Appetizers 4 kinds お通し４種類

These are 4 kinds of appetizers we had as starters one evening. Nothing really new. Below, from left to right, are; simmered Japanese eggplant 茄子の含め煮 or 煮浸し and simmered "kabocha" Japanese squash かぼちゃの煮物, salmon in sweet vinegar 鮭の南蛮漬け, "Kazunoko" herring roe with cucumber and "ikura" salmon roe 数の子、胡瓜の酢の物のいくら載せ, and the last is the Spanish mackerel simmered in miso 鯖の味噌煮 I usually make.

I usually take the corners of the kabocha pieces off to prevent them from crumbling during cooking but I was a bit lazy and did not do that this time. Nonetheless the pieces still kept their shape. The eggplant was a small long Japanese eggplant (this is the only kind we can consistently get). I also added blanched broccoli and heated up in the microwave.

The Japanese eggplant was from HMart Korean grocery store which we are using more often. As an innovation from my usual method of cooking eggplant I fried the skin side first. Supposedly, this  helps to retain the skin’s color. Although this is not much different from the previous post, I describe the recipe for my own convenience.

Ingredients:
3 Japanese eggplant
2 tbs neutral vegetable oil
two small pieces of ginger, crushed with the side of the knife.

250ml Japanese dashi broth (I made this with my usual bonito and kelp dashi pack)
3 tbs soy sauce
3 tbs mirin

(Instead of soy sauce, I am using "shirodashi" 白だしand light colored soy sauce).

Directions:
Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise. Shallowly cut the skin in crosshatching pattern and then cut lengthwise again to make 1/4 eggplant.
Add the oil to a frying pan on medium flame and add the ginger for a few minutes until fragrant.
Add the eggplants skin-side down and fry for 3-4 minutes and turn over to fry both of the fresh sides for 2-3 minutes each,
Add the seasonings and broth (below), put on the lid and simmer for 3-4 minutes.

This is good eaten hot right after it is cooked but it can also be stored in the broth in a sealable container in the refrigerator. The stored eggplant can be eaten cold or heated up in the microwave.

This is usual salmon nanban. This one was really good since the quality of the salmon (from Whole foods) was good and I did not over cook it. I served this with sugar snap in salt broth スナップ豌豆の塩びたし.

Mr. and Mrs. Segawa of Tako Grill kindly gave us "kazunoko" herring roe 数の子. I prepared it as I described in my New Year dish tab. The half serving shown below was soaked in dashi broth with soy sauce and mirin seasoning. I marinated the other half serving in sake-lee and miso mixture  or "kasu-miso" 粕味噌. Since this preparation will last longer than the one soaked in dashi broth we will eat it closer to the holidays.

I also served Spanish mackerel in miso sauce 鯖の味噌煮. (The red dots surrounding the mackerel are part to the decoration of the bowel not part of the preparation.)

This was a quite a good starter line up for the evening.

Boiled eggplant in black sesame vinegar dressing ゆでナスのゴマ酢和え

After I made eggplant gyoza,  I had one more Japanese eggplant left. I often make “age-bitashi” 揚げ浸し from eggplant (of course eggplant and oil go together well in either Western or Japanese-style dishes).  But this time I wanted to make something different. I found a recipe (in Japanese) which does not involve frying. The dressing was also very interesting. The recipe said this tastes good either warm or cold. I made this dish in the morning and served it cold in the evening as an appetizer with cold sake. I served a rather small amount in these small covered Japanese bowls we got in Kyoto many years ago.

Open the lids and we have boiled eggplant slices dressed in roasted black sesame sauce.

The dressing really made this dish. The eggplant was a bit bitter/astringent initially when I tasted it warm but after refrigeration, it calmed down.

Ingredients:
One Japanese eggplant, stem end removed, cut in half lengthwise wise, then cut in to 1/4 inch half moon shape crosswise, soaked in cold water.

Dressing:
2 tbs black sesame, roasted (I dry roasted again in a frying pan), ground in a Japanese mortar  (suribachi すり鉢)
1.5 tbs sweet vinegar 甘酢 (1 part rice vinegar, 0.5 part sugar and a pinch of salt, heated to dissolve)
2 tsp soy sauce

Directions:
Drain the water the egg plant soaked in. Bring fresh water to the boil, add the eggplant and when the water comes back to the boil keep cooking for 1 more minute.
Drain in a colander and press the eggplant with the back of a ladle to remove any excess water.
Mix the warm eggplant into the dressing.


When I tasted it warm, the eggplant had a slight bitterness/astringency or “egumi” えぐみ in Japanese but when I served it cold in the evening, most of those tastes were gone. The dressing really makes it. This is a good alternative way of using eggplant without using oil.

Eggplant gyoza 茄子餃子

Last weekend I made gyoza 餃子. As usual, I used the trimmings from pork tenderloin. I made up a batch using wonton skins but I had more gyoza stuffing leftover. Then, I saw a Japanese recipe using thin slices of eggplant instead of Wonton or Gyoza skin. Since I happened to have a Japanese eggplant (one we can get here is a small diameter elongated eggplant. I only rarely see the other varieties of eggplant available in Japan such as "Kamo-nasu" 賀茂茄子 or "Mizu-nasu" 水茄子).  So, I made gyoza with this eggplant. A small amount of gyoza stuffing still remained after I made this dish so I stuffed a fresh shiitake mushroom to finish it up. I served this with some veggies as a starter one evening.

Since only enough leftover stuffing for one shiitake mushroom, I served three eggplant gyoza and half each of the shiitake gyoza. The veggies are sliced cucumber dressed in sushi vinegar 胡瓜の酢の物, skinned Campari tomato with sesame dressing トマトの胡麻和え, braised crunchy cauliflower モンパルナスのカリフラワー and sugar snap in salt broth スナップ豌豆の塩びたし.

Ingredients:

Gyoza stuffing is my usual. Hand chopped pork tenderloins trimmings, boiled and chopped cabbage, chopped scallions, garlic, ginger, seasoned with sesame oil, salt, and soy sauce. As I mentioned this was the leftovers after making regular gyoza.
One Japanese eggplant (one with small diameter and very long),
Potato starch (Katakuri-ko 片栗粉).
Peanut oils and sesame oil for frying

Directions:
Skin the eggplant using a peeler on both sides lengthwise, cut crosswise into 2 inch long pieces and then slice lengthwise into 3mm thick pieces and soak in about 5% salted water (#1) until the eggplant pieces get soft/limp (It took more that 30 minutes).
Drain in a colander and press using the back of a ladle to press out excess moisture and line them up on paper towels (#2) and press with another sheet of paper towel to blot.
Sprinkle potato starch or Katakuri-ko (#3)
Wrap the gyoza stuffing by folding the eggplant in half (#4).
Since I still had some gyoza stuffing left, I stuffed one fresh shiitake mushroom (#5)
Add 1tbs peanut oil and splashes of dark sesame oil in a frying pan on medium flame and place in the eggplant gyoza (#6).
After a few minutes when the eggplant is browned, turn it over and put on the lid for several minutes and finish with the lid off for 1 more minute (#8).

This time, the stuffing was well-seasoned and did not need any dipping sauce. This is not bad but both my wife and I prefer regular gyoza. We both missed the lovely crunch of the crispy wonton skin.

Otoshi 5 kinds お通し５種類

I served this 5 kind of otoshi お通し appetizer on our relatively new five compartment plates. This was the evening I also served perilla-wrapped marinated tuna tempura 漬けマグロの青紫蘇包み天ぷら but I diverted a few of the tuna skewers to be served as is (see below) which was pretty good. This multiple otoshi to start was inspired by izakaya in Japan, "Suiko"酔香 and "Shuhai" 酒杯, where they regularly serve otoshi consisting of 6 dishes. Having store-bought items makes putting together 5 otoshi easy. Actually I had more than five I could have served as starters but this plate only had 5 positions.

The left two are composed of spicy clam salad and seaweed salad. Both were store-bought and fairly good. If you avoid eating the conspicuous red peppers  (seen at the upper left edge of the dish) the "spicy"clam salad is not too spicy. The seaweed salad appears artificially dyed but has a nice crunch.

The center two otoshi are sea food; boiled octopus leg 茹で蛸足 dressed in sumiso sauce 酢味噌 (I made the sumiso to my wife's spec "not too vinegary". I used dashi to get the consistency of the sauce). The dish on the right is perilla-wrapped "zuke" marinated tuna which I "stole" from the skewers destined to be made into tempura.

Although the tuna was marinated, I put on a few drops of wasabi soy sauce. I am now making different sauces ahead of time and storing them in the refrigerator in small squeeze bottles; (sauces like sumiso, wasabi soy sauce, mustard soy sauce, and sesame dressing.) This makes assembling multiple dishes more efficient. The last dish is eggplant and broccoli seasoned with black bean garlic and toubanjan (or Duabanjiang) sauce. I made this dish a few days ago to use up Italian eggplant leftover from making ratatouille. I made it sort of Chinese stir-fri-ish but I cannot even remember how I made it (I also used Japanese miso, come to think of it). It is not spicy and I added blanched sugar snaps for a color. Although I cannot reproduce it, my wife liked it.

So, this was a great start. I served few more small dishes and planed to finish with perilla-wrapped zuke tuna tempura.

Kamo eggplant with pork miso stuffing 賀茂茄子の肉味噌詰め

The other day, I found a round Japanese eggplant at our Japanese grocery store. This was either Kamo-nasu 加茂茄子 or Mizu-nasu 水茄子  but it had no label. I asked the cashier and was told it was "Kamo-nasu". Kamo-nasu is often used in Kyoto cuisine 京都料理 and has a nice firm flesh. Dengaku 田楽 is the most common way to serve this vegetable. (While I am writing this I realized I never posted eggplant "dengaku". When I made this, I thought I must have already posted the usual miso-dengaku and decided to make this variation using pork meat).

It is miso flavored but I also added ground pork and white sesame paste. I garnished it with roasted white sesame seeds.

I served this one evening with pork belly "Kakuni" 豚の角煮 I made recently.

Ingredients:
One Kamo-nasu (#1) (or you can use regular American eggplant), cut into four disks after removing the skin in an alternate pattern. I removed some of the flesh of the eggplant to make space for the stuffing (#2).
Light olive oil, as need, to bake the eggplant (or you could deep fry).

For stuffing:
1/4 lb of ground pork (I used trimming from pork tenderloins and hand chopped)
1/4 tsp finely chopped ginger
1/4 tsp finely chopped garlic
2 tbs miso (I used white miso)
2 tbs mirin
2 tbs sake
1 tsp roasted white sesame paste "nerigoma" 練りゴマ.
1/2 tsp of dark roasted sesame oil
1 tsp vegetable oil
Finely chopped flesh removed from the eggplant as discussed above.
1 tsp potato starch slurry (potato starch and sake in equal amount)

Directions:
For eggplant,
I decided to bake rather than either cook in a frying pan with oil or deep fry.
I lined the baking sheet with aluminum foil and coated with the olive oil.
I painted all the surfaces of the eggplant slices with the oil and baked at 350F for 30 minutes in the toaster oven (convection mode) (#3 and 4 above).

For stuffing:
In a non-stick frying pan, I added the vegetable and sesame oil on low flame and sautéed the ginger and garlic until fragrant. I added the finely diced flesh of eggplant, pork and turned up the flame and cooked the meat until cooked and separated.
I first loosened the miso with sake and mirin by adding the liquid in increments while mixing in a separate container. I added the sugar and mixed well. (If the consistency was not liquid enough, add water or more sake).
I added the sauce into the cooked meat mixture and cooked until the liquid was reduced in half about 10 minutes.
I added the sesame paste and a splash of sesame oil and mixed well.
I tasted the stuffing (you can adjust sweetness by adding more sugar or mirin at this point).
I finished with the potato starch slurry to thicken the stuffing. Make sure to cook for about one minute before cutting off the flame.

Assembly:
I kept both the baked eggplant and the stuffing in the refrigerator until just before serving.
I layered the miso-pork stuffing on the top of the eggplant slices and placed in a preheated 350F toaster oven for 15 minutes or until warmed up completely.
I garnished with sesame seeds and served hot.

This was very good. The eggplant was soft and sweet which was well complemented by the ginger miso and pork flavors of the stuffing. The only problem was the skin of the eggplant--it was tough. I could probably leave the skin alone rather than making an alternate peeling pattern since we had to remove the skin to eat the eggplant anyway. This combination of the pork belly dish and the miso-pork stuffing dish went very well together.