Nickey's Umani Surprise

Total Time: 1 hr 40 mins Preparation Time: 40 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 8 ounces chicken, cut to 1-inch pieces
• 1 round onion, cut into chunks
• 2 carrots, peeled & cut to 1-inch pieces
• 8 ounces burdock root, skin scraped off and sliced diagonally in 1-1/2-inch pieces (gobo)
• 6 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed (soak in water 30 minutes)
• 8 ounces fresh lotus root, peeled and sliced in 1/8-inch rounds (renkon)
• 9 ounces konjac, 1-inch pieces, any shape (konnyaku or devil's tongue, comes or with seaweed)
• 8 ounces taro root, peeled (araimo or dasheen)
• 1 -2 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons mirin
• 2 tablespoons sake
• 2 -3 tablespoons light soy sauce (kikkoman brand)
• 10 -15 snow peas
• 4 inches kelp (nishime kombu)
• 3 cups water
• 3/4 cup bonito flakes
• 1 pinch salt

Recipe

• 1 heat the oil in a deep pan and stir-fry the chicken, burdock, carrots and onion, about 5 minutes.
• 2 add remaining vegetables. continue cooking another 5 minutes.
• 3 add 2 cups dashi broth and bring to a boil; then reduce heat to a simmer for 30 minutes.
• 4 add seasoning ingredients continue simmering 5 minutes.
• 5 add uzumaki and burdock fish cake; continue simmering for another 5 minutes.
• 6 add snow peas. cook until snow peas are tender.
• 7 ichiban dashi broth:.
• 8 wipe kombu with a damp cloth; then soak in 3 cups water for 1 hour.
• 9 place konbu and soaking water in saucepan over medium heat. just before the water begins to boil, remove konbu.
• 10 add 1/2 cup dried bonito flakes to water and turn heat to low. cook for 30 seconds, add a pinch of salt, then remove from heat. the salt is the keep the broth from being overpowered by the bonito flavor.
• 11 let stand until the flakes sink to the bottom (this may take 20-30 minutes). strain broth to remove flakes.
• 12 i add the removed konbu to the main dish -- tie into knots at 1-1/2-inch intervals; cut between the knots.
• 13 optional addins: 8 ounces daikon radishes (cut in 1-inch rounds, then cut those in half); 8 ounces takenoko (boiled bamboo shoot)-i like bamboo but find it a little bitter; any fishcake (don't use sweet tasting fishcake) cut in rounds or bitesize; potatoes, aburage (fried tofu) cut in strips, etc.