Red daikon, red mochi.

A colorful version of the Chinese snack that is called in Japan daikon mochi and I can’t pronounce any of its names in Chinese dialects… Well, radish cake.

I washed and grated my red skin daikon radish. It’s white inside as usual.

I steamed the daikon. Added an equivalent volume of mochiko (sticky rice flour) with enough water to get it creamy. For flavoring : salt, chili pepper flakes, dry shiitake mushroom, fish flakes (skip for vegan version). And fried slices of garlic.

I steamed the cakes. Let them chill.

Then pan-fried cuts of very cold cakes in sesame oil. They become creamy inside, crispy around. The flower is a slice of raw daikon.

For sauce : sweet chili sauce + Bulldog Worcester style sauce.

Today’s bibinbap

Korean lunch : bibinbap, the colorful rice bowl.
Put rice to cook in the cooker and let’s go :

Namul veggies (preparation here)

Azuki-natto : I heated onion and cooked azuki beans with a little oil. When the onions were cooked, added a little miso and natto and mashed roughly.

The soup is soaking water of shiitake mushrooms (those used for the namul), in it, I cooked mini-radish and added cubes of silky tofu.
Also get some kimchi, a egg yolk and fragrant sesame oil.

Put all the garnishing veggies on very hot rice, add a egg yolk, a drizzle of sesame oil. Serve with the hot soup.

Add a little broth in the bowl, mix and enjoy :

Autumn namul

Namul is the name of Korean style blanched veggies.

The boring supermarket version, all year round the same :
namul set
Boiled spinach, soy bean sprouts, zenmai fern and daikon radish.

Home-made version, in Spring.
So this time with Autumn produce :

I had suguna kabocha. I grated and steamed it, added only sesame oil and garlic.

Soy bean sprouts, steamed, with soy sauce, a little hot chili, garlic, sesame oil.

Konnyaku. I’ve added re-hydrated shiitake mushrooms. with soy sauce, a little hot chili, garlic, sesame oil. Let overnight.

Leafy radish. Blanched and refreshed the greens in cold water. Added garlic and sesame oil.

The 4 dishes :

Oroshi udon, Kyoto style noodles

Oroshi udon literally means grated udon. That’s not that the noodles are grated, but because some grated daikon radish (oroshi daikon) garnishes them. It’s very refreshing and many Japanese style fast-food offer this dish : chilled udon noodles, grated daikon and tsuyu sauce.

細うどん hosoi udon, thin udon noodles. They are said to be Kyoto style udon, but they are popular in Osaka too. I think thicker udon is better for Winter dishes and these are more refreshing.

The grated daikon radish, cut negi leek greens a few flakes of togarashi chili.

It’s tsuyu.
I made a fish flake dashi (recipe here), flavored with soy sauce and a little brown sugar. Served chilled.

卵焼きtamago yaki (Japanese omelet rolls) and okra.

Cream water melon. Taste is like the red one.

Black beans, Korean wind

Another nutritive and easy plant based lunch, warmed up by Korean condiments.

Season plant : mini-daikon. I briefly steam them.

I’ve boiled 500 g of kuromame black soy beans. I have a stock for New Year. And some more.

I just added stuff around.

Gim. Korean nori. Sheets of seaweed. The weeds are small leaves in the water, they become small flakes. They are cooked into sheets on a hot plate.

Korean make them less smooth than the Japanese ones, and usually more flavored. That seems more labor intensive as you can’t just press the sheet. But I’ve not seen those being made.