Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Mine won't be here for another week or so (I gave my first copy to Amey and sometimes I'm pretty sure they opt to send amazon orders via canoe to my island), but I might be able to cookalong via the Amazon look-inside feature until then!

Another vote for a cookalong! I'm going to a Japanese market next weekend so I can pick up some ingredients.

My library has a copy! I'll definitely pick it up tonight or tomorrow. A cookalong sounds exciting. Huzzah.

I got this for Christmas from my mom, as well. She was super excited to give me such a pretty cookbook and we had a great time looking it through it together. I think she has weird ideas about vegan cookbooks being full of unappetizing brown food or something, which doesn't make sense since she was equally thrilled to give me Vcon and Viva Vegan. It's true Kansha is in its own category of sumptuousness; it's so filled with photos it can serve as both a cookbook and a coffee table book.

I guess I'm the first person in this thread to have made something from the book. But don't get too excited yet - all I've made so far is sushi rice. And damn, I think that might be from her earlier book, Washoku.

The point of all of this is I am totally down for a cookalong! Let's do it!

I just got my copy. I'll have to go into Chinatown for some of these ingredients though ... it will be an adventure!

Does anyone have this on Kindle? I'd like to know if it has the usual formatting problems when it comes to measurements.

ETA: Nevermind, I just checked and it's not even available on the kindle.

Mine showed up! What are people thinking for the cookalong?

The spring breeze aspic (page 95) looks so weird and intriguing, I want to make it!

crispy-creamy tofu, southern barbarian style (178) looks good because it is fried. I've also never had barbarian food.

Some other things look intriguing, but what I can make depends on what ingredients I can find.

I've never been involved in a cookalong ... exciting!

I have a list at home of things I wanted to try. I remember it included the creamy kabocha soup, and that nama-fu dish. I don't remember what else, I'll type it up this evening.


I'm probably going to skip out on the fried stuff for the cookalong. Trying to lose some unwanted poundage.

Okay here's the list of things that struck my fancy. I'm excited to see what others want to make!

Toasted hand-pressed brown rice with hijiki (48)
Creamy kabocha soup (85)
Broth-steeped kale rolls (101)
Crispy gourd chips (145)
Hijiki with tofu (146)
Miso-slathered nama fu (148)
Skillet scrambled tofu with greens (166)
Tofu tofu burgers (169)
Miso oden (171)
Vegetables braised with tofu (176)

Nothing terribly exciting.

I'm seeing love for the kabocha. Sounds good to me, but I'm up for most anything.

I want to make the oden too! The people I was traveling with in Japan got it at every single 7-11 we passed and I was bummed that I always had to just get seaweed onigiri.

I requested it from the library and it should be in on Mon. or Tues. Woohoo!

I have a copy from the library now, and it's really gorgeous, nice 25cm square format book with plenty of full-page photos, more like a coffee table book than your typical cookbook.

However, if you don't have access to a well-stocked Japanese grocery, I wouldn't recommend buying it unless you want it just for decor. Nearly every recipe contains some obscure specialty ingredient, not just your relatively easy to find nori, mirin, miso, etc. And much of it is fresh produce you can't just mail order. I'd love to have the stuff to make these recipes, but short of driving an hour into Seattle, it's not very practical for me...

Made it to the Japaanese market yesterday and picked up a bunch of stuff. I'm going to start making stuff this week - yay!

But yeah, I second what Hovering Dog said. It would be really difficult to make much in this book without a specialty market.
If you are looking for a Japanese cookbook with less obscure ingredients, I would recommend this book. It still has some obscure ingredients, but has some recipes that call for your easier to find ingredients like nori, miso, mirin, etc. It's not really geared toward being a pretty coffee table book though and I get the feeling it's a lot less traditional/authentic, but I have no idea as I have never been to Japan.

The creamy kabocha soup is really good, and pretty quick to make - I made this last night, and would definitely recommend the recipe.

The leek & scallions in tart miso sauce was also very tasty, and I'll make it again, but with some modifications. First of all, it doesn't make much at all - just a couple of tablespoons per person, so I'll double or triple the amount of leeks & scallions. Also, if you have texture issues with rubbery, chewy things, leave out the konnyaku (gelantinous yam loaf). I had to pick all of the pieces of it out because of texture issues. Also, although it's vegan, it smells suspiciously fish-like, and has a kind of rubbery fishy texture to it too.

The rice with mushrooms was a big disappointment. Given the amount of time and effort put into making this recipe (first making the kombu dashi, then using the dashi to make the mushroom stock, then cooking the rice with the mushroom stock) I would have expected it to have more flavor, but it was bland and virtually flavorless, despite the fact that I used three different kinds of Japanese mushrooms (shiitake, maitake and enoki) and that there was also sake, mirin and soy sauce in the mushroom broth. I ended up sprinkling it with soy sauce for flavor.

Yes, a cookalong would be great ! How about we start with any of the recipes listed in the above posts and share our experiences? Due to the availability of specialized ingredients, we may not all be able to make the selected cookalong recipes, but we could still share our experiences with the book and any Kansha recipes we make.

I have the book on loan from our library but before it arrived, I did some searching and found the recipes below online. The Kansha Workshop is good but just starting; not much in the archives yet.

I've made one recipe so far - Udon Noodle Soup with Vegetables and Tofu. The flavour was excellent but you have to be really careful not to over-cook the udon noodles.

The Miso Oden (p 171) is next on my try it list.


_______
Kansha Workshop Techniques (you need to register (free) to view/download archives)
http://www.kanshacooking.com

Clear Broth (Osumashi)
Kimpira
Slicing Techniques
______

Candied Japanese Sweet Potato
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/ ... ato-363149

Eggplant Two Ways (Marugoto Nasu)
http://asiansupper.com/recipe/eggplant-two-ways

Good Fortune Bags (Fuku-Bukuro)
http://elizabethandoh.files.wordpress.c ... bukuro.pdf

Heaven-and-Earth Tempura Pancakes (Ten Chi Kaki Age)
http://tastecincinnati-food.blogspot.co ... iving.html

Japanese Seasoned Soy Concentrate (Shojin Tsuyu No Moto)
http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/20 ... ecipe.html

Koya-Dofu and Vegetables
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/food- ... vegetables

Soy Glazed Grilled Corn
http://elizabethandoh.files.wordpress.c ... d-corn.pdf

Udon Noodle Soup with Vegetables and Tofu
http://newasiancuisine.com/6772-udon-no ... ecipe.html

I made the creamy kabocha soup and greens with nutty tofu sauce tonight

The kabocha soup was pretty good. I would definitely make it again. I found the simmering time for the squash to be off (I had to simmer way longer than she said to), but maybe my squash was woodier than usual or something.

The greens with nutty tofu sauce were just okay in my opinion (I used spinach for the greens). I think it was a texture thing for me. The fluffy 'sauce' (pureed tofu with tahini, miso, etc) was kind of putting me off, but it wasn't the taste, it was just the general baby-food like feeling in my mouth. But I think that's really a personal preference.

I steamed the nama fu and will have that tomorrow for dinner.

Made the nama fu with dengaku tonight. I had no idea that the whole steaming seitan sausage thing was Japanese! Anyway, I quite liked the little guys. I wasn't a huge fan of the dengaku sauce before it was broiled, but afterwards it was pretty good.

I have pics of all this stuff on my camera. Need to stop being lazy and actually upload them.

Mine still hasn't arrived, but thanks for posting your reviews, lobsteriffic! I might make a special trip to Victoria this weekend to stock up at the Japanese grocer.

Made the tofu tofu burgers tonight. I changed up the ingredients because I couldn't find some things/didn't have them on hand. I used panko instead of the rice crackers and I couldn't find the freeze-dried tofu so I just used regular firm tofu.

I was worried these would be too bland, but I actually dug the subtle flavor. I just cooked them in a non-stick pan, no oil. She's not joking when she says they are fragile though. I found it easier to make them super small and even then I had some casualties.

I didn't use the glaze in the recipe, I just topped them with some leftover dengaku sauce I had in the fridge from last night's nama-fu.

This book looks super interesting. I'll probably be getting it in the summer for my boyfriend's birthday, as he is super in to Japanese food. The other book lobsteriffic posted looked really neat too!

The somen noodles showered with mushrooms and leek and miso soup are really good too; I made them last night.

Oh, man. I'm really jealous of every person who has this. I couldn't justify buying it to my father, so it's wish listed for now. Has anyone seen it in stores? I might be able to buy it cash.

Just got my copy! What a beautiful book. I'm particularly excited about the tsukemono recipes!