Random soup

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A soup made of all the leftovers :
-purple sweet potato
-cod fish
-jelly fish (preserved in salt, soaked)
-chick peas
-capers
-onion
-red wine
Simmer, then add Kintoki red carrot and turmeric.

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And it’s… delicious indeed.

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Steamed kabocha with sesame oil and sesame seeds.

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Steamed okra and sudachi lime.

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A yummy Winter lunch.

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Sesame and sesame ramen

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A warm ramen lunch to fight the chilly weather.Nothing goes better with pork broth than the nuttiness of toasted sesame.

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I bought the noddles and the soup (tonkotsu pork broth).

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The reheat noddles and toppings. Sliced ginger and kujo negi leeks. Toasted sesame and kiku chrysanthemum. And on top of that, a little mix of miso, toasted sesame and garlic, pasted together.

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A very filling side dish : veggies in gochujang Korean sauce. There are okra, kuromame black soy beans, ninniku no me garlic stalks…

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…slices of ukon turmeric.

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Tofu lasagna and farm fruits

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Not the Italian lasagne. 豆腐ラザニア tofu rasaniya It’s a Japanese comfort dish. Not an homonym, it’s really inspired by the pasta dish but without the pasta. You are left with very soft tofu in Italian style sauces. Warm and tender. It’s usually served with rice.

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Fruits like those you pick in the backyard. I went to the countryside. I have some from a farm, others from farmer’s market. They are the fruits you can see in local woods right now, kaki persimmons, mikan oranges, yuzu citrus. You can see two types of kaki, some rounds and some ogive ones. The latter may be shibui (tart) and the farm lady said we should guess… A bit of branch is left and if they are tart, we can do that.

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That’s a quickly thrown casual meal. I had tomato sauce, silky tofu and these blanched veggies : bell peppers and ninniku no me (garlic stalks).

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For the cheezy sauce as usual sake kasu, miso and this time the oil was sesame oil. I have added grated ukon (turmeric).

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Alternate and bake. I topped with toasted bread crumbs.

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Genmai, brown rice. I was given good farm rice too.

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Serve very hot. Mmmm…

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Bochan kabocha cocotte eggs and Autumn turmeric side

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Oeufs cocotte are French baked eggs. They are baked in a dish that is called in French, guess what ? A ramequin, a bol, etc. It’s never called a cocotte. Because a cocotte, it’s hen, it’s a woman sometimes, well in the kitchen, it’s a big stew pot. So baking eggs in that over-sized pot, that’s like quail eggs inside a pumpkin. Well, today exceptionally we’ll do that.

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Botchan kabocha (little boy pumpkin) is the smaller Japanese pumpkin. It’s perfect to make individual stuffed pumpkin dishes. For instance :

okowa sticky rice kabocha

Thai steamed custard

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Open and empty the kabocha, steam it till the flesh is soft. Fill with quail eggs and a mix of soy milk, argan oil, salt and pepper. Bake till the egg whites are stuck and the yolks still soft.

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Served with toasted home-made whole-wheat bread.

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Turmeric. In Japan, they cultivate a few types. Autumn turmeric is the most common. Spring turmeric (in English “wild turmeric” ) is the second most common. This plant is believed to have great medicinal properties.
This one is only a little bitter, perfect for cooking.

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Stir-fried gently a few slices of turmeric and of dry apricot. On low heat, added in daikon radish leaves, stirring till they get wilted. Added salt, walnuts and chrysanthemum flower.

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A nice Autumn brunch.

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Green nest sushi

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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…

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

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Green egg shaped edamame (boiled green soy beans).

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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.

DSC01387-001about takana-zuke (click here)

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

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