Month: August 2015

Okinawa fresh products

I discovered passion fruits while traveling to the Seychelles when I was 6. On Bird island I ate my first one and immediately loved the juicy, sour, sweet, crunchy little fruit.

Back in France I’ve eaten passion fruits but nothing to compare with the one that haven’t travel so long.

Japan islands span over such a long  North-South axis that Okinawa offers delicious tropical fruits and it’s only A a 2h-flight away from Tokyo. When we travelled to Ishigaki three years ago we fojnd several farms growing pineapple, passion fruits, mangoes, dragon fruits… That also offer to send to Tokyo anytime you want. It’s a very nice manner to have super fresh fruits from Okinawa in Tokyo. The other way is to go to Ginza Okinawa’s shop. (Each region of a Japan has a sort of antenna shop where you can by local products, most of them are located in Nihonbashi-Ginza area)

The shop sells Okinawaian products of all sort, and the visit was originally motivated by my husband needed some accessories and parts to repair his sanshin (Okinawa’s traditional music instrument). And so it was a good opportunity to get some delicious fruits and in particular perfect passion fruits!! There is nothing as such to start a day than a little salad with pineapple, passion fruits and blueberries!

One more salad, or bulgur donburi

In my search of the perfect summer salad I’m making a lot of trials, never twice the same. Of course as I was writing in my earlier post all have in common a cereal or carb base: bulgur, rice, pasta, couscous… Tons of fresh vegetables: mainly tomatoes, ocra, cucumbers, a very light or non existing dressing. My salad today ressemble more a donburi for two, with Japanese style accomodation. I boiled some fresh edamame, added some sliced ocra and a perfectly rippen avocado, and a finish with grilled chirimen (very tiny half dried and a bit salty fishes). A perfect combination of softness and crispiness, of sweetness and saltiness. A really delicious mix and a great variation from regular rice donburi.

More salad

One evening I was preparing a salad with a base of rice and I suddenly felt very nostalgic for the taste of the rice salad my mother was preparing when we were kids and that was often our picnic lunch. Something I can clearly picture tastewise but can’t remember the exact contents: of course rice, then cubes of ham, gruyere, tomatoes may be, corn, a sauce based on light mayonnaise or mustard may be… Well I reinterpretated it for a summer,  cheese-free version, though it was not the raste of my childhood it was really simple and delicious. 

Here is my recipe: American rice, tomatoes, cucumbers, ham cut in cubes, hard boiled eggs, olive oil, salt and a lot of pepper. 

Nashi – 梨

This fruit is always considered as an awkward thing by foreigners in Japan because the nashi has the shape and size of an apple with the skin of a pear and the flesh of something like a pear but munch more crunchy and juicy, with a mild and fresh taste. So basically nothing to compare really neither to apple nor pear. Nashi is the utmost fruit of summer with watermelon. When eaten cool it is so fresh and juicy that it is the perfect snack for hot summer days. It is also a good match for busy breakfast because it is so easy to peel and prepare. Well, you’ve understood I simply love nashi! And I’m awfully lucky because Isumi is a great region for nashi, with a lot of nashi orchards and tons available at the farmers market and local farmers cooperative.

In the past I did some trials such as nashi tart, nashi compote… It was good, nashi supports well being cooked but the taste which is originally very mild due to the high quantity of water doesn’t reveal much in cooking as apple or pear do. So now my recommendation is to eat it just raw, accomodated with other summer fruits, or just alone. So perfectly simple and so delicious!

Salad, salad & salad

With the heat in Tokyo it’s hard to spend to much time in the kitchen in front of the stove or with the oven on. So recently I’ve just been preparing a lot of fresh vegetables salads with all sorts of accomodation. I usually bake some rice, bulgur, pasta, cheak peas for two meals to reduce the heat up of the kitchen, and then accomodate in a different manner each time. I will introduce a few this week.

Today is a simple chick peas and bulgur base with tomatoes, cucumbers and ocras, all with a bit of olive oil and a mix of north african spices. 

Pain de mie

Pain de mie is a classic and delicious bread, very easy to use in many different ways: toast for breakfast, sandwiches, snack… There are two ways to prepare it based on the same recipe depending on what you want: a fluffy golden bread or a perfectly square and uniformly baked bread. I was opting for the latter and wanted to use my covered pie dish. Yet this dish is really huge and I needed to prepare a large bread, and needed a large bowl to knead.

Finally all equipped I prepare my bread with the following ingredients and proportions:

500g of flour; 280g of water; 20g of sourdough; 20g of yeast; 13g of salt; 15g of powdered milk; 40g of sugar; 45g of butter. After mixing all the ingredients wait for 90min before putting the dough in the greased dish and close the lid. Wait an extra 60 to 90min before baking at 170deg for 30-35min. 

This made a large bread, slightly too big for my dish wich is about 12cmx12cmx30cm but the result was perfect to make our breakfast sandwiches to eat on the beach after our bodyboarding early morning sessions.

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