Black natto brunch

Tororo on my bowl of natto…

A nagaimo, a long yamaimo or Japanese yam. Naga means long. We often buy only a cut, but the root is 60 cm long or more.

Grated. Tororo tuto.

Like an apple or an avocado, grated yamaimo tends to oxidate and darken in color. Or not, and that’s not previsible. But that was the case with this one so I’ve added juice of sudachi lime to keep it relatively creamy in color. That’s also a nice flavor addition.

Black natto (fermented soy beans). It’s often paired with grated wasabi.

Natto with rice is a regular breakfast item in Japan. So just that with tororo and green tea. A nice simple brunch.

Saba no misoni (miso mackerel)

鯖の味噌煮 saba no misoni, mackerel simmered in miso.
Mackerel is a smelly fish, isn’t it ? Not in this recipe. The rich sauce perfectly show-cases this rich fish.

I first bring to boil 1/2 cup of sake with a few slices of ginger and a piece of chili pepper. On low hear, add the fish, cover. When the fish is done, add 1 tbs of miso, 1/2 tbs of brown sugar, simmer a little.

Serve with fresh ginger on top.

Renkon, lotus root. It’s a common vegetable in Asia. It is sold fresh or pre-boiled. That’s very different.

It has to be well washed, peeled. Then you can cook like a carrot, in multiple ways.

I stir-fried it. I sprinkled on it sudachi lime juice, and cut skin of sudachi.

4 sides : steamed green peppers,
wakame konnyaku with fresh wasabi,
suimono (soup of shiitake mushroom,
hijiki seaweed and goji berries),
silky tofu.

A multi-dish quick lunch.

Sudachi somen

Somen + Sudachi = Freshness.
Here is another simple Summer meal.

Tsuyu dip with eringi sudachi tsukemono.

Natto with freshly grated wasabi.

Grating wasabi

Grating wasabi for a refreshing tofu dish. That’s a combination of two interesting textures.

A fresh wasabi root. I’ve simple grated it. That’s very different from the product in the tube. More flavored and less strong.

Okra (gombos). They have a huge jelly strength hidden in them. Like this :

Okra tororo : blanched okra, chilled, pasted in the blender. Flavored to taste with grated wasabi and soy sauce.

You can, for instance, serve okra tororo with soba.

Frozen cotton tofu (momendofu). I froze the whole block in its water. Thawed. Press to push out the water, cut in cubes. As you can see, it has a bread like texture now.