Miso Soup with Tofu

After 5 months of living in Japan and cooking Japanese food, I finally decided to try my hand at one of the essential staples of the Japanese diet: Miso Soup. Many people eat rice and miso soup at every meal. At the very least it is consumed at least once per day. This recipe was so easy and delicious that it will definitely be added my list of regular dishes. This recipe makes about 4-5 bowls. I have 2 bowls with a small bowl of brown rice as a whole meal.

Ingredients:
5 cups of water
1 tube (8 g) of kombu powder
5-8 dried shitake mushrooms, sliced
340g tofu, cubed
4-5 Tbsp miso paste (mine was the white variety--ie, from rice)
2 inch piece of negi, sliced

Method:
1. Bring water, kombu, and mushrooms to a boil. Simmer until mushrooms are totally soft. (This is an instant dashi broth--real Japanese chefs are probably turning over in their graves).
2. Take out a small bowl of the broth. Mix the miso paste into the extracted broth until smooth.
3. Pour the miso/broth mixture back into the pot. Add the negi and tofu. Simmer for a few minutes more.
4. Serve hot!

DO NOT LET THE SOUP COME TO A BOIL AFTER ADDING THE MISO.

Estimated nutritional info for the whole pot:
Energy: 762Cal, Fat: 35g, Carbs: 62g, Protein: 66g

Miso Dressing

This is a delicious and simple Miso salad dressing recipe. It can also be used as a sandwich sauce or dip. I have taken to eating the veggies from the Naan Bread Sandwiches minus the naan bread (and with the avocao cubed instead) with this drizzled over it. This is a much cheaper and more genuine way for me to dress everything (as opposed to the imported Thai sweet chilli sauce on which I had been relying).

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp miso paste (light or white)
2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup oil

Method:
1. Combine the vinegar and sugar and mix well.
2. Add the miso paste and whisk until blended smoothly.
3. Add the oil and whisk until emulsified.

Estimated nutritional info for this entire recipe:
Energy: 754Cal, Carbs: 61g, Fat: 57g, Protein: 4g

I am working on modifying this so it is a bit lower in calories!!

Better Recipe for Raw Spring Rolls

I have improvised the original recipe to find a much tastier combination. Also, these fruits and veggies are cheaper in Japan than those listed in the original recipe.

Once the rice paper wrappers are soaked, they are not as delicate as they look. It is when they are still hard that they can crack and cause you problems later!! Be careful how they are stored. I think I put something heavy in the middle of mine while in the cupboard and it did a number on them...

This recipe makes 12 spring rolls and serves two people as the bulk of a meal.

Ingredients:
12 round rice paper wrappers
50g rice vermicelli noodles
1 persimmon, peeled and cut into thin strips
1 carrot, cut in half and into thin strips
1/2 red pepper, cut into thin strips
1 inch piece of negi, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp sweet chilli sauce
soy sauce for dipping

Method:
1. Place the vermicelli in a large bowl, cover with boiling water, and leave for at least 5 minutes (there is no harm in waiting longer). Then strain and cut in half.
2. Add the persimmon, carrot, red pepper, onion, and sweet chilli sauce and mix well.
3. Soak the rice paper wrappers in warm water according to the directions (usually 20-30 seconds).
4. Lay wrappers out flat on the counter and place some of the filling in the middle. Fold the sides of the wrapper in and then roll from the bottom to the top.
5. Repeat until all the filling is gone.
6. Serve cold with soy sauce for dipping. Best if eaten within a few hours of making or they might actually dissolve entirely...

Chirashi Zushi

This is certaily not what most people think of when they hear the word "sushi." There is no fish and not even any seaweed! This dish is essentially just a bunch of seasoned veggies mixed with seasoned sushi rice. Delicious! This recipe serves 2-3 people.

Ingredients:

rice:
2 1/2 cups uncooked sticky rice
5 cups water

rice seasoning:
5 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt

veggies:
3 dried shitake mushrooms, rehydrated and cut into strips
1 medium renkon, peeled and sliced (optional)
1 abura age, rinced in boiling water and cut into strips
1 carrot, cut into strips
1 small gobo, peeled, cut into strips, and soaked for 5 minutes
1 cup bamboo, cut into strips

veggie seasoning:
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp mirin
1 1/2 cups water

garnish: pickled ginger to taste, cut into small strips

Method:
1. Combine rice and water in a rice cooker and cook for 30 minutes.
2. Heat ingredients for veggie seasoning in a medium saucepan until sugar is dissolved.
3. Add veggies and simmer until almost all the liquid has evaporated (10-20 minutes).
4. Mix ingredients of rice seasoning. When rice is finished, add rice seasoning to rice and mix well.
5. Mix veggies with rice in a large serving bowl and garnish with pickled ginger. Serve at room temperature.

Inari Sushi

These seasoned deep-fried tofu pockets filled with sushi rice have become a staple of my diet. They are so quick, easy, and delicious that I make these for breakfast every morning!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup uncooked white sticky rice
1 cups water
1 tsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
4 inari age pockets (see glossary for details)

Method:
1. Combine the rice and water in a rice cooker and cook.
2. Combine the vinegar and sugar in a small bowl and mix well.
3. When rice is finished cooking, pour the vinegar and sugar mixture over the rice and mix in while fanning the rice or blowing on it (this is supposed to make the vinegar less pungent and helps to make the rice look better).
4. Carefully open the inari age pockets and fill with the rice.
5. Garnish with pickled ginger.

Estimated nutritional info:
Energy: 260Cal, Carbs: 46g, Fat: 5g, Protein: 8g

If you can't find inari age, you can use abura age pockets rinced in boiling water and then boiled in a mixture of about 1 cup water, 1/2 cup soy sauce, and 1 cup sugar. The exact proportions are difficult to measure. You will just have to mess around with it until it is not too salty and not too sweet.

Japanese Cooking Glossary

Traditional Japanse cooking does not use an oven. For this reason, most Japanese houses and apartments (including mine) do not have an oven. This has been a difficult adjustment for me.

Certain ingredients common in many cooking styles around the world are not used in Japanese cooking and thus not available anywhere in Japan. The one I have had to omit the most in all the non-Japanese recipes I have made here is coriander (or cilantro). It is available dried at larger grocery stores and foreign import stores but I have yet to see it fresh anywhere in the country.

Abura Age (あぶらあご): Deep-fried tofu pockets that are very versatile. They can be boiled in soy sauce and sugar and filled with sushi rice to make inari sushi (see inari age below). They can also be added to soups and stews and almost anything else for a boost of deep-fried protein. They should be rinced in boiling water before use to make them a bit less oily. Age (pronounced ah-gay) means deep-fried in Japanese.

Daikon (だいこん): Tranlated as long radish, daikon is a huge white root with a green top. Grated, it is often used as a garnish. It helps with digestion and so after meals, it is often eaten just boiled in a soy sauce broth. This is a tasty vegetable but I don't buy it anymore because it stinks up the fridge, especially if refrigerated cooked.

Gobo (ごぼ): Translated as burdock root, this is a root that grows in many countries but is only eaten in Japan (as far as I know). You should always peel it and soak it in water for 5 minutes before cooking. I have no idea why. This vegetable is really slimy and slippery to work with when it is raw but is really tasty (and no longer slimy at all) when cooked.

Inari Age (いなり あげ): These are abura age pockets that have already been prepared for making inari by being seasoned with soy sauce and sugar in a perfect ratio. They are usually only around 100 or 200 yen for 10 and make cooking inari SO much easier. Not sure if these are available overseas.

Koji (こうじ): Soybeans (intentionally) infected with mold. It’s sold in supermarkets and looks kind of like tempeh. It’s not tempeh! It’s used in making homemade sake, mirin, and natto.

Mirin (みりん): is essentially a sweet cooking sake. It is available in the soy sauce/rice vinegar section of grocery stores in Japan and is probably available at Asian grocery stores overseas as well. It can be substituted with regular sake and a bit of sugar or just sugar and water.

Negi (ねぎ): Translated as welsh onion, negi is basically a huge scallion (or spring onion) with a stronger flavour. In size they are about halfway between a scallion and a leek but the the flavour and texture are definitely closer to scallion. It can be replaced by almost any members of the onion family.

Okara (おから): The bran of soy beans filtered out of the soy milk in the process of making tofu. It is bland but very nutrious and has the texture of desiccated coconut. You can get it from supermarkets and tofu shops. It is very cheap and I have even of stores where you get it free with purchase of tofu. Apparently it is a good base for veggieburgers.

Renkon (れんこん): Translated as lotus root, renkon is a circular root with tube-like holes inside extending the whole lenth of the root. It therefore has a very strange look when it is cut. Renkon should be boiled in water with a bit of vinegar to keep it from turning blue when you cook it. I don't really like renkon because it never really seems cooked. It is always crisp and tastes raw.

Soba (そば): This is simply buckwheat. It is most commonly seen in its noodle form which can be purchased fresh, hard, or even pre-cooked. The noodles are very tasty, healthy, cheap, and widely available. Soba can also be made into a tea (sold hot or cold), flour, etc.

Yuba(ゆば): The skin that forms on the top when boiling down soymilk. Widely available although sometimes can be expensive. Many and varied cooking applications.

Naan Sandwiches

Bizarrely, one of the only breads I have found here that is vegan is naan bread which I am able to buy at the local grocery store for 98 yen each! It is delicious though and this is the sandwich that has become one of my favourite quick and easy meals. The sandwich pictured is topped with broccoli sprouts.

I have to warn you that it is pretty messy (especially the more veggies you add). Leaving it open-faced can minimize the mess a bit. This recipe makes 2 sandwiches, a big meal even for me...

My local grocery store has stopped selling the vegan variety of naan so I can't make this sandwich anymore but I have just gotten a recipe for homemade naan that I am going to try as soon as I come back from Thailand (Aug 20).

Ingredients:
2 naan breads
1 avocado
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
sprouts to taste, any variety will work
1 tomato, sliced
1 Lebanese cucumber, cut in half and sliced lengthwise into about 6-8 slices
1 inch piece of negi (or a few slices of any type of onion), sliced on the diagonal (if using onion sprouts, omit negi)
1 Tbsp sweet chilli sauce

Method:
1. Put each naan bread in the toaster oven for 4 minutes (not to toast, just to soften).
2. Mash the avocado in a bowl and add the balsamic vinegar and a pinch of salt (if you have it--I don't).
3. Place half the avocado mixture on the lower half of each naan bread. Top with negi, sprouts, sweet chilli sauce, cucumber, and tomato (I find that order to be the least messy).
4. Fold the naan bread over and enjoy.

Estimated nutritional info for ONE SANDWICH:
Energy: 437Cal, Carbs: 64g, Fat: 17g, Protein: 13g