Tag Archives: Japanese

The Saga of Takuan-Zuke, Part 3: The untimely end.

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Well, the takuan-zuke experiment was stinky and interesting, but ultimately a failure due to inadequate storage environments.  I was going to store them outside in the cold where it would have been more consistent of temperature, but opted not to because I thought the smell of fermenting daikon would offend my neighbors.  So I kept it inside…where it was too warm…and surprise, surprise– they grew moldy friends.

At first it was just white mold on the top of the daikon greens on the top of the crock, which I’ve heard is generally harmless, so I skimmed that off and kept it going.  But then when I was ready to take them out, the top layer of rice bran had blue and white mold.  Not being able to tell whether or not that kind of mold was poisonous (because I’m not a scientist with a microscope!), I just had to err on the side of caution and ditch it all.

Sad.

Very, very sad.

But that isn’t to say that I didn’t try a couple tiny slices from some of the daikon that were farthest away from the mold.  Ultimately, they were too salty.  This is probably because I kept adding salt to the top of the crock in an (obviously unsuccessful) attempt to ward off the mold.  However, they did turn that odd yellow color and taste like rice bran.

So, the moral of the story is…if you’re going to make takuan-zuke, store them somewhere cold while they ferment, like a cellar.  I also wouldn’t weight it quite as much as I did (I had a lot of pressure squishing the whole thing down) because my daikon got sort of compacted and dry and had a weird texture.  Otherwise you’re just going to waste a lot of daikon. Well, at least the whole experiment probably cost me less than five bucks since I grew the daikon. The thought of those beautiful daikon going to waste just makes me sigh. At least I can grow more and it cost me less than five bucks.

But I don’t like to end on a sad note, so here’s a picture of some orange juice I made with oranges I got for free from someone’s tree prunings!:

Thanks, random lady down the street for trimming your tree and then telling me which of the oranges on the pile of branches were tastier.  You rock.

I haven’t posted any recipes or anything lately. I guess I’ve been somewhat lazy.  I did make some larb gai and recommend this recipe highly if you’re looking for some Thai.  This week it’s back to being primarily vegetarian, though, so maybe you’ll see more recipes.  I’m thinking lentil soup?

The Saga of Takuan-zuke, Part 2

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This post continues the saga of my daikon pickles from home grown daikon.  The first post can be found here.  Now it’s been two weeks and my daikon are pliant and wrinkly.  They’ve also shrunk tremendously.  Step one has been successful.

Now is step 2, pickling them for at least a month.  Today I put them in the rice bran with all of the other ingredients to sit and pickle until they are good and yummy.  Here’s how I did it, as per the book:

Mix rice bran with dried chilis, salt, brown sugar, and I added a little dried ginger for extra flavor.

Put a layer on the bottom of your pickling container, along with dried persimmon or other fruit peels (I used persimmon and pear) and kombu chunks.  I’m just using my Japanese pickle press.

Layer the daikon and their dried leaves in a circular pattern.

Then add more rice bran, fruit peels, and kombu.  Repeat as necessary.  I only had two layers.  Add more rice bran and top with copious amounts of dried daikon leaves.

Press and let sit!

And as a bonus for people who actually read my blog, here’s my best Daikon Zoidberg impression for you:

Ho Ho Ho!

 

Vegetarian Squash & Kale Stew

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The daikon are still drying.  I have thusfar been able to find an unstained wooden pickling vessel, so next week they’ll likely get packed into a crock.  Until then, here’s a recipe for a fantastic stew I made tonight that was so nice on a cold evening with a glass of red wine:

Kabocha and Kale Stew with Mixed Beans

Measurements are approximate, use your best judgement.

  • 3/4 plastic carton vegetable broth
  • 1 1/2 cups soaked mixed white and black beans (I had navy, pinto, and black beans I think)
  • 1/2 kabocha squash, seeds removed, peeled and cut into 2″ chunks (Japanese pumpkin, but you could probably use hubbard, turban, kuri, acorn, or butternut [somewhat in order of recommended varieties])
  • 2 1/2 cups of chopped kale (I used Trader Joe’s precut, prewashed organic tuscan kale)
  • 1/2 cup mirin
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 tbsp paprika
  • salt and pepper
  • crusty bread to serve with the stew

First boil the beans in the broth.  If using previously dried soaked beans, boil them for a bit until they reach the desired softness, testing occasionally.  (If using canned beans, you can add the squash instead and then add the rinsed beans when that starts softening.)

Add the squash chunks and boil until that starts to soften, about 5-8 minutes. Add the soy sauce, mirin, kale, and spices.  Simmer, mushing up some of the squash chunks with your stirring utensil so that it thickens the broth.  Stir occasionally.  When the beans and squash are the right consistency for your tastes and the kale has softened, it’s done!  Sans prep, this probably takes about 20 minutes cooking time total.

Deceptively simple, but the earthy spiciness of the kale works so well with the sweet richness of the pumpkin and the starchy earthiness of the beans.

Here’s a handy tip I learned about dealing with dried beans: you can soak them in advance and freeze whatever you don’t use of the soaked and rinsed beans for easy cooking next time!  A nice alternative to canned beans.

The Saga of Takuan-zuke, Part 1

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In the continued spirit of over-ambition, I grew my own daikon this year.  The original purpose was to make kimchi with home grown organic veggies, but my green onions and napa cabbage failed miserably (which I figured out through soil testing was due, apparently, to too little potassium and phosphorus).

However, my daikon grew quite well.  Beautifully lush, with bright, almost glowing white roots.  Their eventual destination is takuan-zuke, a classic Japanese pickled daikon, made at home without preservatives or food coloring.  The guide I’ll be using is my trusty book, a gift from my mother a few years ago, Quick and Easy: Tsukemono – Japanese Pickling Recipes.  This book is highly recommended and available on Barnes and Noble for under $10.

The first step to transform these beauties:

…is to let them dry for a couple of weeks until they are pliable.  The book says “in the sun”, to which I respond “Oh?  Can you bring some please?  We’re a little lacking right now.”  So they’ll have to deal with being inside, stinking up my cozy little home until the sun comes out next.  (Which is supposedly Monday, but only for one day, according to the weather report.)  Here’s a beautiful picture of how happy these daikon would look if it wasn’t raining continuously and we were in Japan.  I’ll try to put them out in the sun for a little bit at least though, so they can be endowed with the flavor of happiness and joy before being forced into a pickling crock (or some hippie nonsense like that).

This is going to take quite a long time.  This first step takes two weeks, and then the daikon pickle for at least one month, if not two.  And then, only then, are the takuan-zuke ready.  So stay tuned to see how this experiment turns out.

Munching Meals

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Lately I’ve had a habit of eating little bits of all sorts of things for dinner rather than just sitting down to a huge portion of something.  Especially when I spread it out over a few hours, I’ve found it to be more satisfying.  I also eat less, I think, which is both surprising and unsurprising.

Tonight, though, I decided to go for a combo-plate type dinner.  My combo plate made most things be about equal rather than having any one thing dominate.

Tonight’s menu:

  • Korean mixed grain rice (Microwaveable in 1.5 mins — this stuff is magic.  Find it at your local Japanese, Korean, or possibly Chinese market.)
  • Ohitashi with bell pepper (Cooked spinach with soy sauce.  Try microwaving washed spinach for 30 seconds, then adding a bit of soy sauce, a little lemon juice, and some sesame seeds for my favorite and super easy version).  Both Japanese spinach and bell peppers from the garden!
  • Tomato slices
  • Tamagoyaki (Mix beaten eggs with mirin and soy– mostly eggs, a little more mirin than soy, cook in a pan attending frequently. Periodically lift up cooked egg and allow runny egg to flow under cooked. Fold the layers as you go occasionally, aiming to get a rectangular block you can slice.  Cook until solid and with slight caramelization on either side.)
  • South East Asian inspired salad, with most of ingredients from the garden: peas, radishes, baby mustard greens, cilantro, opal basil, and (not from the garden) grapefruit and green onions.  Dressing: seasoned rice vinegar microwaved for 30 seconds with two coins of ginger to lightly infuse it and let cool before tossing the salad in it.
  • Garnish: lemon slice and home grown shiso.

Pretty satisfying, and the whole thing took maybe 30 minutes to prepare and was vegetarian.  And you can’t get much fresher than vegetables from the garden!

Nutrition tips I’ve learned lately:  in order to absorb all the nutrients from dark leafy vegetables, make sure to pair them with something with vitamin C.  Also, microwaving spinach is not only quicker and easier, but also retains the most nutrients!

Dashi on Demand

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Today’s bright idea from yours truly: homemade dashi cubes.

You can buy premade dried dashi that you add to water, but I’m not a huge fan of it.  I always found it somewhat cardboard-flavored.  I often make my own vegetarian dashi instead (most dashi is not vegetarian, because it involves dried fish).  The problem is though, that you can only keep fresh dashi in the fridge for so long…but what prolongs the life of things that need to be refrigerated?  The freezer!

Today’s bright idea was to put the freshly made dashi into an ice cube tray so I can pop out a few cubes whenever I want some dashi for something.  Given that soba dipping sauce is essentially just dashi diluted with some extra sugar water, these are great for melting and dipping  your cool soba noodles in for zaru soba in the summertime.  You can also use them for other Japanese recipes like agedashi tofu, soups such as nabemono, and more!

My vegetarian dashi usually begins with a water and soy sauce base. Mine’s not terribly traditional (I like it a little spicy) and I’m going to estimate what I’d put in there for you, but you can (and probably should) tailor it to your own tastes.  It’d be best to make your own and perfect it over time. :) Just Hungry suggests that you can make the vegetarian dashi with or without shiitakes, but I prefer it with because I was raised a meat eater and it needs some oomph to me.

Ingredients for my version of vegetarian dashi:

(Disclaimer– I haven’t tried this exact measurement, I’m just estimating from my head.  I’d test it as you go, though things should be pretty forgiving.  Just watch the soy sauce-water-mirin/sake balance.  Taste as you go.)

  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup soy sauce
  • 1/8+ cup cooking sake
  • 1/8 cup mirin (or substitute a bit more sake and a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar)
  • 1/2 carrot, cut into coins
  • several coins of ginger
  • a green onion or two, cut into big chunks
  • 2 dried shiitake mushrooms
  • a medium sized piece of kombu, probably cut into strips (I’ve used nori in a pinch, but you have to use a bit more and it doesn’t work quite the same)
  • a dried spicy chili or two (optional)

You just bring that to a boil and then let it simmer slowly for a while, at least an hour.  You’ll probably have to push the dried shiitake mushrooms down every now and then until they get waterlogged enough because they tend to float to the top.

Once it’s done, strain it all.  Allow it to cool for a bit, then pour it into a couple of ice cube trays.  Once you put those in the freezer and let them become solid, you can pop out as many cubes as you need whenever you want some fresh-tasting dashi.

My First CSA Delivery!

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It’s a bouncing baby….eggplant!  Oh wait, there’s more!

This week my first CSA order was delivered.  I’ve always liked the idea of CSAs, “Community Supported Agriculture”.  Apparently the concept originated independently in both Europe and Japan, and was brought over to the states from Europe just a couple of years before I was born. (I had no idea that they were this widespread until I read the fascinating wikipedia article.)  I must say, the Germans have the best word for it by far: Landwirtschaftsgemeinschaftshof . A+, Germany, for morphological creativity!   We Americans are fond of our acronyms, so here it’s just “CSA” – a Cute, Sweet Abbreviation. :P

The concept is that you pay some amount and get an assembly of in-season vegetables from local farmers– sort of like a farmer’s market, but delivered to your house/workplace/pickup location.  This eliminates the middleman and the produce buyer sort of, and helps get your veggies to you quicker with that hot buzzword factor of a “low carbon footprint”.  And because it’s not being stored for a long time, farmers have a financially sustainable method to focus on quality and tastiness over how long the veggies can keep for on a shelf.  Win!

The main downside is that CSAs often just have a one-size-fits-all policy, delivering huge boxes of miscellaneous assorted veggies, often leading to a lot of waste.  However, the CSA I’m testing out this month has a pretty handy setup: you pick a size of order based on how much veg you eat and how big your family is (prices are fixed for each size), then every week you get to choose the items for your order from what they have available in a “shop”.  In addition to your per week cost, you can also buy locally sourced meats, dairy, grains, jams, and spices for an additional cost.  They don’t deliver to your home, but they have dropoffs all over the bay area.  Mine is a 3 minute bike ride from my house– closer than any grocery stores!

This week I picked up:

  • a gorgeous newborn-sized eggplant (I think of the rosa bianca type, an Italian cultivar)
  • a hearty bunch of delicious looking carrots (you could tell how happy they were while growing by the voluptuous tops, which I had to ditch in order to fit them in my fridge)
  • 5 yellow onions
  • 3 heirloom tomatoes (the only thing that didn’t look super amazing)
  • 1 lb of green beans (“french fillet”)
  • one cute little French Charentais melon.

All this for only $18! So far I’ve eaten one of the tomatoes and it was pretty tasty, but everything looks great and fresh.  I’m excited to chow down!  And best of all? This combined with my additional grocery trip to FoodMaxx brought my weekly food bill to $38, solidly under my $50 a week goal.

Thanks, Eating with the Seasons!  Based off my limited experience thus far, I’m planning continuing with them after my month trial.  If you’re interested, you should definitely check them out.

Japanese food doesn’t have to be expensive…

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…or healthy, for that matter. (There are plenty of other examples, but I’ll spare you a diatribe.)  So let’s get rid of those preconceptions and get on with the cooking!

Sometimes, I really fear for the day that I ever possibly decide to have children.  I already get the strangest cravings.  I would feel so sorry for my spouse– they’d probably be trekking all over tarnation to get the most obscure ingredients.  And then, to even think what that child would grow up loving as a result…eep!

This Saturday morning things went as such:

  • 7:30 am Cat jumps on bed and says it’s time to get up
  • 7:45 am Neighbors decide it’s a good time to have an extremely loud conversation
  • 7:55 am I give up on sleep, start thinking about breakfast
  • 7:56 am Eggs? No…too savory.  Hm. Something sweet and savory at the same time. What do I have? Sausages…eggs…potatoes…none of this sounds good.
  • 7:57 am OMURICE?!?! But that’s a lunch thing…screw it, I’m not Japanese.  Doesn’t matter to me. Tonkatsu sauce should work ok, right? Yeah.  Woooh let’s do this!
  • 7:59 am Get out of bed, check rice.  It’s old.  Inedible.  Crap. :(
  • 8:00 am Omu….omuuuuuu….omusoba?? But I have no appropriate soba.  What do I have?  Instant ramen!
  • 8:02 am prep veggies– peel & cut carrot into thin strips, onion into thin strips, and some thin strips of green cabbage, then chop some green onions thinly & set those aside.
  • 8:04 am crack 2 1/2 eggs into a bowl, beat them thoroughly taking out any anger from my dreams.
  • 8:05 am boil instant ramen noodles, sans seasoning packet, in water for 2 minutes until soft but not fully cooked.  Drain & leave in strainer.
  • 8:08 am put oil in a pan (in my case, a wok), turn up the heat to high and add veggies.  Move em around.  Add ramen noodles.  Add tonkatsu sauce (I didn’t have yakisoba sauce, but honestly I find it hard to taste the difference…).  Keep it all moving around.  Woooh we’re cooking.  Man, I need some coffee.
  • 8:10 am put oil in a smaller frying pan.  Warm it up.  Dump in eggs.  Wait until bottom is solid, flip.  Ooh that looks goldeny, but not as Japanese golden since I used 2 whole eggs + 1 egg white…but whatever.  Turn off heat and let it rest a minute.
  • 8:14 am Flop omelet on a plate.  Dump yakisoba in the middle.  Fold omelet around noodles. Squirt some more sauce on top, sprinkle with green onions.
  • 8:16 am Take a picture for viewers like you.  Maybe a few so at least one will come out ok.  Get mad at camera for overenthusiastic flash.  Wish lighting was better.
  • 8:18 am Give up caring about picture.  Resume caring about food.  Stuff face. Research omusoba while stuffing face.  Be satisfied with self. Wonder where my coffee is.

Japan has two “omu-” dishes that I know of: omurice and omusoba.  The “omu” stands for omelet, in case you hadn’t guessed by now.  Yakisoba is generally a little more fancy than what I threw together here (and distinctly less vegetarian), but this was good enough for me.  Either way, though, I’d say omusoba is not exactly a health food.

There are a fair amount of instant yakisoba along the lines of instant ramen, but honestly I wouldn’t use that for this.  Instead, take those instant ramen noodles and fry them up with carrots, onions, cabbage, and whatever else along with some yakisoba sauce (or in my case, tonkatsu sauce…).  If you didn’t have yakisoba/tonkatsu sauce, you could probably make an ok substitute by putting worchestershire sauce, a little ketchup or some kind of tangy but not too intense jelly, and maybe a little sugar in a pot and thickening that up together.

There are actually some ‘kits’ you can buy at Japanese markets that are pretty good, though, which have soft fresh noodles and a packet of tonkatsu sauce.  Those would work even better than my cheapo method.

What I like about my cheapo method though is that it’s A) instant gratification and B) cheap.  A bottle of tonkatsu sauce probably cost me $4 and lasts forever in the fridge.  Eggs are $3 a dozen.  Instant ramen is like $0.15 a  pack.  Cabbage is cheap.A bag of 12 carrots costs like $2, and an onion about $0.50.

With 1 packet of instant ramen noodles, 1/4c of tonkatsu sauce, 1/16 of a green cabbage, 1/4 of a yellow onion, 1 green onion, 1 carrot, 2 eggs, and a tablespoon or two of oil…I’d estimate the cost of this meal to be about $2, maybe $3 max.  And if you buy the ingredients, you’ll have enough to make so much omusoba that you’ll never want to eat it again!

Related links for you:

Sorry for the underwhelming lack of photos in this post…but it’s 9 am on a Saturday, so I hope you’ll forgive me!

Bento & Experimental Failure

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Well, the past couple of weeks have been interesting.  Remember how I posted about the porridge a while back?  Well, turns out that was only the tip of the iceberg on the sickday train, that little thing coming back to whollop me and put me out of commission last week almost entirely.

What did I eat?  Things I didn’t have to cook and didn’t have to clean up after…a slightly embellished premade thai soup was about as fancy as I got.  I’m going to go ahead and blame our recently crazy indecisive weather in the bay area for me being sick, and thus the distinct lack of blog posts.

Yesterday, I did something against my better judgement.  I was craving green beans au gratin really badly and had all sorts of nifty cheeses lying around (parmesan, manchego, chevre).  Make a little roux, add some milk, throw in the cheese, then some parcooked green beans– bound to be awesome! Here’s where I nod my head downward in shame: I only had unsweetened vanilla almond milk.  How vanilla-y could it be?  It wasn’t that sweet, and didn’t seem vanilla-y in my cereal.

Well, it was vanilla-y.  And so was my awful-gratin.   I knew better, but I tried anyway.  And I somehow managed to get myself to eat half of it before giving up.

Moral of the story: Trust your judgement.  And make sure you always have unflavored milk or alternative milks in your house for spontaneous au gratin or homemade mac & cheese or alfredo cravings.

Anyway, today’s craving for some reason was sushi.  Impatience was my nemesis today, boiling the rice while staring hungrily at the stove.  Boiling some unseasoned rice vinegar with brown sugar (not typical, but brown sugar works fine).  Mixing the two together.  Toasting the nori.

…Aw hell, do I really want to wait for this to cool?  No.  Spread the warm rice on the nori. Add ingredients. Roll.  Notice it’s soggy.  Hold the roll over the gas stove for a bit until the outside gets crisp again.  Slice. Eat.  Satisfying.

I’m not a sushi master and never will be.  My sushi was warm and soft.  I humbly bow to those who have the patience and can manipulate it to be perfect in every way.  But, let me tell you, if you have a desperate sushi craving and the right materials around, it can take you 30 minutes from start to start eating to pull it together.

Today’s combos:

  • umeboshi, cucumber, daikon, carrot, maguro
  • cucumber, umeboshi, carrot
  • maguro, gochujang, carrot, daikon

The leftovers are tomorrow’s bento, along with some hamachi and fukujinzuke, as you can probably tell from the picture above.

I’m not sure I’ll have another chance to post before I go off to South America for vacation for 2 weeks.  I’ll be hitting up Peru for the tourist classic Macchu Picchu, ceviche (and the potential post-ceviche digestive regret), some additional adventures, and a few pisco sours to be followed by a visit with friends in Ecuador with an itinerary that is still TBD.

I won’t be cooking, most likely (unless my friends in Ecuador want me to cook for them), but I’ll try to post some foodie pictures and tell tales of my adventures if I have the time and internet capability.  So, don’t hold your breath, but keep your eyes open. :)

Miso Lentils

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Well, I’m giving lentils a shot again.  This time it’s red lentils rather than the green/brown ones.  The others are tasty, but a little spicy and overpower delicate seasoning.  The red lentils have their outer layer moved, so they work better for delicate seasoning and can create a creamy texture.  It’s been a while since I’ve made or posted a bento, too!

Tomorrow’s bento: rice, homemade furikake , umeboshi, a couple other types of tsukemono, fresh shiso leaves, marinated tofu, and miso lentils.

To make the lentils: use equal parts red lentils and water.  Rinse lentils well, let soak for an hour or so, rinse again.  Add to pot with the water, add 1 heaping tablespoon of fresh (the kind you need to refrigerate, not powdered!) miso for each cup of lentils, 1 coin fresh ginger, and a tiny piece of star anise.

Boil 45 minutes, or until lentils are soft.  Drain off any extra liquid if necessary. I like to press mine down.  Savory, complex flavor with none of the usual bitterness of lentils.