Sashimi lunch

A classic Japanese meal around a dish of sashimi. I prepared the sides.

Steamed kabocha pumpkin and ninniku no me garlic stalks. With soy sauce.

**I simply place the veggies in a steaming basket on top of a boiling water pot, or in the steaming mode of the microwave. Thin kabocha slices take 8 to 10 minutes. Garlic stalks only need 3 o 4 minutes to be at my taste. I add sesame seeds and soy sauce when I serve them.

The sashimi : ika (calamari), buri (yellow tail) and ama ebi (nordic shrimps).

An umeboshi (salted plum).

Tofu with oboro kombu (seaweed), seasoned with the soy sauce left after the sashimi dipping.

**How to choose or make tofu.

The miso soup with hijiki seaweed, shimeji mushrooms and kintoki red carrots.

Making miso soup

Add rice. That’s a complete Japanese menu.

**Cooking Japanese rice

Konnyaku and eringii in ginger nikomi

An easy Japanese dish.

Konnyaku (konjac). You can use blocks too, just cut them in slices or cubes.

Eringi mushrooms, cut in cubes.

Ginger. Minced. I put a good amount.

Kombu seaweed. A small cut. Later after cooking, I cut it into ribbons.
Soy sauce and mirin (or sake + sugar), 3 tbs of each. A little red hot chili if you want. Cover with water. Let simmer. I cooked 30 minutes.

Reheat the next day. Enjoy as a rice topping, a side dish or in negiyaki.

Chilled miso somen soup

A very simply lunch, for a busy hot day.

Boil a bundle of somen noodles. with 1/2 onion. Refresh in cold water. Put in a bowl cover with iced water.

In a second pan, make a dashi stock with kombu seaweed and dry shiitake mushroom. Add veggies (okra, bell pepper, edamame). When they’re cooked, mix in a tbs of miso and refresh with ice-cubes.

Combine the noodles and the soup. I’ve let the shiitake and I’ve cut a few ribbons from the piece of kombu seaweed.
Add toppings :

Ribbons of nori seaweed cut from a sheet. The color is slightly purple as that’s raw nori (often for sushi, it’s grilled). I’ve also added sesame, chili flakes and sticks of peel of kinosu lime (the yellow bits).

Takana-zuke pickled leaves at home (failed and corrected)

高菜 takana (literally ‘tall leaves’) is a type of large mustard green very popular in Japan. There are even different types of it. Usually it is prepared in tsukemono (pickled) called 高菜漬 takana-zuke.

First weight the leaves. Then wash them under fresh water and put them to dry outside in the sun.

After 2 hours : They are dry, still soft.

Necessary ingredient : 2% of the weight of leaves of natural sea salt.
Optional for flavoring : a piece of kombu seaweed, a dry chili

Put the salt all around the leaves. I put some on the stalk and fold in 2. Put them in a freezing bag with the flavorings.
After 15 minutes, they are already softer, push out the air and close the bag. Place in the fridge.
You are supposed to press the veggies in a pickle press. I have no idea where mine is. So I squeezed the veggies very tight, then placed the bag under something heavy. And squeezed again the next day…

Then… that doesn’t work ! After 2 days, the progress was too slow. FAIL !!!!
So I have added water to cover the leaves and 3 grams of salt per cup. So that’s another recipe now. The next day :

Yeah, much better. I can now make :

mehari sushi

Blue fish for blue Japanese lunch

Today, I’m eating イワシの塩焼き iwashi no shioyaki , salt grilled sardines. It’s a cheap local fish that brings a good amount of healthy fats. And it’s very tasty.