Mehari sushi, thyme veggies…

My beloved mehari-zushi (pickled leaf sushi) are back…

With them, some thyme flavored veggies. I baked 2 small eggplants, then cut them. Added shishito green peppers. New onion. Olive oil. Salt. And fresh thyme. All that reheated together. Mmmm…

Today’s salad : Red cabbage, natto, spices and lemon juice.

Take a leaf of pickled takana (Japanese mustard leaves). Fill it with freshly cooked rice. That’s it.
I have hatsuga mai (polished germinated rice).
takana-zuke pickles DIY

Nice green balls. I didn’t fill them with anything. I like simple food.

Royal elegance of a simple radicchio risotto.

My version of the beautiful and tasty Italian dish. Only rice and veggies, another weekday lunch.
Actually that was delicious and so luxurious that I regretted having it for a casual lunch. I mean, for a rice like that, you should throw a party, a royal wedding or something like that.

I had a radicchio (Trevise salad) waiting to be cooked. Why not a risotto ? I have cut the leaves in thin ribbons, and mixed them with good Japanese rice (polished hatsuga mai germinated rice).

I made a few risotti before with step-by-step photos

risotto compil’

I use my rice-cooker pot on the stove, then I can put it back mid-way into the cooker and use the stay-warm function.
Olive oil, garlic, a few red raisins, red wine and a broth of (edible) beer yeast and salt. Flavored with thyme.

The velvety rice !

A piccata of parsley, olive oil, lemon zest and a few spices.

Toasted almond slices.

Tonight, let’s bibimbap

Bring me gochujang sauce ! I want a bibimbap, the delicious Korean rice dish.

Prepare all that. I cooked ground beef meat with a little garlic and a hint of soy sauce. Local supermarkets all sell platters of namul veggies, but you can prepare yours. For the detail, click here.

I don’t have a special stone dish. So I have baked the terracotta dish, passed sesame oil in the bottom, added hot cooked rice, sesame seeds, baked again.
Then you can see a cup of broth with seaweeds. A spoon and chopsticks.

Place everything on the top. That’s served.
Then with the spoon add a little broth on the gochujang and start mixing…

Pomelo and sea grape temaki-zushi (green sushi cones)

Temaki means hand-roll. Temaki-zushi are casual, and ideal for sushi party at home. You put the ingredients on the table :

And guests make a cone pocket with nori seaweed sheet, and fill it with rice and whatever they like. That’s like when you fill your newspaper cone with hot chestnuts, anybody can do it.

Easy no ?

Today, the sushi-meshi (flavored rice) is a little special. The classic version is white rice with a vinegar/sugar/salt seasoning. My rice is polished hatsuga (germinated rice). My seasoning is pomelo juice + kurozato (Okinawan black sugar) and very very little salt. Because this is a salty filling :

Umi-budo, ‘sea grapes’ seaweeds (more about it here)

More veggies.

And you get a sushi that tastes like a tropical sea breeze…

Blue fish for blue Japanese lunch

Today, I’m eating イワシの塩焼き iwashi no shioyaki , salt grilled sardines. It’s a cheap local fish that brings a good amount of healthy fats. And it’s very tasty.

Simple : clean the fish. Sprinkle a little sea salt. Place on a grill and grill.

Rice of course.

Natto, today with mustard and a few flowers.

A stir-fry of bean sprouts and kikuna greens.

Miso soup. On the side, it’s oboro kombu, it’s made of seaweeds.

When you put it in the soup it becomes like that in a few seconds.

It is also used to wrap sushi.

Well that was another tasty Japanese lunch.