Black natto brunch

Tororo on my bowl of natto…

A nagaimo, a long yamaimo or Japanese yam. Naga means long. We often buy only a cut, but the root is 60 cm long or more.

Grated. Tororo tuto.

Like an apple or an avocado, grated yamaimo tends to oxidate and darken in color. Or not, and that’s not previsible. But that was the case with this one so I’ve added juice of sudachi lime to keep it relatively creamy in color. That’s also a nice flavor addition.

Black natto (fermented soy beans). It’s often paired with grated wasabi.

Natto with rice is a regular breakfast item in Japan. So just that with tororo and green tea. A nice simple brunch.

Matcha tres leches

My second tres leches cake has a Japanese tea twist.

The idea of adding tea was good, but this recipe has a big flaw, read at the end.

More about “tres leches” cake and basic recipe.

I made a simple cake with flour, baking powder and matcha green tea.

The cake was nice and fluffy but it didn’t hold its shape as well as the classic one when soaked.

Syrup of tres leches (3 milks) :
condensed milk + cow milk + DIY almond milk.

I had a leftover of syrup that I thickened with potato starch. I’ve used it to fill between the 2 layers of biscuit.

As you can see the filling became runny and the cake more like a pudding. But I liked the almond flavored matcha au lait taste.

Verdict : good in taste, not great in texture. Next time, I won’t use that type of biscuit. I think the basic sponge (biscuit de Savoie with egg) or okara cake keep their texture better when soaked.

Matcha tortilla tacos

A Mexican-Japanese fusion dish. I’ve added Japanese matcha tea, azuki beans and rice to tacos.

Azuki bean chili, with rice, green peppers, fresh thyme and dried tomatoes.

Wheat flour tortillas with matcha green tea powder.

Add a piece of steam corn cob. And wrap…

Stuffed onion rings with fresh laurel and shiokoji

It’s great to have tender leaves of fresh laurel. The taste is very different from the dried ones. So let’s make a little dish with them.

It’s a filling of mashed kuro mame black beans, chili pepper, a little potato starch, onion.

This white texture… You know this ? It is called shio koji, 塩麹, a fermented product made from rice, a by-product of making sake, miso, etc. It came back into fashion as an ingredient a few years ago.

You can read interesting (in English) at the Kojiya (the house of koji), a maker of koji.

The shio koji brings saltiness with a mellow sweet aftertaste. Interesting.

Then I’ve added a few finely shredded laurel leaves to the mix.