Flour days

Cooktellsastory

Category: Vegetarian

Stir fried Hijiki Seaweed with Tofu and Vegetables

Posted at 07:23 AM on January 16, 2010 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.


Pink pickled radish on a pink dish

Posted at 06:40 PM on December 24, 2009 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.  


The watermelon radishes are on the far right.

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.






Kimpira Heirloom Carrots

Posted at 07:41 PM on December 12, 2009 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.



Quick Mizuna with Konbu Pickles - Asazuke

Posted at 04:20 PM on December 07, 2009 Comments comments (0)


Mizuna no Kizami Konbu zuke - Mizuna and cut Konbu pickles

Mizuna and cut Konbu asazuke.

Everyday, I try to make something with seaweed and vegetables.  When I was growing up, my mother used to tell us that if we ate Konbu, we would have beautiful black hair like konbu but maybe it was just her tactic to get us to eat more seaweed.  I am glad she got me into the habit.  Now I appreciate Konbu even more, for its vitamins, minerals and fiber. Both sea and land vegetables make me feel good. 

I made a quick pickle-Asazuke with Mizuna and cut Konbu. Mizuna has a nice piquant peppery flavor.  The texture of this pickle is crunchy and slightly slimy. The sliminess comes from the extracts of the kombu. It is something you might have to get used to. I love it.

The pre-cut dried konbu is great for making pickles and sauted dishes.  Best if you hydrate them before you put them in the pickle press. Don't soak the konbu too long because you want to use the extract, especially the iodine to season the pickle. The amount of salt to use is between 1-2% of the total weight of the vegetables.  For this recipe, I use 1-1.5 teaspoons of salt for about a pound of vegetables.  Some dried kombu are saltier than others, so you need to make the adjustment accordingly.  I don't like to oversalt so I try to stay at the lower end of the ratio.

RECIPE
Serves 4-6
1 lbs Mizuna
1/2 cup Kizami Konbu, hyadrated, or slice wider konbu into thin matchstick pieces, about 2 inches long and 1/16 inch wide, and hydrate.
1-1.5 tsp salt

Kizami-Konbu - Cut dried Kombu 

Wash the Mizuna and cut off root ends.  Cut crosswise into 2 inch wide pieces.
Hydrate the cut dried konbu in water for 5-10 minutes.  Drain,

In a pickling container, combine the cut Mizuna and Konbu.  Add the salt and mix it into the mizuna.  Add the kombu to the mizuna and mix together.

Press the Mizuna and Konbu, using the pickling press and let stand in the fridge for 2-3 hours.  Here is the link to the Pickling Press with screw top.
To serve, remove from pickling press, gently squeeze out excess water and serve.
Best eaten on the same day.

Note: If the pickle comes out too salty, give it a quick rinse under cold water.  Squeeze out excess water and serve.  


Mix the salt into the Mizuna and Kombu mixture.

Tempura - Overcoming the Fear of Frying

Posted at 10:12 PM on December 04, 2009 Comments comments (0)


Seasonal vegetables are all ideal for tempura - except for very juicy vegetables.  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 and people were leaving. The farmer who grew these beautiful zuchinni blossoms was packing up but said I could have them 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 at 09:31 PM on December 03, 2009 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 at 11:13 PM on December 02, 2009 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.


Quick Napa Cabbage and Apple Pickles - Asazuke

Posted at 12:50 PM on December 01, 2009 Comments comments (0)


Napa cabbage and apple pickles

I have not blogged too much about Japanese pickles, Tsukemono, but I have them almost everyday with my meals -  breakfast, lunch, dinner and even as a snack with tea.  It is one of my favorite ways to eat vegetables because they are light, delicious and balances out the meal nutritiously. During the course of a meal, Tsukemono is usually served at the end to clear the palate, and gives the bowl of rice a zing.  Since Tsukemono can be strong in flavor and salty, it is eaten in small quantities. One outstanding character of Tsukemono is its seasonality.  If you visit the Tsukemono section of a Depachika, (Japanese department store's food shop in the basement), you can always see what vegetables are in peak season. Winter vegetables such as napa cabbage, carrots, Mizuna, daikon radish, komatsuna, turnips make great winter pickles. I make Asazuke, a quick Tsukemono that is put together by rubbing salt on the vegetables, adding kombu seaweed for flavor, a spice such as red chili pepper, and applying some pressure to the vegetables with a Japanese pickle press. (see pictures below - my pickle device is very old!). The Napa cabbage and Apple pickles were made in just three hours. All I used was salt and pepper. The salt extracts the excess liquid from the napa cabbage, intensifying the flavor and improving the texture. Asazuke can be served in the place of a salad.  Since it contains no oil or creams, it is light and very refreshing. The leaves of napa cabbage become sweeter and denser when they are in season.  The apple adds a nice crispy texture and tart  flavor
RECIPE:
Serves 2-4

8 oz napa cabbage, ends cut and leaves washed
1/2 apple - apple of your choice such as Fuji, Gala, Honey Crisp
1/2 tsp salt
Pepper or sansho pepper
Soysauce for the table (optional)

Cut the white part of the napa cabbage into 2.5 inch wide pieces.  Cut the leafy part
of the napa cabbage into bite size pieces.  Put the napa cabbage into the empty pickling container.  Rub salt on the napa cabbage, making sure that the salt is distributed evenly
and massanged into all the leaves.  Put weight on the vegetables, using a pickle device. Let stand in the fridge for about 3 hours.

After 3 hours, unscrew the press or remove the weight. Squeeze out the brine.  If the Napa cabbage is too salty for your palate, you can give it a quick rinse under water.  Gently squeeze out excess brine but the napa cabbage should not be dry.  Slice the apples into 1/4 inch wedges, and the slice them crosswise into smaller pieces, about 1/4 thick.  Combine with the napa cabbage.  Serve with pepper.   You can also put serve some soysauce on the side.



Put the cut white and green Napa cabbage into the pickling press.  Rubb with  salt until water is extracted.  About 1 minute.

Put the weight on top to press the pickles. This pickle press is more than 20 years old.
It comes with a lid, and goes straight into my fridge.  It's not the prettiest piece of 
kitchen equipment but I can't live without it.

If you have a pickling press with a screw top (See picture below).  Rotate the screw until the press is in contact with the vegetables.  Apply weight to press down on the vegetables.
 Here is a pickling device that has a screw top. 

Miso Soup with Mushrooms, Tofu and Mitsuba

Posted at 12:43 PM on November 30, 2009 Comments comments (0)

Shitake, Enoki and Tofu Miso Soup with Mitsuba

I still have some beautiful vegetable stock left over from the Butternut Squash soup I made for Thanksgiving.  Both the stock and the soup came from Thomas Keller's recipes in his Buchon Cookbook.  It took more than 5 lbs of leeks, onions, fennel and carrots to put the stock together and more vegetables, including the butternut which was partially roasted, to make the soup. But it was well worth the effort because everyone loved it. I used this left over stock to make miso soup this morning.  I hesistated to put miso in it at first, thinking that the scent of fennel, thyme, garlic, sage might be overwhelming in a miso soup but on the contrary, it came out delicious. This soup can also be made quickly with any fresh vegetable stock of your choice or regular dashi, using dried Bonito flakes and Kombu.  I used Mitsuba, as a garnish.  Mitsuba is a very refreshing Japanese herb. It has hints of mint, parsely, celery and chervil. You can find Mitsuba at the Japanese markets all year around.   

RECIPE:
Serves 4

3 1/2 cups Dashi or Vegan Dashi  
3 Tbls or more of Miso (Mugi Miso or Koji Miso) to taste
1/2 bunch of enoki mushrooms
2 shitake mushrooms, halved and sliced thinly, 1/8 inch thick
1/2 tofu, medium or soft, cut into small cubes, about 1/4 inch
1/2 bunch chopped mitsuba leaves or 3 tbls chopped chives

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.



Dissolve the miso paste with some dashi before you add
it to the soup.

Tororo Kombu Soup with Umeboshi

Posted at 12:08 PM on November 28, 2009 Comments comments (3)


Tororo Kombu, sliced negi and umeboshi

Yesterday, I was still feeling full from the Thanksgiving feast.  Since there are no leftovers except for the one reject apple pie that stayed home, I am almost back to my regular eating pattern.  I made a tororo kombu soup for breakfast this morning.  The combination of the slightly vinegary taste of tororo kombu and the salty umeboshi has a calming effect on the tummy.  It was delicious.


Tororo Kombu Soup with Umeboshi

RECIPE:

31/2 cups Dashi or Vegetarian Dashi
4 small umeboshi, pitted and minced, about 3 1/2 teaspoons 
3 tbls sliced negi or scallions
4 tbls tororo kombu
3 tbls sake
1 tbls mirin
1 tsp soysauce

Remove the pit and mince the umeboshi.  The citric acid
in umeboshi helps digestion.

The tororo is one fine lumpy mass of kombu so cut and separate it into bite size pieces.  
In a saucepan, bring dashi over medium heat.  Add the sake, mirin, and soysauce.  Simmer for a couple of minutes.  Turn of heat and add the tororo kombu, minced umeboshi and sliced negi or scallions.  Gently mix the soup a couple times to incorporate  all the ingredients.  The soup is slimy but amazingly good. (yes, it looks like I scooped algae out of a pond!)  Serve it in small bowls.   


Tororo kombu in its hydrated form.


Tofu Nabe - Yudofu - Hot Pot Workshop Part II

Posted at 01:30 PM on November 18, 2009 Comments comments (0)


My grandmother's donabe

Nabe or Nabe-mono means "food cooked in a pot". It is a soupy Japanese dish eaten especially during the cold weather.  Even though my apple tree thinks spring is already here and is giving off blooms,  I think we are about to enter winter.  So it's perfect nabe season, and it couldn't not have been more timely to do the two Japanese hot pot Nabe workshops last weekend. To those who participated, I hope you enjoyed the workshop, and will incorporate nabe into your repetoire of dishes.  A few people could not make it for baby matters and other emergencies.  One couple couldn't find my house. They were driving up and down the alley way looking for the house but gave up and went to work instead (on a Sunday!)  I am so sorry that happened.  I will do a make up class after Thanksgiving.  


  November 14 Workshop


Thanks to Tortoise for their support, especially Keiko Shinomoto for sending me e-mails from Tokyo to make sure I had everything I needed for the workshop. To Naoko Moore for helping and sharing her knowledge in hot pot cooking; Marissa Roth for taking the beautiful pictures; and Jason Moore for volunteering in the kitchen. What a team!


Naoko and Jason Moore


TALKING ABOUT NABE



Nabe begins with a good dashi.  Dried Kombu
seaweed hydrating in water.

I began the Nabe workshop by telling the story of my grandmother's clay pot -donabe (see above picture).  At about age fifty three (roughly my age), my grandmother became a widow and lived mostly alone in Kamakura.  Many of her one-person meals were cooked in this small donabe.  The underside of her donabe is pitch black from the years of use.  I found her old donabe when I went to visit her house after she had passed away at the age of 102. The donabe was cracked in places, and ready to be put into the trash bin. I rescued the donabe, brought it back to the U.S., cooked some porridge in it to seal the cracks. It was at this hot pot work shop that I used my grandmother's restored donabe for the first time to demonstrate the tofu nabe - Yudofu. It was one of her favorite dishes. She would make yudofu her entire meal but if I was visiting her, the nabe was served as an appetizer, and she would get sashimi from the fishmonger.  I felt Grandmother's spirit near me during the workshop.




Yudofu - I love the simplicity of this tofu nabe.  Kyoto is its birthplace. Tofu is the main ingredient of this nabe and dried kombu seaweed is used to make the broth, dashi.  Other ingredients such as daikon, napa cabbage can join the pot, but the one I demonstrated was just tofu.  I like to make Yudofu with artisinal tofu, which can be found in a few places in Los Angeles. My favorite one is  Meiji Tofu, which you can find at Granada Market on Sawtelle in West Los Angeles.  Get their Silken tofu.  The basic broth is made with Kombu seaweed, which is full of umami - savoriness and thus, makes a good nabe starter.  We usually don't eat the kombu in the Yudofu but you can slice it up later and munch on it.  It's good fiber. Have it with a little miso.  Enjoy the heated tofu with the condiments.  



Set a piece of dried Konbu into the pot of water. Let stand for
30 minutes to extract the Kombu's umami, savory flavor.


Gently put the tofu on top of the kombu.


Serve the heated tofu with grated ginger, sliced scallions,  dried bonito flakes and soysauce.


RECIPE FOR YUDOFU
Serves 4 as an appetizer 

1 piece of Kombu seaweed, about 6 inches long
6 -8  cups water 
2 packages of silken tofu, preferrably artisinal like Meiji Tofu
6 oz daikon radish, peeled and sliced into matchsticks, about 2.5 inches long (optional)

Daikon makes a nice match with Tofu.

Condiments:
1 negi or 3 scallions, sliced thinly
Dried bonito flakes (fine shavings)
Shichimi pepper
Soysauce 


From top: hydrated kombu seaweed, dried bonito flakes (fine shavings) Grated ginger, soysauce and dried kombu seaweed.   They brighten and give flavor to the bland tofu.


HOW TO MAKE YUDOFU:

Slice the negi or scallions thinly and soak them in water for about 10 minutes. Drain water and wring lightly.  Serve in a bowl.  

Put the dried kombu seaweed and the soaking water in the pot, and let the Kombu hydrate for 30 minutes.

Cut the tofu into 8 squares.  Serve the tofu on a plate.

Peel the daikon radish and cut it into 2.5 inch long matchsticks.  Serve the daikon matchsticks on a plate.

Bring the tofu and daikon matchsticks to the table.  

Bring the pot  to the table and set it on the portable burner.  Turn on the heat and boil over medium heat. Bring heat down to low, uncover the pot, and gently put the tofu and daikon matchsticks into the pot. Leave it in until the tofu is warmed through, between 4-5 minutes.  Do not over cook the tofu.

Scoop out the heated tofu and daikon radish matchsticks, and serve in individuall bowls with the condiments of your choice: dried bonito flakes, sliced scallions, shichimi pepper, negi and soysauce.

Table top cooking: Use only half the amount of tofu and daikon radishes or the amount that will be eaten in one round. Reserve the other half for the second round.  Every person should have a spoon to scoop out the tofu.








Ganmodoki - Tofu Fritters with Yuzu

Posted at 05:07 AM on November 07, 2009 Comments comments (1)




We are approaching  yuzu season. This aromatic citrus is a bit pricy at about $1 or $2 for a tiny fruit, and at the moment, I can only find green unripe yuzus.The ripe yellow, mini-grapefruit shape beauties should come out soon though.  You can still use the green Yuzus in the same way as the yellow ones. A little zest adds lovely fragrance to the food, and to the hand that holds it. Yuzu is a nice brightener for gammadoki, tofu fritters. Gammodoki is a tofu based, vegetarian fritter.


  

Yuzu




These fritters are fried at a low temperature of 250 degrees F. If you deep fry it in higher temperatures, it will brown faster but you will end up with cold tofu inside so keep an eye on the thermometer.  To this tofu mixture, I added edamame and shitake mushroom, which gives the bland tofu a lot more flavor. Other possible fillings are chopped carrots, ginko nuts, lotus root, hijiki seaweed, black sesame seeds, chopeed shrimp, squid, octopus.  Make sure these vegetables and seafood don't exceed forty percent of tofu, or it will not hold together in the oil very well.  Gamodoki's other name is Hiryozu, Flying Dragon's head, and as in its name, I find the best way to eat it is piping hot with soysauce and yuzu or lemon; it makes a nice appetizer. Ganmodoki is a popuar ingredient in braised dishes and  Nabe, Japanese Hot Pots. Prepare the ganmodoki a few days ahead of time, and have them ready to throw in your hot pot!  And don't forget the yuzu.  You can add yuzu rinds into the hot pot or enjoy the cooked hot pot ingredients with a squeeze of yuzu. 


RECIPE 

Serves 4 - about 12 tofu balls


1 firm tofu, about 14 oz

1 Tbsp flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg 

1/2 cup edamame, shelled

4 shiitake mushrooms, finely chopped

4 cups of vegetable oil for deep frying

 

Garnish - Yuzu wedges (if you can't find yuzu, use lemon or lime)

2 teaspoons of grated ginger 

Soysauce for the table.


 Wrap tofu with a clean cloth or paper towels and put it on a cutting board. Place another cutting board or plate on top of the tofu to press out the water, about 20 minutes.  Put tofu, egg, salt and flour in the food processor.  Process to make a paste. Add the edamame and shitake mushrooms.


In a cast iron pan, heat oil to 250-275F.   With slightly wet or oiled (use vegetable oil) hands, make tofu balls the size of a golf balls. The oil or water prevents the tofu mixture from sticking to your hands.  You should be able to make about a dozen. Slowly drop the tofu balls into the heated oil.  Deep fry the tofu balls slowly until they are golden.  Drain well on paper towels or newspaper. Serve them with yuzu or lemon weges, grated ginger and Soysauce on the side.  



Wrap the tofu in a clean cloth or paper towels.  Place a cutting

on top to press out water. 


Deep fry the tofu balls at around 250F-275F until golden.

Do not put too many balls in the oil. 


Remove excess oil with newspaper or paper towels


Serve with yuzu wedges, grated ginger and soy sauce.


Shimeji mushrooms and Tofu Miso Soup

Posted at 05:13 AM on November 06, 2009 Comments comments (0)





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.

 


Vegan Miso Soup with Heirloom Tomato, Wakame and Tofu

Posted at 12:51 PM on October 19, 2009 Comments comments (0)

There is a lot going on outside this morning.  Our Oxacan gardner, Eddie, and Sakai are sanding and painting the patio. I am happy that the patio is finally getting a make-over but boy, is it noisy. I still practiced my morning ritual  of making soup, using for the first time, my homemade dried Maitake mushrooms to make a vegetarian dashi.  I could have discarded the mushrooms after making it but they were too precious. I chopped the mushrooms up and put them in the miso soup for additional texture. They are chewy and tasty but some people might find them on the rubbery side. The same texture can be said about kombu seaweed, which was used to make this vegan dashi. I sliced it up and ate that too.  It's a great source of fiber and minerals.  


RECIPE:

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.


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


Miso Soup with Corn, Napa Cabbage and Spinach

Posted at 04:00 PM on October 18, 2009 Comments comments (0)


I hear from my friends in New York that it's like December weather over there.  Here in LA, we are back to summer again. I bought some corn from a local farmer who told me that corn is still good.  I didn't eat much corn this summer but the two times that I ate it, they were fantastic. Corn is delicious in miso soup.  I shucked a whole corn and put it in the breakfast miso soup with some spinach and napa cabbage.  I had two servings. 

   
   Still in season?

 


RECIPE

Serves 4

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.







Satsuma-imo -Fall Miso Soup with Sweet Potato

Posted at 05:14 AM on October 17, 2009 Comments comments (0)

Satsuma-imo, washed and ready
Satuma-imo!  Satuma-Age.  I am cooking lots of things from Kyushu, the Southern Island of Japan. Didn't plan it that way.  Just happened to find a box full of Satsuma-sweet potatoes at the entrance of Nijiya Market and had to get some.  They are similar to sweet potatos but milder in flavor.  Yaki-imo, roasted satsuma potatoes, is a popular street food in Japan.  I don't  make soup with sweet potatoes that often but I wanted to celebrate their arrival.  It's a hearty soup.  I was so full this morning, I skipped lunch.





I cut the sweet potato into 1/4 inch dices

 

 

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.

 

 



Miso Soup with Broccoli and Wakame Seaweed

Posted at 07:30 PM on October 15, 2009 Comments comments (3)


 


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.

 


Heirloom Tomato and Tofu Miso Soup

Posted at 12:16 PM on October 14, 2009 Comments comments (0)




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.
















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