Summer 2012 in Hell's Kitchen - Story 2

Summer 2012 in Hell's Kitchen - Story 2



COMFORTED BY GREEN PEA AND GINGER WITH ANTICIPATION OF ???

 Ingredients (Serves 2-3 adults):

200g Fresh green peas

1/4 White onion, chopped

1cup Soy milk

1 cup Veggie stock (made of kelp and shitake mushroom)

Ginger, glazed as you wish

Ginger, thinly sliced for presentation as you wish

Salt & pepper

Paprika powder

Olive oil

Sour soy cream (Chill a mixture of 1 cup Soy milk & lime juice in a fridge for 30 minutes.  Then, using paper towel, drain the mixture to thicken its texture.)

Methodology:

1. Boil fresh green peas in salt water.  Drain well.

2. Saute chopped onion in olive oil and add (1).  Once the color of onion turns transparent, transfer the mixture to a blender.  Blend well.

3.  Simmer the mix in a pot with veggie stock and soy milk.  Finally add glazed ginger, salt & pepper.  Serve it with a few drips of soy sour cream, paprika powder, and thinly sliced ginger. 

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Summer 2012 in Hell's Kitchen - Story 1

Summer 2012 in Hell's Kitchen - Story 1

LIGHTLY TANNED EGGPLANT & HOT PEPPERS SKINNY DIPPING IN GLAZED DAIKON & GINGER SAUCE.  

 Ingredients (serves 1):

1/2 inch slice of eggplant *2

1 green hot pepper, thinly sliced

Daikon, glazed as you wish

Ginger, glazed as you with

Red radish, sliced as you wish

Olive oil

Sauce (out of total 100%):

Veggie stock (made of kelp & dried shitake mushroom) 60%

Soy sauce 20%

Sake 10%

Methodology:

1.  In olive oil, lightly fry eggplant and hot pepper until outer skin gets lightly brown.

2.  In a separate pan, simmer all ingredients for sauce.  Let it boil for a few seconds.

3.  On top of (1), add glazed daikon and ginger.  Finally add (2) as well as sliced raw red radish on top. 

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Grilled Banana Experience with Sour Soy Cream & Balsamic Vinaigarette

Honestly, I do not have sweet teeth; I prefer to order a glass of wine to a pretty-looking dessert at the restaurant.

"...no, I don't need a dessert menu.  Can I have a wine list please."

Anyway, here is my attempt to expand my horizon.  A recipe for a Vegan dessert.   

Grilled banana experience with sour soy cream & Balsamic Vinaigrette

Ingredients (serves 4):

1 cup mung beans

3/4 Soy milk

3 tbsp Kanten, dissolved in warm water

2 banana

1 lime

4 tbsp Honey

Salt, as you wish

Balsamic Vinaigrette (fruity one), as you wish

 Methodology:

1. Boil mung beans in low-mid heat with a bit of salt in it until the texture softens.  Drain the beans well, then put the beans back into the pot with soy milk and Kanten and simmer.  Stir well to blend the beans, soy milk, and Kanten.  Add honey, at the end.

2. Brush lime juice on Banana (...I was hoping that this will prevent discoloration of banana.)  Then, grill until the color changes to very light brown.  Place grilled banana at the bottom of containers, then add 1 on top of the grilled banana.  Cool the containers in a fridge for several hours until the texture and flavor settles.

This recipe makes 2 of this which serves approx. 4-6 people.

I recommend this to be served with Sour soy cream and fruity Balsamic Vinaigrette.

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Coming soon!  A recipe for Sour soy cream.

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What's SHIO KOJI? Super LIVING Food From Japan

Shio Koji (salted rice malt) is a LIVING condiment made of KOJI (fermented malted rice typically used to make sake and miso), salt and water.  Recently it has gained popularity in Japan due to its ability to enhance UMAMI flavor in foods and its health benefits.  Shio Koji is a full of ENZYME.

Ingredients:

570g KOJI

170g salt

850ml water

Methodology:

Mix all ingredients in a bin, then leave it in room temperature.  Please stir the mix once a day for fermentation.  It takes 1 week - 2 weeks to be ready for use.  Keep it in a fridge where the fermentation process continues.

Day 2 - KOJI and water are still isolated.

Day 10 - smells like sweet sake.  Blended and creamy texture.

Some trials and errors (^^) with my my new toy = SHIO KOJI. 

 

SHIO KOJI TOMATO - 5 ripe tomatoes & 1 large hot pepper marinated with 3 tbsp shio koji.

GRILLED SANDWICH with SHIO KOJI TOMATO, banana, and hot pepper with balsamico.




GRILLED PEPPER with SHIO KOJI.  Plated on the bed of diced egg plant, sweet tomato, and glazed garlic.  (PLS remove the seeds of hot pepper.  EXTREMELY hot with seeds.

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PROPER & STICKY. Natto, Super Living Food From Japan

Everyone dreams of eating his/her favorite food until his/her stomach is extremely FULL.

What is your favorite food? 

For me...

It's NATTO = soy beans FERMENTED with LIVING micro organism.

Natto is characterized by its pungent cheese-like smell and addicting flavor.  It's extremely STICKY!

Natto is loaded with health benefits such as reducing blood clotting, risk of cancer, Alzheimer's disease... etc, etc...

Most importantly, it is YUMMY!

Today, my dream came true - Making Natto in my kitchen and eat Natto until...whatever.

Ingredients:

400g soy beans

1 pack of Natto (50g) from Japanese grocery store. 

3 packs of Natto was approx. $2.90.  The price spiked after the earthquake in 2011.

Methodology:

1. Clean soy beans well, and soak overnight.  I soaked the beans for over 12 hours until the size almost doubled.

2. After the soaking process, boil in low-heat until the texture softens.  In my case, the boiling time was 8 hours. 

Some people steam the beans instead of boiling.

3. Drain well. Add 1 pack of Natto while the beans are hot. Mix well.  The purpose is to spread Natto culture to boiled beans evenly.

50g of pre-made Natto can produce 400g of Natto or even more.

4. Cover a container with aluminum foil with holes.  (Natto needs some air for proper fermentation.)  Place it inside of a pot (I used my Dutch Oven) and place a lid with a bit of space for breathing.  Turn on the oven to 200 degrees for a few minutes, then turn it off.  Once the temperature drops to "hot yoga" level, place the pot in the oven.  

A key is to keep the pot in "hot yoga" temperature for 24 hours.

So, adjust the temperature by turning on and off the oven.

Natto needs air because it is ALIVE.

5. After 24-hour of "hot yoga", keep the pot in room temperature for 12 hours.  (At this point, close a lid of the Natto container.)

See outer skin is a bit dry after hot yoga?   Stickiness started to emerge - a sign of fermentation.  Hooray!

6. Place the container in a fridge for another 2 days for more fermentation.

Finally, here comes home-made NATTO!

Addicting!

 The result? 

...mmm...

STICKY and loaded with UMAMI flavor, as Natto should be (^^)

In Japan, some people add various toppings to Natto such as cheese, kimche, raw egg, okura ....also use Natto for making omelet, pancake, curry, etc...

 My favorite is to add choped green onion, soy sauce and mustard. No rice.

What is your favorite way of eating Natto?

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Brown Rice Porridge

In Japan, rice flour was traditionally used for making confectionaries. There is a health benefit for using rice flour as rice flour absorbs less oil than regular flour.  So, I used brown rice flour for deep frying and porridge.  here comes brown rice porridge with toppings to satisfy both Vegan and shrimp eaters.   

Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice flour

6-7 cups water

Dried kelp (for umami flavor)

6 pinches of Salt

Extra virgin olive oil

Lime pepper 

Large hot peppers

Shrimp

1 green onion, chopped.

 Methodology:

1. In a pot, simmer water and dried kelp for 20-30 minutes.

2. Remove kelp and stir in brown rice flour.  Simmer for 20 minutes.

3.  Shrimp - remove shell and vein, and separate a head from a body.

Large hot pepper - cut and remove seeds from inside.

Lightly coat shrimp and hot peppers with brown rice flour.  Fry in olive oil until the outer gets crispy.        

4.  Sprinkle green onion and lime pepper. Add shrim and/or hot pepper of your choice. 

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Playing With LIME Pepper

So, I got my new toy, LIME PEPPER (^^) 

Some creations with my new toy.

See through daikon skin with bloody tomato sauce.  A sprinkle of lime pepper. 

Brown rice with salty kelp & daikon noodle saturated in Japanese plum sauce.  A sprinkle of lime pepper.

"I love hot spring"

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