Vegan chikuzen’ni 

Part of vegan osechi 2024.

ingredients 

• ¼ daikon
• 1 carrot, cut into nejiriume
• 1 lotus root
• 1 burdock
• 1 taro
• 6 dried shiitake
• 1 konnyaku
• 12 snow peas
• canola oil

• Soup A

  • 100ml vegan dashi (100ml kombu)
  • 100ml vegan dashi (100ml shiitake), made 1 day ahead
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp sake

• Sauce B

  • 3 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp mirin

steps 

1. Take out 6 rehydrated shiitake from shiitake dashi. Otherwise, heat dried shiitake with 250ml of water for 3 min in a microwave. Do not discard the water. Remove the stems once rehydrated, and slice into strips.
2. Peel daikon and yam. Scrape skin off of burdock. Chop them into bite size pieces. Soak them into water separately.
3. Cut konnyaku crosswise into 7mm thick strips. Then make an incision along the midline leaving 7mm on the top and bottom of the strip. Take one end, and gently push it through the hole to make a twisted konnyaku.
4. Put konnyaku into a metal bowl, and pour boiling water. Take it out after a minute.
5. Cover a dutch oven or a wok with neutral oil, like canola oil. Wipe off excess.
6. Stir fry root vegetables, shiitake, and konkyaku with low heat for 5 minutes.
7. Add Soup A, increase heat to bring to boil, and then simmer (low heat) with lid for 30 minutes, or until taro is softened.
8. Parboil snowpeas separately, 2 minutes.
9. Add Sauce B, bring to the boil again, and simmer with lid for 10 more minutes.
10. Open the lid, increase the heat to medium, and fry till the broth is cooked away. Stir to avoid burning.
11. Using chop sticks (or kitchen tweezers), take out carrots, konnyaku, and shiitake from the stew separately, rinse off the taro in a metal bowl with cold water, pad dry and store separately refrigerated.
12. Serve in a large bowl, root vegetable on the bottom, and shiitake, konnyaku, carrots, and snowpeas on top.