Miso Recipes from National Public Radio

Miso is an indispensable pantry item in our kitchen. From miso soup, salad dressings, marinade for fish to adding umami to meat sauce for spaghetti or the ground meat mixture for tacos or even a pot of chili.

If you are reading this blog you most likely have some miso in your fridge. A miso producer advised me to keep the miso in the freezer, it keeps longer and it will never freeze solid so you can still spoon it out.

Eve Turow shares with National Public Radio some great recipes here on the link below:

http://www.npr.org/2011/04/20/135543251/miso-an-ancient-solution-for-modern-meals

Kinpira Gobo きんぴらゴボウ

Mastering kinpira will add a wonderful dish to your kitchen repertoire. I usually make it with gobo (burdock root) and carrots, but it can be made with a variety of vegetables including renkon, celery, and even potatoes. The vegetables should be julienned, or if making from renkon, sliced thinly. Better yet, learn how to do the "sasagaki" cut, which results in vegetable shards that look like bamboo leaves (sasa).

Gobo should be soaked in water immediately after it is cut or it turns brown.

Cut your vegetables (julienne or sasagaki).

In a saute pan, stir-fry the vegetables in a bit of oil until the vegetables start to soften. Then season with sugar, soy sauce, sake and sesame oil. I do it all to taste but if you are looking for rough amounts:

1 burdock root
1 carrot
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons sake
1 Tablespoon sesame oil

If you like a bit of spice feel free to add either dried chili sliced thinly or shichimi togarashi. Toasteds sesame seeds are also a nice compliment.

This dish can be eaten hot or cold, so is perfect for adding to a bento. For a vegetarian sandwich, toss with some mayonnaise and serve with bread.

Soy Simmered Hoshi Shiitake (Dried Shiitake Mushrooms)

Dried shiitake mushrooms (hoshi shiitake 干ししいたけ) are always good to have in the pantry as they have a long shelf life and can be used for many dishes.

To rehydrate the mushrooms place in a large bowl of water and put a drop-lid (otoshibuta) over it to keep the mushrooms submerged. If you don't have a drop-lid you can make a disposable one using aluminum foil.

After the mushrooms are rehydrated they can be left whole to simmer in the soy broth. In this version I sliced them.

Soy simmering broth:
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon mirin
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon sake
dash of salt

Add the rehyrdrated mushrooms to the soy broth and simmer until mushrooms have taken the flavor of the soy broth. If there is not enough broth to cover the mushrooms just double the recipe above.

The soy simmered mushrooms can be served on their own as a side dish, or in this version, as part of a Korean-style donburi (rice bowl).

Shiitake

Spicy or Teriyaki Tuna

Tuna is a very easy fish to cook, very forgiving as it is a meaty fish. We most often eat tuna as sashimi, like the top photo. Usually just garnished with soy sauce and wasabi. If you can find wasabi salt you may like that too as a seasoning.

When we can not finish all of the tuna sashimi Shinji likes to marinate it. This day he made two marinades, one a typical teriyaki sauce of sake, mirin, soy sauce, and sugar (mix to taste but usually one part each of the sake, mirin, and soy sauce and then add sugar to your liking). The second marinade was of Korean spicy miso (kochujan) with some sake and sesame oil.

We simply grilled them until cooked through. Perfect with a bowl of rice or as a snack with some sake or shochu on the rocks.

Tuna

Teriyaki

Japanese Popcorn

Looking for a healthy alternative to chips we have been making a lot of popcorn at home lately. We have tried a variety of toppings, including mattcha jio (mattcha flavored salt) - which did not work out. One of my favorites is sprinkling on some aosa or aonori, flecks of nori and salt on popcorn. The nori adds a minerality and earthiness to the popcorn. A great hit!

Popcorn

Aonori

Sesame Vegetables

I am often asked for tips to help kids eat vegetables. One of my favorite quick and easy recipes is this sesame dressing. Crush some toasted sesame seeds (white or black) in a mortar and pestle. Add a bit of sugar and soy sauce to taste. That's it. This can be used to top any steamed vegetable. Most often I use it for greens like spinach, broccoli, and green beans but it also works for carrots.

When making Shinji's bento I try and incorporate five colors. Red, white, yellow, green, and black. Black can be hard to incorporate if you don't make hijiki. This sesame dressing with black sesame seeds is a good way to include black.

Sesame Dressing

Simmered Kabocha 南瓜の煮物

Kabocha is one of my favorite Japanese vegetables. Much like a pumpkin, but with a denser, sweeter flavor. This dish is a bit labor intensive in prep, but definitely worth the few extra steps. I remember at culinary school, at the French Culinary Institute, chef Jacques Pepin talking about taking the extra steps to make a good dish. I don't remember if he said we do this because we are chefs, or this is what makes chefs different from home cooks, or if we just should not take shortcuts if we know that there is a better dish to be made. Regardless, the dish will be better if you can do full prep.

Cut the kabocha into bite size pieces. Cut the inside of the kabocha, to rid of the soft spot where the seeds were. Then cut the four edges of the skin. This is the key step not to skip. It will soften the edges which may be off-putting when eating later after it is simmered. Finally, score the skin to rid of any rough spots and to create areas to help the kabocha simmer.

1/2 kabocha
3 1/2 cups dashi
1/2 cup sake
1/2 cup mirin
1/4 cup sugar

In a pot combine all of the ingredients. Cook until the kabocha is tender. Will keep for several days.

This dish is often served at room temperature.

Kabocha