Miso Daikon

This daikon radish is also known as mooli in Hindi and other Indian languages. It can be found in UK supermarkets under that name. Despite it being a widely used and grown vegetable in Japan, it in fact originated in continental Asia.

A couple of years ago, one of my students gave me a whole daikon from her allotment. It was huge (see picture, compared to my kettle). I was eating it for days, and at that time didn't have so many ideas for what to do with it. I think most of it I ate raw with a salad dressing I made from dijon mustard, honey, lemon and pine nuts. You can eat the leaves too.

Anyway, here is a recipe for Miso Daikon:

Ingredients
Some thick (2cm) slices of daikon cut from half a daikon
1-2 teaspoon soft brown or black sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 heaped teaspoon red miso
Black sesame seeds
Lemon zest to garnish

Method

• Slice the daikon into 2cm thick slices.
• Mark a cross on one side of each slice to help cooking and absorption of flavours.
• Put in a saucepan and cover with boiling water and the soya sauce. Boil for 20 - 30 minutes until tender.
• Put the sugar, miso, lemon juice and sesame seeds in a bowl. Add a couple of tablespoons of the cooking liquid and mix. Feel free to adjust the sauce ingredients to taste. I used golden sesame seeds as I didn't have black.
  
• Arrange the daikon on a plate, and spoon over the sauce.
• Garnish with lemon zest.
  

Delicious hot, and best eaten on the same day. If you can get yuzu, use that instead of lemon. To make it easier to eat, the sauce can be a thick spread.

Sesame Sauteed Spinach

Ingredients (serves 1)
200-250g spinach or komatsuna
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
chicken or tofu and sesame seeds to serve




Method

• Wash and drain the spinach and heat the sesame oil in a large frying pan.
• Add the spinach to the pan and toss for about 1 minute until the spinach is brighter green, but still keeps it's shape and bite.
• Serve immediately with some chicken, and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Note: Variations: dry frying the sesame seeds might be nice; could use garlic oil instead.

Poached Egg on Toast

OK, for someone who enjoys cooking, I'm well aware of how silly this sounds... But this morning was the first time I poached an egg! I had always imagined that poaching an egg was going to be messy, and the egg would fall apart, but in fact it's incredibly easy. So easy in fact, I made myself another one!



All you need to do is boil a pan of water, enough water to crack an egg into. Bring the water to the boil, crack the egg into the water. Continue at this temperature for about 30 seconds and then turn down to simmer, so that the egg doesn't break up too much. Simmer for about 3 minutes, turning once until the egg white is set. The egg yolk will be soft, with just a little runniness. Serve on wholemeal toast and garnish with a little paprika or mixed ground peppercorns.

Alternatively, bring the water to a slow simmer, with just a few bubbles at the bottom of the pan, crack the egg and slide it into the hot water. Continue simmering for about 5 minutes, turning halfway, until the egg white is firm and the egg yolk is runny inside.

Delicious!

Tofu Vegetable Scramble

OK, this is a lot more delicious than it looks! I had this for lunch today before a training afternoon - good for keeping your energy levels up!






Nutrition Information
Calories: 440
Protein: 40g
Carbohydrate: 27g
Fat: 23g
Dietary Fibre: 8g


Ingredients (serves 1)
1 medium carrot (about 60g)
1 leek (about 90g)
1 x 200g pack of firm or extra firm tofu
1 egg
olive oil for sauteing
1 - 2 tbsp of dashi stock or other stock
about 1 teaspoon each of soy sauce and mirin (the mirin could be omitted)
lemon zest or spring onions to garnish
any other vegetables you like!

Method

1. Drain the tofu of as much water as you can. This can be done quickly by wrapping the tofu block in 3 sheets of kitchen paper and microwaving on high for a couple of minutes.
2. Saute the vegetables and crumbled tofu for about 5 minutes over a medium heat.
   
3. Stir in the stock, soy sauce and mirin and continue cooking until most of the liquid has evaporated. Then add the beaten egg and spring onions if using and cook whilst stirring until the consistency is like scrambled eggs. Garnish with lemon zest.
   
4. Serve hot or at room temperature.
   

Chicken and Egg Rice Bowl (Oyakodon)

Ingredients (serves 1)

This recipe can be multiplied as required.

100g brown or white rice
50g sliced cooked chicken breast
1 spring onion, chopped
1 egg, beaten
chopped seaweed for garnish
100ml stock (in Japan dashi stock)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 desertspoon mirin

Cook the rice according to instructions. Meanwhile make the stock and heat. Add soy sauce, mirin, chicken and spring onion. Simmer for about 3 minutes until thickened, but there is still at least 2 or 3 tablespoons of sauce. Add the beaten egg and cover the saucepan for about 50 seconds until the egg is set.

Put the hot cooked rice in a deep bowl, and slip the chicken and egg mixture over. There should be just a little sauce to seep into the rice. Sprinkle with nori seaweed.

Optional: You can also saute half a chopped onion and add it to the rice before slipping the chicken and egg mixture on top.

Chicken and Mango Salad

A light, refreshing salad that can be prepared a few hours in advance to allow the flavours to develop.

Ingredients

· 200g Greek natural yoghurt (or set yoghurt strained through a coffee filter/several thicknesses of kitchen paper)
· 1 tbsp mild curry paste
· 2 tbsp mango chutney
· 350g cooked chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
· 1 large firm ripe mango, peeled and cut into chunks
· 40g naturally roasted cashew nuts
· flatleaf parsley sprigs, to garnish
· 225g mixed wild and white/brown rice, boiled and mixed with chopped herb salad, to serve

Method
1. Mix together the yoghurt, curry paste and chutney in a bowl. Add the chicken and mango and toss gently to mix. Cover and chill in the fridge.
2. Boil the rice and allow to cool. Mix with the chopped herb salad.
3. Spoon the chicken mixture onto a plate and sprinkle over the cashew nuts; garnish with flatleaf parsley. Serve with the rice salad.

Bacon, Avocado and Stilton Kedgeree

Ingredients
· 8 rashers smoked back bacon, derinded
· 110g stilton
· 2 ripe avocados
· 570 ml stock
· 225g long grain rice
· 1 bunch spring onions
· handful of fresh chives
· 4 hardboiled eggs
· 50g butter
· 4 tbsp single cream or sour cream
· pepper

Method

1. Heat the stock, then add the rice, bring to the boil and then stir, cover and simmer for 15 minutes until the rice is tender and the stock has been absorbed. (This can be done in advance, eg the previous night, but mix with a tablespoon of olive oil to stop the rice sticking together.)

2. Halve, stone and peel the avocados. Reserve 4 slices for the garnish and dice the rest. Grill 4 rashers of bacon until crisp, then chop finely. Finely chop the spring onions, cut the chives with scissors and crumble the stilton. Chop the hardboiled eggs.

3. Put the remaining bacon under the grill. Heat the butter in a large frying pan over a moderate heat. Add the chopped bacon, avocado and spring onions to the pan and cook for about 1 minute. Turn the heat down slightly.

4. Add the rice, eggs, stilton, cream and most of the chives (reserve about 1 tablespoon for the garnish). Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir gently until piping hot.

5. Garnish with grilled bacon and slices of avocado. Sprinkle chives on top and serve immediately.

Note: I use brown rice and cook it in the rice cooker. I also fry parma ham instead of bacon in a little olive oil with the avocado and spring onions. The picture shows this version, served on a bed of spinach.

Salmon and Green Lentils on Sauted Sweet Potato

I once had this delicious dish in a restaurant in Winchester. This is almost equal to that dish, but is my own variation with easy to buy ingredients.

Serves 2

Ingredients
2 fillets of salmon, skin removed.
Lemon juice
2 sweet potatoes, sliced lengthwise about 2cm thick with skin
100g green lentils
1 tub of creme fraiche (mascarpone or sour cream can be used as substitutes)
olive oil for sauteing
3-4 tablespoons of fresh dill
2 small sprigs of dill to garnish

Method

1. Cook the lentils until al dente. Wash quickly with cold water and drain. Pat dry with a kitchen towel.
2. Put the creame fraiche and most of the dill in a large bowl and mix. Remove a little of the creme fraiche and dill mix into a small bowl - this is for garnish. Mix the remainder of the creme fraiche with the just warm lentils.
   
3. Loosely wrap each salmon fillet in aluminium foil, sprinle with lemon juice and a little dill. Steam until cooked. Keep warm.
   
4. Meanwhile, saute the sweet potato slices until soft and golden brown. Keep warm.
5. On 2 large plates, arrange slices of sweet potato. Top with the creme fraiche and lentil mixture, and then with a salmon fillet. On each salmon fillet, garnish with a spoonful of creme fraiche and a sprig of dill.
   

Creamed Kabocha with Strawberries

Kabocha is otherwise known as Japanese pumpkin, but it's actually a kind of squash. From a quick search of the web, it seems that it is now finding its way into some British supermarkets for example Waitrose. If you can find it, I highly recommend it. It has an exceptionally sweet flavour, which means it is excellent as a dessert as well as in savoury dishes.

This recipe is a dessert.





Serves 2

Ingredients
1/3 of a kabocha pumpkin, washed thoroughly.
1 tablespoon of sour cream
1 tablespoon of maple syrup or runny honey
Strawberries and flaked almonds to serve.

Method
Deseed the kabocha and microwave for 8-10 minutes until soft. The skin is edible, so you don't have to remove it. Mash with the sour cream and maple syrup/honey in a saucepan using a fork.
Spoon into a dish and garnish with strawberries and flaked almonds.

The Japanese Tradition - Sushi

This is a spoof video from the Japanese comedy duo The Rahmens.

Okonomiyaki

Credit: http://japanesefood.about.com/od/holidaytraditionalfood/r/okonomiyaki.htm with amendments!

Serves 4-6

Okonomiyaki is said to be Japanese-style pizza. This recipe makes Osaka-style okonomiyaki. There are lots of toppings. Okonomi means according to your taste, yaki means grilled. The only essential ingredients are the flour, stock, eggs, cabbage and spring onion. Any other ingredients can be added, according to your taste. I like to cook proscuitto ham and kimchi (pepperdew peppers from Sainsbury's work well instead of kimchi!)

Ingredients:

• 2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cup dashi soup stock, water, or any other stock
  
• 4-6 eggs
• 1 - 1 1/4 lb cabbage
• 6 tbsps chopped spring onion
• 2/3 cup bonito flakes, if liked
  
• 12 - 18 strips of thinly sliced pork or beef
• For toppings:
• Ao-nori (ground or fine strips of green seaweed)
• Okonomiyaki sauce, tonkatsu sauce, or fruity brown sauce
  
• Mayonnaise

Preparation:

Pour the stock or water in a bowl. Mix the flour in the stock. Rest the batter for an hour in the refrigerator. Chop cabbage fairly finely. Take about 1/2 cup of the batter (to make one sheet of okonimiyaki) in another bowl. Mix chopped cabbage (about 1/4 lb) and chopped green onion (about 1 tbsp) in the batter. Make a hole in the middle of the batter and add an egg in the hole. Stir the batter. Add meat and kimchi or your choice of toppings in the batter. (Some people like to add meat and seafood). Heat a large frying pan and oil slightly. Pour the batter mixture over the pan and make a round. Cook 5-7 minutes , flip the okonomiyaki and cook for 5-7 more minutes. Flip the okonomiyaki again, spread okonomiyaki sauce on top and drizzle with mayonnaise in a criss-cross pattern. Sprinkle seaweed over the sauce. Sprinkle katsuobushi (bonito flakes) and beni-shoga (red ginger) if you like. Makes 4-6 sheets.

Sweet Potato, Carrot, Apple, and Red Lentil Soup

Credit: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sweet-Potato-Carrot-Apple-and-Red-Lentil-Soup/Detail.aspx

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

• 55 g butter
• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 3 large carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 90 g red lentils
• 0.9 g minced fresh ginger
• 1 g ground black pepper
• 1 g ground cumin
• 1 g chili powder
• 1 g paprika
• 950 ml vegetable broth
• plain yogurt

DIRECTIONS

1. Melt the butter in a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Place the chopped sweet potatoes, carrots, apple, and onion in the pot. Stir and cook the apples and vegetables until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes.
2. Stir the lentils, ginger, ground black pepper, salt, cumin, chili powder, paprika, and vegetable broth into the pot with the apple and vegetable mixture. Bring the soup to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the lentils and vegetables are soft, about 30 minutes.
3. Working in batches, pour the soup into a blender, filling the pitcher no more than halfway full. Hold down the lid of the blender with a folded kitchen towel, and carefully start the blender, using a few quick pulses to get the soup moving before leaving it on to puree. Puree in batches until smooth and pour into a clean pot. Alternately, you can use a stick blender and puree the soup right in the cooking pot.
4. Return the pureed soup to the cooking pot. Bring back to a simmer over medium-high heat, about 10 minutes. Add water as needed to thin the soup to your preferred consistency. Serve with yogurt for garnish.