Grilled Tofu-puff with Egg Yolk Miso 柚子胡椒入り玉味噌の焼き油揚げ

I made many variations of the Izakaya dish of grilled and stuffed deep fried tofu pouches or “abura-age 油揚げ” previously but I have not made it for some time.  This time, two extra egg yolks were available from my wife’s  baking projects and I remembered a Youtube episode of a grilled abura-age dish stuffed with egg yolks mixed with miso (which is called “Tama Miso 玉味噌” ) and seasoned with yuzu kosho* 柚子胡椒.

*It is a mixture of salt, chopped peel of a Japanese citrus called "yuzu" 柚子 and chili pepper (usually green chili pepper but it could also be red chili pepper). It is available through Japanese grocery stores or from Amazon.>

“Tama-Miso” is fairly common condiment/sauce in Japan with various variations. It can be used as a grilling sauce called “denegaku 田楽” on tofu and eggplant, dipping sauce (for cucumber sticks). I did not follow any particular recipe to make the “Tama Miso”.

I could have grilled the final product in the toaster oven but I cooked it in a frying pan (which is easier). Just grilled abura-age can be a good drinking snack (with grated daikon and soy sauce) but the addition of  various stuffings make it even more interesting and better. I had made and posted different variations of abura-age dishes including ones stuffed with cheese, nori with suriracha, gyoza stuffing and even nattou.

This rendition is a bit different from anything I posted before because of the use of “Tama Miso” and “Yuzu kosho”.  The rich favors of the tama miso and mild spiciness and citrus flavors, worked very well encased in crunchy grilled abura-age skin. I served this with steamed brocollini dressed in mustard soy sauce. This was a perfect small dish for the “home” Izakaya.

For “Tama Miso” with Yuzu Kosho:
Ingredients: (makes about 1/3 cup)
2 egg yolks
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp. or more of yuzu kosho (to taste)
3 tbs white miso (I used Saikyo miso which is a sweet white miso) or a combination of red and white miso
1 tbs mirin
2-3 tbs sake

Directions:
In a small sauce pan, add all the ingredients except for the sake and mix well until smooth. Add the sake and mix so that the consistency is loose like pancake batter. Place the pan on a low flame and stir constantly until the egg yolks are cooked and reduced to the consistency of the original miso before you added the sake. Let it cool. It will further thicken (#3 in the composite picture). It will keep at least a week in the refrigerator.

Assembly and cooking of the stuffed abura-age:
Thaw the abura-age if frozen (#1). Using a sharp paring knife, cut along three sides and open like a book (#2). Using a spatula, smear the tama miso (#3) on one side of the open abura-age (#4). Close and make sure both sides are adhering well. Place it in a dry frying pan on medium low flame and cook until lightly brown (a few minutes) turn it over and cook the other side a few more minutes. Cut into 4 pieces and serve warm.

This is a very satisfying snack. It has a nice crunch and toasty flavor from the cooked abura-age. The inside provides a mellow richness with a little spiciness from the yuzu kosho. Although it is a very light mouthful, it is full of a complex range of flavors. Great with either red wine or sake.

Air Fried Chicken Wings エアーフライ手羽

This is another air frier episode. When we recently made the “teba gyoza 手羽餃子” variation with leftovers from the meatloaf my wife made, the skin browned unevenly. We wanted to try it again to see if we could make the browning of the skin on the wings more even. The package of chicken wings we got was labeled “cut pieces” and “contained both flats and drumettes”. We wrongly assumed the “flats” and “drumettes” were connected with only the wing tips cut off. But it turned out the flat and drumette pieces were cut apart. This makes stuffing the chicken wings unfeasible. In order to stuff the drumettes, it is necessary for the flats and drumettes to be connected because if they are cut apart both ends of the drumette are open and the stuffing will come out.  So, I just made unstuffed air fried chicken wings. I suppose I could have just air fried them but I decided to marinate them in a mixture of mayonnaise, ponzu shoyu and yuzu kosho which, somehow, came to my mind. I’ve used this combination, before as a dressing for “renkon” lotus root salad but this time, I used the concoction as a marinade. The marinade made the chicken meat very moist and tender. The surface layer of mayonnaise made the skin brown as if the wings were fried in oil (picture #1). The yuzu kosho added a slight spiciness and citrus flavor. As you can see both sections browned evenly. So we declare this an unqualified success, both because it browned evenly and tasted great!

Ingredients:

Chicken drumetts and flats (in our package, 4 each were included)

3 tbs mayonnaise

1 tbs ponzu soy sauce

1/2 tsp or more yuzu kosho

Directions:

In a Ziploc bag, add the chicken wings and the marinade ingredients. Massage well so that the marinade is well mixed and chicken parts are well coated. Remove the air as much as possible and close the bag. Let it marinade a few hours in the refrigerator.

I arranged the wings in the roasting pan that had a metal grate. I made sure the chicken parts were well spaced (picture #2). I air fried them at 450 F for 15 minutes. I then turned them over and cooked for another 5 minutes.

This was a great finger food. They went fast. We started with 2 pieces each but ended up eating everything.

Lotus root salad with Yuzu-kosho Mayo 柚子胡椒マヨ蓮根サラダ

This is the second dish I made from fresh renkon (lotus root) we received recently from Weee. This a simple renkon salad. I have posted several renkon salads and this is a variation of renkon salad dressed in yuzu-mayonnaise. I think I saw a recipe on line from which I got the idea for this but could not locate it again.

In any case, the dressing is made with mayo plus yuzu-kosho* 柚子胡椒 so in addition to yuzu flavor it has some heat from the yuzu-kosho. This was a really good dish. The renkon is crunchy. It absorbs the yuzu flavor which gives it a bright citrus taste. The mayo mutes the spiciness of the yuzu-kosho but it is still there. Just for green color I added blanched green beans.

* Japanese condiment/ paste made from chili peppers, yuzu peel and salt, which is then allowed to ferment. Usually made of green pepper but also made with red pepper.

Again this is not really recipe. Just for my notes:

Ingredients:
3 inch renkon, peeled, blanched and cut into small bite sized pieces.
Some green for color (blanched green beans, broccoli etc)

Dressing:
1 tbs mayonnaise 
1/2 tsp yuzu-kosho (more for spicier dressing)
1 tsp ponzu shoyu ポン酢醤油
(Because the ponzu also has yuzu juice in it the dressing gets a double dose of yuzu Japanese citrus flavor)

Directions:
Boil the renkon in salted water with a splash of rice vinegar for 10-15 minutes.
Let it cool to room temperature.
In a bowl, add the renkon and dressing and mix.
Add the green beans cut diagonally in a bite size. 



This is a very refreshing salad. The crunchiness of the renkon combined with the bright citrus taste and slight spiciness of the yuzu-kosho provide lovely contrast of flavors for any meal.

This is a dish that our non-Japanese “customers” have never tasted before but they have expressed surprise and pleasure when they’ve encountered it. We agree; unique but delicious.

Scallops and Shrimp with Yuzu Galic Butter Sauce ホタテとエビのソテー柚子ガーリックバーターソース

This is another inventory control dish. This time, frozen scallops and shell-on shrimp from “Great Alaska Seafood”. We had this as an ending “shime” dish for the evening. Since I had 4 scallops and 2 shrimp, vacuumed packed into two separate packages I could quickly thaw them by soaking the packages in ice water. Frozen items thaw much quicker using this method than leaving them in the refrigerator to thaw since water has much better heat transfer than air. Just before cooking, I patted them dry with paper towels and seasoned them with salt and pepper. I also decided to cook the shrimp with the shell on.

This is not a recipe per se but just for our record. Since I had some “ao-yuzu 青柚子” (from the Suzuki Farm) left, I used the zest and juice to make a Yuzu garlic butter sauce.  To mop up the sauce, we served several slices of mini-baguette I baked. The cucumber salad was dressed with strained home-made yogurt (Greek yogurt) seasoned with salt and olive oil. I also added finely chopped dill.

To sear and brown the scallops, I used a stainless steel frying pan with peanut oil (high smoking point) on medium high flame. I waited until the surface of the oil shimmered and I made sure the surface of the scallops was dry. I seasoned them with a generous amount of salt and pepper. I placed them in the pan for 1 minute until browned. Then turned them over and added the shrimp and cooked 1 more minute. I took out the scallops and set them aside (at this stage they were undercooked). I turned the shrimp over and cooked 30 more seconds then took them out. I added some butter (1-2 tbs) to the pan and when it melted added the finely chopped garlic and cooked for 30 seconds. I added a splash of white wine, scraped off the brown bits and stirred. I added the scallops and shrimp back into the pan and cooked for 30-40 seconds. Then I added the yuzu juice and zest and served.

As a quick impromptu dish, this was quite good. It is unfortunate I could not undercook the scallops since they were not sashimi quality but they were still quite ok.

Dishes from Yellowfin Tuna Sashimi Block キハダマグロ刺身の柵

We had a fairly large sashimi block of yellowfin tuna in our freezer from Great Alaska Seafood and time had come to finish it.  I planned to have the tuna 4 different ways. So we had the three dishes shown below one evening and had the fourth dish the next evening (tuna and avocado cubes).

#1: I made a portion of the block into a cutlet. I seasoned it with salt and pepper and breaded it in the usual way (flour, egg, and panko). I shallow fried it until the surface was all golden and crispy but the center was still raw. I did not make any special sauce and had it with Japanese mustard and tonkatsu sauce. I served it with baby arugula and some baby artichoke I prepared a few days ago dressed with olive oil. This was quite good and rather filling.

#2: Marinated “zuke” tuna and sashimi with Yuzu zest since we had one more “ao-yuzu 青柚子” we got from Suzuki Farm. For “zuke”, I did “yubiki 湯引き” (briefly plunged the tuna block into boiling water). This prevents the surface from becoming “soft” or “sticky and also slippery” during the marinating (Japanese call this “nettori ねっとり” . It may also reduce any fishiness if present. For the marinade, I took a short cut and just used x4 Japanese noodle sauce and marinated for 30 minutes. Besides yuzu zest, I served it with “yuzu kosho 柚子胡椒” and wasabi (both are from a tube). I served this with “cucumber and nappa cabbage asazuke きゅうりと白菜の浅漬け”. On the right, I served three slices of the tuna sashimi as is.

#3: Pseudo “negitoro ネギトロ” served with Korean nori seaweed. The addition of mayonnaise and soy sauce and finely chopped scallion make this tuna taste more like fatty tuna . I previously pontificated about negitoro. We like Korean-style seasoned nori with this dish. If I had it I served it with slices of fresh cucumber but we were all out of cucumber. (How did that happen?)

At this point, we were quite full and a ended with a piece of focaccia bread that I had baked few days ago, toasted and dipped in our favorite Spanish olive oil. Not quite a Japanese  “shime” ending but since we started with small snacks including cheese with red wine, this was a perfect ending for us.

Green Yuzu, “Kinome” Japanse pepper leaves 青柚子と木の芽

We mail-ordered Japanese vegetables from “Suzuki Farm” in Delaware for the first time. Since the farm is located in Delaware, UPS ground shipping is essentially overnight. We ordered several items: 1) Japanese cucumber, 2)“Mizu-nasu 水茄子” which is a special type of Japanese eggplant, 3) “Kinome 木の芽”, the young twigs/leaves from the Japanese “Sansho” 山椒 pepper tree, 4) green Yuzu citrus 青柚子 , and 5) “Shishi-togarashi シシとう” a type of (usually not spicy) Japanese green pepper. We also received two Zucchini (freebees).  In the past we could occasionally get some of these vegetables (except for the fresh yuzu and kino-me). I previously posted the recipes I made with them. The vegetables from Suzuki farm, however, were extremely fresh.

For some time, I have wanted to plant a Japanese pepper tree so that we could get the young leaves/tips called “kino-me 木の芽” which means “tree sprouts” to use as a flavoring. These sprouts have a distinctive smell and flavor which compliments many Japanese dishes. Likewise yuzu is a Japanese citrus that also has it’s own distinctive smell and flavor. (Previously, I have only been able to get frozen chopped-up yellow yuzu skin). The ripe yuzu is yellow but the unripe or young yuzu is green (Japanese often call “green” as “blue” and  “green yuzu” is called “ao-yuzu 青柚子” literally meaning “blue yuzu”). Ao-yuzu zest is actually stronger in flavor than yellow yuzu.

So, the first batch of dishes I made included “miso sauces” one made with the kinome and one with the yuzu. I cooked two medallion shape pieces of the mizu-nasu (even though it can be eaten raw) and topped one with the kinome miso (right in #1) the other with Yuzu miso (left in #1) essentially making a japanese dish called “nasu dengaku ナスの田楽”. Although using mizu-nasu for dengaku is a bit of a sacrilege, the two pieces I made were exquisite.  Each miso imparted the distinctive flavor of yuzu or kinome” with which it was made. They went perfectly with the flavor and texture of the cooked eggplant. Since misu-nasu can be enjoyed “raw”, I amended my “sacrilege” by using it raw in the second dish I made. This was an “asazuke 浅漬け” which is a raw vegetable (in this case the misu-nasu) salted/or pickled for only a few hours in a brine. I served the asazuke with the dengaku (#1 upper right).

Since we got two good size fresh whole Spanish mackerels from Whole Foods a few days ago, I made my usual “mackerel simmered in miso sauce 鯖の味噌煮”, I garnished this with a few leaves of the kinome (#2).

This picture shows part of the kinome we received (#3). Although the left most stalk has the classic or most desirable appearance of kinome, all had a nice distinctive smell/flavor. Ao-yuzu was labelled as  “mame-yuzu マメゆず” by the farm (“mame” mens “beans” and also “small”) (#4).

1. “Kino-me miso 木の芽味噌”
Ingredients:
90 gram Saikyo miso 西京味噌 (Kyoto-style sweet white miso)
10 grams sugar (or more if you like sweet)
1 tbs mirin
1 tbs sake
1 egg yolk
Kinome (as much as you like)

Directions:
Mix the miso and egg yolk in a small sauce pan
Add the remaining seasonings 
Place the pan on low flame and mix constantly with a silicon spatula
Once the miso mixture is heated up, taste and adjust the sugar and the consistency by adding more sake or water.
Remove the leaves from the stem of the kinome and grind up using Japanese mortar and pestle
Add the miso mixture and mix well
Let it cool and refrigerate

2. “Yuzu miso 柚子味噌”
Ingredients:
50 grams Awase-miso 合わせみそ(blend of red and white miso, you can buy it as a type of miso in a package) or red miso.
10 grams sugar or more (if you prefer)
1 tbs mirin or more to adjust the consistency
zest from one green yuzu, grated using a micrograter
Juice from one yuzu

Directions:
Mix the miso and the seasonings in a small sauce pan and mix
Place the pan on a low flame and mix constantly with a silicon spatula
Once the miso mixture is heated up, taste and adjust the sugar and the consistency by adding more sake or water.
Let it cool and refrigerate

3. Eggplant “dengaku” ナスの田楽 (Although I used “misu-nasu” other kinds of eggplant may be more appropriate.)

Cut two medallions from the eggplant about 1/2 inch thick, coat them with olive oil and either pan fry or cook in a toaster oven for a few minutes

Place the eggplant medallions on an aluminum foil covered tray and top with a layer of the flavored miso. Cook in a toaster oven until the miso is bubbling.

Although these are dishes I made before, the addition of fresh yuzu zest and kinome really made them much better.