Kumiage-yuba to kani no ankakedon / fresh tofu skin and crab sauce over steamed rice

Heavenly creamy fresh yuba meets sweet Dungeness crab! Mitsuba, with its refreshing bouquet and taste, works as a highlight as the other ingredients blend in harmony. Below, the dish is served with steamed rice cooked with lotus root for a nice crunch and seasonal reminder. Comforting and yummy!

When served with 150 g steamed rice (plus several lotus root slices) and 60% of yuba-an sauce:
350 calories; 13.2 g protein; 4.1 g fat; 59.4 g carbohydrate; 58.4 g net carbs; 380 mg sodium; 12 mg cholesterol; 1.0 g fiber

When served with 110 g steamed rice (plus several lotus root slices) and 40% of yuba-an sauce:
251 calories; 9.1 g protein; 2.8 g fat; 43.4 g carbohydrate; 42.7 g net carbs; 253 mg sodium; 8 mg cholesterol; 0.7 g fiber


<Ingredients>
For renkon gohan steamed rice with lotus root

1 cup (180 cc) rice
1 tbsp sake
Approx. 180-185 cc water (not in photo)
4-5 cm renkon lotus root (65 g in photo)
Rice vinegar (to soak renkon; not in photo)

For yuba-an thickened sauce with tofu skin

150 cc dashi
1 tsp sake
1/2 tsp mirin
1/4 tsp rice vinegar
1 + 1/8 tsp usukuchi soy sauce
80 g (ten 20 cm/8" sheets) kumiage-yuba fresh tofu skin
Small handful (50-60 g) crabmeat (65 g in photo; 1/4 of crabmeat from nearly 2 lb Dungeness crab)
Several sprigs mitsuba
1/4 knob ginger
2 tsp katakuriko potato starch + 2-3 tsp water

<Directions>
1.

Cook renkon rice. Rinse rice, drain, and let sit for 30-60 minutes.
When nearly ready to cook rice, skin, slice, soak renkon in water with small amount of rice vinegar (to prevent discoloration) for 5 minutes, then drain.
Add sake and water, then renkon slices, mix, and cook.

When done, wait 10 minutes, and gently fluff.

2.

Grate ginger.
Chop mitsuba into 2-3cm.

3.

In a small frying pan, put dashi, sake, mirin, and rice vinegar, and bring to boil.

Add yuba, and heat through on medium low heat.

Add usukuchi soy sauce -- only part of specified amount (maximum 1 tsp) at this point -- and simmer for 5 minutes or so.

4.

Add crabmeat, and heat through.

5.

Mix potato starch and water well once again, and slowly swirl in (first pouring it into ladle, and from ladle to broth in photo).
Gently stir, and add more potato starch + water mixture to achieve desired level of thickness.
Taste, and add more usukuchi soy sauce as necessary.

Squeeze ginger, add its juice, and gently mix.

Add mitsuba, and gently stir.

6.

Serve lotus root rice in individual bowls, and pour yuba-an sauce over.
Serve immediately.

<Notes>

• No seasoning other than sake is needed for renkon rice. Donburi rice dishes are usually made with plain rice, and renkon is added above mainly to enhance the texture of the final dish.
• Sauce can be prepared ahead of time up to Process 4. When restarting cooking, heat  sauce, and continue with adding crabmeat in Process 5.
• Besides renkon lotus root, ginnan ginkgo nuts, yurine lily bulbs, mukago aerial tubers of yamaimo mountain yam and kuri chestnuts in cold seasons, and soramame fava beans and edamame in warm seasons would be nice additions to the rice, although these are not as crunchy as renkon.
• The saltiness at the end depends on your crab. That's why you shouldn't add the entire amount of soy sauce from the beginning.
• When pre-cooked crab or crabmeat from the store is used, the above sodium content would likely to go up.
  
• This tastes good without crabmeat, too. Throw in some mild mushroom slices to boost flavor. Wasabi, instead of ginger, tastes great in this case (photo at right).
• If you have ginger that is not tough or fibrous, you can top the dish with very thinly julienned ginger for a delicate aroma and taste and refined look.