Osaka negiyaki, powered up.

ねぎ焼き negiyaki
A fresh blog of the classic popular food of Osaka to replace or complete the old tuto.
Keep it really simple and don’t believe you need many ingredients, as it’s originally poor people cuisine, that was made with what was available that day. It’s easily made plant-based.

Here is a typical list of variations of negiyaki you can order in shops around here :

牛すじねぎ焼き　gyusuji negiyaki (beef tendon)
豚ねぎ焼き buta negiyaki (pork)
イカねぎ焼き ika … (calamari)
えびねぎ焼き ebi … (shrimps)
豚キムチねぎ焼き buta kimchi … (pork kimchi)
牛すじキムチねぎ焼き gyusuji kimchi … (beef tendon kimchi)
牛すじもちねぎ焼き gyusuji mochi … (beef tendon mochi)
牛すじしょうがねぎ焼き gyusuji shoga …(beef tendon ginger)
ミックスねぎ焼き mix negiyaki …(=we’ll open the fridge and push everything there’s in into your dish)

Check list :
–negi leeks and nikomi (or any other)
-batter
-sauces and garnishing powders
-options : egg, tenkasu
-hot plate and oil

Osaka style :
Options and garnishing (negi and nikomi) are added to the batter at the last minute. Each guest chooses additions or not.

Negi, scallions, Spring onions…. that’s the base of the dish. You need lots of negi greens. Cut thinly.

This is konnyaku eringi ginger nikomi (recipe here).
I am probably the only person putting this in negiyaki. The classic version is : konnyaku gyusuji nikomi.
The gyusuji is beef tendon, with the meat that stays around, and that’s a very cheap cut of beef. It is prepared the same way I prepared the eringi. You can make some other meat or mushroom stew as you like.

BATTER, gourmande style :
Grated nagaimo (about 1/2 cup), flour (1 cup), fish flakes. And enough water to get a creamy texture. Whip well.

Grating the yama imo

Veg’ version : skip the fish flakes, replace water by vegan kombu dashi (recipe here).
Gluten free version : replace flour by rice flour.
Imo free version : replace by grated potato or corn starch + a little baking powder.

Options :

They are not necessary for the classic version, but if you feel more hungry or like them, add what you want, that’s the rule of the game (okonomi = what you want). These 2, you read about on many blogs, they are often found in the rest of Japan, not so systematically here in Osaka :

Egg. The reasons to not add to the original batter :
-some people don’t want egg (it’s the biggest allergy in Japan)
– texture, with egg, it would make it a harder pancake. In many shops, they add the egg whole egg onto the rest, already on the hotplate and break it and mix with chopsticks.

Tenkasu. Tempura crumbles.

Others :
beni shoga pickled ginger,
kimchi,
raw meat, raw seafood,
mochi (rice cakes, use the tiny cubes arare, or thin slices),
tofu, cheese,
other veggies, sausage, ham, veggie pickles (tsukemono), salty seafood…

Heat the hot plate (your skillet). Pass oil with a kitchen paper.

MIXING :
In a bowl, put a cup of negi, 1/4 cup of nikomi, other options, a whole egg if you use it, a cup of batter. You can add more fish flakes if you wish. Mix roughly with chopsticks or a fork.

COOKING
Pour everything on the plate, at middle heat. You can cover or not. When it’s all hardened, flip with 2 spatulas. (I cut it in 2 to flip with only one spatula… who cares ?).

TOPPINGS :

All optional, as you like it, if you want some. A bare negiyaki is good too.

Sauce and mayo :

-the sauce is a thickened and sweetened worcester. The original sauce (called Ikari) was a copycat of LeaPerrins, sold to Kobe’s Brit expats.
Here I have a ready sauce, which is plant-based. If you don’t have it, LeaPerrins steak sauce is very similar. Or thicken the liquid classic worcester with corn starch (simmer a little, sweeten to taste) or by mixing with ketchup. Many shops make their sauce that way.Use a brush to paint it on the top.

-the mayonnaise. It is made more liquid by adding either milk, white wine or lemon juice. (to make easy egg mayo /// to make tofunaise).
To make nice drizzles, put the sauce and mayo in some plastic bottles with a tubular top. I don’t have that.

Variations :
-ketchup
–shoyu (soy sauce, thickened)
–ponzu (soy sauce + citrus juice)
-steak sauces

Powders (found in Japanese grocery stores) :
–kezuribushi fish flakes, or fish powder
–aonori seaweed
–shichimi togarashi, 7 spice mix

SERVING
When it’s cooked, put the heat on minimum, decorate.
Let on the plate while eating. Cut small wedges that you push toward guests that can heat directly from the plate, or on a small plate, while the rest stays hot.

Green nest sushi

That’s my ideal. Good simple food. With a twist.
Here is a new version of mehari-zushi (sushi in pickled leaf). Again ? Well, those leaves can be stored years when you buy them -or when you make them properly. But mines have to be eaten within the week…

Hatsuga genmai (germinated brown rice) and ukon (turmeric). This yellow spice is a common addition to the pickle.

Green egg shaped edamame (boiled green soy beans).

Wrapped in leaves of takana (mustard greens, pickled). So technically, they are not sushi without vinegar, but they become sour enough thanks to the leaves.

about takana-zuke (click here)

With sencha green tea. That’s all what you need.

Green duet. Herb and prune pounti, and cucumber lemon balm salad

A big pounti pie, and 2 small ones…
I made this dish before and there is some explanation of its origins as a French peasant dish :
about the “pounti aux pruneaux”

I had really lots of herbs around. Can you name them ?

Starting easy : Spinach.

Parsley.

Shiruna, beet greens.

Karashina (takana), mustard greens. If you follow this blog you’ve seen them (here)

Tarragon.

Marjoram.

A milky cuke salad, flavored with fresh lemon balm. I had big huge cucumbers like in France. The local ones are much smaller usually.

There are prunes in the pountis. The sweet and savory contrast is excellent.

Takana-zuke pickled leaves at home (failed and corrected)

高菜 takana (literally ‘tall leaves’) is a type of large mustard green very popular in Japan. There are even different types of it. Usually it is prepared in tsukemono (pickled) called 高菜漬 takana-zuke.

First weight the leaves. Then wash them under fresh water and put them to dry outside in the sun.

After 2 hours : They are dry, still soft.

Necessary ingredient : 2% of the weight of leaves of natural sea salt.
Optional for flavoring : a piece of kombu seaweed, a dry chili

Put the salt all around the leaves. I put some on the stalk and fold in 2. Put them in a freezing bag with the flavorings.
After 15 minutes, they are already softer, push out the air and close the bag. Place in the fridge.
You are supposed to press the veggies in a pickle press. I have no idea where mine is. So I squeezed the veggies very tight, then placed the bag under something heavy. And squeezed again the next day…

Then… that doesn’t work ! After 2 days, the progress was too slow. FAIL !!!!
So I have added water to cover the leaves and 3 grams of salt per cup. So that’s another recipe now. The next day :

Yeah, much better. I can now make :

mehari sushi

Matelotte de truite ayu

A matelotte is a French river fish stew, with a creamy wine sauce. It’s out of fashion now, which is a shame. It’s really delicious. Well you need good river fish. When I was a kid, we often had neighbors that were emptying their fish pond, and we had some more often that we wished. Now it’s a rarity.