Category Archives: Side dishes

Cucumber Fried with Perilla (Shiso)

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Have you ever fried cucumber? Even though it’s one of the vegetables I eat most often, such a way to serve it had never crossed my mind before I saw this recipe in the Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook by Fuchsia Dunlop. In constant search of new ways to cook shiso (see below), I prepared this dish out of pure curiosity, considering it a rather risky experiment. Luckily, quickly fried, still crunchy and juicy cucumber tasted surprisingly well. Paired with strong, slightly astringent shiso leaves, fresh chili and vinegar, it created a bold-tasting and original side-dish.

Shiso (紫蘇), or perilla, is an Asian aromatic dark red or green plant with an astringent taste and strong fragrance. I have discovered it thanks to the Japanese cuisine, where it’s frequently used raw, cooked and its red variety is gives a reddish hue to pickles. Similar varieties of this herb are also used in Korean (ggaennip, 깻잎) and Vietnamese (tía tô) cuisines. Thanks to Fuchsia Dunlop’s book I learnt that perilla is also appreciated in China. Shiso is not to everyone’s taste, but I instantly fell in love with its herbaceous aroma and the more I cook with it, the more I appreciate it.

Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, which presents the Hunan province, has not only revealed a new way to prepare cucumber. It has most of all made be realise I am very fond of the combination of hot, salty and sour flavours, typical of this place (and often distorted abroad by the addition of sugar). The few dishes I cooked from this book (I hope to share them with you soon) were excellent and proved once more that Fuchsia Dunlop approaches food writing with discipline and passion. I equally – and even more – recommend her “Sichuan Cookery” which is one of the best cookery books I have ever seen.

If you like cucumber and have access to shiso, try this simple but surprising (at least for me) recipe. I haven’t modified the original instructions and have only changed amounts of ingredients. If you don’t find shiso, the author advises Thai sweet basil and I totally agree. The taste will be completely different, but it’s also a strong, aromatic herb, which gives excellent results when cooked. For me, the taste of the dish is interesting enough to try making it without any herb.

If you look for shiso cooking ideas, you might like some of these:

Teriyaki Pork Rolls with Shiso and Gochujang

Pork Rolls and Shiso in Tempura

Garlic and Shiso Infused Soy Sauce

Shiso and Bacon Fried Rice

Preparation: about 15 minutes

Ingredients (serves two):

1/2 long cucumber

1 red chili (fresh)

1 garlic clove

1 teaspoon light soy sauce

1 teaspoon rice vinegar

4 tablespoons chopped perilla leaves (the recipe calls for purple perilla leaves, but I’m sure you can use the green variety too)

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon peanut or canola oil

Halve the cucumber lengthwise and then cut diagonally into 0.5 cm/about 1/4 in thick slices.

Chop the chili and the garlic. (Remove the chili seeds if you don’t want your dish to be too hot).

Heat one tablespoon oil in a pan or wok.

Spread the cucumber slices at the bottom and fry them at high heat until they are slightly golden on one side (about 2 minutes). Turn them and fry the other side in the same way.

Add the chili, the garlic and the soy sauce. Stir-fry for a couple of minutes.

Add the vinegar and the chopped perilla.

Stir well the dish for one minute and put the pan aside.

Add the sesame oil and stir well before serving.

Goat Yogurt, Cucumber, Radish and Dill Salad

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Have you ever bought a food product which tasted good but you had no idea what to do with it? It happens to me regularly, but usually involves exotic, foreign food. Strangely, I have recently had similar experience with goat yogurt. I like goat cheese a lot, so I did like goat yogurt too, but somehow couldn’t place it in any food category (and definitely not in the same as cow milk yogurt), not to mention a dish where I could use it.

The other day I felt like making a Cucumber and Radish Salad but unfortunately – or rather luckily – I ran out of standard yogurt and sour cream I usually add. Substituting it with goat yogurt, I actually discovered a much more interesting version of this refreshing salad. I have also added some chopped dill harvested from my balcony and couldn’t believe my taste buds! I have no words to describe how terrific proved the mixture of refreshing cucumber, subtle dill scent, slight radish spiciness and subtle goat yogurt flavour.

UPDATE: I have just discovered that goat yogurt is amazingly good served with Hungarian Chicken with Paprika (Paprikàs Csirke), instead of the usual sour cream.

Here are some other cucumber salad ideas you might like (I have just realised there is the same bowl in all the photos… I guess I liked it a lot last year!):

Cucumber and Seaweed Salad

Cucumber and Chervil Salad

Radish Cucumber and Sour Cream/Yogurt Salad

TIPS: This salad should be made just before serving, otherwise the vegetables will render liquid and the “sauce” will get watery.

Just like my older yogurt/sour cream version, this salad a perfect side-dish or starter in both Western and Asian meals. I can very well see it served with hot and spicy Indian food.

Dill is one of the herbs which freeze very well and taste much better preserved this way rather than dried. You just have to chop it finely before freezing and make sure it is thoroughly dried.

Preparation: 10 minutes

Ingredients (serves one):

6-7 big red radishes

1/3 long cucumber

3 heaped tablespoons goat yogurt

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

(salt)

Cut the cucumber in four pieces lengthwise, and then into thin slices.

Cut the radishes in two pieces lengthwise, then into thin slices.

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl (taste if you need salt; I didn’t need any) and serve.

Miso Vinaigrette

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I never get bored with dressed green salads. After years of having it regularly, both as a side-dish and a starter, I am always excited at the discovery of a new dressing, especially when warm spring days arrive and salad leaves are bought with higher frequency. This miso vinaigrette is simple, but original in its creamy consistency and quite complex taste it owes to miso. I have written below a short recipe, but to put it simply, it’s a traditional mustard vinaigrette with miso used instead of mustard. Accidentally this salad was a perfect company for the recently posted Chicken with Soy Sauce, Garlic and Molasses.

Miso has been frequently appearing on my table (see below) for several years now, but I have never thought of putting it into a vinaigrette. I have found this excellent and obvious idea in Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu, an American married to a Japanese farmer and living in rural area for several decades. The book contains both classic recipes and Nancy Singleton’s own inventions based on local ingredients. It is also full of stories about family, neighbours, local producers and, in general, describes life in the Japanese countryside. The book is a particularly compelling read, a beautiful object, a good source of recipes and I strongly advise it to all the Japanese cuisine fans, even novices because the majority of the recipes are easy and clearly explained.

For those who haven’t tasted miso (味噌), it’s a thick paste made by fermenting soybeans and/or barley or rice and one of the most important ingredients of the Japanese cuisine (Korean and Chinese cuisines use very similar pastes too). Miso is packed with protein, vitamins and minerals and some people claim it even helps to fight the radiation sickness. In Japan miso has three main colour types: white (shiromiso), red (akamiso), black (kuromiso), and there is also mixed miso (awasemiso). The only downside of miso is that is can be very high in sodium, so look for special “low sodium” misos (some high quality misos don’t even have this mention, but are less salty). Whatever the salt content, white miso has always a milder taste, so it’s a good idea to start one’s adventure with light-coloured miso. Apart from the three basic colours, there are myriads of different misos, depending on the brand or producer, the ingredients, the region…

If you have bought a tub of miso and wonder what to do with it, you might like:

Asparagus and Chicken Stir-Fried with Miso Sauce

Garlic Miso Chicken Breast

Miso Soup with Shrimp and Tofu

Mackerel Simmered in Miso

Chicken and Aubergine in Garlic Miso Sauce

And if you look for other salad dressing ideas, you might be interested in my recent delicious and very unusual discovery:

Sesame Paste (Tahini) Dressing

Apparently I am not the only one who eats more salads at the arrival of spring. This week Nami (Just One Cookbook) has posted a gorgeous seaweed salad and a miso (!) dressing, while Gourmantine (Gourmantine’s Blog) has presented no more no less but eight salad dressings. Visit their blogs for more inspiration!

TIPS: The below amounts should only be treated as approximate and adjusted to your taste, the miso kind or brand. (I have slightly modified the original amounts too). I have added some agave syrup to mellow the flavours (not present in the original recipe), but it’s not necessary.

I don’t like my salads drown in sauce, so double the below amounts if you prefer a very moist, rich salad.

Preparation: 10 minutes

Ingredients (serves two – three):

1/3 lettuce head, washed and torn into smaller pieces

(cucumber, tomatoes or any other raw vegetables cut into pieces)

Dressing:

3 heaped teaspoons miso of your choice (I wouldn’t advise the very dark, strong miso)

2 teaspoons oil

4 teaspoons rice vinegar

(1 teaspoon syrup or honey in case you need to adjust the taste; I have used agave syrup)

In a glass combine well the vinaigrette ingredients.

Place the salad leaves and other vegetables in a bowl and pour the miso vinaigrette over them just before serving.

Korean Mung Bean Sprouts Salad (Nokdu Namul)

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I’m starting to wonder how far will go my obsession with sesame seeds. A jar with roasted sesame seeds is placed just next to the salt container, at the stretch of my hand, so it proves how much I like it and how frequently I use it. Frankly speaking, every time I prepare an Asian (or even vaguely Asian) meal, my first reflex now is to sprinkle it with sesame seeds and I never regret my gesture (although I do manage sometimes to resist the temptation). As for the sesame oil, a small teaspoon stirred just before serving adds a deep, nutty flavour I find more and more addictive too.

This salad, found in Growing Up in a Korean Kitchen: a Cookbook by Hi Soo Shin Hepinstall owes everything to sesame oil and seeds. For me it was was also a interesting new way to consider mung bean sprouts I regularly add to stir-fried meats, rice or noodles. Even though the dressing is light, the tiny amount of powerful sesame oil transforms it into an interesting, fragrant side-dish. The addition of sesame seeds, as always, gives a pleasant crunchy note.

I have scaled down the original recipe to two serving and used European chives instead of spring onions I didn’t have. I have also change the name from “seasoned mung bean sprouts” to a “salad” because I have it cold and treat it as a salad.

TIP: If you have never used sesame oil, I advise buying it in a Japanese or Korean shop (or maybe simply Asian). The only time I bought a bottle of good quality, cold-pressed organic sesame oil made in Europe I discovered something I dislike so much I still wonder how to use it (and it wasn’t rancid). I think Asian sesame oil is made from roasted, not raw, sesame seeds.

This salad is apparently served both at room temperature and very cold. I prefer it cold, so I have quickly rinsed the blanched sprouts in very cold water. If you want to serve it at room temperature, skip this step.

Preparation: 15 minutes

Ingredients (serves two):

150 g/about 5 oz mung bean sprouts

1 teaspoon soy sauce (or more if you use low-sodium soy sauce)

1 teaspoon rice vinegar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 small clove garlic

(salt)

ground pepper

1 green onion (the lighter part only); I have used European chives instead

toasted sesame seeds

Blanch the mung bean sprouts in boiling water for a minute.

Quickly drain and, if you wish to serve the salad very cold, rinse it with very cold water.

Drain once more.

Crush the garlic and chop it finely.

Mix it with the soy sauce, the vinegar, the sesame oil, the ground pepper and the salt (if you need it).

Put the sprouts in a big bowl and combine with the dressing.

Chop the green onion or the chives.

Transfer the sprouts to a serving bowl.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onion/chives.

This salad can be served very cold or at room temperature (I have preferred it cold).

Salad with Sesame Paste Dressing

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If, every time you open a jar of sesame paste, you have to close your eyes to fully enjoy the inebriating, nutty fragrance and never resist stealing a teaspoonful, then this recipe is for you. I know it looks like a bowl of ordinary lettuce, but it’s much more than that. The leaves are delicately seasoned with the creamiest, richest salad dressing I have ever made. If used in moderation (this is why it is barely visible on the photo), this dressing is so addictive, I found myself preparing it three days in a row. I discovered it accidentally, a couple of days ago, while leafing through Sichuan Cookery by Fuchsia Dunlop, one of the best written cookery books I know. As someone, who prepares either the classical French vinaigrette with mustard (sometimes garlic) or its vaguely Asian version, with soy sauce and sesame seeds, I was thrilled to discover this completely new way to dress the humble lettuce.

This salad has proved for me an ideal choice for the this time of the year, when a bright green, crisp, raw side-dish cheers me up and announces the imminent spring. Its creamy, intense dressing keeps it still in the rich, comforting food category. The addition of sesame oil might at first seem superfluous, but it has wonderfully increased the nutty fragrance, so I wouldn’t advise skipping it. The only big change I have allowed myself here was the addition of vinegar. The original recipe didn’t contain any acid ingredient and I desperately need some tanginess in my salads. In my defence I would like to emphasize I have used black Chinkiang vinegar, regularly appearing in Sichuanese recipes, such as Bang Bang Chicken, also found in the same book and also containing sesame paste.

TIP: If you don’t have dark Chinese sesame paste, try finding wholegrain sesame paste (I buy it in organic shops). Otherwise, any good light sesame paste will do. Black sesame paste might be too strong, but of course it depends on your preferences.

Soy sauce is not mentioned in the original recipe, only salt. I have used low-sodium soy sauce here because the dressing was too thick and I didn’t want to use more oil.

Preparation: 10 minutes

Ingredients (serves two):

crisp salad leaves (tear the bigger ones into several pieces)

1 heaped tablespoon sesame paste

1 flat tablespoon Chinkiang vinegar (I think that malt vinegar would be the closest substitute here but do try finding Chinkiang vinegar which is unique)

pinch of sugar or syrup

1/6 teaspoon salt (or/and light soy sauce)

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

(toasted sesame seeds)

Place the dressing ingredients in a big bowl.

Mix them with a spoon until the sauce is homogenous.

Adjust the taste and add more oil/soy sauce/vinegar/sugar if the consistency is too thick.

Spread the dressing inside the bowl, place the salad leaves and delicately “wipe” the bowl’s interior with them.

Transfer the seasoned salad to a serving dish or bowl.

You can sprinkle it with toasted sesame seeds.

Harihari Zuke (はりはり漬け), Pickled Dried Daikon

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harihari_pj

Drying fruits, vegetables and mushrooms is not only a way of preserving them. First of all, they have a different use in the kitchen and often become so good and unique, they could never be substituted by their fresh versions (it’s maybe a question of personal preferences, but I would never put fresh mushrooms in Ragù alla bolognese). I have been drying fresh produce for many years (I have recently posted here several methods to dry apples), but doing this with the long Asian white radish called daikon has never crossed my mind. When I saw pickled dried daikon at Hiroyuki’s blog (Hiroyuki’s Blog on Japanese Cooking), I was very intrigued and curious but didn’t expect much more than a moderately flavoursome, interesting side-dish and certainly not the excellent taste and extraordinary texture it has changed into! I also like fresh daikon a lot, but once dried and pickled, it undergoes a magical transformation.

Daikon is one of the staple Japanese vegetable and its dried version is quite popular too. It is often used in simmered dishes and sold in two forms: wari boshi daikon (thicker strips) and shredded daikon called kiri boshi daikon (go to see the difference here at Hiroyuki’s blog). Harihari zuke (pickled dried daikon) calls for the thicker version (wari boshi daikon). Just like most Japanese pickles, these have a delicate, slightly sweetish taste, but this is where the similarity ends. The very special chewy, but at the same time crunchy texture is what makes them unique and, in my case, addictive. Thank you so much, Hiroyuki, for this extraordinary discovery!

If you don’t find thickly cut dried daikon, wari boshi daikon is ridiculously easy to prepare, whatever method you use (it’s also an excellent way to use up leftover wilted, dying daikon!). I haven’t even checked if I can get it in my city because I knew it would be cheaper when made at home and moreover I wanted to use organic vegetables. For this first experiment I used only one daikon, but after the surprisingly good outcome I have just started to dry a new, this time much bigger batch. This way I will have dried daikon ready any time I feel like preparing this wonderful snack again.

I have slightly changed Hiroyuki’s proportions in the pickling liquid and have omitted seaweed strips (see the original Hiroyuki’s recipe here).

If you don’t feel like drying daikon, you might like these tsukemono (Japanese pickles):

kyurinop

Cucumber Pickled in Vinegared Soy Sauce (Kyuuri no kyuuchan)

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Pickled Ginger (Gari)

pickledradishp

Pickled Pink Radish

TIPS: In Japan daikon is usually dried in the sun. Of course, given the season, I couldn’t do this. In the winter I dry fruits and vegetables on radiators: it’s quick, it doesn’t require much attention and doesn’t consume any additional energy. If you don’t have radiators, you can dry them using either the oven set at lowest temperature or hang it over the stove and wait until it dries by the heat produces while you cook (the latter can last a bit more). Of course, if you have a dehydrator, you don’t need me to tell you how to do it. Click here to see detailed description of the drying methods I used for example with apples and which apply to most cut fruits or vegetables.

Fresh chili is not obligatory here, but a it is very pleasant addition if you like hot food.

Preparation (3 hours + drying process, if you don’t have dried daikon, which depends on the method used, see here):

Ingredients:

1 medium daikon (about 300 g – 350 g/about 11-13 oz) or a handful (filling loosely a 125 ml/ 1/2 cup container) of wariboshi (thick strips of dried daikon)

4 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce or 3 tablespoons normal soy sauce+1 tablespoon water

4 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 flat tablespoon sugar (I have used agave syrup)

1 fresh medium-hot small chili, seeds removed

Frist dry the daikon (wariboshi, i.e. thicker version).

Peel the daikon, cut horizontally into 7 – 8 cm (about 3 in) chunks (I have cut my daikon in three parts).

Then cut each piece lengthwise in two, then cut each half lengthwise into 1 cm-thick strips.

They should be more or less similarly thick, but not necessarily identical.

Dry it following the instructions I gave here (using a radiator, an oven or hanging it above the stove).

When the daikon has dried completely (it has to be tough when you touch it: the drier it is, the longer it will keep; otherwise it can become mouldy), you can start the pickling process.

If dried daikon strips are too long to be considered “bite-sized”, cut them in two.

Put the daikon strips into a bowl of boiling water and leave there for about 30 minutes.

In the meantime dissolve the sugar in the mixture of vinegar and soy sauce.

Shred the chili pepper and put into the pickling mixture.

Squeeze the soaked daikon and dry it. Put it into the pickling mixture and leave in the fridge for 3 hours, shaking from time to time so that it pickles equally.

Eventually, the dried strips will absorb all the pickling liquid (the photo above was taken only after ten minutes’ pickling, hence the liquid at the bottom).

Such pickles can be left in the fridge for several days (or maybe weeks? I have no idea because I have managed to keep them only for two days).

Indian Chickpeas in Tangy Sauce (Khatte Channe)

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Happy New Year, my dear readers! I hope you have spent wonderful, palate-pleasing holidays. I bet many of you have made new year’s resolutions, just like I did, and probably some of them concern food too. I wish you all the discipline, the courage and the patience to stick to them! This Indian chickpeas dish illustrates two of my 2013 goals: cooking more legumes and using more often the fascinating cookery books I own and tend to forget, such as the highly reliable Classic Indian Cookery by Julie Sahni, where I found this excellent recipe. As for my sudden longing for Indian flavours, I owe it to Eva (Kitchen Inspirations), who dazzled me with her extraordinary Indian feast throughout half of December (it started here and went on for several impressive posts).

Khatte Channe can have different consistencies, going from a thick soup to a dish with moderated amount of sauce and this version falls into the latter category. I will not bore you with the detailed description of the subtle and complex mixture of flavours (I wouldn’t be able to do it anyway) and will simply say it is the best chickpeas dish I have ever had in my life. One more successful adventure with Julie Sahni’s book, proving that I should open it more often. (Another delightful dish I have prepared following Julie Sahni’s instructions and posted here was Butter Chicken, which, contrary to its name, wasn’t greasy or heavy.)

I have slightly changed the spices’ amounts and adapted the recipe to four servings. Of course, like many Indian dishes in sauce, this one can be made in advance and reheated (the fresh sliced onion and fresh chili should be added however only before the dish is served).

TIPS: If you cannot find tamarind, you might use some lemon or lime juice instead. If you can find it, buy it because it keeps forever in the fridge and apart from the tanginess, brings a very particular taste. Tamarind is sold in Asian shops (not only Indian), usually in blocks (about 200g/ 7 oz) containing both the pulp and seeds and has to be dissolved in hot water.

Julie Sahni emphasizes the importance of the long onion browning stage in many Indian dishes and I must confess I first tried short cuts, i.e. quickly softening onions instead. I quickly realised the final result obtained with browned onions is well worth the effort of constant stirring for 20 minutes.

Preparation: about 1 hour

Ingredients (serves four as a side-dish with rice and for example a meat dish):

2 x 400 g (about 2 x 16 oz) cans chickpeas or cooked chickpeas + 125 ml liquid from the cans or cooking liquid

1 big onion

2 medium garlic cloves

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

2 cm (0,8 in) piece of block of tamarind paste

1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

200g (2/3 or about 7 oz) small can of chopped tomatoes or 200 g (7 oz) fresh tomatoes, skinned and chopped

1 heaped teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1 tablespoon garam masala

oil

1 teaspoon roasted and then ground cumin seeds

1 small onion, thinly sliced

1 fresh green chili pepper finely chopped (I have used red chili pepper and only sliced it)

Drain the chickpeas, keeping the liquid aside.

Dissolve the tamarind paste in 190 ml (about 6 oz) boiling water, squashing it with a fork. After a couple of minutes strain the juice thus obtained, getting as much as you can out of the paste.

Slice the big onion.

Chop the garlic cloves.

Heat 2 – 3 tablespoons oil in a pan. Fry the onion, constantly stirring for about 20 minutes until they become “caramel”, as the author calls it. Add the garlic and stir-fry it for 2 minutes.

Add turmeric, cayenne pepper, tomatoes and the ginger.

Cook the sauce at medium heat for 5 minutes.

Add the tamarind juice and and the chickpeas liquid.

Let everything simmer covered, at low heat for 15 minutes.

Finally add the drained chickpeas, garam masala, the cumin and cook for 10 more minutes.

Season with salt and serve sprinkled with sliced fresh onion and chopped or sliced fresh chili.

Cabbage and Ramen Noodle Salad

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This is, without any doubts, the star of this winter’s salads. I saw it several months ago on Azusa’s blog (Humble Bean) and wouldn’t stop thinking about it. How could I forget a recipe which had dried uncooked noodles among its ingredients? I simply waited for this time of the year when cabbage is one of the rare seasonal salad vegetables. Even though the salad looked beautiful, I must admit that the intriguing use of noodles was what tempted me most of all to prepare it. In fact I didn’t expect even half as good result and certainly not such a wonderful, complex side dish. The crunchy mixture of dry noodles, peanuts and sesame seeds is of course the focal point here. Once browned in butter, it proved an amazing topping and a perfect company for the sweet and sour salad dressing. I can very well see it sprinkled on many other dishes too. (Maybe I’m wrong, but I suppose the Japanese would call it “furikake”.) I made this salad for the first time yesterday, I have had it once more today and am already looking forward to serving it tomorrow. I think it will be my staple this winter just like Azusa’s Tomato and Shiso Salad was for the last two summers. Thank you so much, Azusa, for one more extraordinary discovery!

This recipe comes from a Hawaiian cookery book and accidentally it would go perfectly well with Shoyu Chicken, the only other Hawaiian dish I prepare (also found at Humble Bean). It would be an original alternative to coleslaw or any salad served with roast meat or birds during holidays. The guests’ amazement is guaranteed!

I have slightly modified the recipe mainly using peanuts instead of almonds, adding salt to the crunchy mixture (I still don’t know why I did it but it was a good decision) and scaling it down to a dish for two. Visit Humble Bean to see the original recipe.

TIP: The best way to crush both peanuts and noodles is to put them in a resistant bag (such as ziplock) and crush them with the bottom of a bowl for example.

I have made a bigger amount of the crunchy mixture (it has to be kept open, otherwise it will lose its crunchiness) and the following day the salad took me only 5 minutes to prepare. The mixture cannot be kept for a long period though (it might get rancid).

Preparation: 20 minutes

Ingredients (serves two):

150 g (about 2 cups) shredded white cabbage or a mixture or white and red cabbage

Crunchy mixture:

4 flat tablespoons crushed ramen noodles (Chinese-style “curly” wheat noodles)

2 flat tablespoons sesame seeds

3 flat tablespoons crushed peanuts (the original recipe calls for almonds)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon butter

Dressing:

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon sugar (I have used agave syrup)

3 tablespoons chopped green onion (I had chives, so I have used them instead)

Heat the butter in a pan and, at low heat, brown the mixture of noodles, peanuts and sesame seeds, constantly stirring. When the noodles become golden, put the pan aside and combine the mixture with the salt.

Combine the dressing ingredients. Combine it with the shredded cabbage.

Sprinkle the salad with crunchy mixture and green onion or chives.

Give the salad a stir just before serving it.

Korean Radish Salad (Musaengchae)

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Winter – or late autumn – vegetables are scarce and can quickly become boring (especially for someone who doesn’t like pumpkin), but luckily there is daikon, the Asian long white radish. It can be served raw or cooked, but it is only the former which, thanks to its spiciness and crunchiness, reminds me of the spring pink radish. I have always liked the way for example Radish Kimchi stops me from feeling heavy and sleepy after hearty meals. This quick and refreshing salad is one of the rare Korean dishes not really requiring exotic food ingredients (apart from the sesame oil which can be easily skipped) and as such it can be served with many, not only Korean dishes. It should be prepared with “mu”, white Korean radish, which is shorter and plumpier than daikon, but I have never seen it sold, so daikon was the only choice I had. I do not complain though because it’s excellent this way too.

I found this recipe in my Korean cookery book (The Food and Cooking of Korea by Young Jin Song) and have only slightly modified it, but its versions vary a lot on internet. I have seen it with ginger, garlic, green onions… so feel free to modify it, as long as the ingredients stay Korean (whatever it may mean!).

Yesterday I saw Hiroyuki (Hiroyuki’s Blog on Japanese Cooking) posted his wife’s Daikon and Tuna salad. I thought it was a funny coincidence to discover two new appetising daikon dishes in one week. Hiroyuki’s wife’s salad is completely different, but very tempting so click here to check it or wait until I post it on my blog .

TIP: The salad does contain chili powder, but the amount and the hotness level depend on your personal choice of course (you can use sweet paprika too). The last batch (several big bags) of Korean chili powder I bought proved to be only slightly hot, so I can use more of it without obtaining fiery results.

Preparation: 10 minutes

Ingredients (serves 2 if it’s the only side-dish):

200 g/about 7 oz very cold white Korean radish or daikon

Dressing:

1 teaspoon delicate vinegar (I have used rice vinegar but it can be cider vinegar too)

1/2 teaspoon sugar (I have used agave syrup)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon Korean chili powder (or any other chili powder)

(1/2 teaspoon sesame oil)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

toasted sesame seeds

Cut up the radish into matchsticks or grate it on a mandolin or with a special shredder.

Combine the dressing ingredients and stir into the radish.

Serve immediately sprinkled with sesame seeds or put into the fridge and serve it later (it tastes better cold).

Celery Kimchi

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“Charles would love it!” was one of my first thoughts when I tasted this new version of kimchi. First of all, I know that Charles (my blogging friend from 5 Euro Food) loves kimchi and Korean food. Moreover, we have recently had a most interesting conversation about celery (don’t laugh!), which Charles adores and I only start discovering. I am sure that someone has already tried making celery kimchi, but I swear it was my own idea (although maybe Hyosun’s kind suggestion of a Korean celery side dish has put me on the right tracks…). Whatever was the trigger, when I saw celery stalks in my fridge and two containers of kimchi above them (yes, I have become a notorious kimchi maker quite a long time ago), I thought “why don’t I “kimchi” the celery too?”.

The result is stunningly good. The celery has stayed crunchy, refreshing, but tougher than radish in kimchi. Its anise aroma, instead of disappearing, has curiously doubled, so even after a couple of days, the not fully mature kimchi is already particularly strong. (UPDATE: After 5 days the celery aroma started to weaken and sadly the kimchi started to lose its appeal…). I suppose this is only for the celery fans and I wouldn’t advise it to those who hate anise aroma either. For me, who only starts to discover the magic world of celery, this kimchi is a revelation and I am already making place for an additional, constant container in my fridge.

As a reminder, kimchi (김치), is a Korean method to ferment vegetables with garlic, chili and some other ingredients. Chinese (Napa) cabbage and daikon (white radish) kimchi are the most popular, but I think my all-time favourite is cucumber kimchi, I have discovered thanks to Charles’s suggestion. Kimchi has a very powerful smell, but once you taste it and love it, the smell will never be associated with anything unpleasant. It is spicy, hot, sour and, like most fermented vegetables, very healthy. High in fiber, low in calories and fat, it is packed with vitamin C (thanks to the fermentation) and carotene. It also contains several other vitamins, helps digestion, is said to prevent certain cancers… Its importance in the Korean cuisine cannot be compared to anything in any European food culture I know. Apart from being served as a side dish, kimchi is used in fried rice, stew and soups.

I fill my kimchi stock regularly, so that I have at least one kind in the fridge. It’s a perfect side dish and a quick way to add vegetables to any meal, especially when one doesn’t feel like cooking anything more or even making a salad. I also use it often (the cabbage version) in fried rice (see the recipe here) which thanks to kimchi’s strong flavours and its “sauce”, doesn’t require any additional seasoning. I haven’t tried it yet in soups, but am planning to do it soon.

The traditional, whole cabbage kimchi requires some dexterity (or maybe I am too clumsy?) and my three experiments were not fully successful. Its lazy version I prepare, the radish kimchi and the (also lazy) cucumber kimchi are ridiculously easy and can only get better in time, while we adapt the seasonings, the hotness level and the fermentation time to our palate. In short, if you like hot flavours and garlic, do try kimchi one day. Hyosun from Korean Bapsang is my main inspiration in Korean cookery and my radish and cucumber kimchi are based on her easy-to-follow recipes. The easy cabbage kimchi recipe comes from Shu Han’s Mummy I can cook!. I have based my celery version on radish kimchi. Thank you, Hyosun and Shu Han, for introducing me to the world of kimchi.

If celery is not your cup of tea, I propose more crowd-pleasing versions of kimchi (nowadays my chili powder is darker, hence the difference in hues):

daikonkimchip

Radish kimchi

makkimchip

Easy Chinese/Napa cabbage kimchi

cucumberkimchip

And my favourite: Cucumber kimchi

TIPS:

UPDATE: Contrary to the above kimchi, the celery version was excellent only for the first several days. After about 5 days it started to get too pungent and strong. I advise eating it quickly! This is an ephemeral kimchi

Use younger celery stalks which do not require peeling (i.e. which don’t have “threads”). The process will be quicker. I find younger celery bunches in organic shops, but of course it depends on the country you live in.

Hyosun Ro’s and traditional Korean recipes call for raw shrimp or sometimes raw oyster as the fermentation enhancer, but since I can only get frozen shrimp, I thought it would be safer to replace it with additional fish sauce.

Wear gloves if you manipulate kimchi with your hands (apart from the smelly side there is lots of chili in it).

If you taste your kimchi and it seems very bitter, leave it to ferment for additional 24 hours. I did it with my radish kimchi and miraculously the bitterness disappeared!

Preparation: 1 hour + min. 2 days, but 2 weeks are optimal; the kimchi you see above was one week old and improved every day

Ingredients (I adapted the ingredients to my very small “test” batch):

500 g/about 1 lb rather young celery stalks (daikon) cut into 3 cm (a bit more than 1 inch) pieces

3 heaped tablespoons Korean dried chili (my kimchi wasn’t very hot, just hot, but it depends on the chili’s hotness)

1 flat teaspoon grated or crushed garlic

1/2 flat teaspoon grated fresh ginger

chopped green onions (or European chives)

salt (I used about 2 flat tablespoons)

1/2 teaspoon glutinous rice flour

4 tablespoons fish sauce or (as advised by Hyosun Ro):

2 tablespoons finely minced saeujeot (salted shrimp)

1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 raw shrimp (ground)

Prepare the rice paste combining the rice flour with about 20 ml water. Let the mixture simmer until it thickens.

Sprinkle the celery with salt and leave them for 30-40 minutes. (They will release some water but won’t soften like radish does).

Put the celery into a big container (with a lid) and combine well with the remaining ingredients.

Taste and if you think it’s not salty enough, add some fish sauce (Hyosun Ro says it should be just a bit too salty).

Cover with the lid, press with your hands (wear gloves!) to remove the air from between the celery pieces and leave for two days to ferment in room temperature. (Mine has fermented for three days because I prefer it stronger).

Put into the fridge after two days or more. In general it gets stronger every day.

You can refrigerate it only to make it cold and eat it straight away after the fermentation process or you can wait several days or weeks to see how the flavours change and at which stage you prefer it (Hyosun Ro says it requires two weeks to develop the best flavours and I totally agree).

You can keep kimchi in the fridge for several weeks.

Vietnamese Green Papaya Salad

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This salad has become my obsession and addiction of recent weeks. Maybe it is due to the green papaya which I have tasted here for the first time or maybe it’s the unusual, perfectly balanced hot, sour and sweet dressing… The truth is that after five or six meals in recent two weeks, instead of getting bored, I crave it more and more.

I suspect that a big part of my enchantment is due to the green papaya. Did you know that green papaya is simply unripe papaya? I suppose all my Asian friends will laugh here at my ignorance, but I’m still in awe at how huge is the difference between unripe and ripe fruit stage. While I am not fond of the ripe papaya’s overwhelming aroma, I adore the green one’s subtle, delicate scent and crunchy texture. I intend to explore more recipes from South-Eastern Asian countries and India, where apparently green papaya is very popular. Apparently papaya is not only flavoursome, but also healthy, so I hope it’s better than being addicted to bacon.

This salad is also my first step into the discovery of real Vietnamese cuisine. Frankly, since my only memories of “Vietnamese” food were greasy, heavy dishes in thick, sticky floury sauces, this salad was a revelation. The recipe comes from “Vietnamese Street Food” by Tracey Lister and Andreas Pohl, a book I have recently bought when I realised I didn’t know much about this country’s cuisine and didn’t have a single Vietnamese cookery book. The book is not an introduction to the Vietnamese cuisine, but only to its street food which for me is a fascinating world, so absent in European culinary culture. It is beautifully designed, contains luscious photos and tempting recipes. While reading it I realised that many ingredients used in Thai cuisine are also used in Vietnam and, as I have already mentioned in a previous post, Vietnamese use my beloved shiso quite a lot (called tia to or ti to, but don’t ask me how to pronounce it).

I have slightly modified the recipe, skipping dried beef and fried shallots I didn’t have. I don’t know how much I missed without these ingredients (every time I made it I skipped them), but the result was awesome and far beyond my expectations.

Preparation: 15 minutes

Ingredients (serves 2 as a side dish):

1/4 medium green papaya

a handful of soybean/mung bean sprouts

3 Asian spring onions (white and whiteish parts only) or 1 Asian shallot (advised in the original recipe)

1 heaped tablespoon toasted and roughly crushed peanuts

1 heaped tablespoon fried onion/shallot (I have skipped it)

leaves from 4 branches of coriander

Sauce:

1 small bird’s-eye-chili, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, thinly sliced

2 flat tablespoons sugar or Agave syrup

1 tablespoon fish sauce

juice from 1/2 lime

(shredded dried beef)

Peel the papaya and cut it into long matchstick threads (a mandolin is a good tool here).

Combine it with the sprouts, chopped spring onions and coriander leaves.

Mix the sauce ingredients and pour them over the vegetables.

Stir well, sprinkle with peanuts and serve.

Spring Rolls with Soba Noodles and Cucumber

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Still in a joyful mood as a recent Charles’s guest blogger, here I am, travelling far across the ocean, straight to MJ’s Kitchen. Fascinated by MJ’s Southern cuisine, so exotic and different from mine, and impressed by her meticulous approach to every single recipe and ingredient, I am very proud to guest post for her today and sincerely hope you will visit her beautiful blog.

Given my passion for the Asian cuisine, I was glad that MJ suggested it for today. The last hot sunny days are still there, so I have chosen to present you a recent snack discovery. It is a cross between Vietnamese and Japanese cuisine, driven by an inspiring recipe on a… Korean blog. It sounds a bit complicated, but in reality this four-ingredient recipe is quite quick and simple.

Vietnamese rice paper used to prepare the famous spring rolls is a versatile staple I enjoy every summer. It is easy to stock, it has a very long shelf life and filled with vegetable or meat leftovers, it can be transformed into delicious, light sandwich alternatives. Even though I experiment a lot with rice paper, I would have never thought of combining them with Japanese soba noodles (see below), if I hadn’t spotted Soba and Kimchi Rolls at Heart Mind and Seoul blog. The rolls looked delicious and the presence of soba noodles was particularly surprising and tempting. The day I decided to recreate this recipe I ran out of kimchi, so I decided to replace it with cucumber for a crunchy, fresh note.

These simple rolls proved one of these rare vegetarian (and even vegan) snacks in which, even as an avowed carni- and piscivore, I didn’t mind the absence of fish or meat. This was probably due to the fact that soba noodles have a high protein content and are quite filling. They are satiating, but not heavy thanks to the substantial amount of the cucumber and the light, hot dipping sauce. They are an excellent alternative to sandwiches and I have particularly appreciated them as an afternoon snack. Halved horizontally, they make original party finger food. For a more complete meal, I can imagine them as a side dish with grilled meat or fish. Thank you, Sook, for the inspiration!

Soba (蕎麦) means in Japanese both buckwheat and buckwheat noodles. Soba noodles have a nutty taste and a characteristic strong aroma and can be served in both hot and cold dishes, the latter being particularly popular in cooling summer dishes. They are popular in whole Japan, but are apparently particularly in Tokio. According to wikipedia, in the Edo period (from 1603 to 1868) the rich population of Edo (the ancient name of Tokio) who consumed only white rice, poor in thiamine (vitamin B1) the deficiency of which lead to beriberi. When it was discovered that soba was rich in thiamine, the Edo population started to consume it in big amounts.

Buckwheat is not only transformed into flour and consumed not only in Japan. In fact hulled and roasted buckwheat grains are very popular in several Central and Eastern European countries (Russia, Poland, Ukraine…). In France “gallettes” or savoury crêpes originating from Brettany region are also made with buckwheat flour. Belonging to the Fagopyrum genus, buckwheat is not a grass, nor a cereal, even though it looks like one. Its qualities are so numerous, it is surprising most of the Western countries never consume it. It is very rich in protein, minerals, antioxydants, iron and doesn’t contain any gluten, so can be consumed by people who don’t tolerate it. Moreover, buckwheat grows very quickly and easily. That is why it can be cultivated in cold climate and crops can be easily multiplied in hot regions. If you ever have the chance, taste buckwheat honey. It has an unforgettable aroma and taste.

TIP: Dried noodles called “soba” can be bought in Japanese grocery shops, but most of them contain a mixture of buckwheat and wheat flours, so check well the ingredients before buying. My favourite are 100% buckwheat soba (juwari 十割 or towari) because of their intense flavour and aroma, but some people find it too strong. Soba noodles are usually light brown, but they can also be green when mixed with green tea (cha soba) or seaweed (hegi soba) and light pink when flavoured with cherry (sakura soba).

Preparation: about 20 minutes

Ingredients (for 5 – 6 rolls):

6 rice paper sheets (22 cm/about 8,6 in. diameter)

50 – 60 g (about 2 oz.) soba noodles

1/2 big cucumber

2 – 3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

Dipping sauce:

5 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce (or less if using standard soy sauce)
1 tablespoon chili oil
2 tablespoons rice vinegar

Cook the soba noodles for 3-4 minutes in boiling unsalted water (the time depends on the brand and the kind of noodles, so check the exact time on the package).

Drain the noodles with very cold water to stop them from further softening.

Cut the noodles in two (shorter noodles will be easier to use here) and put aside.

Prepare the cucumber cutting it in 6 cm sticks.

Fill a big wide bowl with warm (not hot) water.

Dip rice paper sheets one by one in the water, immersing them delicately so that you don’t break them.

As soon as the sheet softens (about ten – twenty seconds), put it onto a chopping board.

Place horizontally, about 5 cm/2 in. from the rice paper edge which is closest to you, a stack composed of noodles and cucumber pieces.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds and roll tightly but delicately, starting from the edge which is closest to you.

Proceed in the same way with the remaining rolls.

Serve them immediately as they are or cut in two horizontally.

If you wish to serve them later, wrap them individually in cling film because they dry out very quickly.

Pickled Yellow Mango

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pickledmangop

Today I have a big honour and pleasure to guest post for my friend Charles from Five Euro Food. I strongly encourage you to pay him a visit and browse through his inspiring recipes from such different parts of the world as Sweden, Britain or Tunisia, watch his impressive cooking videos, admire his breathtaking photos from trips in France or simply say hello. I know Charles shares my passion for home preserves and September being the preserving month par excellence, I have decided to share with you and him my latest pickling experiment.

Even though I prepare some jams, most of my pantry jars contain savoury sauces, jellies and pickles. Mango is the main ingredient of several types of hot sauces and chutneys I prepare every year, but I haven’t tried pickling it until now. If, like me, you are a fan of Indian pickled mango, you will understand that this was the first recipe I started to look for. Unfortunately, Indian pickles are prepared with expensive green mangoes, and, most of all, I found only short-term preserving recipes. I desperately wanted to use the easily available yellow mangoes and to keep the pickles in my pantry for at least a year, so I ventured into something completely new. I kept Indian flavours and combined them with the foolproof European long-term pickling method I use with cucumbers and peppers (click here to see my beloved Pickled Peppers or Hot Chili Peppers).

The experiment was risky, but proved worthwhile. Tasted after a couple of days (I had to make sure I present you an edible recipe!), the pickled mango has exceeded my expectations. I feared the excessive sweetness and softness of the fruit, but they were perfectly balanced by chili peppers, vinegar and powerful spices. The scarce amount of oil I poured on top of every jar tamed down the harshness of the vinegar and mellowed the flavours. I can already see these aromatic mangoes bringing sunshine to my winter meals.

TIP: If you don’t care for long-term pickles, you can skip the processing stage and keep these pickles in the fridge for at least several weeks.

If you don’t like hot flavours, skip the chili.

The riper the mangoes, the softer the pickles will be. Even those made with quite firm fruits were rather soft (nothing to do with crunchy vinegared cucumbers).

Preparation: 1 h + processing

Ingredients (makes about 8 x 300ml/about 10 fl oz jars):

3 mangoes (not too ripe, still firm)

Marinade:

600 ml/about 2,5 cups vinegar (4,5%)

500 ml/about 2 cups water

150 g/2/3 cup caster sugar

3 flat tablespoons salt

3 teaspoons nigella seeds

2 teaspoons fenugreek seeds

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

2 teaspoons white mustard

8 garlic cloves

about 8 thin slivers fresh ginger

2 bird’s-eye-chilis (or any hot chili variety; the amount depends on how hot you want your pickles)

8 tablespoons good quality oil (I prefer olive oil)

Roast nigella, fenugreek, cumin and mustard seeds in a dry frying pan until they start to pop.

Put them aside.

Put on gloves. Cut the chilis into slices, discarding the seeds.

Peel the mangoes and cut them into more or less equal square pieces.

Fill empty, thoroughly washed and dried jars with mango pieces (no more than 2/3 jars’ height and not tightly packed), add garlic cloves (one per jar), toasted spices (a teaspoon per jar), two chili slices and one ginger sliver per jar.

Bring the marinade to the boil and let it simmer for a couple of minutes, stirring well until all the sugar is dissolved.

Fill the jars with hot – not boiling – marinade, leaving 1,5 cm from the rim.

Pour a tablespoon of oil in each jar. Close the jars and let them cool down.

/At this point you can either keep it in the fridge for a couple of weeks or process the jars, as described below, and store them in your pantry for at least a year!/

Place the cool jars in a big pan, bottom lined with an old kitchen towel folded in two (this will prevent the jars from breaking), cover up with hot – but not boiling- water to the level just below the lid. Bring to the boil and keep on a very low heat, in simmering water, for around 15 minutes (if you use bigger jars, increase the processing time; I usually process 500 ml jars for 20 minutes).
Stick on self-adhesive labels, write the name of the pickle and don’t forget to mark the date.

Wait at least a couple of weeks before opening the jars. As most pickles, these should improve with time.

NOTE: For the readers who live in the USA, the USDA-approved canning method is different. You can find it described here: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/uga/using_bw_canners.html.

Kyuuri no Kyuuchan (Pickled Cucumber with Soy Sauce and Ginger)

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kyuurinop

Kyuri no kyu chan (きゅうりのキューちゃん) is brand name of extremely popular Japanese cucumber pickles. I’m always thrilled at the idea of reproducing a famous factory made product at home (I still keep on preparing my own Taberu Rayu, a Japanese thick chili oil), so when I saw the recipe on Hiroyuki’s blog on Japanese cooking, I knew I would try it soon. This first test was particularly exciting since I have never actually tasted the original pickles. I have no comparison, but Hiroyuki’s home version, slightly modified and prepared with big, long Western cucumbers turned out delicious.

Unlike Western strong pickles, Japanese style pickles (tsukemono) have a low acidity level, are more or less sweet (sometimes too sweet for my taste) and, unless store-bought, they belong to short-term preserves; as such they have to be kept in the fridge. The low acidity is sometimes a nice change from stronger European pickles which cannot be served at every meal. The sweetness level of many Japanese dishes is however often too high for me, so I have slightly reduced here the sugar amount. I have also used low-salt soy sauce (Hiroyuki said they were very salty). I was very happy with the result and found these pickles addictive. They were so delicate and versatile, I had them with every single meal (breakfast too). Moreover, I was astounded by the incredible taste of the pickled ginger strips. They were supposed to be only a part of cucumbers’ seasoning, but I enjoyed fishing them out and eating separately. My next batch will be bigger and I will certainly add more ginger. Thank you, Hiroyuki, for this excellent recipe!

If you find yourself with a big batch of cucumbers, I strongly recommend trying the incredibly easy and particularly flavoursome Cucumber Kimchi:

cucumberkimchip

or the Moomins’ Cucumber Salad I posted last year and have been putting into jars this weekend:

Preparation: 15 minutes + 12 hours

Ingredients:

2 Japanese cucumbers or 1 big long Western cucumber

1 tablespoon fresh ginger slivers

1 tablespoon sugar

100 ml (about 3,4 oz) low-salt soy sauce

50 ml (about 1,7 oz) rice vinegar

toasted sesame seeds

Cut the cucumbers into 1 cm (about 1/2 in) slices and if they are big, cut the slices in two.

Put the sugar, the soy sauce and the vinegar in a pan. Bring to the boil.

Add the cucumbers and the ginger strips. Let them simmer for 2 minutes.

Put aside and once cooled, refrigerate them overnight.

Serve sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds.

Pickled Peppers

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pickledpepperp

These are by far the most extraordinary pickles I know. I have been preparing them for long years and always in several big batches because they are also my family’s and friends’ favourite preserves. I already wrote about these pickles about two years ago, but at the time I didn’t have many visitors, so they remained unnoticed. When recently Jeno from Weeknite Meals commented on this old forgotten post I felt I had to dig it out and share with all my visiting and blogging friends (while making this weekend’s batch I also changed the previous awful photo). Thank you, Jeno, for drawing my attention to this post.

I can shamelessly affirm that these are the best pickled peppers I have ever tasted because I am not the author of the recipe. I got it from a friend, who, in her turn, got it from her boss, an excellent cook. I have never had a chance to taste her boss’s peppers, but I believed my friend when she said they were simply the best. She was right because I have never even tried to modify the original recipe. I have always put the same spices, the same proportion of vinegar and sugar and the same significant amount of garlic too. I also never skip the tablespoon of oil which smooths and “polishes” the flavours.

Every variety of pepper can be pickled this way and as you can see below the process is quite easy. The most important is that the peppers be fresh and ripe. The stronger their aroma the better the pickle will be. Of course red peppers are most beautiful. The jars keep for at least a year, but a three year old jar I recently found at the back of my pantry was still perfect. You should wait at least a couple of weeks before tasting, but it largely improves with time.

I pickle also Hot Chili Peppers, but in a slightly different way. Click here to see the recipe.

Preparation: 1 hour+processing

Ingredients:

1.5 kg (3,3 pounds) sweet peppers

about 20 peeled garlic cloves

up to 10 bay leaves

a couple of teaspoons mustard grains

a couple of teaspoons black pepper grains

2-3 teaspoons allspice grains

1 litre (about 4 cups) cider/white wine/other alcohol vinegar (mine was 4,5%, if you use a stronger one, add proportionally more water)

1.1 litre (about 4 cups and 3 oz) water

400 g (1 3/4 cups) caster sugar

3 tablespoons salt

olive oil (or other good quality oil)

Cut the peppers’ stems, discard all the seeds and white parts. Cut them into 2-3 cm pieces.

Fill in empty jars with pepper pieces (no more than 2/3 jars’ height), add 2 garlic cloves, 3 allspice berries, 3 pepper grains, 6 mustard grains and 1 bay leaf per every 500 ml jar.

Put the vinegar, the water, the sugar and the salt in a pan and let it boil a couple of minutes, stirring well until all the sugar is dissolved. Put aside.

Fill the jars with hot (no longer boiling!) vinegar mixture, leaving 1,5 cm from the rim. Pour a generous tablespoon of oil in each jar. Close the jars and let them cool down.

Place the cool jars into a big pan, bottom lined with an old kitchen towel folded in two (this will prevent the jars from breaking), cover up with hot – but not boiling- water to the level just below the lid. Bring to the boil and keep on a very low heat, in simmering water, for around 20 minutes.
Stick on self-adhesive labels, write the name of the pickle and don’t forget to mark the date.

Wait at least a couple of weeks before opening the jars. As do most pickles, this one improves with time. Pickled peppers are perfect with cold meats, in sandwiches, on toast, as a side dish…

Lecsó (Hungarian Pepper Stew)

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This week something unusual has happened. I prepared a dish posted by a blogger a long time ago only to see the same person post one of my recipes two days afterwards. I talk of course about Zsuzsa (Zsuzsa is in the kitchen) who has made a real piece of art (see it here) out of my Poppy Seed and Chocolate Cake recipe and moreover called her post “Birthday Cake for Sissi”. (I felt as if it was my second birthday this year…). Zsuzsa had no idea that two days before I had prepared the famous Hungarian pepper stew (lecsó), following her recipe. I haven’t told her of course because I wanted to make a small surprise, so here it is: Zsuzsa’s extraordinary, genuine Hungarian lecsó.

Of course this is another dish I prepared using the peppers brought by my friend from Hungary (I have used some of them in Hungarian Stuffed Peppers) and I hope this “detail” made my lecsó even more Hungarian. In case you have never heard about it, lecsó (pronounced letcho) is a big Hungarian classic. Just like stuffed pepper it calls for long light yellow sweet peppers with thin skin. Lecsó is usually served either with sausage (according to my Hungarian friend the best ones are the smoked, but not dried sausages, such as Hungarian, Polish or German) or with beaten eggs which are incorporated into the lecsó at the end. It is also often cooked together with rice, but I wanted to have it with some crunchy baguette and fried sausage, so I have skipped the rice. Lecsó can also be an excellent side dish served with meat or fish.

I haven’t really modified Zsuzsa’s recipe, but slightly changed the amounts. I found it simply perfect, especially the addition of garlic which doesn’t always figure in other Hungarian recipes. This lecsó is light and low-fat (just like Stuffed Peppers) and proves that Hungarian cuisine doesn’t have to be heavy and greasy (I know some people think this). Make sure you cook more than you think you’ll eat because the smell and the taste are so irresistible, second helpings have absolutely to be included in your estimates. Thank you, Zsuzsa, for this amazing recipe.

TIPS: Zsuzsa doesn’t peel the tomatoes and I couldn’t decide whether I should peel them or not (I usually do when cooking tomatoes). Finally I peeled half of the tomatoes, but next time I will not peel them at all. The skin adds more flavour. I know that some people have problems with tomatoes skin, so if you are one of these, peel all the tomatoes.

If you want your lecsó hot, add some hot chili powder (see below). Otherwise you can use only sweet paprika.

Preparation: around 1 hour

Ingredients (serves 2, with second or third helpings):

6 medium tomatoes

6 long yellow peppers

2 long red peppers

4 tablespoons oil (I used duck fat instead)

1 onion

4 garlic cloves

3 tablespoon sweet paprika (I have put 1 tablespoon hot paprika and 2 tablespoons sweet paprika)

salt, pepper

(300-400g smoked sausages (sliced) or 4 beaten eggs)

Peel the garlic and chop it finely.

(If you want to peel the tomatoes, put them in boiling water for a minute. Take them out with a slotted spoon and put into cold water. Peel them.) Chop the tomatoes roughly.

Core the peppers, remove the stalks and cut them into slices.

Chop the onion and fry it in fat until soft and translucent.

Remove from the heat, add the remaining ingredients.

Simmer covered until the peppers are soft, checking if you need to add more water.

If you want to serve it with sausages, I strongly advise frying or grilling them before. Then slicing them. It gives much more taste to the lecsó. Add the sausage slices, cook for 10 more minutes and serve.

If you want to serve it with eggs, beat the eggs in a bowl and simply pour them into the pan with lecsó, stir a bit and serve when the eggs are set.

Steamed Aubergine with Chili Sauce

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steamedauberp

I have started to cook Sichuanese. I mean the real Sichuanese cuisine, because as soon as I opened Fuchsia Dunlop’s “Sichuan Cookery” I realised that many dishes labelled as Sichuanese are not Sichuanese at all. The contents of this book sounded so fascinating that I must have bookmarked a third of the recipes. The two first ones I chose to test turned out marvellous (no photos yet, but I will repair my mistake soon) and a plate of steamed aubergines sounded too unusual to miss it.

I might have already mentioned that I used to be completely indifferent to the aubergine and rather avoided it because it always seemed difficult to prepare in a way that wouldn’t include tons of oil. Nowadays I realise that I like the aubergine more and more every year, so I look out for every new recipe, preferably not calling for deep or shallow frying. Fuchsia Dunlop says this is a simple home recipe, but for me it was a revelation. It was easy, it took me about 20 minutes and the first impression is unforgettable. The texture of the steamed aubergine is incredibly silky, soft, moist, “buttery” as says the author, and the vinegared chili sauce gives it a huge awakening kick. In the meantime I have noticed some more steamed aubergine recipes at Shizuoka Gourmet, so you will probably see some more of these on my blog.

Before I pass to the recipe I would like to tell you about an extraordinary surprise Zsuzsa (Zsuzsa is in the Kitchen) prepared for me. Yesterday I felt as if it had been my birthday when I saw this gorgeous Poppy Seed and Chocolate Cake on her blog. This cake was prepared by my mum for every single one of my birthdays and is still the best cake I have ever had in my life. I have posted it some time ago (see here my clumsy version) and have completely forgotten that Zsuzsa promised to prepare it one day. Thank you, Zsuzsa, for this virtual present and such a huge surprise! I was deeply touched.

Now back to the recipe! (I have slightly modified it, adapting to a side dish for 2 and also adjusted it so that it can be steamed in a basic rice-cooker which like mine doesn’t have “high heat” or “low heat” options).

TIP: The author advises salting the aubergine in order to remove the bitterness. I have realised many years ago that, at least in the part of Europe I live in, aubergines are no longer bitter and do not require this stage. If your aubergines are of the bitter variety, cut them in half, salt them and leave for 30 minutes. Then wash them and pat them dry before starting to steam them.

Preparation: about 20 minutes

Ingredients (serves two):

1 medium aubergine

2 tablespoons light soy sauce

1 teaspoon Chinese black vinegar (Chinkiang, easily found in Asian shops)

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon chili oil preferably containing flakes; I used my home made Taberu Rayu, but I think any chili oil with the addition of chili flakes will do

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

Cut the aubergine in two (removing the leaves and the stem of course).

If using a rice cooker pour 300 ml (about 1 cup and 1/5) water, place the aubergine on the steaming plate.

Steam until the rice-cooker switches off.

(If you have a separate steamer, the author advises to steam the aubergine for 5-10 minutes over a high flame.)

Cut the aubergine into bite-sized pieces and serve either hot or cold with the chili sauce aside (as a dip) or pour the sauce directly over it (this is the way I preferred it).

Homemade Pickled Ginger (Gari ガリ)

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garip

A very funny thing happened to me about a week ago (my Asian friends will laugh their socks off now!). I went to my Asian grocery shop, took some shiso, some lemongrass, sweet thai basil and – at least that is what I thought I took – a package of galangal. When I came back home I looked closely at my galangal and it seemed a bit different… Then I read on the label it was actually young ginger. You might think I was angry, disappointed or both, but not at all! Not only was I happy to have young ginger, but actually instantly knew what to do with it.

As a notorious preserver and pickler I repeat my favourite recipes year by year, but also constantly look for new ideas, so when I saw Pickled Ginger in Street Café. Japan by Emi Kazuko, I made it straight away. The recipe called for fresh ginger and I didn’t understand at first that “fresh” meant young, cream-coloured bulbs without the hard brown skin. Needless to say, my experiment with “standard” ginger was a bit disappointing and when I finally realised after some web research what the problem was, I assumed I will never be able to make this delicious pickle at home because I had never seen young ginger anywhere in my city. Imagine my joy when only after a couple of weeks I realised I was actually able to buy it in my favourite Asian grocery shop!

I have slightly modified the original recipe . Moreover, apart from the short-term, “fridge” pickled ginger (will keep up to three months apparently), I have also prepared a second batch of long-term, Western-style processed pickles (the only difference is that I processed the jars in boiling water). I will be updating this post to report about the changes (if there are any) throughout the year. The pickling liquid in both jars has taken on a slightly pink hue (alas the ginger colour hasn’t almost changed at all, maybe because I used cider vinegar) and the fridge version turned up exactly as I wanted it to be: refreshing, slightly crunchy, but still soft, not too sweet and without the “soapy” aftertaste I sometimes find in store-bought pickled ginger. It wasn’t as soft as the store bought pickled ginger, but it didn’t really bother me. Apparently young ginger is in season until the end of summer, so I hope I can prepare more of these pickles.

UPDATE: After several months the long-term pickled ginger (processed in boiling water and stored in my pantry) tastes even better!

TIP: If you plan long-term pickles, change slightly the amounts and do not add water (see the ingredients’ list below)

Special equipment: a mandolin to slice the ginger

Preparation: 40 – 50 minutes + at least 24 hours before tasting

Ingredients (yields at least 1 x 300 ml/ 10 oz jar; if you prepare long-term pickles, prepare 1 more small jar just in case):

150 g fresh, young ginger, peeled

2 tablespoons sea salt

125 ml (1/2 cup) rice vinegar (I have used 4,5 % cider vinegar, simply because I have several bottles in stock; use 250 ml/1 cup vinegar if you prepare long-term pickles)

60 ml (about 1/4 cup) water (for long-term pickles I have skipped water)

60 ml (about 1/4 cup) white sugar (for long-term pickles I used 90 ml/ about 0,4 cup sugar)

1 teaspoon salt

Cut up the ginger into knobs and then, using a mandolin, cut each knob lengthwise into paper-thin slices (lengthwise direction is very important!).

Rub the ginger with salt and put aside for 3 hours (the ginger will soften).

Rinse the ginger, pat dry and put into a jar.

Bring to boil the vinegar, the sugar, the salt and the water, if you prepare short-term pickles.

Pour the hot (not boiling) mixture over the ginger, close the jar.

Leave it to cool down and then refrigerate for at least 24 hours.

It can stay in the fridge for three months.

If you prepare long-term pickles, place the cooled jars into a big pan, bottom lined with an old kitchen towel folded in two (this will prevent the jars from breaking), cover up with hot – but not boiling- water to the level just below the lid. Bring to boil and keep on a very low heat, in simmering water, for around 15 minutes.

Stick on self-adhesive labels, write the name of the pickle and don’t forget to mark the date.

These will keep for at least a year in your pantry. I will update this post saying if the ginger taste changes.

NOTE (concerns only the long-term pickles): For the readers who live in the USA, the USDA-approved canning method is different. You can find it described here: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/uga/using_bw_canners.html

Cucumber and Chervil Salad

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This year I have started to grow chervil for the first time in my life. It proved one of the easiest and quickest herbs to grow on my balcony and I haven’t even noticed when it started to look like a small bush. Even though chervil is widely used in French cuisine (it’s a part of “fines herbes” mixture) and easily available here, I have never bought it or cooked with it, so this huge harvest looked quite challenging.

If you have never tasted and/or seen chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium), it’s similar to carrot greens, but its leaves are more fragile and smaller. Even though chervil is related to parsley, its subtle aniseed taste is completely different. The first leaves I pinched out of my balcony plant made me realise it was the most elegant herb I am growing and therefore it required a special treatment, at least for the first time. Alas, all the recipes I found used chervil together with other herbs, so I realised I had to make up something on my own. Finally, I decided to combine it with cucumber in a light, refreshing salad. Instead of vinegar I used lemon juice in my vinaigrette to make a more delicate seasoning, which wouldn’t mask the chervil taste. The simple salad I have prepared reminded me a of some Japanese simple but surprising dishes: the few ingredients created distinct, but subtle and elegant flavours. After such a rewarding first experiment I am looking forward to harvest more off my beautiful balcony bush.

Preparation: 10 minutes

Ingredients (serves two):

1 chilled small or half a big cucumber (I used 12 cm/ about 5 inches)

a small handful of chopped chervil

Vinaigrette:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon lemon juice

salt, pepper

Cut the cucumber in two lengthwise and then slice it thinly.

Combine the sauce ingredients in a bowl.

Add the cucumber and the chervil.

Mix everything and serve immediately.

Tama Konnyaku and Asparagus Skewers

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In spite of what some of you might think the white balls you see above are not gnocchi or any other floury dumplings, but tama konnyaku, a wonderful, healthy, almost zero calorie Japanese product made with a plant called konnyaku (Amorphophallus konjac). Often called devil’s tongue, yam or konjac this plant is transformed into flour and then mixed with water to produce a sort of gelatinous, transparent substance, sold as noodles (shirataki or ito konnyaku), rectangular blocks (ita konnyaku) and the “balls” you see above (tama konnyaku). All these products are very rich in fiber, contain no carbs, have almost zero calorie per 100 g and an amazing capacity to absorb the flavours from the sauce or the soup they are served with. The high fiber they contain regulates the digestion, gives a very quick sensation of satiety, while the low-calorie and low-carb intake allows even the biggest diet freak to enjoy a fabulous dish. Konnyaku is called in Japan “the broom for the stomach” due to its high fiber content.

Until now I have posted only two konnyaku-based recipes (Stir-Fried Shirataki or Ita Konnyaku Noodles and Tama Konnyaku with Bacon and Shiitake), but I stir-fry them quite often, which is not the way they are usually served in Japan (very often served in broths or soups). Whenever I know I will have a rich, high-calorie dinner, I prepare my lunch with konnyaku noodles or balls and can guiltlessly indulge in a pizza, foie gras, duck confit or another rich dish I adore.

This is how a package of konnyaku balls looks like:

Last week, when I decided to prepare a tama konnyaku lunch, I had a quick flash of skewered tama konnyaku probably seen on a website, a blog or a tv program. I combined them with asparagus, my favourite spring vegetable and served as a side-dish with stir-fried chicken breasts. Since konnyaku balls don’t have much taste, a sauce was obligatory and teriyaki glaze seemed the easiest choice. I must say I was very happy with this first skewered side-dish in my life. It looked cute and was a perfect lunch the day I planned to dine in my favourite pizzeria (I needn’t add I do not go there to have a light salad…).

TIPS: Tama konnyaku is sold in bags filled with water. They have a very long shelf life if kept in the fridge. If you don’t use the entire bag content, rinse the balls, put them in a bowl, cover with fresh water and keep tightly closed for a couple of days in the fridge.

I don’t have a grill, so this recipe explains how to prepare the skewers on a simple grill pan.

If you prefer a sweeter teriyaki glaze, add some sugar. (For me the sweetness of mirin is enough).

Preparation: 30 minutes

Ingredients (serves 3-4 as a side dish):

1 bag of tama konnyaku (400g)

10 green asparagus stalks

Teriyaki glaze:

2 tablespoons mirin (can be substituted with 1 – 2 tablespoons syrup)

3 tablespoons soy sauce (or 4-5 if you have low sodium soy sauce)

3 tablespoons sake

Soak the skewers in water for at least 15 minutes to avoid burning.

Cut up the asparagus stalks into bite-sized pieces, preferably similar in length to the tama konnyaku thickness.

Drain and rinse tama konnyaku. Cook them in boiling water for about 5 minutes.

Rinse them once more.

Thread the konnyaku balls and the asparagus pieces on skewers.

Heat an oiled grill pan (or a grill).

Place the skewers on the pan (oil brushed side down) and grill about 7 minutes on each side (or more depending on the asparagus thickness).

In the meantime bring the teriyaki glaze to boil in a small pan and boil it until it thickens. Put aside.

Place the skewers on serving plates and brush them with teriyaki glaze on both sides.

Pickled Pink Radishes

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Pickles take a big space in my pantry and apart from the regular ones (like Pickled Sweet Pepper), I like experimenting with new vegetables or new recipes (my recent discovery, Moomins’ Cucumber Salad was a big hit). When I saw pickled radishes recipe in “Street Café. Japan” by Emi Kazuko I realised I had a big bunch of radishes in the fridge and it was an excellent occasion to prepare these first short-term pickles in my life.

This recipe is based on pickled Japanese turnip (kabu), but the author proposes to substitute it with pink radishes, Western turnips being too tough for this method. Before the pickling process Japanese turnips are often vertically cut in the upper part, which makes them resemble chrysanthemum leaves. According to Emi Kazuko similarly cut pink radishes will resemble cherry blossoms. I have only found oval radishes and I don’t think they produce the desired visual effect, but they do take on a beautiful hue, which slightly reminds me of pink cherry blossoms. The funny looking vertical cuts are very useful: they enable the vinegared mixture to penetrate the interior of the radish.

I loved everything about these pickles: their easiness, the quick pickling time, the beautiful hue, the unusual, surprising look and most of all the amazing taste. They will certainly become my regular spring side dish. I still have to check how they react to long-term pickling.

TIPS: The author advises of course rice vinegar, but since I had several bottles of cider vinegar I usually keep for pickling purposes, I used this one instead. The result was delicious even with basic, cheap cider vinegar.

These pickles can be made with any variety of small pink or red radishes.

Preparation: 40 minutes + one night in the fridge

Ingredients:

15 radishes

150 ml rice vinegar (I used 4,5% cider vinegar)

50 ml water

2 flat tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

Cut off the radish stalks in the way that a flat base is formed.

Put the radishes flat base down and keeping it with your left hand make 4-5 vertical cuts in the upper 3/4 of each radish.

Turn the radish 90 degrees and make similar cuts.

Put the radishes in a bowl, rub them with the salt and put a heavy object on the top (for example a small plate).

After 30 minutes drain the liquid rendered by the radishes.

Dissolve the sugar in the mixture of water and vinegar, combine with the radishes and put into the fridge for 24 hours.

Pickled radishes keep for at least one week in the fridge.

Radish, Cucumber and Yogurt /Sour Cream Salad

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I woke up yesterday and, just after my obligatory coffee fix, all I could think of were pink radishes. As if hypnotised, I went to the market, bought two huge bunches of beautiful radishes, came back home, opened the fridge, took a cucumber, sliced it, then sliced some radishes, added soured milk (I had been craving this one too, see the explanation below), salted everything and literally threw myself on it (luckily, after a while, I controlled myself enough to save some of it for the photo).

I think I should listen more often to my cravings because the salad was exactly what I wanted for a sunny spring day. It was crunchy, refreshing, tangy and slightly peppery thanks to the radishes. It was inspired by a cucumber salad (vaguely Polish) I sometimes prepare, but the radishes made all the difference. The second batch I made also yesterday for dinner was a perfect side dish with fiery fried rice. Given the sour milk/cream cooling properties, I’m sure it will go well with any hot dish.

TIPS: I usually prepare this salad with sour milk which is almost as thick as sour cream (at least the one I buy), but is low-fat. You can use sour cream or natural yogurt or, even better, Greek yogurt instead (I would add a dash of lemon juice to the yogurt to obtain the slightly sour result).

This salad should be made just before you serve it, otherwise the vegetables will render liquid and the “sauce” will get watery.

Preparation: 10 minutes

Ingredients (serves one):

6-7 big red radishes

1/3 long cucumber

3 heaped tablespoons sour milk/cream or yogurt

salt

Cut the cucumber in four lengthwise and then into thin slices.

Cut the radishes into thin slices.

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and serve.

Daikon Remoulade

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I have bought some daikon (white radish) with a plan to make a Japanese daikon salad or pickles. Once julienned, the daikon reminded me of celeriac… Since the only way I have celeriac is celeriac remoulade, I have decided to give a Japanese twist to this famous French classic. I have substituted the French mustard with wasabi paste and skipped pickled cucumbers which would make it too harsh. Otherwise I think the sauce still can pretend to the name “remoulade”. (See here the traditional Celeriac Remoulade recipe)

This version of remoulade is light, refreshing, with a hot wasabi kick and a slight crunch. Made with a Winter vegetable, but in a springtime spirit. Ideal for a sunny March day.

TIP: This salad can be made in advance (even the day before). Actually it tastes even better the following day.

Preparation: 25 minutes

Ingredients (serves 2):

200 – 250 g daikon (white radish), peeled and finely julienned or grated

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 tablespoons capers (drained and washed if they were preserved in salt)

1 tablespoon green onion, chopped (or (an)other fresh herb(s) of your choice)

1 teaspoon wasabi paste (or fresh grated wasabi if you are one of those lucky people who can get it)

salt

Put the daikon in a bowl.

Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon salt toss well and let it stand for about 15 minutes.

Wash the daikon with very cold water and drain it well.

Put in a big bowl.

Combine all the remaining ingredients and then stir them into the grated daikon.

Adjust the seasoning and serve.

Warm Lentil Salad (Salade Tiède aux Lentilles)

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Last week, while preparing the Friday Far Breton post, my old recipe book reminded me I used to cook French much more often at the time I discovered this pudding. Leafing through the stained pages I stumbled upon the Warm Lentil Salad, my beloved lentil dish I haven’t had for ages. I still remember the first time I tasted this salad, in a traditional French restaurant and was very surprised by the enthusiasm of the friend I lunched with. When her salad finally arrived and I tasted it, I instantly regretted having taken a different starter. It was a simple, typically bistrot style preparation of warm lentils and vinaigrette, but the taste was astonishing.

The Warm Lentil Salad is usually served as a starter (at home I prefer it as a side dish), sometimes alone, sometimes sprinkled with fried bacon and sometimes with foie gras terrine. You might be surprised by the latter version, but actually the humble lentil is an ideal company for foie gras and if you ever go to France, this pairing is quite frequent in Lyon restaurants. Even served alone the salad is certainly hearty and filling, but probably thanks to the vinaigratte it feels much lighter than any lentil dish I know.

TIPS: This salad can be made with freshly cooked lentils, but it’s also a very good way to use leftovers, warm them in the microwave and then combine with the vinaigrette sauce. The lentils can also be cooked the day before and warmed just before being served with the vinaigrette.

Preparation: 40- 50 minutes depending on the lentils

Ingredients (serves two – three):

250 g firm, dark green or brown lentils (the best here are the French lentilles de Puy) or 500 g cooked lentils (in this case skip the stock, bay leaf and thyme)

1 liter chicken or vegetable stock

1 bay leaf

1 heaped teaspoon thyme

Vinaigrette:

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 tablespoons vinegar (or more)

1 tablespoon French mustard

salt, pepper

Cook the lentils in the stock with bay leaf and thyme. When they are soft, but not mushy, drain them.

Put the warm lentils in a big bowl and combine with the vinaigrette. Taste and adjust the taste.

Serve immediately as a starter or a side dish.

Easy Cucumber Kimchi (Oi Kimchi)

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cucumberkimchip It’s kimchi time again! After white radish (daikon) kimchi and the simplified version of Chinese/Napa cabbage kimchi, I would like to present you the most extraordinary experiment in this field, namely cucumber kimchi. Even though not in its best season now, cucumber is available all year round and brings a pleasant freshness to my meals when I’m fed up with carrots, potatoes, cabbage and other sad Winter vegetables. Combined with hot seasoning and fermented, it gains in precious nutrients, flavour complexity, colours and becomes even more welcome on cold, dark days.

First of all I must thank Charles from Five Euro Food because without his enthusiastic comments I even wouldn’t know cucumber kimchi existed and certainly wouldn’t prepare it so quickly. Charles has never made it himself, but my recipe quest wasn’t long. I found what I was looking for at Eating and Living blog, my main source of Korean recipes. I was even lucky to stumble upon a simplified cucumber kimchi recipe (Oi Kimchi), which was perfect to start with. Traditionally, in Oi Sobagi Kimchi, cucumbers are cut into big chunks, then, with half-length slits, “pockets” are formed and stuffed with kimchi seasoning. Here cucumber is simply cut up into bite-sized pieces and combined with the seasoning. (For those who want to know more about kimchi, I have written about it here and here.)

I have no idea what the traditional stuffed cucumber kimchi tastes like, but this version proved so excellent I can say without any doubts this is by far my favourite kimchi. I adore it for its freshness, crunchiness, lightness and for the fact that it is perfect at every stage of fermentation. First the cucumber’s freshness is dominating, then it reminds me of the delicate Japanese pickles and then, when it matures, the taste is is very close to the Central and Eastern European cucumbers fermented in brine. I cannot even imagine how terrific this kimchi will be when made with seasonal Summer cucumbers. Thank you, Hyosun, for one more wonderful recipe and thank you, Charles, for this discovery!

Even though I haven’t changed the original recipe, you may want to click here to see very helpful step-by-step photos.

Preparation: 45 minutes + min. 20-30 minutes fermentation

Ingredients:

1 long dark green cucumber
1 tablespoon coarse salt

1 teaspoon garlic (grated or crushed)

1/4 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

2 tablespoons Korean chili flakes

1 teaspoon white sesame seeds

1 tablespoon fish sauce

3 green onion stalks, cut into 2 cm pieces

Cut the cucumber into 3 cm chunks and then cut them into 8 strips lengthwise.

Sprinkle the cucumber pieces with salt and leave them for 30 minutes.

Drain the cucumber, but do not rinse it.

Add all the seasoning ingredients and place the cucumbers in an airtight container.

Wait for 20-30 minutes and serve or leave for two days to ferment in room temperature and then put into the fridge for several days.

Exceptionally this kimchi is as good freshly made as well as after a couple of days.

I even liked it after one week.

Jansson’s Temptation (Janssons frestelse)

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I still remember the first time I read about Jansson’s Temptation and it was at least ten years ago. Since then I have been meaning to make it at least hundred times, so when I saw it on Charles’s blog (Five Euro Food) I felt it was high time I realised what was so special about it. This mysteriously named potato gratin is one of the biggest stars of the Swedish cuisine and, known as Janssonin kiusaus, it also appears on Finnish tables. According to wikipedia, some say it has been named after Pelle Janzon, a famous XIXth century Swedish singer, others claim the name comes from the 1928 film titled “Janssons frestelse”. I have also read some stories about a saint called Jansson… Whatever the origins, Jansson’s Temptation is much more than just another potato gratin.

Traditionally served for Christmas, but apparently also throughout the rest of the year, Jansson’s Temptation sounds as simple as most of the Swedish dishes. It is composed of layered potatoes, onions and pickled sprats (or anchovies), baked in a mixture of milk and cream. These outwardly ordinary ingredients produce an incredibly aromatic, complex and flavoursome gratin. Whoever Jansson was, I totally understand why he was tempted. Thank you, Charles, for making me discover the Swedish cuisine and its simple, but surprising delights! (Click here to see Charles’s recipe and photos.)

Even though the gratin is terrific in its traditional form, I must confess the second time I made it something pushed me towards slight modifications (I hope Charles will forgive me). First of all, since I am very fond of canned anchovies, I doubled their amount. The biggest modification however was the addition of white wine, which resulted in a sharper and less “homely” aroma and taste, but I loved this version. I strongly encourage you, however, to try it first without wine.

TIP: The original recipe calls for pickled sprats, difficult to get in certain countries, but I was delighted to use my beloved canned anchovies, advised by Charles as an excellent substitute.

Preparation: about 2 hours

Ingredients (serves four-six):

1 kg peeled potatoes, cut into matchsticks or into very thin slices (easy to make with a mandolin)

1 can (50g) pickled sprats or anchovies (or two cans if you love anchovies), cut into small pieces

200 ml liquid cream

about 200 ml milk

2 medium onions, finely sliced

salt, pepper

30 g butter

breadcrumbs

(200 ml dry white wine)

Preheat the oven to 190°C.

Drain the anchovies/sprats and cut them into small pieces (do not throw the liquid/oil away).

Put a layer of potatoes in a baking dish, cover with onions and anchovies, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Repeat this once or twice, ending with a potato layer on top.

Place small butter knobs on the top of the dish and bits of anchovies, if you still have some left.

Combine the cream with the drained pickling liquid or oil (and white wine, if using) and pour onto the gratin.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Take the dish out of the oven and lower the temperature to 140°C.

Cover the gratin with milk so that it arrives just below the last potato layer.

Sprinkle with bread crumbs and bake for about 1 hour until the top is golden brown.

Serve as a main course with a salad or as a hearty side dish.

Mak Kimchi, or Easy Kimchi

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makkimchip

Some of you probably remember Cubed Radish Kimchi (Kkakdugi 깍두기) I have written about a couple of weeks ago. This famous dish was easy, absolutely delicious and made me seriously hooked on the magic world of Korean fermentation. The Mak Kimchi you see above is another flavoursome experiment and certainly not the last one in my kimchi adventures.

For those who have never heard of kimchi, a quick reminder of what I have written in December. Kimchi (김치) is a preparation of fermented vegetables with dried chili peppers and other seasonings and has a very long history. According to Wikipedia the oldest references to kimchi go back as far as 3000 years ago. Koreans didn’t know chili peppers until the XVIth century, so the beautiful red colour and fiery taste are quite recent. (In fact, there exists also a “white” kimchi version, without chili, originating from the Northern Korea. ) Apart from the chili, garlic, ginger and scallions are the most frequent ingredients of the most popular, fiery kimchi. It also always contains a fermentation “enhancer” such as fish sauce, raw shrimp, raw oysters or fermented fish.

Kimchi has a very powerful smell, but once you taste it and love it, the smell will never be associated with anything unpleasant. It is spicy, hot, sour and, like most fermented vegetables, very healthy. High in fiber, low in calories and fat, it is packed with vitamin C (thanks to the fermentation) and carotene. It also contains several other vitamins, helps digestion, is said to prevent certain cancers… In short: it’s a wonder food. Its importance in the Korean cuisine cannot be compared to anything in any European food culture I know. Apart from being served as a side dish, kimchi is used in fried rice, stew and soups. The only Korean cookery book I have contains a whole chapter dedicated to kimchi and many Korean families have special kimchi refrigerators.

Chinese (Napa) Cabbage is the most popular kimchi vegetable and the most versatile, since it is often added to hot dishes (fried rice, soups, noodles). I have once tried making it, but it was very disappointing and the procedure was more complicated than in the case of Radish Kimchi. I thought I would never make cabbage kimchi again, but thanks to Shu Han (from Mummy, I can cook!) I have discovered the existence of “mak kimchi”, meaning “easy kimchi” in Korean. While the classical cabbage kimchi (poggi kimchi) consists in seasoning and fermenting halved cabbages, mak kimchi is cut into small pieces before the fermentation process. This small step makes the seasonings’ distribution easier and accelerates the preparation process.

I have slightly modified Shu Han’s recipe, mainly changing the ingredients’ amounts and omitting the carrot I simply didn’t have. Nevertheless my three days old mak kimchi is already incredibly good, but since I prefer it more “mature” and stronger, it will be more to my taste in a a week’s time or so. Thank you, Shu Han for giving me this wonderful idea and for the easy, foolproof recipe! (Click here to see Shu Han’s original recipe with making-of photos.)

TIP: Wear gloves if you manipulate kimchi with your hands (apart from the smelly side there is lots of chili in it)

Preparation: 1 hour + minimum 2 days

Ingredients:

1 small Chinese (Napa) cabbage (500 g)

about 4 tablespoons coarse salt

2 heaped tablespoons Korean chili powder

1 tablespoon sugar (or 1/3 grated pear)

1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

2 scallions stalks, cut into 2 cm pieces

1 garlic clove, grated

2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 flat tablespoons sweet (glutinous) rice flour

50 ml water

(1 small carrot, grated or julienned)

Prepare the rice paste combining the rice flour with about 50 ml water. Let the mixture simmer until it thickens.

Put aside.

Cut up the cabbage into 3 cm more or less square pieces.

Sprinkle it with salt and leave for at least two hours. The cabbage will soften and let release some water.

Drain the cabbage and wash it.

Put it into a big container (with a lid) and combine well with the remaining ingredients and the rice paste.

Taste and if you think it’s not salty enough, add some fish sauce. (It should be only a bit too salty).

Cover with the lid, press with your hands (wear gloves!) to remove the air from the cabbage and leave for 2 days to ferment in room temperature.

Put into the fridge after two days. In general it gets stronger and more acid every day.

You can refrigerate it only to make it cold and eat it straight away or you can wait several days or weeks to see how the flavours change and at which stage you prefer it.

You can keep mak kimchi in the fridge for several weeks. It is excellent added to rice dishes and soups (I hope posting some recipes very soon).

Avocado and Walnut Salad

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Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you have spent lovely holidays and a wonderful New Year’s Eve. I also hope you haven’t exaggerated with rich festive food and drinks, but if you did, switching to healthy and simple recipes might help you recover from the recent indulgences or at least make you feel better.

The avocado and walnut combination is a recent discovery, inspired by Shizuoka Gourmet’s blog, and to be precise, by his creative wife’s bentos. Her avocado, mayonnaise and walnuts salad looked appetising, simple and proved a very interesting combination of flavours and textures. Apart from the obvious crunchy texture, walnuts provide a slight bitterness, which counterbalances the mellow avocado taste. The cucumber I have decided to add lightened the dish without modifying the flavours. Apart from the wonderful flavour, this salad is packed with blood pressure-lowering potassium, anti-oxidants, has a high fiber content, vitamins and even though it does contain a dash of mayonnaise, it is a very pleasant change from the heavy dishes I have recently exaggerated with. In short, this simple salad is a delicious and healthy side-dish, ideal for this time of the year. Robert-Gilles, please thank your wife for one more culinary inspiration.

Before I pass to the recipe I would love to say how proud and happy I was to learn Ping from Ping’s Pickings has tested my simple Last Minute Crackers recipe, making gorgeous star- and tree – shaped crackers. Click here to see how wonderfully she used up her puff pastry cuttings. Thank you, Ping, for this New Year’s gift!

Preparation: 10 minutes

Ingredients (serves two as a side-dish):

1 avocado

10 cm fresh cucumber

5 walnut kernels (+more 2-3 for decoration)

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

Tabasco

Worcestershire sauce

salt, pepper

Cut up the avocado and the cucumber into bite-sized pieces.

Chop up the walnuts.

Mix the mayonnaise, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper

Combine the sauce with the walnuts, cucumber and avocado.

Serve chilled.

Kkakdugi (깍두기), or Cubed Radish Kimchi

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daikonkimchip

Seeing radish kimchi at Hyosun Ro’s Eating and Living and then at Hiroyuki’s Blog on Japanese Cooking I felt it was high time I embarked on a fermenting adventure. Kimchi (김치) is the real monument of the Korean cuisine. It is a preparation of fermented vegetables – most often Napa/Chinese cabbage or white radish – with dried chili peppers and other seasonings. Kimchi is certainly one of the oldest dishes in the world, since (according to Wikipedia) the oldest references to it go back as far as 3000 years ago. Koreans didn’t know chili peppers until the XVIth century, so the beautiful red colour and fiery taste are quite recent. (In fact, there exists also a “white” kimchi version, without chili, originary from the Northern Korea. ) Apart from the chili, garlic, ginger and scallions are the most frequent ingredients of the most popular, fiery kimchi. It also always contains a fermentation “enhancer” such as fish sauce, raw shrimp, raw oysters or fermented fish.

To those who haven’t tasted it, kimchi might not sound particularly appealing, especially given its powerful smell. For me well-made kimchi is a pure delight. It is spicy, hot, sour and, like most fermented vegetables, very healthy. High in fiber, low in calories and fat, it is packed with vitamin C (thanks to the fermentation) and carotene. It also contains several other vitamins, helps digestion, is said to prevent certain cancers… In short: it’s a wonder food. Its importance in the Korean cuisine cannot be compared to anything in any European food culture I know. Apart from being served as a side dish, kimchi is used in fried rice, stew and soups. The only Korean cookery book I have contains a whole chapter dedicated to kimchi and many Korean families have special kimchi refrigerators.

I first tasted kimchi a couple of years ago in a Korean restaurant, then at my Korean neighbours’ house (the latter was of course beyond compare) and then tried making my own. The preparation was easy, but I was disappointed with the result. This experience has put me off making kimchi for two years. Last week, however, I decided I had to make at least one more attempt. I happened to have almost all the required ingredients from Hyosun Ro’s recipe, so I have followed closely her instructions and I can proudly say my kimchi is quite palatable. I panicked a little when after two days’ fermentation my kimchi was very bitter, but, strangely, leaving it to ferment for one more day resolved the problem! Thank you, Hyosun Ro, for this easy and efficient recipe! I feel now ready to carry on further kimchi experiments.

TIPS: Hyosun Ro’s recipe calls for raw shrimp as the fermentation enhancer, but since I can only get frozen shrimp, I thought it would be safer to replace it with additional fish sauce. The below recipe is adapted to my small batch (I was worried to make a bigger one for the first time), so if you want to see the original go to Eating and Living blog.

Wear gloves if you manipulate kimchi with your hands (apart from the smelly side there is lots of chili in it)

If you taste your kimchi and it seems very bitter, leave it to ferment for additional 24 hours. I did it and miraculously the bitterness disappeared!

Preparation: 1 hour + min. 2 days, but 2 weeks are optimal; the kimchi you see above was one week old and improved every day

Ingredients (I adapted the ingredients to my very small “test” batch):

500 g white radish (daikon) cut into cubes

3 heaped tablespoons Korean dried chili (my kimchi wasn’t very hot, just hot)

1 flat teaspoon grated or crushed garlic

1/2 flat teaspoon grated fresh ginger

chopped scallions (I used European chives instead)

salt (I used about 3 tablespoons)

1/2 teaspoon glutinous rice flour

4 tablespoons fish sauce or (as advised by Hyosun Ro):

2 tablespoons finely minced saeujeot (salted shrimp)

1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 raw shrimp (ground)

Prepare the rice paste combining the rice flour with about 20 ml water. Let the mixture simmer until it thickens.

Sprinkle the radish cubes with salt and leave them for 30-40 minutes. They will soften and let release some water.

Drain them, but do not wash.

Put the radishes into a big container (with a lid) and combine well with the remaining ingredients.

Taste and if you think it’s not salty enough, add some fish sauce (Hyosun Ro says it should be just a bit too salty).

Cover with the lid, press with your hands (wear gloves!) to remove the air from between the radish cubes and leave for 2 days to ferment in room temperature.

Put into the fridge after two days or more. Mine tasted better (and lost its bitterness) after the third day of fermentation at room temperature. In general it gets stronger and more acid every day.

You can refrigerate it only to make it cold and eat it straight away or you can wait several days or weeks to see how the flavours change and at which stage you prefer it (Hyosun Ro says it requires two weeks to develop the best flavours).

You can keep kimchi in the fridge for several weeks.

Southern German Potato Salad

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Most people have probably heard about the famous German potato salad, but few know what really makes it different from other salads. I have heard about it already a long time ago, but, as in the case of many vaguely known dishes, I didn’t feel like doing it until I saw it at a friendly food blog. When Kiki (from Fraeulein Trudes Kochversuche) posted her Southern German style potato salad, I quickly understood why it was so special. First of all, contrary to most potato salads, this one doesn’t contain an ounce of mayonnaise or any thick, fat similar sauce. It almost “swims” in a light, well seasoned stock. Moreover, it’s served warm and, as I learnt later, its cold version isn’t even half as good. Last, but not least, the taste is terrific!

The amounts of certain ingredients and adding raw onion were the only things I modified in Kiki’s recipe (see the original here). I have also added Maggi sauce, but I don’t consider it as a change since this is the way apparently Kiki’s father does. Maggi brings back my childhood memories and usually goes well with marjoram, so I am very happy to use it from time to time. I think it fitted very well this salad, but it’s absolutely not an obligatory ingredient. With or without without Maggi, this dish has an original, complex flavour and is surprisingly light (in spite of the bacon). Thank you, Kiki, for this unusual and delightful recipe!

TIP: Do not use instant stock. It is too important in the overall taste of the salad.

When the salad gets cold, you can microwave it (it’s not as good as freshly made though).

Preparation: 40 minutes

Ingredients (serves 3):

about 1 kg potatoes (firm after being cooked)

3 tablespoons finely chopped smoked bacon

Sauce:

1/3 cup thick, rich home-made stock (Kiki advises beef stock, but I have used chicken stock since I had a big batch in the fridge)
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons canola oil or another neutral tasting oil

1 teaspoon mustard
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 small onion (finely chopped)

1 teaspoon dried marjoram

salt (depends how salty your stock is; mine was almost without salt, so I used 1/2 teaspoon salt)

1/3 teaspoon ground black pepper

(1 tablespoon Maggi sauce)

Wash the potatoes and cook them whole until they are slightly soft (they cannot be too soft, otherwise they will fall into pieces in the salad).

When the potatoes are still hot, but you can manipulate them, peel them and cut into big chunks (I have cut them into slices and the halved them).

Put the potatoes in a bowl.

Combine the sauce ingredients and heat them until it is hot (do not boil).

Pour half of the sauce over the potatoes, give the salad a delicate stir.

In the meantime fry the bacon.

Pour the remaining sauce over the potatoes and sprinkle them with bacon.

Serve warm.

Onion Confit with Fig and Port

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The busiest pickling and jam-making months are behind. However, I keep on making Apple and Pear Sauces, preserving exotic fruits (Mango Chutney or Hot Mango Sauce) and I have just started to prepare this year’s batches of onion confit. If you have ever been to a French deli, you have probably seen expensive small jars of “confit d’oignon”, seasoned with different alcohols and/or dried fruit. Confit is a long simmered, slightly sweet onion jam. It is typically served warm with foie gras (fat duck’s liver), but it is also excellent with black pudding, grilled or roast pork, chicken and duck. It works perfectly well also as a tart filling or even as a simple toast spread.

Since I have always found onion confit prices excessive and totally unfounded (onion being one of the cheapest and easiest stored basic European vegetable), I decided to experiment on my own. I quickly realised how cheap and easy the whole process was, even though it required several hours of long simmering. The fig and port version is by far my favourite, but even when both are skipped, the confit is excellent. I think a jar of confit is a very good idea for a home-made, edible Christmas present and an original alternative to flowers or chocolates when one is invited to someone’s house.

Onion confit can be made with any onion variety. I usually go for the cheapest ones, since they “melt” a lot during the long simmering process.

TIP: Onion confit can be either processed and preserved in the pantry or stored in the fridge for one or two weeks. If you don not intend to process it, reduce the vinegar and sugar amounts. Here they act as preserving agents, but if the jam is eaten quickly, their addition is merely a question of taste balance.

Preparation: 3-5 hours (it can be made in two days)

Ingredients (yield depends much on the onions and preferred consistency, but don’t count on more than 2x 150 ml jars):

1 kg onions, peeled and sliced

4 dried figs

50g brown cane sugar

1 tablespoon salt

soy sauce (to taste) or more salt

100 ml ruby port wine

100 ml white wine vinegar 4,5%

2 tablespoons good quality oil

(ground pepper)

Heat the oil in a pan, add the onions and let them soften a bit on a very low heat (you can put the lid on the pan, but remember to stir very often).

After about 10 minutes add the soy sauce, the sugar, finely chopped figs and the vinegar.

Let the whole mixture simmer on a very low heat for about an hour, frequently stirring.

Add the port wine.

Cover the onions with a lid, let them simmer for at least 2 more hours, stirring.

Adjust the taste, adding more vinegar or salt or sugar and let the confit simmer uncovered until the liquids evaporate and it takes a consistency of a jam.

/At this point you can (after the confit has cooled down) keep it in the fridge for a couple of weeks, or process it in the jars, as described below, and store it in your pantry for about a year/

Pour the confit, still hot, into sterilised jars. Cover with lids. Leave the jars to cool.

Place the cool jars into a big pan, bottom lined with an old kitchen towel folded in two (this will prevent the jars from breaking), cover up with hot – but not boiling- water to the level just below the lid. Bring to boil and keep on a very low heat, in simmering water, for around 20 minutes.
Stick on self-adhesive labels, write the name of the confit and don’t forget to mark the date.

NOTE: For the readers who live in the USA, this is not a USDA tested recipe and therefore not recommended for canning by their standards.

Green, Unripe Tomato Salad

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October seems to be the best moment to look for (or ask for) green tomatoes, at least on my market. I don’t talk about the always-green variety which is very sweet and often striped (I think it’s called sometimes “zebra”). What I mean are completely unripe tomatoes. They are acid, already have a pleasant aroma, but their flavour is still very shy. I started to preserve green tomatoes a couple of years ago when I realised how cheap they were (farmers prefer probably to get rid of the unripe tomatoes very quickly and sell them for almost nothing) and when I decided to recreate the green tomato salad I used to like as a child. Since I didn’t know anyone who did it at home, I looked for recipes on internet and modifying them throughout the years, adding carrots and peppers, I have adapted them to my own taste.

Green tomato salad is very easy to make and its flavour is surprisingly delicate, compared to other vinegared preserves. It never fails to impress those who taste it for the first time, since most people expect it very sour and harsh. The onions make the vinegar brine mellower, the carrots give a crunchy side and together with the peppers, they make the jars look merrier. If you remember the Moomins’ Cucumber Salad, the process of making this one is very similar. As you see on the photo above, green tomatoes quickly become yellowish, but both carrots and red peppers keep their bright colours.

This salad is a great side dish and an excellent alternative to cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce in sandwiches. It is best when served chilled.

Preparation: about 1 hour + hot water bath or another processing method

Ingredients:

1 1/2 kg green tomatoes

2 big carrots

2 big red bell peppers

300 g onions

1 liter vinegar 4,5%

600 ml water

200 g sugar

4 tablespoons salt

2 tablespoons mustard grains

2 tablespoons pepper corns

2-3 bay leaves

Slice the tomatoes and the onions.

Cut the red peppers in thin strips.

Slice the carrots finely (the best would be to use a mandolin).

Put the vinegar, the water, the sugar and the salt in a pan. Bring to boil and let it on medium heat for 10 minutes.

Pack the vegetables tightly in jars, distributing evenly the pepper corns, the mustard grains and the bits of bay leaves.

Fill the jars until about 80% of the jars’ height.

Pour the hot (not boiling) vinegar mixture over the vegetables, leaving about 2,5 cm space below the lid.

Cover with lids and let the jars cool. (You can leave them overnight).

/At this point you can (after the jars have cooled down) either keep them in the fridge for a couple of weeks or process as described below and store in your pantry for at least a year!/

Leave the jars to cool.

Place the cool jars into a big pan, bottom lined with an old kitchen towel folded in two (this will prevent the jars from breaking), cover up with hot – but not boiling- water to the level just below the lid. Bring to boil and keep on a very low heat, in simmering water, for around 20 minutes.

Stick on self-adhesive labels, write the name of the salad and don’t forget to mark the date.

NOTE: For the readers who live in the USA, the USDA-approved canning method is different. You can find it described here: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/uga/using_bw_canners.html.

Green Tomato Pickled Salad on Punk Domestics

Aubergine with Ponzu, Miso and Sesame Sauce

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This is another lovely recipe I have found on Nami’s extraordinary blog (Just One Cookbook) and another one which confirms my fondness of the aubergine. If, like me a couple of years ago, you associate the aubergine with fat-soaked tasteless slices, you should try this simple and healthy dish, which makes me regret the aubergine season is almost over. I think it’s an excellent introduction to the sophisticated and simple way the Japanese cook their vegetables, bringing the best out of their subtle taste.

I hope Nami will not be angry to learn I have slightly changed her recipe, skipping konbucha/kombucha (昆布茶, ”seaweed tea”), one of the sauce ingredients I kept on forgetting to buy. According to Nami its presence guaranteed umami taste, so for me miso (fermented soy bean paste), as the quintessence of umami, was the obvious substitute to experiment with. The experiment was so successful that now, having tried both versions I couldn’t say which one I prefer. Both create a perfect, complex flavours’ combination of flavours and both are ideal with the grilled aubergine. The sauce with konbucha is lighter and more delicate, while the one with miso is creamier and has a stronger taste. (Unfortunately, I couldn’t advice any substitute for ponzu (ポン酢), a mixture of soy sauce and yuzu juice. I tried once to combine soy sauce with lemon, then with lime juice, but the results were not satisfactory.)

After much hesitation I have decided to post the miso version in case some of you don’t have konbucha (it’s a bit more difficult to get than miso), but I strongly encourage you to follow Nami’s original recipe and try both of them.

I have accidentally discovered this grilled aubergine is ideal served with Garlic Miso Chicken Breast Skewers, also adapted from Nami’s Garlic Miso Chicken Wings recipe). Nami, I am so grateful for the sophisticated simplicity and delight your Japanese meals bring to my table!

Preparation: 15 minutes

Ingredients (serves two):

1 medium eggplant, in 1/2 cm thick slices

1 tablespoon sesame oil

2 flat tablespoons chopped chives or green onions

3 tablespoons chopped shiso leaves

Sauce:

2 tablespoons ponzu

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon miso (or 1/4 teaspoon konbucha, click here to see the details on Nami’s blog)

Brush both sides of the aubergine slices with sesame oil and grill them or pan-fry them on both sides. (Or heat some oil in the pan instead of brushing the slices).

In the meantime combine the ingredients of the sauce (I close them in a small container with a lid and shake like a cocktail; it helps to dissolve the cold miso).

Arrange the aubergine on a plate, sprinkle with chives and shiso and pour the sauce.

Serve warm or cold (I prefer it warm).

Moomins’ Cucumber Salad

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Moomins, aka Moomin trolls, are chubby characters invented by the Finnish-Swedish writer Tove Janssen who depicted their adventures in a series of sparingly illustrated books I used to devour in my early teens. The books were originally written in Swedish and then became famous all around the world, in as different countries as Germany and Japan, where they were extremely popular. I remember I immensely enjoyed finding myself plunged in the peaceful, simple Moomin world, where everyone was kind and even the scariest characters end up being nice… I got really addicted to Moomins when, in the 90s, the tv started to broadcast a full-coloured Japanese Moomin cartoon. Here is the English theme song, just to give you an idea of what Moomins’ world looks like:

Afterwards I learnt that several different cartoons had been produced not only in Japan, and some as early as in the 60s! I have to confess even as an adult I feel nostalgic about Moomins. Once, I have even given CG from Cooking Gallery an idea to put them into one of her extraordinary charaben (character bento boxes). Imagine my joy when I saw she actually made perfect, beautiful, edible Moomin family! Click here to see what I of course consider as the most beautiful of CG’s bento boxes.

Moomins’ adventures haven’t been developped for years, so imagine my emotion when I learnt the existence of the Moomins Cookbook! Luckily, it has already been translated into English, otherwise I would certainly order it in Swedish (or Finnish) and would insist on reading it with a dictionary in one hand! As its title suggests (Moomins Coookbook. An Introduction to Finnish Cuisine), this illustrated book contains Finnish recipes. However, I must admit I haven’t ordered it with intention of its practical use, but merely to purchase a new Moomin item.

Imagine how excited I was to discover there not only an ideal way to pickle the cucumbers I was offered at the farmers’ market, but to realise that the result went far beyond what I had hoped for. The salad is extremely flavoursome, it can be served as a side dish or drained and put into sandwiches and I recommend it to everyone, not only Moomins’ fans. However, I admit that labeling the jars as “Moomins’ Salad” is a particularly thrilling experience for someone who feels nostalgic for these chubby characters.

The recipe calls for sliced gherkins, but long cucumbers were a perfect substitute. I have only slightly modified it, mainly reducing the sugar content, so if you prefer sweeter pickles, add 320 g sugar. I didn’t have fresh black currant leaves, have put dried ones instead, but I think they don’t change the taste at all, so I shall skip them next time. The salad tastes lovely without them too!

(This salad can of course be made as a short-term pickle and kept in the fridge. It is ready after a couple of days.)

Preparation: 1 hour + hot water bath processing (or another method)

Ingredients (I have obtained 5 x 400 ml jars):

1 kg gherkins or cucumbers

1 big carrot

1 tablespoon allspice berries

1 tablespoon peppercorns

1 tablespoon mustard seeds

(1 tablespoon cloves which I have skipped, since I am not a big fan of cloves in pickles)

4 garlic cloves (peeled and cut in two)

(1 tablespoon grated horseradish, which is optional in the recipe and which I didn’t have)

dill flowers, stems (dried or fresh) or seeds

(blackcurrant leaves (I used dried, but they don’t really change the taste so either use fresh ones or skip them))

1 liter wine or cider vinegar (4,5%)

200 g sugar

3 tablespoons salt

Wash and scrub the gherkins. If using big long cucumbers you can peel them if the skin is very tough or only one row in two (as I did) or not at all (the pickles will be crunchier). Slice the cucumbers or gherkins finely with a knife or with a mandolin.

Peel the carrot and slice it finely too.

Pack the sliced vegetables tightly into the jars, distributing the spices and garlic evenly between the layers (one garlic clove for one jar). Finish the layering at the 3/4 of the jars’ height.

Combine the vinegar, the salt and the sugar. Bring to boil, stirring.

Pour the hot vinegar into the jars (leave 1,5 cm under the rim) and close them.

/At this point you can (after the jars have cooled down) either keep them in the fridge for a couple of weeks or process as described below and store in your pantry for at least a year!/

Leave the jars to cool.

Place the cool jars into a big pan, bottom lined with an old kitchen towel folded in two (this will prevent the jars from breaking), cover up with hot – but not boiling- water to the level just below the lid. Bring to boil and keep on a very low heat, in simmering water, for around 20 minutes.

Stick on self-adhesive labels, write the name of the salad and don’t forget to mark the date.

NOTE: For the readers who live in the USA, the USDA-approved canning method is different. You can find it described here: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/uga/using_bw_canners.html.

Moomins' Cucumber Salad on Punk Domestics

Ratatouille

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Ratatouille is a French vegetable ragoût from Provence region (originally from Nice). Its name comes from “ratatohla”, a word in Occitan language, still spoken by some people in Southern France. It is the Summer dish par excellence, since all the necessary vegetables don’t leave the French markets – and kitchens – from July till August. Everyone cooks ratatouille in a different way, but there are three main general methods. Some people chop all the ingredients and let them simmer or fry together, others fry them separately and assemble them only before serving. I use a third method, which consists of quick frying of all the vegetables separately (except for the courgette, which gets too mushy), and then putting them in the same pan to finish the cooking process. The French are not fond of hot dishes, so the peppers used in ratatouille are always sweet. Personally, I find a hot version more palatable and always include a couple of chili peppers. Ratatouille is often literally drowned in oil and since I use it very sparingly, I would define mine as “light”.

Ratatouille is usually served as a side dish with grilled fish, meat or an omelet, but it can also be a vegetarian main dish. The amounts of the ingredients depend on your preference (I always put a bit more of courgette, since it is my favourite here). This is one of those dishes, which improve when reheated, so don’t hesitate making a big batch and serving it throughout the week.

Preparation: 1h30

Ingredients (serves 5-6 as a main dish and at least 8 as a side dish):

4 tablespoons oil

2 medium aubergines

1 big sweet pepper

3 hot chili peppers

2 medium courgettes

6 big tomatoes

4 big garlic cloves

1 big onion

thyme

bay leaf

salt, pepper

(tomato sauce or concentrate, in case the tomatoes don’t give the desired consistency or taste)

Put the tomatoes in a pan filled with boiling water. Take them out after 10 minutes and cover with cold water.

Peel them, chop them roughly and place in a big pan.

Chop the aubergine in 1-2 cm pieces and put into another bowl.

Slice the onion.

Chop the garlic.

Cut the courgette in half slices or quarters of slices.

Chop the peppers.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil a frying pan. Fry the onion for a couple of minutes and when it starts softening, add the peppers.

Fry both for 5 more minutes.

Transfer the onion and the peppers into the pan containing the tomatoes.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in the same pan, add the garlic and, after 30 seconds, the chopped aubergine.

Fry the aubergine until it starts giving off water.

Transfer it to the big pan.

Add thyme, bay leaves, salt, pepper and let the ratatouille simmer uncovered for 40 minutes.

Add the courgette and let the ragoût simmer for 30 more minutes.

Serve hot.

Japanese Onion Salad

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Before seeing this dish on Hiroyuki’s Blog on Japanese Cooking I had never heard of a raw onion – based salad and had not imagined it might be palatable. Yet, on Hiroyuki’s photo it looked both intriguing and seducing, so I decided to try it as soon as possible. When I finally took the first bite, I was simply speechless. I still find it hard to understand how an onion salad can be so refreshing, light and complex, even though the other ingredients play here an irreplaceable role. Together with the Tomato and Shiso Salad, it has become one of my staple side dishes for hot days. Thank you, Hiroyuki, for this excellent and original recipe!

If you cook Japanese, you probably already have all the necessary ingredients. If you don’t, the only two “exotic” products you need to buy is katsubobushi (shaved bonito) and ponzu sauce (which may be substituted here by a mixture of soy sauce and lime juice). I have lots of shallots I was offered by my family, so I used shallots instead of onion. Soaking onion is not necessary, but I don’t like the harsh onion taste and always do this.

Preparation: 15 minutes

Ingredients (serves 2):

2 medium onions or two shallots

1 handful of shaved bonito (katsuobushi)

3 tablespoons ponzu (or 2 tablespoons soy sauce+1 tablespoon lime juice)

1 heaped tablespoon mayonnaise

Cut the onion/shallot into thin slices (or use a mandolin to make transparent slices).

Put them in a bowl of cold water and let it soak for 15 minutes (or not, if you like a stronger onion taste).

Drain and pat dry.

Put the onion on a serving plate.

Sprinkle with ponzu, cover with katsuobushi and top with mayonnaise.

Serve.

Daikon Leaves Furikake (大根葉振り掛け)

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Even though I grow my plants only in balcony boxes, I have several herbs (chives, mint, dill, basil, marjoram… and even mitsuba!) and such weird things as… daikon. A kind friend send me once several packages of grains from Japan and among those was daikon the big white radish). I suppose I should say rather daikon leaves, since only leaves were featured on the package and I suppose this variety is not supposed to have huge radishes, just like the parsley I have on my balcony, which contrary to my other parsley variety, doesn’t grow big roots.

Anyway, my daikon leaves grew extremely quickly and frankly even though their taste was pleasant, I didn’t know what to do with them. Imagine my joy when Robert-Gilles, from Shizuoka Gourmet blog kindly offered to help me and posted a Daikon Leaves Furikake recipe. Thank you, Robert-Gilles, for this thoughtful gesture and for the excellent recipe! This furikake was so good I made it already several times.

Furikake (振り掛け) means “a condiment sprinkled over a dish” and is something between a condiment and a topping put over the rice (I must say I had problems with classifying it in my Western categories…). It was the first furikake I have ever made, but thought it was an excellent idea and will certainly look for some more furikake recipes in the future.

I have slightly modified the recipe and used some leftover rice combined with green peas instead of white rice. Dried shrimp or fish is not obligatory and since I didn’t have either, I skipped it.

It’s a great way to use leftover rice and to avoid throwing away the daikon leaves if your radish has them.

Preparation: 10 minutes

Ingredients (serves one):

a big handful of finely chopped daikon leaves with stems (they will shrink)

1 1/2 tablespoons sesame oil

2 tablespoons cooking sake

1 tablespoon mirin

1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce (or more if, like me you have a low-sodium soy sauce!)

3 tablespoons katsuobushi (shaved bonito)

2 tablespoons roasted white sesame seeds

(dried small shrimps or dried small fish)

Heat the sesame oil in a pan.

Fry the chopped leaves over high heat until they become soft.

Add sake, mirin and soy sauce, stirring before adding each of them.

Fry the fish or shrimp in a separate pan.

Add the fish/shrimp, the sesame seeds and katsuobushi to the leaves mixture and fry, stirring, for 30 seconds.

Put over a bowl of rice and serve.

(It can be kept in the fridge and served cold too).

Tomato and Shiso Salad

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Forget the basil, forget the chives, the mint or the parsley; shiso is undeniably the tomato’s best friend. Shiso (紫蘇) or perilla, a staple in the Japanese cuisine, has a herbaceous, slightly bitter flavour and a strong aroma. It is used as well in raw as in cooked dishes (see the Ume-Shiso Chicken Skewers). I took to shiso instantly and the more I use it the more I like it. Looking for some shiso use ideas I stumbled upon a wonderful inspiring blog called Humble Bean, where I found the Tomato and Shiso Salad and felt at once I would not be disappointed.

I was right. The salad was a revelation. It is falsely simple, yet proves sophisticated and complex, which for me is a perfect definition of the Japanese cuisine. The sweetness of the tomato, the bitterness of the shiso and the lively crunch of the onion are already an ideal combination, but the delicate sauce makes it extraordinary. The salad is so addictive I served it two days in a row and I feel I could have it not only every day, but with every meal or even in between, as a light snack. The only modification was substituting the onion with a shallot (I ran out of onions). In theory the below amount serves two, but for me it makes only one portion for one shiso addict. Thank you, Azusa, for this marvellous discovery.

(A shiso leaf photo for those who are not familiar yet with this aromatic herb).

Preparation: 10 minutes

Ingredients (serves one):

1 chilled tomato

3 big shiso leaves

1/2 small onion (I used 1/2 shallot)

Sauce:

1/2 tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

several turns of the freshly ground pepper

Remove the tomato stem and slice it.

Chop finely the onion and soak it for 5 minutes in cold water.

Do the same with shiso (in a separate bowl).

Combine the sauce ingredients.

Drain the onion and the shiso and pat dry.

Arrange the tomato slices in a bowl.

Sprinkle with the onion, then with shiso and drizzle the sauce over it.

Dry Tarator, or Bulgarian Dill Salad

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I think I have already mentioned I am growing herbs on my balcony. Some grow easier, some less and some refuse to sprout. This year’s dill grains were very shy at the beginning, but now they grow like crazy reaching almost 50 cm height!. Finding a new, rich in dill recipe became vital! Something reminded me of a delicious dill salad I was served any years ago by a Bulgarian friend of mine and after a quick internet research I found the Angellove’s Cooking Bulgarian blog and there the dry tarator recipe.

Tarator is a famous Bulgarian cold soup made with yogurt, cucumbers and dill, while dry tarator, also called Snow White salad (Салата Снежанка), or yogurt salad (Млечна салата), is a thicker version of the soup, served as a salad. I have repared two versions of dry tarator: one with chopped cucumber and the other with grated cucumber. The latter was rather semi-dry, perfect as a dip or as a thick sauce (the above photo is my second, dip/sauce version). Both versions were excellent for the hot days we are having now in Switzerland. I think I’ll grow dill all year round only to be able to prepare it whenever I want.

Mina from Angellove’s Cooking advised me to add some water, if I wanted to obtain the tarator soup. I will certainly remember this advice on very hot Summer days. As usually I have modified a bit the original recipe (e.g. adding more dill since I really adore it and grating the cucumber since I wanted this to be a dip). This is the first Bulgarian recipe I have realised, but certainly not the last!

Preparation: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

400 ml drained yogurt (or not drained if using very thick yogurt)

3 tablespoons olive oil

5 tablespoons chopped dill (the recipe called for 2 tablespoons, but if I couldn’t stop myself from adding more)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 cloves garlic

a couple of tablespoons chopped/ground walnuts

1 long cucumber

2 teaspoons salt (or more)

(crunchy Chinese cabbage leaves or or other crunchy salad leaves)

Mix or grate the garlic (I mixed them with the dill in a food processor).

Either peel the cucumber and chop it finely or don’t peel it and grate it if you prefer this to be a dip/sauce.

Combine all the ingredients.

Taste the salad and add more salt if necessary.

Fill the crunchy salad leaves with dill salad or serve it in bowls.

Decorate with dill sprigs.

Snow Peas Shira-ae (白和え)

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When I saw Green Bean Shira – ae recipe at Nami’s blog (Just One Cookbook) I knew I would love the dish. Miso, tofu and sesame seeds are my beloved Japanese cuisine ingredients, and shira-ae (白和え) is a dish of vegetables mixed with these ingredients. How could I resist? Instead of the green beans I used blanched snow peas, now in season, and the result was even better than I thought: delicate and light, but very filling at the same time. A perfect side-dish and maybe even a main dish for vegetarians? Thank you, Nami, for sharing this fabulous recipe!

Shira-ae means more or less “mixed/dressed with white” and belongs to the “aemono “, or “dressed dishes” category, which could be compared to the Western salads or side dishes, since it includes vegetables with a sauce without vinegar. Shira-ae is for me a double discovery: not only is it the first aemono dish I have ever made, but also the first one I have ever tasted. “Sunomono” is another, very close category including vinegared dishes, but I haven’t explored it yet.

Even though my dish looks different from Nami’s one, I have followed her instructions to the letter, apart from substituting the sugar with mirin. I have also adjusted the amounts to make an individual dish (I am the only tofu fan at home). At the time I prepared it I didn’t have the Japanese mortar (now I do and intend using it very often!), but the Western type of mortar was very efficient in grinding sesame seeds too. You may use also an electric grinder, but the smell gradually created during the process of manual sesame grinding is incredible and worth the tiny effort.

Special equipment:

a mortar or a spice grinder

Preparation: 10 minutes

Ingredients (serves one):

100 g snow peas (trimmed and cut in two)

50 g tofu

2 tablespoons toasted white sesame seeds

1 teaspoon miso

1 teaspoon mirin (or sugar)

1 teaspoon soy sauce

Drain the tofu.

Grind the sesame seeds in a Japanese mortar (suribachi), a standard European mortar or in a spice grinder.

Add the remaining ingredients.

Blanch the snow peas.

Put the snow peas in a bowl and combine with all the above ingredients and the crumbled tofu.

Serve warm or cold.

Buckwheat with Miso

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Buckwheat is cultivated in as different countries as Russia, Japan, France and Brazil. Japanese soba noodles and soba shochu, Russian blinis гречневая каша, French “gallettes” or savoury pancakes, boûketes in Belgium, Polish “kasza gryczana” (hulled grains, usually roasted), Italian pizzoccheri,… All those are made from the same plant.

Belonging to the Fagopyrum genus, buckwheat is not a grass, nor a cereal, even though it looks like one. Its qualities are so numerous, it is surprising most of the Western countries never consume it. It is very rich in protein, minerals, antioxydants, iron and doesn’t contain any gluten, so can be consumed by people who don’t tolerate it. Apart from all these healthy sides, buckwheat grows very quickly and easily. That is why it can be cultivated in cold climate and crops can be easily multiplied in hot regions.

The older I get, the more I like buckwheat – based products, and especially buckwheat groats, e.i. hulled grains. They are a bit crunchy and a bit soft at the same time. They have a very pleasant nutty aroma and a tiny hint of bitter taste. I don’t know if it is due to my temporary deficiency of one of its healthy components or if it’s a simple food craving, but sometimes I want it so much, I must have it in the following hours. In Switzerland (like in most Western European countries) the only easily obtained buckwheat groats are not roasted and lack the nutty flavour the roasted ones have. Luckily Russian and Polish shops carry roasted groats and luckily they exist in most European countries and in North America, where the buckwheat groats’ name (“kasha”) has Polish/Russian origins.

I usually have buckwheat groats as a side dish (they are perfect with pork roast and the Polish pork stew with allspice), but they also make a good ravioli or vegetable stuffing. I don’t know why, but I have never tried to mix them with Asian ingredients. However, a couple of days ago, I thought about the Japanese soba noodles, remembered I had a miso (Japanese soybean paste) dressing in the fridge and decided to combine them. It is difficult to describe how excellent this Japanese-Polish fusion proved to be. Needless to say, since that day miso has become the buckwheat groats’ best friend. (UPDATE: It’s not really a fusion dish… I have just learnt that buckwheat groats do exist in Japan where they are called “soba gome”; they are however not very popular).

The White miso dressing recipe comes from my beloved Japanese Cooking. A Simple Art by Shizuo Tsuji (read more here). It keeps about 2 weeks in the fridge and is a good way to use up an egg yolk. If you don’t want to prepare the miso dressing, the buckwheat will be also good with miso alone (if you can add some mirin, it will be even better). This time, instead of pork, I had it with grilled chicken.

Update: Janet’s comment and cooking kasha experience made me think how buckwheat groats/kasha may be tricky to cook, especially for the first time. After two or three times it’ll become very easy. I changed a bit the cooking process description, more helpful this time – I hope - for a beginner.

Preparation: 30 minutes

Ingredients (serves two):

150 g roasted buckwheat groats

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons white miso

or White miso dressing:

1 egg yolk

4 tablespoons white miso

1 tablespoon sake

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon mirin

(dashi, Japanese stock, 出し)

Put the buckwheat groats into a cup.

Measure the double of the buckwheat volume in water.

Pour the water into a pan. Bring it to boil, add the salt.

Throw the buckwheat into the pan and let it cook partially covered at medium heat for about ten minutes.

Lower the heat and let it simmer, covered, for about 5 more minutes.

The water should be completely absorbed by the grains. If it’s not absorbed yet, put the pan aside, leave the cover on and it will get absorbed without cooking too.

Prepare the miso dressing.

Combine the yolk with the miso in a small pan.

Add the remaining ingredients one by one.

Put the small pan into a bigger one, with boiling water and let the sauce thicken (and the egg yolk cook), delicately stirring for about 5-10 minutes.

(The miso dressing can be diluted with dashi stock. It keeps two weeks in the fridge.)

Taste the buckwheat groats. They should be still crunchy, but cooked. If they are not soft enough for your taste, add a bit more water and cook them longer.

Drain the groats. Combine them with one tablespoon miso or miso dressing.

Serve the groats with a big dollop of miso/ miso dressing on top.

Asparagus Tempura

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Tempura (天ぷら), batter-coated deep-frying, belongs to “agemono (揚げ物)”, or Japanese deep-frying methods. Tempura is used with different vegetables, mushrooms, seafood and fish and the resulting dishes are covered in crunchy, bubbly, thin layer of extremely light and transparent coating. Even though its preparation steps are ridiculously easy, tempura has a reputation of the most difficult agemono method, the lumpy consistency of the batter being the hardest part to achieve (especially for someone used to smooth, Western-style batters). However, this lumpiness and ice-cold temperature are crucial if one wants to achieve the typical tempura dish look, crunch and taste. Even though the tempura batter – composed of yolks, flour and water – can be easily made from the scratch, the ready-to-use dry mixture is quicker, it can be bought in every Japanese grocer shop and allows making very small batches (like the one below). This shortcut is also probably the best to start with, given the difficulty of this method.

I must admit I have had the tempura mixture in my kitchen for at least a year. I tried it only once, the attempt was a complete failure and discouraged me for quite a long time. However, admiring the bean sprouts in tempura, featured on Hiroyuki’s Blog and thanks to his kind tempura recipe translation and explanations, I decided to give it another go. Scared of repeating my tempura failure I also re-read the detailed instructions in my Japanese cooking reference book by Shizuo Tsuji (Japanese cooking. A simple art) and started experimenting. Bean sprouts tempura proved very quickly to be definitely not for the beginners, but the green asparagus, one of my favourite vegetables and in season now, was a huge hit. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed my asparagus tempura, I am sure I haven’t managed the correct “bubbly” tempura coating and only hope it will get better in time. My not-so-perfect tempura was crunchy, light and brought out the asparagus delicate taste so well, it is now officially my favourite asparagus recipe. In short, the devil is not so black as he is painted and I should have reopened my tempura mix a long time ago!

Tempura is usually served with the below dipping sauce (taken from Shizuo Tsuji’s book). However, if you don’t have the necessary ingredients, the asparagus is delicious dipped in raw yolk with a bit of salt and pepper or in a soft-boiled egg. I also enjoyed it with my last year’s hot and smoky strawberry sauce.

There are two tempura methods. The first one consists only of dipping the food into the batter, while the second requires coating the food in the flour before the dipping step. I have chosen the first one for my asparagus. I used only the upper half of thin (5-7mm thick) green asparagus and cut this part in two in order to achieve bite-sized pieces. If you want to use the thicker parts too or if your asparagus is thicker, you should blanch it first for 1 minute, transfer it quickly into cold water, dry thoroughly and then dip into the tempura batter.

Preparation: 20 minutes

Ingredients (serves two as a starter, side-dish or a snack):

10 x 5-7 mm thin green asparagus upper halves (or 2/3, only the lower very hard parts removed)

3 tablespoons tempura mixture+ 3 tablespoons ice-cold water

(a couple of tablespoons flour if following the second 2-step method)

oil for deep-frying

dipping sauce:

60 ml dashi (Japanese stock)

20 ml mirin (sweet cooking sake)

20 ml soy sauce

a couple of tablespoons grated Japanese radish (daikon)

1-2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

Preheat the oil to about 170-180°C.

Prepare the asparagus tips and pat them dry.

Combine very roughly and quickly the tempura mix with ice-cold water (the chopsticks are here perfect, since they will not produce a smooth batter, but a lumpy one).

Check the oil temperature by dropping a bit of the batter. If it stays only a bit under the surface and then quickly moves up and starts bubbling, the temperature is good.

Dip the asparagus in the batter and deep fry for about one minute.

Drain with a slotted spoon and put on paper towels before serving.

Celeriac Remoulade, or Céléri rémoulade

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Raw, cooked or fried, the celeriac was high on my “hated vegetables” list since I was a child. When I started to cook, the only time it appeared in my kitchen was in a home-made stock composition. Once the stock cooked, celeriac would end up in the bin. Observing some of my French friends enjoying their ubiquitous céléri rémoulade I didn’t know at the time I began to be intrigued. It took me however a long long time to dare tasting this despised root, albeit disguised. Celeriac Remoulade was a real revelation and I am convinced it has a power to convert more than one celeriac hater. In fact, hardly a couple of days after I tasted it, I bought the first celeriac in my life with another intention than making stock.

I was of course lucky to have my first céléri rémoulade in a good restaurant and not in a school cafeteria or bought in a supermarket. In fact, most of what is labelled as “céléri rémoulade” is terrible (from what I’ve heard not only in France) or simply hasn’t got much in common with the original preparation. Remoulade Sauce means basically seasoned mayonnaise with herbs, gherkins and capers, and a good Celeriac Remoulade is so simple and undemanding, it is hard to believe how efficiently and frequently it is spoiled.

My slightly modified recipe comes from the French classic “Petit Larousse de la cuisine“, but many different traditional versions exist. Some advice blanching celeriac after it’s grated, but I think this way it loses the wonderful fresh crunchy side. Some literally soak the celeriac in the sauce, but I prefer to keep it light, with hardly any sauce. Of course you can adjust the mayonnaise’s amount to your own taste. Celeriac Remoulade keeps very well in the fridge, up to a week (unless the mayonnaise is home-made). Definitely a very healthy and good change from a green salad, it is excellent with a pork roast, cold cuts, Egg and Bacon Pie, toasts, sandwiches…

Preparation: 10 minutes if using a food processor or more, if you grate the celeriac on a traditional grater

Ingredients (serves four as a side dish):

1 big celeriac (approx. 500 – 600g)

Remoulade sauce:

100 ml mayonnaise

10 flat tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (I usually put parsley and chives, but my recipe mentions also tarragon and chervil; other recipes enumerate borage among the remoulade herbs)

5 small finely chopped French gherkins (cornichons) or two big pickled cucumbers

5 tablespoons drained capers

salt, pepper

(French mustard)

(anchovy essence or 2 mixed anchovies)

Peel the celeriac and grate it very quickly on a vegetable grater (the bigger holes).

Combine it with the mayonnaise, the herbs, the gherkins, the capers and the anchovies if using. Season with salt and pepper.

Stir well and taste. If it seems a bit bland, add some mustard.

Serve preferably chilled (if all the ingredients are very cold, it can be served straight away).

Sesame and Soy Sauce Vinaigrette

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At first glance, putting down a salad dressing recipe may seem ridiculous. However, whenever I observe people preparing it, everyone uses different proportions and/or ingredients. For years I had been preparing mine traditionally, fiddling with the variations of the French vinegar/lemon+oil+mustard/garlic way, but as soon as I started to experiment with soy sauce and other Japanese products, my favourite – though not the only one – vinaigrette has changed. I still call it vinaigrette since it keeps – albeit vaguely -the main vinaigrette’s rules: something fat+something acid+something strong and salty. Apart from the evident Japanese touch, my favourite dressing is not in the dense, heavy, dripping from the spoon sauce category. It is extremely light, in terms of look, taste and fat content.

Even though it is not a strictly Japanese recipe, both the soy sauce and the vinegar must be Japanese. The Chinese are simply too strong. Of course the proportions can be adjusted to your personal taste.

Special equipment:

(for me a very small jar or plastic container with a lid is very handy in the sauce shaking step, but of course not necessary)

Preparation: 5 minutes

Ingredients (serves 2):

leaves from half a small iceberg salad torn into pieces (or the equivalent of any green salad leaves)

3 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce (or more if using the low-sodium sauce)

2 tablespoons Japanese rice vinegar

3 tablespoons grilled sesame seeds

2 tablespoons oil (strangely olive oil works here as well as sesame oil, but the taste will be completely different)

Put all the ingredients – apart from the sesame seeds – in a small jar. Close it tightly, shake it and combine with the salad in the serving bowl.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Eringi & Teriyaki

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Called simply “eringi” (エリンギ) in Japanese, Pleurotus eryngii also bears such names as king trumpet or king oyster. Together with the more famous oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) it belongs to the Pleurotus genus. In the wild this mushroom grows together with the roots of Eryngium plants, hence the Latin name, but it is widely cultivated too. Even though king oyster grows in the Middle East, Northern Africa and even Southern Europe, it is particularly appreciated in Asian countries, especially in China, Korea and Japan. I think they are not often cultivated and not easily found in Europe (apart from the wild ones in the South), but I am lucky to find them sometimes imported from Korea (where it is called saesongi 새송이 ).

The film below (click here to see it directly at Youtube) presents a Korean king oyster farm (I adore the funny way they grow in pots!) and shows the passion the Koreans have for this mushroom:

King oyster mushroom doesn’t seem very attractive when raw – it doesn’t have any smell or taste. However, once stir-fried or grilled, it develops a subtle, inimitable aroma and the famous “umami” (うま味) or 5th primary taste. Apart from the elegant and sophisticated flavour I also adore this mushroom for its meaty texture. I think it’s perfect quickly fried or grilled, served with teriyaki sauce. It is a wonderful starter, goes very well with grilled meat, but due to its delicate flavour it shouldn’t be served with hot or/and spicy dishes.

Preparation: 15 minutes

Ingredients (serves 4):

400g eringi mushrooms

neutral tasting oil

Teriyaki sauce:

6 tablespoons mirin

4 tablespoons soy sauce (or 3 if you have low sodium soy sauce)

2 teaspoons sugar

6 tablespoons sake

Bring mirin and sake to boil, add the soy sauce and the sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and put aside, keeping it warm.

Clean the mushrooms if they are a bit dirty and cut them in two lengthwise.

Heat a non-stick pan or a grill.

Brush them with a bit of oil on each side.

Grill the king oysters or stir-fry until they are slightly browned (about 2 minutes on each side).

Put them on a warmed plate.

If you use a grill, bring the teriyaki to boil once more, let it thicken a bit and pour over the mushrooms.

If you use a non-stick pan, pour the teriyaki on it (don’t wash the pan after having take out the mushrooms) and let it caramelise for about 1 minute.

Pour the teriyaki over the mushrooms.