With friends at home for the whole weekend I ended up not cooking Japanese at all, and since Friday I was still craving for some simple Japanese taste. Finally last night I got it done! A. is good at preparing Japanese rice, which saves a bit of time when I am finishing work rather late, and I had some perfect fresh Japanese vegetables for a simple meal: onion for Shirako, white carrots and new lotus roots. I simply wash/peel and cut all the vegetables, heat a bit if oil in a pan and cook them under cover until almost done (the onion being probably the most critical) then I remive the cover, add some soya sauce and cook at high heat for 2 minutes, and serve with the rice. It’s not very elaborated but it tastes perfectly Japanese!
D-9 before the opening!
As many of you may know, I’m a roboticist, cooking is just a hobby. I am the head of 20 people research lab in a national university in Tokyo. Just google me to check!! My days are pretty full with my job but I can’t help doing more than my shre and taking opportunities to do new things, to learn new things. This time, as I mentioned before, I am leading the preparation of an exhibition at our science museum where some colleagues and me will exhibit some of our research work. This keeps me even more busy: preparing the website, thinking about the layout, the exhibits… I’m hoping to make something where people entertain themselves while they learn about human and robots. And the opening is only in 9 days, or almost 8 now, and there is so much left to do!!! Obviously my cooking time has decreased significantly and it is rather simple comfy food that I prepare. I use a lot of legumes these days, because they are versatile, nourishing and easy to accommodate with vegetables. I prepared a simple warm soup with peas, lentils and barley, added a big tomato, a carrot, and finished with some fava beans. Topped with or without cheese. Dimply delicious, and ready to continue working!!!
Carrot pudding
So, as promised, here is my very probable entry recipe for the recipe and cooking contest by Soy Sauce. The same I participated in last year and was selected as a finalist and received the bronze prize. I chose a recipe with very simple ingredients, that can be served as a main or a side, and that is very easy. So here it is!
Carrot pudding Japanese style
– 2 carrots of medium, large size
– a piece of ginger, about 2x2x2cm but not strictly
– 1 large egg, or two small
– 2tbs of soya sauce
Wash and cut the carrots roughly (if they are not safe from chemicals peel them). In a pan add the carrots, cover with water and add the ginger as a block. Boil until the carrots are soft. Remove the water, the ginger, pit the carrots in a food processor or blender, puréed them, add the egg and mix again, add the soya sauce and mix again to obtain an homogeneous purée. Grease an oven dish or individual oven dishes, add the preparation to the dish. You can either bake or steam the preparation. Bake in a oven at 180deg until a knife comes out clean. Or steam it. Serve directly in the individual oven dishes, or slice and serve, or rather, like Idid this time, use shapes to cut to your liking and serve. This is a perfect main course served with salad and greens; or a side, like on my picture with a pork filet deglazed in soya sauce. Bon appetit and wish me good luck for the contest!
Colorful vegetables
Well after taking a bit more time and cooking for 4 people it’s now back to crazy at work and coming back home late, working weekends. So dinners have become simpler. It goes together with a typical March weather, when one day is rainy and cold and the next is warm and sunny. When you crave for spring vegetables but it feels like winter. In these times my best dinner solution us a plate of olive oil sautéed vegetables: sweet potatoes, new carrots, beet root and some boiled chick peas. Add a bit of curcuma, and a few snap peas for spring greens and it is ready. Simple, warm, colorful and vegan!
Kumquat and carrot salad
Fresh, simple, delicious and just a Japanese twist for the white miso dressing for this salad, that was inspired by my IG watching.
You need a few carrots, a few kumquats, a tbsp of white miso, and a bit ofkonbu dashi or water. Slice or grat the carrots, cut the kumquats in quarters, and stir the carrots and the kumquats in a bowl. In a small bowl, mix the miso with a tsp of dashi or water. Add with the vegetables, and stir. Ready to eat!
I wish you a very good week!
One-plate lunch from the country
I love to prepare one-plate for lunch, in particular when we have friends visiting. It is easy to prepare and to serveat anytime because the vegetables can be cooked very quickly and the rice, the meat etc… can be kept warm or re-heated very easily. So when the time comes to eat I just need a few minutes to prepare the plates. So simple with some seasonal vegetables grilled and deglazed in soya sauce, a piece of pork filet for the meat eaters, rice, and of course some umeboshi, some pickled Chinese cabbage…
Warm soup for cold day
Since I was in France in November when it snowed in Tokyo, today was the first snow of the winter for me. It only snowed to be cold, wet but not white, but I don’t mind because we ste going to the mountains soon and we will have plenty if snow and white there! But damn, how this rainy-snowy weather plus A. Away make me feel cold and gloomy!!! I needed a warm colorful soup to cheer me up before my late night meeting. So after browsing the fridge I decided to prepare a warm soup with some fresh sunny taste. I used coconut oil, fresh ginger and a zest of lemon for the sunny and warm side, together with a red carrot and two leeks for the winter side. And because I’m busy running here and there, I added some green lentil. That’s it! So simple to cook. In a large heated pan I put 1/2tsp of coconut oil,agg the leek cut in small sticks, then add the carrots cut in small sticks too. Then 2 large zest of lemon, and a piece of ginger peele and cut in small pieces. When the water comes to a boil I add 2 small handfuls of green lentils, a pinch of salt. Cook for 10min (the lentils must not be over cooked and too soft, it’s better if they are slightly undercooked). Serve and eat rigt away!!!
Curry-quinoa
Here is again a recipe based on quinoa. Because it cooks rather quickly, quinoa is always a good option when running short of time and a good alternative to rice and pasta. Since I discovered this quinoa soup recipe last year in my vegetarian cookbook I have found new ideas to use quinoa rather than simply boiling it. I also find that it goes very very well with lotus roots. This time I prepared it in a spicy version. Simple, warm and tasty.
Vegan curry-quinoa:
– 100g of quinoa (adjust depending on the size of your portions, mine are usually not big)
– 1 large lotus root or 2 or 3 small ones
– 1 large sato imo or if not available 1 potato
– 1 large carrot
– 2 tomatoes
– 1tbs of curry powder
– a pinch of nutmeg
– a pinch of cardamom
– a pinch of salt and pepper
optional: fresh lemon and fresh ginger
In a large pan set the quinoa, cover with water with about 1cm more water. Start cooking. Peel the carrot, the lotus root, the sato imo, cut in the shape/size you like and add to the quinoa. Add salt. Add the spices and the fresh ginger. Then add the tomatoes. By then the water should have almost disappeared. Check with a tooth pick for the sato imo (or potato) if cooked. Serve immediately with the juice of the lemon. Have a beautiful week!
Cocotte cooking
I really love to cook with my Staub cocotte. It suits a lot of ingredients but I’m still a novice so I learn little by little how it works. I am always very happy with the result. It’s very tasty and delicious, but I find that it makes plating really hard because all the ingredients tend to mix and color the same. So I need to work on that a lot. My basic recipe is plenty of veggies and a little of meat, pork usually. For today’s recipe I used lotus roots, carrots and sato imo, and for the base leeks. Olive oil and rosemary. That’s it! How do you use your cocotte? Tell us about your recipes!!!
