Smoked oysters and kimchi pasta

A simple colorful pasta lunch, really delicious. Bonus : a quick tsukemono (Japanese pickle).

A can of smoked oysters in oil, kimchi, soy bean sprouts and Japanese kabu turnips. These kabu are appreciated for their greens as much as for the root. Let’s use both in this meal.

Stir-frying the oysters.

Then add kimchi, al dente pasta, the sprouts. Serve on the blanched turnip greens. Sprinkle with sudachi lime juice.

Kabu. Peel, slice very thinly. You should be able to read a newspaper through a slice. I use a peeler.Place the slices in salted fresh water, let 15 minutes. Mince a small amount of greens. Drain the slices, squeeze well, add the greens, black pepper and broken walnuts. Mix well.

You have a nice veggie side dish, fresh and crunchy.

A delicious dragon fruit (from Philippines).

A nice meal.

Rei-kishimen, fresh noodles for a tropical lunch

We are now having a nice Summer weather, as during official Summer, we were inside a sauna. So it’s ideal to lunch with rei men (chilled noodles) and enjoy hot weather fruits.
You don’t see the noodles ? It’s because they are hidden under.

They are kishimen, a type of flat udon particularly popular in Aichi, the region of Nagoya. (read more)
Served cold, they remind some white Chinese noddles they serve in Pekin’s streets.

Salmon slices ready for sashimi (it has to be frozen, don’t forget if the fishmonger didn’t do it).

Ceviche : I just covered with kabosu citrus juice cut at 50% with water, kabosu zest, a little sea salt. Let only a few minutes. The more you wait, the more your fish will be cooked.

My grandma’s technique to cut parsley thinly (yep, with scissors).

4 layers :
-a bed of grated cucumbers and minced parsley, slightly salted and later pressed to get out excess water
–kishimen noodles, boiled, refreshed in iced water
-onion slices (salted, let, rinsed) and kikuna chrysanthemum greens
-salmon kabosu ceviche

Mix and you have a very fresh salad meal.

Dragon fruit and litchis for dessert. Natto-wasabi as a side :

Thai green and greenery

Another green curry…

Green fish curry and green asparagus sudachi lemon bifun rice noodles

Pistachio butter chicken curry

The head is not less good than the body in the fish… It’s better, the flesh is more delicate. And fishmongers don’t know what to do of so many heads because most people only buy “squares of fish”. That’s a great way to eat fresh fish for cheap.

Green curry paste, coconut milk and local veggies… today in my fridge I found broccoli, aubergine (diced), onion (diced), ginger (diced), celery stalk (sliced), shishito peppers, green hot chili, green yuzu and basil leaves.

This is not Thai rice… but sticky rice steamed the Thai way. It can be taken with the hand and dipped into the sauce :

While the curry is cooking, you have a few minutes to carve the “crudites” (raw veggies)… oh, kind of carve.

Not yet ready to eat, here is my Thai tree. It’s a dragon fruit tree :

This tree has a story. I bought it at the local supermarket and they seem as knowledgeable as me at gardening. So I was wondering what I could do with those tails that were growing and falling ridiculously like… ahem… well, a dozen of visitors suggested that. I was seriously thinking of castrating the dragon and use the bits to make small ones. But, my friend Al-Franssouah save its life by posting photos of dragon fruit tree in Thailand. They make them grow up around a pole. I didn’t cut anything as you can see…
Donc, le dragon dit “Merci chef !”. Car il serait mort, je crois. J’ai un peu la poisse du jardinage. Soit les boutures prennent et la plante mere perit immediatement, soit les boutures pourrissent, et la mere meurt de chagrin.
Now, when will I get fruits ?

Dragon fruit dessert

Banana tofu pudding from Cooking with Kait’s blog

That’s stolen -no borrowed, she can still eat hers- from the blog Cooking with Kait .
Dragon fruit replaced the berries… and the agave syrup, I think there was some already inside my bananas.

Those colorful dragon fruits come from Vietnam. Finding berries is not so easy in Asia. The stawberry season is ending. The others are really exotic. So we get them in small amounts, and without much flavor.

For 1 banana-serving :
Cal 323 F9.4g C48.3g P14.4g