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.

Vivid Spring one plate lunch

Another quick and delicious meal full of veggies.

Stir-fry in olive oil, young onion, a dry chili. Add it ninniku no me (garlic stalks), green peas, fava beans, a cucumber cut in thick slices and al dente pasta.

Add tomato sauce (passata) and turmeric powder.

When sauce is absorbed, add spinach, and cut parsley …

…as a topping, with a few ribbons of raw new onion.

It’s crunchy and so green.

Midori negiyaki, always greener

A good lunch : midori negiyaki. Midori means green. Negiyaki is the Osakan hot-plate crepe filled with negi greens, the cousin of okonomiyaki. (Click here for a detailed recipe.)

Of course, a negiyaki is always green. Today, it’s greener, and garnished with an egg. It’s Spring !

How can it be greener ?
I have added to the batter, the grounds of juicing . Pasted spinach can do the trick too.

Also, I had a few stalks of spinach that served to volume up the negi. Normally, only the green part of negi is used, but I have kept some of the white and some onion that I stir-fried to decorate the bottom (and flavor it).

Cooking, adding the egg, covering, flipping…

Funny how the egg yolk popped up.

I garnished with Bulldog sauce (Japanese “Worcester”), fish flakes and dry chili.

First side-dish : hearts of romaine salad with black vinegar dressing.

Second side-dish : tofu. Yes, there is a dessert (more about it here).

Indian green curry as a perk of juicing

Palak saag, the Indian spinach curry is an excellent way to enjoy your greens. Today, I made it to recycle.

I had 4 days of this ! The grounds that stay in the filter when I make green juice:

I had 4 days : 1 of spinach, 1 of kikuna (chrysanthemum leaves) and 2 of komatsuna. A full cup.

Onion, garlic, ginger, whole spices…

The grounds and a powder mix for chana masala that contains mango and I find excellent. I also added 1 ts of black sugar.

That gives that mud. I’ve added silky tofu. On top, a tbs of olive oil, fresh veggies.
Mmmmm….

Preparing the tonyu nabe (soy milk Japanese hot pot)

The nabe (hot pot) has saved generations of Japanese from freezing in Winter in the chilly houses.

The broth makes the pot. It’s a tonyu nabe, the soup is tonyu (soy milk) that I freshly made.

Flavoring for the soup.

Veggies, many : spinach, bean sprouts, onion, carrot, red kabu turnip, edamame beans, shungiku, negi and nanohana greens.

Seafood : shrimps and cuts of tai fish. So it’s ready for tonight, when it will be too dark for photos.

It’s simple, heat the broth (don’t boil the soy milk), add flavoring… and dip in ingredients.