Takiawase Recipe (Simmered deep fried tofu and vegetables)

Atsuage no takiawase（厚揚げの炊き合わせ）

What the kind of dish is Atsuage no takiawase??

“Takiawase” is a dish in which several ingredients are simmered together in a pot and then arranged neatly on a plate.

The umami (The ingredients that make people feel delicious when they eat food) from each ingredient mix together in the pot and permeate each ingredient.

It is a traditional Japanese cooking method that can be substituted with a variety of ingredients.

Takiawase can be beautifully presented by combining ingredients of different shapes.

Chicken and chikuwa are sometimes used, but since animal products were originally prohibited in Shojin ryori, tofu has been highly valued as a source of protein.

In particular, fried tofu(abura age) and thick fried tofu(atsuage) are ideal ingredients for takiawase.

This is because the oil and flavor components in abura age and atsuage mask the grassy smell and bitterness of the vegetables.

Vegetables used in Takiawase：Seasonal vegetables are used to create dishes with a seasonal feel.

• Spring: bamboo shoots, rape blossoms, butterbur, potatoes
• Summer: winter melon, pumpkin, eggplant, okra
• Autumn: mushrooms, taro, sweet potato
• Winter: daikon radish, spinach, lotus root

Tips for making takiawase

The usual way to make this is to arrange the ingredients in a deep, flat-bottomed pot, add water, and heat it. I like the method of using a pressure cooker. The reason is that the time it takes for different vegetables to become soft varies. In most cases, if you use a pressure cooker, two minutes of pressure cooking will be sufficient for any type of food.

☆Common points

• When using soy sauce, if you only use dark soy sauce, the ingredients will turn brown, and if you only use light soy sauce, the flavor will be weak. Therefore, mix the two.
• Ingredients that you want to keep their beautiful green color, such as green beans and komatsuna(Japanese mustard spinach), should be added to the pot just before turning off the heat.

☆If you don’t use a pressure cooker

• The key is to add seasonings once the vegetables have softened. If you add the seasonings too early, the vegetables will be undercooked.
• You will need to adjust the cooking time depending on the ingredients. For example, if you use daikon radish, it will take longer to soften. First, boil the daikon radish until it is soft, then add it to the pot with the other ingredients and simmer.

☆If you use a pressure cooker

• In this case, it is fine to add the seasonings at the same time as the ingredients.
• I use a pressure cooker for simmered potatoes to shorten the cooking time and prevent them from losing their shape. 　
• Pumpkin melts when pressure is applied, so it is better to use a regular pot instead of a pressure cooker. Also, sausages are not suitable for cooking in a pressure cooker because their skins will pop when pressure is applied. It is said that atsuage(deep-fried tofu) and chikuwa(fish cake) should not be used in a pressure cooker, but this time, perhaps because the pressure time was short at 1 minute, I was able to cook them without any problems.

How to decide the amount of seasoning to use when making nimono

The key to seasoning nimono(simmered dish) is to keep the salt concentration at 1% to 1.2% of the total weight of the food.

1g of soy sauce contains 0.16g of salt, so you will need about 6g to 8g of soy sauce for every 100g of ingredients.

Happo dashi is commonly used for takiawase, which consists of 8 tablespoons of dashi soup, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, and 1 tablespoon of mirin.

NUTRITION FACTS of Takiawase Recipe (Simmered deep fried tofu and vegetables)

TOTAL NUTRITION VALUE

• 508 kcal
• Protein 26.9 g
• Fat 18.7 g
• Carb 67.7 g
• Salt Equivalent 6.5 g

Salt content is calculated assuming all seasonings are consumed.

INGREDIENTS for Takiawase Recipe (Simmered deep fried tofu and vegetables) (4 SERVINGS)

It is said that potatoes and atsuage(deep-fried tofu) should not be frozen, but they were surprisingly delicious even after freezing.The potato variety called “Yokunetaimo” is sweet and delicious ♡

• Atsuage (Thick fried tofu) 160g
• Carrots 70g
• 2 Potatoes 180g
• 4 Shiitake mushrooms 65g
• 4 Green beans 60g
• ☆Dark soy sauce 20g
• ☆Light soy sauce 20g
• ☆Sake 20g
• ☆Mirin 30g
• ☆Water 200g (400g if not using a pressure cooker)
• ☆Dashi pack 1pieces

If you have dashi soup made from dried shiitake mushrooms, bonito flakes, or kelp, use it in place of water. In that case, you don’t need a dashi pack.

Takiawase Recipe (Simmered deep fried tofu and vegetables) COOKING INSTRUCTIONS

1. Put the dashi pack and water in a pot and heat it. Once it boils, turn off the heat and let it cool. Once cooled, throw away the dashi pack.
2. Soak the atsuage in boiling water for about a minute. This will remove excess oil from the surface and make it easier for the flavor to penetrate.
3. Wash and peel the carrots and cut them into bite-sized pieces.
4. Peel the potatoes and cut them in half. If they are too big, cut them into quarters.
5. Make cuts in the shiitake mushrooms. This step can be omitted.
6. Wash the green beans and cut off both ends. Next, cut them into 5cm lengths.
7. Put all the ingredients except the green beans into the pressure cooker.
8. Place on medium heat, make sure the pressure cooker is under pressure, wait 1 to 2 minutes, then turn off the heat.
9. Once the pressure has released naturally, open the lid and add the green beans.
10. Turn on the heat and simmer until the soup is reduced by about half.
11. Cool once. Cooling allows the flavor to penetrate the ingredients.
12. Warm it up when you eat it.

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