Japanese Dinner

Alison was kind enough to lend me 'The Japanese Kitchen' - a fantastic book that explains the history of various ingredients, how to pick them out in the market, how to store them, and how to use them. It also has incredibly elegant pictures.

Vanilla-Flavored Sweet Potato with Oranges:
This is a fusion dish...

• 8 oz (1 medium) sweet potato, peeled
• 1 orange, sliced with peels on
• 1 vanilla bean, slit lengthwise
• 2 oz (1/4 cup) granulated sugar

"Chop the sweet potato into chunks 1 inch thick and soak in cold water. Drain, then put the chunks in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Drain off the cooking water. Add the orange slices, vanilla bean, sugar, and 1 3/4 to 2 cups of fresh water and cook until the potato is soft. Remove the chunks of potato [and orange] and transfer them to a serving dish. Reduce the liquid by half and drizzle it over the potato."

I can't really afford to use whole vanilla beans at $5 apiece, so I just used a few dashes of vanilla extract. Alissa insisted that I substitute the granulated sugar with brown sugar, a good call.

I found the cooking instructions to be a little off... after 10 minutes the potatoes were already soft and delicate... could just be my potatoes were cut thinner than instructed.

If I make this dish again, I will be careful about the cook time. The orange peels added an unpleasant bitterness; A better approach would be using orange zest to flavor the potatoes, and then add supremed (sectioned) orange after cooking.

Though not a big fan of sweet potatoes, I think oranges and vanilla were good accompaniments.

Nasu no Dengaku [Eggplant with Sweet Miso Paste]:

Eggplant:

• vegetable Oil, for deep-frying
• 2 Chinese eggplants, cut into 1-inch cylinders
  

For the Dengaku Miso:

• 4 oz light colored miso paste
• 4 oz dark colored miso paste
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons sake
• 2 tablespoons mirin

"Put all the dengaku miso ingredients in a saucepan and stir well with a wooden spoon until it becomes creamy." I didn't have either dark miso or sake, so more light miso was subbed-in, and a dash of water instead of the sake. Also, the granulated sugar was left out - Alissa said it was unnecessary because the mirin adds enough sweetness.

"Heat a wok of vegetable oil to 310F and pre-heat the broiler. Prick the aubergines with a toothpick and cut them into rounded chunks 1 inch thick. Deep-fry them in the preheated oil for 3-5 minutes. Drain on paper towels and let them cool a little, then place the eggplant chunks on a baking sheet and broil them for 5 minutes."

I decided to skip the deep frying part, marinated the eggplant chunks in a dash of vegetable oil and went straight to the oven at 400F. After 25 minutes, they were still a bit tough so I threw them into the microwave for 2 minutes and they came out great. I could probably skip the oven all together next time.

"Spread a teaspoon of dengaku miso on each chunk. Put them back under the hot broiler for a few minutes and serve warm or at room temperature." I forgot to broil them with the dengaku miso, so they didn't look as nice as they could have.

Despite the substitutions and lack of deep-frying, it came out great.

Soba Noodle Salad:
I made a soba noodle salad, similar to the one we make at work (see previous posting). Instead of roasted red peppers, I used some blanched snow peas. This one was a hit.

Negi Toro:
I was able to find some "toro" - tuna belly - at Fujiya... it was frozen, so it was simple to mince up. Added some chopped "negi" - scallions - and served cold... goes well with a dash of soya.

This all was served with miso soup (made with fresh dashi - see previous post) and freshly shredded daikon.