Black bean sesame burgers and waxy squash red SE-Asian soup

Beans patties and a soup with flavors of Thailand in company of its exotic rice.

The patties are a random mix : boiled kuromame (soy black beans), black sesame seeds (pasted), grated garlic and ginger, minced onion, green chili and black miso. A little potato starch to bind. Pan-fried. Glossed with sweet chili sauce. On the place, yellow bell pepper and mitsuba stalks.

Boiled cubes of tougan (waxy squash) and tororo kombu seaweed.

I have added red Thai curry paste and fresh coriander to the broth.

Add Thai jasmine rice. That’s a yummy lunch.

Shio-yaki iwashi. With 2 sardines…

Sardine is an ordinary fish, but it’s very tasty. We get fresh ones easily and cheaply.

Shio-yaki iwashi. Salt grilled sardines, the Japanese style. I just empty them, clean, sprinkle salt and grill 5 minutes. Served with greens.
5 minutes for the sides :

Reheated Hatsuga genmai, sprouted rice.

Veggie stir-fry… all what I had left.

A quick soup : togan (Winter melon) cooked with carrot and seasoned with soy sauce.

The meal !

Summer’s Winter vegetable… PLUS buta to renkon no shoga-yaki

Tougan, litterally “Winter melon”, because it grows in Summer ? It seems it’s name that way because it is refreshing food, that make you feel like in Winter in hot days…

I boiled it until it becomes melty, in water with dry fish for dashi, kombu, dry bamboo shoots, dry shiitake.

Buta no shogayaki is ginger pork. There exist many versions of it in Japan, sometimes cooked on teppan hot-plate, on braseros. This one is made in a simple pan.
I have added renkon (lotus roots).

Recipe :
Prepare
Cut small slices or cubes of pork. Peel and slice the lotus root and 1/2 onion. Cut in mirepoix (small cubes) a dice of fresh ginger. Place everything in a dish, add a marinade made of 3 tbs of sake and 1 tbs of soy sauce.
Marinate
Marinate 1 h in the fridge, turn the ingredients and let 15 minutes more on the counter while you cook something else.
Cook the meat
Cut more ginger, a clove of garlic. Heat a little oil in a pan, add the fresh ginger and garlic and 1 dry chili pepper. When it’s fragrant, add the meat. Stir it a few minutes till it&s 80% done. Take the meat aside.
Cook the vegetables :
Add the marinade and its vegetables, cover and cook a few minutes.
Finish
Return the meat to the pan. Mix 1 ts of cornstarch (or potato starch) in 1 cup of water. Pour into the pan. Cook slightly till the sauce is transparent. Add a little rice vinegar. Mix well. Serve with genmai, brown rice.