Vegan Recipes: Japan
[This page is in the earliest
stages of development: 23 April 2007]
simple miso soup
Whilst it is possible to buy packets of miso soup mix from whole-food stores, it is also possible to cook one’s own. I do
not know whether my recipe bears a close resemblance to miso soup served in
Miso, 50g
Arame seaweed (dried), a small fistful
Shi-itake mushrooms (fresh), 100g
Tofu (plain or smoked), a pack
Boil 1 litre of water. Quarter the shi-itake mushrooms, and fry them for about ten minutes. Dice the tofu into 1cm cubes.
Pour the boiling water into a pan, and simmer. Stir in the miso, ensuring that it is completely dissolved. Add the seaweed, shi-take mushrooms and tofu. Simmer for five minutes. Serve.
fancy miso soup with noodles
I doubt whether this recipe bears much relation to miso soup served in
Onion
Red peppers, 3
Garlic, 5 cloves
Miso, 50g
Arame seaweed (dried), a small fistful
Shi-itake mushrooms (fresh), 100g
Tofu (plain or smoked), a pack
Dried noodles, 2 blocks
Ground black pepper
Ground ginger
Vegetable stock cube
Vegetable oil
De-seed the peppers, remove their stalks, slice. Peel and dice the onion. Peel and dice the cloves of garlic. Put peppers, onion and garlic in a large pan with a little vegetable oil and fry uintil golden. Remove from pan. Quarter the shi-itake mushrooms, and fry them for about ten minutes. Dice the tofu into 1cm cubes, then fry along with the shi-itake mushrooms for a further three minutes. Remove from pan, and add to the peppers, onion and garlic.
Boil 1 litre of water. Pour the boiling water into a pan, and simmer. Stir in the miso, ensuring that it is completely dissolved (this part is important). Add vegetable stock cube, stirring until it has disolved, the ginger and ground black pepper. Add the fried vegetables. Add the seaweed and the blocks of noodles. Bring up to boil, and then simmer for five minutes. Serve.
sushi
Sushi rice, 100g
Nori sheets, pack
Vegetables: carrot (grated), cucumber (matchsticked), radish(matchsticked), avocado (scoops), arame (soaked), pieces of fried tofu
Flavours: sushi ginger slivers, mirin, wine vinegar, shoyu, wasabi
Method
Cook the rice in 250ml of water, so that the rice absorbs all the water. Do not flavour or season the water. Allow the rice to cool.
Take a sheet of nori and toast it lightly on both sides. This requires extreme attention to avoid burning it.
Place the toasted nori sheet on a sizeable flat surface, Imagine dividing the sheet into three equal height rows. Stretching the full width of the sheet along the imaginary line dividing the bottom row from the middle row, spoon a generous serving of cooked sushi rice. Fflatten the rice out so that it occupies about one third of the nori sheet. Sprinkle mirin and vinegar onto the rice (you will have to learn the quantities to suit your taste by trial and error). Place slivers of sushi ginger along the centre line of the the rice. Select and place vegetables along the centre line of the rice.
Adopting a rolling action, as though making a roulade or jam roll, lift the bottom edge of the nori sheet over the rice and vegetables, and roll the entirety into a tubular shape.This action can be facilitated using a bamboo sushi rolling mat, although the mat is not essential. Try to keep as tight as possible, but pressing hard will result in rice and vegetables squeezing out either end. Transfer to a flat plate that will fit in the fridge. In the same fashion, make as many sushi rolls as required, varying the combination of vegetables in each roll. Place the plate in the fridge for an hour, allowing the rolls to chill, and the nori to moisten.
Take a sachet of dried wasabi powder, and pour the powder into a very small pot. Pour on a teaspoon of water and mix to form a wet paste (more wet than paste)..
When ready to serve, using a very sharp knife, cut the long sushi riolls into four centimetre lengths, and present them upended so that the rice and vegetables are on show. To eat each piece of sushi, sprinkle a few drops of shoyu onto the rice, and then a few drops of wasabi. For people who have found their confidence with shoyu and wasabi, it is possible to dip each piece of sushi into the shoyu and then into the wasabi, although this is best not undertaken lightly. Fingers may be easier than chopsticks. Enjoy.
stir-fried vegetables
Many vegetables can be stir-fried, such as beans sprouts, carrot matchsticks, sliced onion, spring onions, thinly sliced cabbage, small florets of brocolli and cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, sliced peppers, avocado, slices of fresh garlic, chunks of firm tofu. Fresh or frozen herbs are good (such as basil, chives, flat leaf parsley, leaf coriander), but dried herbs are of little use as the cooking time is so short. Stir-fried vegetables go well together with Japanese noodles (such as ramen noodles). The noodles should be prepared shortly before stir-frying the vegetables, and can be added to the wok immediately prior to serving.
Method
Prepare the vegetables, and have them to hand. Heat some vegetable oil in a wok until the oil is starting to smoke. Add the vegetables and herbs in turn, turning them all the while. Sprinkle with shoyu and black pepper. Serve immediately, while the vegetables are still crispy.
