At times when I’m suffering from over-work or maybe overdose of MSG-laden food from dining out, my body gives out signals with aches and depleted energy. At such circumstances, the best remedy for me is always cooking a healthy meal at home. And most likely than not, I will choose Japanese nabe. Because the wonderful thing about cooking “nabe” or one-pot cooking is you can throw “everything” literally into a pot and cook. It saves me a lot of effort, time and of course the ease of washing up (exactly what I need in times of exhaustion). Plus it is really healthy so I have really nothing to complain about. Last night, I made myself Tori no Mizutaki or Chicken pot for dinner.
Mizutaki is a chicken version of Japanese nabe originated from the Kyu-shu region. Mizutaki means “water simmered” which gives you an idea on how healthy it is (albeit the chicken fats floating in my rendition). I didn’t want to fuss over the cooking so mine was a simplified version with just chicken (the kampong one), chicken balls, some cabbage, burdock and black fungus. But If you are feeding the entire clan, you can always add more variety of vegetables and mushrooms like leek, carrot, shiitake or even tofu and noodle.
For me, the important thing is the stock must be good which I left it to boil for more than 4 hours. There wasn’t even a tinge of MSG and I merely lightly seasoned it with some rock sea salt I bought from Japan. It was a great enjoyment. And the most wonderful part of the meal is finale. You can add noodle but I usually like mine with porridge by adding some cooked rice to simmer in the remaining soup. This makes a perfect ending to the meal and definately my idea of a wonderful wholesome meal to boost energy.
In case, you want to save the effort of cooking, you can get a taste of Mizutaki at Tenjyaku as well. Chef Teppei whose hometown is in Fukuoka, Kyu-shu does a very good one at his restaurant. I have tried and loved his smooth milky-white chicken stock that was boiled for more than 8 hours. His Mizutaki also comes with chicken liver and kidney. Yum!
Ingredients:
1 medium-sized kampong chicken
¼ of a cabbage
½ of a burdock
1 pack of fresh black fungus
Chicken meatballs
Chicken stock
Cook rice (optional)
For Chicken stock:
1 chicken carcass
1 strip of konbu
1 carrot
2-3 ribs of celery
1 onion
Sea Salt
For Chicken meatballs:
100gm chicken meat ball
Spring onions, chopped
1 egg
Seasonings: soy sauce, sake, mirin, salt, white pepper, sesame oil and oil
For Dipping:
Ponzu sauce
Spring onions
Momoji oroshi
To make:
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Wash and cut the chicken into pieces. Reserve the neck, feet and bones for stock.
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Blanch the chicken (including those for stock) briefly to remove the chicken odor.
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Wash and cut the carrot, celery and onions into large chunks for stock.
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Fill up a large pot with plenty of water and add konbu to the pot. Bring the water to a boil and remove the konbu from the pot. Add the chicken bones (etc for stock only ), carrot, celery and onions and boil over high heat for at least 4-5hours till whitish in color. Season with salt and allow the stock to cool before straining.
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Wash and cut the cabbage and black fungus mushroom in small pieces.
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Cut the burdock into thin shaves and par-boil for a few minutes. Transfer to cold water to cool. Drain well and set aside for later use.
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Mix all the ingredients for chicken balls together.
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To serve, Pour the prepared chicken stock into a donabe (claypot) and bring the stock to a light pot, add in the chicken pieces, chicken balls, cabbage, burdock and black fungus. Simmer till ingredients are cooked. Serve with Ponzu (as dipping sauce)
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After done with the ingredients, add cooked rice to the stock and simmer for a few minutes. Crack in an egg if desired. Enjoy the porridge with some chopped spring onions.
By the way,
Tenjyaku is located at 9 Raffles Boulevard Millenia Walk #01-11/12/13. Tel: 6837-3960.
