Toshikoshi soba and tempura (s03e10/s04e10).
Last year, I stood on this bridge in Shinjuku. You recognize this spot, right? 😉 I hummed the Midnight Diner intro song as I watched the trains and cars pass by. It was a really emotional moment, being right there. Likewise, cooking all these dishes has made me feel more connected to this show I love.
And that concludes my Midnight Diner cook-along project!
The ko-ume style is from s05e03. But of course I couldn't stop there. 😄
From left to right:
Sake-steamed salmon and mushrooms (Midnight Diner s05e06) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-cTo7EKJIc / https://www.justonecookbook.com/salmon-foil/ is some help as a reference, but what Nami cooked is very different from what's on the show.
I like fish a lot, and I like mushrooms a lot, but I'd never cooked them together before. This was really lovely!
And yes, I did make my own hakusaizuke (pickled napa cabbage)! Pickled it for 4 weeks. I used this recipe: https://fullbellyfarm.com/recipes/hakusaizuke-napa-cabbage-pickle/
Cabbage rolls (Midnight Diner s03e06) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNxagiZn3_8 / https://www.justonecookbook.com/stuffed-cabbage-rolls/ without tomatoes
Daikon-tuna salad - https://sudachirecipes.com/addictive-daikon-salad/
I didn't give enough thought to color, this time, so it's a very beige spread. Super tasty, though!
Aji no hiraki, grilled dried Japanese horse mackerel (Midnight Diner s01e09) * - I couldn't find aji, nor a proper species of fish to make my own, so I had to make do with dried yellow croaker. 🤷♂️
Ohitashi, blanched spinach.
Fukumeni, simmered shiitake - This is simple to make, and so good! A mushroom lover's dream.
Ingredients for 4 servings:
Instructions:
Satoimo to ika no nimono, simmered taro and squid (Midnight Diner s03e03) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIGGQAFBib8 / https://www.justonecookbook.com/simmered-taro/
Tamagoyaki - I swear my tamagoyaki get looser every time I make them 😅 This one had shirasu (boiled whitebait) stirred in, the little white streaks, which seemed to make it a little more reluctant to stick together.
Also yamitsuki kyabetsu. I wish I'd put more colors on the table, for this meal... 🤔
Nikujaga (Midnight Diner s02e09) - https://www.justonecookbook.com/nikujaga/ (minus noodles) / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6K_zufdAJs
Spinach ohitashi - https://www.justonecookbook.com/spinach-ohitashi-japanese-spinach-salad-with-bonito-flakes/
Kitsune udon (Midnight Diner s05e07)
Broccoli gomaae
120g spelt flour and 240g ricotta. Not 240g spelt flour and 120g ricotta. 🤦♂️ So that's why they just taste like deep-fried flour.
I've got plenty of spelt flour left so I'll give it another go!
Shoyu ramen (Midnight Diner s01e10) and namasu.
Homemade chashu. Is the pork belly commonly sold in the US thicker than what's used in East Asia? I tried to roll it, at first, but that was not happening. Still tastes great. I've made better ramen eggs than this one, alas.
- - -
Gen: "It's too late for me."
Master: "That's just an excuse for those who don't want to try."
Fried chicken wings (Midnight Diner s05e04) - https://www.justonecookbook.com/fried-chicken-wings/
Potesara (s01e04) - https://www.reddit.com/r/JapaneseFood/comments/1tcgoa2/comment/olo61u5/
Do y'all know of any mod which allows you to prevent a specific portal world from resetting? In another thread, a couple people were complaining about the furniture in the Arctic Cabin you have to build around because it just respawns if you remove it, and that really drove me nuts on my base build there, too.
Katsudon (Midnight Diner e01e06, one of my favorite episodes) - https://www.justonecookbook.com/katsudon/ / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2-XsWnq5LE
Kombu tsukudani, simmered spent kombu from making dashi - https://www.justonecookbook.com/simmered-kombu-tsukudani/
Asari no sakemushi, sake-steamed clams (Midnight Diner s02e03) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grKcjlswvOI / https://www.justonecookbook.com/japanese-sake-steamed-clams/
It was a lot of work, scrubbing the clams, purging them, and carefully checking that they were all still alive. Not sure I'd bother again. But it was a very tasty way to eat clams!
Kinpira gobo (s03e08) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85YI8BwcS_8 / https://www.justonecookbook.com/kinpira-gobo-braised-burdock-root/
Gen's heartbreak in this episode 😭
Cream stew (Midnight Diner s02e06) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl3fzejkXbs / https://www.justonecookbook.com/white-stew/
I was halfway through making this before I realized that I was simply making chicken pot pie filling without the crust. 😆It was as hearty and wholesome as that sounds!
Butabara tomatomaki (Midnight Diner s03e02) - Not much of a recipe here! Just wrap cherry tomatoes in bacon (like 1/3 or 1/2 of a strip per tomato), skewer, and grill on both sides. I did these on a Japanese ceramic indoor fish grill which I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to do 😅 and boy did it get smoky in here.
Tamagoyaki - Somehow it feels like my technique gets a little worse every time I make this...