Japanese Cooking: Dengaku

Most Japanese recipes that I’ve made are fairly modern (you know, just the past hundred years or so) or have been modified from their older, original recipes. Dengaku, however, is a very old and classic Japanese dish that hasn’t changed much since its inception.

The word dengaku can be broken down into two parts: den which means “rice fields” and gaku which translates into “dance/performance”. It’s thought that this rustic meal was served during village rice harvest celebrations and hence the name dengaku.

American celebrations include firing up the grill and barbequing vittles. The Japanese have a counterpart for this in dengaku. And just as in the US where everybody and every region has a different recipe for BBQ sauce and rubs, so do the Japanese have various recipes for dengaku sauce.

This dengaku recipe is one of the simplest and easiest (courtesy of The Anime Blog’s cultural correspondent, Kobayashi Chikashi):

INGREDIENTS:

1 package of firm or extra firm tofu, drained and cut into 6 slabs
1 large eggplant, cut in half
3 taro roots (you could substitute Yukon gold or red baby potatoes)
Konnyaku, cut into slabs
Veggie or peanut oil for cooking
Sesame seeds (optional)
Green onions, finely chopped (optional)
Short bamboo skewers
2 wire cooling racks for baking

Sauce:

6 tablespoons red miso aka, aka-miso
4 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup dashi soup or veggie broth

OR

6 tablespoons red miso
1 tablespoon sake
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons mirin

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. While the oven is preheating, soak the eggplant in a large bowl of water, preferably with something weighing it down so it’s completely submerged, for 30 minutes. The soaking removes the bitter flavors in the eggplant.
2. Meanwhile, heat some water in a medium saucepan and boil the taro roots or potatoes for 10 minutes. Let the roots cool and then peel the skins off. Slice the cooked taro roots in half and set aside.
3. In a medium saucepan, boil the konnyaku for five minutes, drain and set aside.
4. Mix the sauce ingredients thoroughly together in a medium sized bowl.
5. Drain the eggplant and pat dry if you already haven’t done so. Make shallow diagonal cuts in the eggplant to create a criss-cross pattern. Do not cut all the way through the skin!
6. Place one wire rack in a baking sheet. Skewer the tofu with two bamboo skewers to prevent it from turning when you flip it and place on the wire rack. Skewer the taro and konnyaku and place on wire rack, set aside.
7. Heat enough oil in a large frying pan to cover the bottom of the frying pan and fry the eggplant face down and covered until it’s browned, about 10 minutes. Place the second wire rack in another baking sheet and put the fried eggplant face down on the rack.
8. Put both baking sheets into the preheated oven and cook for 15-20, turning the skewered tofu, taro and konnyaku after 10 minutes or until the tofu starts to crisp up.
9. Remove the baking sheets and brush the dengaku sauce liberally over the eggplant and skewered items. Place baking sheets back in oven for another 10 minutes.
10. After 10 minutes are up, remove sheets and place the skewers and eggplant on a plate and sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onions if you have them. Serve.

Dengaku is one of the simpler Japanese dishes I’ve partaken in, but it’s still good for the feel of classic Japanese cooking. The ingredients are very much traditional ingredients and are highly nutritious.

Simple things like dengaku make a person appreciate how life may have been for the Japanese working class. I would venture a guess and say that dengaku is a good example of Japanese home style cooking.

I like dengaku because it’s:

• Really, really, nutritious and low fat.
• Inexpensive.
• Easy to make.
• Gives a feel for traditional ingredients.

I didn’t have much to gripe about when it came down to it about dengaku but I imagine that some people might not like it since:

• The traditional ingredients are fairly foreign and may be hard to get.
• It IS a very simple recipe and might not be appreciated as such.

Think of dengaku as a Zen food that puts you in touch with your inner Japanese villager, and enjoy how something so simple can be so healthy for you and taste so good.

*A special thanks to Chikashi on this recipe; I would have never known this even existed nor would I have known about the background if he hadn’t prepared it. Thanks Chikashi!!