Saba no misoni (miso mackerel)

鯖の味噌煮 saba no misoni, mackerel simmered in miso.
Mackerel is a smelly fish, isn’t it ? Not in this recipe. The rich sauce perfectly show-cases this rich fish.

I first bring to boil 1/2 cup of sake with a few slices of ginger and a piece of chili pepper. On low hear, add the fish, cover. When the fish is done, add 1 tbs of miso, 1/2 tbs of brown sugar, simmer a little.

Serve with fresh ginger on top.

Renkon, lotus root. It’s a common vegetable in Asia. It is sold fresh or pre-boiled. That’s very different.

It has to be well washed, peeled. Then you can cook like a carrot, in multiple ways.

I stir-fried it. I sprinkled on it sudachi lime juice, and cut skin of sudachi.

4 sides : steamed green peppers,
wakame konnyaku with fresh wasabi,
suimono (soup of shiitake mushroom,
hijiki seaweed and goji berries),
silky tofu.

A multi-dish quick lunch.

Ginger makkoli stewed chicken

Chicken and shiitake mushrooms cooked with makkoli, the Korean fermented rice drink. I’m probably not the only person on the planet doing it but that was an improvisation and I loved the result.

So this is the weapon used for the crime. I’ve associated it to ginger and kuko (goji berries) to remind Korean medicinal drinks.

Cook onion, fresh shiitake mushroom a little in oil.
Then add a chicken breast, a few slices of fresh ginger, a sip of soy sauce, cover with makkoli. Cover, let on low heat.
When the meat is tender, break it in big pieces with a fork. Add goji berries, fresh spinach and a little potato starch if you want a thicker sauce. Cook slowly 5 more minutes.

Served on home-made tortilla colored with turmeric, with kimchi as a side.

And a glass of chilled makkoli.

Cake for gold days

At the color of the light… bits of sweet potato and goji berries in a soft almond perfumed cake.
That’s another ok’ cake, with 2 small additions :

Sweet potatoes. Boiled. Chunked with their cute pink skin. Wet with vanilla essence.

Kuko (goji berries).
After baking, I poured on a few drops of bitter almond.

Perfect !

Coupe glaciale. Refreshing loquats in crushed ruby.

Rainy season brings heavy humidity. Not a weather to eat Sacher torte. Here is something better for the season.

Chill the components…
Loquats. To peel, empty and cut.
Goji berry jelly, slightly flavored with honey. It’s nearly neutral in taste so it doesn’t interfer with delicate loquat flavor.

Crush the jelly into lovely crystals.

Add the fruits.

Stop breathing…open the mouth…
Fffffff….. feels great.

Edamame tofu, 3 ways to enjoy the pastel green flan

Tofu made of edamame, you can buy it or make it (click here).
Classic, with grated wasabi and nama shoyu soy sauce.

Unmold it, pour a crown of sauce around, a chestnut of wasabi on top.

Seasonal, with kinome on top and a sweet tsuyu (reheat kombu dashi stock with a little mirin and soy sauce, bring to boil, let cool).

Sweet for the small flower.

Drizzle honey on it. Top with dry fruits (goji berries).
You can have it as a dessert. Actually, that would be a dish like another in an Asian meal. There was no notion of finishing with a dessert, even if it is sometimes done now, due to Western in influence.