Champilège 2 : amuse-shiitake

Amuse-gueules are small stuff to entertain your snout. The hat of a shiitake is the perfect size.

Shiitake mushrooms.

Soaked bulgur is the base, with red onion, garlic, thyme, olive oil, salt, pepper…

Baked till golden. Serve hot.

Spahis ? Kaki sfeeha.

Japanese-Lebanese-Gourmande fusion : Lebanese sfiha (sfeeha, small meat pies) with Japanese kaki, and coconut tzatziki.

Cut thinly lamb meat, season with salt. Cut a little kaki persimmon. Cut onion and kabocha pumpkin in small cubes, garlic thinly, stir-fry with lamb fat. Season with a little salt, cumin, cinnamon, nutgmeg, black pepper. Add the meat and fruit to the onions. Shred a few leaves of mint and some fresh thyme, add them.

Dough : flour, cumin seeds, a little baking powder, a drizzle of olive oil. Mix. Add just enough hot water to form a ball.

Take a ball of dough, spread in a circle, put filling in the middle and pinch the squares to form a basket.

Paint with olive oil and bake.

Garnish with a drizzle of olive oil, chili flakes and mint leaves. Serve hot.

Tzatziki : cucumbers and a little goya (bitter squash), the sauce is made with coconut cream, garlic, mint and thyme.

The perfect pair.

Pumpkin curry with wined chestnuts, cilantro falafels

A deliciously flavored soup curry, with kabocha, wine flavored kuri chestnuts and hanamame giant beans. And a side of cilantro falafels. Some people are genetically designed to hate cilantro/coriander and it takes a really bad taste in their mouth. That’s really sad. I have to luck to appreciate this herb and I never have enough of it.

Soaked chick peas, mixed with onion, coriander (root, stalk, leaves), chili flakes, Sichuan pepper, salt.

Served with a dip of harissa… well it’s mixed with tomato sauce. Cucumbers, cilantro (the leaves) and shikwasa citrus salad.

Mmm… a dream if you love both falafels and coriander.

Kabocha pumpkin curry :
A cut of steamed kabocha, steamed with skin. Pasted with 1/2 block of tofu, 1 tbs of Japanese curry spice mix, 2 tbs of sakekasu sake lees, salt, water. I simmered the mix till it became thick. Garnished with hanamame beans and wined chestnuts :

White wine chestnuts :
That’s ideal if you have chestnut that start to dry a little.
Soak them 2 hours, then you can easy cut out the hard shell.
In fresh water, soak overnight, you can then take away the inner skin. Most of it. A large part of it. Actually, you want to leave a small amount for flavor. Break them in 2 or 3 parts.
Then I’ve drained the chestnuts, put in rice cooker, added a glass of white wine, a little sugar, a pinch of salt, 1/2 glass of water (to cover). Switched on. That stopped when the liquid had evaporated. You can do it in a pan or a crock-pot, simply simmer very gently.
They are good to add to sauces and dishes, just a few to pinpoint. You will discover the refined taste.

A nice meal, rich in legumes and fragrances.

Oya imo taro on green sauce béchamel

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.