Eggplant and Japanese pepper "Age-bitashi" with pickled myouga 獅子唐芥子と茄子の揚げ浸し

“Age-bitashi” 揚げ浸し is a rather classic Japanese cooking technique which I previously posted. This is another variation. “Age” means to "deep fry" and “Bitashi” or "Hidashi"means to soak. ). First a vegetable (eggplant is the classic) is deep fried and then “soaked” in a seasoned broth. This dish is either served at room temperature or chilled (especially in hot summer).

I had a half used package of Japanese small green pepper called “Shishi-tougarahi” 獅子唐辛子 or “Shishitou”ししとう for short. I decide to make it either “Yaki-bitashi” (grilled first and then soaked) or “Age-bitashi (fried fist and then soaked). At the grocery store, I found a nice looking Zebra eggplant and decide to make “age-bitashi” with eggplant and shishitou.

Here I served the resulting dish chilled with garnish of picked “home grown” myouga and thinly julienned ginger (“Ito-shouga” 糸生姜 or ginger-threads). This was a nice cool drinking snack to start. The only problem for me was that one of the peppers I ate was atomically hot* . I had been lured into complacency with several mild peppers. Without thinking I just popped the hot one into my mouth.  I had already chewed and swallowed when my tongue “caught on fire” and continued burning for sometime despite my efforts to put out the fire. My wife, however, did not suffer a similar misfortune

*Although shishitou in Japan appears to be always mild, shishitou grown in American soil for some reason occasionally reverts back to its original ancestor and is atomically hot. We equate eating US grown shishitou to Russian Roulette--you never know when you’ll get a “hot one”.


Shishi Tougrashi: I had about 10 leftover. I removed the stem and made a slit in the middle (To prevent exploding during cooking).

Eggplant: This is a small Zebra eggplant. I removed the stem end, cut in half lengthwise and then made half inch thick half moons.

Pickled Myouga: I posted this previously. I made some variation this time namely not blanching it before pickling (see below).

Broth: I took some short cut here. I used "Shiro dashi" 白だし from the bottle. This is concentrated dashi broth made from kelp and bonito shavings and seasoned with "shiro-zouyu" or colorless soy sauce. It is very strong and only need a little bit. I added 1 tbs of the concentrate into about 1 and half cup of water in a small sauce pan. I tasted it (dashi flavor was OK but needed a bit more saltiness) and added "Usukuchi-shouyu" or light-colored soy sauce (about 1/2 tbs). I needed some subtle sweetness and added about 1 tbs of mirin. I then let it come to a gentle boil and turned off the heat.

Instead of deep frying, I decided to sauté the vegetables. I added 2 tbs a light olive oil (or vegetable oil) into a non-stick frying pan on medium heat. I waited until the oil was almost smoking and added the eggplant. I fried one side until nicely brown (3-4 minutes) and then turned over (I added a bit more oil since eggplant soaks up the oil). After one more minute, I added the shishitou and moved them around for 2-3 more minutes or until the skin of the shishitou started blistering and brown marks developed.

I put the vegetables on the plate lined with a paper towel to remove excess oil. While the vegetables and the broth were both hot I put the vegetables into the broth, put on the llid and let them cool. After it came to the room temperature, I moved it to a sealable plastic container and placed it in the refrigerator for at least several hours or until thoroughly chilled.

The combination of shishitou and eggplant is excellent but if I have to choose I like eggplant better.

Sweet vinegared Myouga or 冥加の甘酢漬け
Although I previously posted about myouga and sweet pickled myouga, this year, I changed my recipe a bit taking my wife's input and re-posting it here. I think this recipe is better in preserving the unique myouga flavor.

As you can see below, despite the risk of being eaten alive by the mosquitos we managed to harvest some myouga. After removing the outer layers, I washed it several times to make sure no dirt remained attached (left upper). I then cut them into half and dried them on paper towels (right upper).

In the past, I blanched the myouga, which is part of the standard recipe, but my wife thought the parboiling reduced the myouga flavor in the final product. So this time, I did not blanch the myouga. I packed them in a sealable plastic container (middle left) and poured in warm sweet vinegar (middle right). As you can seen in the bottom row, the  myouga were mostly submerged. After a few days in the refrigerator, more moisture came out and the myouga was totally submerged. We started enjoying the pickled myouga after 4-5 days.

Sweet vinegar marinade:　This time I also change the recipe a bit. I added 180ml of rice vinegar, 4 tbs of sugar and 1/2 tsp of salt in a sauce pan (middle right in the picture above) on medium low flame. When the sugar  dissolved and come to gentle boil, I cut the flame.

After 3-4 days, this is ready to enjoy. I think without blanching, the myouga remains a bit more crispy and the unique flavor is better preserved.

Grilled yellow tail collar ハマチのカマの塩焼き

The portion of the fish just caudal to the gills (i.e. just behind--toward the tail from the gills) of a medium to large size fish is called “Kama*” かま in Japanese or “collar” in English. This portion is often discarded by Western fish mongers but it can be one of the best parts of the fish to eat especially in the case of yellowtail or “hamachi” collar ハマチのカマ which is probably the most popular. We tried “Tuna” collar in Japan some time ago. It was listed as “whale” collar 鯨のカマ on the menu as a reference to its size not the species of fish from which it came. It was gigantic! It felt like we were served the Japanese equivalent of a Thanksgiving turkey large enough to feed a family of 4 with all the leftovers. We think, however, that Hamachi is much better. We often order hamachi kama at Tako Grill when it is available.

The other day, we happened to find frozen hamachi collar in our Japanese grocery store and bought one without hesitation. This was a large one. I just salted it and grilled it over a charcoal fire in the Weber despite the risk of mosquitos.

*”Kama” in Japanese means “sickle” or “sythe” obviously derived from the shape of this particular part of the fish (see the bottom picture).
I served this with the usual grated daikon 大根おろし. Since I did not have pickled young ginger or “hajikami ginger” はじかみ生姜 which is a standard accompaniment for grilled fish in Japan, I put a small mound of “gari” がりpickled ginger.

The picture just above is after the kama has been thawed and salted and is ready to go. Since I did not want to tend the fish too often at the grill which increases my chance of becoming dinner for mosquitos while I prepare my own dinner, I set up my Weber grill for 1/2 direct heat and 1/2 indirect heat. I first placed the hamachi kama skin side down over the direct heat for five minutes until the skin developed several nice char marks. I then turned it over still on the direct fire and left it to grill for another 5 minutes. I then moved the fish to the indirect heat area and continued cooking for another 5 minutes.

This was perfectly done. It was a rather meaty, good sized hamachi kama with a good amount of nice succulent meat. It served as a perfect appetizer for two. As usual, my wife skillfully removed the meat and skin for the two of us. We had our usual cold sake “Mu” with this.

Since we generally don’t barbeque over a charcoal fire in the summer once the mosquitoes have emerged, this barbeque was a somewhat rare occasion. But, is there any better way to cook yellow tail kama for peak enjoyment? When it comes to grilled yellow tail kama, the risk of being “eaten alive” by the mosquitoes is worth it. Nonetheless we were also practical and to make good use of the fire we also grilled a butterflied leg of lamb for the entrée.

Chicken skin crackling 雛皮のクッラクリング

Cracklings must be one of the most popular bar snacks in the U.S., especially in the South. Cracklings may not be any worse than eating a bag of potato chips or a serving of French fries but it certainly is not a "healthy" snack. It is, after all, pork rinds (skin) deep fried (in lard) and heavily salted. It appears cracklings are catching on in Japan as well. "クラックリング".  There is a corresponding Japanese word phonetically translated from English. When I made yakitori recently, I removed the skin from 6 thighs. I did not think there was enough space in the toaster oven to grill the skin. I decided to make chicken "crackling" instead. It was quite crunchy and probably not as bad as genuine deep fried pork cracklings but very good.

I first boiled the skin in water with a dash of sake. I skimmed off any oil or scum that came to the surface as it boiled. I cooked it for 10 minutes trying to render as much of the fat as possible. I then washed the skins in cold running water and patted dry between paper towels. I then put the skin in a dry non-stick frying pan on medium-low flame (shown below).

Only a small amount of fat came out but I blotted it with a paper towel and cooked both sides until they were brown and crispy (10 minutes total). I salted it and served it with a wedge of lemon. We really like this preparation. We ate it with our fingers breaking it into small bite sized pieces and really enjoyed it. Hopefully the pre-boiling significantly reduced the amount of fat.

In addition to the chicken cracklings we had squid "okizuke" 沖漬け which was store bought, came frozen in a small plastic pouch. This is not as salty or "gamy" as fermented squid and guts or "shiokara" 塩辛 or 酒盗.

With this type of small snacks, the only libation we could have was cold sake.

Grilled skewered octopus 鮹（の串）焼き

One of the Izakaya blogs I am following had a description and picture of what they referred to as“Takoyaki” たこ焼き. But it was not the famous Osaka snack of a small grilled dumpling containing a small  piece of octopus that would usually come to mind when you hear the name “Takoyaki”. This particular  "takoyaki" is quite different and appears to be chunks octopus leg (“Butsugiri” ぶつ切り) which is skewered, grilled and served with soy sauce and wasabi. I happened to have a cooked (boiled) octopus leg and decided to imitate this “takoyaki”, although I have never tasted or seen it before and this may not be the way they prepared this dish.



I thinly sliced the thickest potion as “sashimi” (left in the above picture) and cut the rest into sizable chunks. I skewered them (I prepared two skewers) and grilled them in the toaster oven on broil for about 5 minutes turning once. As you can see some of the edges got slightly charred. Besides soy sauce, I also made “Karashi sumiso” からし酢味噌 from “saikyou miso” 西京味噌.

The sashimi was very tender and excellent.  As to "takoyaki”, we are not sure. Grilling made it a bit more chewy and warm but appeared not to add anything more. We prefer just simple “Butsugiri” seasoned with “karashi sumiso” but we need to visit this place called “Akita-ya” 秋田屋 in Hamamatsu-chou 浜松町 in Tokyo and try this before passing on the final opinion.

New Japanese-style plate 新しいお皿

One of our favorite places to visit in Tokyo is Kappabashi 合羽橋. We really enjoy wandering in the seemingly endless array of shops dedicated to cookware. While there is much we see and we would love to add to our collection there is only a limited amount of luggage space to accommodate our indulgences. As a result most of our Japanese-style plates and bowls come from the local pottery club’s annual sale or by mail (Internet) order; the company we use most often is Korin 光琳. So on our recent trip to New York, we were delighted to find a Kappabashi type neighborhood and a store that specialized in Chinese/Japanese style dishes. Our quest took us to the edge of Chinatown along Bowery street. While there were many stores specializing in restaurant-related items, there was nothing on the level of Kappabashi. We didn't let that stop us; we bought a few items and, luckily, we had them shipped home. One of our purchases is shown below.

I really like collecting interesting dishes because having that perfect vessel to display and present food adds so much to the overall enjoyment of the eating experience; first feasting through sight then smell and taste. I saw this type of plate somewhere before and wanted to have one for some time. One side is curved and has a square well and the other side is flat with a slightly raised rim. Although I did not make anything special, I decided to serve some small dishes using this newly acquired plate.

On the left is black vinegar/soy sauce simmered chicken thigh and daikon (half each) served with blanched broccoli and a dab of Japanese hot mustard. On the right is small piece of salmon briefly marinated (I used noodle sauce from the bottle) and grilled in the toaster oven. I sprinkled "sansho" powder.

I think this is a neat plate. I have to come up with the combination of small drinking snacks appropriate for this vessel.

Japanese-style succotash 枝豆ととうもろこしのバター醤油ソテー

This was second dish I made from the leftover soy beans or edamame (hulled and frozen in a microwavable pouch). I saw the original recipe on line but this is very similar to the American summer favorite succotash except for the use of soy bean instead of Lima beans and soy sauce for seasoning. The combination of butter and soy sauce is almost fail-safe and add the flavor of sweet corn, it is extremely good.



Corn: I got four ears of fresh corn. As per my wife's method, after removing the husks and silk, I placed them on a plate covered loosely with paper towels and microwaved them for 4 minutes, turned them over and microwaved for additional 2 minutes. (Of course you could boil the corn or use frozen.) My wife removed the kernels of the cooked corns for me.

Edamame: I used frozen, hulled soy beans in a microwavable pouch but fresh or frozen soy beans in pods can be also used (even better, I am sure) after cooking and removing the soy beans from the pods. The amount is arbitrary but I could have used more for the amount of corn I had.

I can think of adding other items such as finely diced tomatoes, shallot, Jalapeño pepper, red pepper etc but I made this with just corn and soy beans. I just sautéed the soy bean and corn mixture in large frying pan with butter (1 tbs) until all the vegetables are coated and warm. I then added soy sauce from the edge of the pan (so that soy sauce will be heated up quickly and become fragrant before mixing into the vegetables.) I added soy sauce in several increments as I tasted.

As we were preparing this, both my wife and I were snacking on them and without further seasoning these were good. The corn was very sweet. The addition of butter and soy sauce made it even better. This could be a drinking snack or a side dish. I served this with corn-meal crusted chicken tender loins on the top (which I did not take pictures).

Cold tofu with upripe soybean puree 豆腐の枝豆ソース

The other day, when my wife made chow chow pickles, she used soy beans "edamame" 枝豆 instead of lima beans. Actually she prefers to use young soy beans instead of lima beans when the recipe calls for lima beans. She says that the texture and taste of the soybeans is not a starchy as lima beams. Since we had a leftover pouch of frozen shelled soybeans, I decided to use it up by making two dishes. This is the first one I made. This recipe came from "Otsumami Doujou" おつまみ道場 (in Japanese).



As usual, I did not precisely measure the ingredients but the original recipe (2 servings) calls for;

Edamame: 25grams (boiled, shelled and cooled or in my case, frozen shelled edamame in a microwavable pouch).

Seasonings: White miso (1/2 tbs, I used "saikyou" miso 西京味噌), Cream (1 tsp, I used more), Dashi broth (1 tbs, I used concentrated "white dashi" 白だし from a bottle, about 1 tsp)

I first put all the ingredients in a small food processor and whirred them until they attained a saucy consistency. I did this by adding a bit more cream as needed. The skin of the soybeans did not homogenize completely. So I moved the contents to a Japanese mortal or "suribachi" すり鉢 and tried to make it smoother but it didn’t seem to make a big difference. So the sauce was not as smooth as I had hoped. I tasted it, it had a nice salty nutty flavor from the miso. Since this sauce would be mixed into tofu, I thought the saltiness was just right. You can always "add" more miso or salt to make it saltier to your liking. The ratio of tofu to sauce needed to be taken into account as well. In my case, I was going to serve this with a rather small cube of silken tofu (i.e. more sauce than the original recipe) so I did not add any more miso.

I put this sauce over the cube of cold silken tofu. We mixed well with the tofu before eating but how you eat this is up to you. You could eat it with spoonful of tofu and sauce on the top as well. The cream adds a richness and the miso adds a nutty, slightly sweet and salty flavor. Perfect dish for summer days.