Warm mushroom soba soup

The weather is getting a little chilly. The time of warm soup is back. The official season of sake kasu is open, even if I didn’t wait.

Asian cuisines are very careful about seasons of dishes. You’ll say that’s everywhere that wise people try to eat season produce. True, but they have kept a concern that was important in European Medieval cuisines and has since been neglected, which is the effect of food, whether they are cooling or warming. So these are two food said to be “warming” :

Sake kasu (sake lees). The soup made with it, kasujiru, is present all along the cold season in Kansai.

Buckwheat, here in soba noodles. It’s also seen in sobagaki.

I soaked a good handful of mixed dry mushrooms, then added onion, frozen and thawed tofu, garlic, soy sauce. Simmered.

For the sides, I’ve steamed kabocha and reheated hana mame (flower beans) with soy sauce and a little sugar.

I’ve added the soba and sake kasu in the soup, more soy sauce to make it saltier.

And to spice it up a tonic mix : diced ginger, garlic, negi leeks, and chili pepper. Just mixed in, reheated and served.

Kimchi in the kabocha.

A flower on the beans. Lunch is ready.

Tororo soba

It’s a very simple Japanese dish. This fresh sauce, tororo, is made from this root vegetable : Nagaimo.

Grating the nagaimo in the traditional way in a suribashi (mortar). You peel a length of that long potato and you rub it against the line of the pottery. You get this slimy texture, and that’s how we like it as it’s very refreshing. I guess some people don’t appreciate, and this vegetable is not for them.

Sudachi lime juice. A little sea salt.

Okra.

Juwari soba (100% buckwheat noodles), boiled, refreshed in iced water.

Chilled molokhia and tarako soba

To dishes refreshed for Summer. The green broth molokhia, raw and chilled. And tarako pasta, in cold soba mode.

モロヘイヤMoloheya as they say here, or mulukhiyah, molohiya or molocha, corète potagère, mouloukhia… Well that herb of Pharaohs.

Made into chilled soup. In the blender : a cup of leaves, a little harissa hot chili paste, a branch of coriander leaves and 2 ice-cubes. More coriander to garnish.

Tarako, salted fish roe.

Juwari soba (100% buckwheat noddles), butter, tarako and shredded umaina greens.

Mixed. Served at room temperature.

Soba and sansho peppercorns

It’s the season of the lemony sansho peppercorns. Soba buckwheat noodles are also a popular Summer food. Even cooked. So here is a simple dish full of veggies.

soba compil’

About sansho

It’s simply pan-fried with onion, carrot, bell peppers, lettuce and flavored with soy sauce. The sansho brings the tone.

Served with ume pesto scallops.
The best part is what is stuck in the bottom of the pan :

Red wine mushrooms and refreshing lunch…

Another refreshing lunch for hot days. Delicious and plant-based except for the broth (that you can replace by a kombu dashi).

That’s from an idea seen on pinterest from this blog. I have not followed exactly. I refried garlic, rosemary in olive oil, added wine, simmered shimeji mushrooms. Garnished with negi leek and parsley. Warm, I was not too crazy about it, maybe I put too much rosemary. It’s better chilled, so I have kept it for the next lunch, now.

I had chicken stock left, cooled. So I’ve added chili pepper, ground black pepper,and sansho peppercorns to spice it. Boiled and chilled soba noodles to dip in.

If you like soba see this compil’.