This is a blog for people to discuss what they are eating. There is a theory that by journaling eating habits, people will eat healthier. I am trying to cook more at home and feed my family a wider variety of foods. People can just read or join as co-authors. Topics don't have to be recipes with nice photos. You can write about eating habits, special diets, culinary cultural differences, etc.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Dashimaki


"I'm not the dashimaki maker, I'm the dashimaki maker's son. I'm just making dashimaki 'til the dashimaki maker comes."


Okay, so I AM the dashimaki maker, & I'm nobody's son. Ahem.


Anyway...I love dashimaki. LOVE IT. Couldn't get enough of it on my first trip to Japan, & no one at home or in any of my American Japanese restaurants has any idea how to make it or what it is. So! When a certain person found out how much I loved the stuff, she presented me with a gift of hon dashi and a tiny dashimaki/tamagoyaki pan! Yay! I put everything in my Muscle Park pail, because I am a huge nerd and it made me happy to do so.


Dashimaki is just eggs, dashi (bonito soup base), starch (I use corn starch but I guess you're supposed to use potato starch, but anyway it still works) & soy sauce. I measure NOTHING. Measures are for girls. Pfft.


A big part of mixing it all together is just being smart. I use warm water to dissolve the dashi powder, because it works best, so first I put about a teaspoon of dashi powder in a Pyrex cup with a spout & add maybe 1/4 cup of warm water, & mix it up well. Then, 4 eggs. Then, a dash of soy sauce (probably a teaspoon). Then in a separate cup, I add a teaspoon or so of corn starch powder to just a little COLD water & mix it. That way, no lumps! Mom taught me that... Anyway, once that's all dissolved it goes into the egg mixture & you whip it all together a few times. Use chopsticks! It's fun! Dashi smells fishy....



So, you oil the pan well, & keep a oily paper towel all folded up small, right next to the pan, so you can re-oil it between layers of egg. Heat up the pan til it's very hot (but not too hot...you don't want smoking oil)...pour a thin layer of egg in (it should sizzle) and when it sets up enough to lift away from the surface, start rolling it with your chopsticks.


You should end up with a little egg roll at one end of the pan. Oil the end you started from, slide the egg back to that end, pour a small amount of egg mixture into the other end of the pan. Lift up the edge of the egg you already rolled, so some of the mixture adheres to the rolled egg (this is so you can continue to roll the egg unbroken). Then, just keep rolling up the egg layers!


It takes practice. Chopsticks really are the best tool for the job, so you better have mad chopsick skills. It's tricky because you want the egg to not get too brown, & you want to roll fast enough that the egg is still soft when you start to roll (but not runny). I find thin layers work best because that way you can roll it up fast.


When your egg log is all rolled up, you are supposed to tighten it by rolling it in a makisu (bamboo mat)...I am not brave enough to do this yet. Perhaps someday...


Anyway I let it cool a bit & then slice it up. In the picture (above) I laid the pieces flat so you can see the layers.


My daughter Charlotte is CRAZY about dashimaki! I make it for her with a little bowl of sticky rice flavored with salty nori flakes, & some edamame. It takes me about a half hour from start to finish. I'm getting better each time I make it, too, because it does take a bit of practice.















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7 Comments:

Blogger Panther said...

That's cool. I am gonna have to find me one of those pans and try that myself. However, I want one of those pails.

Great recipe and seeing that I loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eggs, I might have to try it out sometime.

*wonders where she can get one of those pans* Love the plate also.

:D

November 15, 2008 at 8:02 AM

 
Blogger merimask said...

Panther, you can find tamagoyaki/dashimaki pans at this site:
http://www.mrslinskitchen.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=1262&Page=1
Lots of other cool stuff too! I ordered some more cooking chopsticks from this place & they ship pretty fast.

November 15, 2008 at 4:20 PM

 
Blogger tricia said...

Found my pan today - YEA! Your pictures are great. Hope after lots of practice mine will look halfway as good as yours. You gave good instructions and I'm going to print them - does your receipe feed 1 or 2 people?

November 15, 2008 at 9:31 PM

 
Blogger merimask said...

Yay Tricia! Good luck cooking & don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions.

4 eggs is for two people...you can halve that & do two eggs easily. Frankly, I can only roll about 2 eggs-worth of mixture in my little pan, so the one roll in that picture is about half the recipe. I should have mentioned that somewhere...

November 16, 2008 at 12:36 AM

 
Blogger Chaki said...

It's hard not to like dashimaki, would you believe both my kids even like it!!

There is one version of tamagoyaki, which is sweet and the spongiest comes from mixing flour with it. It's weird. That's probably what you had.

Meri, should have gotten you the bigger pan! They had 8 different sizes, including a huge industrial one... But Hiro figured the smallest one would be easiest to use. But of course, I think he had me in mind... I expect Tricia has mastered it already too.

Have you tried putting things inside? There are versions with bacon and spinach, or cheese and mushrooms (just saute before putting in.)

November 17, 2008 at 3:23 PM

 
Blogger Arsenette said...

Well I have an excuse to get Meri to come down here and show me how to use the pan.. hey.. Tricia can bring hers too :p mwahahhahahahaaha And yeah Chaki I think that spongy sweet stuff is what I got in that restaurant I went to.. that was nasty.. the saltier eggy flavor is what I like.

November 17, 2008 at 5:53 PM

 
Blogger merimask said...

Hey Chaki,
No problem...the small pan is perfect for learning. Your husband was right; it is a tricky technique & best learned with a small pan. Besides, it's a good travel size! I made some for John (actually he made me make it on TWO occasions & he was only here for 3 days! REALLY loves my dashimaki)...so I expect I'll bring my little pan with me when I go visit him in Vegas again. :-)

My husband already has plans to buy me a bigger one. For christmas. Perfect gift 'cause he knows I'll use it.

There was dashimaki with stuff in it at Sasuke...peas & mushrooms & little green leeks or someything like that. It was AWESOME. Actually all the food at Sasuke was awesome. Don't know who catered it but the boxed lunches & dinners were really very good. I impressed everyone with my mad chopstick skillz... ;-)

November 19, 2008 at 5:32 AM

 

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