basics

Miso Basics: A Japanese miso primer, looking at different types of miso

maki — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:58:53 +0200

[From the archives. This miso primer was published here last September (2008). I’ve added some notes about miso-based blends, especially sumiso or miso with vinegar.]

This is a post that has been a long time coming. I kept on holding it off until I had a good variety of miso on hand to show photos of. I can’t say I have a comprehensive selection to show you, but I hope you will find this article useful anyway.

Miso　（味噌、みそ), as you probably know already, is a naturally fermented paste made by combining cooked soy beans, salt, and often some other ingredient such as white or brown rice, barley, and so on. The texture can range from smooth to chunky, and the color from a light yellow-brown to reddish brown to dark chocolate brown, and the flavor ranges from mildly salty and sweet to strong and very salty. It is packed with umami and protein, not to mention all sorts of nutrients.

Miso-like fermented bean products and pastes exist all over Asia, but here I will mainly limit myself to the most commonly used Japanese misos.

Some general rules of miso

The color can be a fairly good indicator of the strength of flavor and saltiness of the miso. Generally speaking, the lighter in color, the sweeter it is. There are exceptions to this rule, but if you are confronted with a selection and don’t know which way to go, it’s useful to remember.

The longer a miso is aged, the deeper in flavor it gets, though it can get a bit odd if aged too long. Commercially available miso is usually aged from 6 months to 2 years. (Note: Many misos made by health-oriented companies (e.g. Eden Foods in the U.S., Clearspring in the UK) do not seem to be aged too long, and therefore lack depth of flavor. If you’re just eating miso for health reasons you may not care, but otherwise you are forewarned.)

You can keep unopened miso at room temperature indefinitely. Once opened, store well covered in the refrigerator - though it won’t go ‘off’ that fast really. Ideally you want to consume it within a year of purchase. (I’ve kept miso for 3 years in the fridge without any ill effects, but I don’t really recommend you do that!)

Major types of miso by color

Shiromiso (白みそ）or ‘white’ miso is the generic term for golden-yellow to medium brown miso. It is milder than other kinds of miso, with a slight sweetness. It’s the most versatile one for cooking purposes - you can use it for miso soups, miso marinades, and so on. If you can only afford one kind of miso budget-wise or space-wise, get a good shiromiso that is labelled ‘medium sweet’.
Akamiso （赤みそ）or ‘red’ miso is the generic term for miso that is a dark reddish-brown in color. It is usually (but not always!) more salty and assertive in taste than shiromiso. If you see a red-brown miso that is labelled a inakamiso (田舎味噌）or ‘country’ miso, you can be pretty sure that it will be strong in flavor and fairly salty.
Awasemiso (合わせ味噌）or ‘blended’ miso is just that, miso that combines two or more different types of miso together. This is also a good general choice if you don’t want to assemble a miso collection.

With or without dashi?

Since miso is so often used in conjunction with dashi stock, some misos already have dashi added to them. These are usually labeled dashi iri （だし入り）. If you want to add your own homemade dashi, or you are a vegan and want to avoid any fish products in your miso (see vegan dashi), look for additive-free or mutenka (無添加）miso. If you can’t tell from the label whether it has dashi or not, look at the ingredient list - an additive free miso should only have soy beans, salt, rice or barley if they are used, and perhaps some fermentation ingredients (usually listed as koji (麹)).

Organic/not-GM?

If you want to be sure to get miso that is made from soy beans that are organically grown and not genetically modified, look for ones that say yuuki (有機）. Most if not all miso that say mutenka (無添加）or additive-free are also non-GM . You may also encounter miso that says it’s made from kokusan (国産）or domestic (Japanese) soy beans; this usually (thought not always - so check!) means it’s made from non-GM, happy soy beans. (See above note about misos made by Western health-oriented companies.)

Gluten free?

Unless the miso contains barley (麦、mugi) or wheat (小麦、komugu) it is gluten-free, unless it has some not-traditional additives.

Some misos to look for by name

You may see a number of ‘brand’ names for miso, such as Shinshuu, Yamato, etc. Most of these names don’t really mean much except to indicate where the miso comes from - the differences are too subtle except for a diehard miso connoisseur. There are a couple that stand out though.

Hatcho miso （八丁味噌）is a type of miso made in the Tokai region (now the 3 prefectures of Aichi, Mie and Gifu). It was traditionally said to have been served to the emperor and is held in high regard. It’s an all-soybean miso, which is about medium on the sweet/strength/saltiness scale, and is a good general purpose miso.
Saikyo miso (西京味噌) is a golden yellow miso that was traditionally made in the Kyoto/Kansai region. It is naturally sweet - the sweetness comes from the sugar produced as a byproduct of the fermentation process, similar to amazake (甘酒). Makes a good dipping sauce or condiment, and is used as a sweet flavor in baked goods and so on by some Japanese vegan cooks. Does not keep as well as other miso types since it’s lower in salt, so you must refrigerate it. It’s very expensive! (I noticed that the Nobu restaurant group has a recipe online for ‘saikyo’ miso, but it uses white sugar! That’s just sweet miso sauce, not Saikyo miso.)
Moromi miso (もろみ味噌）is a mildly salty, chunky miso, usually with added grains of rice or barley that is meant to be eaten as a condiment rather than in cooking. It’s used rather like a dip on raw vegetables and things like that. (One of my teachers used to insist that moromi miso on raw cucumbers would make us smarter.)

Miso based sauces or blends

These are not pure misos, but are sauces or blends with miso.

Sumiso (酢みそ）is miso with added vinegar, sugar and mirin. It’s used as a condiment, marinade, and so on.
Miso blend for marinade, or misozuke (味噌漬け）is miso with added mirin, soy sauce, konbu seaweed, and so on. Commercial blends often have MSG or “flavor enhancers” in them.

How to get a good miso?

As with many things in life, generally speaking the more expensive a miso is, the better it’s going to taste. Do be sure you are comparing like-to-like when looking at prices though. Generally, special misos like Saikyo miso, or ones with special additives like brown rice miso, tend to be more expensive than general white, red or blended miso. Also, organic/additive-free misos tend to be a bit more expensive.

The only way to really know if a miso is good or not is to taste it. So, if you are trying out a new to you miso, try to get the smallest package possible and try it out.

You may think me prejudiced, and I probably am, but I do think that miso made in Japan generally tastes better than miso made elsewhere. Not to name names, but I’ve tried some non-Japanese brands, and they are lacking in depth of flavor, even if they are sometimes more expensive!

Making miso at home

I have not tried this myself yet, so I have nothing to show you, but you can make miso at home. All you need is soy beans, salt, some ko-ji (麹）(a sort of fermented rice starter), a big bucket, space, and patience - since you need to age the miso for 6 months to a year. You can find instructions on the interweb. (Maybe one day I will try making my own…)

What I have in my kitchen now

The top row shows the three misos I use the most: two types of shiromiso, and an awasemiso. One shiromiso is a big chunkier in texture and has brown rice in it; the other shiromiso and the awasemiso are both all-soy bean types. I use any of the three for most if not all the recipes here on Just Hungry or over on Just Bento. There’s no good reason for me to have two shiromisos and an awasemiso - I just like trying out stuff.

The second row shows misos I use a lot less. On the left is a Saikyo miso, and in the middle is some quite salty-strong akamiso. I use Saikyo miso in some baking experiments and as a sauce to go with stewed daikon radish and such. The red miso is used for some marinades and some miso soups. Lastly, since I had a square to fill and I only have 5 kinds of miso on hand at the moment, I’ve included some Korean kochujang - which as you can see much redder than the ‘red’ akamiso - since I use it almost as much as miso. (Kochujang is also a fermented soy bean paste with added wheat, spices and so on.)

The basics of Japanese cooking and all that

What actually prompted me to finally post this was an article I saw elsewhere that was titled What Is Miso Paste? It stated that miso and rice for Japanese people are like ‘meat and potatoes for Americans’. Heh?

Sure, miso is part of Japanese cuisine. But you do not always eat miso, or always have miso soup, with a meal, if that was the analogy they were trying to use. Sure, soup is often served with a meal in Japan, but it can just as well be a clear soup as a miso soup. The real basis of Japanese cooking is rice, dashi and sa shi su se so. If you whittle it down to the bare essentials, a bowl of plain, white rice and something salty to go with it makes me feel Japanese through and through.

But enough of my whinging. If you have any questions about miso that I haven’t answered here, ask away!

Basics: Cold soba noodles with dipping sauce

maki — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:06:51 +0200

I’ve updated this very popular article a little bit and pushed it up from the archives, since it is the season for cold noodles now. I’ll also have a followup recipe soon for the perfect accompaniment to zaru soba. Originally published in May 2007.

Most of Japan gets very hot and humid in the summer. To combat the heat, a number of dishes meant to be eaten cold have been developed. One of the main cold summer dishes is cold noodles.

Soba noodles, made of soba (buckwheat), are available all year round but are really popular when the heat turns unbearable. As with other cold noodles, they are prepared in a way that may seem strange if you’re used to pasta and other Western-style noodles. Unlike pasta, most Japanese noodles, including soba, are rinsed rather vigorously in cold running water. This not only cools them down but gets rid of excess starch, which adversely affects the flavor of the noodles. Many recipes written in English omit this critical rinsing step: you don’t just plunge it in cold water, as many directions incorrectly state, but you actively wash the noodles. Once you’ve done this once, you will definitely notice the difference. I’ve given detailed instructions for this procedure below.

Dipped into a properly made sauce or soba tsuyu, with plenty of spicy condiments or yakumi, there’s nothing more refreshing to eat on a hot summer evening.

Cold soba noodles with dipping sauce (Zarusoba)

Note: zaru means basket - so these are soba served in a basket.

To serve 4 people

For the sauce (soba tsuyu):

1/2 cup of kaeshi
1 1/2 to 3 cups of dashi stock or vegetarian dashi stock

Combine the two in a pan and bring up to a simmer. The less dashi you add the more intense the sauce will be, so add the dashi a little at a time, and start tasting after you’ve added about 1 1/2 cups: keep adding if it’s too strong. Simmer for 2-3 minutes, then let cool. You can do this a day ahead of time, and refrigerate the tsuyu.

Quick and easy version: Buy a bottle of concentrated tsuyu or mentsuyu, such as this one from Kikkoman, and thin out with water.

The noodles:

400g soba noodles, or about 100 grams per person (See note below about selecting soba noodles). Most soba comes in 100 or 200 gram packets.

Condiments, or yakumi:

Select at least one from:

Finely chopped green onions (this for me is essential)
Grated wasabi
Seven-flavor pepper (nanami tohgarashi = see this list for a description)
Toasted sesame seeds
Finely shredded green shiso leaves (another favorite for me, if it’s available)
Finely cut nori seaweed (cut with a pair of kitchen scissors, or just shred with your hands)
Grated fresh ginger
Finely julienned myouga (a kind of onion-like bulb: hard to find outside of Japan)
Finely grated yuzu peel

Cooking the soba noodles

Bring a large pot of water up to a boil. Unlike Italian pasta, you do not need to salt the water. Once it’s boiling, hold the noodles over the water and sprinkle them in strand by strand.

Once all the noodles are in, stir gently so that they are all immersed in the water.

Bring the water back up to a gentle boil, then lower the heat so that the water is just simmering. (This differs from the ‘rolling boil’ that’s recommended for pasta.) If the water threatens to boil over, add about 1/2 cup of cold water (but if you lower the heat to the gentle simmer, and have a big enough pot, this shouldn’t be necessary). Cook for about 7 to 8 minutes, or following the package directions (for thinner noodles 5 to 6 minutes may be enough. Test by eating a strand - it should be cooked through, not al dente, but not mushy either).

At this point, you may want to reserve some of the cooking water. This is called sobayu (そば湯), literally ‘hot soba water’, and many people like to add it to the remaining soba dipping sauce at the end of the meal to drink like soup!

Drain the noodles into a colander. Immediately return them to the pot and fill the pot with cold water. When you’re draining the hot water you may notice that it smells quite ‘floury’. This is what you want to get totally rid of.

If the noodles threaten to flood out over the pot, put the colander on the pot to hold the noodles down. Leave the water running for a while over the noodles.

Once the water and the noodle are cool, start to ‘wash’ the noodles. Take handfuls and gently swish and rub them in the water. Your goal is to wash off any trace of starchiness or gumminess on the noodles. When you’re done the water should run clear.

Make ready a flat sieve - a bamboo one is ideal and looks pretty. (You can use a nice looking colander instead, but flat sieves like this aren’t expensive - look in Asian markets.) Take a few strands of the noodles at a time.

Loop the strands onto the sieve to make a nice little bundle. This is one portion.

Allow for about 10-12 portions or so per person, if you’re using individual sieves. Arrange each bundle separately, to allow for easy pickup with chopsticks.

To serve the noodles: place a plate under the sieve or sieves to catch any drips. Put out small bowls filled with the condiments of your choice, which each diner can pick from. (Remember to put out small spoons and things if needed for the sesame seeds etc.)

The dipping containers can be anything that can hold about a cup or so of liquid. A rice bowl or a small soup bowl, or even a tumbler, can be used. Here I’ve used some small pudding molds that were a flea market find. (In Japan you can get special soba bowls or sobachoko.)

Fill each dipping bowl halfway with the cooled dipping sauce or soba tsuyu.

To eat, each person puts in the condiments of their choice, take a portion of the soba, and dips it in the sauce briefly - then, immediately eats the soba. Don’t let the noodle soak in the sauce or overload it with condiments, otherwise the delicate flavor of the soba will be overwhelmed.

At the end of the meal, you can add some of the reserve sobayu to the rest of your sauce (see above) to finish your meal.

Types of soba

The purest kind of soba noodle is made of 100% soba or buckwheat flour, plus water and salt. That’s really my favorite kind. There are other kinds of soba noodles though. Here I’ve used one made partly with konnyaku powder (which makes it quite sturdy, and supposedly lower-calorie).

Another popular kind of soba noodle has some green tea powder in it, which makes it a pleasant green in color. You don’t really taste the tea much though.

The best kind of soba noodle is freshly made (te-uchi), but this is a bit tricky…I haven’t actually mastered it yet. Maybe one day…

What to have with soba noodles

One of my favorite summer meals is cold soba, cold tofu or hiyayakko, some not-too-salty pickled cucumbers, and ice cold mugicha to drink. Another favorite soba accompaniment is tempura, which can be dipped in the same sauce - for some reason tempura (battered fritters of vegetables, squid, shrimp and so on) seems to fit particularly well. But tempura is a rather hot and sweaty thing to make, so I usually stick to the cold tofu.

Japanese Basics: How to make Japanese-style plain rice and sushi rice

maki — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:40:50 +0100

This is the first how-to and recipe that I posted on Just Hungry. Properly cooked rice is the foundation of a traditional Japanese meal, and you absolutely cannot skimp on the steps detailed here if you are aiming for anything approaching authenticity. I've edited the text to make some things clearer. Back to basics! Originally published in November 2003.

Rice is the staple of Japanese food, and making it just right can be rather difficult if you don't know how. If you think you will be preparing rice regularly, an electric rice cooker will make your life so much easier. (See About rice cookers.) You can cook non-Japanese style rice and other grains in a rice cooker too.

Japanese rice, or japonica rice, is a very particular variety. For traditional Japanese dishes you simply cannot substitute long-grain rice, jasmine rice, basmati rice, Carolina type rice, and so on. I sometimes hear people saying things like "But I can make onigiri with jasmine rice just fine, as long as I cook it so it's mushy and the grains stick together". No no no no no. A good onigiri, a good sushi roll, a good nigiri-zushi, and most of all a good bowl of rice does not have mushy rice.

The one non-japonica variety that does work fairly well is Italian vialone rice, which is a medium-grain rice similar to japonica rice. Arborio, carnaroli and the rice sold as 'pudding rice' or 'milk rice' in some countries are also medium-grain, but they tend to have too much rice starch, which is what makes that creamy texture in risotto or rice pudding. Vialone has less starch coating and therefore works well. See Looking At Rice for more information about different types of rice.

Ideally, the rice should be quite fresh. The best rice is new rice called shinmai, purchased within 3 months of harvest. Unfortunately, it's just about impossible to buy rice that fresh outside of Japan. Just buy the best rice you can afford. Once you learn how to make rice properly, you will really taste the difference between different kinds of rice.

Some popular 'first grade' Japanese rice varieties include Sasanishiki, Koshihikari and Akita Komachi. They tend to be expensive.

Recipe and Procedure: Japanese style plain rice

The washing and rinsing steps may seem like a bother, but they are absolutely critical to producing properly cooked Japanese style rice. Do not skimp on this! This is a common mistake made by people new to Japanese cooking.

To make 4 cups of cooked rice, you will need:

A heavy-bottomed pot with a tight fitting lid, or an electric rice cooker
2 cups of uncooked japonica rice or 'sushi rice' (or substitute Vialone)
2 1/4 cups of water

Measure out the rice carefully into your pot and rinse vigorously under running water. Swish the rice around with your hands - the water will turn a milky white color.

Drain the cloudy water away and add fresh water, and swish the rice around again. Repeat this step 2 - 3 times.

Drain, leaving just a little water, and rub the grains together several times with the palms of your hands gently as if you were polishing them.

Add plenty of fresh water and rinse out the rice. Drain and rinse until the water is almost clear.

Drain the rice in a fine mesh sieve and leave for a little while, preferably at least 30 minutes.

Put rice in a rice cooker or pot. Add the water to the rice. At this point you should let the rice soak for a while. The length of time depends on the quality and freshness of the rice. The older the rice, the longer it needs to soak. Soaking for at least 30 minutes to an hour is generally recommended, but don't soak for more than 8 hours or so or the rice will get a bit watery and lose any flavor. And if the weather is too hot, it might even start to ferment! (Some rice how-tos emphasize the importance of soaking, but I think the washing and rinsing is the most critical part of making proper rice, which is why it's described in so much detail here.) Brown rice however does need to be soaked before cooking (see cooking brown rice).

If you are using a rice cooker, just switch on (or if you need the rice later, set the timer; you can calculate in the soaking time here.) If you are using a pot, bring to a boil over medium heat then put on a tight fitting lid. Cook on high for 1 minute, then reduce the heat to medium, and cook for another 4-5 minutes until you can see the surface of the rice, then reduce to low heat for about 10 minutes or until the water is completely absorbed. (Don't open the lid to peek!) Turn up to high heat for a few seconds to get rid of any excess moisture if necessary.

If you are using a pot, remove it from the heat and drape a cloth over the pan for about 10-15 minutes to let it fully absorb the moisture and rest. This final step really makes a difference if you want grains that stick together but are not mushy or watery. A good rice cooker includes this resting time in the cooking cycle, and also allows for condensation to evaporate, so you don't need the cloth draping step.

Sushi rice

Once you have mastered plain rice, turning it into sushi rice (shari) just requires a few more steps. Sushi rice (called shari by sushi chefs) is rice that is flavored with dashi, rice vinegar, and salt.

Substitute cooled dashi stock for the water. Cook as per the above instructions.

You will need a large bowl or plate for the next step, preferably a wooden one made for this purpose called a hangiri. You can buy a hangiri at any Japanese kitchen equipment store, and even from Amazon. The advantage of using a wooden hangiri is that the untreated wood absorbs excess moisture from the rice. You can also use a large serving plate or a bowl, though that won't have the moisture-absorbing quality.

You also need a sturdy rice paddle or spatula. rice cookers come with a rice paddle.

Take 1/4 cup of bottled or homemade sushi vinegar (sushi-zu or awase-zu, see recipe below). Moisten your spatula or paddle with a little of the vinegar. Turn your hot rice out into the bowl or plate, Pour the sushi vinegar over the rice.

Working rapidly, turn and mix the rice, taking care not to squish the grains. You should use a cut-turn-fold motion sort of like when you mix in egg whites into a cake batter. This you do with one hand. With your other, rapidly fan the rice to cool it as quickly as possible. This ensures that the grains will be nice and glossy and not mushy. Rope in an assistant to do the fanning, or else do what I do and use a hair dryer on the 'cool' setting. Keep going until the rice has absorbed the vinegar, and has cooled down to about body temperature (it should be just a bit warm to the touch).

Recipe: Sushi vinegar mix (awase-zu)

If you can't get prepared sushi vinegar you can make it thus:

Mix 1/4 cup of rice vinegar or mild cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1/2 tablespoon of mirin, sake or sweet brandy, and 1/2 tablespoon of salt. Heat over low heat in a small saucepan, and stir until the sugar and salt have dissolved. This is enough to flavor 4 cups of rice, so adjust the amount according to the amount of rice you have.

How to cook lotus root (renkon)

maki — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 11:53:53 +0100

(From the archives - since all of a sudden, a lot of people are asking about lotus root! Originally published in April 2008.)

Lotus root (renkon in Japanese) is actually the rhizome of the lotus plant. It’s a popular vegetable throughout southern and eastern Asia, but it’s still not that well known in the west. Lotus root is full of fiber and various vitamins and other nutrients. In Asia it’s believed to have various medicinal qualities, but in macro-nutrient terms it’s best to think of it as a starchy vegetable, like potato. Visually of course, it’s very appealing with all those little holes. Here I’ll explain how it’s prepared and eaten in Japan.

How to prepare lotus root

First off, this is how a raw lotus root looks like. You can buy them at an Asian (South or Eastern) grocery store. More often than not they will be vacuum packed. A nice fresh one is a light orangey-brown. The older the root the browner and darker it is.

Mature lotus root has a sort of slightly bitter or tannic quality, so should not be eaten raw. (Apparently young lotus roots can be eaten raw, but I’ve never encountered them unfortunately.) The bitter/tannic substance is most concentrated in the skin, so you should peel it. Inside, it’s a light flesh color.

(Another way to deal with a raw lotus root is to steam it whole, but peeling and slicing is easier for beginners.)

Raw lotus root will start to darken almost right away, rather like raw potato. To prevent this, put the peeled lotus root in water with a little vinegar in it. If I slice it up, I put the slices in the vinegar water.

If using the slices for a salad, or for any dish that has no further or very little more cooking, they should be boiled for a couple of minutes in vinegared water. This retains the crunchy texture but gets rid of that tannic-ness.

You can also buy lotus root in cans, which can be used straight away. However, many canned lotus roots have been bleached to make then whiter, so I prefer to use raw lotus root if I can find it. (The natural color of lotus root is a very light flesh-orange.)

Changing textures

Depending on how long it’s cooked, the texture of lotus root varies from crunchy to very starchy and a little sticky. I like it either way. Here are two ways of using lotus root in its crunchy stage.

Recipe: Lotus root, cucumber and Serrano ham salad

1/2 lotus root, sliced very thinly and the slices cut into halves
1/2 English or seedless cucumber, de-seeded and sliced thin
1-2 slices of Serrano or other dried ham, cut into thin slivers
1/2 Tbs. rice vinegar plus additional for cooking
Dash salt
1 tsp. sugar
1 Tbs. mayonnaise

Put the sliced lotus root into vinegar water as you slice it, as described above. Bring a pot of water to a boil, and add a little vinegar. Boil the lotus root for a couple of minutes. Drain and cool under running water; drain well.

Mix the vegetables and seasonings except the mayonnaise together well with your hands, scrunching them a bit to let the flavors penetrate. Add the mayonnaise and ham and mix well. Serve immediately, or cool in the refrigerator until dinner time.

Recipe: Stir-fried lotus root with sesame and green onions

1/2 lotus root, sliced very thinly
1 piece of fresh ginger about 1 inch / 2 cm or so long, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloved, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 cups of roughly chopped green onions
2 Tbs. hot red chili pepper, finely chopped
Oil
Vinegar for the lotus root water
1 Tbs. sesame seeds
Pepper
1 1/2 Tbs. soy sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil

Put the sliced lotus root into vinegar water as you slice it, as described above. Drain well just before cooking.

Heat up a large frying pan with the oil. Add ginger and garlic, and stir fry until the oil is very fragrant. Add the drained lotus root slices in a single layer. Cook until the lotus root slices start to change color - they turn a bit translucent looking. Turn over and cook a couple more minutes.

Add the chili pepper and green onions, and stir-fry. Add the sesame seeds, pepper, soy sauce and sesame oil. The lotus roots should get a bit caramelized from the soy sauce. Serve hot or cold. This is very nice for bento.

Other ways to eat lotus root

Lotus root mini-cakes with sweet chili sauce. This uses the starchy, sticky quality of grated cooked lotus root.
Lotus root slices poached in dashi and vinegar - a very traditional Japanese dish
Cut up and put into soups or stews - the longer it’s cooked, the more starchy it gets
Deep-fried or baked as chips (these baked ones on jugalbandi look great)
With a batter as tempura
Sandwich some meaty filling inside and pan-fry (hasami-age)

Variable Roasted Vegetables (an everyday favorite)

maki — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:29:07 +0200

Following up on the previous post where I asked about your favorite go-to everyday dishes (keep your ideas coming!) I thought I’d introduce some of mine. The posting of them may be sporadic, since I’ll be taking pictures and things when I actually made them for dinner.

First up is something that is very easy to assemble, quite healthy, cheap, as seasonal as you want it to be, and almost infinately variable. It’s simply roasted vegetables. I make this all the time, throughout the year, using whatever vegetables I have. It’s a good refrigerator-clearer too.

This is not really a recipe, but a sort of generic formula for roasting vegetables.

The basic roasted vegetable formula

Prep time: 5-10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes + 10 minutes

Preheat the oven to 225°C/ 440°F. Make ready one or two baking sheets

For a well-rounded one-dish meal, I use this combination:

1 part starchy vegetables, e.g. winter squash or kabocha, sweet or white potatoes, lotus root, other starchy roots.
1 part a combination of aromatic vegetables, e.g. onion, leek, garlic, shallots, fennel bulbs. I don’t use ginger for roasting since it turns hard and horrible (though you could use grated ginger). Herbs are a nice addition too.
1 to 2 parts other vegetables. Here you can use anything that is not too watery. Vary this by the season. In spring you might use asparagus or spring cabbage; in summer zucchini other summer squash, eggplants and peppers; in the fall or throughout the year, cauliflower, broccoli, turnips, rutabaga, daikon radish, brussel sprouts…whatever you like.

The harder and more solid the vegetable, the smaller and thinner you should cut it. Alternatively, you may want to pre-boil it for a few minutes. Lotus root and taro roots require parboiling, and if you parboil white potatoes, when you roast them they will be nice and crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

For every 4 cups of combined vegetables, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil or other oil, salt and pepper, and mix well. Spread out in a single layer on a baking sheet, and bake/roast for about 15-20 minutes.

Take it out and give it a stir around. At this point you can add some toppings - see below for suggestions. Roast for another 5-10 minutes.

Toppings and additions

This is a great side dish to a main protein like steak or roast chicken, but it can also be a complete one-dish meal by adding a protein rich topping. Some suggestions:

Cheese! Feta cheese is my favorite for this, but any cheese you like will do. Add at the stirring-up stage.
Plain whole or chopped nuts. Walnuts, almonds and pecans are especially suited for this I think. Add at the stirring-up stage to avoid burning
Miso-tahini paste with walnuts (go easy on the salt on the vegetables if you use this) Add at the stirring-up stage.
Cooked chickpeas or other beans - add at the beginning
Cut up sausage. If cooked, add at the stirring-up stage; if not, add at the beginning
Leftover meatloaf, crumbled up, with a sprinkle of cheese - add at the stirring-up stage

A couple of combination suggestions

A flowery vegetable combination: Broccoli florets, cauliflower florets, artichoke hearts, tiny potatoes or chunks of regular potato, chopped garlic, rosemary. Toss all with olive oil; top with some gorgonzola cheese.
A fall vegetable combination (the one pictured in the photo): Winter squash (kuri squash or Knirps used in the photo), fennel, leek, broccoli, garlic. This can be topped with cheese or Miso-tahini paste with walnuts.
A root vegetable combination: carrots, daikon radish, sweet potato, onion, garlic. Toss with olive oil and some red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Optionally top with feta or other cheese, or go the sweet way and top with some sugar or honey.

Favorite everyday go-to dishes

maki — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:26:07 +0200

Here are some of my favorite ‘go-to’ meals, that I go back to time and again. Most take minimal effort to make and are quite healthy. They are all very good of course!

The role of alcohol, onion and ginger in Japanese meat dishes

maki — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:00:50 +0200

Periodically, someone asks a question about subsituting or leaving out sake or mirin from a dish (most recently to the chicken karaage recipe). This reminds me of how certain ways of thinking exist in Japanese and East Asian cooking, that may not necessarily exist in many types of Western cooking. One of those is the perception of the flavor of meat.

Whenever meat is used in traditional Japanese cuisine (including Okinawan cuisine), it is almost always cooked with one or more of the following ingredients: leek or another member of the onion family; ginger; alcohol in the form of sake or mirin; or sugar. All of these ingredients serve a single purpose, besides adding flavor - to counteract the perceived gaminess of meat. This gaminess is quite disliked, so you don’t really see dishes that involve meat that’s just been cooked plain, as you see in Western cuisines. Dipping sauces also often serve the same purpose.

Here are some examples:

For chicken karaage grated ginger and sake both counteract any gamy quality in the chicken.
In this nibuta (poached and marinated pork) recipe, leeks, ginger and umeboshi in the poaching liquid all serve to counteract the pigginess of pork.
This panfried and poached duck breast recipe is not exactly traditional, but follows traditional methods and thinking. Here the alcohol (mirin, wine and brandy) in the marinade counteract the gamy quality of the duck, as does the wasabi the sliced meat is served with.

This principle is also true for many of the regional varieties of Chinese cooking, especially the Cantonese or Hong Kong style which is the most familiar to Japanese palates. In the pork filling for gyoza dumplings, grated ginger, green onions and garlic (or the more usually used garlic chives or nira) all counteract the pork’s pigginess. The vinegar or hot chili oil that’s added to the soy sauce for dipping also cut the gaminess. (Mustard serves the same function in the dipping sauce for shuumai dumplings.)

A very simple method of dealing with ground pork, a much used ingredient, in Cantonese style cooking is to add water which has been flavored by leeks that have been bruised and steeped in it for a few minutes. Sometimes freshly cut ginger is added to this water as well. One of the simplest and best fillings for wonton dumplings is ground pork that has been flavored with leek-water alone.

So, the next time you are looking at a Japanese (or other East Asian) recipe with meat in it, and wonder about substituting or leaving out any of these ingredients, keep in mind that that will affect the outcome of the dish quite a lot.

How to cook taro root or satoimo

maki — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:17:45 +0200

When I write about some ingredients or vegetables, I am usually quite confident that most people will like them. Lotus root for example may look exotic to western eyes, but is are quite neutral in taste. Taro root, or satoimo （里芋）in Japanese, are a different matter though, because it has a texture that divides people sharply into like and dislike: sliminess.

Japanese people in general, unlike most peoples of the western hemisphere, love foods with slimy textures. Whereas in the American South okra is battered and coated and deep-fried to minimize the slime as much as possible, in Japan the sliminess is even enhanced and celebrated in many okra dishes.

Taro root is not as aggressively slimy as okra innards, but it definitely is rather slippery. (It’s the base ingredient in the Hawaiian speciality poi.) In Japan taro root is most often boiled or stewed in liquid, which dissipates the sliminess somewhat. It may however take some getting used to.

On the other hand, taro root is high in fiber, lower in calories by weight than white potatoes, and very filling. It’s a good alternative starch.

Incidentally, the Japanese word for taro root, satoimo （里芋）means “potato (or starch root) of the homeland (sato)”.

Where to buy taro roots and what they look like

Taro roots are eaten all over East and South Asia, so you can find them at Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and South Asian groceries. (I get mine at an Indian grocery store in Zürich.)

Taro root looks rather hairy and intimidating, sort of like Hell’s Angel versions of potatoes.

(The top left one has just started sprouting. This can just be cut off, but try to get ones that aren’t sprouting.)

How to prepare taro root or satoimo (as they are prepared in Japan)

You will usually need to scrub them fairly well - a stiff vegetable brush does this job the best, or a tawashi if you’re in Japan - because little bits of dirt tend to get trapped in the hairy bits.

Once they are scrubbed, you can peel them as-is with a peeler or knife. However, some people with sensitive skin react to the slime of raw taro root and get itchy. (This also happens with yamaimo and nagaimo, as I explained briefly previously.) To avoid this, you can also try this microwave method:

Wash and dry the taro roots. Put on a plate and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
Microwave on HIGH for 4-5 minutes if the taro roots are small or about the size of golf balls, longer if they are bigger.
Peel each root while holding it in a paper towel or kitchen towel, since they’ll be hot. The root inside will firm but cooked through more or less. You can then put them into soups, stews, etc.

The itchy substance goes away once the roots are cooked.

Recipe: Satoimo (taro root) cooked in miso with tofu

This is an extremely simple dish where the taro roots are cooked in a miso sauce, with crumbled tofu. Actually I originally wanted the tofu to stay in neat squares, but it goes crumbled during cooking. It tastes good (if you like taro root’s texture) in any case.

5-6 small to medium taro roots, peeled with the microwave method
1/2 block firm tofu
1 cup dashi stock (traditional or vegan or water
2 Tbs. white miso
1 Tbs. soy sauce
1 Tbs. maple syrup or 1/2 Tbs. sugar

Cut the taro root into bite-size pieces if necessary - for small ones just cut in half. Put into a pan with the dashi stock, mirin and sugar or maple syrup. Crumble in the tofu.

Bring to a boil and cook down until the liquid is almost gone. Add the soy sauce. Thin out the miso with a little water or dashi until liquid rather than a paste, and add to the pan. Let simmer for a few minutes. Serve hot or cold.

Garnish with something green to perk up the beige.

Other ways to enjoy taro root

You can add taro root to stews, soups, and so on. You can also try making taro root chips. They are very nice in a Japanese style curry, instead of white potatoes.

Other slimy foods that Japanese people love

Natto
Nameko - slimy small mushrooms
Okra - even raw! Usually boiled or deep-fried though.
Nagaimo and yamaimo - root vegetables that are slimy when raw. Often eaten grated and raw, with a raw egg for more slimy goodness.
Mekabu, a type of seaweed
Moroheiya, a tropical green vegetable, touted in recent years for its health benefits.

Cooking whole dried soybeans

maki — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:53:24 +0200

Until fairly recently I had a blind spot when it came to the humble soybean. I regularly consume soy products like soy milk, tofu and okara, not to mention fermented soybean products like natto and tempeh. And green soybeans or edamame are always a great snack.

But for some reason, I didn’t really get into eating the whole dried (and cooked) soybean. It’s not that they are that much harder to cook than other dried beans either.

In any case, I’ve rectified that situation and now I cook up a batch of soybeans quite regularly and store them in the freezer. Plain boiled soybeans are amazingly delicious, and just packed with nutrition. The cooking liquid is so rich that it can be used as a very nutritious stock or dashi for making soups and such.

There are a couple of points to watch out for when cooking whole soybeans, which are noted below in copious detail.

Step 1: Wash and pick over

Rinse the dried soybeans, rubbing them together gently to remove any surface powdery residue , and pick out any dark or discolored beans. These will not cook properly. If any of the hulls work themselves loose while you’re washing, pick those out too.

Step 2: Soak overnight

Soak the beans in water to cover for several hours or overnight. You may need to soak them a bit longer than other types of beans. Also, the bring to a boil then let sit for an hour method of speeding up bean cooking does’t really work well for some reason.

After soaking, you can optionally split the beans by squeezing them gently. (An alternative is to use a food mill to split the dried beans, but I don’t have such a device so if I want the beans split I do it after they are saturated with water.)

Step 3: Use a big pot

Just like soy milk foams up like crazy while it’s being cooked, soybean cooking liquid will bubble up quite enthusiastically, all over your stovetop if you don’t watch out. So the dried soybeans should not come up to more than 1/4th of the height of your cooking pot, and the cooking water should only come up to about 1/3rd of the height maximum. In other words, use a big pot, or cook less. This is particularly true if you’re using a pressure cooker - the viscous cooking liquid may even clog up the works, so be careful. (My pressure cooker can handle about 3 cups of dried beans.)

Step 4: Bring to a boil, then skim off the grey stuff

Whether you are using a pressure cooker or a regular pot, you should first bring the soybeans to a boil, then skim off the greyish stuff that will rise to the surface of the water.

Step 5a: Using a pressure cooker

After you’ve skimmed off the initial grey stuff, put a heat-safe plate that is a smaller than the circumference of the pot on top of the beans. This plate helps to keep the beans from dancing around, and also prevents any loose hulls from rising up and possibly clogging the pressure valves. Once it’s reached pressure, lower the heat and cook for 20-25 minutes. Turn off and let cool naturally until de-pressurized.

Step 5b: Using a regular pot

Heat up to a boil, then put a heat-safe plate or an otoshibuta on top of the beans. Cooking time is about 3 hours, but don’t worry, you don’t have to watch it continuously for that time. Top up with additional water from time to time if it seems to be cooking off, and skim off any grey stuff. A slow cooker would work too. The beans are done if you press one between your finger and thumb and it’s soft, not crunchy. (Or just eat one!)

Step 6: Draining and removing the hulls

Once the beans are cooked using either method, stir then let them sit a bit - the loose hulls will rise to the surface. Skim these off. Strain the beans, reserving the liquid to use as a vegan stock. (Don’t get too concerned about a few loose hulls left in. Removing those hulls is just a good idea because they tend to end up undigested and loose in your innards, which may cause you to rooty-toot-toot a bit more than you may want to and such.)

Step 7: Optional oven drying

The beans at this stage are pale and rather soft. You can use them as-is, but one thing I like to do to at least half the beans is to slow-dry them in the oven. This makes the beans firmer and meatier, and more suited to use as a meat substitute.

Just spread out the well drained and cooked beans on a baking sheet, and put into your oven at the lowest possible heated setting. On my oven that’s 50°C or 122°F. Leave the sheet of beans in there for about 2 hours, turning occasionally. They will shrink to about 20% and turn a light reddish brown. If you taste one it should be just a bit chewy but not hard.

You can use these dried soybeans coarsely ground in a food processor as a ground meat substitute in pasta sauces and such, or to make soy burgers and so on. (You can dry canned soybeans in this way too.)

Storing and freezing

I store un-dried soybeans in freezer bags with a little bit of the cooking liquid. These are used in stewed dishes, soups and such. The dried beans are stored on their own in freezer bags. The cooking liquid can be frozen too.

So there you have it. It may seem complicated, but it really isn’t once you’ve done it once. And the results are worth it especially if you are a vegan/vegetarian. And it’s wonderfully cheap too.

Now, of course you can turn these boiled soybeans into fun things like tempeh and natto. That’s for another day….

Vegetarian / Vegan dashi (Japanese stock)

maki — Thu, 17 May 2007 13:11:11 +0200

As I’ve stated many times here over the years, the basis of most Japanese savory foods is a good dashi, or stock. Dashi is not just used for soups, it’s used for stewing, in sauces, batters, and many, many other things.

The regular way to make dashi was one of my first entries on Just Hungry. It uses kombu seaweed and dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi). Some people use niboshi, small dried fish, in addition to or instead of bonito flakes.

Katsuobushi and niboshi are both fish-based, so not vegetarian. So how do you make a good vegetarian, even vegan, dashi?

Mizu dashi (water dashi) with kombu

My preference is for a simple kombu based stock, which can be made quite easily by soaking a piece of good quality kombu in water in a closed container overnight in the fridge, as shown in the photo. (See this post for more about kombu.) I put about a 30cm / 12 inch long piece of kombu in about 2 litres (8 cups) of filtered water. This is more kombu than for the regular kombu and katsuobushi stock, since the kombu has to produce all the umami on its own. If you don’t have time to soak it overnight, you can soak it for a minimum of half an hour at room temperature.

To use, bring the dashi up to a simmer (not a full boil), then take out the kombu. This produces a light colored, subtly flavored dashi. The soaked kombu can be cooked further until soft, and used in stewed dishes and the like.

Dashi using shiitake mushrooms and kombu

If the kombu dashi is too subtle for you, you can try tossing in a couple of good quality dried (never fresh) shiitake mushrooms in the water. This needs to be soaked for at least a couple of hours, or until the shiitake are quite soft. This will produce a light brown colored dashi with an assertive shiitake flavor, which is especially suitable for dishes that will include the shiitake. The soaked shiitake can be used in your dish.

Saving the soaking liquid from shiitake mushrooms

Finally, if you are using shiitake mushrooms for a dish and reconstituting them anyway, save the soaking liquid to use as dashi in the future. I keep the cut off hard stems in it to extract a bit more flavor. It will keep for a few days in the fridge, or can be frozen. (I freeze it in small ziplock bags, laid flat.)

Soybean cooking liquid

If you cook whole dried soybeans, the cooking liquid is full of umami and makes an interesting rich vegan stock. Use on its own or in combination with one of the other stocks.

basics

Miso Basics: A Japanese miso primer, looking at different types of miso

Some general rules of miso

Major types of miso by color

With or without dashi?

Organic/not-GM?

Gluten free?

Some misos to look for by name

Miso based sauces or blends

How to get a good miso?

Making miso at home

What I have in my kitchen now

The basics of Japanese cooking and all that

See also

Basics: Cold soba noodles with dipping sauce

Cold soba noodles with dipping sauce (Zarusoba)

Cooking the soba noodles

Types of soba

What to have with soba noodles

Japanese Basics: How to make Japanese-style plain rice and sushi rice

Recipe and Procedure: Japanese style plain rice

Sushi rice

Recipe: Sushi vinegar mix (awase-zu)

See also

How to cook lotus root (renkon)

How to prepare lotus root

Changing textures

Recipe: Lotus root, cucumber and Serrano ham salad

Recipe: Stir-fried lotus root with sesame and green onions

Other ways to eat lotus root

Variable Roasted Vegetables (an everyday favorite)

The basic roasted vegetable formula

Toppings and additions

A couple of combination suggestions

Favorite everyday go-to dishes

The role of alcohol, onion and ginger in Japanese meat dishes

See also

How to cook taro root or satoimo

Where to buy taro roots and what they look like

How to prepare taro root or satoimo (as they are prepared in Japan)

Recipe: Satoimo (taro root) cooked in miso with tofu

Other ways to enjoy taro root

Other slimy foods that Japanese people love

Cooking whole dried soybeans

Step 1: Wash and pick over

Step 2: Soak overnight

Step 3: Use a big pot

Step 4: Bring to a boil, then skim off the grey stuff

Step 5a: Using a pressure cooker

Step 5b: Using a regular pot

Step 6: Draining and removing the hulls

Step 7: Optional oven drying

Storing and freezing

Vegetarian / Vegan dashi (Japanese stock)

Mizu dashi (water dashi) with kombu

Dashi using shiitake mushrooms and kombu

Saving the soaking liquid from shiitake mushrooms

Soybean cooking liquid