(NOAH) Chicken Salt Chankonabe Recipe

May 21, 2020

(NOAH) Chicken Salt Chankonabe Recipe

Chankonabe (or "chanko" for short) is a dish traditionally eaten by sumo wrestlers to increase weight gain. It has transferred to professional wrestling and is a staple of Dojo food. Each promotion has its own recipe and every single trainee passing through has been taught how to cook it, with some even creating their own (Toshiaki Kawada made a curry one in the All Japan dojo, which made Genichiro Tenyru think his eyes had gone funny as the tofu was yellow).

The dish is high in protein and commonly uses chicken (or another meat dish), fish and vegetables and is served with rice and beer. Thanks to their support of the Nippon Food Network (a company who promote produce made within Japan), Noah use only local food sources.

This recipe was posted to Noah's official YouTube channel, and was prepared by one of their trainees. You can access the video here.

I am afraid that the video does not give an indication of cooking time, but I would estimate that 15 - 20 minutes should be enough after you put the chicken in as the vegetables tend to cook quickly, which will allow the meat time.
Please try the chicken before you serve to make sure that it is cooked through.

Quantities are not given, but obviously you will be buying for how many people you are cooking for, so use your judgement on this. Ingredients can be found at your nearest Asian store.

Ingredients

Vegetables

Carrot

Onion

Enoki mushrooms

Shimeji mushrooms

Daikon (Japanese radish)

Spring Onions (also known as green onions)

Chinese cabbage (not Bok Choi)

1 packet fried tofu pockets (beancurd sheets\aburage)

1 packet of Soft (Silken) tofu

Meat

Diced chicken

Stocks & Flavorings

1 sachet Hondashi (Japanese-style granule type dashi stock, a good substitute if you can't find this exact brand is simply dashi stock powder.)

2 x Japanese dried kelp bits (or Kombu) can be bought in sheets. You need to snip off two small pieces. The sheets can be sealed and set aside and used to make other chanko recipes given in the links at the end of this article if you would like to try them.

2 cups Mirin

Mirin is a Japanese cooking wine. You may be able to buy it in your local supermarket, but its more likely you will find it in an Asian store. Please do not try to drink it, it is used for cooking only.

2 cups Cooking Sake

Sake used for cooking can be found easily, but what makes the dish more authentic is the use of the alcoholic kind. Some Japanese cooks will not use anything else.

1 tablespoon Chicken stock

I recommend that if you want to be a little more authentic than crumbling a chicken stock cube (which can work quite well), you use either the Ajinomoto brand or else Knorr chicken powder.

Salt

The recipe

Prepare your vegetables. Remember to peel your carrot(s) first before chopping them into strips and then into pieces. Peel and chop the onion, the daikon and the spring onions. Put all the chopped vegetables into a bowl and set aside.

Place a pan of water onto a medium heat, you want it to gently boil. As far as quantity goes, I would fill it up to roughly just under half. Remember, the water will rise the more you put in, and the recipe will require you to press down ingredients.

Add the 1 sachet of dashi stock powder (or one tablespoon if you are not using sachets for some reason), and then put in the two pieces of kelp. Add 2 cups of mirin and then the 2 cups of cooking Sake (or raw Sake if you prefer). You can use a small ladle like in the video for measurements if you like.

Add the Enoki and the Shimeji mushrooms, and stir everything together.

Add the vegetables you put aside.

Stir again.

Add the diced chicken.

Stir well and leave to cook. When you see the fat rising to the surface, you will need to skim it off. Please get rid of as much as you can.

Once you have skimmed off the chicken fat and the water remains clear, add the salt and the chicken stock.

Tear off the leaves of the Chinese Cabbage and use enough so that the surface of the pot is covered. Press down gently so that so the liquid underneath starts to appear. You don't need to drown it.

Slice the fried tofu and place them around the outer rim of the pot, then add the tofu to the space in the middle. Using a ladle press down gently on the fried tofu, just so much that the water starts to appear.

The dish is done when the water has made a thin layer over the fried tofu, and the tofu in the centre is also partially submerged. It doesn't need to have slipped under the water.

Then its time to call your wrestlers from the dojo into the dining room....