Pesto and chirimen-jako

Pesto spaghetti with a Japanese twist.

A base of spaghetti in a basil sesame pesto I had as a leftover of the day before.

ちりめんじゃこ chirimen-jako are fish bait of the anchovy and sardine family. They are dried under the sun and can be kept a few days. That’s salty and tasting of fish of course.

The other topping : boiled and skinned favas (broad beans). And a few ribbons of basil leaves.

Side dish : ginger cukes.
A quick tsukemono : Sliced, cut, rinsed white cucumber. Added sea salt and minced ginger. Mixed well. Let one hour in the fridge.

Chilled shirataki noodles with black gomadare sauce

And advantage of shirataki (konnyaku noodles) is unlike other noodles, you don’t need to boil them again then chill. All you need is rinsing them in clear water.

The 4 elements of my dish.

A : rinse the shirataki noodles.

B : cut cubes of fresh tofu.

C : prepare veggies like bell pepper, red chili, goya, onion and coriander.

D : make the dressing.
Gomadare is the classic sesame dressing. Today it’s black as I’ve used black sesame and the black douchi :

Douchi, Chinese fermented black soy beans.

Petite soupe de poisson (fish soup 2.0)

Adaptation of the fish soup from Provence that often served with bread croutons, rouille sauce and grated cheese.

I had the fish soup base (explanation here), reheated with saffron, turmeric, red bell pepper, hot chili.

Prepared croutons, then rubbed them with raw garlic.

Rouille (garlic sauce).

That should be cheese, it’s my beloved sake kasu + miso.. (read here).

Side one : Raw veggies.Thinly cut goya (bitter squash) and red bell pepper.

Side two : steamed veggie. Sweet corn and romanesco.
All that makes a meal !

Peanut red bean burgers, with fruity sauce

I really like peanuts, I often eat them just like that. Today, I’ve included them in some spicy bean patties to bring nuttiness and crunchiness.

I broke the peanuts in the mortar. I keep the red skin, it’s full of nutrient. Added in : Taisho kintoki red beans (boiled), onion, ginger, garlic and stalks of nira. It’s flavored with an Indian spice mix containing mango powder. A little potato starch for binding. Pan-fried.

The fruity sauce is made by blending carrot, 1/2 konatsu pomelo, a piece of onion, chili pepper and a pinch of salt.

Sides : salad with goya (bitter squash) and yamaimo simply diced.

Aonori kibinago no kara-age

kibinago (silver stripe round herring) are these small mini-fish, often to small to cut them. So frying is the way to go. I’ve seen addition of aonori seaweed for frying and retained the idea.

Kara-age :
Rinse the fish. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Heat frying oil. Mix flour, potato starch and aonori (seaweed flakes).
Pass the fish in the mix of flours and fry. Add a little more aonori on top.