Bagel ベーグル

My wife was not into bagels but this dramatically changed after our recent stay at a hotel/B&B in California. It was a good comfortable accommodation. But essentially we did not see any hotel staff while we were there. There was no front desk and you communicate with the hotel owner/proprietor via digital communication and instead of a key you get a “code” which allows you to open the front door and your room doors during your stay. It had a spacious communal kitchen and dining room where we could self serve coffee, yogurt,  bagels/muffins, and fruit for breakfast. They had blueberry bagels and my wife really liked the bagel. While we were staying there we had bagel and cream cheese as a breakfast every day. So when we came back, my wife got a few varieties of bagels from Whole Foods and an on-line gourmet bakery to try. My wife thought these bagels were not as good as we had at the hotel. I reminded her that I did bake bagels many years go but felt it was not worth the effort since she was not particularly fond of bagels back then. Now since, she suddenly developed a taste for bagels I decided to try making some. As a trial run, I made 6 bagels (3 plain and 3 sesame, picture #1). They came out great with nice flavor and texture. (they were was slow fermented over night in the refrigerator) but the crust is a bit too hard and I thought I could improve on this.

The sliced surface shows irregular holes and a nice moist and slightly chewy texture (picture #2).

The original recipe came from the newly published King Arthur baking cook book called “Big Book of Bread”. The original recipe made 12 bagels but for this trial I halved the recipe and made six.

Ingredients (make 6 bagels)
DOUGH (I weighed everything)
413 grams unbleached bread flour, plus more for dusting
8.5 grams salt
1.5 grams instant yeast
269 grams warm water
Yellow cornmeal, for dusting

WATER BATH (this is the amounts in the original recipe)
1,816 grams (8 cups) water
42 grams (2 tablespoons) honey
18 grams (1 tablespoon) fine salt

Directions: (Although I tried to follow the original instructions, this is description of what I did)
Place all the dough ingredients in a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook and knead for 5 minutes after the dough ball is formed around the hook.
On the lightly dusted board, take out the dough ball and hand knead briefly to make a tight ball.
Place the dough ball in a lightly oiled bowl, turn over to coat all surfaces. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap.
Let it rise for 1.5 to 2 hours until the volume doubles (I used a bread proofing box at 85F).
I deflated and divided the dough into equal 6 portions by weighing (the total dough weighed 693 grams so one portion was about 115grams).
I made balls and with the seam side down, covered loosely with a plastic wrap and then a dish towel and let them rest for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile I prepared a rimmed baking sheet line with a parchment paper and lightly dusted with corn meal.
I flattened the dough ball into a disk and pushed my finger through the center to make a ring and placed it on the parchment (#1 in the composite picture)
At this point, I placed another sheet of parchment paper on top and then covered with plastic wrap. The plastic wrap didn’t stick to the baking sheet so I taped the sides to the baking sheet. I refrigerated it overnight.

Next morning:
I was not sure if I should let the dough bagels come to the room temperature or immediately boil them. (The instructions were silent on this topic). So I did not warm up the dough rings and I boiled/simmered them 3 at a time one minute on each side (#2 in the composite picture)
I placed the boiled dough rings on the parchment paper. I placed 3 one sided on a plate covered in sesame seeds and left the other 3 plain (#3 in the composite picture).
I baked at 470F (in convection mode, the original recipe calls for 475F) in the upper 1/3 position rotating the baking sheet at 10 minutes and baked for total of 20 minutes (#4 in the composite picture).

As I mentioned the bagels came out nicely and my wife likes them but the crust is a bit too hard and chewy. (I am not sure that the convection vs regular oven made the difference?).

The second try
We finished the first batch and made the second with a few modification. I let the dough rings come to room temperature (let them sit for 1 hour) before boiling. Interestingly, in the first batch, the dough rings sank and then floated up to the top of the water after10 seconds or so but this time they floated to the top immediately.  I boiled each side about 30 seconds this time. I reduced the oven temperature to 450F and cooked them for 20 minutes.

The results were better. The crust was not as dark in color and slightly less crunchy but less chewy. The crust can be a bit less crunchy still. 

The third try

I made the hole in the center smaller to make the body of the bagel a bit thicker. I let the dough rings come to the room temperature (let them sit for 1 hour) before boiling,  I reduced the boiling time for 20-10 seconds each side. I preheated the oven to 450F, reduced it to 400F just before putting the dough in the oven. I cooked them for 25 minutes. 

I could have made the holes a bit bigger but the all bagel did not flatten out too much. The crust is very crunchy but not too thick. The inside is not too chewy and lots of flavors. We are getting close to having bagel perfection (at least based on our opinion)

The fourth try and probably final recipe

This is my 4th try and this is definitely the best one. The modifications are as follows;
1. After overnight fermentation in the refrigerator, let it sit for 1 hour to warm up before boiling
2. Boil for 10 seconds each side
3  Bake at 400F for 25 minutes
4. Instead of attaching the sesame seeds on the surface, I kneaded the roasted sesame into the half of the dough (3 bagels)  after the first fermentation as per suggestion of my wife.

In the picture #4, upper three are plain and the lower three are with sesame seeds. Both came out well with nice thin crunchy crust and perfect inside which is not dry or too chewy. The size of the holes is just right and the bagels have nice height. It has good flavor and texture. The sesame ones have nice sesame flavor but because the seeds were mixed into the dough rather than put on top they did not come off. (Slight digression alert: We also sprinkled toasted sesame seeds on top of the cream cheese we put on the sliced and toasted bagel. Again this addition intensified the sesame flavor but the seeds stayed put.) 

We think this is most likely our final bagel recipe.

Nine “Otoshi” Appetizers お通し九種類

This is another installment of 9 “otoshi” appetizers. I managed to fill all 9 spots with small dishes I made. Three fish dishes and 6 vegetable dishes but no meat.

A1: Wood ear mushroom dressed in Japanese hot mustard soy sauce 木耳の芥子醤油和え.  Blanched fresh wood ear cut into strips and dressed in a mixture of Japanese hot mustard, sugar and soy sauce. I also added small amount of roasted sesame oil and garnished with white sesame seeds..
A2: Cucumber and sweet onion salad 胡瓜と玉ねぎのサラダ
A3: Pickled daikon and cucumber. 大根と胡瓜の漬物 with Campari tomato.
B1: Salmon kelp roll 鮭の昆布巻き. I started making this not just for New Year. This one was particularly good because of the good quality kelp.
B2: Pickled herring (from a jar in wine sauce) in sour cream dill sauce, ニシンのサワークリームソース, which makes it much better.
B3: Marinated “ Russian ” Salmon “ 鮭のロシア漬け.
C1: Blanched asparagus dressed in sesame mayonnaise アスパラのスリゴママヨあえ. The dressing is a mixture of roasted and  ground white sesame, mayonnaise and soy sauce.
C2: Garlic chive in broth (“Ohitashi” お浸し) topped with golden thread egg (“Kinshi-ran” 錦糸卵), ニラのお浸し金糸卵のせ. The broth is half and half mixture of Japanese “dashi” broth and x4 Japanese noodle sauce. The golden thread egg is thin omelet julienned.
C3: Braised daikon, carrot, daikon green, fried tofu pouch or “abura-age” 油揚げ. 大根, 大根葉と油揚げの炒め煮. This is my impromptu dish since we got daikon with some green top attached.

Although each dish is small after having 9 of those filled us up considerably. It takes some efforts but we like many small dishes with many different textures and tastes rather than one or two large dishes.

Tahini- Miso Cookies タヒニと味噌クッキー

As we mentioned before we are big fans of “savory” cookies which will go well with wine rather than as a dessert. My wife has made a few in this category before. Recently she I found her searching for savory cookie recipes. During this search, she came across “Tahini-Miso cookies” at a website called “kitchen stories”. Since we had tahini and miso, it was a “no brainer” to try making these. This recipe uses a lot of white sesame seeds. Good thing I just got a large jar of white sesame from Weee.  The cookies are great with a taste of saltiness from the miso and nuttiness from the tahini and sesame seed coating the surface of the cookies.

I will ask my wife for how this was made.

Ingredients (shown in the picture below)
225 g flour
¾ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
115 g butter (room temperature)
220 g brown sugar
100 g sugar
80 g white miso paste
80 g tahini
1  egg
1½ tsp vanilla extract
100 g sesame seeds

Directions:
Add flour, baking soda, and baking powder a bowl and mix to combine, then set aside. Add butter, brown sugar, and sugar to a separate bowl and beat with a hand mixer until very light and fluffy, approx. 5 min.

Add miso and tahini to the butter-sugar mixture and mix until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again. Add egg and vanilla and mix just to combine, then add some of the flour mixture and mix in on low speed. Add remaining flour and mix just until combined.

Add sesame seeds to a bowl. Use an ice cream scooper to scoop some of the cookie dough, then add to the bowl of sesame seeds and cover the ball with the sesame. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat until all the cookie dough is gone, (first picture below). Then cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and chill dough for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350F. Remove some cookies from the baking sheet so there’s enough room for them to spread out while baking. Bake the cookies for approx. 8 min., then use a fork to gently flatten them a bit. Continue baking for 8 - 10 more mins. Let cool completely.

I did not remove any of the cookie dough from the baking sheet as advised in the instructions. They seemed evenly spaced even if they spread a bit. In addition, the instructions said to flatten them with a fork half way through which implied they needed that additional step to spread at all. I tried flattening them as instructed but it was a complete waste because the soft dough just stuck to the tines of the fork making a mess of the cookie so I stopped and just put them back in the oven to finish cooking. At the correct time I opened the oven door and…SURPRISE! The cookies had flattened into an almost solid mass as shown in the picture below; completely unexpected. (Why in the world did the original recipe require flattening them during cooking when they would do this on their own?)

Nonetheless I was able to break them apart into irregular cookie like shapes. Despite the shapes they tasted pretty good. These were not really savory cookies but they also were not as sweet as a desert cookie. They had a slightly chewy texture and deep rich flavor from the miso and tahini. The sesame added an additional nuttiness but they tended to continually fall off the cookie creating a bit of a crumby mess. I’m not sure I will use them next time.

Salmon sashimi and “Yukke” style salmon サーモン刺身とユッケ風

When we received our order of an assorted frozen sashimi from Riviera Seafood Club, they substituted salmon for the “Tuna chunks” (total of two sashimi salmon blocks instead of one salmon and one tuna chunks). We would have preferred the tuna chunks but we understand that they are probably a by-product of trimming tuna blocks and may not always be available. Not being discouraged, I served sashimi salmon as well as my own version of “Yukke” or “Yukhoe” style salmon chunks. I served them with cucumber wakame  sumiso-ae 胡瓜とワカメの酢味噌あえ. Since my wife has developed the taste for “Yuzu-kosho” 柚子胡椒, I served both regular wasabi (lighter green) and yuzu-kosho. The quality of salmon was very good (aqua-cultured New Zealand salmon super-frozen).

“Yukke” or “Yukhoe” is a Korean raw meat (beef) dish similar to steak tartar (but uses thinly sliced meat) with a sweet and spicy sauce. Yukke is very popular in Japan. Although strictly-speaking, it should be made with beef, it is widely adapted to use sashimi tuna, salmon and other fish in Japan. Another similar dish is called “Poke” which originated in Hawaii. Usually poke is made with cubes of ahi (or yellowfin) tuna. The sauce is soy sauce based and can be similar to Yukke sauce. I am sure there are many variations of Yukke sauce as well as poke sauce.  In my version, of Yukke sauce I use Korean chili paste “Gochijang” and in my version of poke sauce I use Japanese red pepper flakes (or “Ichimi-tougarashi”). I am not sure these differences define or differentiate the two sauces. Either sauce works for me. The one I made for the salmon sashimi (on a whim) was pretty good and I am posting this just for my record.

Ingredients:
Sashimi grade salmon, thawed if frozen, cut into 1 cm chunks (amount arbitrary)

For Yukke sauce
2 tsp x4 Japanese noodle sauce
1 tsp white sesame seeds coarsely ground in Japanese “Suribachi” mortar
1 tsp dark sesame oil
1/2 tsp (or more for spicier sauce) Gochujang (Korean red chili paste)
1/4 tsp grated ginger (and garlic)
Chopped scallion and sesame seeds for garnish

Just mix all the ingredients for the sauce and marinade the salmon chunks for a few minutes, garnish with the scallion (I used the green part) and sesame seeds.

Since Japanese noodle sauce has good dashi flavor and some sweetness beside soy sauce, it really made my version yukke sauce good. Although garlic is optional I did not add any because I didn’t want a strong garlic taste since we were going to consume this as part of the evening meal. Often, this dish is topped with raw egg yolk. I happened to have pasteurized egg but we skipped the egg as well as the garlic this time.

Four Salad Lunch 4種類サラダランチ

I made 4 different salads (not all on the same day) and had the 4 salads for lunch with a cold asparagus soup. We also had a small piece of “Not no-knead bread made with dried fruit”. We feel good about the fact that all salads, soup and bread were home-made. In the center of the four salads, I served snap peas which were blanched and then soaked in Japanese salt broth.

The picture below shows Israeli couscous with artichoke hearts and garbanzo beans with a nice lemony and dill dressing.

The pic below shows a celery, mushroom, and navy bean salad with feta cheese. The mushrooms make the salad. They gave an almost meaty texture and flavor.

The next is a curry flavored sous vide chicken salad. Since we had a nice ripe Champagne mango, I added small cubes of mango which went very well with this salad.

I made this udon noodle salad since I had left-over cooked udon noodles.  The dressing is sesame-flavored. I do make several versions of the sesame dressing (for example, using Japanese “nerigoma” ねりごま sesame paste or peanut butter) but this time I used Tahini with dry roasted white sesame seeds which I ground in a Japanese “suribachi” すり鉢 mortar. Other seasonings included soy sauce, sugar, and rice vinegar.

This was a surprisingly filling lunch. Beans, udon noodles, and couscous all contribute to this and, at the same time, we enjoyed so many different flavors and textures. We just have to make sure we finish all these salads before they go bad.

Lily Bulb 百合根

I keep finding Japanese groceries at Weee  which previously were just not available or difficult to get. This time, it was “edible lily bulb”*. The package states “this is a product of China”. So, initially, I was not sure this item would be the same as Japanese “Yuri-ne” 百合根 but decided to try it anyway. Growing up in Hokkaido 北海道, Japan, which is the major producer of edible lily bulbs in Japan, my family enjoyed “yuri-ne” often. Most commonly, my mother made chawan-mushi 茶碗蒸し or Japanese steamed savory egg custard with yuri-ne lily bulb. I remember the nice texture and sweet flavor of yuri-ne. So it is a very nostalgic flavor for me that I have not tasted in a very long time. It arrived fresh in a vacuum packed container. It looked exactly like Japanese “yuri-ne and (better yet) tasted the same.

Although the package indicated “slices”, the lily bulbs are made of petal-like multiple layers which can come apart especially after blanching (see below). I would have preferred a whole intact bulb since that would have given me more choices in how to prepare it but this will do for sure.

*Digression alert: There is a myth that all lily bulbs are toxic which apparently may be based on the fact that any part of lily is highly toxic to cats (inducing renal failure). Also, the name “lily” is attached to many plants/flowers which are not “true” lily.  Some of these certainly would be toxic to humans. In any case, Japanese and Chinese (reportedly also native American Indians) enjoy eating lily bulbs.

I made three dishes; “chawan-mushi” 百合根入り茶碗蒸し(center bottom), bainiku-ae 百合根の梅肉和え (dressed in pickled plum sauce, upper left) and goma-ae 百合根の胡麻和え (dressed in sesame sauce, upper right). I also served lotus root kimpira “renkon-no-kimpira 蓮根のきんぴら(left bottom) and “ohitashi” edible chrysanthemum or “shungiku-no-ohitashi” 春菊のお浸し (right bottom). The fresh lotus root and edible chrysanthemum both came from Weee.

The picture below shows the chawan-mushi made with yuri-ne, topped with ikura salmon roe and blanched sugar snap. You cannot see the yuri-ne well but two are peaking out on either side of the ikura.

The next picture shows the chawan-mushi before the toppings were put on. I put the yuri-ne on the bottom as well as on the top. Other items included fresh shiitake mushroom, and shrimp as usual. The egg and dashi mixture was my usual 1 to 3 ratio. There is no difference in how to make it from standard other chawan-mushi.

For next two dishes, I quickly blanched the yuri-ne, drained it and let it cool before proceeding.

One pickled “umeboshi” plum, meat removed and then chopped fine with  a knife, then placed in a Japanese “suri-bachi” mortal, 1/2 tsp mirin added, 1/2 soy sauce and ground to make a smooth paste. I added “kezuri bushi” bonito flakes (the amount arbitrary). I added more bonito flakes on the top.

The below picture shows yuri-ne with sesame dressing.

For sesame dressing:
1tsp white roasted sesame, dry roasted in a dry frying pan and then ground in a suri-bachi
2 tsp white sesame paste or “shiro neri-goma” 白ねりごま
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sugar

I garnished it with blanched sugar snap

These small dishes were nice and Weee made it possible for me to make these. These were quite filling but we also had a small serving of blue-fine tuna sashimi (frozen Australian from Great Alaska Seafood). The chawan-mushi was particularly special since it brought back good memories of the chawan-mushi my mother used to make.

Chicken with Avocado miso dressing アボカド味噌ドレシング

We used to subscribe New York Times Cooking. It was rather expensive for just the cooking section so we eventually cancelled the subscription. In any case, this is a recipe called ”Creamy Avocado-miso dressing” and it is from NYT Cooking. Since we had ripe avocado on hand and the recipe uses miso, we deemed this worth a try. This was supposedly  “salad dressing” for “hearty” greens, a warm grain bowl or grilled vegetables. We tried it as a topping for the homemade cheese wife made and as a dip for blanched cauliflower. Both tasted good. When we thawed a sous-vide cooked chicken breast, in addition to my traditional shredded chicken dish using sesame dressing, as per my wife’s suggestion, I made half of the shredded chicken with the avocado miso dressing. In the picture below, the left is with sesame dressing and the right is with avacado-miso dressing.

I used fresh cilantro leaves to garnished the dish made with avocado dressing.

For the one made with sesame dressing, I garnished it with white sesame.

The sous-vide cooked chicken breast is perfect for this type of dish. The meat is soft and moist.

Ingredients:
1 ripe avocado, halved and pitted, flesh removed from skin
1/4 cup lemon juice (I used Meyer lemons since I had them).
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs vinegar (I used rice vinegar)
1 tbs white miso (I used “awase-meso” which is mixture of red and white miso).
1tbs honey
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a mini-food processor and blend until smooth (shown below).

This is a very nice dressing and we definitely taste the miso. The avocado takes a back seat but works well with the bright taste of the lemon and vinegar. We think this works better as a dip for vegetables. (We also had it as a dip for crackers and that worked very well too.) For the chicken dish, we think the sesame dressing goes better.

Three appetizers with two new ones 新しいお通し2種

 I served these three appetizers one evening. The dish shown on the left in the first picture is my stand-by fried salmon in sweet vinegar or “salmon nanban” 鮭の南蛮漬け. The new ones are the one in the center “dried persimmon and daikon in sweet vinegar” 干し柿の大根なます and the one on the right, “udon noodle salad with peanut butter dressing” うどんのピーナッツバター和え.

The second picture is a close up of the dried persimmon and daikon in sweet vinegar sauce. This is loosely based on my compiled version of various recipes. I actually used the leftover marinade and vegetables from the previous batch of salmon nanban. (If I made this from scratch, I would make it close to the traditional New Year dish “daikon namasu” 大根なます and just add strips of dried persimmon). For a change, I also added roasted and ground sesame (fine grind but not paste) and a small amount of dark sesame oil. The combined taste of sweet and sour with added sesame flavor and refreshing daikon went well with the soft and sweet dried persimmon. Over time the persimmon got softer in the marinade. This is a good refreshing dish.

These are the ingredients and directions to make this dish from scratch (not reusing the vegetable and marinade of the salmon nanban).

Ingredients: 
2 dried persimmon, stem end and seeds removed and cut into strips.
1 inch segment of daikon, peeled, and cut into buttons then julienned.
Carrot and/or celery julienned (optional)
1/2 cup sweet vinegar (1/2 rice vinegar, 1/4 cup sugar or 2:1 ratio, pinch of salt, heat until dissolved. Then let it cool)
1 Tbs roasted white sesame seeds, fine ground (I used a Japanese mortar and pestle or suribachi.
1/2 tsp dark sesame oil

Directions:
Salt the daikon pieces and knead, then let it stand for 5-10 minutes.
Add all the ingredients and the sweet vinegar.
Let it marinate for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

The next dish is a variation of sesame noodle salad. Since we had home-made peanut butter, instead of sesame paste or “neri-goma” ねりごま, I used the peanut butter. This was very similar but different because of the rather intense peanut flavor. I have not made the sesame noodle salad for sometime and never made it with peanut butter. This is a good salad as an appetizer, I should make it more often.

Ingredients: (amount is all arbitrary)
Cooked thin udon noodle
Carrot, julienned
Scallion, sliced thinly diagonally
Sesame seeds for garnish (or crushed peanuts)

For Dressing:
Peanut butter, soy sauce, and rice vinegar in 2:1:1 ratio
Dash of dark peanut oil
Sugar and sriracha to taste
Minced ginger and garlic to taste
Add warm water if the consistency is too thick

Directions:
Cut the noodles into 1-2 inch lengths (optional but for ease of eating)
Dress with the peanut dressing.
Garnish with sesame seeds or crush peanuts.

Four appetizers in new small bowls 御通し4種類と新しい小鉢

We have a good number of small Japanese-style bowls and plates but for some reason my relationship with breakable dishes ends up with them getting broken every-now-and-then. So I am always on the look out for potential replacement small Japanese style dishes/bowls. (Also, since enjoyment of food is visual in addition to taste, I just like different bowls in which to present what I make to complete the entire experience). I found these small bowls on Amazon. They came in four different patterns/colors in a set of four (i.e. total of 16 bowls) . I ended up getting all 4 sets. So, this is the first time I used this set to serve 4 appetizers. The first picture, from left to right, are "salmon nanban" 鮭の南蛮漬け, "hijiki seaweed stir-fry" ひじきと油揚げの炒めのも and Japanese "dashi-maki" だし巻き卵 omelet, "Wood ear"* mushroom, cucumber and wakame seaweed sunomono" キクラゲ、ワカメ、胡瓜の酢の物, and  "shredded chicken tenderloin and asparagus in sesame dressing" 鳥のささみとアスパラの胡麻和え. 

*Wood ear mushroom is so-called because it grows out of the surface of wood like an ear sticking out. Japanese call it "ki-kurage" meaning "jelly fish of the wood" because the crunchy texture is similar to dried and salted edible jelly fish. It is interesting, however, when it is written in "kanji" ideograms, it is  木耳 which means wood 木 ear 耳. There is no way you can pronounce 木耳 as "ki-kurage" but the meaning of these two ideograms indeed mean "wood ear".

The second picture is the salmon dish I usually make, fried and marinated in sweet vinegar with vegetables. In order to serve multiple appetizers, it is necessary to pre-make a number of them and have them last long enough to serve over several days. Due to the vinegar this dish lasts a few weeks in the refrigerator. So this salmon dish is a good one to serve as an appetizer. Perfect with sake but not with wine. The pattern of this bowl is not classic Japanese but nice—also the color complements the color of the salmon.

The third picture of hijiki seaweed is a dish that also lasts for some time in the fridge. I served it with Japanese "dashimaki" omelet which goes well with the seaweed dish both visually (yellow and black) and by taste (sweet and salty). The pattern of the bowl is classic Japanese wave pattern.

This is a variation of my usual "sunomono" dish. Besides cucumber and wakame, I used wood ear mushroom. We can get this mushroom usually dried. One of the problems with hydrating the dried items like this is after hydration, the volume increases much more than expected. This was a case here and I used wood ear in several dishes including fried rice for lunch one day. In any case for this dish, I cut the wood ear into thin strips like jelly fish. I also added ground sesame and sesame oil in the dressing. The wood ear really adds crunch exactly like jelly fish.

I froze sous vide chicken breast a few months ago and decided to thaw one. It came out exactly like it was just cooked. I made the chicken salad I usually make which was really good but I kept the tenderloin part of the sous vide chicken for this "goma-ae" 胡麻和え dish. I tore the tenderloin along the meat fibers to make thin strands. I dressed this with sesame dressing ("nerigoma" 練りごま sesame paste, roasted and ground sesame, sugar, rice vinegar and soy sauce. I kept this dressing in the fridge which made it stiff. So I added small amount of warm water to loosen the dressing) with blanched asparagus (stem cut into thin pieces at a slant and garnished with tips of the asparagus). The meat was so juicy and tender.

These small dishes are nothing special but I make slight variations which make it interesting and adds to the enjoyment of sake.

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.