Japanese Street Food recipes

[Valentina Proo Garcia]

Hi Megan!
I attended last night's dinner -- FANTASTIC MEAL!

I would so appreciate it if you would post the recipes for any and, hopefully, all the courses that were served last night.

Thank you for all your hard work slaving away in the kitchen and, of course, doing all the research for preparing the Tuesday night dinners!

~ Valentina

[Megan Hobza]

Hi Valentina!

It was great to meet you at the dinner last night!  Thanks for your kind words.  I'm pleased to share these recipes!  See below. :)

Megan

- Futomaki Sushi Rolls
- Salad with Miso Dressing
- Oden Hot Pot
- Bananas Nutella Flambe

Sushi Rice Recipe

• 3 cups Japanese Sushi Rice (we used half white and half short grain brown)
• Cold Water (see below)
• 1/3 Cup Rice Vinegar
• 2 Tbsp Organic Sugar
• 1 Tsp Salt

Wash Rice in cold water until the water runs almost clear. This may take a few minutes. Once water runs semi-clear, drain rice of any excess water and add 3 1/4 cups water. Add enough water to cover the rice and so that the water comes up to the first knuckle on your index finger if touching the rice with the tip of your finger.

Bring the water and rice to a boil and cover with a lid. Once you put a lid on the pan reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes taste to make sure rice is cooked just to doneness (add a little water if not, and cook another 3-5 minutes). Turn off the heat and leave covered for 10 minutes. Don’t lift the lid during this last 10 minutes. The rice is still cooking, even though the heat is off.

While the rice is cooking, heat the rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a pan until dissolved. Remove from heat as soon as sugar and salt have dissolved.

When rice is done, put rice in large bowl. Place bowl outdoors on porch table or by electric fan for air flow. Slowly add the vinegar mixture in to the rice while tossing the rice with a wooden spoon or spatula. The goal is to fluff the mixture into the rice. You don’t want to make mushy rice. The rice should stay as individual rice grains and not a glutinous blob. The breeze will allow the water to come out of the rice while adding the flavor from the vinegar mixture. Sushi rice is sticky from the vinegar mixture lightly coating every grain of rice (not from overworking the rice).

Store sushi rice at room temperature covered with a damp towel. This will keep the rice from drying out.

Futomaki ("thick, large or fat rolls") is a large cylindrical piece, with nori (in our case, collard) on the outside. A typical futomaki is five to six centimeters (2–2.5 in) in diameter. They are often made with two or three fillings that are chosen for their complementary tastes and colors.

Futomaki ingredients:

• Collard leaves (parboiled, ribbed) used as nori
• Cucumber (julienned)
• Chard (parboiled, ribboned, and seasoned with sesame oil, tamari)
• Kombucha scoby (julienned and marinated in sesame oil, mirin, tamari)
• Mushroom (julienned, sauteed with sesame oil, tamari)
• Carrot (julienned & parboiled)
• Minced mustard leaves
• Seaweed powder
• Roasted sesame seeds

Place parboiled, ribbed collard leaf on bamboo mat, with rib cut pointing vertically. Spread ⅓ to ½ cup sushi rice on top of leaf in rectangular shape. Place ingredients horizontally on rice. Roll up the bamboo mat, pressing forward to shape the sushi into a cylinder. Press bamboo mat firmly and remove from sushi. Make more rolls. Cut the rolled sushi with a very sharp knife, wiping knife with wet cloth between each slice. Serve with wasabi, pickled ginger, and daikon pickles.

Oden Hot Pot
The ingredients are simmered together and are served with a dab of karashi (hot mustard) on the side of the bowl. This stew is best made in advance and given at least a day in the fridge for all the flavours to saturate into all the items that are in the broth.

Ingredients

• 12 cups dashi (water boiled with dried mushrooms and kombu)
• 9 tablespoons mirin
• 6 tablespoons light colored soy sauce (If you can’t find light soy sauce (a.k.a. Usukuchi Soy Sauce), you can substitute 1 Tbs of regular soy sauce or tamari and add extra salt. The broth should be slightly saltier that a regular soup, but not so salty you can’t drink it.)
• 3 tablespoons kosher salt (halve if using table salt)
• Items from Group 1 (six to ten cups of each)
• Two boxes tofu

Group 1

• Daikon- These are the long white Japanese radishes, they are peeled, then sliced into thick rounds which come out soft and flavourful when stewed in oden.
• Sato-Imo- These are Japanese taro roots and are much smaller than the type used in other asian cuisines (about the size of a baby potato and no bigger than a small potato). Peel them and leave them whole if they are small or cut them in half if they are a little bigger.
• Kabocha- These Japanese pumpkins have a mottled green skin and dark orange interior and have a texture somewhere between butternut squash and sweet potato. Cut them into big wedges. Kabocha cooks more quickly than the other ingredients, so put it in when sato-imo (taro) is half cooked.
• Konyaku- a hard jelly that’s made from the root of a plant. The texture is a gelatinous substance that is vaguely crunchy –kind of like some mushrooms and jellyfish are. There’s a trick to give them a braided look which also helps them absorb more flavour. Cut it into 1/4″ thick slices then cut a slit vertically down the center leaving 1/4″ at the top and 1/4″ at the bottom intact. Then you take one end and stuff it through the hole you’ve cut int the center and pull it through to the other side. This sounds complicated, but take a look at the pics below.

Group 2

• Tofu- If you use plain tofu, not fried, use firm tofu, otherwise it will come apart while cooking.

Add the mirin, tamari, and salt to dashi and bring to a simmer. Add the items from Group 1 into the broth, cover, and allow it to gently simmer over low heat until the ingredients like the daikon and taro are tender. If it boils, the vegetables will start to fall apart. Take the oden off the heat and allow it to cool down to room temperature.

Top the pot with tofu. Stick the whole pot of oden in the fridge for one day to allow the flavours to mature. When you’re ready to eat the oden, gently warm up the pot and serve with karashi.


Oribu’s Japanese Miso Salad Dressing

Ingredients

• 2 small red onions, minced
• 1 bunch parsley, minced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ cup miso paste. Mix red and white miso if you have them on hand
• ½ cup tamari
• 1 cup rice vinegar
• 1 cup mirin
• 1 cup salad oil
• 1 cup sesame oil
• Garnish with toasted sesame seeds
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Combine all of the ingredients except for the oils and the sesame seeds in a large bowl.  Slowly drizzle the oils in and whisk to combine until the dressing becomes creamy. Toss shredded cabbage with dressing and garnish with cucumber, onion microshoots and sesame seeds; serve immediately.

Bananas Nutella Flambe

Fry sliced bananas in plain oil and unstick them from pan with small dashes of sherry. Place in individual ramekins with a dollop of vegan nutella and a drizzle of cashew sour cream.

Better than Nutella

• 4 cups raw hazelnuts (240g)
• 3 Tbl. pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup raw cacao powder
• ½+ cup raw coconut sugar (to taste)
• ½ tsp salt
• 4-6 tsp plain oil (for extra smoothness)
• 1 cup nut milk of choice (soak ¼ cup cashews with ¾ cup water and blend in blender)

In a food processor, blend the nuts until they’ve turned to butter, then add all other ingredients and process a long time until it’s smooth like Nutella.

Cashew Sour Cream

• 1 cup raw cashews soaked with 1 cup water; Blend in Blendtec with:

• Juice of 1 lemon
• ¼ tsp. salt