Tag: green peas

Japanese spring

Here I am! Back to warm and blossoming Tokyo! What a difference from Canada! Not only it is warm and all the cherry trees are blossoming, people are out to enjoy the weather and the flowers, there is this very special euphoria in March in Japan. The season for graduation, for endings and soon new departures. And we are no exception to that. April is going to be busy, full of novelty and surprises.

When I left Tokyo almost two weeks ago we were only having a few spring veggies: new potatoes mainly and a few greens from the south of Japan, by the time I’m back new carrots, onions, green peas, all the wild vegetables are displayed at the fresh food corner. Bamboos shoots also will be there soon! Since both A. and I are coming back from long separated trips and we are both suffering from jetlag from different time zones, the first things we did was to go grocery shopping to indulge ourselves with a nice dinner that will make us feel the season and prepare our mind and bodies to the Japanese time. It is quite rare I shop for food in Tokyo recently, but I have a few favorite places: Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi, Seijo ishi Tokyo Dome or Isetan Shinjuku. This time we stopped at Mitsukoshi and got some fresh new vegetables and a piece of fresh red sea-bream. It’s not always easy to find wild fish but at least I know each of these three places usually have some. And the dinner then was just simply decided with a classical preparation of sautéed vegetables slightly deglazed in soya sauce and pan grilled fish. And I am so happy to be back.

Two way meal

Or two recipes with the same ingredients. One the original version and the second a leftover version. Both delicious and easy to prepare.  The original recipe is a Japanese one: rice with green peas and red miso grilled cod. This recipe is made with simple and easy to find fresh ingredients. You need fresh cod filet, red miso (work with other miso if you can’t find red one), Japanese rice, a handful of green peas. Additionally I served also horse beans and green beans just blanched, but optional. Cook the rice in a rice cooker or in a regular pan. Add the green peas about 7min before the end of cooking. With a flexible knife spread 1tbsp of miso evenly on the fish (opposite to skin side). In a heated pan or in the oven grill the miso side of the fish. Serve when cooked to your liking. I served the fish on top of the horse beans and the green beans on the side.

With the leftovers of rice and fish I decided to make some rice croquettes, something between arancini and accras. I mixed the rice with green peas with the fish, added one egg, a little of flour and pan fry them until golden. Served with a fresh lettuce and tomatoes salad.

Have a great weekend! 

Barley risotto

I’m a big fan of all kind of cereals and leguminous plants. I like to use them in many recipes. In Japan there exists many, such as adlay and millet and of course all the beans (豆) families: edamame, azuki, black beans… I also like the European or Asian ones too, barley, lentil, chickpea… that are less common. In particular barley is really nice to cook as a substitute of rice. I use it to make risotto (here is a winter recipe). It is more crunchy than rice and the texture goes very well with all kind of vegetables. This time I used in in a risotto primavera, with fresh green peas, fresh new onions, fresh green beans and fresh basil. I added some bacon for A. It is very simple to prepare. First in a. It olive oil cook the baconand the new onion. Then add the barley and rost it. Finally add water, and the vegetables. It cooks under cover for 20min and then it’s ready to eat! Don’t forget to add the vegetables in order of longer cooking time to avoid over cooking them.

Mini vegan burgers

Oops! I did it again!  with some leftover boiled lentils I had, I made some vegan burgers!!! Well or some sort of burgers because I use my seed preparation as the base of my burgers and then just add a spread of avocado to glue them together. This time I was running out of time so I couldn’t blend the lentil to puree, so I used the whole boiled lentils, flax seeds, and a handfull of vegan burger mix to have some texture to work with. I assume that some flour of any kind would work as good. Added some warm water and worked it into a sticky paste. Then I added a tea spoon of paprika, a bit of chili pepper, and a bit of all spice. I finally formed small patties (4-5cm of diameter) that I cooked in a frypan greased with olive oil at low-medium heat until crispy and brownish. For the spread I used one avocado ripe and soft that I roughly pureed with a knife, the added chopped fresh coriander, salt, pepper and curcuma (tumeric)  powder. Once the patties are well-done I topped them with the spread and pile two of them in a plate. Add some blanched fresh green peas and a 1/2 Japanese cucumber diced. Enjoy the soon coming weekend!!! 

Spring in the plate!

It’s getting warmer, out the winter coats! And the spring vegetables are everywhere on the market shelves!  I couldn’t resist to preparing the first spring vegetables sautéed of the year. A classic in our house that can accompany fish, meat, tofu, eggs, or just be eaten like that. Choose the spring vegetables of your choice: new potatoes, asparagus, green peas, snap peas, new carrot today for me, but you can add new onion, green beans… a bit of olive oil in a pan and start to cook the potatoes, then the carrots, the green peas, finish the asparagus hardest part and later the heads and the snap peas. Add kosher salt and pepper and serve!

Spring is in the air!

Well, at least in the farmers market! Because it’s still quite cold in Tokyo… but all these greens were so appalling that I couldn’t resist making a little green risotto for everyone! Simply with one leek for the creaminess, and then fava beans, green peas and snap peas. That’s the vegan base. But with my parents at home I need to adjust to everyone taste, so basically I prepared 4 different risotto. For the vegetarian I added some Italian parmegiano cream cheese, for the macrobiotic version I added some horse mackerel cut in bites, and for those who like everything they add both, even topped with gratted parmegiano. Everyone was very happy with their personalized version!!

Spring energy

With super fresh green beans and broad beans it is really easy to prepare anything. They just need to be blanched and can be eaten with everything: risotto, pasta, quinoa… I prepared some quinoa the other day, so today it is whole wheat penne. A bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, and you have the perfect dinner ready in 10min!!! Full of energy and good things to survive this week!!!

Spring donburi

Simple to prepare, all served at once, colorful and super delicious, I wonder why I don’t prepare some more often! With fresh green peas and snap peas, a bit of pork from Isumi and some Koshiikari from Isumi too, nothing much simple than preparing a delicious spring donburi. For the seasonning just a few drops of soya sauce and some golden sesame seeds. In order to keep the greens soft and tender, yet crunchy at the same time I only washed them and then cook them with a really little bit of water in the same pan with the pork. No additional fat, no salt nothing. For the pork I just cut slices in little bites and cook in a pan until golden and crispy. I serve the rice cooked alone, top with the pork and veggies, add a spoon of golden sesame and only 5 drops of soya sauce just to enhance the taste but not spoil it. One must be careful in using soya sauce because it has a tendency to cover all other tastes,

An other dinner at home

What to cook for your friends visiting Japan when you are back from work past 21:00 and everyone is starving? A soba salad with spring veggies of course!!! Spring veggies: asparagus, snap peas, green peas, are very easy to prepare and require very little cooking, just blanching them for 2min. Soba are also quick to cook, so in 15min I can have a dinner plate ready for 4 people. To the spring veggies I’ve added some cucumbers and a bit of brocoli sprout, as for the dressing, I mixed a bit of soy sauce with vegetal oil and just add a bit to prevent the soba for getting too sticky. You can also top the plate with some Japanese salmon, shredded nori…

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