Japanese Sweet-Simmered Vegetables

Serves	5
Meal type	Main Dish, Soup
Misc	Serve Hot
Region	Japanese
From book	Adapted from Authentic Japanese Cuisine for Beginners

Japanese sweet-simmered vegetables is a hearty, filling dish and the delicious sweet-and-salty broth is perfect during the cold winter months. When paired with steamed rice, you have a perfectly satisfying meal.

Ingredients

1 devil's tongue jelly (konnyaku) (cut into 10 squares)
1 carrot (chopped)
1 burdock root (cut into two inch pieces, skin on)
10 dried shiitake mushrooms
1 can bamboo shoots (quartered)
1 piece lotus root (peeled and sliced into 1/3 inch half circles)
1 cup sugar
1 cup mirin
5 cups dashi
1/2 cup soy sauce (or reduced sodium soy sauce)

Optional

15 snow peas, steamed (for garnish)

Note

* You can buy these ingredients in Asian grocery stores, and some of them can be found in your local grocery store in the ethnic food aisle. The vegetables will be sold in the refrigerated section; all the other ingredients will be located with dried goods.

* The shiitake mushrooms need to rehydrated. Please note that this takes 80 to 120 minutes.

Directions

Rehydrating the dried shiitake mushrooms
Step 1
Place mushrooms in a bowl of water. Weight them down with a plate (I used a glass pie plate) to keep them submerged. Let them soak for 40- to-60 minutes, then flip them over and soak for an additional 40-to-60 minutes. Drain. Remove the shiitake stems and set aside.
Step 2
Place the devil's tongue jelly into a Dutch oven and cover with cold water. Bring the water to a boil. Once boiling, cook for 5 minutes. Rinse in cold water.
Step 3
In a large Dutch oven, add the burdock root first; followed by the devil's tongue jelly, shiitake mushrooms, carrot, lotus root, and bamboo shoots last. This order is important as the heavy pieces are placed on the bottom; the flavor enhancers are in the middle, and the delicate ingredients are on the top.
Step 4
Add the sugar and mirin (the sugar softens the ingredients; the mirin prevents the vegetables from disintegrating), then dashi to cover. Bring to a boil. Skim off any foam that forms on the surface. Cover loosely with a lid or with wet rice paper. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 30-40 minutes.
Step 5
Add the soy sauce and simmer 10-15 minutes more.
Step 6
Dish into individual bowls and garnish with the snow peas, if using. Serve with steamed rice for a full meal.