Time for another summer recipe! My friend Junko taught me this dish, and besides being quick-and-easy, it has the added bonus that it is extremely cheap: The tofu needed for this recipe costs only 50 yen a slice! Initially, I hesitated putting it up, as some of the ingredients may be a bit hard to find outside of Japan, but then again, I modified the recipe already, and so can you. Here we go:
Atsuage Donburi à la Junko san
(for 1 person)
- 1 bowl of cooked rice
- 1 tablespoon of furikake
Mix the rice with the furikake and put it in a bowl. - 1 piece of yawaraka tofu (atsuage). These are very thick slices (3cm) of fried tofu.
Wash the tofu in hot water to remove any remnants of oil. Use a fork to poke small holes through the tofu. - 1-2 tablespoons each of dashi and mirin
- 1 teaspoon each of sugar and soysauce
Combine the above ingredients and heat them in a small pan. Put in the tofu and heat it from all sides so that it absorbs the broth.
When this is finished, take the tofu out of the broth, cut it in squares and place it on top of the rice.
Now, if that wasn’t quick and easy – and it’s vegetarian too! As I said, I modified the original recipe which called for carrots and daikon cut into small pieces and replaced it with the furikake. I’m using furikake made with sesame and red pepper to add a spicy flavour to this otherwise rather bland dish (the broth doesn’t help that much). But any type of furikake or fresh herbs and spices will do just nicely, depending on your own preferences.
Enjoy!