An old fashion Japanese dinner.
Steamed daikon radish greens, with a little chrysanthemum.
That’s konnyaku flavored with aonori seaweed. It’s from the farmer market, it looks less processed than the one from the supermarket.
The sauce is very easy : sake kasu (sake lees) and umeboshi flesh, plus a little broth. The umeboshi is very salty, the sake kasu not at all, the mix is well balanced.
Grilled salted hokke fish.
Genmai brown rice.
Miso soup with lots of tofu.
As Christmas is approaching, I wish you a nice holiday season. So let’s have a sukiyaki party !
It’s a party meal designed to showcase delicious premium Japanese beef and season produce. A hot pot to cook and share on the table.
The ingredients are cut, cleaned, prepared and presented on big trays on the table.
First tray : fungi, konnyaku noodles and grilled tofu.
There were 4 types of mushrooms : shimeji, enoki, dry and soaked maitake and fresh kikurage.
Second tray : negi leeks, onions, soaked yakifu (gluten croutons) and kikuna (chrysanthemum greens).
Third tray : the beef. Wagyu, Japanese traditionally raised cows. Beside you can see cubes of beef fat.
Each eater is given a bowl with a good fresh egg. Whisk your egg with the chopsticks and get ready to dip you ingredients in this sauce.
First step : greasing the pot with fat and roasting the first slices. They can be enjoyed this way as the beef is delicious, just on its own.
That’s the technique : melt some fat, add some meat, pour a little sugar, then a little shoyu (sauce sauce), a little sake. Mix and cook.
All the other ingredients are added in small batches…
For dessert… well, there are no desserts for Japanese meal. So that’s a French tarte Tatin, made with Japanese apples.
Each family of Osaka has its secret recipe of okonomiyaki. This post is pure spying. I am going to reveal you how my friend Emi makes hers. It’s a delicious simple version very rich in eggs. Before you start, make you sure you have tasty farm eggs.
Then, you need thinly shredded cabbage. She cuts it with her big knife. The flavors are tenkasu (tempura crumbs) and thin slices of pork breast.
The batter : It’s about a tbs of grated yama imo (Japanese yam), water and flour. Whip.
In a bowl, mix batter, cabbage, some tempura crumbs and an egg.
To be always ready, Emi has a reserve of servings of grated yama imo in her freezer.
On the oiled hot plate, first some batter-cabbage mix. Then slices of pork. Then more batter. Then flip.
Then… Why that ? The goal is to make the surface uneven so the sauces will stay on top.
Garnishing : the sauces are poured on top and layered with a brush. Then she puts fish flakes.
So the sauce are :
-okonomiyaki sauce (a mix of the thick sauce and of the more liquid Worcester sauce)
-mayonnaise
And in between ?
Do you recognized ? It’s mustard that gives a spicy tone to the sauces.
So you know all the tricks, you can enjoy it at home too.
The “parent” of 里芋 satoimo (Japanese taro) are on the market, they are called 親芋 oyaimo parent potato. That’s not classic sauce béchamel, but the texture is similar.
Let’s start with the beans, well the side dish :
Making pattzuki bean patties with azuki, miso, sesame, onion, parsley, kabocha skin. It is spiced by turmeric (very visible here) and paprika powder plus a few chili flakes.
Pan-fried.
The redness comes while cooking. Served with leaves of komatsuna.
Oya imo, a big taro.
Here is a photo of family of 親芋 oyaimo, the parent with its kids and grand-kids :
from this blog いきもの は おもしろい！
I cut and peeled a thick slice, boiled till tender.
The sauce is green as it contains lots of fresh parsley.
Fry minced onion, garlic, feet of shiitake mushroom. Blend together silky tofu, white wine, a tbs of potato starch. Add into the pan. Season with salt, pepper. Simmer.
Let cool and pass in the blender with 2 volumes of fresh parsley per volume of sauce. Reheat slowly before serving.
The oyaimo with sauce and steamed stalks of komatsuna.
Tonight yakitori !
But the photos are… night photos. Sorry.
You’ll see nicer in this post with 2 more versions of this basic skewer. And a mini-compil :
Soft tsukune recipe :
-For about 150g of meat (not too lean ground chicken), I’ve added a 1 tbs of ginger (minced), 1 tbs of leek (minced), 1 ts of soy sauce, a pinch of sugar, 2 tbs of sake, 1 tbs of sesame oil, plus a little more salt. After adding the previous ingredients and kneading, I’ve mixed in 2 big tbs of potato starch and about 1/2 cup of water. I let it rest 2 hours so flavors can mix.
-Then the balls are formed and boiled. Bring a pot of water to ebullition, pass on medium heat and throw in freshly made balls. When they are done, they are white all around and they come afloat. Take them away. They can be cooled and stored for a later meal, or used immediately.
-Put balls on skewers, oil, salt and grill. It’s the simple “salt grilled style”.
Yuzu citrus and togarashi hot chili pepper tsukune. I also made nira tsukune by adding minced nira (garlic chive) to the mix.
With the broth I made a soup, adding slices of ginger, shimeji mushrooms and negi leeks.
GOURMANDE in OSAKA 