Sesame and sesame ramen

A warm ramen lunch to fight the chilly weather.Nothing goes better with pork broth than the nuttiness of toasted sesame.

I bought the noddles and the soup (tonkotsu pork broth).

The reheat noddles and toppings. Sliced ginger and kujo negi leeks. Toasted sesame and kiku chrysanthemum. And on top of that, a little mix of miso, toasted sesame and garlic, pasted together.

A very filling side dish : veggies in gochujang Korean sauce. There are okra, kuromame black soy beans, ninniku no me garlic stalks…

…slices of ukon turmeric.

Kuromame no shiso-ni : black beans, shiso and rice

Rice and beans, Japanese style. I think the shiso flavor is a nice companion for black beans and I had already paired them :

shiso bean empanadas

Kuromame, black soy beans. Soaked and boiled. They take lots of time to cook… depending on size and how old they are. Hard to predict, but don’t start now and expect serving them for next meal. Cook them the day before.

So I recooked the boiled beans in an oiled pan with onion, garlic, cumin seeds, a little paprika, salt. When the onions were cooked I’ve covered with bean cooking broth, let simmer. At the end, added cut shiso leaves in the beans, and some on top.

It’s a mix of genmai (brown rice) and akamai (red rice).

A simple soup : nameko mushrooms, hijiki seaweeds (dried), water. Then a little soy sauce when it’s cooked.

Steamed mizunasu aubergines and shiitake mushrooms.

Komatsuna no ohitashi (boiled and refreshed) with gomadare sesame dressing.

Deconstructed inari soba and 4 treasure mozuku soup

Inari-zushi are sushi in little pockets like this (click). I wanted to make a variation , inari soba, with soba noodles instead of rice but I made a technical mistake, so the taste is here, delicious, but the shape, not at all… The second dish is a seaweed and veggie soup.

Abura-age (fried tofu) simmered in a broth of soy sauce, paprika, with a little chili and garlic.
MY MISTAKE : I forgot to open the pockets before simmering. And later, that was… impossible without tearing all apart.

I have made kujo negi into threads :

I’ve salted slightly and mixed with fresh soba buckwheat noodles (boiled 1 minute, then cooled in iced water, drained).

So I’ve placed the noodles on top of the pockets. The project was to fill them.

Fresh edamame from kuromame (black soy beans)

You need to cook them. It’s possible to rub the pods with salt and boil them that way, or to open as I did.

Inspired from a Chinese soup. I’ve cooked green and black edamame, dices of kabocha pumpkin and slices of okra. I’ve added sea salt and mozuku seaweed to the cooled broth. A few slices of sudachi lime bring fruity acidity.

Mixed baby leaves, plus mitsuba and cherry tomatoes.

My lunch !

Tama konnyaku, tama aubergine

玉 tama in Japanese means sphere, ball. Like an egg (tamago), or an eggplant (=aubergine). That’s today’s topic.

Tama konnyaku. They are balls of konnyaku. At this point, they are flavorless, and zero calories. No interest except that they favor digestion. And they have a cute shape. And the texture is pleasant. And they will catch the flavor of spicing… So, it’s very interesting for me.
I bought the balls, but you can carve some from a block with a melon spoon.

After rinsing, I stir-fried them in a little oil with a few sticks of fresh ginger. Then added soy sauce, mirin, sake, powdered paprika and turmeric. Let simmer till the color is nice.

Ginger tama konnyaku, to eat hot with toothpicks. As you can see on the final photo, the inside stays white.

Natt’oats. Cooked oats with slices of ginger + kuromame black beans + natto + soy sauce + blanched spinach + hot chili + olive oil.

Arlequin aubergine :
-steam slices of aubergine, paint with olive oil, bake
-garnish with tomato paste + salt , add a tbs of pesto and bits of yellow pepper. Drizzle olive oil.Bake again.

Summer salad with argan oil and black beans

Black beans have a Winter image… I refreshed them with greens and juicy items for a nutritive Summer salad meal.

Fragrant argan oil from Morocco, a little garlic, salt and balsamic vinegar for the dressing.

The companions of the kuromame (black soy beans, that were boiled and frozen) are edamame, sliced okra, shimeji mushrooms and green sweet chilis. I’ve added a little minced hot chili. I’ve steamed all that together. Added the dressing, let cool.