glass noodle salad with lotus root, burdock, & black sesame

burdock root is one of those items in the produce department that took me forever to use, mostly because it looks decidedly undelicious, all hairy & dirty brown, but also because I wasn't sure how I was going to fit a meter of root into my tiny refrigerator. i'm so glad i came around. scrape that scary outside layer off, and you are left with a taste and texture like no other--earthy and sweet, soft and crunchy at the same time. i won't even get started on how healthy it is; a quick google search will blow your mind. it's basically medicine.

so of course it had to go in this yummy salad. i'm such a texture fiend sometimes, and this mix--crisp veggies, chewy cellophane noodles and tofu, and crunchy sesame seeds--really did it for me. and pretty too! i love it when food is such a total experience. anyway, check it out. ingredients
100 g cellophane noodles (1)
80 g fried tofu (2), sliced
1 small carrot, julienned
20 cm burdock root (3), julienned
5 cm lotus root (4), thinly sliced
large handful green beans, in 5 cm pieces
1 tbsp black sesame seeds (5)
juice from 1/8 lime
30 mL (adjust according to taste) soy ginger marinade

(1) 春雨, はるさめ (2) 油揚げ, あぶらあげ (3) 牛蒡, ごぼう (4) 蓮根, れんこん (5) いりごま黒

i got the lime from a.l. plaza in kosugi. everything else is from e-town in kosugi.

i was listening to thievery corporation--abductions and reconstructions while cooking this.

let's go!
1. for both the burdock and lotus root, you have two choices: fresh or pre-cleaned and cut in a little bag. if you buy them fresh, you'll need to take a couple extra steps. for the burdock root, rinse well under cold running water while scraping a knife along the surface to remove the dirt and fibers. don't go nuts here--the peel has a lot of flavor, so leave some on. for the lotus root, remove the peel with a paring knife. for both, cut and immediately soak in 2 cups of cold water & 1 tbsp vinegar for about 5 minutes. then blanch (i'll explain this in the next step). obviously, it's easier to buy the prepared roots, but sometimes you just want to spend a little quality time with your vegetables before you eat them.2. blanch your green beans (and burdock & lotus root if necessary). the purpose of blanching is to make your veggies more tender and enhance their flavor. first, boil water (add 1 tsp salt for every 3 cups water). get a big serious rolling boil going--you don't want the boil to stop when you add your cold vegetables. throw in the green beans and let them cook for about 3 minutes (about 1 minute for burdock and lotus root). drain in a colander and immediately plunge into an ice bath. this is important. if you don't do this, your veggies will keep cooking and you will have a soggy, not as flavorful salad. keep them in the ice water for 5 minutes. 3. cook your noodles according to the package and cool down in cold running water.

4. toss everything together in a big bowl.

enjoy!

blood orange tahini salmon

like most of my dinners, this one started with a random purchase. i was wandering aimlessly through the produce section, past the 5000 yen melon gift sets and on into the "exotic" section, when i was hit with the smell of a blood orange. i love blood oranges, how strong they smell, their beautiful color, their subtle hint of berries. it's a fruit that's fun to just tear into, smearing and dripping the red juice on my hands and face and whatever i'm wearing. there were only two on the shelf, both sporting a half-off sticker, meaning they were super ripe and going home with me. the first i ate in the manner described above, the second i juiced for a salmon glaze.

i know, i know. i did salmon last time. it's just so yummy and cheap, i can eat it every day. i promise i'll cook a different kind of fish for the next recipe. this is good, though. you won't be sorry.

ingredients
3 salmon fillets
50 mL blood orange juice
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp grated ginger
lime juice
rock salt
oil

the olive oil is from yamaya in takaoka. the lime is from a.l. plaza in kosugi. the tahini is from peace street kitchen in toyama (you can also find white and black sesame paste at the supermarket. it'll be next to the beans and seeds, usually in the seaweed/salt/wheat gluten aisle, in a jar or tube that says ねりごま or ごまペースト, 白 or 黒. it will be more bitter than tahini, and you might need more honey).everything else is from e-town in kosugi.

let's go!
1. rub the salmon fillets with lime juice and salt. set aside.

2. warm the blood orange juice, tahini, honey, and ginger in a small saute pan, stirring until smooth. set aside.

3. place the salmon on an oiled pan. broil in your fish drawer for 3 minutes. remove, turn over and brush with the glaze. return to the broiler for 2 minutes, or until flaky.

enjoy!

soy ginger marinade

i should have added this long ago. we used something like this in a restaurant where i used to work, and i just started putting it on everything. well, not everything, but i know it's good on seafood, tofu, potatoes, and all kinds of veggies. ingredients
200 mL soy sauce
100 mL salad oil (like canola)
50 mL sesame oil
1 tbsp course grain mustard
2 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp garlic paste
1/2 tsp salt

let's go!
put everything into a squeeze bottle and shake well. it'll separate, so you'll need to shake it before using it each time. i like things pretty salty, so i toned it down a bit, but you still might want to play with the recipe. these proportions will give you a pretty strong mix; you can dilute it with a little salad oil if you use it for a green salad.

enjoy!

spicy roasted salmon & cucumber mint raita

it's been awhile since i posted a recipe, so i thought i'd better make it a good one. this is an incredibly simple, healthy, and inexpensive dish to make. silver salmon is definitely my most frequently cooked fish. you can get little fillets year-round for super cheap. i made an india inspired spice rub to coat the fish, and then cooled it down with raita.

ingredients for raita
500 g plain unsweetened yogurt
2 cucumbers, grated
1 bag fresh mint, chopped
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp powdered garlic (or 1 clove fresh garlic, minced)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

ingredients for salmon
4 salmon fillets
30 mL lime juice
1 tsp cayenne (red chili) pepper
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp cinnamon
3 tsp cumin
3 tsp salt
4 tsp powdered ginger
4 tsp ground coriander seeds

i bought the cumin at coração do brasil and the turmeric at yamaya in takaoka. i bought everything else at e-town in kosugi.

for added deliciousness, listen to fleet foxes.

let's go!

making the raita
1. strain the yogurt. you can use cheesecloth, but i just put a damp paper towel in a metal strainer in a big bowl. it worked great. i really recommend not skipping this step --it doesn't really affect the flavor, but it does wonders for the both the texture and the visual appeal. you know that little bit of yellowish juice at the top of the yogurt container? well, there's loads more--in about 20 minutes i strained off about 125 mL, and was left with lovely thick yogurt.

2. while you're waiting on your yogurt, combine the rest of the ingredients. if you don't have a grater, you can just finely chop the cucumbers. either way, make sure you leave the skin on. raita is also good with coriander leaves (cilantro) if you can find it or a bit of minced onion.

3. mix all all the ingredients into the yogurt, cover, and refrigerate. for best results, start the raita a couple hours before you want to eat, or even the night before. it will taste better if you allow some time for the flavors to blend.

making the salmon
1. mix all the spices together. these proportions will make a medium spicy mix. adjust the cayenne (red chili) pepper to your tastes.

2. coat the fillets first in lime juice, and then the dry spice rub.


3. put fillets in the broiler on an oiled baking sheet, skin side down. cook for about 6 minutes on medium high heat, until flaky.

enjoy!
i served the raita over the salmon with onion chutney i made from this easy recipe and rice mixed with cashews, raisins, and a briyani spice packet from yamaya. it was awesome!

new posts coming in the new year

no, i didn't stop cooking, but my camera was destroyed last march, and i didn't get another one until this week. i'm off to vietnam, cambodia, and thailand, and will surely come back inspired to make all kinds of yummies. i won't be posting again until the new year, but i'll leave you with some words of wisdom from the nyt's mark bittman:

...when it comes to kitchens, size and equipment don’t count nearly as much as devotion, passion, common sense and, of course, experience. to pretend otherwise — to spend tens of thousands of dollars or more on a kitchen before learning how to cook, as is sadly common — is to fall into the same kind of silly consumerism that leads people to believe that an expensive gym membership will get them into shape or the right bed will improve their sex life. as runners run and writers write, cooks cook, under pretty much any circumstance.

tandoori tofu

i've been doing a lot of experimenting with tofu lately. it's not something i'm familiar with, so i have failed pretty hard more than once. but i'm getting better, and i'm discovering that patience is really key. wait for the tofu to drain, wait for it to marinate, wait for it to cook. it really pays off in the end, and if i plan ahead, it's no problem.

this meal was really, really good. it takes a lot of spices you may not have lying around, but if you like indian food, they're a good investment. the marinade recipe is a bit large--i had some leftover, but it can be reused, and will keep for as long as the yogurt is good. also, as i discovered while waiting for everything to marinate, it makes a great carrot dip.


ingredients
1 pack prebaked tofu (1)
250 mL yogurt
30 mL lemon juice
1/2 onion, fine dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp grated ginger (2)
2 tsp turmeric (3)
1 tsp curry or garam masala (4)
1 tsp cayenne pepper (5)
1 tsp paprika (6)
1/2 tsp ground coriander seeds (7)
1/2 tsp cumin (8)
1/2 tsp nutmeg (9)

(1)焼とうふ, やきとうふ (2)しょうが (3)ターメリック (4) カーレ、ガラムマサラ (5)チリーペッパー (6)パプリカ (7)コリアンダー (8)クミン (9)ナツメグ

i got everything from e-town in kosugi

i listened to fresh air while making this.

let's go!
1. first of all, you will really help yourself out if you get the prebaked tofu. it will have little brown marks on the top, and the packaging will have やき or 焼 written on it. if you can't remember the yaki kanji, just look for the fire (火) radical on the left side. anyway, the prebaked tofu is a lot firmer and will really suck up your marinade.

2. take it out of the package, put it on a plate, and put another plate on top of it for about an hour.

3. while your tofu is draining, you can make the yogurt masala. this part is really easy--just mix everything together. about the spices--garam masala and curry are both spice mixes, and one is not necessarily like the other. so my measurements work for what i have, but you should definitely taste, and adjust accordingly. also, note that cayenne pepper is sometimes labeles chili pepper. you you'll notice that it's not the red color that you may associate with tandoori food. if you really need to, you can add a few drops of red food coloring, but i think the natural color is very pretty.

4. pour off the tofu juice. cut the tofu into strips about 1.5 cm thick. cover with the marinade and let it sit for a couple of hours. overnight is best.
5. cook in your fish broiler on the med-hi setting until the tofu starts to brown. this only took about 4 minutes on each side, but i've heard that my broiler cooks a lot faster than most. just keep checking on it. look at the picture below, for another "learning from disco's mistakes" moment.

i left a lot of marinade on the tofu while i broiled it. this caused one side to stay kind of mushy. the other side had a little marinade on it, and browned really nicely. i would suggest brushing some of that off before broiling--you can always spoon some of the sauce on later. after it browns on both sides, you can spread a little more on the top and throw it back under the broiler for a minute.

enjoy!
this was really spicy, so i ate it with some lettuce and yogurt. perfect. also, i reheated the rest in the microwave at school the next day--still delicious.

saag paneer

saag paneer is my fallback indian restaurant order. it's different at every restaurant, and finding a definitive recipe is almost impossible. i pulled this together from several different recipes. i also wanted to make it without ghee, buttermilk, half&half, or any of the other fatty things that make it really creamy (and delicious). i was actually pretty amazed at how yummy this turned out to be.

2 warnings: (1)this is a pretty time consuming dish--i will definitely make this again, but never again in such a small quantity. (2)you will need to watch the pan. this is not the kind of thing where you can walk out of the room, check your email, have a smoke, and come back to check on things. keep things stirring, and adjust your heat if need be.


ingredients
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 bunches fresh spinach (1)
1 onion, diced
2 cm. ginger, grated (2)
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp ground coriander seeds (3)
2 tsp cumin (4)
1 tsp cayenne pepper (5)
1/2 tsp turmeric (6)
1/2 tsp garam masala (7)
250 mL plain yogurt
100 g paneer

(1)ほうれんそう (2)しょうが (3)コリアンダー (4)クミン (5)チリーペッパー (6)ターメリック (7)ガラムマサラ

i got everything from e-town in kosugi.

i listened to car talk while making this.

let's go!
1. make the paneer. i have read that crumbled tofu or ricotta cheese can be used instead, but i'm skeptical. paneer has a really mild taste, but it still has a taste. i think you'd really be missing that with the tofu. ricotta is not the same thing, but it might work. if you can find it in toyama, let me know. cut the paneer into little pieces and toss in a bit of oil & turmeric. set aside.

2. now, the spinach--baby spinach is too delicate for this dish, so make sure you use grown-up spinach. separate the leaves from the stems and wash them. spinach is notoriously gritty, so do this well. blanch the spinach--bring water to a boil, turn off the heat, and throw in the spinach for about 30 seconds. the spinach will turn a pretty green color. put the spinach in ice cold water. drain. squeeze as much water as possible out of the spinach and set aside for later. the spinach below is pre-squeeze--if yours still looks like this, there's too much water in it. squeeze!!!


3. saute the onion and garlic in vegetable oil until your onions start to caramelize (turn brown).


4. add the lemon juice, spinach, ginger, and all the spices except for the garam masala. stir over medium heat for about 5 minutes.


5. process the spinach in a food processor or blender. don't puree--pulse to make sure it's still a bit chunky. if you don't have a blender, don't worry about this part. really, don't worry. calm down.

6. mix in the yogurt and garam masala stir over medium heat for about 5 minutes.


7. add the paneer. stir (but not too hard) over medium heat for 3 or 4 minutes.


enjoy!
this meal made me moan out loud. truth.