweed, and the other version was with the sushi rice. Wow, temaki sushi with the freshly grilled meat was really something!

I LOVE healthy grilling, Iga-yaki style.

"Yaki Yaki San"...Healthy Yakiniku Dinner

I've been so busy lately that I haven't been able to update my as often as I wish.

But, I've still been cooking a lot, and doing more "Yakiniku" (grilled meat) with the Iga-yaki grill, "Yaki Yaki San". This is a very special grill made entirely with the clay of Iga, Japan. When ingredients are cooked on this ancient clay grill, they taste so complete and tasty.

Prime beef short rib slices were so fresh. I only seasoned the meat very lightly with just salt and pepper before laying them on the grill.

Beef tri-tip meat was marinated with the soy-based sauce for a few hours. Kurobuta pork belly was marinated with sake.

Table-top grilling is fun and healthy, because we eat the meat with a wide array of vegetables. For each piece of meat, you can choose the different vegetable wrap and/ or toppings.

You can find the basic yakiniku recipe on toiro's website.

I'm also excited about showcasing yakiniku menu in my upcoming Donabe & Japanese Cooking Classes!

Sake-marinated Pork Belly

My sake-marinated pork belly on our Iga-yaki grill, "Yaki Yaki San". This taste so nice even just with a little squeeze of lemon.

We love the beef kalbi on the grill, too. The clay grill is a magical thing. With the natural far-infrared radiation (FIR), the meat becomes so succulent.

March Schedule for Donabe & Japanese Cooking Classes

Finally, we have the March schedule for Donabe & Japanese Cooking Classes confirmed...thank you so much for waiting until now!

Art of Miso Making will be a very special class, because I just got all the premium ingredients shipped from Fukui, Japan. We will not only make the miso together, but also will taste different kinds of miso, amazake, miso-themed dishes, etc. The main dish will be a popular Hokkaid-style hot pot dish called, "Ishikari Nabe".

We will also introduce a new class, which is a Japanese "yakiniku" table-top grilling. We will make some side dishes as well as the Japanese-Korean style yakiniku (meat grilling) on the ancient clay table top grill.

We just did a real simple test kitchen for one of the yakiniku dishes the other day and it was fantastic.

Here's the schedule. You can sign up for the upcoming classes from our website. You don't need to do any preparation or bring any equipment to the class. You just need to bring your apron and big appetite for the good food. Look forward to seeing many wonderful guests!

March 13 (Sat) and March 14 (Sun)

Starts at 11.00am

Art of Miso Making...Encore ($70)

Let’s try Japanese traditional miso-making. This is the end of the miso-making season. Miso is one of the key ingredients for healthy Japanese diet for many centuries. It’s delicious and can be cooked in many different types of dishes. After the miso making, we will taste the miso-themed dishes including the hot pot, and sake of Naoko’s selection. Both the miso ingredients and amazake are directly shipped from Fukui, Japan.

*Tasting of different types of miso, including “Tenpo Ninen” Miso.

*Tasting of traditional Ama-zake (rice koji drink)

*Miso-making with the premium ingredients (including “Toyomasari” soy beans from Hokkaido, rice koji, Japanese sun-dried sea salt) from scratch.

The lunch course will include...

*Miso-marinated tofu and eggs (sake-lover’s delight)

*Ishikari Nabe (salmon and vegetables hot pot in miso based broth) in classic donabe

*“Shime” (end of the course) ramen noodles

*Participants can take home the freshly made miso as a gift. (The freshly made miso will need 6+ months of aging before being ready to eat.)

March 20 (Sat) and March 21 (Sun)

Starts at 11.00am

“Yaki Yaki San” Yakiniku Table-top Grilling ($65)

In Japan, “Yakiniku” (table-top grilling) is one of the most popular themes for home dinner party. In this class, we will cook the ingredients on the special Iga-yaki grill, which is made of the ancient clay of Iga, Japan. The menu will be a wonderful fusion of Japanese-Korean dishes.

*Scallion and shiitake pancake (“pajeon”) with the dipping sauce

*Soy bean sprouts “Namul” salad

*Marinated beef “Yakiniku” on the grill

*Pork belly “Yakiniku” on the grill

*Mushrooms on the grill

*Kochujang apple dipping sauce

*Ssamjang dipping sauce

*Assorted “yakumi” condiments

*Donabe rice (cooked with the double-lid donabe rice cooker, “Kamado-san”)

Happy donabe life.

Donabe cooking class report..."Surf & turf" donabe rice dishes

Last Saturday and Sunday, I hosted the last classes of February. The theme was "Surf & Turf" Donabe Rice Dishes. The rice dishes were cooked with our double-lid donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san".

Instead of our regular multi-course complete meal style, in this class, we cooked our two "rice as a main dish with a side dish" suggestions. They are all "one-pot" dishes!

Salmon & Hijiki Rice. Once it was cooked, the skin and bones were removed and the salmon was tossed with the rice.

The side dish was Komatsuna (Japanese spinach) and Abuar-age (fried tofu pouch) "Nibitashi" or a quick stew. It was cooked with our classic-style donabe, "Hakeme". Now that we have a new Kyoto-style (wide & shallow) donabe home, I would love to cook this dish with this new donabe next time.

The meat rice dish was Ginger Pork Belly Donabe Rice. Pork belly block was cut into bite-size pieces and marinated in Chinese rice wine and light soy sauce before they were added to the mixture of short grain regular and mochi rice. When the rice was ready, the aroma was just so fantastic.

For the pork rice, the side dish was Tofu and Lotus Root with Daikon "Mizore" Barley Miso Soup. In this soup, you can enjoy different textures of the ingredients... crunchy lotus, coarse barley miso, soft tofu, slushy grated daikon, with the thickened soup with "kuzuko" (arrowroot starch). The soup developed such nice soothing flavors after it was cooked with our soup & stew donabe, "Miso-shiru Nabe".

Cremant d'Alsace Brut Rose made a nice pairing with both rice dishes.

I had the wonderful time with the most enthusiastic wonderful guests on both dates!

Here's the Menu...

Donabe and Japanese Cooking with Mrs. Donabe

Theme: “Surf & Turf” Rice Dishes with Kamado-san

Date: February 28, 2010

Menu

Salmon and hijiki rice

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Komatsuna and abura-age “nibitashi”

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Ginger pork belly “okowa” style rice

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Tofu and lotus root with daikon “mizore” miso soup

Wine Selection

Domaine Allimant-Laugner, Crémant d’Alsace, Brut Rosé

Happy donabe life.