Category Archives: Vegetables

Basic Dashi and Second Dashi

Dashi is a simple broth that is a very important component to a lot of Japanese foods. The Japanese use dashi as a base for miso soups, noodle soups and as a liquid in many simmering braises.

Making Dashi

making dashi

We’ve been living in Kuching for a little over 3 months now. We’re settling in all right, getting to know the place and people. But we haven’t had a big party of guests over to our house yet, like we used to do almost weekly back in San Jose. We really wanted to invite our friend Paul (who welcomed us on our first day to Kuching) and his family over for a meal.

Annie mulled over the different menu options and eventually decided on a Japanese menu. Of course, there would have to be miso soup. She also wanted to do niku-jaga (meat and potatoes) dish. Both dishes call for dashi as part or most of the ingredients list.

The base of making dashi is the use of kombu/konbu (a dried piece of kelp seaweed) which is placed in cold water then heated to almost a boil. The other ingredient is katsuobushi (bonito flakes) which is added after taking the kombu out. These days, you can get handy instant dashis that you just add to water. But there is nothing like making your own dashi from scratch. And they are not very hard to make at all.

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Thanksgiving Turkey Leftovers: Turkey Tortilla Soup

Tired of eating the same old dried out, microwave-reheated breast meat for days? I sure would be. This Turkey Tortilla Soup will spice up your leftovers!

Turkey Tortilla Soup

Originally posted 27 Nov 2007
Updated 25 Nov 2009

In the past, we’ve always saved the carcass of the turkey to make stock, and most of the time we turn that stock into turkey jook (rice congee). It’s pretty easy to do.

But I was getting tired of Asian food. I just didn’t want to fall back on warming up leftover turkey again. I wanted some kicked up flavors and spice! So I went Southwestern with a Turkey Tortilla Soup.

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Honey-Glazed Yams

Try this sweet and simple side dish, which is elegant enough for a Thanksgiving party but also humble enough for a weeknight meal.

Honey-Glazed Yams

honey-glazed yams sweet potatoes baked

Annie made this dish for Thanksgiving last year, but we’ve only gotten around to posting it now.  They were tuber-rific! I think we scarfed these down even before the turkey came out!  My mom, who was visiting us in San Jose then, asked Annie for the recipe so that she could make it for the family Christmas party back home in Honolulu.

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Creamy Winter Greens Gratin

Looking for a flavorful side dish for your Thanksgiving or Christmas party?  There’s no compromising on flavor with this creamy Winter greens gratin.

creamy winter greens gratin hero

Updated 17 Nov 2009
Originally posted 25 Nov 2006

Annie last made this gratin a while ago but I wanted to revisit it because it was such a memorable dish. It was one of two, fantastic side dishes that she made for a Thanksgiving party at our place. (The other was a really wonderful green bean casserole that I unfortunately don’t have very good pictures of – guess we’ll have to make it again soon!)

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