Stuffed onion rings with fresh laurel and shiokoji

It’s great to have tender leaves of fresh laurel. The taste is very different from the dried ones. So let’s make a little dish with them.

It’s a filling of mashed kuro mame black beans, chili pepper, a little potato starch, onion.

This white texture… You know this ? It is called shio koji, 塩麹, a fermented product made from rice, a by-product of making sake, miso, etc. It came back into fashion as an ingredient a few years ago.

You can read interesting (in English) at the Kojiya (the house of koji), a maker of koji.

The shio koji brings saltiness with a mellow sweet aftertaste. Interesting.

Then I’ve added a few finely shredded laurel leaves to the mix.

Cut slices of onion, the mixture inside, pan-fried.

Mmmm… simple and delicious. The fresh green hints are lovely.

Salad 1 : na no hana (rape blossoms), negi leeks, sansho peppercorns

Salad 2 : okra, tomato, onion.

No soup. Just iced green tea. And rice.