J-Food Day 15: Kabocha and Mabo Tofu

Japanese Food Project Day 15... Jeremy was playing raquetball tonight so I got home and started cooking. I started out really ambitious but didn't make everything I intended to, but still made 2 complete dishes.

Dish 15. Braised Kabocha- I love kabocha squash, which is Japanese pumpkin, but similar to butternut squash. I braised it with onions, carrots, yam noodles, and shiitake mushrooms in the usual sweet soy sauce and dashi flavoring. Japanese food really isn't that complicated when a lot of the flavors are consistent. This is one of my favorites and go to dishes so I think it turned out good. The only issue that I encounter is if I don't pick a good kabocha and it's not very tasty to begin with. This one wasn't the best, but I think it turned out fine!

Dish 16. Amy style Mabo Tofu- We had ground beef that I needed to use up, so I decided to make mabo tofu even though I didn't have the "tobanjan" chili paste but I added some red chili pepper to add a little spice to it. I flavored it wth miso, soy sauce, a little sugar, and simmered it all together. It actually turned out great! I had never made mabo tofu from scratch before, but I really liked my first attempt... this is my first awesome dish on the first try!

Jeremy definitely liked the mabo tofu a lot better than the kabocha, but I liked both of them!

I was also trying to make kabocha cheese croquettes at the same time, but I was a bit overambitious with that. I got to the point where it is ready to be shaped and breaded, but that will have to be tomorrow or the day after!