Japanese turnips simmered slow in a clear dashi until translucent, with an ankake sauce and a scatter of yuzu
Origin: Japan
From the journey of Turnip.
Kabu no nimono is the turnip cooked in the gentlest and most characteristically Japanese of ways: simmered slowly in a clear, barely seasoned dashi until the small white root turns soft, yielding, and translucent, so that the natural sweetness of the kabu comes quietly through. The simmering liquid of dashi, light soy, mirin, and sake is kept pale and delicate, a treatment that flatters rather than masks the vegetable, and the finished turnips are often napped with a little of the cooking broth thickened to a glossy ankake sauce with kuzu or potato starch, and brightened with a few threads of yuzu peel or a pinch of grated ginger. The dish belongs to the heart of Japanese home and temple cooking, the simmered vegetable nimono that is one of the foundations of the everyday meal and of the vegetarian shojin cuisine of the Buddhist kitchen. It shows the Japanese reverence for the kabu, the small white turnip that is among the oldest of the country's vegetables, and the principle that runs through the whole cuisine: that a good ingredient, simply and carefully cooked, needs very little done to it. Served warm in a small bowl with its sauce, it is winter comfort of the quietest and most elegant kind.
The turnip's own leaves, blanched briefly and chopped, are traditionally served with the root, their faint bitterness a foil to its sweetness; do not waste them. For a heartier dish, simmer the turnips with pieces of fried tofu (aburaage) or chicken. A vegetarian (shojin) version uses a kombu-and-shiitake dashi. The simmered turnips are also good cold, and the broth makes a delicate soup base.
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