Okayu, rice porridge. An many pickles. It’s simple, colorful, feeling and very tasty.
I had a cold, not much appetite. That was perfect.
Umeboshi, salty plum, with the red shiso that comes together.
Aka kabu, red Kyoto turnip tsukemono.
Cornichons à l’estragon, with the onion from the same jar. Behind, a few capers.
Toasted abrura-age (fried tofu) and 2 sesames.
All the topping are ready.
And the rice. Just good brown rice, longly simmered in water.
A quick veggie side for Japanese meals.
You already saw this red Kyoto turnip. I used one there. The other, I cleaned well, sliced the root, picked the leaves.
In salted water. I keep it covered, in the fridge. Good from the next day, for a few days.
After 3 days, the leaves.
The root.
A simple colorful pasta lunch, really delicious. Bonus : a quick tsukemono (Japanese pickle).
A can of smoked oysters in oil, kimchi, soy bean sprouts and Japanese kabu turnips. These kabu are appreciated for their greens as much as for the root. Let’s use both in this meal.
Stir-frying the oysters.
Then add kimchi, al dente pasta, the sprouts. Serve on the blanched turnip greens. Sprinkle with sudachi lime juice.
Kabu. Peel, slice very thinly. You should be able to read a newspaper through a slice. I use a peeler.Place the slices in salted fresh water, let 15 minutes. Mince a small amount of greens. Drain the slices, squeeze well, add the greens, black pepper and broken walnuts. Mix well.
You have a nice veggie side dish, fresh and crunchy.
A delicious dragon fruit (from Philippines).
A nice meal.
Here is a simple refreshing Summer salad, a good base for a full meal.
I boiled potatoes, let them overnight in the fridge. Added ribbons of sweet red chili and young ginger. Dressing : argan oil, rice vinegar, salt, ground coriander seeds.
Served with more ground coriander. Here are the other dishes :
tofu and wasabi okra tororo
eringi tsukemono and tomato agar
That’s the second part of this meal. Here are the small plates that make the charm of the Japanese table and nicely balance the diet.
More about Japanese style meals and recipe list
Suimono is the soup-drink you find in any Japanese meal. A very simple Spring time version :
In a bowl, put thin carrot slices, stalks of mitsuba, shavings of dry fish (kezuribushi), a few drops of soy sauce, hot water.
You can replace the fish with a few seaweeds (dry wakame).
Garnish with a few leaves of aromatic :
Japanese onion. A country of rice is a country of onion as they are cultivated in the rice paddies to rest the soil. Let’s make a salad.
If you don’t want a pungent onion salad that gives you a breath able to kills flies, mosquitoes, wasps, hornets… well, cut them thin, add salt, mix well, let one hour and rinse well.
My fix of natto, with baby leaf mizuna.
Kabu tsukemono. Pickled Japanese turnip. I grated turnip, cut some leaves, added salt. That’s after 24 hours.
GOURMANDE in OSAKA 