I speak and read Japanese, but the directions in this recipe are confusing me a bit:
http://mamirin.dtiblog.com/blog-entry-108.html
Is step 5 saying that I should add plain water to the powder mix until it’s all dissolved, and then stir that into the broth? Or is it saying that I want to add the powder mix straight to the broth until it is dissolved, like how one would dissolve potato starch in water?
I think it means: Add water to the powder mix and dissolve it, like you would do for starch powder, and pour it into the broth. I agree the language is confusing, but that’s how I would interpret it. And I’m pretty sure the powder mix would clump up if you add it straight to the broth.
Also, surely step 4 is a mistake too? It says to add meat to (2), I’m sure they mean add it to (3) (the broth).
My understanding is that you are to add just enough water to #1 so that the potato starch dissolves completely and then mix that into the pan.
That’s my assumption.
I dunno, I read a lot of recipes in Japanese and that kind of phrasing shows up quite a bit, especially for Chinese food. I suppose it’s less confusing if you know that you always dissolve starch in a little amount of liquid before adding it to your dish, lest you end up with a lumpy goo.
Here is the full recipe, for anyone interested:
Meat/veggie stock (strong flavored)
Soy sauce
Mirin (rice vinegar)
Flour
Potato starch
Curry powder
Pork/Chicken meat
Green onion
Udon noodles
1 Powder Mix –
Mix flour, potato starch, and curry powder respectively in a 4:2:1 ratio
2 Meat and Onion –
Slice meat into easily eaten thin slices. Slice the green onion at a ~45 degree angle along it’s length into 1-2 centimeter sections.
3a Broth –
Put stock in a pot, add soy sauce to a nice salty flavor, then add mirin until there is an overall nice flavor. Bring to a simmer.
Per each serving you’re making, separate out a ladle’s worth of the broth into a separate bowl.
3b Udon –
Separately, start udon noodles cooking.
4 Cook –
To the broth, add your sliced meat. When it has become sufficiently cooked, add the green onion.
5 Thicken –
Add water to the powder mix until you have it all dissolved. Stir this into the broth. When the broth has become a bit gloppy, stop adding. When it has risen to a boil again, remove from heat.
6 Combine –
To each bowl you are serving, add udon noodles, one ladle’s worth of the broth you saved in step 3, and then the thickened broth on top.
Serve.
Nitpick: mirin isn’t rice vinegar. It’s a kind of rice wine that’s pretty much only used for seasoning and some special occasions nowadays. It’s important not to confuse with vinegar because it’s used as a sweetening agent.
Hm…I could have sworn. Though you do indeed appear to be correct. Noted.
Right, mirin is primarily a sweetener. Sweet sherry is often mentioned as a substitute for mirin, though I’ve never tried it. (It’s easy enough to get mirin in Asian markets, and I think I’ve seen it in major supermarkets too.)
And to be more pedantic, Japanese dashi (stock) is usually made from dried fish or kombu (kelp); this recipe specifically mentions bonito flakes. At least to me, Japanese dashi tastes very different from vegetable or meat stock.
Personally, if I were making this recipe, I’d just use bottled concentrated tsuyu which already has dashi, soy sauce and mirin in it. Bottled tsuyu has a handy thing to have around. I like to use it as a sauce for natto, for example.