Okay, I lied a little… this nabemono (Japanese hot pot) was made on Girl’s Day (Hina-matsuri), but that’s really the only thing about it that makes it a “Girl’s Day nabemono”. It was still very delicious!

I used chicken thighs, maitake (hen-of-the-woods mushroom), egg dumplings, pollack dumplings, taro, konnyaku (devil’s tongue jelly), gobo (burdock root), negi (Welsh onion) and hakusai (Napa cabbage). For the broth, I used 3/4c mirin, 3/4c of shoyu and an unmeasured amount of sake

This made a ton of food and only took about 45 minutes from start to finish. いただきます！

I made this with elements of red (carrots and my homemade aka miso) and white (taro and shiro miso) in observence of the traditional colors of the Japanese New Year 正月 (shogatsu) . I didn’t actually make any traditional Japanese Near Year foods (お節料理), but I may still – I have some burdock for gobo kinpira :3 .  Anyways, click on the image to make it a little bigger (and check out my dirty stove – oh yes! ).

This is typically my breakfast, but I was hungry for breakfast when I got home from work today. 

Salt-broiled salmon with pickled ginger, steamed broccoli stalks tossed with goma dare and toasted sesame seeds, shiro miso with tofu and scallion and brown rice – simple and delicious!

You know what this means. Also, here’s how to make your own homemade sauerkraut. Let’s just bask for a moment on its humble beginnings. A first glance at a local farmer’s market. The embarrassing heft of this sweet, oversized vegetable. The delicate kneading of salt into once firm cabbage flesh. Okay, that’s enough. If you asked me for some, let me know in the comments or send me an email. I already bought jars for it!

PROTIP: It’s AWESOME mixed up in hot brown rice. OMNOMNOM!