Fresh Wheat-Gluten Dengaku (生麩田楽, Nama-fu Dengaku)

Nama-fu has the bounce of soft mochi and the quietness of tofu, which is a useful warning. It doesn't want shouting. Give it a little browning, a glossy miso glaze, and one green leaf, and it becomes the sort of small dish that makes the table slow down.

The hesitation is usually the ingredient. Fresh wheat gluten sounds like something from a temple storeroom, not a home kitchen. But the method is simple: cut it cleanly, dry the surface, brown it gently, then brush on miso only at the end. Put the miso over fierce heat and its sugar burns before the nama-fu warms through. Warm first, glaze second. That's the whole secret, and not a very guarded one.

Dengaku is food on a skewer, but the skewer is not theater. It helps you turn each piece neatly and serve a modest portion with room around it. In a meal, this belongs among the small side dishes, especially in spring when kinome, the young leaf of the sanshō plant, is tender and bright. If you can't find kinome, use a whisper of sanshō powder. Say plainly what it is: a stand-in, not the leaf.

For a meatless table, make the glaze with konbu and dried shiitake dashi, the way temple kitchens do. That is honmono, not an apology. The dish asks for care, not complication: good nama-fu, a balanced miso, and enough restraint to stop before the plate is crowded.