White waterfall (konnyaku noodles, shirataki)

糸こんにゃく (itokonnyaku) or しらたき(shirataki). They are noddles made of konnyaku. Shirataki means white waterfall as that’s what they look like. And who doesn’t want to eat a fresh mountain torrent in this season ?

Myoga, a veggie related to ginger. Delicious raw.

The noodles are sold in bundles that can unfold or not if you want to cook them in a hot pot. I simply rinsed them in cold water.

That’s a food without calories and it’s popular in the West some diet extremists. I don’t eat konnyaku in order to stuff my face without getting the calories. The food is appreciated in Japan for its texture and the lack of flavor that allows you to match to any flavorful food. A perk is konnyaku fiber favors smooth digestion.
These noddles, served chilled are very refreshing.

The tsuyu (dip sauce : dashi broth + soy sauce + mirin) with grated daikon radish. All the flavor comes from it so the tsuyu has to be coarse. I added green yuzu slices and the myoga.

Natto with mustard.

A small gaspacho.

Bought black gomadofu (black sesame tofu). You can make yours (recipe). This one is sweet. I served as dessert it with a yamamomo berry.

Tofu : tout !

Reblog from the “tofu page”

It’s compilation on the tofu topic…I add data regularly.

3 main tofu textures :

You have Japanese tofu that is :
kinu-dofu, silky tofu
momen-dofu, cotton tofu (translated as *firm tofu* in English)
Both are soft and watery. The first is very soft like egg pudding, the second is soft like starch pudding.
Really firm and dry tofu, the one that has a texture closer to meat is popular in China. It’s uncommon in Japan, except ….

Bottom line : If you like firm tofu…

Goma-dofu maison

On peut acheter le tofu de sesame… partout au Japon. C’est une des specialites des bonzes de Koya-san, la cite de temple dans les montagnes de Nara.
Mais, c’est tres simple a faire. Ca prend 3 minutes.

Les 2 ingredients essentiels sont du kudzu starch (kuzu-ko)
nerigoma (tahini, beurre de sesame).
Dans une casserole, melanger 400 ml d’eau (2 verres), 2 cuilleres a soupe de kudzu (30 g), 4 cuilleres de nerigoma (40 g), une pincee de sel. Cuire a feu moyen, en remuant constamment a la spatule. Des que ca epaissit, oter du feu. On obtient une creme encore liquide. Si c’est trop epais, rajouter un peu d’eau et recuire un peu.

Mouiller des moules. Ne pas essuyer. Verser le melange, laisser refroidir, mettre au frigo (2 heures mini pour demouler).

Demouler, ou pas. Servir, par exemple, avec un peu de sauce (soja, bouillon, sucre…), ou comme ici avec du yuzu-koshio.

Making yuzu kosho

C’est bien cremeux. On peut augmenter la proportion de sesame, mais il faut reduire les portions car c’est plus gras.

La recette japonaise traditionnelle se fait a partir de graines de sesame que l’on ecrase au mortier.
Variantes populaires : avec du neri-goma brun (sesame grille) ou noir, ou avec du beurre de cacahuetes. On peut bien sur utiliser d’autres beurres de noix et de graines.

Tofu and faux tofu

It’s compilation on the tofu topic…

Tofu is soy milk curded with nigari. But some other products not based on soy milk are called tofu because of their texture and appearance.
Tofu ? dofu ? toufu ? doufu ? The only proper spelling is 豆腐. It’s a matter of transcription. The “t” tends to become a “d” in second part of words in Japanese. And in Chinese it’s written “d” and you read “t”. And the “o” is long.

Choosing tofu :

There are huge differences of quality. It can be delicious or absolutely terrible. I wouldn’t want to eat again in this life time all the weirdly packaged tofus I have eaten in Europe and North-America. Maybe I had bad luck. Also in the US, the soy is GMO.

The second thing is you have to buy the right type.
Most Westerners don’t really understand the different types, and I’ve been there too. So maybe this can help. It’s a simplification, but start here :

3 main tofu textures :

You have Japanese tofu that is :
kinu-dofu, silky tofu
momen-dofu, cotton tofu (translated as *firm tofu* in English)
Both are soft and watery. The first is very soft like egg pudding, the second is soft like starch pudding.
Really firm and dry tofu, the one that has a texture closer to meat is popular in China. It’s uncommon in Japan, except in Okinawa, were Japanese and Chinese traditions cross their path. So here it is called 島豆腐 shima tofu, “island tofu“, and in Osaka, I have to buy in “ethnic stores”.
The 3 are made with different recipes.

Bottom line : If you like soft tofu, buy it from a Japanese maker (well, a maker making ingredients for Japanese cuisine as of course it’s not a question of nationality). If you like firm tofu, buy it from a Chinese or an Okinawan maker. Other Asian countries tend to make the firm varieties traditionally.

Gourmande’s home-made tofu :

Basic recipe :
ultra fresh torori tofu (from soy milk and nigari)