Aka endo mame tortilla, and veggie plate

A nice plant-based brunch to enjoy season local produce.

Do you remember these aka endo mame red peas ? I soaked them and made this batter :

Adding hijiki seaweed, grated turmeric, chili pepper and soy sauce.

Cooked like a pancake. It’s possible to flip it, but it breaks when you fold it.

That’s it. On top, drizzles of balsamico sauce.

The red carrots of Kyoto.

Just grated them. They have a sweeter and fruitier taste than average carrots.

Leafy daikon radish.

Just steamed.

Big daikon. I cut, salted, let 30 minutes and rinsed.

Yuzu dressing : yuzu citrus juice, grated peel, salt and sesame oil.

Crunchy, yummy, filling…

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.

Fava mitsuba green dip

A quickie ! Fresh green and healthy, a Summer hummous based on broad beans (favas).

Pound or blend together : boiled broad beans (fresh or frozen), a bunch of mitsuba leaves with stalks, a little bit of garlic, salt. Add a little olive oil. Let chill. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and chili flakes.

Sticks of raw veggies to dip in that.

Oroshi udon, Kyoto style noodles

Oroshi udon literally means grated udon. That’s not that the noodles are grated, but because some grated daikon radish (oroshi daikon) garnishes them. It’s very refreshing and many Japanese style fast-food offer this dish : chilled udon noodles, grated daikon and tsuyu sauce.

細うどん hosoi udon, thin udon noodles. They are said to be Kyoto style udon, but they are popular in Osaka too. I think thicker udon is better for Winter dishes and these are more refreshing.

The grated daikon radish, cut negi leek greens a few flakes of togarashi chili.

It’s tsuyu.
I made a fish flake dashi (recipe here), flavored with soy sauce and a little brown sugar. Served chilled.

卵焼きtamago yaki (Japanese omelet rolls) and okra.

Cream water melon. Taste is like the red one.

Japanese garden creamy Winter soup

When it’s so cold inside, you need a soup every day. Yes, I wrote inside that’s not a typo, as outside the weather is mild, it’s Winter, but not freezing. In my place without heating, the day is just OK, but at night it’s a little chilly. So I put on a big sweater, my half-gloves and I get a bowl of good soup to warm me up…

It’s very quick to throw stuff in. Then, just let simmer a while. Today’s soup is a miso-minestrone. See the 3 steps at the end, but first let’s look at what is in it :

It’s full of season produce. Can you recognize them ?

Do you know that animal ? His name is taro. Well, he is a potato… and it’s usually called…

…satoimo here.

That’s the season of black soy bean kuromame. I had them boiled.

Some greens.

Shungiku, chrysanthemum leaves.

Kezuribushi, bonito fish flakes.

Koji-miso. There exist very different types of miso. The color depends on ingredients. The more rice, the whiter, the more soy, the darker. This one is light colored miso with a high content of fermented rice (komekoji), and it’s rough textured. Its taste is sweet and mild.

Step one : in some water, put to simmer some dry daikon radish skins (I keep them to make broth), a few peeled satoimo taros, a ts of pasted garlic, 2 tbs of tomato paste, a dry chili and a cup of boiled black beans with their broth. Let 20 minutes.
Step two : I made a 1/2 cup of neri-goma (tahini, white sesame paste), mixed it with a tbs of miso, a ts of fish flakes. I’ve diluted that in the soup and let 2 minutes on low heat.
Step 3 : pour the soup on shungiku greens, top with more fish flakes.
If you want it vegan, just don’t add the fish flakes, replace the topping with aonori seaweed flakes.