Dengaku tofu, veggies, a white soup.

田楽豆腐 dengaku tofu. It’s a nice name. “den” is a rice paddy, and “gaku” is bliss…
It’s tofu skewers.

There exist flat 2-stick fork shaped bamboo skewers that you find easily in Japan… or not easily, or not yesterday. So 2 regular skewers are OK.
Use the firmest momen (cotton) or yaki (roast) tofu you can find.
First, you need to “squeeze” your tofu. Simply place the block on a plate, cover by something flat on it (another plate, I use the mini cutting sheet) and something heavy on that (my kettle). Forget it 10 minutes, discard excess water. You can cut bands of tofu with a large knife and do the skewers. If it’s yaki, cut out the colored skin. Spread dengaku miso on them, broil.

The spread is made of hatcho miso, red miso, it’s actually a black paste. It is diluted in sake, mirin, and sugar. The proportion is… as you like. If you want little sweetness, only sake. Very sweet, only mirin. Extremely sweet, mirin + sugar. Balance is about (in volume) : 1 miso – 2 sake – 2 mirin

I broil them in the oven-toaster, about 15 minutes. I added toppings after 10 minutes.

One is white poppy seed (keshi no mi). The other, can you tell ?

Saveur boisee – Wood flavor

I also roasted kabocha and sweet potato. I steamed them to half-cook point previously, otherwise they would take longer than the tofu. And I roasted them without spread.
I added chili pepper flakes and sesame to the rest of dengaku miso, heated it and added the hot mix on veggies on the plate.

With veggie left-over, dashi (made quickly from powdered fish flakes), wakame seaweed and sake kasu, I made a soup.

More about sake kasu soup here.

This is sake kasu. Rice fermented, on the way to become sake. It’s a little sweet, no alcohol yet. It’s added to the soup like miso : when the broth and toppings are cooked, on lower heat. Put some paste in a a small mesh strainer (or equivalent), dip in the soup and stir the paste till it becomes liquid. Serve. It’s a body-warming soup, good for Winter.