Kuromame no shiso-ni : black beans, shiso and rice

Rice and beans, Japanese style. I think the shiso flavor is a nice companion for black beans and I had already paired them :

shiso bean empanadas

Kuromame, black soy beans. Soaked and boiled. They take lots of time to cook… depending on size and how old they are. Hard to predict, but don’t start now and expect serving them for next meal. Cook them the day before.

So I recooked the boiled beans in an oiled pan with onion, garlic, cumin seeds, a little paprika, salt. When the onions were cooked I’ve covered with bean cooking broth, let simmer. At the end, added cut shiso leaves in the beans, and some on top.

It’s a mix of genmai (brown rice) and akamai (red rice).

A simple soup : nameko mushrooms, hijiki seaweeds (dried), water. Then a little soy sauce when it’s cooked.

Steamed mizunasu aubergines and shiitake mushrooms.

Komatsuna no ohitashi (boiled and refreshed) with gomadare sesame dressing.

Black bean sesame burgers and waxy squash red SE-Asian soup

Beans patties and a soup with flavors of Thailand in company of its exotic rice.

The patties are a random mix : boiled kuromame (soy black beans), black sesame seeds (pasted), grated garlic and ginger, minced onion, green chili and black miso. A little potato starch to bind. Pan-fried. Glossed with sweet chili sauce. On the place, yellow bell pepper and mitsuba stalks.

Boiled cubes of tougan (waxy squash) and tororo kombu seaweed.

I have added red Thai curry paste and fresh coriander to the broth.

Add Thai jasmine rice. That’s a yummy lunch.

Black tofu and agedashi kyo-imo taro

Two small Japanese dishes, passed through the gourmande’s paws as usual. That’s not super original, but maybe you don’t know these two.

age-dofu (recipe here)
Agedashi is a classic way to prepare tofu, that means ageru (fry), then pour dashi (broth) on it. This time I made it with taro.

This is the Kyoto style taro, kyo-imo. I have peeled one, cut in a few rolls, boiled till tender. Then I’ve patted them dry and deep-fried till they get colored.

The dashi is the Japanese basic broth : DIY dashi recipe or plant-based kombu dashi.

I have left the fish flakes (you can omit them), added dry togarashi chili pepper, flavored with soy sauce and reheated slightly. I’ve added a little potato starch to thicken and poured on the hot kyo-imo.

Serve hot while it’s crunchy around.

I have used these black soy beans (kuromame) instead of the white. And I have proceeded exactly as I do for white tofu (recipes here).
It’s zaru tofu, shaped in a basket.