Grating wasabi

Grating wasabi for a refreshing tofu dish. That’s a combination of two interesting textures.

A fresh wasabi root. I’ve simple grated it. That’s very different from the product in the tube. More flavored and less strong.

Okra (gombos). They have a huge jelly strength hidden in them. Like this :

Okra tororo : blanched okra, chilled, pasted in the blender. Flavored to taste with grated wasabi and soy sauce.

You can, for instance, serve okra tororo with soba.

Frozen cotton tofu (momendofu). I froze the whole block in its water. Thawed. Press to push out the water, cut in cubes. As you can see, it has a bread like texture now.

In small cubes.

I’ve poured the tororo on the tofu.

Summer veggie tagine with merguez-keftas

Hot like hell ? Let’s escape. I’ve boarded the flying tagine for a culinary trip to couscous world.

Lots of veggies and grilled kefta-merguez.

Merguez are suppose to be sausages, the name implies the shape of ahem… Well I didn’t bother casing them.

I just prepared ground beef spiced like merguez filling. I made a random spice mix. There is garlic, a good dose of chili pepper and an insane amount of red paprika.

After forming round kefta balls, I pan-cooked them.

Then grilled.

Okra, bell peppers, aubergine, chick peas…

These watery veggies are hydrating, and the spicy balls help bearing the heat. Plus it’s mmmm….

With glue-glue sauce

A surprising spicy and playful vegan lunch. That’s very simple. I was not really inspired for the tittle.

3 quick plates :
-pasta,
–natto (fermented soy beans) with steamed okra mixed with mustard
-freeze-dry tofu stir-fry

You can buy Koya-dofu (blocks of dried tofu) and rehydrate them, or freeze some leftover of fresh tofu (squeeze well after defrosting). The tofu takes a sponge-like texture and a milky after-taste. I briefly pasted them in soy sauce, turmeric and sansho (Japanese Sichuan paper) and stir-fried with the beans, olive oil and garlic.
That’s really full of flavor and a set of interesting textures.

Both okra and natto have their “glue” texture. Mix and play.

Four beans in a gumbo

A good stew. That’s slow cooking for lazy people. You fill the pot and it cooks by itself.

Gumbo z’herbes (vegetarian). Chicken and sausage gumbo.

I had frozen some gumbo roux. So I used it with other items I had in the freezer and fridge :

Gombos (okras). As we say in my place, if my uncle had none, I’d call him “my aunt”. If my gumbo had no gombos, I’d call it a cassoulet.

Broad beans AKA favas.

White beans.

Black soy bean.
Natto (not frozen).
The fermented flavor of natto (fermented soy beans) gave a great touch here. So I thought : Let’s be crazy ! And I have salted with miso, another fermented product.