Japanese Recipes: Vegetables
Edamame - Green Soybeans:
Frozen edamame can be purchased in Asian grocery stores and some high-end food stores in the pod or out of the pod. There is no difference in taste, and since you don't eat the pods, a 1lb bag of out-of-the-pod beans will go farther. However, there is something satisfying about popping the beans out of the pods. You can squeeze the pods between your fingers or teeth so they split open along one seam and deposit the beans in your waiting mouth.
For either in- or out-of- pod frozen beans, boil for a few minutes in lightly salted water and then sprinkle with salt to serve. If you are fortunate to find fresh in-the-pod edamame, wash and then rub the pods with salt. Allow them to sit 15 minutes with the salt, then immerse them in boiling water for 7-10 minutes. Sprinkle with a little more salt before serving (sea salt is especially good).
Aemono
Aemono is a concept in Japanese food that roughly translates to "food in dressing". Sunomono could also be translated as "food in dressing" but the difference is that sunomono usually has a thin, vinegar-based dressing and aemono usually has a thicker dressing that coats the food. One great thing I discovered about aemono and sunomono sauces is that they keep very well and can be made well in advance.
I was surprised to find out that walnuts are native to Japan, and have been a very important part of the Japanese diet for as long as archaeological history can trace. So a walnut-based aemono sauce seemed a natural choice; a close second was a ground sesame-seed aemono.
Asparagasu Aemono - Asparagus in Walnut SauceServes 4, Kazuko 67 Walnut aemono sauce:2 1/2 oz walnuts Paste walnuts in food processor or a Japanese mortar and pestle (suribachi and surikogi). Add sugar and shoyu. Add sake and 2 tablespoons water. Add more water if necessary until paste is a light creamy color. Package into ziplocs & freeze or refrigerate. Asparagus:1/2 lb asparagus Trim asparagus into spears. Immerse asparagus in boiling water for 4 mins. Remove and force-cool in ice water. If walnut sauce is frozen, drop walnut sauce in boiling water, still in bags to thaw. Mix sauce with asparagus to coat veggies. Arrange spears on plates, garnish with whole walnut pieces. |