| Miso Soup Prep time: 10 minutes | Makes 2 servings Ingredients : 3 cups water 3 scallions/green onions 1 stick wakame seaweed 1/2 tsp. hot sesame pepper oil Tamari/soy sauce to taste (1-2 tsp.) Black pepper to taste 1 1/2 generous Tbsp. miso Any type of miso can be used for this recipe. The taste will vary with the brand though. Place water in a pan and heat. While heating, add wakame, broken into small pieces (they will expand), hot oil, tamari, and pepper. When water comes to a boil, add scallions and remove from heat. Dissolve miso in water and serve. It is important not to cook the miso or important nutrients may be destroyed. Serve with a green salad and a thick slice of crusty bread for dipping. Note : you can add a small amount of very thinly sliced mushrooms or a very small amount of small chunked tofu. You can even add a bit of capellini pasta, broken into thirds (add while water is heating up and cook for 1-2 minutes before adding miso). I recommend not using more than 2 ingredients other than seasonings: seaweed, tofu, scallions, mushrooms, pasta. This soup doesn't work very well if it becomes cluttered, which 3 ingredients tends to do. Also be careful to use ingredients sparsley - they're there to spruce up the broth. Use less than you think you'll need. |
| ____________________________________________ |
| Yuki Udon ( Healthy Noodles ) Ingredients : 400g / 14oz dried udon noodles 2 tablespoons sunflower oil 175g / 6oz squid, cleaned and sliced 450g / 1 lb large cooked prawns, shelled and deveined 4 spring onions, roughly chopped 225g / 8oz bean sprouts 15 fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced 4 teaspoons dried green seaweed, soaked in hot water and drained 4 tablespoons bonito flakes 4 tablespoons Japanese or light soy sauce salt and freshly ground black pepper Bring water to the boil, add the noodles and cook for 7 to 15 minutes. Rinse under cold water and drain. Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan until very hot and stir-fry the squid and prawns for 2 minutes. Add the spring onions, bean sprouts, mushrooms and seaweed and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the noodles and remaining ingredients and seasonings, and stir-fry for 1 minute. Divide the noodles and seafood among four plates and serve. |
| Tempura It seems very hard to learn the knack of tempura frying. With a little help, though, tempura deep frying can be simple. The main ingredients are vegetables and fish of your choosing. There are a few points that you have to remember: 1) slice the vegetables thin so they can be fried in a short time; 2) you will need a deep, thick-walled pan (a wok is OK) filled about 1 inch deep with peanut oil (try other types of oil if you like, but never add lard or shortening); 3) deep-fry in small batches so you can maintain the temperature of the oil; and finally 4) tempura-fry vegetables at 340F and fish at 360F. Ingredients : Koromo (batter) 1 egg, beaten 1 cup COLD water 2 tablespoons dry white wine 1 cup flour When you add the flour, whisk quickly just to mix it in evenly. Sticky batter results in oily tempura. Beat the egg and mix with water. Add flour and whisk quickly. Tentsuyu (tempura dip) 1 tablespoon dashi no moto in 1 cup of water, boiled for two to three minutes 2 tablespoons mirin. You can replace this with 1 tablespoon sugar 2 tablespoons sake or dry white wine 1/4 cup soy sauce ginger root to taste, freshly grated (optional) After you boil the dashi, turn off the heat and add the rest of the ingredients. Vegetables and Fish Carrots, cut into thin sticks (i.e. 1 1/2 inches long) Onions, sliced Green pepper, cut into rings or any way you want Eggplant, thinly sliced Broccoli, prepared as for a for salad Green onions, (see mixed vegetable tempura -- kakiage) Zucchini, thinly sliced Mushrooms, halved, or whole if small Green beans, halved lengthwise, or whole Asparagus, bite-sized (deep-fry 3 or 4 sticks together) Butternut squash, bite-sized thin slices Okra, halved lengthwise Snow pea pods, whole Cod, bite-sized Shrimp, peeled, whole. Dip shrimp in the batter by holding the tail fin, and fry two or three at a time. Scallops, whole if small Crab, break shell and expose meat before dipping in batter Squid, sliced into rings or strips Dredge fish in flour before dipping in batter Heat the oil to 340F or 360F. Dip the vegetables or fish in the batter and place them in the oil. If it is difficult to handle the vegetable chunks, you may use a tablespoon to drop them in. Do not fry too much at a time, in order to maintain the temperature. Take the tempura out of the oil just when the batter gets SLIGHTLY brown. Vegetables usually take less than two to three minutes. Remember: the thinner the vegetable, the faster it cooks. For fish, the time to pull it out is when the batter turns very slightly brown. It is good idea to do trial frying in the beginning. Taste it and decide how long it will have to be fried. Once you get the timing right, the rest is simple. Serve with tentsuyu. Tempura is also served with rice. This is called ten-don. Put warm rice in a bowl or on a plate and place tempura on top of the rice. Pour on two or three tablespoons of tentsuyu. Another popular way of serving tempura is over a bowl of noodles. This is called tempura-udon or tempura-soba, and it is traditional Japanese fast food. There are many variations in tempura frying. You can mix two or three vegetables and fry them together. This is called kakiage style. So be creative and invent your own style. |
| ____________________________________________ |