A Cambridge institution, a little Japanese food stand called Tampopo, has closed after over 30 years in business. Yasu, the owner, had been a chef at Genji, a Japanese restaurant on Newbury Street in the 1980s, but when they closed (Sonsie moved in where they had been…) he decided to open a washoku stand inside the Porter Exchange. (See: Cambridge Day)
For decades the Porter Exchange (now called University Hall by Lesley U.) had inside it a “Little Tokyo” with a Japanese grocery store, a ceramics and kimono shop, and an entire Tokyo-style hallway packed with 6-7 Asian food stalls, including a sushi bar, ramen joint, curry shop, bubble tea stand (before bubble tea chains became a thing!) and so on. But Lesley University has been gradually eroding away this hidden gem, first booting out the grocery store to put their own campus shop in, then the ceramics store, then one-by-one since 2020 the food stalls have been closing and mostly not re-opening or being replaced. (Cafe Mami is still there, I think, but Yume Ga Aru moved, Cho-Cho’s closed, I <3 Sushi closed, and now Tampopo is gone.) My favorite dish at Tampopo was the soboro nasu bowl with beef and fried tofu. Years ago I figured out how to make it at home when we sometimes would get japanese eggplant in our farm share. Then in 2020 when everything was shut down I perfected it. I figure I better write it down now before I forget, and that others who loved it might also want to make it at home. Yasu almost always served this with a chunk of cooked sweet carrot on the side, so I do, too. Nasu Soboro Beef, with fried tofu (and a mirin carrot side dish)
Serves 4 for lunch, more like 3 for dinner
2 long purple Japanese eggplants
1 lb ground beef (or chicken)
1 small block of tofu, or 1/2 a big one
potato starch (you can substitute cornstarch)
sake
dashi or chicken broth
ginger — pickled gari is even better
scallions
one carrot
mirin
sugar (apparently Yasu used brown sugar — I will try this next time)
roasted sesame seeds
First, don’t forget to make rice. The restaurant always served it on short grain Japanese rice, but it’s great on jasmine rice, too. If you’re like me, you have a rice cooker and so you start the rice first before you go and do everything else.
PREP:
Cut the eggplants in wedge shaped pieces and sprinkle with a little salt. Let them sit in a strainer and drip while you prep the other things.
Cut the tofu into elongated pieces about the size of a baby carrot and let them drain on paper towels. I usually have to swap the towels at least once to get enough water out. Maybe add a pinch of salt. Then right before frying, toss them in potato starch.
Slice scallions like you would to scatter over miso soup or fried rice.
Chop up about two teaspoons of gari (pickled ginger).
Chop the carrot into wedge shaped chunks also.
COOKING:
Boil the carrots in a little mirin and water and sugar, until slightly soft, about 5 minutes. Go longer if you like your carrots softer. Drain and toss with a dash of sweet mirin and sprinkle with sesame seeds to serve.
Heat up 1 cup of canola or other neutral oil (peanut etc) in a skillet or cast iron pan. (We are assuming you don’t have a deep fryer so we are shallow frying instead.) When the oil hits at least 300 degrees (but 350 is better), lay the pieces of eggplant gently into it. I usually have to fry in two batches because my pan isn’t that big. Fry for 2-3 minutes and then turn the pieces over. They should be fried enough to be getting soft but not dark brown. Use chopsticks to turn them over and you’ll be able to feel the softness without accidentally mashing it with metal tongs. Another 2-3 minutes on the other side.
Slightly overcooked is better than slightly undercooked! The eggplant should be quite soft.
Set the fried eggplant aside to drain on paper towels on a rack.
Then toss the tofu chunks in potato starch (about 1/8 cup to 1/4 cup) and lay them gently in the oil. Fry until crispy and then flip over to the other side, around 2-3 minutes a side.
Set the fried tofu aside onto paper towels on a rack.
Final part: make the soboro. Mix the ground beed (which must be totally thawed) in a pot with
1/2 cup sake
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar (I used white but I’ll try brown next time)
1 cup broth or dashi
Mix it on the stove with two chopsticks, stirring constantly until the beef is cooked through and the liquid has reduced a lot, 5-10 minutes, and then add a slurry of potato starch and water. I used to use just like 2 teaspoons of each, but I think a tablespoon or even 1.5 tablespoons would be fine, too. Keep stirring until thickened, smooth and shiny.
If you are really good at multitasking, you *can* make the soboro at the same time as frying the eggplant, but it’s difficult because of the need for constant stirring. It’s okay that the eggplant and tofu are cooling down a bit because you’re about to smother them in hot ground beef sauce.
PLATING
Heap serving of rice into a large bowl. Place the eggplant and tofu on top of that and then ladle on a healthy amount of the soboro meat sauce. Top that with a handful of scallions and a pinch of pickled ginger.
Serve the carrots next to it in a little dish. If you really want to be fancy, get some Japanese pickles, too. If you are craving a green vegetable, goma ae (spinach and sesame seed) makes a good side dish, too. (We often have home made kimchi, which is Korean not Japanese but goes with the dish just great.) Blistered shishito peppers are also super easy and they’re often in season the same time as the eggplant. Yasu would sometimes give you just a couple of pieces of fried potato, too, so if I have a small potato I’ll cut one up, sprinkle it with salt, and let it fry with the tofu.
I’ve seen some recipes that add green peas to the soboro also. (Yasu didn’t, but I could see the appeal.)
