An Eastern Meal

 Dungeon Meshi Manics!  You came back!  Was it the weird pita brick I made last week?  Did you give that a try?  I took my own advice and used it as a chip and dip.  Worked great with some hummus.  Little Nih Secret, DMMs.  Hummus is something I can eat morning, noon and night.  Combine that with an edible bowl?  Come on, best way to spend an afternoon.  But I'm ready for something a little easier this week.  Something simple.  Nostalgic.  Something with a slightly weird title.

 An Eastern Meal?  What the heck?  I don't know about you but I'm from Eastern Kentucky and I don't remember eating this very often.  I mean we had rice pudding for breakfast and fish fries on Fridays but never anything like...OH! They mean Japan.  Boy is my face red, DMMs!  But that explains the samurai guy they run into.

And...that one kid who has been stalking them.  Kabru!  That's his name.  Gotta admit, DMM's, I've read this story all the way through several times and I still don't know his entire deal.  Weird kid.  The samurai guy is Shuro and he used to travel with the main group.  But left after Falin went and got herself eaten by a Red Dragon.  Why?  Turns out he was sweet on her.  Everybody loves Falin!  Now he's back and he ain't to happy with how Laios has handled things.  

Who among us hasn't allowed our sister to get turned into a weird giant chicken dragon, DMMs?  I mean they did use black magic and the Lunatic Magician is still on the loose.  But we aren't here to talk about how much of a weenie Shuro is.  No, we are here for one thing and one thing only!

Going to be honest here. I thought about skipping this chapter.  I mean, they aren't cooking a monster at all!  But we made gruel made from grains found on the ground in the past so why not this?  It's Delicious IN Dungeon, not Eat A Lot of Monsters. As long as you cook in a dungeon the spirit is the same!  More importantly it's a simple meal, DMMs!  This week we are going to make Rice Balls and Miso Soup!  "Hold up you cheapskate slime!  There's fish in that picture. FISH!!!" I can hear you scream into the order box at Long John Silver's.  True, there is fish in the meal above but we've already made fish and in a similar fashion.  No repeat recipes, DMMs!  Do not worry yourself. This will be a fun week!  Rice balls and miso are a very filling meal.  And, as I have mentioned several times already, SUPER SIMPLE!

We will start with the rice ball.  Better known as Brock's Donuts in America, these are key to any baseball anime team making it to Koshien!  But where to start?  The ball aspect of the dish is important but I think we are best to start with that first word. Rice!

Rice. The perfect side dish.  You have to get yourself a large storage tub for rice, DMMs.  You never know when you'll need some and you'll be upset if you don't have any on hand.  This is normal old glutinous rice also known as sticky rice.  To start the rice balls just cook this rice.  Not gonna lie, I used a rice cooker.  Just keep it simple!  Once the rice is cooked it's time to form the rice balls.  Lean in close, DMMs, and I'll share the secret to making perfect rice balls every time.  You ready to write this down?  My key to making perfectly shaped rice balls?  Use a mold.

Cheating, you say?  Oh my dear, DMMs. It's not cheating if it's the only way.  Do not believe anything you've seen on so called "expert" recipe webpages.  There is no way to make rice balls without a mold.  Any tip and tricks you see online don't work. Nothing works. NOTHING EVER WORKS!  So to avoid sadness I use a mold.  They are inexpensive and this one has last a good ten years.  All you have to do is pack the rice into the mold.  Keep your rice wet, DMMs.  They aren't kidding when they called this stuff Sticky rice.  Do you know my favorite filling for rice balls, DMMs?

Nothing!  Rice is delicious enough for me.  But what if you are some kind of deviant who needs more flavor with your rice ball?  Well adding a filling is simple.  I went with canned tuna and chili paste.

Tuna for the extra protein and chili paste to cover up the taste of canned tuna.  Just mix these together.  Fill the mold halfway with rice, add the tuna/chili mixture in the center then finish adding the rice.

MASH the plunger down and you are done!  In no time you'll have enough rice balls to power through marathon training.

That's right, DMMs. I eat rice balls to carb load when I'm training for a marathon!  Works great.  And if you want the rice ball to look more "official" just grab some nori.

This stuff is pretty easy to find these days.  Finally, we can get seaweed in Middle of Nowhere, USA!  You don't have to do anything special. These will stick right into place.

Looking good!  So we have our rice balls. Why not move onto something to drink?  What?  Soup is a drink. And what better way to make soup than fermented soybean paste, DMMs!?

Miso!  A staple of Japanese cuisine that has finally worked its way into more Western recipes.  Do yourself a favor and always have some miso in your freezer, DMMs.  It's a fantastic way to really add depth to everything from tomato sauce to chocolate chip cookies.  But what is miso, exactly.  Long story short as mentioned above this is just fermented soybeans mashed into a paste.  There are several types of miso that range in flavor in saltiness so it really is a game of finding which miso works for you.  Like any fermented dish this has been around as long as we have.  While not exactly the same there's evidence of grain and fish based miso from the Jomon period of Japan.  Caveman cooking, DMMs!  However we do not start with the miso for our soup. Nope, that's just the flavor enhancer.  Where we begin is the stock and what better stock than Dashi!  For dashi we have to start with weeds. Weeds from the SEA!

Kombu! Okay, technically it's a kelp but that is a type of seaweed.  You don't need a lot to start your stock, one piece is more than enough.  DO NOT WASH IT, DMMS!  Those white specks are part of the flavor and what you get in the store already has the dirt knocked off.  It's clean dirty kombu!  Now if you have the time put the kombu in a pot with four cups of cold water and let that set for 30 minutes.  If you're in a hurry and need your stock now you can skip this step but your stock may have a lighter flavor.  From there put this over a low heat.  Boiling water is the enemy of good miso soup, DMMs!  You want to get the water right to the boiling point.  This may take about ten minutes. 

Take is off the heat and remove the kombu.  You can save that for future uses but it's job is done today.  Now you can stop right here if you want a vegan stock.  That's perfectly fine.  Or you can continue going and add some dried bonito flakes!

Also known as Katsuobushi, also known as dried skipjack tuna.  Whatever you call it this stuff will give your stock a richer flavor.  The more you use the more flavorful things will become but a good starting point is one cup.

Just dump that cup into the stock and return it to just about boiling then turn the heat down to a simmer.  This only simmers for 30 seconds, DMMs, so do not walk away!  Take this off the heat and let it sit for another ten minutes.  After that you'll want to pour the stock through a sieve to remove the bonito flakes. Now you have Awase Dashi!  This stuff freezes well and can last in your fridge for a couple of days so it's good to go whenever you want to use it. Which in our case is right now!  It's finally time for the miso. A good rule of thumb is one tablespoon of miso per cup of water.  In this case it's four cups of water so I'm using four tablespoons of miso.  Adding the miso can be tricky, DMMs.  You want to make sure there are no clumps but you also don't want to "bruise" the miso by getting it too hot or over stirring.  I've seen many ways to deal with this from putting the miso into a small sieve and letting it slowly dilute into the broth to mixing the miso with some broth separately then adding that to the main pot.  Personally I just do the old dump and stir.  Simple and to the point!

This is quick process, DMMs. Once that miso is dissolved you have miso soup and do not want to overcook it.  You have miso soup at this point but feel free to add whatever mixings you feel is needed.  I personally love the classics.

Tofu, green onions and (not pictured) seaweed.  The type of weed you use is up to you but wakame is the standard.  Cube the tofu, chop the onions and rip the seaweed.  Then just dump it all into the pot.

Seriously, once your mixins hit the pot your soup is FINISHED!  Do not risk overboiling the miso, DMMs.  Just give it a quick stir and ladle that soup into a bowl!

What?  I love tofu.  Now super nerdy DMMs will know miso soup as part of a typical Anime breakfast along with fish and rice.  But could miso work with a typical Slime Breakfast?  Behold!

If you've ever wondered to yourself, "Where does Nih get all that energy to be a total tool from?" this is it, DMMs!  Not pictured is the small salad I also have in the morning.  I can't give away all my secrets!  I added the boiled egg that I have to the miso for fun.  I can't say this all worked 100%, DMMs, but it was an interesting way to start the day.  Maybe if I went for a less salty miso then it wouldn't have clanged against the coffee as much.  Now I want to try other classic anime breakfasts.  Tomorrow I may dangle a giant piece of toast in my mouth as I run late out the door to work!

And that is it for this week, DMMs!  I hope you enjoyed kicking back with an easy non-monster related recipe. Just remember to come back next week as we cover leftovers because wow....it's hard to eat that many rice balls in one sitting!