Hot plate yakisoba with pickled ginger

Yakisoba, Japanese fried noodles. They are often made on the hot plate like their cousin okonomiyaki and actually that was the same day as this. Emi is the chef.
What gives flavor to the dish is often beni shooga, red pickled ginger. Look at this :

Emi’s homemade. You can see the ginger roots in vinegar with leaves of red shiso that bring the color.

The cut ginger.

Ingredients are common with okomiyaki : cabbage (cut in squares), pork breast… and it’s the same okonomiyaki/Worcester sauce. Add to this negi leeks.

And the noodles. They are home-made egg noodles.

Simple and delicious.

Spicy crazy ramen burger (black bean burger part 2)

Ramen burger ! Yeah, and it’s probably addictive. At least, my version is. You should really try.
If you wonder who came with this crazy idea, here is a little historic explanation. Everybody knows Fukushima, the region is famous for its… atomically good ramen. Well that’s a true.
喜多方ラーメン (Kitakata ramen) from the town of Kitakata are said to be one of the 3 best in Japan.
ramen source “tourist info”
They are ramen, topped with chashu (pork roast), a slice of surimi, menma bamboo shoots, negi… Then one shop had the idea to make to round patties of broth flavored noodles and serve the toppings inside :
ramen burger kitakata ramen-burger
source “the restaurant that started the ra’burger”
They have then been copied all by many others.

So, I have not followed their recipe at all. I’ve used a home-made black bean burger and improvised my fried noodles :
making the burger (click here).

Here are toppings. My sauce : neri goma (pasted sesame, tahini), rice vinegar, miso, a little sugar, paprika, chili pepper and turmeric.

The construction : a round of pan-fried ramen, a layer of greens, a bean burger, a good amount of sauce, pickled ginger, a second round of ramen, cut coriander leaves.

That’s a complete Spring spicy ramen burger. And it’s really delicious.

I tried to eat it with the hands, and I got greasy fingers, that I had to lick after… A sort of burger case would be convenient. I should get some printed at my name.

3 simple sushi

A sushi lunch. Whole and basic.

The rice is genmai (brown rice), simply flavored. This first is a makizushi filled with goya bitter squash, wrapped in nori.

Ginnan (ginkgo nut) and natto.

They are the fruits of ginkgo tree, that I always mispell. They are gathered and cleaned Autumn (the outer part stinks, really).

I broke the shell, took it away, boiled the nuts and took out the little skin. It’s also possible to slightly break the shell and then roast them. They have to be eaten in small amounts to avoid toxicity. Well 4 is OK.

Natto sesame. It’s an uramaki, with the rice rolled around.

With wasabi and pickled ginger. Soy sauce too. Served with sencha green tea.

Creamy ginger okara patties

Pan-fried patties that are very creamy inside but that’s not cream at all.

When I made tofu, I had squeezed ground tofu beans in a cloth and inside I had those grounds called okara :

Mixed with a little potato starch (that serves as a binder), a little miso, grated carrot, minced onion, a few sesame seeds.

I added minced pickled ginger,like the one serve with sushi. And used some more as a topping. You never have too much ginger to fight those Winter viruses and colds.

Soba miso soup and grilled aji fish

Classic Japanese food, in a not so classic meal presentation. There would be rice normally. That doesn’t matter, as long as it’s colorful and good.

Shioyaki aji. The aji are Japanese jack mackerels. They look like sardines but you can recognize them by the “zip” on their side. I’ve simply cleaned and emptied them them, sprinkled salt and grilled a few minutes under the broiler.