～ Haere mai Here-turi-koka ～ Kia ora cooking mates!
It's August already! Got a little longer daylight hours, and feeling milder in these days. I introduce a chunky miso soup, which is nice to warm up the body.
********************************************************************************* Have you seen this vegetable at the local market? They are not ginger, they are Jerusalem artichoke. I have used them often for making pickles and cooking this winter. It can be a delicious ingredient in the soup, as well as other root vegetables. When you cannot find it, just omit it or use another root vegetable instead.
3 C (750ml) water or stock 水か好みのだし汁（ストック） 2~3 T miso 味噌（ストックの塩分により味噌の量を調節） 200~250ml soy milk 豆乳（お好みで調節）
finely chopped spring onion (for the topping) 青みとして刻みネギ ・・・I didn't have spring onion so used green peas instead! （この日は、なかったので急遽グリーンピース使いました！） *************************************************************************************
１．Wash and scrub J.artichoke to remove the skin roughly by scrub brush. Cut into 5mm thickness. タワシで薄皮をこそげ取り、5mmくらいの薄切りに。
Peel the skin off of carrot and daikon, cut into 5mm thickness. Slice mushroom, cut bacon into bits pieces. 大根・ニンジン・マッシュルームも同じくらいの厚みに、ベーコンは小さく。
2.
Pour a little amount of oil into the medium pan, add vegetables and bacon in it to cook.
少量の油を熱し、中火で野菜を炒め、 途中でベーコンも加えて炒め合わせます。
3. After half way through to cook, add water (or stock) and cook further. Once it is boiled, reduce the heat to low, cover with lid, simmer until all the veges has been cooked and soft.
I added mussel juice (which was the left over from the cooking the day before) to the water, to make the total liquid amount 750ml.
4. Adjust the amount of miso by the saltiness of the stock. Place miso in a ladle and put into the pan, mix with the soup gradually to dissolve by whisk. Add soy milk. When the whole soup has hot/warmed enough, off the heat. (don't boil after miso and soy milk were added)
Kia ora, cooking matets! I think many of you love drinking SAKE, but have you heard about SAKE-KASU ? It's a by-product of sake manufacturing process. After sake was squeezed, the white paste was left, which is Sake-kasu. It has high nutritive value contains of amino acids, vitamins, and yeast, then people has used it (up-cycled) for cooking in Japan since old days. Sake-kasu can be purchased in NZ nowadays! Visit the site at Zenkuro Sake Brewery in Queenstown.
昨年お酒のテースティングを入れた料理教室を 開催したことで、全黒さんのお酒と、酒粕を使った 料理・デザート・お菓子をたくさん作りました。 今日はその中から簡単手軽な生チョコをご紹介 します。 I introduce a simple easy recipe Sake-kasu chocolate truffle, which is a "Nama-chocolate" (ganache style) adding sake-kasu, and is absolutely delicious. Enjoy the sake flavor in the chocolate!
***************************************************************************************** (for 15x10cm tray, to makes 30~40 pcs of small cube) Measurement : 1t = 1 tea spoon (5ml)
1) Cut the choｃolate block into small pieces. Place chocolate in a bowl, set the bowl over the hot water in a pot to let the chocolate melt. Stir occasionally to become smooth.
** Be careful not to be too high in the chocolate temperature, otherwise it separates. Once it separates, it becomes hard to set later. ** Avoid steam and water coming into the bowl when chocolate is melting.
2) Mix all others (sake-kasu/cream/sugar) in heat proof bowl/container, low heat in MW to warm gently to be about the same temperature of chocolate. (Don't make it too warm!)
3) Combine both and mix. Transfer to lined small shallow container (approx. 15x10cm), leave until cool. Cover and put into fridge for overnight to set well.
両方を混ぜ合わせ、ラップを敷いた型に流し入れて冷ます。 冷めたら冷蔵庫でさらに冷やす。
4) Cut into small cubes.
Coat them with cocoa powder through the tea strainer as a sieve. Chill and serve. (This chocolate contains a little alcohol.)
********************************************************************************************* As using the fresh cream, it can be stored for several days in the fridge. But the fresh one has the fullest flavor, so enjoy it before you miss the best taste.
Kia ora cooking mates! Kei te pēhea koutou? Makariri ia rā ia rā! I introduce one of my home cooking recipe of the combination of NZ "Hoki" and Japanese "Mikan" (Satsuma-mandarin), which is often on my dining table during the winter.
”Hoki & mandarin carpaccio salad” I often eat Hoki as Sashimi. As the fillet is soft and easy to collapse, also there are tough line through, so I use good knife which I sharpened well. In this recipe, just cut to small pieces which is easier rather than "sashimi slice", but I still recommend to use sharp knife to make it better texture.
Mandarin Dressingみかんドレッシング 1 mandarin みかん ¼ t salt 塩 ½ t soy sauce しょうゆ 1T lemon juice or vinegar レモン汁または酢 1T Olive oil オリーブオイル
Red onion marinade dressing紫タマネギのドレッシング漬け 1 red onion (200g) 紫タマネギ 1t salt 塩 4T vinegar 酢 4T grape seed oil (or other oil) グレープシード・オイル（他のオイルでも） 1T mirin みりん
************************************************************************************* Preparation: Red onion marinade dressing Prepare this in advance (the day before or 2-3 days before), which is delicious and beautiful appearance to be used for other salad or cooked veges as well. It can be good for a week, so keep the left in the fridge.
Slice red onion very thinly, soak in water for 15min (changing water once), drain well. Transfer to the bowl or container, add salt, vinegar, oil, mirin, then mix well to be marinated. Store in the fridge.
The onion just I marinated. Became bright pink on the next day, and hotness softens.
１．Cut hoki into 1cm cubic size (in the direction cutting tough line) Sprinkle salt over, rub and mix well. ホキの筋を断ち切るように1cm角に切り、振り塩をして全体を馴染ませる。
２．Peel a mandarin, divide into small pieces then slice. Set a side. みかん1個の皮を剥き（白い筋はできれば取り除く）、房にわけてスライスしておく。
３．Squeeze another mandarin, then mix with other ingredients to make mandarin dressing. You can make it in a bottle to shake and emulsify it. 別のみかん1個の果肉を搾り、その他のみかんドレッシングの材料と合わせて、 よく混ぜる。 ボトルに入れてシェイクして乳化させると良いです。
４．Combine Hoki and sliced mandarin, add marinade red onion, then serve on the mixed salad leaves, drizzle mandarin dressing over. ホキ、スライスしたみかん、紫オニオン漬けを合わせて混ぜ、レタスリーフなどを あしらったお皿に盛り合わせ、みかんドレッシングを回しかける。
One for sliced pieces One for squeezed juice
Nice to serve it into small glasses like an amusement.
Kia ora cooking mates! How are you doing in these cold days? Japanese radish Daikon is becoming delicious now. Have you seen large daikon in the market? It’s time to cook Furo-fuki Daikon which is representative Japanese winter cooking. Let the daikon enjoy a long bath (furo) ! There are kinds of miso sauce for it. I introduce delicious “Tama-miso” (egg yolk miso sauce) this time.
I cook whole daikon at a time, because it will be simmered for long and the cooked ones can be stored in the fridge, so I enjoy the lefts on another day too. The Tama-miso (the paste) is also able to be stored in the fridge.
In the addition to the simple one, I added steamed pumpkin, Brussel sprout, prawn, gingko-nuts on the daikon, as in the photo. Here is the recipe as follows:
*************************************************************************************** Measurement: 1T = 1 Table spoon (15ml) (6～8 servings as a side dish) 1t = 1 tea spoon (5ml)
800g～1kg daikon (half～whole) 2T sake (or cooking sake) （*option） 5g dried kombu kelp if you have
1) Peel the skin off of daikon, cut in thickness of 2～3cm. Make cross cut at the center (to be cooked well).
Tournage (round off the corners) is recommended. This is one of the process in Japanese cooking.
2) Put the daikon in the pan with water which cover the all of daikon. Add sake (*and dried kombu), then heat up. When it boiled, reduce the heat, simmer with cover for 40～45min until daikon became soft ( enough it can be cut by chopsticks at the eating.)
If you use veges for the decoration, put the steamer on top of the pan of daikon cooking, and steam there. Check often the veges and take out when it's cooked, while daikon is simmered underneath.
3) Tama-miso sauce: While the daikon is on the cooking, make the sauce. Mix all ingredients in a small pan, heat up, stir well with spatula during the cook. When you feel the texture changed a little heavier (it means egg yolk was cooked), off the heat. Thin the paste with a little of broth from the pan of daikon-cooking, to make it smooth sauce texture. The paste or sauce will be good as a dip for vegetables, store it in the fridge if it's left, and enjoy it again another time!
4) Place the daikon on individual plate or bowl, pour the sauce over.
**As an option, some toppings would be nice if you have. Just squeeze a hole in the middle of Daikon, then sauce,
and toppings get put on there to sit well. I added Mizuna leaves and pumpkin seeds around. 蒸したカボチャをのせ、水菜とパンプキン・シードをあしらってみました。
Serve hot. Enjoy the soft texture of daikon with delicious sauce!
Kia ora cooking mates! Do you know the original true season of the spinach? Yes, it just came. Both of the taste and nutritive value are high in the winter spinach.
I introduce "Ohitashi" today, which is a basic of the basics of Japanese home cooking. Just follow the recipe to get the basic tip, use your imagination to arrange it, and add it as one of your side dish recipe.
350g～400g bunches of spinach 1 t salt 2 t soy sauce
favorite toppings like : toasted sesame seeds / dried bonito flakes / etc.
favorite sauce and/or oil like : dashi-soy sauce*/ ponzu citrus sauce / sesame oil / olive oil / etc.
1. WASH : Wash spinach well especially to clean the stem and root parts. ( I usually soak them in water in the sink for a while, then shake them to wash.)
2. COOK : Boil water in deep pot, add 1t salt.
Hold all spinach roots (pink parts) together, let those part down and stand on the boiling water. Cook for 30sec, then put all leaf parts in, cook further 30sec.
3. DRAIN :
Drain in a strainer, put on a tray and cool down (fan can be used). I don't recommend to use running water to cool down, because Vitamin-C of spinach flows out with the water.
4. SQUEEZE twice :
一度水気をしぼったあと、少量の醤油を馴染ませてからもう一度しぼります。 これで全体にうっすらと下味がつきます。 Hold the spinach pink parts together, squeeze the excess water out. Return them back on the tray, now sprinkle 2t of soy sauce over, then do 2nd squeeze. **The purpose of this step (soy sauce & squeeze again) is to add preliminary seasoning to maximize the Umami of spinach.
5. CUT & SERVE : Cut into 4cm length.
The pink parts are edible and have sweet taste.
(A) Traditional serving way: Put the cut spinach into a small bowl neatly, pour dashi-soy sauce* over, top with dried bonito flakes, then serve. *Dashi-soy sauce : 120ml water + ¼ t of dashi stock powder + 1t soy sauce + 1t mirin
*Handy way instead of making Dashi-soy sauce : Thin Kombu tsuyu with water. Kombu tsuyu : water = 1 : 4
Kombu tsuyu is available at LuLu Mart (Asian market in Wanaka)
(B) Serving of variational assortment: Divide cut spinach into some parts on the plate. Decorate with favorite toppings and sauce.
Marinated red onion & mayonnaise
Salt & sesame oil, Drops of soy sauce & toasted sesame seeds grated parmesan cheese
It's August already!
They are not ginger, they are Jerusalem artichoke. 
I added mussel juice (which was the left over 
but have you heard about 
Makariri ia rā ia rā! 
Kia ora cooking mates!
柔らかく調理した大根に味噌ダレをかけるだけ
I introduce "Ohitashi" today, 
（for 4～6 small serving)
Divide cut spinach into some parts on the plate. 
