Another simple plant-based lunch…
Cooked couscous, with turmeric, ras-el-hanout spice mix, carrot chips and sweet corn. Cherry tomatoes. Rape blossoms.
Pattzukis (azuki bean patties) and goya (bitter squash).
Add a little harissa.
2 plates for a lunch ready in 10 minutes.
A slice of tai (seabream)cooked nearly like a dessert, with warm cake flavors : vanilla, almond… Chilled noodles. Greens. Natto. That makes a hot day lunch.
I first stir-fried the renkon (lotus root, sliced) and onion (sliced), put them aside. Then in the same pan, the fish with a little bit of star anise, salted. In a cup, I mixed saffron, vanilla powder, water, a pinch of sugar. 1/4 ts of potato starch. I’ve added to the fish when it was cooked, turned 2 or 3 times while reheating on low heat. I finished with a few drop of almond oil.
Steamed na-no-hana (rape blossoms) with sesame seeds.
Somen : thin wheat vermicelli. It’s boiled, refreshed in fresh water and served in a bowl of iced water. Next to it a dipping sauce : dashi (fish broth), black rice vinegar, onion et soy sauce.
Another little side, natto with nira (garlic chives) and onion.
My green fix, with nanohana (rape blossoms.
With some râpées (grated potatoes, with cut of nanohana and parsley).
The soup is made of the stalks and bigger leaves of the nanohana, juiced. And some fresh sakekasu (sake lees). The soup is cooked a few minutes till it thickens.
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That’s a new one. It’s less sweet than the Autumn one, but still sweet and mellow. That balances the bitterness of the vegetable.
Steamed blossoms to complete. That’s a a very green lunch.
Two flowers and a dish of spaghetti. Happy !
My beloved nanohana are back on the market. They are the unopened blossoms of rape (the plant to make rapeseed/canola oil) and the greens around.
Lots of leaves… They sell some like that, with lots of stalk, cheaply. It’s possible to buy only the blossom part and the first leaves, and it’s more expensive.
The pasta dish is very simple. I blanched the nanohana in the pasta water (1 minute before the end). Then added on the pasta, with parsley, salt, olive oil.
There are still some edible miniature chrysanthemum. I think it’s good to eat flowers to fight pollen allergy. So I just placed them as toppings.
A side dish : natto, kimchi, and cut shungiku (chrysanthemum leaves).
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.
Some vitamins to fight the Winter plagues. The greens are sanchu Korean lettuce. Then some pickled young ginger.
Plated.
Blanched fresh soba with nanohana (rape greens). On that, a classic miso soup. The red bits are a dry togarashi chili.
GOURMANDE in OSAKA 