Red daikon, red mochi.

A colorful version of the Chinese snack that is called in Japan daikon mochi and I can’t pronounce any of its names in Chinese dialects… Well, radish cake.

I washed and grated my red skin daikon radish. It’s white inside as usual.

I steamed the daikon. Added an equivalent volume of mochiko (sticky rice flour) with enough water to get it creamy. For flavoring : salt, chili pepper flakes, dry shiitake mushroom, fish flakes (skip for vegan version). And fried slices of garlic.

I steamed the cakes. Let them chill.

Then pan-fried cuts of very cold cakes in sesame oil. They become creamy inside, crispy around. The flower is a slice of raw daikon.

For sauce : sweet chili sauce + Bulldog Worcester style sauce.

Champilège 2 : amuse-shiitake

Amuse-gueules are small stuff to entertain your snout. The hat of a shiitake is the perfect size.

Shiitake mushrooms.

Soaked bulgur is the base, with red onion, garlic, thyme, olive oil, salt, pepper…

Baked till golden. Serve hot.

Table tricolore. Three taboulés.

Too hot to cook… Let’s just mix, wait and eat.
Taboulé is the king of Summer.

Or couscous ? Both.
To make bulgur green tabouleh (click here).
For the couscous, I simply mix all the veggies, dressing (lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, minced onion and garlic) to the dry grain. I complete liquid with water (for 1 cup of grain, 2 of liquid). I let at least 2 hours in the fridge.

Yellow.

Turmeric, raisins, red bell pepper, chick peas, herbs.

Red.

Tomato paste, chick peas, sweet corn, green bell peppers, herbs.

Green.

Lots of fresh herbs. All the herbs I had that day (parsley, oregano, mint and a little lemon balm).

Namul, Koreanizing the veggies

Here is a plate generously filled with decadent veggies, and that’s only one serving. I don’t know why but when the Koreans prepare vegetables, they change them so much that I have the impression of eating dessert. But you never have too many veggies. So let’s make a ton !

They can be served as banchan (sides) or used to make a :

bibimbap (click here tomorrow)

The vegetables are raw or lightly cooked (blanched/steamed). I flavor them with fragrant sesame oil, soy sauce, grated garlic and dry chili. If I have some, a little grated yuzu zest doesn’t hurt. Then top with toasted sesame seeds. I try to use little salt, since I will eat a lot. Now there are many good low sodium soy sauces.

I’ve let these raw.

The greens of the turnip. I have steamed them slightly.

I’ve bought this sprouted soy bean kimchi.

ゼンマイ zenmai (osmunda japonica) is a type of fern often eaten as a vegetable in East Asia. We usually by them boiled. I just added sauce.

Red and fried snow pellets. Duet of savory arare rice crackers.

In Osaka it’s just snowing mochi.

あられ餅（霰餅) arare mochi.
Arare mochi are cubes of dried mochi of about 1 millimiter. So they look like graupels. Yes, you know graupels ? They are snow pellets.
Arare means “snow pellets / graupels “. OK, I’m not sure what it is exactly, it’s a snow amount, bigger than a snow flake and smaller than an avalanche…
And that also the name of the arare rice crackers made with these cubes.

We can buy them, but I made mines from a block of mochi (see here).