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Summer Vegetables with Soba

Posted on September 6, 2011 at 3:10 PM Comments comments (0)


Soba like pasta, pairs well with a variety of vegetables.  I had leftover fresh soba from yesterday's workshop, as well as sliced avocado, cucumbers, myoga, and  grated daikon radish and ground walnuts,  I cooked the soba and piled these veggies on top, and made a nice looking summer salad. I got inspired by Yoram Ottolengi's vegetarian cookbook  Plenty, which is very colorful, straightforward,l and yes, plentifuI. I made a quick dressing of 1 tbls extra virgen olive oil,  6 tablespoon all purpose dipping sauce and a squeeze of lemon juice. I can see Ottolengi adding a teaspoon or two each of sugar, garlic, sesame oil, chiles, ginger juice, and making something much spicier than mine.  He actually has two soba recipes, which includes such ingredients to make the dressing. That could work too. With fresh soba, you cannot let the noodles sit in the dressing. They will go limp and fall apart. Cook the noodles last minute, and shock them in ice.  I was happy I used up the soba noodles before they went dry and crumbly.

Ohitashi - A Green Dish

Posted on January 15, 2011 at 12:07 AM Comments comments (0)




I am still feeling the extra inch I put on during the holidays.  Now that I am in Tokyo, my appetite for good food just won't stop.  But what's nice about eating in Japan is that there are many delicious plain dishes.  Take Ohitashi for example.  It's blanched greens that is served like a salad with plain soysauce or soy based broth. No oil is added so it's very light and refreshing, and can be put together in no time.  Most greens in the spinach family work.  I made Ohitashi with Komatsuna - which is mild like spinach. The leaves are slightly thicker.




I found the Komatsuna at a vegetable and fruit shop in my old Shibuya neighborhood where my parents live.  This shop has been here forever, and they haven't changed much since I was a child. Even the abacus and the container holding the rubber bands come from the sixties.

It's fun to go back to these familiar places.  I walked on the old concrete path that leads up to the road near my house. It was the shortcut that I used to take school.  The old bath house is gone. So are the gesha houses that played majong and shamisen music into the night but the produce shop feels like it will still keep going so long as they are people who care about these mom and pop shops.
Recipe for Ohitashi:
Serves 4 - 6

1 bunch of greens such as spinach, mizuna, komatsuna, broccoli rabe, shungiku, mitsuba, water cress
Pinch of salt
Garnish- dried bonito flakes, roasted sesame seeds
Soy sauce (Koikuchi style) or Soy sauce diluted with Dashi (to taste)
1 sushi mat



Shock the greens in cold water.

To make ohitashi, take a bunch of washed greens and blanch them in boiling water for 30 seconds to a minute.  
Rinse in cold water and trim the root ends.

Gather half the bunch by the root ends and set them down on the mat so they are straight. Take the other half and put the root end on the other side.  Wrap and shape the greens into a tube, using the mat.  Gently squeeze out any excess water. Let stand for a few minutes.

Unwrap the sudare and cut crosswise into 2.5-3inch pieces.  Serve with soysauce on the side

Spread the greens on the sushi mat. 


Roll the mat to shape the greens.  Then unroll and cut the
greens like sushi rolls.


Option: You can dilute the soysauce with dashi to make a more liquidy broth.   Pour the broth on the cut greens,  and let stand for 10 -30 minutes in the fridge.  Serve with sprinkles of roasted sesame seeds or bonito flakes.


Ohitashi served with bonito flakes and soy sauce


 

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Rice with Root Vegetables and Tofu - Maze Gohan

Posted on November 19, 2010 at 2:39 PM Comments comments (2)





I am on a roll with rice and vegetables.  I make one pot of this vegetable rice and I am set for the day.   I have been eating  so much rice lately, I am feeling bad I haven't made any soba in a few days.

Rice goes well with root vegetables like carrots and burdock.  I also add dried shitake mushrooms for flavor and fried tofu pouches for texture and protein.   The rice taste good even on the next day. I wrap it in nori seaweed and make rice balls.


Age tofu (deep fried tofu pouches), dried shitake mushrooms,
Burdock and carrot root - sliced thinly



Cooked in the electric rice cooker - a no brainer way to
make rice.


The burdock and shitake add an earthy flavor to the rice.


Recipe:
Serves 4
2 cups rice
2 cups water
1 Age-tofu (deep fried tofu pouch)
4 dried shitake mushrooms, hydrated
1/2 carrot, peeled and slice into thin rectangles, 1/8 inch thick
1/2 burdock, scrubbed and shaved into thin slices
1 Tbls rice vinegar (for soaking the shaved burdock and carrots)
6-8 Mitsuba leaves - garnish (optional)
Sesame seeds and Maldon salt - for the table  (optional)

Seasoning for the rice:
2 Tbls sake
1/4 Tsp salt
2 Tbls salt
1/3 Tsp sugar

One hour before cooking the rice:  Wash the rice 3-4 times.  Drain water.  Add the measured water and let stand.

Blanch the Age-tofu for 2-3 mintues.  Drain water. Slice thinly into 1/4 inch wide pieces, about 1 inch long. 
Wash the hydrated shitake mushrooms.  Remove the stems and discard.  Slice the caps into thin slices.

Slice the carrots into thin rectangles, about 1 inch in width, 1/8 inch thick.
Wash the burdock. Take a clean brush and wash the skin without peeling it off.
With a sharp knife, shave the burdock, as if you were shaving a pencil.  Drop the shavings into a bowl of water with the tablespoon of vinegar.  The water will turn brown. Drain water.  Change the water once more and then drain.

Put the sliced carrots, shitake mushrooms and burdock on a plate.  

Add the seasoning and vegetables into the rice.  Mix the ingredients and then cook the rice as you would normal rice.  

Serve the rice with Mitsuba leaves.  You can mix them into the rice or garnish the top.
You can also sprinkle roasted sesame seeds and salt.










BESs

Japanese Comfort foods - Kabocha and Burdock

Posted on September 12, 2010 at 1:52 AM Comments comments (0)


It's been nearly a month since I lasted posted something on the blog.  August was one crazy month of traveling, cooking, cooking and more cooking.  I went back to Tokyo, visited the island of Sado (which I will blog about later), did a weeklong pop up soba event at the Breadbar in West Hollywood (which I will also blog about later) and eight soba workshops.  Akila left for Tokyo two days ago, and what is left is still some pots to scrub and left over vegetables from the event to clear out of the fridge. Surprisingly enough, I am not as exhausted as I thought I would be.  I still have lots of loose ends to tie, maybe that's why.  Good news was we had no left over soba or meat.  Just a lot of pumpkins, six in all, and a few burdock and carrots.  So I made my two favorite comfort  foods - Sweetened Kabocha squash and Kimpira Gobo, Sauteed burdock and carrots.  I feel at home again.

I put enough water in the saucepan to submerge the cut kabocha pieces.  I then added 1 cup of beet sugar.  Beet sugar is milder and rounder in flavor than cane sugar.  I cooked the kabocha for about 10 minutes, just enough for a chopstick to go through the kabocha but still firm in the inside.   I drained the kabocha pieces in a strainer and let them dry until they reached a floury surface texture. The sweet liquid is discarded.  The kabocha squash teastes delicious a hot or at room temperature. 

The other comfort dish I put together with left over root vegetables was kimpira gobo. I used a whole burdock, a couple of carrots and a quarter of left over red pepper.  They were all shaved, about 2 inches long and soaked in vinegared water.  I heated some sesame oil in a medium saucepan and sauteed the burdock, carrot and red pepper
until they were evenly fried.  I added sake, mirin and finally soysauce and continued frying them until some of the burdock looked slightly toasted and caramelized.  I finished the kimpira with a couple of teaspoons of sugar.  Crushed red chili peppers were added at the end. This makes a nice salad either hot or cold. 

When I cook these dishes, there are never any leftovers.  

Vegetable Tempura - Give it a Fry

Posted on July 8, 2010 at 1:33 PM Comments comments (1)

When it comes to tempura, everyone loves it but some people don't want to bother making it at home because it looks too complicated.  But it really isn't it.  I wrote a story for the Los Angeles Times Food Section today that will give you further insight into the art of making Tempura. Enjoy! (here is the link to the LA Times story and recipes) 



Shishito peppers have pockets full of seeds. Make a slit and

remove the seeds before frying to keep them from popping

in the oil and creating unpleasant oil spills.


Asparagus is a good vegetable to practice making tempura.


For more, please read my story in the LA Times.

Eggplant, Age tofu and Mitsuba Miso Soup

Posted on July 2, 2010 at 5:23 PM Comments comments (0)



While Akila was staying with us to do the soba workshops for three weeks,  we ate most of the meals at home, except for the three times we went out - to eat a hamburger at Apple Pie, Mexican food at La Parilla in East LA, and the final thank you dinner at Italian at Piccolo in Venice.  No matter how busy we were, we always made a sumptuous Japanese breakfast that consisted of miso soup, rice, fish or meat (usually some leftover from the previous day), natto, pickles, and sometimes fruit.  Akila said it was no different from being in Japan.  Akila prefers rice over bread so during his visit, I hardly ate bread.  He likes bread emergency food. He only eats it when the rice in the rice cooker is empty. I went to Huckleberry once to get a scone, otherwise, I stuck to rice for breakfast.

One of the essential breakfast food is miso soup.  Akila's miso soups were exceptionally good. He even brought his home made miso from Tokyo.  He often used leftover ingredients from the cooking classes to make the soup.  This miso soup was one of the soups he made that became my favorite: eggplant, age-tofu with Mitsuba or Myoga.  The dashi stock was made with dried sardines.  It's a fragrant miso soup with lots of umami.

Niboshi- dried sardines

Remove the head and guts


The sardines are soaked in water overnight and simmered for
5 minutes to make the stock.


Recipe: 

 

Eggplant, Age and Mitsuba Miso Soup

 


Serves 4

3 1/2 cups Dashi or Vegan Dashi or Sardine Dashi

3 Tbls or more of Miso to taste

2 eggplant, peeled and sliced vertically into 1/2 inch pieces

1 age tofu, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces, crosswise

4 mitsuba leaves, chopped



 

Bring the Dashi to a boil in a medium saucepan, and add the eggplant.

Cook for three minutes over medium heat, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer.


Put the age and cook for another minute. In a small bowl, dissolve 3 1/2 tablespoons of the miso paste in a few tablespoons of the warm Dashi. Add the mixture to the saucepan. Taste and add more miso paste, Dashi or water, depending on how strong the soup tastes. Turn off heat. 


Pour the soup into individual bowls. Ganish with mitsuba leaves.

 

Serve immerdiately. Do not boil the soup.

 

 



Dried sardines stock:
7-10 large dried sardines, head and guts removed and discard.
4 cups of water

Soak the cleaned sardines in water overnight.
Put the sardines and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Turn heat to low and simmer for five minutes.  Strain the dashi and discard the sardines. The stock is ready.  This stock keeps in the fridge for 2-3 days.

Braised Kabocha Squash

Posted on July 1, 2010 at 1:56 AM Comments comments (0)




If I get to choose one vegetable to have in the fridge to munch on, it is not a carrot or celery but kabocha squash.  I cook the cut pieces of Kabocha in a light syrup, just long enough to give them a hint of sweetness.  The syrup is drained so the kabocha is never sugary sweet or mushy.  I often serve this dish with soba to supplement the Vitamin A.  Soba offers the rest of the good stuff.


Recipe:

1/4 of small to medium size Kabocha squash

2 cups water

3/4 cup sugar


Cut the kabocha squash in bite size pieces.  Bevel the corners.


Bring the water and sugar in a medium size saucepan.  Add the Kabocha

and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Then lower heat and simmer for 12-15 minutes until the meat is cooked.  Test with toothpick.


Drain the syrup.  Serve in a bowl.  


Keeps for a week in the fridge.

Quick Nappa Cabbage Pickles - Hakusai no Asazuke

Posted on May 31, 2010 at 11:00 AM Comments comments (0)


Second day - you can eat it like an oil--free salad.

Napa cabbage is a typical winter vegetable but in California, it is still available.  It's not as sweet like the winter napa but it's fine for making asazuke, quick pickles.  I found a nice size Napa at Wholefoods.  The pickle I make only takes a few days.You can start eating it like a salad from the second day forward, and reaches its peak on the  5th or 6th day. Before pickling, I prep it by letting the cut napa cabbage leaves dry in the open air for about a day. This brings out their  sweetness. You can just let them sit on your kitchen counter top.


Drying the Napa Cabbage 


Pouring the brine over the cut napa cabbage.


Putting the 3kg weight on the napa cabbage. I have had this pickling
device for nearly 20 years.  It still works like new.


Recipe:
1 Napa cabbage
2 cups of water
Salt to equal 2% of the Napa cabbage weight
3 inches - konbu seaweed
3 dried red chili peppers, seeded 

Put a cross incision at the bottom of the cabbage, about 4 inches deep.  Using your hands, tear the cabbage apart.  Slice each quarter again vertically.  

Prepare the brine with the measured water and salt.   Slice the konbu seaweed into thin strip.  Seed the chili peppers. Cut in halves.

Set the napa leaves in the pickling box. The leaves should face the center.  Add some chili peppers and konbu. Then make the next layer of napa cabbage. Repeat until you use up all the cabbage.  Pour the brine.  Put the lid on and refrigerate.

Turn the pickle everyday, rotating the bottom napa cabbage with the top napa cabbage. The bottom ones will be more pickled than the top ones.  They will get slightly gooey from the konbu seaweed. Don't wash it off, it is what gives the napa cabbage good flavor. So do the chilis.  

Keep refrigerated. Lasts for about a week.  I like to sprinkle the cut napa with dried bonito flakes, and serve the pickles with soy sauce. With a bowl of brown rice, I was in heaven today.

To serve, squeeze excess water, using your hands.  Cut into bite size pieces and serve.
Bonito flakes and soysauce make a nice accompaniment.

Hands Making Tempura

Posted on April 19, 2010 at 12:53 PM Comments comments (0)
We usually do a pot luck when we have a large family reunion.  This year however, everyone was too busy to cook. Someone suggested we order sushi. That would have been an easy solution but my sister Fuyuko and I wanted to cook something for my father's birthday.  It was his 88th, a particularly festive age in Japan.  I told everyone to just show up, that Fuyuko and I will cook. Of course, no one in our family ever comes empty handed.  My brother Hiroshi and his wife Kanako made red azuki bean rice. My brother Takashi and his wife, Yoshie, brought a beautiful melon. In the end, everyone pitched in, as always.

I did most of the shopping at the Tsukiji Market the day before, including the tuna and bonito for sashimi, the wild mountain vegetables and burdock root for the tempura.  I had fun getting these unusual wild vegetables.  I can only name a few of them.  I love them for their young bitter taste. They bring spring to the table. 

One the festive day, everyone arrived punctually.  The women gathered in the kitchen. The men in the patio.  The women cooked and chatted. The men swept, smoked,  drank beer.  My father stayed upstairs to watch the news. He told us to call him when lunch was ready.

The tempura and sashimi were prepped ahead of time but needed to be assembled last minute.  As we floured the vegetables and dipped them in batter, we took turns talking about life, as we always do when we see each other.  First, about our children. Then our spouses.  And finally about ourselves.  Somehow, our hands became the subject of our discussion. Yoshie was complaining that sometimes her finger tips hurt.  She is the youngest of our group, and her fingers look fine to me. Kanako thought her finger joints were getting fat. I  don't have such symptoms but my hands are getting wrinkly.  Fuyuko showed her chapped hands.  She has typical hardworking pastry chef's hands. These imperfecitons told stories. We admired them for a minute, just long enough for the wild mountain vegetables to cook. They came out of the oil nice and crispy,  as they should.  I asked my nephew Hayato, to call Grandpa. It was time for him to come downstairs and begin the birthday celebration.

Kanako mixes the vegetables with the batter.


She deep fries the wild vegetables at 160 centigrade.


Yoshie arranges the tempura on the platters.


Yoshie and Kanako look at each other's hands.


Yoshie arranges the tempura on the platter.

The branken fiddlehead  tempura came out crisp.

The wild vegetable tempura was a hit with my father.



The sashimi was very good, especially the bonito,
which was seasoned in a soy-sake marinade and
served with a variety of garnishes - Myoga, Shiso,
Kaiware and daikon radish.


Vegetable Tempura Recipe
Makes 4 servings

Batter:
1 cup - Cake flour mixed with 2 tbls corn starch  
1 cup - chilled water mixed with egg yolk*
1 quart of vegetable oil (peanut or canola) for deep frying

*egg yolk is optional

1 cast iron pan, 2 inches deep
A deep fat thermometer

Vegetables
Since wild mountain vegetables are not readily available outside of Japan, use young spring vegetables of your choice. 

1 handful, Fiddle headferns, Trim brown ends
4 Asparagus, ends trimmed
1 Burdock, washed and sliced thinly into match sticks
4 Young carrots, sliced thinly into matchsticks 
A few herbs such as parsely sprigs, basil, dill, fennel, sage, shiso leaves 

Dipping sauce - use dipping sauce for soba (here is the link) 
or serve with salt, such as Fleur de sel.

Wash the vegetables and slice them thinly, if they are firm root vegetables.
Heat 2 inches of oil in a 4 quart heavy pot over moderate heat until it registers 160C or
320 F. on thermometer.

Make the tempura batter.  Whisk the flour together in a mixing bowl. Stir in the ice water; don't overmix.  Just tap the flour. Don't worry about lumps.  The batter should be the consistency of a lumpy light cream. 

Start with the root vegetables. Then fry the other vegetables.
Working in batches of about 6-7 matchsticks, toss burdock and carrrots in batter until coated.  Lift the matchsticks out of batter in a bunch, letting excess batter drip off, and transfer to oil.  Add a couple more bunches to the oil but never crowd the pan.  Fry the matchstick roots, turning with a slotted spoon or wire mesh, until slightly golden, about one to one and a half minutes. Transfer with slotted spoon to paper towels to drain.  Return oil to 160C or 320F between batches.

Fry the other vegetables. Begin with the asapargus, following the same steps as the root vegetables but fry them one stem at a time.  The asparagus should take a no more than a minute. Then fry the herbs, which also need less than a minute to fry.  Hold the herb by the stem and dip into the batter. Lift it out and hold it for a moment over the bowl to let the excess batter drip off, then fry it in the oil. Drain in paper towels. 

Serve the tempura with heated dipping sauce while warm.  Alternately, you can serve the tempura with salt on the side. 

Stir fried Hijiki Seaweed with Tofu and Vegetables

Posted on January 16, 2010 at 7:23 AM Comments comments (0)



When I am in Japan, I find myself eating some type of seaweed everyday. One in particular that i love is hjiki, a porous grassy seaweed that grows wild on the rocky coastlines of Japan. Hijiki has great texture and flavor. It is sold in the US in dried form. Hydrated, hijiki expands to about ten times its original size, so a little amount goes a long way.  I use the long Hijiki seaweed, called Naga-hijiki

The easiest and tastiest way to prepare hijiki is to simply stir fry it with other vegetables. The most popular combination is hijiki with sliced tofu pouches, age, carrots, and green beans.  The way I do it is, I look in the fridge and see what vegetables I want to use up. You can come up with your own combination. Peas, sliced burdock, peppers and celery also work well. I season this dish with dashi or chicken stock, soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar. You can spice it up fresh ginger. For a more savory flavor, you can add about a cup of thinly sliced pieces of meat or seafood such as shrimp or clams to this recipe. If you want to make this dish more like salad, add crispy greens like mizuna, lettuce or sprouts (daikon radish sprouts are good.), just before serving. The  other nice way to serve this dish is to mix it into steamed rice and turn it into hijiki rice. I do this quite often.

One thing to remember about hijiki is to make sure you soak it in water for at least an hour, drain, and rinse it several more times to remove any impurities. Serve this dish in small appetizer portions.  It's a great source of calcium, iron and fiber.


Naga-hijiki - Long hijiki

RECIPE: STIR FRIED HIJIKI, TOFU and VEGETABLES
Serves 4

1 cup dried hijiki, hydrated

3 -4  dried shiitake mushrooms, hydrated

1 large or 2 small pieces Age (deep fried tofu pouches) optional

2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into matchsticks, 1/8 thick

1 tsp peeled and thinly sliced ginger

2 tbls roasted sesame oil or vegetable oil

1 cup dashi, dried shitake mushrooms stock or chicken stock of your choice

2 tbs mirin

1 tbs sake

1 tsp sugar or honey (optional)

1/4 cup soy sauce, or to taste

Salt if needed

 

Garnish: 1 tsp roasted sesame seeds (optional)



Add the hijiki last.

Soak hijiki in cold water to cover for at least one hour. Drain.  Rinse a couple more times to remove impurities.


Hydrate shitakes in cold water to cover, about 20 minutes.  Slice shitakes into 1/8 inch pieces. Reserve soaking liquid for the stock if you like.


Put oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Stir fry the carrots, age, mushrooms and ginger first for 2-3 mintues. 


Add the hydrated and drained hijiki.  Stir a couple times; add the stock or shiitake soaking liquid, mirin, sake, sugar and soy sauce. Stir, turn heat to simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes until most of the liquid is evaporated. Mixture should not be soupy or dry. Taste, and make adjustments with soy sauce, sugar and salt, if needed.


Serve as a salad or appetizer, about 1/3 cup servings per person.  Garnish with roasted sesame seeds.

Japanese Produce - Chiba

Posted on January 6, 2010 at 7:49 PM Comments comments (0)

Japanese cabbage 

Every time I go grocery shopping in the Depa-chika (the basement of a department store where they sell food) in Tokyo,  I am astounded by how expensive the produce is, especially since I am used to prices in California.  A single stalk of celery can cost $3, a stalk of broccoli $8, a mango grown in Japan can be as high as $100, and that is not for a tree but for a single fruit!  A Brazilian friend who saw what can cost for such fruit cried, "But that's what we feed the pigs!."  People in Tokyo can find the finest fruit and vegetables of every kind but they can come with a hefty price tag. You have to be a smart shopper to live in this city.  My cousin takes regular trips outside of Tokyo to buy produce directly from the farmers. You can also have farm fresh products shipped to you but that's not cheap.  

Satuma-imo and Sato-imo potatoes

A visit to the family grave gave us a chance to leave Tokyo and be in the countryside. With my son, Sakae, we went to Chiba, which is about an hour train ride from Tokyo. The famiy grave is in the middle of a pear farm near Matsudo in Chiba. This prefecture is the leading producer of vegetables in Japan. 

Red daikon radish

In the old days, the farm women from Chiba, Chiba no Obasan, would come out from Chiba to Tokyo to sell vegetables and other farm products.  They carried big handwoven baskets of produce on their backs.  I loved the Obasan that regularly came to our house in Kamakura.  What she produced out of the basket was amazing -  fresh farm eggs wrapped in newspaper, daikon radish, spinach, carrots, potatoes, fermented soybeans,natto, bean cakes, even rice. She was like a magician. You don't see these traveling farm women anymore but the farms are still around, though much less than when I was a girl.  

 
Japanese cucumbers
I left Shibuya at nine in the morning. It was past rush hour traffic but the trains were still packed with shoppers. As the train moved away from central Tokyo, we could sit and look at the view outside the window. We began to see less highrises, more single unit homes and patches of farm land.

  Tokyo Negi

We arrived in Chiba earlier than expected so we decided to explore the nearby market in Matsudo. As expected, the quality of the local produce was incredible. There were blushing pink fat daikon radishes and gigantic turnips with dirt clinging to their roots. They were probably just picked a few hours ago. I could smell the earth.  Compared to Tokyo, everything was reasonably priced.  Sakae saw many unfamiliar vegetables, including slimy mushrooms like nameko.  If we didn't have any family commitments, I would have bought the beautiful cabbage, burdock, negi, and more.  Oh well, it will have to wait till next time. At least, it was nice to get out of the city and breathe some fresh country air.  I now understand why my cousin makes the weekly trips to Chiba to buy produce.

Onions

Gobo - Budock

Pink pickled radish on a pink dish

Posted on December 24, 2009 at 6:40 PM Comments comments (0)
Kabu no Asazuke

Watermelon radishes pickled Asazuke style

Christmas Eve dinner this year was a potluck.  It was my friend Annie's idea. This worked out better for me because my big oven and dishwasher were both broken.  I managed to make do with my little oven and got a new dishwasher just in time.  

Everyone asked for turkey, so that's what I made. Finding a small one to fit my litlte oven was the only challenge. Most turkeys start at 12 lbs but I found a smaller bird, about 10 lbs in size.  I also made some sides - stir fried brussel sprouts, cranberry sauce, and the dessert - a tart tatin, which came out perfectly caramelized. One friend was too busy to cook so she picked up sweet potatoes, cream corn and cream spinach at Honey Baked. But she didn't want the others to know they were store bought, so we quickly hid the plastic HB containers under the sink and served everything in my good china. Noone noticed. Pot lucks can be a luck of the draw but we did alright, given the circumstances. The turkey came out nice and moist. I had no leftover turkey meat.  

As far as presents go, one present worth mentioning is the one Joe got from Edward. It was a disc shaped metal sculpture - a full moon and two waning moons welded together to look like a  gong. Can you picture that?  What was Edward, thinking? was Joe's polite question after Edward left.  Maybe Edward liked its karmic qualities. Sakai thought it was the best gift because it was unquestionably the tackiest.  Edward takes pride in finding such unique things at garage sales and discount stores. One year he gave me a furry switch light cover. I kept it for a few years and then gave it back to him as a Christmas present. We keep our presents light and humorous.

After stuffing myself with all this food, I realized I forgot to serve one plate: the pickles. Japanese and pickles. They are inseparable.  I needed them to clear my palate and help digest the heavy food. After the guests left, I ate the pickles - the whole plate.  My tummy thanked me for it.  

I made these pickles with watermelon radishes. Everything about these radishes are beautiful - their blushed outer skin.  Their inner pink hue  - the young ones are only partially pink.  Their flavor is juicy and sweet.  

I did a quick pickle - Asazuke style pickle which I blogged about last summer. There isn't much of a recipe for this one. There were four radishes in this bunch.  I washed the dirt off and sliced the root into 1/8 inch thick slices and the leaves into 1/4 -thick pieces.  I sprinkled a half a teaspoon of salt and gave the radishes a good massage. Then I put them into the pickle press with a piece of dried kombu, about 3 inches long, and let them pickle for a day.  




You can garnish the radishes with some yuzu or lemon rind but these pickles are delicious plain too.  The kombu gives the radishes a good savory flavor and a slightly slimy texture.  I served the pickles on my favorite dish by Christiane Perrochon.  The dish is pink and oval, and reminds me of the delicate seashells I used to collect with my grandmother at the beach in Kamakura when I was a little girl. I still have the shells.





BESs

Kimpira Heirloom Carrots

Posted on December 12, 2009 at 7:41 PM Comments comments (0)

Kimpira Ninjin - Kinpira gobo





I found some rare heirloom carrots at the Farmer's market. This maroon carrot in particular was a beauty.  It happened to even match what I was wearing- my hand knit sweater from Uruguay.  I wanted to wear the carrot around my neck!







I knew these carrots would be delicious cooked with a little butter but then I was thinking, how about stir-fried Kinpira-style, with a little red chili pepper to spice it up?  Usually, Kinpira is made with carrots and burdock but I wanted to try it with just carrots. 



A little too thick but what the heck.

The carrots came in odd shapes, so it wasn't easy to peel them but I did the best I could. Then came the slicing. Even worse.  With Kimpira, I should have sliced them more thinly but I relaxed and some came out rather thick. The maroon carrots had a beautiful yellow interior. I sauteed the sliced carrots in sesame oil for a few minutes until they became tender, and then seasoned them with soysauce, mirin and sugar. The maroon carrots lost their bright red color in the cooking and turned beige. The yellow carrots were nutty and the most flavorful of the three. The cracked red pepper gave the dish a nice spice, the roasted sesame seeds another layer of texture and toasty flavor.  It was a nice dish.





Recipe:

5 cups of carrots, peeled and sliced into matchsticks, 1/8 inch thick.  (mine were thicker

because the carrots had odd shapes)

2 Tbls of soysauce or more to taste

1 Tbls mirin

1 Tbls sugar or less, depending on the natural sweetness of the carrots

1 Tbls sake

3 Tbls Roasted sesame oil


Garnish:

Red cracked pepper 

Roasted ground sesame seeds


Over mediumm heat, saute the carrots for 3 minutes, until they are tender. Add the seasonings and cook for another 3-5 mintues, until the carrots absorb most of the liquid. Taste to see if it needs more seasoning. Adjust sparingly with soysauce, and other seasonings.   


As a garnish, the cracked red pepper will give it a zing!  It's nice too with roasted sesame seeds.

My Japanese Pantry - Kizami Kombu - Cut Kombu

Posted on December 8, 2009 at 2:21 PM Comments comments (0)


       Dried Cut Konbu - Kizami Konbu

Konbu is prepared from a variety of kelp. Most of the konbu is found in the northern islands of Hokkaido.   Kizami-konbu, is a dried sliced variety. Konbu in all forms is an excellent source for seasoning foods. It contains glutamic acid, an amino acid that is responsible for Umami -a Japanese word used to describe savoriness.  Kizami-konbu can be used in salads, pickles, sauteed with meat, seafood and vegetables. 

Suggestions for cooking Rinse the cut konbu in running water to remove any impurities.  Hydrate for 10 minutes to soften.   The texture is a little slimy.

Nutritional value:  good source for minearls such as iodine, potassium, iron, calcium.  Also vitamins B1 and B2, carotene and dietary fiber. 



Storage: Keep in a container or bag with a seal, and store in a dry cool place,

Tempura - Overcoming the Fear of Frying

Posted on December 4, 2009 at 10:12 PM Comments comments (0)


Seasonal vegetables are an ideal candidate for tempura.  I found these zuchinni blossoms at the Farmers Market. Zuchinni blossoms aren't usually seasonal in December but I am sure with the way the weather has been, they are getting confusing signals. I got to the farmers market late. The farmer who grew these beautiful zuchinni blossoms was packing up but said I could have the basket of blossoms for just  $1. I couldn't resisit. I bought some cucumbers and green beans from him too. I went home and made tempura.

  

Mix the flour into the egg mixture, and not the egg mixture into

the flour. This makes a crispier batter.


 

It's okay to have some lumps of flour in the batter.

I use a thick, heavy cast iron frying pan when making tempura.  The pan should have plenty of depth to hold oil. I wished I owned a bigger tempura pan. That's next on my wish list for cookware. I always make the batter with ice cold water, fresh eggs, flour and a little cornstarch. I even threw an ice cube in the batter to make it colder.  I shouldn't do this but I took it out before it melted.  I only make small batches of batter at a time to keep it fresh. One new trick Akila Inouye of Tsukiji Soba Academy taught me was to mix the flour into the egg water mixture, and not the egg mixture into the flour.  Just by following this step, it made a much crispier batter and gave me more confidence in making tempura. 

Don't over crowd the pot.  Let the blossoms dance freely in the oil.

RECIPE:
serves 4

12 zuchinni blossoms with stems
1 cup of flour mixtture - cake flour and 2 tsp of cornstarch
3/4 cups ice cold water
1 egg yolk

Clean the zuchinni blossoms.  

5 cups of canola, peanut or sesame oil.

Combine the cake flour and cornstarch. Sift together.
In a medium bowl, combine the egg, ice cold water, and egg yolk.  Using a pair of chopsitcks, lightly add the flour and cornstarch mixture and cut in the ingredients. Do not mix or beat.  Don't worry if you find unmixed articles of flour or egg yolk.  Set the bowl in a larger bowl filled with ice cubes and water.  

In the preheated oil (325F), begin to cook the tempura until crispy and golden color, about 1 minute. Drain the tempura on old newspaper or paper towels.  Give a dash of salt and pepper.  Serve immediately.

My Japanese Pantry - Burdock Root - GOBO

Posted on December 3, 2009 at 9:31 PM Comments comments (0)

Gobo - Burdock




The Burdock root can grow to 3 feet (1 meter) long.   


Burdock tastes like a cross between a potato and an artichoke. It is particularly enjoyed for its crunchy texture. Burdock has a naturally brown color like a potato and the good earthy flavor is all in the skin, so don't shave or peel the skin all off. Gently scrub to remove the dirt and hairy roots.


These Burdock roots, GOBO, in the picture measure nearly 3 feet long. How can they grow so long? And for me the frequently raised question is how do I get these home from the market? It's always a challenge with the longer ones. You can buy water packed, peeled and shaven burdock but the flavor is inferior to fresh burdock, and contain additives, so I don't recommend them. When I get home, I cut the Burdock root in half, wrap it in a wet day old newspaper (Not the FOOD section!)  and plastic to keep them fresh in the fridge. When Burdock roots are old, they get pulpy, shriveled, and tough.  Make sure you find one that feels thick, firm and flexible. The fresher they are, the crispier the texture. You can eat them raw when they are very very fresh.  Burdock improves digestion and is full of fiber.

 

Kinpira - Stir Fried Lotus Root and Burdock

Posted on December 2, 2009 at 11:13 PM Comments comments (0)
 Kinpira Renkon to Gobo - Stir fried Lotus root and Burdock

Stir frying lotus root and burdock in roasted sesame oil

There are some beautiful root vegetables at the Asian markets right now. I often make Kimpira when I see a nice burdock. Burdock and Carrots are the most popular combination for this dish but you can also use lotus, daikon radish, celery and potatoes.  The vegetables are simply stir fried in roasted sesame seed oil and caramelized in a soy sauce, sugar and sake sauce. Taste the roots midway through your cooking, and make adjustments to suit your palate. I love cooking with Lotus root and Burdock because they both retain their crunchiness in cooking and don't get mushy.

RECIPE:
Serves 4

8 oz lotus root, peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick
1 burdock root, roots scraped off, lightly scrubbed to remove dirt, and sliced 1/8 inch thick
1 tsp rice vinegar
3 tbls roasted sesame seed oil
1 tsp roasted sesame seeds
2 tbls sake
1.5 tbls sugar or more to taste
3 tbls soysauce or more to taste
1/2 tsp Crushed red chili pepper or 1 dried chili pepper, seeded and chopped

Soak sliced burdock and lotus root in water with 1 tsp of rice vinegar for 10 minutes. Drain.

Heat sesame oil in a frying pan over medium heat and saute the lotus root and burdock for
2-3 minutes, or until the roots are tender and opaque in color.  Turn heat to low and add sake, sugar, chili pepper, and soysauce and cook for a couple more minutes until the roots absorb most of the caramalized liquid. Turn heat high for 10 seconds.  Remove from heat
and serve.

Garnish top with sesame seeds.


Slice the burdock at a diagonal. Soak both vegetables in
vinegared water for 10 minutes.  Leaving them out will
discolor the vegetables and make them look unappealing
so have the vinegared water ready before you start slicing 
the vegetables.



Garnish with roasted sesame seeds.

Mushroom Nabe - Nabe workshop V1

Posted on November 29, 2009 at 7:45 PM Comments comments (0)

 
A medley of mushrooms - shimeji, shitake, chanterelles, oysters,
enoki and maitake 

There are some foods that take time, sometime years, for the palate to appreciate. That's how mushrooms have been for me.  As a child, I hated them.  I had this preconceived idea that mushrooms were more medicine than food, and found their appearance, flavor and smell utterly unappealing.  My mother had a lot to do with it.  She cultivated slimy medicinal mushrooms under the kitchen sink. I got goose pimples every time I saw her brew tea with them. My grandmother had smiliar interests in mushrooms. She often visited the Chinese herbs shop in town and I would tag along for the thrill. Dried mushrooms could be found next to the dusty bins of dried rattle snake skins, shark fins and ginseng roots. The medicine man would come up with a cure for whatever ailment my grandmother was complaining about that day. Mushrooms were high on his list of recommendations. How I eventually came to appreciate mushrooms was my encounter with matsutake mushroom in a delicate dobinmushi - soup that my mother made. The scent of matsutake was fragrant and lovely, and it was served in a clay pot like tea. I suddenly felt like a grown up when I had my first sip. Since matsutake is so expensive, all I got was a sliver but that was enough to enjoy its essence.  Now, I enjoy mushrooms of all kinds for their scent, flavor, and medicinal properties. I discovered that many edilble mushrooms contain lots of minerals, fiber and protein - not bad for a fungus.  My mother and grandmother weren't just practicing some follklore medicine after all. At the workshop, we made a mushroom nabe with tofu and salmon.  It was a healthy combination of foods in one pot.

Alexandra smelling the fragrant Maitake


MUSHROOM NABE RECIPE
Serves 4-6

You can use a variety of edible mushrooms. I used both Japanese and western mushrooms. Besides mushrooms, you can mix other vegetables like napa cabbage, mizuna, or shungiku.  If you like a totally vegetarian nabe, you can substitute the salmon tofu tsumire for plain tofu.

On the platter are shitake, shimeji, enoki, maitake, chanterelles
and negi. 

The Dashi:
2 tbls sake
1 tbls Mirin, optional

The Vegetables:
1 package of enoki mushrooms, ends removed
1 package of maitake mushrooms, ends removed
1 package of shimeji mushrooms,ends removed 6-8 shitake mushrooms, stems removed
1 Negi or 3 scallions, ends removed

The Tofu Salmon Tsumire: **
8 oz salmon fillets, skin and bones removed
2 pinches of salt (about ¼ teaspoon)
4 oz firm tofu 1.5 tbls potato starch (Katakuriko) or all purpose flour
1 tsp ginger juice
1 tsp sake
1/2 egg
½ negi or 1 scallion, chopped
¼ tsp salt
Dash of pepper

Garnishes and Condiments:
1-2 Yuzu or lemon sliced rind into thin slivers
1/3 cup grated ginger
Optional garnishes: Grated daikon, sansho pepper,
ground roasted sesame seeds, sliced scallions

** For vegans, you can substitute Tofu Salmon Tsumire with medium firm tofu. Cut the tofu into 8 cubes.  Do not over cook the tofu in the nabe.  Just keep it in the dashi long enough to heat it, about five minutes.

Ian and Missy slicing the vegetables.

PREPARING THE INGREDIENTS FOR NABE:
Make the Dashi broth. Season 6 cups of the broth with sake, mirin, usukuchi soysauce. Reserve the remaining 2 cups of plain broth to replenish the hot pot.

Prep the Tofu Salmon Tsumire: Take the tofu out of the package, and drain water. Wrap drained tofu in a clean cloth to remove excess water. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Place the skinless, boneless salmon on a cutting board. Cut the salmon in small cubes, about ½ inch in size. Take a couple pinches of salt (around ¼ teaspoon or a little more) and sprinkle it all over the cubed salmon. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Mince the salted salmon cubes, using a knife. It’s should have some texture like a steak tartare. In a medium size bowl, combine the tofu, minced salmon, sake, ginger, egg, negi, salt and pepper to taste. Use your hands to mix the ingredients.  Crumble the tofu with your hand.  Transfer the tsumire mixture to a clean bowl. Refrigerate. (Note: Don’t make this more than 1 hour ahead of time or it will get watery).

Clean the mushrooms. Separate the shimeji, maitake and enoki mushrooms, so they are easy to eat. The enoki mushrooms can be cut in half. Arrange everything on a platter. Keep each ingredient in separate piles.

Slice Negi or scallions crosswise, about 1/4 inch thick. Arrange negi on the mushroom platter.

Prepare the Garnishes.


Rebecca mincing the salmon by hand.


BUILDING THE NABE:
Set the table with chopsticks, spoons, and serving bowls for each person. Bring out the condiments and garnishes and set them on the table.

Bring the seasoned dashi, the plain dashi (in a little pitcher or cup) the mushrooms and the negi, and the bowl of tsumire to the table. Turn on the portable burner. Pour the seasoned dashi in the Donabe, Hot pot, and heat the dashi over medium heat.

When the seasoned dashi starts to gently boil, turn heat to low, and add all the mushrooms except for the enoki. Close lid and cook the mushrooms in the simmering broth for 4-5 minutes.

Open the lid. With two spoons or clean wet hands, make tsumire balls, using about 1.5 tbls of the mixture, and drop the balls gently into the broth. Repeat until you have used up half or all of the mixture. Closed lid to continue cooking for a couple of minutes.  (Note: If you plan to serve the nabe in two stages, reserve half for the second round.)  Open the lid and taste the soup. If the soup tastes a little salty after you added the Tsumire, you can adjust the flavor by adding plain dashi. If the soup tastes bland, you can adjust it by adding a ½ teaspoon of soysauce or usukuchi soysauce. For a rounder, sweeter taste, sake and sweet sake can be added sparingly.

Add the enoki and the negi.  Close the lid and continue cooking until the tsumire floats freely, about 3-5 minutes more.  Serve one tsumire and the mushrooms with ½ cup of soup per serving to start with. Garnish with sliced yuzu.

Let everyone help themselves to the condiments and garnishes on the table. Note: If you plan to do a second round, try to clear the first round of ingredients out of the nabe.

Have a bowl ready to scoop out the leftovers, which gets eaten or discarded. One of the things a host does during the nabe dinner is to encourage the guests to have more, so you have no left over’s. You don’t want to mix overcooked ingredients with the fresh ones. The left over broth can be used to make a porridge or used as a broth for noodles.


The mushrooms will shrink as they cook.



When the Tsumire floats freely, they are cooked and the
nabe is ready.  Garnish with yuzu rind.

Oxnard - A trip to bountiful

Posted on October 4, 2009 at 12:18 PM Comments comments (4)



A whimsical display


It's good to have a reason to leave the city once in awhile, even if it is to deliver some boxes to put in storage.  Our storage is out in Oxnard, an one hour drive on the Ventura Freeway from Santa Monica.  We've made the trip countless times.  It is a long drive just to go and store things but today, I am enjoying this trip.  Who knows, I might find something I want to take out.


Open sesame. Lots of stuff in there.  As the old Japanese saying goes, dust collects and turns into a mountain.  But among the dust, there are some interesting things.  Boxes of Sakae's toys and baby kimonos, my grandmother's tea table that needs repair, an old mosquito net.  Half of the space is taken up by family stuff, the other half is Sakai's sculptures and paintings from another time, which I'd like to see out in the open air.  But where do we put them?  It's good to look through old things.  I found a box marked "Old Cookbooks."  I decided to take that back with me.  I wanted to see what cookbooks I put away. 


Before leaving Oxnard, we looked for a farmstand to buy some fresh produce.  Oxnard is mostly known for their strawberries fields.  Shortly after my family moved to LA from Tokyo in the early seventies, my parents took us to visit a strawberry farm that was owned by a Japanese American family in this area.  I could not believe the sheer size of the farm. They let us pick as many strawberries as we wanted.  Where we came from, strawberries were very expensive.  We only got strawberries on top of our birthday cake when we were lucky. Most of the time, we had canned peaches instead.  But here in America, it was strawberry fields forever.  That seemed incredibly promising.



     


We found several farm stands, selling the last strawberry crop of the season. The berries were still sweet and juicy. I bought a boxful for $15. The box was marked Fraises de Californie but these strawberries aren't going to France.

 



Besides strawberries, they had some beautiful pumpkins.  The owner had her foot in a cast but she got up to help me pick out a pumpkin.


When we got home, I opened the box of old cookbooks and found a couple that belonged to my mother. That made me happy.  I am cooking out of one tonight.   










The Oxnard pumpkin now sits at our doorstep.  Soon it will get a face.


 

Homemade Fast Food- Onigiri Rice Ball

Posted on October 1, 2009 at 1:13 PM Comments comments (0)






Okay so it's October 1.  Opening day of Sakai's art Exhibition.  Eddie, Sakai's assistant arrived at 730am to wash the last stone sculpture and stone bases for the show.  I drove out to rent-a-wreck to return the truck. Sakai has been burning the midnight oil for the last three days.  The brochures and posters have been printed.  Having an art show is exciting and nerve racking at the same time. Sakae calls from Portland to wish his Dad good luck.  I can only hope for the best turn out and response. 




Last night was fast food night and this morning is the same too. That means rice balls for most Japanese people.  You can grab it like a sandwhich and run.  The stuffing can be anything from grilled salmon such left overs from last night to seasoned ground meat or grilled tarako- cod roe.  There is a little rice left over to make one rice ball this morning so I decide to make one and stuff it with a pickled plum -umeboshi.  There is an old Japanese saying - A pickled plum a day keeps the doctor away.  


There isn't much of a recipe for making Onigiri.  You just need steamed rice.  Use short or medium grain rice.  The fresher the rice, the tastier. The rice balls I made last night were great because the rice was steaming hot and fresh. This morning I am working with day old rice but it is still good.  You will need some salt, a pickled plum and a crispy sheet of nori seaweed to wrap the rice ball. Use about 3/4 cup of rice for each rice ball.




Fresh steamed rice tastess the best but mine is the leftover from

last night.  I want to use it up.  Have also a bowl of salt water, using

about a teaspoon of salt to 3 cups of water.  This is for wetting

your hands while you make the rice ball.


First wash your hands.  Dip you hands in the bowl of salted

water to keep it a little wet so the rice doesn't stick to your

hands while molding the rice ball.  Put a dab of salt to season

the rice ball (about 1/4 tsp).  Too much water on your hands

will make the rice ball soggy so don't over do it.



I put a pickled plum in the center of the rice ball.

Make sure you remove the pit from the pickled plum.


Using both palms and fingers, hold the rice and mold it into a

triangle. You can make a round rice ball if the triangle is too

difficult. But it really isn't.  Cup the pointed corners with your fingers

and press down to make the mountain shape.  Then turn the 

rice ball and repeat until all three corners have a nice peak.

A snow covered Mt. Fuji.



This is a small Onigiri.  I used 1/4 sheet of the nori and

cut it into smaller pieces to wrap it. You can sprinkle

the Onigiri with roasted sesame seeds or Furikake, if you like.

This onigiri is too small for the sculptors. 

So I eat it.  So good!