Serves 2

1/4 (1/2 stick) cup butter or vegetable oil

3/4 cups buckwheat flour, preferably stone milled soba flour

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup whole milk

Maple Syrup or powdered sugar

If you tilt the pan while the batter is runny, you can achieve a

nice round galette shape.

Preparation:

If using butter, melt the butter in a small saucepan and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, sift together the buckwheat flour, all-purpose flour and salt. Make a well in the center.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg and the milk, and gradually add it into the flour to make a smooth batter.

Add half of the melted butter or oil, an d mix well. Allow to stand in the fridge for at least 1 hour or overnight.

Just before cooking, stir and check the consistency of the batter. It should be like thin cream. If necessary, add more milk to achieve the right consistency. Use the remaining butter or oil to coat the pan.

Heat a cast iron skillet or non-stick pan over med-high heat. Sprinkle a few drops of water on the pan.

Brush with melted butter or oil.  Lower heat to a medium.

Using a ladle, pour enough batter into the skillet to make a gallete, about 5-6 inches in diameter.

Loosen the edges of the crepe with a metal spatula. Turn the galette over when one side is cooked, and brown on the edges. Unlike pancakes, galettes will not rise and will remain thin.

Cook the other side until lightly brown, about a minute and slide it out onto a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Serve like you would pancakes, with maple syrup or powdered sugar.

Breton Galettes

I can eat soba everyday, but there are other ways to enjoy buckwheat flour.  The French make a delicious buckwheat pancake called galettes.  A few years ago, I spent the whole summer at my friend Caroline Forbes' farm in Becavin, which is a small village in Brittany not far from the walled city of St. Malo.  This region is known for their galettes.  Galettes are much larger in size than crepes, and usually served with some type of filling, such as ham, cheese, onions, mushrooms or a sweet filling like honey, chocolate, etc.  Caroline made me this dish on the day I arrived to Becavin; we also tasted gallettes in the nearby villages.  I got hooked. Galletes are delicious with a cold glass of cidre, a sparkling apple cider; it's a typical Breton beverage.  

My galette in this picture is made with stone milled Japanese soba flour. I made them for my friend Mimi who was visiting from Kansas city. I served these galettes like pancakes, with hot maple syrup. They are also nice with powdered sugar. Mimi also wanted to try my soba noodles, so I cooked those, too.  Our breakfast turned into a brunch.

Recipe:

Serves 3

1/4 (1/2 stick) cup butter or vegetable oil

3/4 cups buckwheat flour, preferably stone milled soba flour

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup whole milk

Preparation

If using butter, melt the butter in a small saucepan and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, sift together the buckwheat flour, all-purpose flour and salt. Make a well in the center.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg and the milk, and gradually add it into the flour to make a smooth batter.

Add half of the melted butter or oil, an d mix well.  Allow to stand in the fridge for 1 hour.

Just before cooking, stir and check the consistency of the batter. It should be like thin cream. If necessary, add more milk to achieve the right consistency. Use the remaining butter or oil to coat the pan.

Heat a cast iron skillet or non-stick pan over med-high heat. Sprinkle a few drops of water on the pan.

Brush with melted butter or oil.

Using a ladle, pour enough batter into the skillet to make a crepe, about 5-6 inches in diameter.   

Loosen the edges of the crepe with a metal spatula. Turn the crepe over when one side is cooked, and brown on the edges.  Unlike pancakes, buckwheat crepes will not rise and will remain thin.

Cook the other side until lightly brown, about a minute and slide it out onto a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter.

To serve:

Serve like you would serve pancakes.  I had butter and maple syrup on the table.  Also, some mixed fruit and yogurt. 

Recipe:

3 1/2 cups Dashi or Dried shitake and konbu seaweed Dashi

3 1/2 to 4 tablespoons Mugi, Koji, white or red miso

1/4 cup, shelled peas

1 age-tofu, sliced into 1/4 inch pieces, crosswise

6 small pearl onions, peeled and quartered

1 baby turnip, sliced into 1/4 inch pieces

Bring the Dashi and the turnip o a boil in a medium saucepan, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer for a couple of minutes.  

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.

Add the Age tofu and peas and simmer  for 1 minute. Turn off heat.

Pour the soup into individual bowls.

Serve immediately.

3 1/2 cups Dashi or Dried shitake and konbu seaweed Dashi 

3 1/2 to 4 tablespoons Mugi, Koji, white or red miso

1/4 kabocha pumkin, peeled and sliced thinly, 1/4 inch thick bite size pieces

1/2 of tofu, soft or firm.

1/4 green pepper, chopped

1/2  negi, sliced thinly or 1 scallion sliced thinly

Bring the Dashi and the kabocha to a boil in a medium saucepan, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer until kabocha is tender and can be mashed into a puree. You should be able to mash the pumkin with a fork.

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.

Add the tofu and green pepper, and simmer 1 minute. Turn off heat.

Pour the soup into individual bowls.

Sprinkle each bowl with negi.  Serve immediately.

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.

  

RECIPE:

Serves 4

3 1/2 cups Dashi or Vegan Dashi

3 Tbls or more of Miso (white or saikyo miso) to taste

1-2 teaspoon or more of of Usukuchi-light colored soysauce to taste

1/2 bunch of enoki mushrooms

2 turnips, peeled and sliced thinly, 1/8 inch thick

1/2 tofu, medium or soft, cut into small cubes, about 1/4 inch

1 leaf, napa cabbage, sliced in to bite size pieces, about 1 inch square in sizze

1/2 cup hydrated wakame (optional)

1 tbls chopped chives or scallions

Bring the Dashi to a boil in a medium saucepan, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Put the napa and turnip and simmer for 3 -4 minutes.

Add the enoki mushrooms, tofu, wakame 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. Add the soysauce. 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 scallions or chives.

Serve immerdiately.  Do not boil the soup.

Bring the Dashi to a boil in a medium saucepan, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Put the tofu and the shitake mushrooms and simmer for a couple of minutes.

Add the enoki mushrooms 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.

Serve with chopped mistuba or chives.

With so much going on around the house, my routine breakfast was interrupted for awhile.

I often found myself eating just a piece of toast and that was it for breakfast.  It's so much healthier to start the day with a bowl of miso soup.  I made it this morning with shimeji mushrooms and tofu.  I have some Negi, Japanese scallions, left over from the soba workshop.  I still picture  Akila Inouye slicing the Negi in mid-air.  The flavor of those uncrushed sliced negi was truely amazing.  

Akila's cut negi, soaking in water

RECIPE:

Serves 4

3 1/2 cups Vegan Dashi or Dashi

3 1/2 to 4 tablespoons Mugi, Koji, white or red miso or a combination of any two

1 package shimeji mushrooms, ends removed (about a cup)

1/2 square of soft tofu,

Bring the Dashi to a boil in a medium saucepan, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Put the tofu into the dashi.  Break it up with a ladle.  Add the mushrooms  and simmer for a couple of minutes.

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.

Serve immediately.

Optional: You can also add chopped hydrated maitake mushrooms you used to make the vegan dashi.

3 1/2 cups Vegan Dashi or Dashi 

3 1/2 to 4 tablespoons Mugi, Koji, white or red miso or a combination of any two

1 tomato, cut in quarters, and then slice each quarter crosswise into 1/2-inch thick pieces

2 tsp wakame seaweed, hydrated and cut into bite size pieces

1/2 square of soft tofu, cut into 1/4 inch squares

Bring the Dashi to a boil in a medium saucepan, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer.  Add the hydrated wakame seaweed, tomatoes and tofu and simmer for a couple of minutes.  

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.

Serve immediately.

   

 

3 1/2 cups Dashi (see BASICS for Dashi broth recipe) or Dried Maitake Mushroom Dashi (here is the link for the recipe)

3 1/2 to 4 tablespoons Mugi, Koji, white or red miso

1 corn, shucked

3 spinach leaves, sliced thinly, 1/4 inch thick

2 napa cabbage leaves, sliced thinly, 1/4 inch thick

2 green onions, sliced thinly

Bring the Dashi and the diced potatoes to a boil in a medium saucepan, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer, and add the corn and napa cabbage until they are tender, about 2 minutes.

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.

Add the spinach and Simmer for 1 minute. Turn off heat.

Pour the soup into individual bowls.

Sprinkle each bowl with chopped green onion. Serve immediately.

RECIPE:

MISO SOUP WITH SWEET POTATO AND TOFU

Serves 4

3 1/2 cups Dashi (see BASICS for Dashi broth recipe) or Maitake Mushroom Dashi (Vegan) 

3 1/2 to 4 tablespoons Mugi, Koji, white or red miso

1/2 satsuma potato or sweet potato, cut in quarters, and then slice each quarter crosswise into 1/2-inch thick pieces (about 1.5 cups) 

1 square of soft tofu

2 green onions, sliced thinly

Bring the Dashi and the diced potatoes to a boil in a medium saucepan, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer, and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 4 minutes.  

n 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.

Add the Tofu and Simmer for 1 minute. Turn off heat.

Pour the soup into individual bowls.

Sprinkle each bowl with chopped green onion. Serve immediately.

Did you eat your broccoli today?  Whenever I go away on business, I come back to find a nearly empty fridge at home, except for the vegetable compartment. There is always broccoli that keeps Sakai company. It's a good choice. This flowery green vegetable is a dependable food, packed with vitamins and dietary fiber and it is inexpensive in America.  I say this because the last time I priced a broccoli in Tokyo, I was shocked to find that a "single" broccoli branch can cost as much as $7.  I wanted to make broccoli soup for my Dad but I made pumpkin soup instead.  

At home in California, I feel grateful that I can eat broccoli whenever I want. I like to eat broccoli steamed, with a little sesame oil and soy sauce.  Sometimes, I make a whole meal out of it.  Today, I thought it would be nice to use it in my breakfast soup with wakame seaweed.  Wakame, like broccoli, is loaded with rich nutrients, especially minerals.   Wakame is not as common as broccoli in America but it will be sooner or later. I can vouch for that.

Here is a beautiful broccoli.  You can eat almost every part of it.

I separated the flowers from the stem.

I cut up the stem into small pieces and used them for the soup, too.

I hydrated some cut-wakame seaweed.  It only takes a few

minutes to hydrate into more than triple its original size.

RECIPE

Serves 4

RECIPE:

Miso Soup with Broccoli and Wakame seaweed

3 1/2 cups Dashi (see BASICS for Dashi broth recipe) or Dried Maitake Mushroom Dashi (Here is the link for recipe)

3 1/2 to 4 tablespoons Mugi, Koji, white or red miso or a combination of any two

1 tomato, cut in quarters, and then slice each quarter crosswise into 1/2-inch thick pieces

2 stalks of broccoli, stems cut into small pieces, 1/4 inch thick and flowers separated into bite-size pieces or smaller

2 Tbls wakame seaweed, hydrated and cut into bite size pieces

Bring the Dashi to a boil in a medium saucepan, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Add the broccoli and cook for 2 minutes.  Add the cut and hydrated wakame seaweed.

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.

Serve immediately.

Rain at last!  The rain was tapping so hard on the skylight window, it woke me up in the middle of the night.  I got up to make tea. I cleared up the dishes in the dish rack.  I didn't feel like going back to sleep so I started cooking. I  made dashi. Sounds a bit crazy but it is actually nice to work in the kitchen when everyone is sleeping and all you hear is the rain. My mother was worse than me. She used to bake pies in the middle of the night. This morning, I was all set to go with fresh dashi for my miso soup.  The last of my heirloom tomato made the rainy morning cheerful.  

RECIPE:

Miso Soup with Tomato and Tofu

3 1/2 cups Dashi (see BASICS for Dashi broth recipe) or Dried Maitake Mushroom Dashi (here is the link for recipe)

3 1/2 to 4 tablespoons Mugi, Koji, white or red miso

1 tomato, cut in quarters, and then slice each quarter crosswise into 1/2-inch thick pieces

1/2 square of soft tofu

2 green onions, sliced thinly

Bring the Dashi toa boil in a medium saucepan, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer.

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.

Add the Tomato and Tofu and Simmer for 1 minute. Turn off heat.

Pour the soup into individual bowls.

Sprinkle each bowl with chopped green onion. Serve immediately.