Chilled miso somen soup

A very simply lunch, for a busy hot day.

Boil a bundle of somen noodles. with 1/2 onion. Refresh in cold water. Put in a bowl cover with iced water.

In a second pan, make a dashi stock with kombu seaweed and dry shiitake mushroom. Add veggies (okra, bell pepper, edamame). When they’re cooked, mix in a tbs of miso and refresh with ice-cubes.

Combine the noodles and the soup. I’ve let the shiitake and I’ve cut a few ribbons from the piece of kombu seaweed.
Add toppings :

Ribbons of nori seaweed cut from a sheet. The color is slightly purple as that’s raw nori (often for sushi, it’s grilled). I’ve also added sesame, chili flakes and sticks of peel of kinosu lime (the yellow bits).

Kibinago no nanban-zuke (fishbait in sour marinade)

Second visit of kibinago fish bait.

南蛮づけ nanban zuke. It’s fried fish, then marinated in a sour sauce. The result is very light on the stomach.

kibinago (silver stripe round herring) are these small mini-fish, often to small to cut them. Perfect for frying.
Wash the fish and drain well water. Sprinkle black pepper and chili pepper or other spices (optional).

Heat frying oil. Pass the fish in potato starch, fry them.

The fried fish, onion, carrot, ginger (grated) a chili pepper.

For the sauce : 1/2 cup water, 2 tbs mirin, 1 tbs soy sauce, 2 tbs sake brought to a boil. Then add 4 tbs of black rice vinegar. Pour on fish and veggies. Cover. Let 30 minutes minimum. I prefer overnight.

The next day.

Renkon (lotus root) in black vinegar with ginger. Green beans and edamame in yuzu citrus juice.

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Genmai (brown rice) and miso soup with wakame seaweed.

Blue fish for blue Japanese lunch

Today, I’m eating イワシの塩焼き iwashi no shioyaki , salt grilled sardines. It’s a cheap local fish that brings a good amount of healthy fats. And it’s very tasty.

Simple : clean the fish. Sprinkle a little sea salt. Place on a grill and grill.

Rice of course.

Natto, today with mustard and a few flowers.

A stir-fry of bean sprouts and kikuna greens.

Miso soup. On the side, it’s oboro kombu, it’s made of seaweeds.

When you put it in the soup it becomes like that in a few seconds.

It is also used to wrap sushi.

Well that was another tasty Japanese lunch.

Risotto style sekihan (red rice)

A creamier version of the Japanese classic, ideal for chilly weather.

o-seki-han, Japanese red sticky rice.
sekihan

I had that velvety broth from boiling azuki red beans.
So I have added it to the rice cooker with brown rice. Roughly, I’ve doubled the amount of liquid and cooked on Chinese okayu (congee) rice porridge mode. I’ve added a few beans too of course.

This amount of sauce was left when I opened.

Oishiso ! I want to eat it like that.

Flavoring are natural sea salt and freshly roasted sesame seeds.

Japanese warming soup with mini daikon

A little tutorial of Japanese cuisine today. It’s a soup with sake lees that has the property of warming up the body. It’s ideal for the cold season.

I like daikon, the huge Japanese white radish… but my favorite bit is the leaves. So I’m very happy with this type.

Very small radishes, sweet and tasty.

Tons of greens !

Other recipes with this plant :
Daikon sesame unohana (click here for recipe)
Mini-daikon miso soup
Nameko eggs with daikon leaves
Water tsukemono with mini daikon
Leafy miso
nanakusa okayu

Besides the mini daikon, I had cooked kabocha pumpkin, onion, dry shiitake mushrooms. Then tofu and sakekasu.

酒粕 sakekasu is a by product of sake making. It arrives on the market in this season. The taste ? It’s like unsweetened goat cheese with a little sake… Well, you should try.

Amazake, a drink with sake kasu

Sake kasu soup recipe

1. Dashi stock : put a 1 tbs of dry fish flakes (kezuri katsuo) and water, bring to a boil.
2. Season with soy sauce and miri, simmer a few minutes.
3. Add veggies or whatever items you want (optional, veggies, fish and tofu are common choices)
4. At the end, cut the stove and blend in the sake kasu paste. Slightly reheat without boiling, and serve.

For vegan dashi stock click here.

This is the way to blend in pastes into Japanese soup. The technique is similar for miso. We have this set “sieve + spoon” but you can get them separately. Put pate in the sieve, plunge it in the stock and stir with the spoon till all the paste has melted in.