Black natto brunch

Tororo on my bowl of natto…

A nagaimo, a long yamaimo or Japanese yam. Naga means long. We often buy only a cut, but the root is 60 cm long or more.

Grated. Tororo tuto.

Like an apple or an avocado, grated yamaimo tends to oxidate and darken in color. Or not, and that’s not previsible. But that was the case with this one so I’ve added juice of sudachi lime to keep it relatively creamy in color. That’s also a nice flavor addition.

Black natto (fermented soy beans). It’s often paired with grated wasabi.

Natto with rice is a regular breakfast item in Japan. So just that with tororo and green tea. A nice simple brunch.

Okomeyaki, brown rice okonomiyaki

Mid-way between yaki-onigiri and okonomiyaki, a tasty and healthy lunch. That’s really interesting to enjoy together the crusty flavor of grilled rice and the cabbage soft feel of okonomiyaki.

A triple base : cooked brown rice (leftovers), dry mushrooms and cabbage.

For the batter : 1/3 cup of cooked rice, 1/2 rice flour, the soaking water of mushrooms, salt. In the blender 1 minute.
For the filling : cabbage, ninnniku no me (garlic stalks), minced fresh ginger, 2/3 cup of cooked rice.
Mix, cook one side in an oiled pan.

Flip, add sesame oil, flip again…

With sauce (here Bulldog Worcester style sauce). Then aonori seaweed flakes and chili flakes :

Genmai okayu, brown rice brunch soup

Okayu, rice porridge. An many pickles. It’s simple, colorful, feeling and very tasty.
I had a cold, not much appetite. That was perfect.

Umeboshi, salty plum, with the red shiso that comes together.

Aka kabu, red Kyoto turnip tsukemono.

Cornichons à l’estragon, with the onion from the same jar. Behind, a few capers.

Toasted abrura-age (fried tofu) and 2 sesames.

All the topping are ready.

And the rice. Just good brown rice, longly simmered in water.

Tofu lasagna and farm fruits

Not the Italian lasagne. 豆腐ラザニア tofu rasaniya It’s a Japanese comfort dish. Not an homonym, it’s really inspired by the pasta dish but without the pasta. You are left with very soft tofu in Italian style sauces. Warm and tender. It’s usually served with rice.

Fruits like those you pick in the backyard. I went to the countryside. I have some from a farm, others from farmer’s market. They are the fruits you can see in local woods right now, kaki persimmons, mikan oranges, yuzu citrus. You can see two types of kaki, some rounds and some ogive ones. The latter may be shibui (tart) and the farm lady said we should guess… A bit of branch is left and if they are tart, we can do that.

That’s a quickly thrown casual meal. I had tomato sauce, silky tofu and these blanched veggies : bell peppers and ninniku no me (garlic stalks).

For the cheezy sauce as usual sake kasu, miso and this time the oil was sesame oil. I have added grated ukon (turmeric).

Alternate and bake. I topped with toasted bread crumbs.

Genmai, brown rice. I was given good farm rice too.

Serve very hot. Mmmm…

Rice-lentils and baked spicy azuki lunch

Another nutritious and delicious plant-based lunch, doubly boosted in plant proteins with two types of pulses : beans and lentils. And a dynamic salad.
That’s ready very quickly if you plan a little. As faithful readers know, I cook beans in big batches and freeze in small portions, in muffin molds. Then you have to think about soaking the rice and lentils the night before (you can do without in case you forgot, but that’s better to do it right most of the time).