Tag Archives: fruitcake

Starting the year 2015 with Soba

Kitsune Soba

So, I’m back from the hospital with some blood pressure meds I need to take every eight hours. Egh. They really mess with me though, so I have to be careful with how long I stay upright.

Normally at this stage of my pregnancy, I’ll be feeding the baby with the aim of brain and muscle development. However, in the wake of no less than 5 failed cannula attempts (my veins just kept going NOPE!) I have the grip of a three year old. So, while I was planning delicious foods like piroshky and maina to prep and freeze and store for easy reheating and eating, they have to take an unfortunate back-burner for now. Fortunately, the children can be pressed into kitchen service (it’s also good training for them; a seven year old boy is quite capable of peeling potatoes and carrots, and the eldest daughter is capable of chopping that up into little chunks, and with the aid of a food processor slicing up onions is easy – she just has to cut them into quarters and feed through.) I’ll have to have them brown up minced meat with carrots, onions and potatoes and freeze to use as bases for future meals.

My children will grow up to be capable in the kitchen.

I found some enoki mushrooms at the local grocery though! They were on sale too, yay, so I snapped up a packet. I knew I had some aburaage in the pantry, and either soba or udon, so I decided to make something noodle-based for our first dinner of the year. Yeah, I’m not steady enough to do the whole thing proper but fusiony dishes let me get away with this. There were frozen shrimp har gows in the freezer, and to my delight I’m not allergic to this set. I’m going to have to remember that, and buy more in the future.  I had both soba and udon, but decided on the soba because the udon felt like too much to deal with right now, plus it’s more traditional for the Year End Soba” (though I’m making it for the start of the year, since I was too ill yesterday to cook. We went with a different Japanese-holiday-appropriation instead.)

 

Shadowdancer’s Super Lazy Toshikoshi Kitsune Soba with Shrimp Har Gow

 

1 packet aburaage (there were ten pieces in this one) or inari-zushi no moto (they’re the same thing.)

1 liter Campbell’s Chicken Stock

2 Maggi Chicken bouillon cubes

1 small punnet of enoki mushrooms, pulled into strips

1 frozen package of Shrimp Har Gow (feel free to substitute any other dim sum of choice)

Half the packet of this brand of soba” This makes enough for four or five people

(not used this time) Asian greens, such as Chinese cabbage (wom bok), chopped into strips, leeks, spring onions chopped fine, bok choy, as desired

Note: If you have narutomaki fish cakes” , other kamaboko” kamaboko, or anything else you want to add to this, feel free.

1 medium sized pot

In a medium sized pot, pour the chicken stock. Add bouillon cubes and enough water to fill  up to 2/3 of the pot. Add the aburaage with the accompanying liquid. Put in the enoki mushrooms, and bring to a boil at medium heat. Add  the har gow adn cook for another 10-15 minutes. Add the soba, (and greens and naruto) and cook for another 4-5 minutes.

Serve in bowls, with chopsticks. Enjoy!

I am, however, having a slice of fruit cake for dessert.  With Lady Grey tea.

“>coles_darkfruitcake

Sticky, yummy, packed with fruit. It’s not boozy, but my time-tested method of improving on store bought fruitcakes is to simply soak them in the brandy or rum of one’s choice in a plastic container for a week. Store bought fruitcakes are also a delight when you’re making boozy fruitcake truffles – just ball up boozed up fruitcake, dip into white glaze, decorate with candied cherries … yum~