Photo/Illutration Cod hot pot (Photo by Atsuko Shimamura)

Editor’s note: In the Taste of Life series, cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.

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Kaoru Ariga grew up among a big group of relatives in Tokyo. Six families, including those of her paternal grandmother and her father’s siblings, had houses on a plot of land.

The family members would visit each other’s homes, and Ariga would dine with her cousins, aunts and uncles.

During the equinoctial week known as “ohigan,” her aunt would send over “ohagi,” a Japanese sweet made with red bean paste covering balls of glutinous rice.

On Sunday mornings, she would go to her grandmother’s room for a chat. On such occasions, she was served sweets or pickles with tea.

“Time flowed leisurely in the house,” Ariga said, looking back.

Once a week on Wednesdays, a tofu maker, who was also her father’s childhood friend, delivered a load of tofu. The families shared the tofu, enjoying them cold during the summer and warm in the winter.

Her father, who was an office worker, loved to invite his colleagues over. Instead of preparing a special feast, he invited them to sit with his family for regular meals.

“Tara-chiri,” a hot pot dish with cod, was often served in such cases. So much tofu went in the pot that one could mistake it for a tofu hot pot.

The scene of people gathering around the table to eat, drink, break into lively conversations and laugh is something Ariga fondly remembers when she thinks about food now.

“I feel drawn to meals shared with people,” she said.

Although she uses many other ingredients in her recent hot pot dishes as her husband is not keen on cod, she recreated the cod hot pot from back then for this week’s recipe.

The dipping sauces, however, have been given modern twists. They are a “nira” sauce with chopped nira (Chinese chives) and sesame seeds and a spicy sesame sauce.

“We used to eat with the usual grated daikon radish and ‘ponzu’ (citrus-based sauce), but stronger flavors that are ethnic and spicy seem to have become a standard for us nowadays,” Ariga said.

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Kaoru Ariga: Born in 1964 in Tokyo, Ariga is a soup creator who offers simple and easy-to-make soup recipes, as well as lifestyle tips, through media. Her book, “Raifu supu Kurashi ga totonou watashitachi no shin-teiban 48 pin” (Life soup: Our 48 new staple soups that sort out our lives), was published by President Inc. at the end of September.

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Kaoru Ariga (Photo by Atsuko Shimamura)

BASIC COOKING METHOD

Main Ingredients (Serves two to three)

3 fillets salted cod (shio-tara, “amajio,” or lightly salted, type), 1 large block of tofu, 1 green onion (naganegi type), 10 cm (7 grams) dried kombu kelp

For nira sauce: 1/2 bunch nira, 3 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp each of sugar, sweet mirin sake and sake, 2 Tbsp water, 1 tsp white sesame seeds, 1 tsp sesame oil

For sesame sauce: 3 Tbsp sesame seed paste (nerigoma), 1 Tbsp each of sugar and vinegar, some chili oil, 10 cm green onion

1. Add 1 liter water and dried kombu kelp to pot and leave for 30 minutes. Place on low heat to make kombu stock. Cut cod filets into about 3 pieces of appropriate size. Cut tofu into 6 equal parts, slice green onion at an angle.

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Add water and dried kombu kelp to pot and leave for 30 minutes. (Photo by Atsuko Shimamura)

2. To make nira sauce, chop nira and place in storage container with sesame. Add all seasonings and water in pot and bring to a boil. Pour boiled seasonings on nira and mix in sesame oil. Cool and place in fridge for about 2 hours.

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Pour boiled seasonings on nira. (Photo by Atsuko Shimamura)

3. To make sesame sauce, mix sesame seed paste and seasonings. Top with chopped green onion and preferred amount of chili oil.

4. Add kombu stock, cod and green onion to earthen pot and place on medium heat. Simmer briefly, add tofu and warm.

5. Take some ingredients from pot and season with sauce of one’s choice.

If shared by three people: About 140 kcal and 2.2 grams salt per portion. Nira sauce is about 65 kcal and 2.6 grams salt per portion. Sesame sauce is about 135 kcal and 0 gram salt per portion
(Nutrient calculation by the Nutrition Clinic of Kagawa Nutrition University)

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From The Asahi Shimbun’s Jinsei Reshipi (Life Recipe) column

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